Chapter 967: Bottleneck

Nie Tian was aware that he hadn’t spent enough time on his cultivation, since he practiced different powers simultaneously. Therefore, he didn’t come out of the Vast Heaven Pavilion for a long time after his return.

The Vast Heaven Pavilion stood in Fragmentary Star City.

Fragmentary Star City was one of the few locations throughout the starry river where the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was the richest.

Like an engine, the entire city channeled star power from the depths of the starry river year-round.

Meanwhile, the Vast Heaven Pavilion took advantage of the uniqueness of Fragmentary Star City. The spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and star power gathered within it was even richer than in other areas of the city.

Compared to the two palaces in the Realm of Split Void and the Realm of Shattered Earth, the Vast Heaven Pavilion was an even more ideal location to practice cultivation.

Therefore, Nie Tian was completely wrapped up in his cultivation after his return. He spent day and night refining his spiritual cores by relying on the wonders of the Vast Heaven Pavilion and the large sums of spiritual materials he had stockpiled.

What he didn’t know was that while he was practicing wholeheartedly, his deeds had already spread to many human domains through people from the Five Elements Sect.

It wasn’t a secret that the seventh Son of the Stars went to explore a new domain with a Divine Son and Divine Daughter of the Five Elements Sect.

When the Five Elements Sect had learned that their teleportation portal had been destroyed, they had thought of every possible way to enter that domain, and sought help from other major sects, which had attracted a lot of attention to their operation.

All of a sudden, a new teleportation portal was established, and powerful experts from the Five Elements Sect poured into the new domain.

As they returned, the news they brought back with them soon traveled across the major human domains like a single spark starting a prairie fire.

Similar conversations were repeated within many human powers in many human domains.

“It’s hard to believe that the seventh Son of the Stars was the one who made the greatest contribution in their victory! Because of him, they turned the situation around, allowing the Divine Son and Divine Daughter of the Five Elements Sect to eventually take the three Lizardman realms!”

“Rumor has it, not only was he given the privilege to pick a realm first, but he even gained a mysterious bone!”

“I heard from people from the Five Elements Sect that he single-handedly killed five eighth grade Lizardmen with that mysterious bone!”

“Eighth grade? That’s equal to the Void domain!”

“How could this newborn Son of the Stars do something so incredible?”

...

Naturally, the disciples of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace also knew that Nie Tian, who had only recently been announced the seventh Son of the Stars, had gained a fortune from this exploration trip.

At the same time, both Huang Jinnan and Lou Hongyan spoke highly of Nie Tian after returning to the Five Elements Sect, saying that he had unlimited potential, and that he would someday join the ranks of human overlords in this starry river.

Their words instantly pushed Nie Tian’s reputation to a whole new level.

Nie Tian suddenly became very much in the limelight.

In the Domain of Heaven Boundaries...

In the Pure Heaven Sect’s headquarters, Zhou Shang and a few other elders of the Pure Heaven Sect were gazing off at a distant mountain as they talked in low voices.

“I wonder when will our patriarch come out of his secluded cultivation.”

“I heard that the Trisword Sect was also arranged to go explore that new realm. They were charged with mining a major fine gold vein. Nie Tian’s speaker, Dong Li, even allowed them to keep twenty percent of the gains for themselves. We don’t have a single fine gold vein in our entire Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. Such fine gold will allow the Trisword Sect to forge high-grade air-transportation spiritual tools and flying swords.”

“I’m afraid even their overall strength will improve significantly because of that.”

“I also heard from the Beast-controlling Sect that they were assigned to a marshland that’s covered in all kinds of rare flowers and grasses. Many of the plants turned out to be very helpful for the upgrading of their spirit beasts. Now, they’re feeding them to their pet spirit beasts to make them more powerful.

“The overall strength of the Beast-controlling Sect will definitely benefit from this as well.”

“The Divine Flame Sect gained good fortune too. In the new realm that’s been given to Nie Tian, there’s a region where they found a large number of Heavenflame Crystals. It appears that a Heaven Flame Beast once lived there. High-quality Heavenflame Crystals will make the Divine Flame Sect’s grand spell formation even more formidable.”

“Other forces that have chosen to follow Nie Tian, including the Bliss Mountain Sect, the Chu Clan, the Jian Clan, and the Guan Clan, have also been arranged to mine spiritual veins and gather spirit plants in that new realm. Dong Li is treating them equally, as all of them get to keep twenty percent of their gains.”

“That’s far too easy for them!”

“They didn’t take part in the battle for that new domain, so they didn’t suffer any losses. All they’re doing now is helping the Son of the Stars gather spiritual materials, and they get to keep twenty percent...”

“I’m afraid that the seventh Son of the Stars is indeed favored by the heavens. Otherwise, how come he’s always so lucky?”

Every elder except Zhou Shang went on and discussed the news in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.

Envy was written across their faces.

After all, all of the forces that had chosen to follow Nie Tian had been arranged to enter that new realm.

However, the Pure Heaven Sect wasn’t one of them.

In fact, Zhou Shang had gloated after hearing that their teleportation portal had been destroyed and Nie Tian had been trapped in that domain he had gone to explore with the Divine Son and Divine Daughter of the Five Elements Sect.

He had assumed that the problems the Pure Heaven Sect was facing might go away if Nie Tian were to disappear for good.

Who would have thought that only six months later, a new teleportation portal would be built, and word come that Nie Tian and the powerful experts from the Five Elements Sect had taken the three Lizardman realms.

After that, experts from the Beast-controlling Sect, the Bliss Mountain Sect, and the other sects from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries had been invited to enter that new realm.

All of them benefited greatly from the tasks they were given. Even their reserve power improved to some extent. This made Zhou Shang very anxious, even though he didn’t let on much.

BOOM!

The distant mountain suddenly suffered a violent quake, and Patriarch Pure Heaven’s figure shot out of it.

The Pure Heaven Sect elders’ expressions flickered as they exclaimed in high spirits.

“Patriarch has made his breakthrough!”

“Saint domain! The Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries finally sees its first Saint domain expert!”

“Patriarch has transcended our domain from an Elementary grade domain to a Medium grade domain!”

Moments later, Patriarch Pure Heaven flew over from the distance like a flash of lightning.

“What’s the situation now?” He asked in a voice that was as resonating as the toll of a large bell.

Zhou Shang took a step forward and explained everything that had happened in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries to him in a respectful manner, putting emphasis on Nie Tian.

After hearing their update, a derisive laugh escaped Patriarch Pure Heaven’s mouth as he said, “He made the greatest contribution to them sacking that new domain, and he obtained a mysterious bone, with which he killed five eighth grade outsiders single-handedly? I can’t believe you actually thought that was for real! He’s only at the Profound realm. How could he possibly kill a series of outsiders that were as powerful as Void domain experts just by relying on a bone he obtained?”

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Shang and the others also started to question the authenticity of the news.

“So what do you think we should do now, patriarch?” Zhou Shang asked meticulously.

Patriarch Pure Heaven let out a cold harrumph. “I’ll never bend my knee to someone weaker than me, a Son of the Stars or otherwise! Spread word to the other sects. Tell them that I’ll pledge allegiance to that Nie Tian with my whole sect when he can actually defeat me in battle! Before that, he can stop imagining us bending the knee!

“Even if he has Jing Feiyang and the others gang up on me, at worst I’ll go into hiding between domains and take up life as a Hunter, like Master Bloody Despair!”

...

Time passed like a flying shuttle. Nearly a year passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Nie Tian still remained in the Vast Heaven Pavilion, spending all of his time refining his spiritual cores and spiritual sea over and over.

He refined not only his original spiritual core, but his other three cores as well.

Thanks to his practice of the True Flame Incantation, his flame power core had become as crimson as a Heavenflame Crystal, within which a flame spark was burning conspicuously, and adding endless mysteries to it.

Within his star power core, the Nine Stars Flower had already grown its fourth blossom. A fifth one was looming in an expanding bud.

Each and every blossom was dotted with tiny sparks that looked like stars, as if they carried the profound mysteries of the starry river.

However, the three tree leaves in his wood power core still hadn’t shown any wonders.

“It seems that the refinement of my spiritual cores has reached a bit of a bottleneck, since I don’t really know much about that flame spark, the Nine Stars Flower, or those tree leaves. If I can figure out their true secrets, my cultivation might become much easier. I guess it’s about time I put my hand to that.”

With these thoughts, Nie Tian finally walked out of the Vast Heaven Pavilion.

As soon as he did, he saw Tao Jin, who was sitting quietly not far from the gate, as if he had waited there for quite some time.

Tao Jin rose to his feet and bowed. “Nie Tian, elder Wei Lai instructed me to take you to him as soon as you came out. I’ve sat here and waited for you for three months now.”

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Nie Tian said.

“Please come with me.”