Chapter 997: Nourishing the Bone

As soon as the bone plunged into the bottomless, pitch-black sea, the Star Behemoth’s immense soul awareness spread towards it from all directions.

However, Nie Tian’s Star Eye, which he had sent into the black sea, seemed to be suddenly shielded, as it couldn’t capture the Star Behemoth’s aura anymore.

At the same time, a terrifying aura that could tear up the heavens and shatter the earth gradually overtook him.

He had a feeling that his Star Eye was about to explode.

WHOOSH!

The Star Eye burst out of the sea’s surface and returned to Nie Tian, not daring to spend another second in the black sea.

His expression flickered drastically as this happened.

The moment his Star Eye had left the sea, he had shrewdly discovered that the subtle connection between him and that bone was cut off.

He had fused the bone with his Blood Essence and branded it with his unique bloodline imprints and life aura.

Before, after he had cast the bone out, he had been able to sense the bone’s location by relying on the profound connection between him and the bone. He could even call it back.

But now, with the connection cut off, he could no longer sense the bone’s existence.

“It’s not going to take the bone away, is it?” Nie Tian thought to himself, worry rising in his heart.

With the skillful wielding of his bloodline power, this bone had already become his most devastating means of attack.

Even outsiders at the eighth grade couldn’t shoulder a single strike from it without being penetrated.

As large as its consumption was, Nie Tian had attached great value to its terrifying might.

From the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, he had learned that the bone had come from a Star Behemoth from the Primal Era, which meant that it shared the same origin with the one hiding in the depths of the sea.

Since they belonged to the same species, would it seize the bone and refuse to give it back?

“What is that bone exactly?” Dong Li asked curiously. “Also, what’s that thing in the depths of the sea?”

“The two of them belong to the same species.” Nie Tian gave a vague answer.

Dong Li gasped with astonishment. “The two of them belong to the same species?” 

Nie Tian nodded. “This is a secret, even within the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace. Before I came here, the elders told me not to mention it to anyone. But since it’s you, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. All you need to know is that the bone and the powerful being in the sea belong to a species that’s more ancient than the titans, Ancientbeasts, or any other species from the Desolate Antiquity Era.”

Dong Li’s eyes grew wide with astonishment.

At this moment, Nie Tian suddenly noticed changes in the silent sea.

The seawater seemed to have suddenly congealed and turned solid.

This peculiar feeling struck him without any warning, as if the area of sea in front of him had turned into a piece of ink-black jade in the blink of an eye.

Neither he nor Dong Li could see through the sea’s surface, nor could they send their soul awareness under the sea’s surface to get a view of what was going on under there.

The only thing they knew was that the Star Behemoth’s soul awareness had now fully arrived, and was examining the bone in a way they couldn’t understand.

This strange phenomenon lasted a long time.

All of a sudden, small ripples appeared on the congealed sea.

The peculiar pitch-black sea seemed to have returned to its original state.

WHOOSH!

The bone rose from under the sea’s surface, shooting skywards.

The connection between Nie Tian and the bone was reestablished the moment it left the sea.

As soon as he channeled it with his bloodline aura, it seemed to be somehow touched. It changed directions abruptly and flew directly into his hand.

At the same time, he plunged his Star Eye into the sea again.

The Star Behemoth’s soul awareness came from all directions and rapidly infiltrated the Star Eye, initiating a conversation. “Where did you get that bone?” 

“From an old Lizardman patriarch.”

“The flesh aura within it, does it belong to you?”

“It does.”

“How did you infuse it with your flesh aura?”

“When I fused my Blood Essence into it, my flesh aura naturally replaced the ninth grade Lizardman’s, and it was branded with my unique imprints.”

The Star Behemoth fell silent.

Only after a long while did it send out a soul message again. “I have some advice for you.”

“Please. I’m all ears.”

“Infuse that bone with all the Blood Essence you can spare. According to my estimation, it’ll change for the first time after receiving a hundred more drops of your Blood Essence.

“After the first change, it’ll gain the ability to channel the nourishment it needs from the starry river on its own.

“So when that change happens, don’t keep it by your side anymore. Choose a dead realm that’s far away from any claimed vital domains, and leave it there.

“Even though your Blood Essence can trigger changes and transform it, you’ll have to let it fend for itself.  It belongs with the boundless starry river, not inside one of your people’s rings of holding.

“You can go find it again when you need its assistance in battle.

“The rest of the time, you should leave it alone in the depths of the starry river. Later, when your bloodline upgrades, your Blood Essence will change as well. Then, you may infuse the bone with more of your Blood Essence, inducing its next change.”

The Star Behemoth pointed Nie Tian in the correct direction. After making sure that Nie Tian had heard and memorized everything, it added, “Alright, you may leave now. I don’t want you to bring the bone back here again. And I don’t expect to see you again.”

With these words, the Star Behemoth’s immense aura dissipated, as if it had left in a split second.

Clutching the bone in his hand, Nie Tian felt baffled. “Infuse it with a hundred more drops of my Blood Essence, and it’ll be able to channel power from the starry river on its own... And it belongs with the boundless starry river, not inside a ring of holding...?”

“What are you mumbling about?” Dong Li asked curiously.

Nie Tian shook his head. “Nothing.” 

“Okay… So when do we go back?” Dong Li asked.

Nie Tian pondered briefly and decided to take the Star Behemoth’s advice. “Not yet.” 

At this point, he had already stocked up a large number of outsider corpses, most of which were corpses of eighth grade outsiders. If he used Life Drain on them, he would be able to obtain a copious amount of flesh power.

The green aura was now lying dormant in his heart, so it didn’t need any more flesh power for the time being.

Originally, he had collected those outsider corpses for the purpose of continuing his body refinement with Heavenly Wood Heal, and providing himself with flesh power after his next bloodline upgrade.

However, the Star Behemoth’s advice had changed his mind.

He spent the following period of time separating his Blood Essence from his heart and fusing all ten drops into the bone.

Like a dry sponge, the bone absorbed his Blood Essence within moments.

Feeling exhausted and weak, Nie Tian then took out the outsider corpses and activated Life Drain in front of Dong Li. One blood string after another whizzed out of him before piercing into the outsider corpses.

As they lost their rich flesh power, the robust corpses rapidly shriveled like meat that was left in scorching sunlight.

Vigorous flesh power poured madly into him, following the blood strings.

After entering him, the flesh power automatically converged on his heart, where it was turned into drops of Blood Essence under his bloodline aura’s magical effect.

As one corpse after another was drained of their flesh power, he gradually regained ten drops of Blood Essence.

Then, he fused the newly generated Blood Essence into the bone.

As he repeated this process mechanically, more and more dried-up outsider corpses piled up beside him.

It was extremely consuming to condense Blood Essence. During this time, he would pause briefly to catch his breath and give Dong Li an apologetic smile.

Dong Li, who had long since grown used to his strange behavior, soon found it boring to watch him, and thus left for the palace by herself, where she stabilized her cultivation base with spirit jades.

Two months passed...

Nie Tian had almost run out of outsider corpses that he could drain flesh power from.

He had also realized that if he hadn’t collected so many outsider corpses during this trip on the floating continent, he wouldn’t have been able to condense so much Blood Essence to fuse into the bone.

A few more days passed. As another drop of Blood Essence dripped onto the bone, the blood-colored veins in it suddenly lit up, each and every line as bright as a filament.