Chapter 973: The Sad Ones

In the boundless black sea.

The three Saint domain experts, Jing Feiyang, Quan Zixuan, and Qu Mingde, flew in the front, while a large number of Void domain experts followed.

Since they weren’t in the starry river, none of them unleashed their domains. However, they were still as fast as lightning bolts.

The three major sects from the Domain of Heaven Python had each sent one Saint domain expert, along with three Void domain experts.

As for the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, all of their major sects, except the Pure Heaven Sect, had sent two Void domain experts on this mission.

The Domain of the Falling Stars, however, had only sent Fan Kai, a Void domain expert.

The goal of this trip to the floating continent was to get rid of the outsider intruders with quick, hard strikes. Therefore, after discussing it with his subordinates, Nie Tian had decided to take only the Saint domain and Void domain experts this time.

Since those with lower cultivation bases wouldn’t be able to serve that purpose, they hadn’t been arranged to join this mission.

The Star Boat flew among the dashing Void domain experts with Nie Tian and Dong Li standing on it.

Under Dong Li’s management, Nie Tian’s subordinate forces had already mined more than three million Star Stones from the Lizardman realm that had been assigned to him. Such a large number of Star Stones allowed him to use them however he wanted.

Several days passed...

An oval-shaped island suddenly entered Jing Feiyang’s detection range. Before he could even see anything, his immense soul awareness covered it.

“It’s not our target island, but... there are outsiders on it...” All of a sudden, Jing Feiyang’s face dropped. “There are also a large number of enslaved humans there!”

Qu Mingde and Quan Zixuan detected the anomaly as well. Their faces instantly grew grim.

Since they were still a great distance from the island, Nie Tian and Dong Li’s cultivation bases didn’t allow them to see or sense anything. With a baffled expression, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Jing Feiyang let out a low sigh. “You’ll see soon enough.” 

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

He suddenly accelerated and left the main group, along with Qu Mingde and Quan Zixuan.

“Be careful!” Nie Tian called out. “Try not to expose yourselves too early!”

Jing Feiyang’s voice echoed out from the distance where the three of them vanished. “Don’t worry. The strongest outsiders there are only at the sixth grade. They can’t be easier to kill.”

Nie Tian then sped up the Star Boat as well.

An hour later, the island Jing Feiyang had detected entered Nie Tian’s eyes.

Floating over the island were mysterious magical symbols of different colors. Small sword lights were hovering around and sealing the island, along with dazzling golden sparks that could seen at several corners of the island.

From the look of it, the three Saint domain experts had completely sealed the island, preventing the outsiders’ voices, soul messages, or bloodline fluctuations from leaving the island.

Only after the Star Boat flew closer did the three Saint domain experts’ island-sealing power gradually dissipate.

BZZZ!

The Star Boat came to a stop over the island.

Floating high in the sky, Nie Tian looked down, and saw dead Demons, Blackscales, and Stonemen in different areas of the island.

Apparently, the three Saint domain experts had finished off every single outsider on the island within a very short time.

In fact, considering their Saint domain cultivation bases, they could have annihilated them upon encountering them.

The only reason why it had taken them longer was because they had sealed the island first to prevent information of any form from leaving the island, so that other outsiders wouldn’t be alarmed.

Aside from the dead outsiders, Nie Tian also saw numerous human corpses.

They were also scattered in different locations on the island, as they seemed to have been mining spiritual materials and gathering spirit plants.

All of them were dressed in rags, and were skinny and miserable like beggars.

Each and every one of them had a silver ring around their necks that was carved with patterns that were unique to Demons.

“They were these Demons’ slaves,” Jing Feiyang said with a grim look in his eyes. “When Demons invade human domains, they take human slaves and use them to mine spiritual materials and collect medicinal plants. Due to their less effective reproduction, outsider populations aren’t nearly as great as humans. However, they also control a large number of domains and realms, so they need slaves to work for them.

“For hundreds of thousands of years, once a human domain fell into outsiders’ hands, the mortals would be butchered and used as sacrificial offerings to their ancestors or gods. Qi warriors that could pose a threat to their rule would be killed as well. The ones that were considered non-threatening would be kept as their slaves.

“Many slaves would be arranged to go to realms that were unfit for human cultivators, where they would be forced to mine materials that could be forged into tools, and collect medicinal plants that could be used to refine their bloodline power in pitch-black caves.

“If they dared to disobey their outsider masters or displeased them in any way, they would be killed on site.”

Pointing at a pile of dead humans, he continued, “They might have lived happily in domains like the Domain of the Falling Stars or the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries before they were taken as slaves. Their sects probably lost their battle against the outsider invaders. Their powerful experts were slaughtered, while they were taken as slaves. Their life or death was completely in the hands of their outsider masters.”

Looking at thousands of corpses of his own kind that were scrawny like ghouls, Nie Tian felt sad and angry.

A cold feeling filled Dong Li’s heart as she looked at the miserable bodies. “Fortunately, the Domain of the Falling Stars survived two outsider invasions because of your incredible performance. If our domain had been sacked by the outsiders’ joint army back then, our families and friends might have been among these miserable ones here. Even you and I might have been among these corpses.”

Face very grim, Quan Zixuan said, “The silver rings around their necks could destroy their sea of awareness in a breath’s time. We should have been more careful. If we had killed all the outsiders in a split second, not giving them the time to set off the power within those neck rings, these poor people might have lived.”

“Damn these outsiders!” Qu Mingde roared furiously. “They all deserve to die!”

The three of them were from the Domain of Heaven Python, which had recently suffered from an outsider invasion.

Many of their realms had been plundered by outsiders, and many of their subordinate forces had been wiped out, their people taken as slaves.

All slaves would share the same fate: eventually slaughtered by the outsiders.

The Bonebrutes were even more coldblooded. They would rapidly slaughter every single human in the realms they took, and then ship the corpses to their burial grounds to produce death power for them.

The reason why the three of them were so indignant was because what they were looking at reminded them of their friends and family who had been killed and enslaved.

They should have been there to protect them. However, since the outsiders had struck them fast and hard, they hadn’t been able to fight in different locations at the same time, which had resulted in the tragic fate of their loved ones.

After pondering for a moment, Jing Feiyang withdrew every bit of his killing aura and said, “There must be other locations like this one, where human slaves are being used to mine spiritual materials and collect spirit plants. Let’s be extra careful next time, and make sure that we wipe out every outsider in an instant. Never give them time to react!”

Both Quan Zixuan and Qu Mingde nodded vigorously, knowing what to do next time.

“Do we collect things on this island?” Dong Li asked in a low voice.

After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian shook his head. “No. The spiritual materials and medicinal plants here are a part of this floating continent. We can’t take them. As for the valuables on these low-grade outsiders, I don’t think they’re worth taking.”

He could have had the Spirit Pearl collect the discarnate souls on the island.

However, if he did, the Spirit Pearl would collect souls indiscriminately, outsider and human alike.

Seeing how indignant Jing Feiyang and the others were, he knew that he would make them very uncomfortable if he were to take away these poor humans’ discarnate souls using the Spirit Pearl.

Therefore, he eventually gave up the idea.

“Alright, let’s move out!” Qu Mingde called out. “We need to be extra careful from now on.”

As expected, Jing Feiyang discovered another island a few hours later.

He told Nie Tian and the others to stay back, while he, Quan Zixuan, and Qu Mingde were going to hide their auras and kill every single outsider on the island in a flash.

That way, the outsiders wouldn’t be able to react and trigger the power within the neck rings, killing all the human slaves.

With these words, the three of them vanished like shadows.

Moments later, Jing Feiyang’s message came from the distance.

Only then did Nie Tian speed up the Star Boat and fly into the distance.

Soon, the Star Boat stopped over an island that was just like the previous one.

Jing Feiyang, Quan Zixuan, and Qu Mingde had succeeded this time.

They had annihilated all of the outsiders on the island in a split second, leaving hundreds of scrawny human slaves gazing blankly into the sky with silver rings around their necks.

“Nie... Nie Tian?!” A weak exclamation came from a corner of the island.

Nie Tian jerked his head towards the source of the exclamation, and found himself looking at a skinny, dark-skinned woman in rags. Brow furrowed, he asked uncertainly, “Su... Su Lin?”