Spirit Realm

Outside the Dark Shadow Race’s village, the demon dragons roared while chasing down the escaping Sun Palace martial practitioners.

The Dark Shadow Race elders led by Eddie and Yuria also rose into the sky.

Many of the Dark Shadow Race youths were either treating wounds or carrying the wounded back to the caves in the middle of the mountain as quickly as possible under the elders’ command.

It was because there was only one dimming moon left in the sky right now.

“How are you doing, Yao Tian?”

Several Dark Shadow Race youths gathered around Qin Lie and asked in concern.

They were the group of people whom Qin Lie had snatched the Scarlet Spirit Turtle from earlier.

They didn’t know Qin Lie’s true name. They just assumed wrongly that Qin Lie’s name was Yao Tian after hearing it from their clan elders.

These people were all looking at Qin Lie with respect in their eyes.

As a late stage Fulfillment Realm martial practitioner who dared challenge the middle stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner and 'Son of the Sun' Jun Hongxuan into a battle and was evenly matched… Qin Lie had certainly won their respect with his performance.

They had long since set aside the old grudge from the time Qin Lie had “snatched” the Scarlet Spirit Turtle from them some time ago.

“This is a spirit pill my grandfather left behind for me back then, please eat it and recover yourself. He has taken this with him back when we first came over from the main world.”

A timid-looking Dark Shadow Race young girl passed over a green-colored pill that had a refreshing scent of plants.

Her eyes were full of sincerity.

She had a wound each on her left shoulder and lower back. The wounds were bleeding non stop.

She could’ve used this pill on herself to restore her strength swiftly and treat her wounds.

But she restrained herself and gave it to Qin Lie instead, hoping that he could recover as soon as possible.

“I’m fine.”

Qin Lie smiled and turned around twice in front of the group. After wiping the blood on his person, he said, “I’m not injured. The blood you see belongs to someone else. I myself haven’t bled.”

The blood on his person came off as he said after he wiped them away.

When the Dark Shadow Race youths finally confirmed that Qin Lie wasn’t severely injured, they couldn’t help but grow even more surprised. Everybody suddenly began to talk at once.

“Jun Hongxuan is a “Son of the Sun” Sun Palace spent much effort to raise. Not only is he at the middle stage of the Fragmentation Realm, he’s also very experienced in combat. Many people say that he’s a more difficult opponent than all the new descendants of the great races in Boluo Realm.”

“You’re so amazing, Yao Tian. You managed to fight him to a standstill even though you are clearly an entire realm below him.”

“Thank goodness you came over, or we wouldn’t have been able to chase them away.”

Qin Lie looked at them before turning his gaze to the sky. Then, he said while smiling, “Let’s head up first. The sun will rise very soon.”

“We’ll go right away.”

These young Dark Shadow clansmen cast grateful glances at him before walking up the stone stairs under their clan elders’ urges.

Qin Lie sat down on the spot.

After scanning his entire body with his soul consciousness, he discovered that the spirit energy in all three of his natal palaces inside his dantian’s spirit sea had decreased by almost half.

Even his Blood Spirit Art used nearly one third of his blood spirit energy.

Adding that to the thunder pool water and the power of his bloodline, he had used nearly one third of everything he had to take Jun Hongxuan’s Nine Suns Daylight attack head on.

In the end, the outcome was at best a draw. He didn’t manage to gain any advantage during the battle.

And this was late into the night too.

If they had fought during daytime, the Three-legged Golden Crows created from Nine Suns Daylight could absorb true fire from the sun and grow much, much stronger...

“He truly is worthy of being called the top seed raised by Gold rank force Sun Palace. He is obviously at a higher level compared to his peers in the Land of Chaos,” Qin Lie thought to himself.

He believed that Terminator Sect’s Shen Yue and Chu Li, Celestial Artifact Sect’s Luo Kexin and even Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s Tian Yu might not necessarily be able to beat Jun Hongxuan together.

But Jun Hongxuan was just one of the Sons of the Sun raised by Sun Palace. He was just one of the many “fire seeds” they raised.

Sun Palace was also just a level one Gold rank force. The strongest cultivator they possessed was only in the Void Realm.

There were a lot more forces who were stronger than Sun Palace in this vast Spirit Realm. The number of geniuses who were scarier than Jun Hongxuan might be as plentiful as sand.

If he accounted for the descendants of powerful ancient races too, then… who knew how many people of astounding talent there were in this world.

“This is not enough. Far from it. I am still not strong enough,” he muttered in a low voice.

An hour later.

Before the sun rose, all Dark Shadow clansmen who were chasing after the Sun Palace martial practitioners returned to the village.

The demon dragon Barett also transformed into his fat and obese human form and arrived at the same place.

The three Yuan brothers, Yuan Shan, Yuan Chuan and even more Yuan Family clansmen also gathered at one place.

“I knew that Sun Palace was planning something when they kept trying to delay us when we’re talking about borrowing the secret realm entrance, but I never knew that they would use this opportunity and attack ahead of time. Ruthless bastards!”

It was only now they learned that Sun Palace’s envoy had purposely visited the Demon Dragon Race to discuss with Barett and the Yuan Family the matter of using the secret realm entrance.

The envoy’s aim was to delay Barett and the Yuan Family.

Meanwhile, Jun Hongxuan led the Sun Palace martial practitioners sneakily to this place in attempt to eliminate this Dark Shadow Race branch as quickly as possible.

“I thought we were too late, but you guys sure recover quickly. You actually managed to hold on until our arrival.” Yuan Wenzhi looked around him and paid special attention to the mutilated bodies of Sun Palace martial practitioners. Then, he looked more and more stunned as his eyes turned serious. “How… how come it looks like you’re the ones who won? Did Sun Palace actually lose more people than you? How could this be?”

Even the demon dragon Barett was deeply puzzled.

Suddenly, he exhaled.

Balls of thick, demonic light that looked like pitch black clouds started floating above the village.

A very distinct soul energy rippled out of the clumps of demonic light. They looked like they were detecting something.

Ten breaths later, Barett opened his eyes and glared at Eddie, Yuria and the rest of the elders. He said, “We may have given you some spirit stones, but there’s no way it was enough for all of you to recover your strength to this level in such a short time!”

He noticed that these Dark Shadow Race elders had all regained about half of their strength.

Jun Hongxuan had suffered a big loss precisely because he didn’t predict this turn of events and he didn’t bring enough power in his haste.

“Yao Tian brought us some spirit stones when he came over. That’s why we’ve… regained some strength ahead of time,” Eddie explained.

“I see.” Barett nodded knowingly before focusing his gaze onto Qin Lie, saying, “You sure aren’t a simple man. Not only were you able to severely wound Sun Palace with an explosive type spirit artifact, you yourself are capable of fighting Jun Hongxuan.”

He might not have arrived for long, but he seemed to have noticed everything that was going on in the battle midway. No details of the battle had escaped him.

“You praised me too much, Lord Barett.” Qin Lie let out a dry laugh.

“Prepare yourselves. When the next night arrives, the Dark Shadow Race shall move to the demon dragons’ territory,” Barett said. “I’m worried that Sun Palace’s men will attack again. You need to stay together with us just in case another surprise like today happens!”

“Sun Palace is the most powerful human force in Boluo Realm, and there’s no way they’re going to stop at this. You really should stay closer to the Demon Dragon Race to be safe,” Yuan Wenzhi persuaded.

“Please give us some time to consider,” Eddie said vaguely.

Right now, the first moon was gradually vanishing.

“We will return to the caves first,” Yuria said hurriedly.

The Dark Shadow Race elders who were still at the village hastily took to the sky and slipped into the caves.

The Dark Shadow clansmen could adapt to Spirit Realm’s daytime, but Boluo Realm’s daytime had three suns that were extremely close to the ground surface. Despite living there for so many years, they were still unable to endure it.

They might be able to move under the sun, but they had to use nether demonic energy to support their movements. This meant that they would be expending even more energy.

“Yao Tian! You come over too. We have something to discuss with you!” Eddie beckoned at Qin Lie from the cave entrance, asking him to come up.

Qin Lie nodded and was about to leave.

“Wait!” You Yun of the Serene Moon Race suddenly flew over from afar. She stopped in front of Qin Lie in an instant. “I am a member of the Serene Moon Race. I wish to speak with you for a moment, if you will do me the honor.”

“I’m busy!” Qin Lie turned her down immediately.

When he came over just now, he had seen with his own eyes the Serene Moon clansmen and some Lunar Temple martial practitioners gathering in the sky.

The Serene Moon Race never attempted to interfere with the battle even though Sun Palace’s martial practitioners were killing the Dark Shadow Race.

Lunar Temple and the Serene Moon Race normally viewed Sun Palace as their sworn enemy. The fact that they stood by and did nothing this battle meant that they shared a tacit understanding with each other.

This caused Qin Lie to hate Lunar Temple and the Serene Moon Race too.

“We don’t harbor any malice. Please reconsider your decision!” You Yun’s face turned cold as she said, “This is Boluo Realm, and you have made a complete enemy out of Sun Palace! If you offend us too, then there will be no place for you in the entire Boluo Realm!”

She even cast a glance at Barett when she said this. By this, she meant that even the Demon Dragon Race couldn’t help him with this.

“Are you threatening me?” Qin Lie snorted coldly.

“You can think of it like this if you want.” You Yun didn’t deny it. “That is why I hope that you will think carefully before you act, for your own sake. You are very powerful, and I don’t wish to see a young man with such great potential to perish before you’ve fully grown.”

Then, she changed her tone and said sincerely, “I have come in good faith, you know. For example, if I really wanted to hurt or capture you, I wouldn’t have waited until the Demon Dragon Race arrived.”

She used both the carrot and the stick in hopes that Qin Lie would relent a little. Once that worked, she would slowly pry the information she needed from Qin Lie’s mouth.

“This boy has nothing to do with me,” Barett said suddenly.

“Nothing to do with you?” A momentary blank later, You Yun suddenly cast a puzzled glance at the old demon dragon. Then, she reacted abruptly, “Lord Barett, you’re saying… that you’re just intent on allying with the Dark Shadow Race? You don’t intend to extend your protection to him?”

“That is right,” Barett said indifferently.

The moment he said this, You Yun shot a glare at Lin Jie and You Qianlan, seemingly blaming the duo for misleading her.

The reason she stopped Lin Jie and You Qianlan earlier and didn’t capture Qin Lie alive herself was because she was worried about the Dark Shadow Race’s retaliation. But what scared her more… was Barett himself.

As the leader of the Demon Dragon Race in Boluo Realm, Barett was a character who could truly threaten the Serene Moon Race. She also knew that Barett had a bad temper, and she was afraid that she would provoke his ire and cause him to go mad, bringing many troubles to the Serene Moon Race.

That was why she was ready to use both the carrot and the stick to negotiate with Qin Lie. Moreover, she was mainly going to use the carrot as her main method and the stick as the support.

She never thought that Barett had no intentions of protecting Qin Lie at all.

“You’re a human brat with no background or people to support you. No matter how great your potential is or how strong your talents are, you’re just in the Fulfillment Realm!”

You Yun’s face experienced complete reversal as her gentle mask faded completely like tidewater. Then, she cast an extremely disdainful glance at Qin Lie and said harshly, “How dare you, a mere Fulfillment Realm human brat act arrogant before me? Who the hell do you think you are?! Come back with me to the Serene Moon Race’s scared land, or I’ll let you know the price you pay for your arrogance, you lowly fool!”

This woman flipped out faster than one could flip a book.