Before Nie Tian headed to the Hell sect to participate in the Heaven Gate trial, Wu Ji had mentioned to him that chosen ones from the other nine realms would also be there.
They were all talented young cultivators who had profound, high-level spiritual tools and spiritual incantations at their disposal.
Apart from that, every single one of them had a master with unlimited resources… any of whom could possibly be even more powerful than Wu Ji.
Furthermore, the Qi warrior sects that they were from were also far stronger than the Cloudsoaring sect, and could potentially have longer histories and more resources than the Hell sect.
Wu Ji urged him to be extra careful if he came across such chosen ones.
In Nie Tian’s eyes, Wu Ling from the Realm of Unbounded Desolation must be one of the chosen ones that his master had warned him about.
The long, strange saber in his hand and the spiritual armor he was wearing were both far beyond ordinary.
Nie Tian had seen Wu Ling being engulfed by the millions of sparks created when the spiritual energy balls exploded.
However, as soon as Wu Ling unveiled his spiritual armor, just the bright light that shot out of it managed to kill off every last one of the sparks.
Afterwards, Wu Ling stood there, completely unscathed. Only the light that had shot out of his spiritual armor slightly dimmed.
“It seems that I’ve underestimated the Realm of Flame Heaven.” Wu Ling made his way through a sea of sparks as he strode towards Nie Tian.
With every step he took, countless rays of light shot out from his spiritual armor, extinguishing the sparks near him.
Wu Ling frowned as he said. “I didn’t expect the Realm of Flame Heaven to have people this impressive…” From the look of it, he had finally started to consider Nie Tian as a worthy opponent and no longer dared to underestimate him.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
The long saber in Wu Ling’s hand constantly exuded faint auras. All of a sudden the three eyes on the blade focused on Nie Tian.
As soon as they locked onto Nie Tian, Nie Tian started to experience stabbing pains in his eyes, after which tears began uncontrollably flowing out of them.
Meanwhile, a surge of bloodthirsty, evil psychic power entered Nie Tian’s mind.
Clearly, the evil psychic power didn’t come from Wu Ling, but rather came from the saber itself.
To be exact, it came from the three wide open eyes on the blade.
The eyes were originally a dark, blue-violet color. However, at that moment, they suddenly shed their original color and became green, red, and black.
He had the feeling that he had been locked down by three terrifying, fiendish devils, and the moment they entered him, they started gnawing on his mind.
Nie Tian hurriedly steadied his mind and rapidly retracted the psychic power that he had sent out to control the spiritual energy balls.
He gathered all his psychic power in his mind and turned it into giant, sharp blades, madly cutting through the evil psychic power that had invaded his mind, hoping to get rid of it as soon as possible.
“I can’t believe that your psychic power is every bit as strong as mine!” Wu Ling grinned. His expression was brutal and sinister as he continued, “But what a shame. Apparently you don’t seem to know any psychic magics. It makes sense though. After all, you’re from the Realm of Flame Heaven, which is the weakest of all nine realms. Plus, considering your poor cultivation base, I guess you haven’t met the qualifications to learn those profound psychic magics yet.”
With a vicious grin on his face, he gradually sped up as he approached Nie Tian.
At that moment, Nie Tian’s mind had already been occupied by the evil psychic power and could no longer command the spiritual energy balls to block Wu Ling’s way forward.
The distance between them quickly shortened from dozens of meters to less than ten meters.
Within such a short distance, the effect of all of Wu Ling’s spiritual incantations and secret magics would be maximized.
All of a sudden, he stopped.
SHEW!
A blade of light that was almost twenty meters long shot out of his bizarrely shaped long saber, and started to devour the spiritual energy around it the moment it was formed.
Seconds later, the originally long and thin light blade expanded several times and became a terrifying, wide blade that could slice open the heavens. Without any hesitation, it slashed towards Nie Tian.
“What a pity…” Su Lin from the Heaven Palace sect in the Realm of Mystic Heaven softly shook her head, assuming Nie Tian would die beyond the shadow of a doubt.
She also noticed that Nie Tian’s mind had already been invaded by the evil psychic power that had originated from the three demonic eyes on Wu Ling’s blade.
Even though Nie Tian’s psychic power was by no means weaker than Wu Ling’s, he didn’t seemed to know any high-leveled psychic magics that he could use to contend with the psychic attack of the three demonic eyes.
Under the fierce attack, Nie Tian’s soul seemed to have already been occupied, and thus he couldn’t even bring himself up to defend against the incoming slash of the terrifying light blade.
She was convinced that Nie Tian was facing inevitable doom.
At that moment, the surge of evil psychic power had already turned into a hurricane within Nie Tian’s soul, raging and havocking, as if it was going to tear his soul into shreds.
The shield that Nie Tian had condensed with his psychic power rapidly repeated the process of shattering and reforming under the devastating impact.
Nie Tian did his utmost to defend his soul.
He could vaguely see three light dots within the center of the dark hurricane, colored green, red, and black. It was as if the three demonic eyes were issuing commands from within the eye of the hurricane.
Apparently, the frightening eyes on Wu Ling’s saber had penetrated Nie Tian’s mind along with the the invasion of the evil psychic power.
It was precisely due to their existence that Nie Tian’s mind was currently in utter chaos. It seemed that Nie Tian hadn’t found a way to effectively fight back with his own psychic power.
As Nie Tian felt his psychic power draining at frightening speed, and his defense was on the verge of breaking down, he decisively took out another talisman that his master had bestowed upon him.
Under the stimulation of a wisp of his psychic power, the talisman instantly flew out of his bracelet of holding.
In in the next moment, seven layers of jade-like spiritual power shields enveloped Nie Tian.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
As soon as the shields took form, the evil psychic power that had invaded Nie Tian’s mind started to change.
Numerous bright sparks flowed out of the seven layers of shields and rapidly entered Nie Tian’s soul.
The moment they fell into the ravaging hurricane, the three demonic eyes that had been blinking and unleashing strange power from the center died out, like candles that had been blown out by a strong gale.
At the same time, the link between Wu Ling’s saber and the evil psychic power was cut off.
HISSS! HISSS!
One after another, countless strands of dark aura rose out of the corners of Nie Tian’s eyes before vanishing into the seven layers of dazzling spiritual power.
As a result, Nie Tian’s chaotic mind was instantly returned to peace.
It was also at that moment that an incomparably giant light blade whizzed down towards him.
BANG!
As soon as it slashed onto the light shields surrounding Nie Tian, a loud sound echoed out along with blinding light and bright sparks.
From the front part where contact was made, the light blade cracked inch by inch and shattered into small pieces. However, only two of the seven layers of light shields were compromised and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Nie Tian experienced nothing but a surge of power pushing him backwards. No harm was inflicted.
It was just that he had consumed a significant amount of his psychic power to defend his soul.
“A talisman from my master can withstand the full-force strike of a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior. As powerful as Wu Ling is, he’s only in the Lesser Heaven stage. Even though he boosts his attack with his formidable spiritual weapon, the might of his attack can’t match that of a raging attack from a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior.”
Nie Tian gradually became clear-headed and with a grim face, he stared at Wu Ling.
Enveloped by five light shields and completely rid of influence of the evil psychic power, Nie Tian once again summoned his psychic power.
In an instant, numerous wisps of his psychic power shot into the remaining spiritual energy balls before all sixteen of them were sent flying towards Wu Ling with great strength and vigor.
After realizing that he had failed to kill Nie Tian with one strike, Wu Ling secretly frowned. Looking at the remaining five layers of jade-like shields surrounding Nie Tian, he gave a cold snort and said, “It seems that you’ve got a good master.”
Su Lin, who had been observing the fight between Wu Ling and Nie Tian the whole time, was amazed by the spectacle of Wu Ling’s attack ending up fruitless and Nie Tian, on the other hand, regaining a clear head and launching a counterattack with the rest of the spiritual energy balls.
After staring aghast for a moment, she turned around to check the area that all the Heaven stage Qi warriors were in, and found that they were also in the middle of deadly battles.
After a brief assessment of the situation, Su Lin finally acknowledged Nie Tian’s strength and assumed that Nie Tian was probably strong enough to wear out Wu Ling from the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.
With such a thought, Su Lin made up her mind.
She, who had been sitting in silence, suddenly turned to the white-robed young man from the Realm of Endless Ice and said, “The first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation is in our hands. Now that Wu Ling has found a worthy opponent, there’s no point in us waiting around. You and I both know that only by completing the first part of the incantation as soon as possible will we have the chance to cross the seven-colored river and try to get ahold of the middle part.”
With these words, she shot another glance at the area where all the Heaven stage experts were spilling each other’s blood.
The white-robed young man’s face turned pale with terror as he said, “What?! You even dare to think of obtaining the middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation?!”
“My sect is going to get all of the three parts of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.” With a serious tone, she continued, “A martial uncle of mine is in the Greater Heaven stage area. I believe, with his strength, he’ll undoubtedly get the final part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
“Originally, our sect planned for someone to enter the Heaven stage area. But unfortunately, he failed his assignment and died before entering the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
“As you know, none of the Greater Heaven stage participants will be able to cross the seven-colored river into the Heaven stage area, even if they obtain the final part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
“Only Lesser Heaven stage cultivators will be able to cross the river and enter the Heaven stage area after gathering all parts of the first part of the incantation.
“We’re hell-bent on getting all three parts of the Fragmentary Star Incantation. Now that my martial uncle won’t be able to go to the Heaven stage area, I’ll have to do the honors.”