It wasn’t long before all the essence of blood and Qi was absorbed by the thread of green aura residing in Nie Tian’s heart.
However, the green aura didn’t grow a bit afterwards, and no change could be seen.
The fact that he had awakened his first bloodline talent, Life Transfer, merely by consuming spirit beast meat made him anticipate that after consuming a whole Blood Pill, which contained far richer essence of flesh and blood, it would cause the green aura to change in some way, or even awaken a second bloodline talent.
Staring at the silent green aura, he was somewhat disappointed, thinking that he might need to reconsider the profundity of bloodline power.
He gradually calmed himself and started contemplating.
Then he realized that the thread of green aura must have been there for some time, and it might even existed before he had participated in the Heaven Gate trial. It was the significant amount of spirit beast meat that he had consumed throughout these months that had provided him with enough power to awaken that first bloodline talent.
He had just happened to have that meal of spirit beast meat when he had built up to the verge of breaking through, and that was why he was under the impression that a meal of spirit beat meat had made the difference.
Therefore, in order for the green aura to upgrade again, he would need to feed it with far more essence of flesh and blood.
A single Blood Pill was far from enough to achieve that.
“Bloodline…” Nie Tian marveled at the profundity of the mysterious power that resided his heart and ran through his veins.
He was also prepared to spend a long time to awaken his second bloodline talent.
It was at that moment that Zou Yi from the Ghost Sect called out, pointing down, “Look! Down on the ground!”
Nie Tian opened his eyes and looked down through the gaps between the Bone Blood Demon’s huge bones, and found that they were flying over a vast expanse of dark red wasteland.
On the wasteland, a group of human commoners were fleeing.
Chasing after them were two giant low-tier outsiders, one of which was even munching on a tender, pale arm that apparently belonged to a human girl.
With a grim look in his eyes, Zou Yi said, “Nie Tian, can you control the Bone Blood Demon to fly closer to the ground?”
“Sure.” The thought of it appeared in Nie Tian’s mind.
In the next moment, the Bone Blood Demon dashed down from midair at a high speed, and when it was less than a hundred meters from the ground, Zou Yi jumped off of the Bone Blood Demon.
As he gracefully descended, numerous pitch-black banners whizzed out of his bracelet of holding. As soon as they appeared, they unfurled against the wind, and the sinister ghosts on them could be seen.
All of a sudden, a strong cold aura that originated from Zou Yi’s mind and the vicious ghosts on his banners rushed toward the two low-tier outsiders.
Since they didn’t know how to use the power of their soul to defend themselves, upon the impact of Zou Yi’s psychic attack, they could only run away, holding their heads and screaming.
At that moment, the banners swooped down from midair, and the banner poles, which were as sharp as blades, pierced deeply into the low-tier outsiders’ gigantic bodies. They dropped dead in the next moment.
Upon seeing that Zou Yi had killed the two low-tier outsiders that had been chasing after them, all the fleeing commoners stopped and gathered around him, their faces filled with excitement and hope. “It’s Lord Zou Yi from the Ghost Sect!”
“Lord Zou Yi, You’ve come back from the Heaven Gate!”
Apparently, Zou Yi knew them. He asked, “How’s Northland City holding up?”
“The outsiders have killed most the citizens who stayed and fought.” One of them answered. “Only a handful were lucky enough to make it out alive.”
A pained expression appeared on Zou Yi’s face as he nodded to that person and said, “You should go to the Blood Sect. You’ll be safer there.”
With these words, Zou Yi leaped swiftly back onto the shoulder of the Bone Blood Demon, which had remained in the air for him.
“Aihh…” Hong Can from the Hell Sect let out a deep sigh as he shook his head.
Nie Tian’s expression also turned grim.
Li Jing, who was still sitting on her blood-colored lotus, had floated in her original position as the Bone Blood Demon descended.
Only after seeing that Zou Yi had returned to the shoulder of the Bone Blood Demon did she drive her lotus and head out toward the Ghost Sect again.
After flying over the dark-red wasteland for an hour, sitting on the Bone Blood Demon, Nie Tian saw a city that greatly resembled Black Cloud City.
“Northland City,” Zou Yi said, gnashing his teeth.
Nie Tian rose to his feet and looked down at the city from the shoulder of the Bone Blood Demon, his face growing increasingly grim.
What he saw was an empty city and a few low-tier outsiders roaming about inside of it. None of the human citizens or members of the Ghost Sect’s subordinate clans were anywhere to be found.
After searching for a while, he couldn’t even see one human survivor.
Apparently, this city, which was the size of Black Cloud City, had been raided by the low-tier outsiders and fallen.
Even though he was looking at Northland City, Nie Tian was actually picturing Black Cloud City in his mind.
Just like Northland City, Black Cloud City was also the residence of commoners and clans that clung to the seven sects.
In a city like this, there would usually be no more than two Greater Heaven stage cultivators and a handful of Heaven stage cultivators protect the city. When an army of low-tier outsiders came at their city gate, it would be almost impossible for them to save the city on their own.
Northland City was now in ruins. What would Black Cloud City be like?
Nie Tian couldn’t help but grow worried. He was afraid that even if Shen Xiu, Li Fan and the others had arrived at Black Cloud City, it might have already been too late.
His grandfather and aunt might have already fallen victim to those hideous low-tier outsiders.
“You’ll pay for this, outsider demons!” The lifeless Northland City had made Nie Tian realize how brutal this war between humans and outsiders was.
If the Realm of Flame Heaven was ever taken by the outsiders, perhaps some powerful experts from the seven sects might survive, but how many members of their subordinate clans and common citizens would survive?
“Let’s go. Northland City is a lost cause. I can’t sense any signs of life.” Sitting on her blood-colored lotus, Li Jing let out a soft sigh and drove her lotus forwards. “The decisive battle will be the one at the Ghost Sect. If we want to save the day, we’ll have to beat the main force of the outsider army at the Ghost Sect. Only by doing that will we be able to prevent further casualties.”
Zou Yi retracted his gaze from Northland City underneath them and began to thrum with an increasingly strong killing intent.
“Outsiders!!” Zou Yi bellowed in his heart.
With a thought, Nie Tian commanded the Bone Blood Demon to catch up to Li Jing as they flew towards the Ghost Sect.
On their way there, they saw two other cities that were similar to Northland City.
They were closer to the Ghost Sect, and they had more low-tier outsiders roaming inside of them. As they had expected, not a single survivor was seen.
The thought of the countless human lives that the outsider invaders had taken gradually numbed Nie Tian emotions.
It became clear to him that the conflict between humans and outsiders had become irreconcilable; either they would either wipe out the invading outsiders, or every human in the Realm of Flame Heaven would be annihilated.
“Mortals and cultivators with low cultivation bases can never protect themselves from a calamity like this,” Nie Tian muttered to himself. “Should we fail, they’ll inevitably fall prey to the outsiders.”
After seeing the three cities filled with countless mangled bodies of his own kind, Nie Tian had become more and more determined.
He knew that he needed to be stronger than the outsiders not only for himself and his family, but for every survivor in the Realm of Flame Heaven.
Only when he was strong enough would he become the master of his own fate and the fate of all those who counted on him.
He no longer paid any attention to the human corpses that he could see from time to time.
Instead, he calmed himself, and then began cultivating with spirit stones, hoping to improve his strength with every second he could find.
After all, he knew very well that they currently needed all the help they could get.
After an unknown period of time, Li Jing’s voice echoed out, “We’re almost there.”
Everyone on the Bone Blood Demon, including Nie Tian, immediately focused their sight on the distant horizon.
At first glance, Nie Tian’s expression flickered. In front of his eyes was an enormous cloud of demon Qi, inside of which figures of numerous outsiders constantly flashed about.