Now that Nie Tian thought about the process, everything made sense.
When he formed the first starspark, it was as easy as rolling over a log.
However, when he formed the second starspark, it required not only several times more stardew, but more effort and devotion.
By the time the fifth starspark appeared, the time and energy he had consumed to form it had surpassed that of the previous four starsparks combined.
The reason why he couldn’t create a sixth starspark and add it to the formation of starsparks was probably because it was currently out of his reach, considering his cultivation base.
Furthermore, he had also noticed that when he was exerting all his power to form the fifth starspark, his four vortexes of spiritual power had rotated abnormally fast.
Even his spiritual sea became somewhat unstable; huge waves rampaged through the normally-calm surface of his spiritual sea.
By the time the fifth starspark finally formed, he found that he had somehow consumed a substantial amount of spiritual power.
Perhaps his inability to form a sixth starspark had a great deal to do with his cultivation base, the development of his spiritual sea, and the resilience of his fleshy body.
He still needed more time to peel back and solve the profundity of this matter.
After reaching a brief understanding of the magic, Nie Tian took a deep breath and flung the formation of five starsparks out of his palm. “Go!”
As the five starsparks sailed through the air at lightning speed, they continued to maintain their formation, and the distances between them didn’t change noticeably.
BOOM!
The five of them simultaneously crashed into the trunk of an enormous ancient tree like five falling stars.
Upon impact, the tree didn’t split and explode like the ones before.
Rather, under the extremely powerful clash, the tree that reached into the heavens was immediately reduced to a world of flying wooden bits.
When the blinding light faded away, Nie Tian walked toward the location where the tree used to be, his face filled with shock.
The several dozen meter-tall tree was already nowhere to be found; all he could see were countless bits of wood falling from the sky like it was snowing.
Nie Tian looked down and saw a half-meter-deep hole in the solid ground.
Facing the falling bits of wood and the huge hole in the ground, Nie Tian couldn’t help but marvel.
“The might of this strike can be even compared to that of a Rage Punch! Moreover, I don’t have to fight an enemy at close quarters to use it! Simply marvelous!
“Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace… Fragmentary Star Incantation… Starstrike…”
Nie Tian was very excited as he finally saw for himself the might of the legacy he had obtained from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
It was also at that moment he noticed that the ancient characters that had carried the mysteries of the Starstrike were rapidly growing blurry and vanishing from the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
No matter how hard he looked, he could no longer find any description of the Starstrike in that fragmentary star mark.
However, the method of how to form starsparks had already been permanently carved in his mind, meaning that he had already mastered the profound truths of this magic and made it part of himself.
In light of this, by the time he mastered Starshift and Starfall, the other two magics recorded in the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation, the first fragmentary star mark would disappear completely.
During the following few days, Nie Tian continued to practice the Starstrike as he hunted more second and third grade spirit beasts at the outer edge of the dense forest.
As he did, his understanding regarding how to cast this magic and form starsparks rose to new heights.
Even still, however hard he tried, he failed to form a sixth starspark in his palm.
Only then did he realize that he might have to make a significant breakthrough to be able to create the sixth starspark and form a new formation of starsparks.
It could be a breakthrough in his cultivation base, another round of expansion to his spiritual sea, or building his physical strength to certain degree.
After realizing that it was out of his reach for the time being, Nie Tian decided not to waste more time and energy on it, and thus put that thought on hold.
He turned to another problem that had been bothering him.
When he had repeatedly tried to form new starsparks, his stock of stardew ran low very quickly.
Even though he had spent every single night channeling star power from the heavens into his vortex of star power, the speed at which he generated stardew was still too slow.
In light of this, he took out the handful of cultivation materials that contained star power from his bracelet of holding and drained their power.
Cultivating with those materials was clearly more efficient than cultivating with starlight.
However, his collection of that kind of cultivation material was very limited, and he thus ran out in a short time.
Nie Tian sighed as he sat on the branch of a tall, ancient tree, contemplating, “Those cultivation materials were just like spirit stones. The only difference was that, instead of carrying spiritual power, they carried star power.
“If I can get more of them, I’ll be able to cultivate just as well in Shatter City, and I won’t be stuck in the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
“I just need to find out where I can get more of them…”
All of a sudden, one of his Heaven Eyes detected a band of six people.
It wasn’t the first time Nie Tian had detected them since he had come to this forest.
Via his Heaven Eyes, Nie Tian heard their conversations, and rapidly learned the goal and destination of their trip.
The six of them were all at the Heaven stage and had come from Shatter City; four of them were at the middle Heaven stage, and two were at the late Heaven stage.
They had started by hunting second and third grade spirit beasts around the perimeter of this forest.
However, they only took the skin, horns, and teeth of their prey, which they could use to trade for spirit stones after returning to Shatter City.
In the following days, Nie Tian tailed them and put away the spirit beast flesh and blood which they had discarded.
In that way, Nie Tian didn’t need to fight spirit beasts himself, but could still obtain valuable spirit beast meat and blood without breaking a sweat.
For that reason, he kept observing them via his Heaven Eyes and maintained a reasonable distance from them as he tailed them.
After roaming about at the outer edge of the forest for a few days, the six of them gradually grew tired of hunting third grade spirit beasts. Therefore, they decided to go to the next level: go deeper into the forest and hunt fourth grade spirit beasts.
The strength of a fourth grade spirit beast matched that of a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior, making them much more dangerous than third grade spirit beasts.
If the six of them split up to search for spirit beasts, no matter which of them encountered a fourth grade spirit beast, they would undoubtedly fall prey to it.
However, if they traveled and acted as a whole, they would have a good chance of killing a fourth grade spirit beast together, but their searching efficiency would drop significantly.
On another issue, if they marched deeper into the forest, they might encounter two fourth grade spirit beasts at the same time.
Considering their battle prowess, they wouldn’t stand a chance fighting two fourth grade spirit beasts at the same time.
Just like that, their discussion went on and on.
Soon, via his Heaven Eyes, Nie Tian heard them discussing bringing in new members to make their team stronger, so that they would be able to march deeper into the forest.
Sitting in the tree, Nie Tian couldn’t help but wonder, “Fourth grade spirit beasts…”
During the past few days, all the meat he had consumed had been from second or third grade spirit beasts, which contained far less flesh power than the meat of the Golden Stone Rhino.
Considering that he could only consume a certain amount of meat in one meal, if he could switch the meat he consumed to that from a fourth grade spirit beast, the amount of flesh power he could obtain from a single serving would increase severalfold.
Since those six people were only after the spirit beast’s bones, teeth and skin, and they had no interest in the spirit beasts’ flesh, they would probably be happy to add Nie Tian to their team if Nie Tian could help them slaughter fourth grade spirit beasts, but only demanded the spirit beasts’ blood and flesh.
“Perhaps I should help them make up their mind.” After pondering for a while, Nie Tian jumped off the tree and rapidly moved towards the location of the six people.
As he drew closer, he intentionally stomped his feet.
One of the late Heaven stage cultivators was the first to sense Nie Tian’s movement. Like an alarmed bird, he called out, “Who’s there?!”
At the same time, the other five also seemed rather rattled as they hastily drew their spiritual tools and prepared for battle.
They knew very well that danger could be lurking in any dark corner in the Void Illusion Mountain Range. Most of the time, people were more deadly than powerful spirit beasts.
Since they had teamed up and explored in the Void Illusion Mountain Range for years, they could tell it was a person the moment they heard Nie Tian’s footsteps.
They knew that the Void Illusion Mountain Range was especially turbulent these days.
They were afraid that they would get involved in the conflicts between the three major forces or encounter the reckless maniac, Li Langfeng.
When Nie Tian showed up in front of them, their leader examined Nie Tian with his psychic awareness, and discovered that Nie Tian was merely at the early Heaven stage. Only then did his suspended heart ease up.
However, as soon as his sense of danger was eliminated, a new idea rose in his heart. Even the way he looked at Nie Tian grew strange.
It was all about killing and being killed in the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
Once someone weak showed up, the first thought that came to their heads was to kill him and take his valuables.
Nie Tian instantly saw through their minds and said, “I’m a guest elder of the Blood Skull.”
Then, he took out his identity medallion and showed it to them.
“A guest elder of the Blood Skull?” Their leader’s expression flickered slightly after getting a clear view of the Blood Skull pattern on Nie Tian’s identity medallion.
The six of them had come from Shatter City, so they respected the power of the Blood Skull. Even though what Nie Tian had was only an identity medallion for a guest elder, it made a significant impact on their hearts.
After all, they were aware that a guest elder of the Blood Skull might very well be more powerful than a formal Blood Skull member.
“I think the kid is playing with us.” Face filled with suspicion, a middle Heaven stage woman questioned Nie Tian’s identity. “He’s only at the early Heaven stage. Why in the world would the Blood Skull offer him a guest elder’s identity medallion? We’ve lived in Shatter City for years, but we’ve never heard of the Blood Skull taking in a guest elder with such a low cultivation base!”
Nie Tian laughed broadly and said, “Believe it or not, my name is Li Tian, and I mean you no harm. If you’re marching deeper into the forest, I want to join you. I’ll help you kill fourth grade spirit beasts if we encounter any. All I want is their blood and meat; all the rest are yours.”
“You only want the blood and meat?” The man went blank for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am.”