Nie Tian was baffled. “What? Isn’t refining and making a Void Spirit transform a necessary step to become a paragon? How do I make myself a paragon without a Void Spirit?”

“No, they’re not necessary for you,” The Divine Flame answered.

When he had communicated with the Divine Flame before, he would have to derive what it wanted to convey from the soul fluctuations it sent him.

Now, however, the Divine Flame’s soul message was being conveyed to him in a clear, precise language.

It was as if the Divine Flame’s power, intelligence, and wisdom had grown significantly after it had devoured and refined the numerous reflections of the other Void Spirits in the dark land.

“Hey, Pei, are those Void Spirits really gone?” Dong Li asked aloud.

She was still excited by the knowledge that Void Spirits were so-called paragon seeds.

“They’re gone.” As Pei Qiqi spun the Space Boundaries Crystal, wisps of spatial power flew out of it and fused into the Void Mirror.

However, neither the Space Boundaries Crystal nor the Void Mirror reflected the Void Spirits’ image.

This meant that not only had the Void Spirits left, but their so-called reflections were gone as well.

Dong Li kept glancing around, dark power swirling out of the depths of her ink-black pupils and into the Dark Aureole to aid her perception of her surroundings. “Did they flee back to the Dark Abyss? If that’s the case, the gate to the Dark Abyss must be nearby, right?”

Pei Qiqi didn’t give a response.

Nie Tian was still communicating with the Divine Flame, nodding in agreement and frowning in confusion from time to time. “Hmm… So even though you don’t know why, you know that I don’t have to tame and refine a Void Spirit to make myself a paragon? If that’s true, then I suppose something special about me can achieve the same effect...”

He tried to sort through this thought.

As he did, all of the surviving beings from the three worlds that had fallen into the dark land were flying towards their location, following the indications on the maps Ji Cang had made.

They all shared the same goal: obtain a Void Spirit, which was considered a paragon seed.

“Hmm?!”

Dong Li’s expression flickered with astonishment as their movements were reflected in the Dark Aureole hanging over her head.

The images of numerous members of the three major races of the Void World, hybrids and rogue Qi warriors from the Doomed Star Sea, and experts from the Mortal World and the Spirit World appeared in the Dark Aureole.

Each and every one of them was traveling at a fast speed, their eyes brimming with desire and greed.

“It appears that they’re all coming towards our location,” she muttered.

Nie Tian’s bloodline and soul sensed stirs as well.

The fact that he couldn’t sense and locate Ji Cang didn’t mean that his bloodline and soul perception was failing. It was only because Ji Cang was exceedingly powerful and highly skilled at hiding himself.

No other people or beings of any species could escape his perception as he did.

FIZZ!

A beam of chilly sword light seemed to cross boundless space, and suddenly arrived.

It was vested with a wisp of Yin Xingtian’s soul will.

Nie Tian sensed it with his soul, and his face dropped immediately. “It was a secret that Void Spirits are considered paragon seeds. I can’t believe everyone knows about it now! And our location has been marked out in maps engraved in all sorts of soul stones and magical runes. Now, the survivors from the three worlds are all rushing here to fight for the Void Spirits!”

“This must be Ji Cang’s doing!” Pei Qiqi said coldly.

Dong Li gasped with astonishment. “Who the hell is he? How does he have the power and ability to spread the secret of the Void Spirits and the fact that we’re fighting them here to all those who have descended to this dark land within such a short time?” 

She took a deep breath and continued, “I guess I understand that he somehow managed to inform those from the Void World, but how come those from the Doomed Star Sea, the Mortal World, and the Spirit World received information from him as well?

“Don’t tell me that he has people working for him in all the forces from the Mortal World, the Spirit World, the Void World, and the Doomed Star Sea! Only that can explain why he could spread the word, directly or indirectly, to all of the powerful experts in this dark land within such a short time!”

A coldness rose from the bottom of Pei Qiqi’s heart as she said, “If that's the case, then he’ll be an enemy even more formidable than Grand Monarch Heaven Devil! How could there be someone like him in this era?”

Nie Tian’s expression grew grim. “It appears that we’ve become the primary target for many. If we stay here, powerful outsiders from the Void World and perhaps even some human experts will come after us for the Void Spirits they yearn for so much. And since those Void Spirits happen to be gone now, they’ll probably assume that we’ve collected them.”

The thought of this gave him a headache.

People’s nature was hard to assess. How many could resist the temptation of becoming paragons?

Dong Li pondered for a while, then said, “This must be part of Ji Cang’s plan too. Whatever he says or does, the thing he wants the most is to enter the Dark Abyss through you as quickly as possible. It seems that he’ll be pleased as long as you find the gate and a way to enter.”

Nie Tian nodded. “Now, I see that too.” 

Immediately afterwards, he communicated with the Divine Flame. “How on earth can I enter the Dark Abyss?”

At that very moment, he was struck by an overwhelming, soul-piercing sense of danger, which made his heart pound violently!

His communication with the Divine Flame was instantly cut off.

He couldn’t help but tremble slightly, as if his body was telling him that something horrifying was about to arrive.

“Who or what could it be?” Nie Tian cried inwardly as he glanced around in confusion. “Grand Monarch Heaven Devil? Grand Monarch Bone Piercer? Or Grand Monarch Soul Capturer? Even if they’re actually here, I shouldn’t be feeling such unease!”

He couldn’t figure out what was happening.

“Look!” Dong Li and Pei Qiqi suddenly exclaimed together, looking up into the sky.

At this moment, every survivor in the dark land, including the God domain experts, grand monarchs of various species, gigantic creatures, and even the Tree of Life looked up into the sky with utter astonishment on their faces.

High above, beyond the entrance to this dark land, a magnificent half-naked body that stretched as long as a mountain range manifested out of nothing, surrounded by mighty lightning bolts, and started to descend slowly.

A shiny, golden piece of armor, a heart-protector, could be seen on his chest, with streaks of golden divine light that seemed to contain profound truths flying out of it.

At his Adam’s apple, a gem was emanating an extremely frigid aura.

Those on the ground couldn’t stop shivering by simply looking at it, as if even their souls were being frozen.

As his enormous body descended towards the dark land, the survivors could vaguely see that the heavens were breaking and the earth was toppling in the Realm of Shadow Devil beyond, as if it were going to collapse under the pressure from him.

Size-wise, he was smaller than the Chaos Behemoth. However, the pressure everyone was feeling from him now, as he descended, was much greater than what the Chaos Behemoth could ever give them!

Flabbergasted voices echoed in different parts of the dark land, most of whom didn’t even know where the giant being came from.

“Is that... a human?”

“How can a human be that large? Even titans that carry special bloodlines can’t grow to his size!”

“That’s the mysterious giant corpse in the depths of the Realm of Middle Continent!”

Only a handful of Nie Tian’s subordinates, who had been to the Realm of Middle Continent and heard Nie Tian talk about it, knew where it came from.

“Shouldn’t it be in that mysterious underground space in the depths of the Realm of Middle Continent? None of us could even enter that space. How did it suddenly show up here?”

“Most importantly, is he dead, or does he still have life force?”

“If he’s dead, then how did he get out of the Realm of Middle Continent, and how did he know to descend to this dark land?”

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