The waves on Black Water Lake gradually subsided.

After devouring those black-robed Qi warriors, the spirit beasts circled around in the lake to absorbe the green water, and then descended back to the depths of the lake.

With fine rain drizzling down from the sky, Black Water Lake became peaceful and quiet again, as if nothing had happened.

Standing by the shore, Luo Xin said in a low voice, her heart filled with frigid coldness, “What a cunning and vicious woman!”

Not having her own Heaven Eyes, she wasn’t able to get every detail of what had happened in the lake as Nie Tian did.

However, she was able to tell that those seven Qi warriors from the Realm of Black Marsh were eaten alive by the spirit beasts due to Dong Li’s appearance.

Dong Li had warned those black-robed Qi warriors to come back ashore in a loud voice, while knowing perfectly well that ferocious spirit beasts were residing in the depths of the lake.

Obviously, it hadn’t been her intention to let those Qi warriors realize the consequences and thus return to the shore.

By threatening and warning them, she had actually intended to make them feel a sense of urgency, so that they would rush towards the spirit plants on the central islands.

As it turned out, her scheme worked. Two other middle Greater Heaven stage Qi warriors had joined the plan and rushed towards the small islands, and as the result, none of the seven black-robed Qi warriors had survived those spirit beasts’ sharp teeth.

The mere thought of Dong Li’s trickery made Luo Xin’s blood run cold. She couldn’t help but turn to Nie Tian ask, “How in the world did you manage to survive till now after offending that woman?”

Nie Tian also seemed in awe after witnessing such a brutal scene. He smiled without saying a word.

Deep down, he knew that if he hadn’t caught a whiff of Dong Li’s scheme in the dense forest with the help of his Heaven Eyes, he might have been killed by Dong Li already, like Shen Wei and the others.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered how he had pretended to like her and then humiliated her in the dense forest.

He understood how much Dong Li must hate him. Now that they were in the Dong Clan’s territory, Dong Li had access to all the resources she needed. Once she discovered his whereabouts, it would be hard to say if he would be able to leave the Realm of a Hundred Battles in one piece.

Seeing that Nie Tian had fallen silent, Luo Xin smiled bitterly and suggested, “We’d better get away from that woman as soon as possible. The way I see it, there might be other people from the Realm of Black Marsh in this area, and they are probably coming for her. But even so, I doubt that they will be able to hurt that woman. We’d better get out of here while the thing between them isn’t over.”

Nie Tian nodded as he commanded his Heaven Eyes, which he had previously summoned to float right above Black Water Lake, to spread out.

That was when he noticed that the brawling and struggling in Black Water Lake had attracted three teams of human Qi warriors that had been exploring in the vicinity. Driven by curiosity, they were rapidly converging on the lake from different directions.

Nie Tian could tell from the way they were dressed that none of the groups were from the Realm of Black Marsh.

But unfortunately, the group of Cloudsoaring Sect members wasn’t among them.

He also sensed that the brawling seemed to have attracted the attention of spirit beasts that were foraging in further areas. He could tell that a few surges of vigorous life fluctuations were growing clearer and clearer, which meant a number of spirit beasts were also approaching Black Water Lake.

Considering that the situation was getting increasingly complicated, Nie Tian didn’t intend to stay any longer, lest he and Luo Xin get into trouble.

Just as he was about to leave, Dong Li, who was standing a significant distance away from him, suddenly chuckled and called out into the air, “Hua Tian! I know you’re here, and I know you can hear me! Listen! I want you to come out and help me annihilate all the rats from the Realm of Black Marsh in this area!”

Luo Xin was confused. “Hua Tian...? Who’s Hua Tian?”  

However, Nie Tian’s expression flickered as his momentum came to a stop.

“The woman is crazy,” Nie Tian whispered. “Only a fool would answer her calls.” 

“Hua Tian!” Dong Li called out again. “I know why you’re here. I know some of your family and friends are currently in my clan’s territory. Perhaps they’re not far from here. I hope you understand that this is my turf.

“If you dare to ignore me, I can assure you that, even if those friends and family of yours are still alive, there’s no way that you’ll get them out of the Realm of a Hundred Battles alive!

“You’d better believe that I’m capable of making good on my word!”

“Bitch!!” Nie Tian burst into a flaming rage.

At first, Luo Xin didn’t know what was going on. However, seeing that Dong Li’s words seemed to have hit Nie Tian in his weak spot, she suddenly came to her senses. “The Hua Tian she talked about is you, right?”

Nie Tian nodded with a furious, yet somewhat embarrassed, expression on his face.

“She’s threatening you, isn’t she?” Luo Xin asked anxiously. “Does she mean that if you don’t agree to her terms, she will mobilize the Dong Clan’s resources to hunt down our exploration team, including your grandfather and Nie Qian?”  

“Yeah! That’s exactly what she meant!” Nie Tian said, his voice filled with fury.

With a bitter expression, Luo Xin said softly, “Well, after all, this is the Dong Clan’s territory. As the clanmaster’s daughter, she does have access to all the Dong Clan’s resources. If she really wants to capture them, I doubt that your grandfather and their team will be able to escape.

“Furthermore, the Dong Clan has a lot of pull in the Realm of a Hundred Battles. They have a significant share of everything within Water Moon City.

“Even the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce would have to give them face. If the Dong Clan gives the order, I’m afraid we will have no hope of returning to the Realm of Flame Heaven through the teleportation portals in Water Moon City.”

Upon hearing Luo Xin’s words, Nie Tian had a even worse headache over the situation. “Dammit! How did that woman know I was here?”

At the same time...

A band of Qi warriors from the Realm of Black Marsh jumped out from behind a bush. Not only did they reveal themselves, but they also started charging directly towards Dong Li.

Nie Tian examined them with his Heaven Eyes, and discovered that there were about ten of them, and that they were all at the Greater Heaven stage, with two of them at the late Greater Heaven stage.

The deaths of their seven companions must have stimulated their killing nature. Their original plan had just been to stop Dong Li. After all, they didn’t want to kill her and start an unforgivable feud with the Dong Clan. But from the look of it, they had changed their mind. The leader of the band, a black-robed man with a hawkish nose, ordered with a grim expression, “Kill that bitch! As long as she lives, she’ll be able to summon spirit beasts from the depths of Black Water Lake again. With those spirit beasts there, none of us will be able to get through them to the three central islands.”

According to his assessment, Dong Li was the one who could ruin their entire plan. As for the Hua Tian she had just called out to, he didn’t know anything about him, and thus didn’t attach much importance to him.

The man, who had been shocked by his friends’ deaths on his way to attack Dong Li and thus stopped midway, heard their leader’s order. With an angry roar, he unleashed numerous streaks of toxic, dark-green smoke, which shot towards Dong Li like slithering snakes.

Without the slightest fear on her face, Dong Li took out the cyan awl she had once used to fight Nie Tian.

A layer of misty, cyan light suddenly spread out and wreathed the cyan awl. The vague figure of a beast could be seen inside the light.

“Do you really imagine that you can kill me on your own?” Dong Li sneered, not fearing the approaching dark-green smoke in the least. Then, with a fling of her hand, the cyan awl exploded towards the Qi warrior from the Realm of Black Marsh, the vague beast within the cyan light roaring silently.

Dong Li, however, rapidly stepped backwards after casting her cyan awl.

Judging by her stance, she seemed to be very eager to put a sizable distance between her enemy and herself, as if she weren’t good at fighting in close quarters.

Upon seeing this, her attacker’s eyes lit up as he started to use every possible means to get close to her.

Standing on the shore, Nie Tian quietly observed the battle between them, his face turning increasingly grim. “The woman is indeed full of vicious tricks!” 

Back when they had encountered a powerful Golden Stone Rhino in the dense forest in the Void Illusion Mountain Range, Dong Li had tangled with it for a long time. She hadn’t seemed to have had any problem fighting it up close.

She was one of the few people he knew that was very good at fighting in close quarters.

However, she deliberately acted as if she was afraid of getting into close-up combat with her opponent, so that her opponent would get the wrong message and thus try every possible method to get close to her.

Her stunning cunningness made Nie Tian increasingly vigilant.

“Hua Tian!” Dong Li shouted as she stepped backwards, a panicked expression stretching across her face. “I’ll count to three. If you still don’t show up and help me after I’m finished, you can prepare coffins for your friends and family!”

As her opponent pressed closer to her, the terrified and panicked expression on her face seemed to become increasingly heartfelt.

The way she called out to Hua Tian also sounded very desperate and helpless.

However, Nie Tian knew that the man, who thought he had gained the upper-hand, was going to suffer a deadly defeat.

Anxious and uneasy, Luo Xin asked, “What should we do? That woman is clearly taking advantage of the situation to force you to come out. What do you think we should do?”

“I have no choice but to show myself and help her,” Nie Tian said reluctantly.

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