Spirit Realm

“You know who he is, don’t you?”

After the Spirit Race, the Winged Race, and the Bone Race squad had passed them by, Stanca asked her with a surprised look. “He nearly killed you back there, so why did you let him go?”

Indigo was holding a tiny Darklight Stone, so Stanca could see a downcast look appearing on her delicate features. She looked down and said quietly, “He and I are somewhat connected.”

Stanca was caught off guard by her answer.

He had recently learned that Indigo was an unprecedented Spirit Seed who was destined to become chief of the Spirit Race in the future. On the other hand, Qin Lie was just a mixed-blood in the Qin Family despite the extraordinary amount of power he displayed earlier.

He knew full well that mixed-bloods normally held lower status within the God Race. Moreover, the Blaze Family currently sat at the bottom of the five families right now.

In Stanca’s eyes, Qin Lie and the little girl before him were leagues apart from each other.

That was why he couldn’t imagine any connection that might exist between them.

“I don’t want to explain too much. All I ask from you is to keep this a secret. I can promise you and your people my protection, and that you won’t return from this expedition empty-handed.” Indigo’s tone was honest and sincere. “I will also do my best to protect your race’s interests. What do you think?”

“I still don’t understand what’s going on here.” Stanca frowned.

“Just promise me this,” Indigo begged.

Stanca watched her for a moment before nodding. “Alright.”

“Please wait for me here. We’ll go back together once I return,” Indigo asked again.

While Stanca was still wrestling with her strange request, Indigo had abruptly vanished into the distance.

“She’s heading towards Qin Lie…”

Stanca looked surprised as he stared at the direction Indigo had vanished to. Suddenly, he understood that Indigo’s “private talk” with him was just her secondary objective. What she really wanted to do was to visit Qin Lie.

This discovery puzzled him even more.

“Why are you so concerned about a person who nearly killed you? Not only did you not take revenge against him, you made all these excuses just to turn back and find him? What on earth is your relationship? And if you really do share a relationship, why… did he try to kill you just now?” Stanca frowned deeply in thought, but he just couldn’t figure it out no matter what.

After Indigo left Stanca’s side, she activated her bloodline secret art as if she was aware that she was running out of time.

She had just recently recovered from heavy injuries, so it wasn’t actually good for her health to use her bloodline powers during this time. However, she had clearly tossed Sienna and Bagi’s advices to the back of her mind.

Her face grew paler and paler as the “Circle of Life” technique circulated in her body. However, her movement grew faster and faster as a result.

“Whoosh!”

When she finally returned to Qin Lie, she shuddered and bit her lips subconsciously.

At the same time, the five Spirits of Void and Chaos who were guarding Qin Lie instantly exited their intangible, illusory state and began glowing brightly.

They were all floating around Qin Lie and inspecting her with wary eyes.

Indigo hadn’t fully recovered from her terrible wounds, and her forced activation of “Circle of Life” had worsened her condition further. She knew that her health wasn’t doing too well, so she didn’t dare get too close to Qin Lie and the Spirits of Void and Chaos.

She stared at Qin Lie—still cultivating the Tombstone Fusion Art with his eyes closed—as her fists clenched around the corner of her clothes tighter and tighter.

She looked a little nervous and afraid. She looked like she wanted to move closer and say something, but wasn’t sure how to start.

She subconsciously took a step forward.

The energy surrounding all five spirits of chaos instantly grew turbulent. It was a clear show of warning.

She immediately stopped in her tracks.

The amount of power the Spirits of Void and Chaos were discharging worried her a little because she hadn’t fully recovered.

That was why she simply watched Qin Lie from the distance. A while later, she finally remembered that the Spirit Race might grow anxious if she didn’t return soon, so she left as quietly as she came.

She was so silent it was as if she had never come over from the beginning.

The moment she vanished, the five Spirits of Void and Chaos released their physical state and seemingly let out a sigh of relief amongst themselves.

The world returned to absolute darkness.

Time passed slowly until Qin Lie suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked at the spatial ring on his hand and the seven godly lights that had seeped out of it. A smile appeared on his face.

The seven godly lights were of course the divine light of the Flesh Filling Tombstone. With a thought, he sent them back into the spatial ring and the Flesh Filling Tombstone.

He contacted the thunder spirit, wanting to ask how the battle between Hao Jie and Diga were going.

“Yiyaya…”

All five Spirits of Void and Chaos talked at once and told him everything that happened while he was cultivating earlier.

“The Spirit Race was here!”

He sent a concentrated wisp of soul consciousness into the thunder spirit’s soul after the initial shock wore off.

Many clear images began to flash through his mind. He saw the Spirit Race, Bone Race and Winged Race passing by his location. He saw how angry and murderous Sienna, Bagi and the rest of the Spirit Race clansmen were when they saw him. He saw Salleh and Stanca looking hesitant, and the girl surprisingly persuading them against taking revenge against him. Finally, he saw her returning to his side a second time, watching him nervously and anxiously...

After he had replayed the thunder spirit’s soul memories in his mind, he imprinted them all into his own mind.

“Why? Why did she stop Sienna and Bagi? And why did she come back?”

Indigo’s unusual actions puzzled him just as much as it puzzled Stanca. He couldn’t understand why she did what she did, or why she gave him special treatment.

“What a strange little girl…”

He muttered to himself after a long time had passed. The way her eyes when she looked at him from the darkness, the downcast look on her face, her nervousness and anxiety; all of them had become memories that refused to fade away from his mind no matter how he tried to wave them away.

“I don’t know her. I can’t remember ever meeting her before in my life. Not even the guy from three hundred years ago had any relations with her, did he? What on earth is going on here?”

Try as he might, he couldn’t find an answer to his dilemma. The only thing he got for his efforts was the increasingly unforgettable silhouette of a fragile-looking girl standing in the distance.

He couldn’t understand what was going on with himself.

“I should go to the Bloodthirst Family and take a look. I want to know the conclusion to that fight!” He shook his head strongly as if he could shake all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind. “Go check who’s still alive and who’s dead, will you?”

The fastest spirit of them all, the thunder spirit vanished on the spot after hearing his instructions.

The rest of the Spirits of Void and Chaos went back into the Soul Suppressing Orb to rest. They had all stayed outside for a very long time, and they had eaten all the spirit materials they needed.

Qin Lie himself sat down with an odd look on his face. From time to time, he would shake his head as if trying to forget something.

That Soul Race clansman who called himself Thamur knew that he had a Flesh Filling Tombstone and a treasure of the Soul Race. There clearly was a connection between the Flesh Filling Tombstone in Hao Jie’s body and his own. And finally, there’s that girl named Indigo acting strangely for some reason...

He had obtained a clearer picture of the races’ young geniuses as he had hoped during the start of this trip.

However, Thamur and Indigo’s unusual movements had puzzled him greatly. The Flesh Filling Tombstone’s exposure also made him worry over his own safety.

He was both worried that Thamur would tell the others that he carried a Flesh Filling Tombstone, and that Hao Jie’s continuous use of his Flesh Filling Tombstone would eventually expose him anyway. It was only a matter of time the Flesh Filling Tombstone struggles free from his blanket of power and expose him.

“Maybe it’s time to part ways with the Blaze Family…” he thought to himself.

“Yiya!”

It was at this moment the thunder spirit informed him that it was in position.

He immediately focused his soul consciousness to perceive everything through the thunder spirit.

Many bodies littered the ground of the battlefield. Most of the corpses were high rank Abyss Devils, although there were three Bloodthirst Family members among then as well.

Hao Jie was currently screaming and attacking the remaining high rank Abyss Devils like a crazed and bloodthirsty demon.

Countless bloodline secret arts colored the dark sky of the secret realm in red and purple. The colors clashed against each other and exploded violently, tearing the savage-looking Abyss Devils apart. However, Hao Jie only seemed to grow stronger the longer he fought. He looked like he had transformed into a demon completely, his body growing ever larger by the minute.

The fiendish energies were normally invisible, but the thunder spirit could sense them seeping out of the dead Abyss Devils and the three Bloodthirst Family corpses and entering Hao Jie’s flesh, further enhancing his strength.

The Flesh Filling Tombstone was a source of power that Hao Jie could draw upon at any moment. Not only could he recover his strength faster and heal all of his injuries, he could fight non-stop and still remain as charged with bloodline power as ever.

The Flesh Filling Tombstone had transformed Hao Jie into a bloodthirsty god of war who didn’t know a meaning of rest.

He was the cause behind most of the Abyss Devil corpses on the floor.

The reason Cang Ye and the rest of the Bloodthirst Family members were able to hold out until now was all thanks to Hao Jie’s rampage. They had fought the Abyss Devils with him at the center of them.

Diga’s shirt was torn and tattered. Purple blood kept gushing out of the wells on his chest.

Eyes continued to appear and vanish on the nine demonic blades. They seemed capable of influencing a person’s mind and generate a rich amount of abyss devil energy constantly.

Purple blood kept seeping out of the dead Abyss Devils’ bodies and entering the eyes on the nine demonic blades.

It made the demonic eyes more and more powerful. The sheer power they unleashed gave the high rank Abyss Devils enough courage to fight on without fear.

Even Cang Ye and the Bloodthirst Family members did not dare to look at the nine demonic blades more than was necessary.

They all seemed to have suffered from the demonic eyes before.

“Retreat! Retreat to the Origin Sea! God dammit, I can’t believe he’s carrying the Bloodthirst Family’s Flesh Filling Tombstone! I doubt we can kill him right now!”

Suddenly, Diga shouted out a new order.

The Abyss Devils were at the end of their ropes already. They were forced to retreat in ragged shape after losing a dozen or so of their team to Hao Jie.