At this moment, Jing Feiyang had already unleashed his domain, inside of which countless magical symbols could be seen whizzing across.

Nie Tian’s order was inexorable law to him. He didn’t care what the others were thinking or how they would feel about this.

WHOOSH!

The late Saint domain old woman unleashed her domain as well.

Her domain was filled with multicolored auras. Upon first glance, it looked like a dense forest wreathed in rich life force.

It was also at that moment that her wrinkled face went through incredible changes.

Her deep wrinkles flattened out, while her dried skin became moist and flexible again, as if she had suddenly returned to her twenties.

All of a sudden, she turned into a young, charming woman with a curvaceous body.

The woman, whose name was Ruan Qingliu, stared coldly at Jing Feiyang. “Give us a reason first!”

One emerald green tree branch after another extended from her domain to unleash glittering precious light that pierced directly into Jing Feiyang’s domain.

Many of the fragmentary magical symbols within Jing Feiyang’s domain were infiltrated by the green light, and the symbols themselves rapidly grew dim.

Countless veins could be seen squirming inside those magical symbols, as if they were struggling to contend against Ruan Qingliu’s power.

Jing Feiyang frowned and turned to give Nie Tian a look of frustration.

While Jing Feiyang had recently entered the middle Saint domain, Ruan Qingliu had entered the late Saint domain long ago. The huge gap between their cultivation bases wasn’t something he could ignore.

Obviously, he didn’t have a chance at killing Qiu Hanshan from the Earth Spirit Sect with Ruan Qingliu there to protect him.

Not to mention that Qiu Hanshan himself was an early Saint domain expert.

Seeing that Ruan Qingliu had made a move, Qiu Hanshan, who was just about to unleash his own domain to defend against Jing Feiyang, let out a sigh of relief.

In a very pitiable manner, he complained to Hou Chulan, “Divine Daughter, I have never offended this seventh Son of the Stars. I really don’t understand why he would treat me like this.”

Wei Botao and the other Martial Spirit Sect disciples, who were standing off to the side, also had grim looks on their faces.

Both their sect and the Earth Spirit Sect were Hou Chulan’s subordinate sects, and they both lived in the Domain of Heaven’s Origin.

Even though they had their differences, and frictions had occurred from time to time, they felt that they were facing a common enemy at this moment.

As a complete stranger, Nie Tian attempted to have Qiu Hanshan killed the moment they met. This was extremely unreasonable in the eyes of the Martial Spirit Sect disciples.

Since their statuses were the same as those from the Earth Spirit Sect, if Nie Tian treated Qiu Hanshan this way, did it mean he would treat them this way as well?

Even Hou Chulan’s subordinates looked rather displeased by Nie Tian’s behavior.

He would have Qiu Hanshan killed in front of Hou Chulan without giving any reasons first. What was that?

This Son of the Stars of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace clearly didn’t attach any importance to their master.

Hou Chulan gave Ruan Qingliu a meaningful look before saying to Nie Tian with a calm expression, “Nie Tian, both my junior martial brother Huang and junior martial sister Lou spoke very highly of you.” 

Ruan Qingliu had followed her for many years. She understood every subtle move she made.

Without saying a word, she held her attacks. The emerald green tree branches that had extended from her domain moved smoothly to surround Qiu Hanshan, as if to protect him. 

Only after seeing that Ruan Qingliu had done as she willed did she open her mouth again. “According to what I’ve heard about you, you’re neither unruly nor unreasonable. So tell me why you want to kill Sectmaster Qiu.”

“You’re truly remarkable, martial sister,” Nie Tian said with a smile, an approving look appearing in his eyes. “This sectmaster has colluded with the Phantasms. They set up this trap to get you to the Domain of Heaven’s Origin, where they’re going to kill you. Is this reason good enough to have him killed?”

Hou Chulan’s brow slowly furrowed as she looked over her shoulder at Qiu Hanshan, not saying a word.

Qiu Hanshan’s face instantly turned pale with fright, and he exclaimed, “Don’t listen to him, Divine Daughter! I’ve followed you for many years and finished every task you’ve given me. Why would I try to kill you? He’s only basing this on his guess. He has no proof that I’ve colluded with the Phantasms!”

Nie Tian laughed. “You have a special tool in your ring of holding, though which you can secretly contact the Phantasms.” 

With these words, Nie Tian summoned the Spirit Pearl. “I bet you don’t know that I have this unique Phantasm treasure. It allows me to sense the existence of any Phantasm tools, even though the sealing spells of rings of holding.

“As for the Phantasm tool you have, it contains half of a being’s refined soul, while the other half is kept in another tool held by some Phantasm. After being split and fused into different Phantasm tools, the refined soul will form a soul connection between the tools, allowing their holders to communicate soul messages with each other.

“Humans don’t know how to forge or use such a Phantasm tool. The Phantasms must have given it to you and taught you how to use it.”

With these words, Nie Tian turned to Hou Chulan. “Martial Sister Hou, tell him to empty his ring of holding in front of you, and you’ll be able to find the Phantasm tool through which he contacts the Phantasms.”

Hou Chulan sighed softly and fixed her eyes on Qiu Hanshan. “Take off your ring of holding and give it to Aunt Ruan for inspection, Sectmaster Qiu. If you don’t have that Phantasm tool Nie Tian’s talking about, then your innocence will be evident.”

Qiu Hanshan started to panic. “Divine Daughter! It doesn’t mean anything if I have a Phantasm tool like that! Doesn’t Nie Tian have a Phantasm tool himself? We’ve fought Phantasms before. It’s only natural that I’ve killed Phantasms and looted their tools! It’s nothing but a battle trophy!”

Staring into his eyes, Hou Chulan let out a cold harrumph and said, “Kill him, Aunt Ruan.”

Upon hearing this, Qiu Hanshan immediately unleashed his earth domain. However, the moment his domain came to form, Ruan Qingliu’s emerald green tree branches pierced through it.

The other middle and early Saint domain subordinates of Hou Chulan also joined the fight right away.

Various domains forcibly entered Qiu Hanshan’s earth domain and tore it to pieces.

Only a few seconds later, Qiu Hanshan’s earth domain was ripped apart.

At the same time, numerous emerald green tree branches penetrated his skull and chest. He didn’t even have a chance to use the Phantasm communication tool in his ring of holding before dying a violent death.

Even his discarnate soul was captured and gradually refined by Ruan Qingliu’s wood domain.

WHOOSH!

Ruan Qingliu made a grabbing motion in the air, and Qiu Hanshan’s ring of holding flew into her palm.

With her soul power, she forcibly ripped through its sealing spell to examine its contents. Moments later, she turned to Hou Chulan and nodded with a grim face. “Nie Tian was right. There’s indeed a Phantasm tool in it. Inside the tool floats a wisp of incomplete soul, which generates strange soul fluctuations from time to time.”

“Don’t touch that Phantasm tool!” Hou Chulan exclaimed softly.

Ruan Qingliu nodded.

Qiu Hanshan’s sudden death flabbergasted the Earth Spirit Sect disciples on the ancient starship that was berthed not far away.

Hou Chulan’s subordinates rapidly boarded that starship, controlled everyone onboard, and started searching their seas of awareness for memories.

Meanwhile, the Martial Spirit Sect disciples were still in a state of shock, their expressions flickering nonstop.

Only after a while did Wei Botao say with an uneasy expression, “Who would have thought that Qiu Hanshan was actually working with the Phantasms? The Earth Spirit Sect isn’t a sect that practices vile incantations. So there was really no way for us to discover that they had colluded with the Phantasms to set the Divine Daughter up. If Nie Tian hadn’t sensed the existence of that Phantasm tool on Qiu Hanshan, the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Hou Chulan pondered the matter, and also felt lingering fear. “So I guess the Phantasms and Qiu Shanshan revealed those teleportation portals intentionally.  No wonder the Earth Spirit Sect found them first, and asked me to come and help take care of them.”

With a grim look, Ruan Qingliu said, “We need to treat this matter with great caution, Divine Daughter. I think we’d better report to our headquarters and ask for powerful reinforcements. The Phantasms must have gathered a force strong enough to annihilate our current force. Only with powerful backup will we have a chance at dealing them a heavy blow.

“And we need to do it fast, before the Phantasms learn about Qiu Hanshan’s death.”

Hou Chulan also saw the unfavorable change in the situation. She beckoned to Ruan Qingliu. “Aunt Ruan, why don’t you return to our headquarters and see who can come.”

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