“Stone Golems?!” Nie Tian was taken aback, as he had never heard anything about this race before.

However, since Jing Rou had named them, that meant this race must exist.

The Divine Seal Sect, where Jing Rou was from, had two Saint domain experts.

As the strongest sect in the Domain of Heaven Python, the Divine Seal Sect had unmatched reserve power and contact with Qi warriors from more advanced domains. Therefore, it was natural that they knew things that the Divine Flame Sect didn’t.

Jing Rou nodded slightly. “It’s not surprising that you’ve never heard of them. Even many sects in the Domain of Heaven Python haven’t heard of them, much less you. Our sect only learned about them thanks to the uniqueness of the Realm of Maelstrom.

“As you know, a large amount of outsiders travel to and from the Realm of Maelstrom every day. Ancientbeasts also come once in awhile. We learned about Stone Golems from some outsiders and Ancientbeasts.”

Even Duan Shihu, who was standing beside her, looked new to such information.

The fact that he had stayed in the Divine Seal Sect for decades but still knew nothing about Stone Golems proved how rare this race was.

“Stone Golems are a race from the Desolate Antiquity Era,” Jing Rou explained. “Like Ancientspirits, they prospered in that era. Even though Stone Golems weren’t as powerful as titans, great wyrms, or Ancientbeasts, their strength was by no means insignificant.

“Also, the main reason why you’ve never heard of Stone Golems is because they should have gone extinct long ago.”

Duan Shihu’s expression flickered with astonishment.

“Yes. Outsiders gradually rose to prominence at the end of the Desolate Antiquity Era. As Demons, Phantasms, Fiends, and Bonebrutes grew stronger and stronger, a great war over territory broke out between them and Ancientspirits and Stone Golems.

“The Shatter Battlefield was their main battlefield.

“It was said that the Stone Golems were wiped out by the grand monarchs of the outsiders during that war.

“It was also through that war the outsiders proved that they possessed the strength to contend against Ancientspirits. After the war, outsiders took over many prosperous domains and realms that had belonged to Ancientspirits, and gained a firm foothold in the boundless starry river.

“That war also marked the end of the Desolate Antiquity Era, and that Ancientspirits were no longer the only overlords in this universe.

“After that came the Remote Antiquity Era, where outsiders stood up to Ancientspirits as equals. Together, they gained control over the majority of the starry river.

“We humans didn’t rise up until the end of the Remote Antiquity Era...”

Jing Rou explained everything in detail.

Pondering the matter, Nie Tian asked with a puzzled expression, “But why would nine members of an extinct race suddenly come out of the depths of the Seven-star Blue Sea? And they kept calling the word ‘Shatter’, as if they had a special way to enter the Shatter Battlefield. What are they after by heading to the Shatter Battlefield?”

Jing Rou then said, “We actually don’t know much about Stone Golems, since they had apparently gone extinct long ago.

“But we do know about the uniqueness of the Shatter Battlefield. Many major races and powers would choose the Shatter Battlefield as their battlefield when conflicts broke out over territories. They would fight each other to the death there to determine the ownership of the disputed lands.”

Confusion spread across Nie Tian’s face.

Jing Rou then went on to give a detailed explanation of the Shatter Battlefield.

Nie Tian nodded from time to time as she spoke, and finally gained a fairly thorough understanding of the Shatter Battlefield.

He learned that the Shatter Battlefield actually consisted of one extremely vast realm and many smaller realms.

The Shatter Battlefield had been the main battlefield between outsiders, Ancientspirits and Stone Golems at the end of the Desolate Antiquity Era.

Later, when humans had quietly risen up and needed to declare their strength, they had also fought bloody battles against Ancientspirits and outsiders in the Shatter Battlefield.

Humans had displayed admirable strength in those battles, and thus had won the acknowledgment of the other races. They gained control of many domains, and finally lifted themselves from the fate of being enslaved by outsiders and Ancientspirits, which had lasted for hundreds of thousands years.

Meanwhile, the reason why so many races had chosen the Shatter Battlefield as their battlefield was because that was the only place that could bear the power of God domain experts and tenth grade outsiders and Ancientspirits.

Only there would beings at the top the pyramid be able to wield their power without worrying about destroying realms or even domains.

If God domain experts and tenth grade outsiders and Ancientspirits engaged in a fierce battle in any other domain, their attacks would shatter its realms, or even destroy the entire domain.

This would be a result neither side wanted to see.

Now, Ancientbeasts, outsiders, and humans each ruled their own domains and territories in this boundless starry river, and were maintaining fragile yet peaceful relations with one another.

However, sometimes different races would find an unclaimed new domain simultaneously.

It would be difficult to determine who the new domain should go to.

When this happened, the parties that discovered the new domain simultaneously would have to go to find another place to fight, through which they would determine the dominion of the new domain. This was to avoid destroying the newly-discovered domain during their fight.

The Shatter Battlefield was such a place.

Therefore, even now, battles between races and powers took place in the Shatter Battlefield year-round.

According to Jing Rou, some Ancientbeasts and outsiders had discovered an unclaimed domain simultaneously not so long ago, and thus picked a place in the Shatter Battlefield to fight for its dominion.

It seemed that their battle still hadn’t ended yet.

In fact, the eighth grade ice phoenix they had met earlier might have sustained her injuries from that very battle.

Jing Rou had only received this piece of information because she had spent a fortune to gather information on Pei Qiqi’s whereabouts for Nie Tian. She had accidentally heard about this from a Demon that had drifted here.

However, she didn’t know why the nine Stone Golems would head towards the Shatter Battlefield after leaving the Seven-star Blue Sea either.

With a bitter smile, Duan Shihu said, “Junior martial brother, master has already gone to the Realm of Maelstrom, and he plans to enter the Shatter Battlefield as soon as it opens. I advised against it, but he didn’t listen. He was bent to go since the moment he learned that a branch of the river of time runs through the Shatter Battlefield.

Nie Tian nodded. “I’m not surprised.”

Wu Ji had received the bottle of sand of time from Duan Shihu, and learned from him that the river of time would appear somewhere in the Shatter Battlefield from time to time. It was natural that he would want to go.

The river of time would be of great help to Wu Ji, who practiced time power.

If Wu Ji could enter the Shatter Battlefield and derive enlightenment from that river of time, then his understanding of time power would benefit unimaginably from it.

Duan Shihu let out a sigh. “I know what that river means to master.” 

With these words, he crouched down before the palace and started drawing on the ground with a dried twig. “Even though I’ve never been to the Shatter Battlefield myself, Jing Rou’s father has.

“He was at the late Void domain back then. It was none other than his breathtaking experience in there that allowed him to find the threshold to cross into the Saint domain.

“Even so, he sustained heavy injuries when he came back from the Shatter Battlefield. Even his private domain almost shattered. It took him a very long time to fix his private domain and finally advance to the Saint domain.

“He told me that the Shatter Battlefield was like a vast plate made of many concentric circles. The closer you get to the center, the more dangerous it’ll be.

“Ancientbeasts, great wyrms, Demons, Phantasms, and almost all of the races you know will go to the Shatter Battlefield from time to time. 

“After all, the Shatter Battlefield is not only a battlefield between different races, but also a land with many mysteries.

“The river of time is one of them.

“The Shatter Battlefield consists of one extremely vast realm and many smaller realms. That vast realm is supposed to be the most curious place in this universe. It’s said that the mountains, rocks, and trees there are all branded with the profound truths of power.

“In certain places, rocks are scattered naturally, forming special spell formations.

“Humans or other races would all have a good chance at deriving enlightenment of heaven and earth in the Shatter Battlefield, which would speed up their cultivation advancement or bloodline upgrade.

“Furthermore, people find Earth Cultivated grade and Heaven Nourished grade spiritual materials there every once in a while.

“But it’s just that too many different races mix up in there, making the competition too fierce. The humans and outsiders who dare to go to the outermost ring need to be at least at the Profound realm or sixth grade. The closer to the center, the stronger they need to be. Saint or even God domain human experts may engage in battles against grand patriarchs or grand monarchs in the deepest parts of the Shatter Battlefield.”

Gasping with astonishment, Nie Tian said, “Only after entering the ninth grade can an outsider be called a grand patriarch. Only after entering the tenth grade can an outsider be called a grand monarch. I can’t believe such powerful figures would actually show up in the Shatter Battlefield!”

“That’s why I’m rather worried about our master,” Duan Shihu said with a bitter smile.

Nie Tian then asked Duan Shihu a few more questions, and learned that many Soul realm experts from the Domain of the Falling Stars had gone to the Realm of Maelstrom.

Even Fan Kai from the Heaven Palace Sect, who had only entered the Void domain recently, had gone to the Realm of Maelstrom to communicate and trade spiritual materials with outsiders.

He had decided to go explore the Shatter Battlefield after hearing fascinating stories about it.

Zong Zheng and the other experts had also made full preparations to go.

“The Divine Flame Sect from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries also wishes to send people to the Shatter Battlefield,” Nie Tian said. “They’re willing to pay the required amount of spirit stones.”

“The Divine Flame Sect?” Jing Rou shook her head and smiled somewhat disdainfully. “Why are there always people who think the Shatter Battlefield is paved with treasures? Don’t they know that far more people die in the Shatter Battlefield than get out alive? Spatial rifts that lead to the Shatter Battlefield usually open in the Realm of Maelstrom every once in a while.

“At the beginning, Qi warriors from the Domain of Heaven Python poured into the Shatter Battlefield.

“However, very few returned alive. The most recent time a spatial rift that led to the Shatter Battlefield appeared, not even ten percent of the original number of people dared to enter. Now in the Domain of Heaven Python, only those who have a death wish would go to the Shatter Battlefield.

“Don’t tell me that these people from the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Divine Flame Sect all wish to die there.”

With a bitter smile, Nie Tian said, “They insist on going. What can I do?”

“Let them be then,” Jing Rou said sarcastically. Then, she threw Duan Shihu a hard look and snorted. “But you can’t go!”

She rarely adopted such an attitude towards Duan Shihu. The only two times she had was when Duan Shihu had talked about and showed the desire to go to the Shatter Battlefield.

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