“Surrender immediately! As long as you behave, we won’t give you a hard time.”
The first to arrive in front of Nie Tian was a robust teenager. He didn’t have any killing intent; all he wanted to do was to tie Nie Tian up, and prevent him from helping An Ying and her group.
From his point of view, since Nie Tian had appeared, An Ying and others from the Spiritual Treasure sect must be right behind him.
“Ignorant fools!” Nie Tian cursed. He had approached with the desire to explain the Ghost sect and Blood sect’s appearance to them. However, he was now infuriated, and thus wanted to teach them a lesson first.
“Hand over your belongings, and let us tie you up,” the other boy said loudly. “Then everything will be fine.”
They were both from subordinate clans of the Mystic Mist sect, in the eighth level of Qi Refining, with strength by no means weak.
However, seeing Nie Tian’s bedraggled state, and that he came alone, they didn’t even bother to bring their spiritual tools out when they stepped forward.
Approaching Nie Tian on the right and left, they reached out to grab his arms and restrain him.
The other trial takers from the Mystic Mist sect were laughing as they enjoyed the show, completely unaware of the fact that the Ghost sect and Blood sect had already entered the Green Illusion dimension and slaughtered many other trial takers.
Clearly, they weren’t in the same mental state as Nie Tian, who had engaged in several fierce battles with the Ghost sect and Blood sect starting from almost the very moment he entered the Green Illusion dimension.
Later, he fought with Yuan Feng, Yun Song, and Du Kun, and even had a bloody battle with Yu Tong.
At this moment, a cold expression appeared on Nie Tian’s face, and the murderous aura in his eyes suddenly became prominent.
“Li Xi, Jian Xuan, be careful!” yelled Zheng Bin.
He sensed danger from the change in Nie Tian’s expression, and suddenly had the feeling that Nie Tian wasn’t as ordinary as he seemed.
However, his warnings came too late!
Before Li Xi and Jian Xuan could join forces in offense, Nie Tian let out a cold harrumph, and shot out, whooshing towards Li Xi like a sharp arrow.
Then, he raised his hand and smacked Li Xi’s shoulder.
BANG!
Before Li Xi realized what was happening, he was struck and then was sent staggering backwards.
After launching a lightning-quick attack, Nie Tian turned to face Jian Xuan, who was only inches away from him.
BOOM!
Nie Tian’s fist pounded onto Jian Xuan’s upraised arm.
Jian Xuan, who was about to use his spiritual technique, felt a sudden pain and soreness coming from his arm, as his arm suddenly lost support and dropped down.
Eyes filled with rage, he intended to mobilize his spiritual power and launch a violent counterattack.
At this very moment, Nie Tian moved like a ghostly shadow, ramming into Jian Xuan’s chest with a loud bang.
Jian Xuan felt like he was hit by a raging war chariot. With a muffled groan, he staggered several steps backwards.
Nie Tian, on the other hand, took advantage of Jian Xuan’s unbalanced body and attacked again, hooking his neck with one hand.
Nie Tian was considerably taller and stronger than his peers. Although Jian Xuan was two years older, he was still shorter than Nie Tian by a few inches.
After hooking onto Jian Xuan’s neck, Nie Tian exerted his strength, and actually raised Jian Xuan high up in the air.
Jian Xuan, with his feet dangling half a meter above the ground, had difficulty breathing, and due to that, his whole face turned completely red.
Jian Xuan grabbed Nie Tian’s hand with both hands, exerting all of his strength, attempting to pry Nie Tian’s hand away from his neck and break away from this humiliating position.
“Urgh! Grrr!”
He kept struggling as his legs unceasingly kicked about.
However, Nie Tian’s hand was locked onto his neck as tightly as an iron vice. No matter how violently Jian Xuan struggled, he was still unable to break free.
With cruel and fierce look in his eyes, Nie Tian glared at Jian Xuan. “Behave! Otherwise, I’ll snap your neck!”
He even tightened his grip a bit.
As he did, Jian Xuan couldn’t even groan any more. Staring at Nie Tian, fear suddenly mounted within Jian Xuan’s heart.
Even though he knew that killing wasn’t allowed in the Green Illusion dimension, he felt that if he didn’t behave, Nie Tian was really going to snap his neck.
Having understood the situation, he immediately quieted down, and no longer dared to struggle about, fearing that he might anger Nie Tian.
At this moment, Li Xi charged towards Nie Tian with torrential waves of anger, holding an axe that glittered with silvery light in his hands.
“Let Jian Xuan go!”
Nie Tian turned around to face him, while still holding Jian Xuan up, and said calmly, “Do you want him dead?”
Li Xi suddenly discovered that Jian Xuan, with his face dark-red, was speaking with his eyes, telling Li Xi not to act rashly.
He immediately stopped.
“Stay your hand!” Zheng Bin called out.
With a cold snort, Nie Tian slightly loosened his hand, so that Jian Xuan could finally start breathing again. “Moments ago, I wanted you to stay your hand, but you guys didn’t give me a chance, and immediately rushed over to attack me.”
However, he didn’t release Jian Xuan, but still held him high up in the air and said, “Can we have a proper talk now?”
Zheng Bin replied in a hurry, “Let go of Jian Xuan, and we’ll talk.”
The girl with the oval-shaped face glowered at Nie Tian as she berated him angrily, “Are you nuts? You almost killed him! We only wanted to capture you so that you can’t help An Ying. We weren’t going to hurt you. Is it necessary for you to react so violently?”
Then, the other boys and girls joined her, pointing at Nie Tian and loudly cursing him for attacking too harshly.
Nie Tian didn’t talk back. Instead, he swept his ice-cold gaze through every one of them.
One after another, they shut their mouths.
At this moment, Nie Tian was still holding Jian Xuan up in the air. Due to his exertion of power, Nie Tian’s contracted muscles made the scars on his bare upper-body seem especially malevolent.
The interwoven wounds, together with his stern face, made Nie Tian seem as though he had turned into a man-eating beast, his entire body emitting a suffocating aura.
BANG!
When everyone quieted down, Nie Tian nodded and dropped Jian Xuan to the side.
Relieved, Jian Xuan doubled over, inhaling large gulps of air, not daring to attack Nie Tian again.
However, Li Xi’s eyes glittered with the desire to attack Nie Tian again after seeing that Jian Xuan was safe.
“Let it be, Li Xi,” said Zheng Bin, frowning.
“Since he let Jian Xuan go, we’ll give him face and attack when the Spiritual Treasure sect guys arrive.”
Li Xi said anxiously, “This guy is by no means ordinary. He’ll be a great assistance to the Spiritual Treasure sect. If we don’t…”
Zheng Bin stopped him from finishing his sentence, and stared coldly at Nie Tian while saying, “One person can’t change much. I have my principles. Since you released Jian Xuan, I’ll let you off the hook for now. However, your actions just now have already angered me! I’ll make a move on you and seek justice for Jian Xuan when your allies from the Spiritual Treasure sect arrive!”
The other teenagers also urged Zheng Bin to bring Nie Tian under control.
“Elder Brother Bin, you’re being too aboveboard!!”
“A guy like him doesn’t deserve it. We should capture him now. He’s too dangerous. We can’t let him join hands with those from the Spiritual Treasure sect!”
“He’s right, Elder Brother Bin. Don’t be so pedantic. The Spiritual Treasure sect went to the glacier area. They might have already slaughtered the Frost Python! Only the Frost Python’s head can be traded for the Heaven Comprehending Pill. Isn’t that your ultimate goal for this trial?”
“Be quiet!” Zheng Bin shouted impatiently.
Seeing that he had grown angry, the trial takers finally sealed their lips, glowering at Nie Tian.
The way the three girls who adored Zheng Bin glared at Nie Tian was especially unfriendly.
Despite being glared at by the crowd, Nie Tian appeared surprisingly calm. He first sat down, and then pointed at the cooked spirit beast meat behind them, saying, “I’m hungry. Get me something to eat first. We’ll talk while we eat.”
“How shameless are you!? You’ve just injured Jian Xuan. As soon as your people from the Spiritual Treasure sect come, you’ll become our enemy. We’re not on the same side, okay? How dare you ask us for food?!” The girl with the oval-shaped face was taken back for a moment, after which she immediately pointed towards Nie Tian and started scolding him, as though she had never seen such a shameless person before in her entire life.
“Enemy?” Nie Tian shook his head. “If I treated you as enemies…”
He looked back at Jian Xuan, and then continued, “He wouldn’t have gotten off so easily. Even though I wouldn’t have killed him because of the rules, I would have surely left him crippled for a few months.”
Upon hearing his words, the girl’s expression flickered.
Zheng Bin looked deeply at him, and after a moment of pondering, he said, “What do you want to talk about?”
Finally, Nie Tian was given the chance to talk. He put on a wry smile and sighed. “I really envy your luck. Only one of you is dead, and you’ve hunted down and killed that second grade spirit beast from the volcano area.”
He had long since spotted the gigantic wolf head behind the crowd, which apparently belonged to the Ghostly Fire Wolf.
Zheng Bin’s face turned grim, as heartache flashed in his eyes. “Are you making fun of us? During our fight with the Ghostly Fire Wolf, a brother died for being too sloppy. It was only one second grade spirit beast. With our strength, we should have finished it off easily. There shouldn’t have been any casualties.
“I know that if there are no mishaps, with Yuan Feng and An Ying’s strength, they’re definitely able to kill their respective targets with no casualties.
“Unlike us, suffering one death. I don’t even know how to report to the sect elders after we get out.”
Nie Tian noticed that while he was speaking, the other teenagers from the Mystic Mist sect all seemed sad and grim, as if they were secretly blaming themselves.
He suddenly realized the relationships among the Mystic Mist sect disciples were probably the most harmonious of the four sects.
However, he had to reveal the cruel reality to them.
“You should consider yourselves lucky.” He said coldly. “The Grayvale sect’s disciples have been wiped out. None of them survived.”
Upon hearing these words, everyone’s expression flickered, and couldn’t refrain from exclaiming. “It’s impossible!!”
Nie Tian continued, “The Grayvale sect wasn’t the only one. The Spiritual Treasure sect and Cloudsoaring sect have also suffered great casualties. I don’t know how many of them are still alive, and when they’ll be able to get here.
“It’s also possible that they’ve all died, and none of them will show up here.
“This is all because disciples of the Ghost sect and Blood sect have also entered the Green Illusion dimension!
“They’re also here for a trial. Only their mission was slightly different from ours. We’re here to kill spirit beasts. They’re here to kill us.” Nie Tian said in a solemn and powerful tone.
Every boy and girl from the Mystic Mist sect was taken aback by his words, as their faces suddenly turned pale.