The burly man from the Cloudsoaring sect walked out from the clamoring crowd to stand next to Nie Tian. Brow slightly furrowed, he looked over at Yuan Qiuying and her husband and said, "Grown-ups shouldn't interfere in the scuffles of children, right?"
"Who are you?" Yuan Qiuying asked, growing increasingly angry. "How dare you lecture me?"
Yun Zhiguo took a close look at the burly man before his expression flickered subtly, and he subconsciously pulled on Yuan Qiuying's garment. "Li Fan?"
Li Fan gave a loud harrumph. "Indeed, it's me, Li Fan."
The anxious Nie Qian seemed to have heard of his name. The moment she learned the burly man in front of her was Li Fan from the Cloudsoaring sect, her eyes instantly glittered with joy.
"Mr. Li, please administer justice!" she pled.
Li Fan nodded and casually said, "You go ahead and take the boy home. I'd love to see if anyone dares to stop you!"
As domineering as Yuan Qiuying had always been in Black Cloud City, after hearing that this was Li Fan, she immediately cooled down.
She didn't have the courage to argue with someone like him. Instead, she glared at Nie Qian and Nie Tian with cold and resentful eyes.
"Little Tian, let's go." Nie Qian grabbed Nie Tian and quickly dragged him away from the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion, without giving him any opportunity to speak.
As he was being pulled away, Nie Tian kept turning his head back to look at Yuan Qiuying, Yun Zhiguo, and Li Fan.
"Auntie, who is that Li Fan?" he asked. "Why do that evil woman and all those people from the Yun clan fear him?"
"Li Fan is a disciple of the master of Cloudsoaring sect," Nie Qian explained quietly, "and is also a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior. Even if the head of the Yun clan, Yun Meng, was here, he wouldn't dare to mess with him either."
"The Greater Heaven stage!" Nie Tian exclaimed in his heart.
Based on his knowledge, Yun Meng of the Yun clan had only just entered the Greater Heaven stage.
Having reached that stage, he had already become one of the most influential persons in Black Cloud City, which was why the Yun clan currently overshadowed the Nie clan in Black Cloud City.
As a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior and a disciple of the master of the Cloudsoaring sect, Li Fan had a huge edge over Yun Meng in both status and strength.
Yun Zhiguo obviously didn't dare to let Yuan Qiuying do anything rash in face of such status and strength, so he could only give in.
"This time, it's really our good fortune that Mr. Li happened to be here. Otherwise, Yuan Qiuying would definitely not have let this go so easily. I know her too well." Nie Qian secretly rejoiced. "You naughty boy, always getting into trouble. If Yuan Qiuying wants to bitch about me, just ignore her and leave her be. Over the years, she has said every possible mean thing she could to me, but I'm still here, aren't I?
"It's not like words can cause actual damage. Endure it momentarily and then it's over.
"You should focus your energy on cultivation. Only if you can break through into the ninth level of Qi Refining by the age of fifteen, and become a real disciple of the Cloudsoaring sect, will you have a chance to seek justice for all the humiliation I've received."
"Auntie, please rest assured," Nie Tian replied firmly. "I won't let you down!"
Smiling, Nie Qian said, "Auntie has faith in you. However, the way you talked back to that slut Yuan Qiuying was actually quite delightful to hear."
"Hahaha!" Nie Tian also burst into laughter.
Just as Nie Qian and Nie Tian were leaving, the little girl who had been standing by Li Fan caught up with them and stared at Nie Qian closely, her shrewd eyes glittering brightly. "Hi, what's your name?"
Having just defeated Yun Song, Nie Tian was in a good mood, so he answered casually with a smile on his face. "My name is Nie Tian."
The little girl with bright eyes and white teeth immediately offered her own name. "I'm Jiang Lingzhu. How did you beat that boy?"
Nie Qian's expression flickered. "Family name 'Jiang' and given name 'Lingzhu'..." she thought. Her eyes glittered strange light as she cast another glance at the little girl.
"You mean that little punk named Yun Song?" Chuckling, Nie Tian shook his head and said, "Nothing special. He's too weak. That's all."
"He's too weak?" Jiang Lingzhu also laughed. "Aren't you the weak one? His cultivation base is higher than yours by three full levels!"
"Who said the one with a higher cultivation base would surely win a battle?" At first, Nie Tian seemed surprised, but then turned his chin up arrogantly. "Ever since I was little, my opponents have always had higher cultivation levels, but eventually I knocked every single one of them to the ground."
"Wow, that's pretty incredible!" Jiang Lingzhu became even more interested. "So, you're definitely going to enter the Cloudsoaring sect, right?"
"Of course!" replied Nie Tian, full of confidence.
Jiang Lingzhu smiled. "Hahaha, hopefully you can be invited into the Cloudsoaring sect like Nie Xian."
"You bet I will." Nie Tian wasn't modest in the slightest.
"You're quite the character Nie Tian. I'll remember you." Jiang Lingzhu waved goodbye and skipped back toward Li Fan. As she did, she turned to look back at Nie Tian and said, "My name is Jiang Lingzhu. Keep that in mind. We'll meet again some time."
"Okay," Nie Tian said blankly.
"Jiang Lingzhu, the girl with Li Fan..." Nie Qian watched as the little girl left, her thoughts drifting.
"Auntie, shall we go?" Nie Tian said.
"Oh, right. Let's go." Nie Qian's wandering mind was suddenly pulled back to reality. She didn't say much to Nie Tian before taking his hand and leaving.
In the Nie clan, there were colorful lanterns and streamers everywhere, as well as happily chatting people.
When Nie Tian and Nie Qian returned from the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion, they found everyone in the clan smiling broadly.
On his way in, Nie Tian heard a variety of words of admiration regarding Nie Han from numerous members of the Nie clan.
"The eldest young master is back from the Cloudsoaring sect. He managed to reach the middle-stage of the Lesser Heaven stage after merely a couple of years of cultivation there. With the eldest young master in a stable position in the Cloudsoaring sect, our clan will definitely prosper."
"I've heard that Li Fan, a disciple of the master of the Cloudsoaring sect, came back with our eldest young master. Young master sure earned a lot of face because of that!"
"That means our eldest young master has been doing well in the Cloudsoaring sect."
"Of course!"
"... "
When they finally found a moment of privacy, Nie Qian said, "Today, the whole clan will focus on Nie Han and Nie Xian, so it has nothing to do with us. I hope one day every member of the Nie clan will cheer for you, too."
"That day will come," Nie Tian said, full of aspiration.
"You go back. I have something to talk to your grandfather about." That said, Nie Qian headed off alone towards Nie Donghai's residence.
Since Nie Donghai had given up his position of clanmaster, he had already moved out of the main mansion of the Nie clan, and was now living in an unimpressive stone house.
When she arrived, Nie Qian saw Nie Donghai standing by the window, facing the direction of the main mansion, lost in his thoughts.
Numerous elders of the Nie clan were gathered in the mansion, and joyful laughter rang out from their direction.
It wasn't hard for Nie Qian to imagine the scene of the crowd of clan members flattering Nie Beichuan, Nie Han, and Nie Xian in the main mansion at this moment.
The joy and laughter in the mansion had nothing to do with Nie Donghai and Nie Qian. Ever since Nie Donghai had moved out of the mansion, other clan members rarely paid him visits.
"Father, Nie Tian and I ran into Yuan Qiuying at the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion just now," Nie Qian said softly.
Nie Donghai immediately turned around and inquired with a grim face, "What? You had to endure that vile woman's verbal insults again?"
"No." Nie Qian shook her head. "Little Tian talked back for me, and he also taught Yuan Qiuying's son a lesson."
Nie Donghai was shocked, "That kid named Yun Song? His cultivation talent is even better than Nie Hong's, which I heard has reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. How was Nie Tian capable of teaching him a lesson?"
Nie Qian told the whole story to Nie Donghai, not holding back a single detail.
Then she said worriedly, "That woman has never been kind. She didn't dare to lose control in front of Li Fan, but I'm worried that after Li Fan is gone, she won't let this go so easily and will seek revenge. Times have changed. You're no longer head of the Nie clan. If she were to cause trouble, I'm afraid..."
"You just keep an eye on Nie Tian," he replied calmly. "Don't take him out of the Nie clan for the time being. As long as he is on Nie clan property, the Yun clan won't dare to make a move."
"I'm sorry," Nie Qian apologized in a low voice. "I failed to hold Little Tian back."
"Some things are unavoidable. You shouldn't blame yourself." Nie Donghai sighed.
Meanwhile....
Nie Tian had cast all the clamor out of his head. The moment he got back to his room, he started to practice cultivation, a sense of urgency rising up in his heart.
He could still remember a strange force rising from his body during his last battle with Nie Hong, which had resulted in himself suffering from a high fever.
This time, he beat Yun Song with the help of that same unknown force. So with that in mind, he secretly observed the occurrences in his body while cultivating.
After an unknown period of time, he gradually felt a burning sensation on the left side of his waist.
Worried it was a sign of another high fever, he instantly focused his attention on the left side of his waist.
"Yee?!"
He suddenly saw the source of the heat wasn't from his body, but instead it was from the piece of animal bone he had obtained from the lot-drawing convention.
In order to keep Nie Tian out of danger, Nie Qian watched his back all day long and prohibited him from taking even one step out of the Nie clan.
As the result, Nie Tian didn't leave the Nie clan for the following three months. During this period, he concentrated on practicing the Qi Refining Incantation, hoping to make further improvements in a short time.
Three months later, those strangers gradually retreated from the Nie clan after failing to find any opportunity to make a move.
"I'm so exhausted." Nie Qian's face was full of fatigue as she walked into Nie Tian's room and casually threw a cloth bag on the table. "After three days of hard work, I've finally finished a thorough accounting of the flamecloud gems the clan has mined over the past few months, and presented most of them to the Cloudsoaring sect as tribute. Another large portion of the remaining flamecloud gems was shipped to the clan storeroom, so I only got this many for myself."
Nie Tian returned to reality from his cultivation as the red light of the sun setting shone into the room through the opened door. "Are those flamecloud gems?" Nie Tian curiously looked at the handful of gems that rolled out of the cloth bag.
"Yeah, these are flamecloud gems, spiritual materials of the fourth Elementary level." Nie Qian picked up a fist-sized gem and tossed it to Nie Tian. "Spiritual materials are special objects used to refine spiritual tools or form spiritual formations. Qi warriors start to work with them when their cultivation base reaches one of the three Heaven stages. Come, have a look."
Nie Tian extended his hand and caught the flamecloud gem with great precision, then looked down to study it closely.
The flamecloud gem was the size of a fist, with a dark-red luster on the outside, and red, cloud-like vein patterns running through it. Apparently, it contained fire-attributed power.
Nie Tian examined it for a while, then as an idea suddenly struck him, he took out the animal bone.
While Nie Qian watched, he slowly moved the flamecloud gem closer to the animal bone, attempting to channel the flame power contained in the flamecloud gem towards the animal bone.
Last time, when the flame power of Yun Song's fireballs entered the animal bone, it later caused a miraculous change to the bone. He kept that in mind.
He wanted to see if the bone could continue to absorb the flame power like last time.
BZZZ BZZZ!
When the animal bone touched the flamecloud gem, sparks immediately erupted out from the point of contact, and the dark-brown bone turned the same red color as the flamecloud gem.
Nie Tian opened his eyes wide as he sensed rays of flame power flowing from the flamecloud gem into the animal bone.
Clusters of the red clouds in the flamecloud gem vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Eee?!"
Nie Qian also perceived the anomaly and hurried over to Nie Tian's side, observing the animal bone with great curiosity.
All the red clouds in the flamecloud gem disappeared in a short period of time.
She knew very well that those small clusters of red clouds were the flame power embodied in the flamecloud gem.
KAAA! KAAA!
After its red clouds completely vanished, the fist-sized flamecloud gem suddenly cracked open.
As it split into smaller flamecloud gems, the pieces went from being dark red to a lifeless pale white, as if they had become normal stones.
On the other hand, the dark-brown animal bone gradually turned bright red, like a heated piece of steel ready to be forged. It grew so scalding hot that Nie Tian quickly let go of it.
"Little Tian, you..." Nie Qian burst into ecstasy, as her bright eyes glittered with excitement. "Have you started to resonate with the spiritual power of the animal bone? Is your cultivation attribute fire?"
She had always been anxious about the fact that Nie Tian had neither showed any kind of unique cultivation attribute, nor resonated with the animal bone.
Seeing the bone turning completely red today made her think that Nie Tian had caused it, and thus she instantly became overjoyed.
"It has nothing to do with me." Nie Tian shook his head with a bitter smile. "If it was I who caused the bone to change and my inner spiritual power had the fire attribute, I should have been able to hold on to it."
"Then..." Nie Qian asked after being disappointed. "What was that?"
"It was the flamecloud gem that caused the animal bone to change." Nie Tian explained the details of the unusual changes in the animal bone the night after his fight with Yun Song and said, "This animal bone appears to be able to absorb power of fire. I wasn't so sure before, but after this experiment, with the flamecloud gem's flame power drained by the animal bone, I am quite certain of it."
As they spoke, the bright, fiery animal bone lost its energy and once again turned dark-brown.
"Why did it change back again?" Nie Qian asked curiously.
Nie Tian said, "When it finishes absorbing the fire energy it will regain its original look. It needs to continue to consume more fire energy in order to change again."
"Let me see." Nie Qian grew more interested.
She picked up the cloth bag of flamecloud gems from the table, took out a bigger flamecloud gem, and passed it to Nie Tian. "Try again."
"OK." Nie Tian did as she said and made another attempt.
BZZZ BZZZ!
The moment the animal bone touched the flamecloud gem, sparks erupted out, and the bone turned bright and red.
Once more, in front of Nie Tian and Nie Qian's eyes, the larger flamecloud gem had its flame power rapidly drained by the animal bone, before it cracked open.
Dots of fiery light, like tiny red stars, flashed out of the animal bone one after another.
Nie Qian had been eager to touch it. She gradually reached out her hand and gently touched the animal bone with her translucent white fingertip, wishing to discover the secrets within.
"Ouch!" The moment Nie Qian made contact with the bone, she let out a shout and retracted her hand in a flash.
Her finger was unexpectedly burnt in that split second.
By the time she gathered her water-attributed spiritual power and tried to touch the animal bone again, it had returned to its normal state and became ordinary again.
"One more time!" Her curiosity was aroused, so she took out another flamecloud gem and placed it on the animal bone. The animal bone once again turned red.
This time, she condensed her water-attributed spiritual power onto her fingertip and touched it again.
PTSSS! PTSSS!
Strands of steam rose from the contact point between her fingertip and the animal bone. She only managed to hold on for three seconds before she no longer could bear the burning temperature of the bone, and retracted her hand.
"Come on!" Nie Qian tried again and again. One by one, all of the flamecloud gems cracked after their flame power was drained by the animal bone.
Every time, she couldn't bear to press her finger on the bone for more than a few seconds. She always had to retract her hand, just as her spiritual sense permeated the animal bone.
Before long, all of her flamecloud gems had turned into a pile of pale-white gravel.
Nie Qian's forehead was covered in sweat as she looked at the animal bone, somewhat disheartened. She shook her head and sighed, "This thing is a bit weird."
Perhaps, because it had absorbed a vast amount of fire energy, the animal bone didn't immediately return to normal after the last flamecloud gem cracked. Instead, it remained bright and red, like a piece of steel ready to be hammered.
"Let me have a try." Nie Tian extended his hand towards the animal bone abruptly.
"Don't! It's too hot! You'll get burnt!" Nie Qian yelled, and tried to stop him.
After numerous attempts, she was absolutely certain that the more flame power the animal bone absorbed, the hotter it got. Therefore, after the first few attempts, she could no longer bear the increasing heat, even though she had condensed a huge amount of water spiritual power on her fingertip.
At this moment, the animal bone must be at its hottest, after absorbing flame power of all the flamecloud gems, so Nie Tian was asking for trouble by touching it.
However, Nie Tian reached out his hand faster than she thought.
By the time the warning came out of her mouth, Nie Tian's finger had already reached the animal bone.
"Stop!" She cried out loud.
Yet, Nie Tian didn't shriek and retract his hand as she expected.
Surprisingly, Nie Tian had his finger on the animal bone, with absolutely no sign of pain. Instead, his eyes became bright, as if he had made a shocking discovery.