Yuna, the Phantasm expert, was rather confused as she watched the ice phoenix fly directly towards the Divine Seal Sect’s trading area. “Soul crystals!? How would the Divine Seal Sect have any soul crystals?”

The old woman from the Golden Vast Sect and the people from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect were also dumbfounded.

Soul crystals didn’t form naturally, but through gathering and refining the souls of living beings over and over with special methods. Only after getting rid of all of the impurities would the soul essence slowly crystallize and become a soul crystal.

In order to create soul crystals, one would have to have a profound understanding of soul power. Sometimes, even evil spell formations had to be used.

There were a variety of races in this boundless starry river, but very few of them were able to gather souls and refine them into soul crystals.

Phantasms were clearly among those who could.

Other than them, a very few human Qi warrior sects that had profound knowledge of evil soul magics also had the ability to created soul crystals.

However, the Divine Seal Sect clearly wasn’t one of these sects.

Yuna frowned deeply.

The old woman from the Golden Vast Sect let out a low sigh and said, “Who would have thought that the Divine Seal Sect actually has soul crystals.”

Soul crystals had incredible effects on all living beings’ souls. They could not only help users strengthen their souls, but also nourish their souls back to health.

Soul Restoration Pills didn’t have such effects.

Soul Restoration Pills would work very well when it came to healing human Qi warriors’ soul injuries. However, their effects would be greatly reduced when they were used on Ancientbeasts like that ice phoenix.

Therefore, upon hearing that the Divine Seal Sect was willing to trade soul crystals, the old woman realized that her sect no longer had any chance at obtaining the sand of time from that ice phoenix.

SHEW!

A cluster of sparkling icy light landed on the round balcony where Nie Tian and the others were standing.

The eighth grade ice phoenix, whose figure could be vaguely seen through the icy light, asked with an arrogant tone, “Do you really have soul crystals?”

At this moment, Meng Li noticed that many human Qi warriors and outsiders were gathering to their location.

Even Yuna, the Phantasm expert, was flying over in a slow and quiet manner.

Meng Li let out a soft snort and said, “Let’s talk inside.”

Then the four of them, including Nie Tian, stepped into the stone pavilion.

Without the slightest fear, the ice phoenix followed them inside.

As soon as they disappeared into the stone pavilion, a huge ‘Seal’ character rose from the top of the stone pavilion and morphed into a mysterious blue ward that enveloped the whole building.

Upon seeing this, everyone who was gathered in this location realized that the people from the Divine Seal Sect had isolated themselves from their sight and soul detection.

This spell formation with the ‘Seal’ character had been created by the two Saint domain experts from the Divine Seal Sect. Only other Saint domain experts had a chance at sensing what was going on inside the pavilion through this powerful ward.

Even Yuna, who was an expert of all sorts of soul magics, frowned wordlessly at the ward that carried profound truths and had a ‘Seal’ character on it.

In a spacious hall inside the stone pavilion.

Under Duan Shihu’s beckoning, Nie Tian took out a soul crystal from within his ring of holding.

As the soul crystal that looked like a large black diamond flew into Nie Tian’s palm, the eighth grade ice phoenix let out a soft exclamation, “That’s a soul crystal indeed.”

“We’ll give twenty soul crystals for your sand of time,” Meng Li said in a low voice.

The eighth grade ice phoenix snorted coldly. “Not enough! You’re from the Divine Seal Sect. You should understand the value of sand of time. Not only can it be refined into spiritual tools, but you can also refine it into seals, vesting them with the ability to manipulate time. Even though soul crystals are hard to find, they are actually not as valuable as Soul Restoration Pills.

“It’s just that Soul Restoration Pills won’t have the best effect on me.”

Meng Li pondered briefly, and realized that twenty soul crystals was indeed a bit short for a whole bottle of sand of time. Therefore, he threw Nie Tian a sideways glance.

Nie Tian nodded, signaling that he should continue to haggle.

“How many do you want then?” Meng Li asked.

“Fifty,” The eighth grade ice phoenix said with an unchallengable tone.

“That’s far too many,” Meng Li said with furrowed brow, secretly worrying that Nie Tian didn’t have enough soul crystals to seal the deal with this powerful ice phoenix.

After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian took out fifty soul crystals from within his ring of holding. “How about this: I can give you fifty soul crystals in exchange for your sand of time, but I want to know how you got it in the first place.”

“A mysterious river appears sporadically in a forbidden region in the Shatter Battlefield,” The eighth grade ice phoenix said without hesitation. “When it does, a small amount of sand of time will fall out of it. I spent half a year collecting this bottle of sand of time. I went through numerous battles with others during that time, and barely survived.”

Meng Li was taken aback. “A mysterious river? Could it be the legendary river of time?”

Nie Tian shuddered upon hearing these words.

During his soul communication with Wu Ji, which had taken place not long ago, Wu Ji had told him that when he had broken through into the Soul realm, his soul awareness seemed to have traveled across time and space, and found himself in a river that contained the profound truths of time power.

It was in that peculiar state that he had looked into the past and learned the truth about his mother’s ‘death’.

Wu Ji had only dipped his soul awareness into that mysterious river, and yet he had gained the ability to see what had happened in the past.

Could that river be the same river the eighth grade ice phoenix was referring to?

“Yeah, that probably was the river of time, one of the most mysterious existences in this world,” the ice phoenix gave an affirmative answer. “According to the legends, the profound truths of time power lie within that river of time. It’ll allow you to see into your past and future. What I saw in the Shatter Battlefield was probably only a small part of the river of time, and it only existed for a flash before vanishing completely.

“Only after it vanished did a small amount of sand of time fall out of the void. When I gathered it, I was infiltrated by time power. Even my bloodline power went through a minor recession.

“If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have been surrounded by a bunch of rats after finishing collecting the sand of time, and wouldn’t have sustained heavy injuries to my soul.”

With these words, the ice phoenix stepped towards Nie Tian with an impatient expression.

She stretched her white, jade-like arm out and stuffed the bottle of sand of time into Nie Tian’s hand. Then she reached out with her other hand and took the fifty soul crystals back into the sparkling, icy light that wreathed her.

“The deal is made. We’re even.” She turned around and left as soon as she gained the soul crystals, as if she didn’t want to stay here one second longer than she had to.

“Are you going back to the Shatter Battlefield?” Meng Li asked.

“Of course!” the ice phoenix spat, her eyes filled with strong killing intent. “I’m going to settle accounts with those thieves!”

“The spatial rift that connects the Realm of Maelstrom and the Shatter Battlefield hasn’t opened yet,” Duan Shihu said, looking confused.

“I have other ways to get there,” The ice phoenix said without even turning her head back to look at them, and then flew out of the stone pavilion.

CRACK! CRACK!

Nie Tian heard the sounds of soul crystals cracking as she left the stone pavilion that belonged to the Divine Seal Sect.

Pure, concentrated soul power instantly burst forth within her shield of sparkling icy light. She absorbed it without wasting a second.

Her soul aura rapidly grew from withered to vigorous.

In a split second, her immense soul awareness spread out to cover the entire Realm of Maelstrom, as if her soul had instantly touched every inch of this piece of land and learned its secrets.

“Hmm?” She seemed to notice something while flying away from the Divine Seal Sect’s trading area.

BOOM!

Her perfectly-shaped, charming figure expanded at an alarming rate, and in three seconds, resumed her form as a huge ice phoenix.

A frigid, bone-piercing aura rapidly spread out from her broad beastly body.

She had activated a bloodline magic.

In the Thousandsword Mountain Sect’s trading area, the icy crystal that confined Pei Qiqi seemed to be channeled by some force. It flew right out of its cabin and the berthed ancient starship.

The icy crystal reached the ice phoenix in the blink of an eye.

“Hmm?” the ice phoenix muttered. “There’s a person inside this icy jade, which is more than ten thousand years old.” However, she didn’t give it much thought, and continued to control the icy crystal with her bloodline magic.

WHOOSH!

The ice crystal landed lightly on her broad feathered back. With a joyful chirp, she flew towards a spatial rift in the enormous water curtain.

“My ice crystal!” Xing Bo bellowed fiercely.

One figure after another rose into the sky from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect’s area in an attempt to stop the ice phoenix.

However, the eighth grade ice phoenix only gave one flutter of her translucent, sparkling wings, and thousands of rays of icy light shot out in all directions like large ice shards, stopping the Thousandsword Mountain Sect disciples from coming close.

“I can’t believe you actually wanted to get my sand of time with only a few Soul Convergence Pills! You people from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect are so laughable. This ancient ice crystal should be considered atonement for your rudeness. If you think you can get it back, come find me in the Shatter Battlefield. I’ll go there as soon as I’m recovered.”

SHEW!

Immediately afterwards, the ice phoenix disappeared into a spatial rift in the water curtain.