Froste’s face turned pale with astonishment.

At this moment, he felt as if his flesh aura had been infused with gold dust, and his Blood Essence had clotted and become stagnant.

Not only did he need soul power, but Blood Essence as well, to maintain the Nether River and Soul Ferry.

Now that his Blood Essence had clotted, the Nether River rapidly vanished, and he could no longer maintain Soul Ferry.

The early Saint domain master of frost power that had been influenced by Soul Ferry instantly lost connection with him.

As the magical symbols that had bound the man’s shredded soul together vanished, the discarnate soul rapidly dissipated into heaven and earth, as the law of nature meant it.

At the same time, the man’s domain that was filled with solid ice also shattered, and the man died beyond salvation.

The same happened to the other human puppet.

It was the man who was searching for Hou Chulan in her green bamboo illusion, along with a Phantasm grand patriarch.

As soon as Soul Ferry gave out, the man’s wood domain collapsed and dissipated.

Hou Chulan seemed to notice the change, as the green bamboo suddenly started to grow madly in the Phantasm grand patriarch’s sea of flesh aura.

While the Phantasm grand patriarch was confused by the sudden change, a green bamboo shot out of Hou Chulan’s dantian region, piercing through his sea of flesh aura directly towards his heart.

As Hou Chulan fully ignited her inner power, the green bamboo unleashed immense might, giving rise to a dazzling divine light.

Wherever the light shone, the Phantasm grand patriarch’s sea of flesh aura dissipated.

The shadows of the bamboo rapidly enveloped the Phantasm grand patriarch, forcing him to let out panicked cries.

“Young monarch! Your Soul Ferry...” He couldn’t help but question Froste.

However, Froste didn’t have time to answer him at this moment because Nie Tian had already activated his Life Strengthening form and charged towards him on the Star Boat.

At this point, the Star Behemoth bone had already returned to Nie Tian’s hand.

“Go!” Fusing it with his bloodline power, Nie Tian cast it towards Froste once again.

CLANK!

The Star Behemoth bone slammed into Froste’s battle armor. The mysterious power Grand Monarch Nether River had fused into it instantly burst forth.

The battle armor blossomed with blinding light as countless discarnate souls shrieked and perished.

One crack after another appeared on the battle armor, which Grand Monarch Nether River had started forging the day Froste had been born.

Even so, it stopped the Star Behemoth bone from piercing through him.

This made Froste the first target the bone had failed to kill with a single strike.

While the bone’s power was negated by the battle armor, the armor itself consumed a significant amount of the power Grand Monarch Nether River had vested into it.

A spectral shape suddenly appeared on the surface of the battle armor, exuding an incomparably strong soul aura that seemed to be able to control the souls of all races.

WHOOSH!

As that happened, the battle armor seemed to gain its own awareness, and dragged Froste out of the battlefield at lightning speed.

Froste glared at Nie Tian as he was dragged farther and farther away from him. No matter what he did, he couldn’t resist the mysterious force that was dragging him away.

Now that the Nether River had disappeared, there was nothing to suppress the Spirit Pearl anymore.

He could only let his battle armor carry him in search of the teleportation portal that connected to the Phantasm heaven and earth.

The changes happened so quickly that no one had expected them.

Nie Tian snapped out of his daze and summoned the Star Behemoth bone back to him. Clutching it, he realized that Froste had already vanished from his view.

The mysterious power that had protected and carried Froste away belonged to Grand Monarch Nether River. The speed at which it carried Froste away was several times higher than the Star Boat’s speed limit.

Soon, Nie Tian couldn’t sense even the faintest aura of Froste anymore.

Meanwhile, Hou Chulan and the other human experts felt that their respective Phantasm opponents had suddenly grown significantly weaker.

This allowed them to spare some attention to examine the current situation.

That was when they noticed that the Phantasm young monarch had somehow vanished from the battlefield, and that their two fellow cultivators, who had been killed and turned into puppets, had perished for good.

One of the Phantasms noticed the change in the situation, and thus called out in the Phantasms’ language, “The young monarch has returned to our heaven and earth!”

Even though Froste’s bloodline was far lower than theirs, his Nether River and Soul Ferry had greatly enhanced their strength, and given them a strong sense of confidence.

While the Nether River had raised their battle prowess and their discarnate souls’ strength to whole new levels, Soul Ferry had allowed Froste to turn dead human experts into their battle force.

Froste’s existence had been the reason why they had dared to set Hou Chulan up in the first place.

Now, with Froste gone, their originally considerable advantage in battle was gone as well.

Of course, since they still outnumbered the human experts, they were still at a slight advantage.

However, it was no longer possible for them to finish off the human experts without suffering casualties.

It would be even more so if the humans attempted to escape.

“Our young monarch’s safety is of paramount importance!” Another Phantasm grand patriarch called out in the Phantasms’ language.

His words seemed to serve as a call to retreat. The other Phantasms exchanged looks, and saw the retreating will in each other’s eyes. Then, all of them gradually gathered to the same spot.

SHEW! SHEW! SHEW!

One sea of flesh aura after another rapidly condensed into streaks of cyan light that shot out in the direction Froste had left in.

They still had quite a few eighth grade members with them. Even though the eighth grade ones were clearly slower than the grand patriarchs, the grand patriarchs slowed down intentionally, so that everyone could leave at the same pace.

“Divine Daughter! Do we go after them?” Ruan Qingliu asked aloud.

Hou Chulan seemed hesitant.

At this moment, Nie Tian approached her on his Star Boat. “I don’t think we should. They’re still stronger than we are. Even if we catch up to them, what can we do?”

“But He Lianxiong should be here any moment now,” Ruan Qingliu said as she turned to take a look at their two friends’ dissipating domains. Her eyes turned red with fury and grief. “And they killed two of us!”

Nie Tian shook his head. “Are you still hoping that He Lianxiong will come to your aid? It’s hard to say whether he will survive his own troubles. Even if he does, he’ll probably suffer heavier casualties than us. How can you still expect him to help us pursue the Phantasms?”

Hou Chulan gasped with astonishment. “What?! What makes you think he’s in trouble?”

Nie Tian sighed. “Qiu Hanshan isn’t the only one that has thrown himself into the Phantasms’ lap. That Phantasm young monarch received word of He Lianxiong’s arrival as soon as he set foot in the Domain of Heaven’s Origin.”

Eyes filled with fear and confusion, Hou Chulan muttered, “How could this be happening?”

At this moment, Jing Feiyang returned to Nie Tian’s Star Boat, along with Yue Yanxi and Jiang Feng, who had sustained serious injuries. Jing Feiyang took a deep look at Nie Tian and asked, “You injured that Phantasm young monarch and forced him to leave, didn’t you?”

“It was a shame that his battle armor turned out to be full of wonders, and I failed to kill him on the spot,” Nie Tian said calmly.

Ruan Qingliu stood aghast. “It was you who turned the situation around and forced the Phantasms to leave?!”

Recalling the perilous situation they had just gotten out of, she had to admit that if Nie Tian hadn’t dealt Froste a heavy blow, all of them probably would have died here eventually.

Nie Tian glanced around, and didn’t see the grand patriarch’s remains. Somewhat frustrated, he said, “You lost two Saint domain subordinates, while the Phantasms only lost one early ninth grade grand patriarch and three eighth grade members. It seems that we’ve lost this battle.”

“You’re right,” Hou Chulan said with a bitter face.

Their deceased friends’ discarnate souls had completely dissipated, which meant they had lost the possibility of reincarnation.

However, the ninth grade grand patriarch’s body had been secured. Since his heart hadn’t been destroyed, it was still possible to bring him back to life.

Considering this, Hou Chulan’s team had indeed lost this battle.

Gazing off in the direction where the Phantasms had disappeared, Hou Chulan said in low spirits, “Uncle Lu’s fleshly body perished in the Domain of Nether Heaven. Only a wisp of his soul was secured. It’ll take a very long time for him to reincarnate and recover his strength. And this time, I’ve lost two Saint domain subordinates here. Prosperity is always followed by decline. It seems that we’re starting to lose our advantage in our battle against the outsiders.”

Everyone fell silent, their faces grim.