In the Realm of Flame Heaven.

FZZZ!

A long bolt of lightning flashed across the sky before morphing into an enormous Thunder-devouring Whale that let out a furious cry in midair.

Engulfed in ink-black darkness, Song Chequan and Duan Hongwen, who were both at the God domain, realized that they couldn’t win this battle, and thus flew skywards in an attempt to escape.

In the blink of an eye, their dharma idols charged through the realm barrier.

They split up and disappeared into the boundless starry river.

In the headquarters of the Blood Sect.

Endless darkness shrank to a point like the ebbing sea.

Finally, every last bit of the darkness returned into Dong Li’s body, and the Dark Aureole disappeared.

Chilly moonlight fell from the sky, illuminating every corner of the heavily damaged headquarters.

The Thunder-devouring Whale shrank and took Mo Qianfan’s form before he landed in front of Dong Li. “I just went to the Domain of Vast Darkness. Xie Qian from the Water Moon Sect and many Qi warriors from the Domain of Vast Darkness were killed by Xuan Guangyu from the Void Spirit Society. Xie Qian died a violent death. Even his soul couldn’t be saved, and the Soul-cleansing Origin Elixir was taken away.”

“Xuan Guangyu!” Dong Li said, gritting her teeth.

Master Blood Spirit, whose aura was slightly withered, took a deep breath and said, “You Qimiao from the Remote Beginning Heavenly Sect has the majority of the Soul-cleansing Origin Elixir, yet Duan Hongwen, Xuan Guangyu, and Song Chequan, who have close connections to him, came to rob us of ours instead of asking him for some?”

Pitch-black wisps of lightning sputtered from Dong Li’s eyes as she said, “Even though You Qimiao has the most Soul-cleansing Origin Elixir, he might not want to share it with them. Now that he’s broken through to the late God domain, he won’t attach importance to anyone anymore. He even dared to provoke and attract the Ripper Behemoth to the Realm of Heaven Span. Who will he fear?”

Mo Qianfan let out a sigh and said, “The late God domain does generate great confidence.”

The late God domain represented the peak of human cultivation.

Having reached this cultivation base, You Qimiao was practically invincible in the current human world.

Even if other peak experts like Chu Yuan and Shao Tianyang returned to the human domains, though they might be able to defeat You Qimiao in battle, it would be very difficult for them to kill him.

If a cultivator at the same cultivation base as him was bent on killing him, they would have to pay a great price themselves.

Face filled with hatred, Dong Li said, “You Qimiao provoked the Ripper Behemoth and led it to the Realm of Heaven Span. This forced Chu Rui, Fan Tianze, and the other experts to focus on dealing with You Qimiao and the Ripper Behemoth.

“I wasn’t cautious enough. Because of my negligence, Senior Xie was killed, and you had a narrow escape.”

Not many of Nie Tian’s strongest followers had been killed; Xie Qian was the first late Saint domain follower Nie Tian had lost.

Many, including Mo Qianfan and Master Blood Spirit, sighed as Xie Qian’s name was mentioned.

They all knew that when Nie Tian had gone to rescue Fan Kai and the others in the Domain of Endless Snow, Xie Qian had provided him with strong assistance.

Later, every time Nie Tian had been in trouble, Xie Qian had also stood by his side or gone to his aid with disciples of the Water Moon Sect.

It was fair to say that Xie Qian had been devoted and loyal to Nie Tian.

Because of this, Xie Qian was the first name Dong Li had thought of when it had come to distributing the Soul-cleansing Origin Elixir.

Even Master Blood Spirit, Yu Suying, and Mo Qianfan’s positions in her heart weren’t as high as Xie Qian’s.

Extremely regretful and harboring bitter hatred towards Xuan Guangyu, Dong Li bellowed, “We’ll have our revenge! Xuan Guangyu, Song Chequan, Shangguan Zhi, and Duan Hongwen, all of them shall burn in hell!”

“Could Sectmaster Yu be in danger?” Li Jing reminded her.

Mo Qianfan pondered briefly, then said, “Unlikely. Compared to the Water Moon Sect and the Blood Sect, the Profound Purity Palace’s reserve power is stronger. Their headquarters is protected by a divine spell formation left by their founders. Even Xuan Guangyu probably doesn’t have what it takes to break it. Even if he can break it, it’d take a very long time.”

Hearing this, Li Jing nodded slightly to show that she understood.

Suddenly, Zhao Shanling descended from the sky with the Voidspirit Pagoda floating over his head. “Tough bastards. I think we’d better stay put and wait for Nie Tian to return before we go after them.”

“Stay put?!” The ends of Dong Li’s eyebrows rose.

Xie Qian’s death had infuriated her. She was already thinking of how she should retaliate and make Xuan Guangyu suffer.

She even considered gathering strength and marching into Xuan Guangyu’s realms, even though those realms technically belonged to the Void Spirit Society.

“Duan Hongwen is with the Remote Beginning Heavenly Sect, and You Qimiao, their sectmaster, has now entered the late God domain.” Zhao Shanling analyzed. “You Qimiao alone is already hard to deal with. Not to mention that there’s also Xuan Guangyu from the Void Spirit Society.

“That man is a middle God domain expert in spatial power. Even after breaking through to the middle God domain, Yu Suying might not be able to match him in battle, much less us.

“I suppose even peak experts like Chu Yuan from the Heaven Span Pavilion and Shao Tianyang from the Five Elements Sect can’t kill a spatial power expert with Xuan Guangyu’s skills and cultivation base.

“Perhaps only Qu Yi, the sectmaster of the Void Spirit Society, who’s also extremely skilled in spatial power, can trap and kill him with the help of his Void Mirror.

“That Pei girl is the most skilled in spatial power among us. And she won’t have a chance to kill him until she enters a higher cultivation base and makes major breakthroughs in her bloodline.”

Everyone fell silent after hearing Zhao Shanling’s words. They contemplated the situation, and realized that even though they were stronger than ever now, they still weren’t strong enough to contend against You Qimiao and Xuan Guangyu.

“Do we have another option?” Dong Li asked in anger.

“Doesn’t seem so,” Zhao Shanling said. “We have to wait for Sectmaster Yu and Master Blood Spirit to make their breakthroughs in cultivation, wait for good news from Yin Xingtian, and wait for Nie Tian to return.”

“What if Xuan Guangyu also breaks through to the late God domain with the help of the Soul-cleansing Origin Elixir he stole from us?” Master Blood Spirit asked.

Zhao Shanling sighed. “Then we’ll probably have to wait till Qu Yi returns to kill him.”

...

In the Silent Star Sea.

With Profound Truths Crystallization activated, Nie Tian lost his flesh power and Blood Essence at a shocking rate.

The four grand monarchs from the Spirit World transfused their power into Nie Tian together.

Grand Monarch Primal Wood transfused wood power, while the other three grand monarchs transfused rich flesh power.

To Nie Tian at his current level, these grand monarchs’ power seemed boundless.

He activated all of his bloodline talents that were helpful.

Life Drain helped him better absorb the wood and flesh power he received from the grand monarchs, while Blood Essence Condensation helped transform the immense power into Blood Essence.

With Profound Truths Crystallization, he gathered the soul symbols and soul strands in the Nether River without pausing for a moment.

The glowing sphere they stared at unblinkingly grew larger and larger.

The glowing sphere was the Profound Truths Crystal that was being condensed from the countless soul symbols and soul strands that filled the Nether River.

Nie Tian’s eyes widened as he suddenly discovered something. “This is strange…”

This branch of the Nether River flowed from the Void World, and was an extension of the Nether River’s main stream.

However, the fresh water that flowed out of the great vortex didn’t contain any soul symbols or soul strands.

There were only all forms of souls and spirits in the fresh water that flowed in here.

Nie Tian’s expression flickered. “Without the infusion of new soul symbols and soul strands, the soul symbols and soul strands currently in this branch of the Nether River are all it has. Now, all of them are being gathered by the Profound Truths Crystal, along with the wonders of Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s soul magics and soul will.

“When there are nothing but evil spirits in the Nether River, does that mean the Nether River will have lost its ‘soul’?”

His eyes lit up as his train of thought reached this point.

He had a feeling that his Profound Truths Crystallization might be the key to limiting this branch of the Nether River!

Once a Profound Truths Crystal came to form, this branch of the Nether River would lose all of its soul symbols and soul strands, and without the infusion of few ones, it would lose its purpose!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Numerous soul symbols and soul strands flashed across his pupils like fish. Voluntary or not, they disappeared into the Profound Truths Crystal.

The glowing sphere gradually turned solid, and became a sparkling crystal.

Like tiny characters, countless mysterious soul symbols could be seen densely packed in it, with soul strands flashing across from time to time.

“Back in the day, I helped Mo Qianfan enter the God domain by refining a Profound Truths Crystal from the Thunder-devouring Whale’s heart and giving it to him.

“But compared to that one, the amount of Blood Essence and power I expended to condense this one is far greater! And that Thunder-devouring Whale wasn’t remotely comparable to Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit!

“After this Profound Truths Crystal is refined, how can I put it to use?

“Will I be able to absorb it when I advance to the God domain?”