In the Nether Realm where the Phantasm race had been born.

Mountain peaks that were thousands of meters high stood towering in the north, where it was desolate and lifeless.

In the far north, a floating river wound through lofty mountain peaks, stretching to unknown places.

Countless souls and spirits seemed to be drifting along the river, with mysterious changes happening to them.

This river was the origin of the Phantasm race: the Nether River.

Like the river of time in the Shatter Battlefield, the Nether River was also full of mysteries. No one knew when it had first appeared, or where its source was.

It was said that the first Phantasms had been born in the Nether River. They had derived enlightenment from it and solved the mystery of souls, and eventually evolved to what they were now.

It was also said that the Nether River held the secrets of reincarnation. Souls of the dead of various races would be reincarnated after being cleansed by the Nether River.

No one dared to say that they had solved every secret the Nether River held.

Even Grand Monarch Nether River, the current chief of the Phantasm race, wouldn’t dare to say that he had solved all of the Nether River’s secrets.

The Nether River ran eternally, winding through lofty mountain peaks.

Among the mountain peaks, five were very special.

Someone seemed to have shaped them into five enormous sculptures that were thousands of meters high.

The winding Nether River only ran past them, without touching any of them.

All five of them were pale-gray, but looked different from one another. Even their expressions varied.

One was covered in sinister sharp needles, like a huge human-shaped hedgehog. Strong bloodlust could be sensed from it.

One had feathered wings growing out of its back, with a bird head but a human body. Endless hatred could be sensed from it.

One was covered in thick scales like an oddly-shaped fish from the depths of the sea, and seemed unusually angry.

One was of a satanic monster wailing into the sky, which gave people a strong sense of despair.

The last one was of a shriveled, hunched creature with sharp bones growing out of it. The mere sight of it inspired great fear.

Nobody knew how long these sculptures had stood here. Many Phantasm grand patriarchs and grand monarchs would pass them when they came to derive enlightenment from the Nether River.

Many would travel here just to study the sculptures, and try to derive enlightenment about the changes of flesh auras.

Some grand patriarchs and grand monarchs had actually incurred changes in their flesh auras and made significant progress in their bloodlines, while others had derived brand new soul incantations.

However, most of those who came here would return empty-handed.

According to the Phantasms, the Nether Realm had originally been a regular realm with nothing special about it.

Only after the mysterious appearance of the Nether River had it changed.

It was said that the Phantasms were an indigenous species of this realm. Bathed in the Nether River, they seemed to have received some sort of guidance. Thanks to the profound connections between their souls and the Nether River, they had derived a way to strengthen their souls. After evolving for many generations, they eventually became the powerful race they were today.

It was said that these sculptures had appeared with the Nether River.

They hadn’t been carved by the Phantasms, and didn’t seem to have any connection with the other mountain peaks in the region.

Therefore, many powerful Phantasm experts and tenth grade grand monarchs had deemed there to be a close connection between the sculptures and the Nether River.

However, since nothing seemed to have happened between them for countless years, people had gradually forgotten about it.

...

Yet at this moment, a strong attractive force was suddenly born within the five ancient sculptures that were fairly far apart from each other.

Subject to the attractive force, Phantasm Qi from every corner of the Nether Realm started converging and streaming into the five sculptures!

Some misty cyan sparks even rose from the Nether River and disappeared into the sculptures.

The unusual changes that happened to the Nether River and the five sculptures in the far north of the Nether Realm instantly caught the attention of powerful Phantasm experts.

Grand Monarch Dark Nether happened to be sensing the subtle fluctuations within the Nether River on a nearby mountain peak.

His eyes suddenly snapped open.

WHOOSH!

In a flash, he appeared in an open area among the five enormous sculptures.

“Why did the evil gods we’ve enshrined since ancient times suddenly start to channel Phantasm Qi on their own?” After Grand Monarch Dark Nether observed for a while, the prismatic crystal between his eyebrows suddenly blossomed with dazzling light.

Numerous ancient magical symbols and imprints flickered into view within the prismatic crystal.

Grand Monarch Dark Nether seemed to be searching for information about the five sculptures in the ancient records of the Phantasm race. However, after spending a great amount of time and effort, he failed to find a reason for the strange changes that the sculptures were experiencing.

“If only Grand Monarch Nether River were in the Nether Realm now.” With this thought, Grand Monarch Dark Nether looked into the heavens. After hesitating for quite a while, he left in a flash to inform the other important clan members of what was happening here and ask them to send word to Grand Monarch Nether River right away.

...

In the depths of the empty desert in the Realm of Red Sun.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Mo Qianfan arrived like a bolt of lightning, and dropped a number of corpses on the dry sand.

Most of the corpses were of large spirit beasts that were at the seventh or eighth grade, with a few Demons, Phantasms, and other outsiders that had died in battle ages ago.

All of them had been provided by the Primal Yang Sect and the other local sects and clans in the Domain of Primal Yang.

Nie Tian opened his eyes and said, “Thank you. Would you please find me more?”

With these words, he signaled for Mo Qianfan to leave.

“I captured Wu Zhuri and Qi Jiaoyang.” Mo Qianfan said. “Fang Yuan has arranged for them to be shipped to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s headquarters. Fang Yuan said that he wanted them to be punished by the elders of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, so that rebels from the other domains would be held in awe.”

Nie Tian nodded and said, “Let him decide what he wants to do with them. All you need to do is provide him with the help he needs.”

“That’s what I did,” Mo Qianfan answered. “Yin Xingtian, Li Wanfa, and Zhang Qiling are very curious about what you’re doing. And these five...”

With these words, he gave the five evil spirits floating over Nie Tian with a somewhat uneasy glance.

After devouring a large amount of Nie Tian’s Blood Essence, they had shrunk to about ten meters tall. However, with their added flesh auras, they seemed to have flesh and blood now, which made them scarier.

“What?” Nie Tian asked.

“These creatures are exuding strong auras.” Mo Qianfan explained. “Yin Xingtian and the other two can sense their auras no matter where they are in the Realm of Red Sun. All this time, I’ve been stopping them from coming here to see you. Considering that I’m at the God domain, they’ve been respecting me enough to refrain from coming here.”

Nie Tian pondered for a moment before saying, “So keep it up and don’t let them come here.”

Mo Qianfan seemed worried. “Do these creatures have anything to do with the Phantasms? Besides, I can tell that their auras are growing stronger and stronger. Are you sure that you’ll always be able to keep them under control? Once they lose control, I’m afraid...”

“It’s okay,” Nie Tian said. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay...” Mo Qianfan nodded, as he chose to believe him. Then, he left to find him more spirit beast and outsider corpses.

As soon as he left, Nie Tian activated Life Drain.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

Numerous blood strings pierced into the spirit beast and outsider corpses, and started channeling their rich flesh power into Nie Tian’s heart, where it was refined into Blood Essence.

At this point, he had already exhausted his three hundred drops of Blood Essence on the five evil spirits.

He had to obtain flesh power from these corpses and refine it into Blood Essence if he wanted the five evil spirits to continue with their transformation.

All of a sudden, he looked up.

As far as he saw it, the five evil spirits were no longer in spirit form now. Instead, they seemed to have become a whole new species of beings that had flesh and blood.