His soul awareness spread as he pulled the five Illusory Ancient Talismans out of the Spirit Pearl. “Come out!”

As soon as the Illusory Ancient Talismans appeared, the five evil gods inside noticed the peculiar Nether River branch.

They were visibly excited.

Through the Illusory Ancient Talismans, Nie Tian could see that their bodies were charred in many places. They must have been badly injured because they had been burned by the eight flame dragon skeletons.

Nie Tian’s eyes twinkled as he seemed to come to some realization. “The eight flame dragon skeletons and the dilapidated altar can burn evil souls and purge the Spirit Pearl.

“The Spirit Pearl was created by Grand Monarch Nether Spirit to collect the scattered fragmentary souls and memories of these five evil gods in the Mortal World and Spirit World. The Spirit Pearl carries their aura. It’s not so much a magical tool of the Phantasms as a token of the Netherspirits.

“If the dilapidated altar can purge the Spirit Pearl and refine them...”

He snorted and said, “When the five of you see this Nether River branch, do you remember anything? It’s rumored that the soul awareness of Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit, who you followed, became the Nether River after his death. Is this branch of the Nether River an extension of his soul awareness?”

Having followed Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit for many years, the five evil gods must have had an impression of the Nether River, even if they had not yet gathered all their fragmentary souls and memories.

They should know more about Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit than anyone else.

Nie Tian was trying to figure out through them what was going on in the Nether River branch before his eyes.

Did it actually have an unprecedented battle with that ancient tree as he imagined?

He wanted to know whether the battle was over, and how long it had lasted.

The five evil gods who had been excited suddenly all fell silent upon hearing his words, as if they had a mutual understanding.

It was as if they had suddenly become mute.

No matter how Nie Tian asked them, they gave no response.

Nie Tian was irritated. “Ingrates! If I’d known you’d be like this, I would have refined you alive on the altar without leaving a single trace of your soul awareness!”

They remained silent.

“It’s clear that they know something, master,” Agaz said.

The Spirit Pearl’s soul chimed in, “The moment they flew out of the pearl, their souls fluctuated violently. They must know something about this peculiar Nether River branch!”

Even without their reminders, Nie Tian knew that the five evil gods must know something.

“Damn it!” he swore and then suddenly stared at the center of the whirlpool from which the Nether River extended. “Get the hell back into the pearl!”

The five Illusory Ancient Talismans were stuffed into the Spirit Pearl.

He grasped the Spirit Pearl and pressed it against between his eyebrows, as if it were his third eye.

Strands of his condensed soul awareness converged on the pearl between his eyebrows.

WHOOSH!

The Spirit Pearl lit up between his eyebrows like a new eye opening. With the help of this strange pearl and its soul, he surveyed the Nether River branch once again.

Because of the existence of the Spirit Pearl, the bright cyan light and intertwined soul strings became extremely distinct in the river, even though there weren’t any spirit-form beings or evil ghosts.

He felt as if his soul awareness had sank into it.

SWISH! SWISH!

A large number of obscure soul characters flew out of the brilliant cyan light, shining. The intertwined soul strings started swimming in his eyes, as if they were being rearranged to show him the wonders of soul spells, similar to how he had received information from the Nether River branch in the Seven-star Realm Sea.

These soul characters were the unique soul symbols of the Netherspirits in the Void World. They recorded soul magics that Nie Tian should not be able to understand.

However, with the Spirit Pearl’s help, everything seemed to be easy. He was able to take in the soul characters imprinted within the bright cyan light in the Nether River, and understand their meaning without hindrance.

The Spirit Pearl between his eyebrows emitted cyan light more and more brilliantly.

He could no longer notice the five evil gods who the Illusory Ancient Talismans had imprisoned inside the pearl.

He didn’t see that the five evil gods were baring their teeth, sometimes ferocious, sometimes itching to fight, sometimes with killing intent in their eyes, as if they were all waiting for something to happen!

In the middle of the whirlpool of mixed energies where the Nether River branch had penetrated, the turbulent energies suddenly grew more and more raging.

The Nether River branch, which had wound its way around numerous lands and branches of the ancient tree, had been motionless for thousands of years.

SPLASH!

However, sounds of torrential water suddenly came from the center of the whirlpool!

The sounds instantly reached the depths of the souls of Agaz, the Spirit Pearl, and the five evil gods!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Fresh Nether River water flowed from the whirlpool.

Thousands of ghostly souls, evil ghosts, and unconscious spirit-form beings could be seen fighting instinctively in the fresh water and devouring each other!

Upon seeing the changes in the Nether River, the flame dragon Agaz burst into flames and let out a howl.

He did this to warn Nie Tian!

In the Spirit Pearl, the soul also howled in an attempt to awaken Nie Tian and make him withdraw his soul from the Nether River immediately.

The frantic clamor of the five evil gods rang shrilly in the Illusory Ancient Talismans inside the pearl. “Ha ha! Ha ha ha!”

They seemed to be laughing at the Spirit Pearl’s soul and Nie Tian.

With new water springing out from the source, the other end of the Nether River that pointed at the roots of the colossal tree started stretching slowly but firmly forward again.

No lands were manipulated by the branches to intercept it this time!

“We’re going to win this prolonged war eventually!” The five evil gods’ growls rang out in the pearl. In the Nether River that was infused with fresh water, rays of bright cyan light were attracted by them and flew into the Spirit Pearl from time to time.

The Spirit Pearl’s soul couldn’t stop them at all!

When the first ray of cyan light flew toward the bloodthirsty evil gods, the Spirit Pearl’s soul felt that the light was also part of the evil god of bloodlust!

“Crap!” the Spirit Pearl’s soul shouted, turning pale with fright and trying harder to call Nie Tian’s name, urging him to wake up quickly to deal with the sudden changes.

At that moment, the flame dragon Agaz suddenly seemed to understand a lot of things. “The Illusory Ancient Talismans, the skeletons of the eight flame dragons, and the dilapidated altar can all limit souls. Their original target must have been the Nether River and the evil spirits that fly out of it! Did the strange ancient tree and the Ancientspirits that have been buried in this place help the same cause?”

FIZZ! FIZZ!

As the bright cyan light of the Nether River swarmed into the Spirit Pearl like raindrops, the five Illusory Ancient Talismans actually showed signs of melting little by little.

Once the Illusory Ancient Talismans melted completely, the five evil gods would break free from the pearl.

Since they had long desired to rebel and had already made trouble in the Void World, they might be even more aggressive this time.

The Spirit Pearl’s soul would be their first target.

“Disaster! Big disaster!” The flame dragon Agaz was tremendously anxious. He watched the situation change in the worst direction, but there was nothing he could do.

Worse still, Nie Tian hadn’t responded for a long time, as if his soul had gotten lost in the Nether River.