The complacence in Scotte’s eyes faded rapidly. “Why is this happening?”

The other three grand monarchs also fell silent.

“This is...” Nie Tian frowned as he watched the blown-up part of the Nether River morph slowly.

The Nether River that had extended from the great vortex to the Silent Star Sea was simply too long.

The part that Scotte had vaporized with Thunder Blast only took up less than a thousandth of it.

At this moment, the broken Nether River was slowly reconnecting on its own, as if it had its own awareness.

From the look of it, it wouldn’t be long before it healed.

Scotte panted and said, with wisps of lightning in his breaths, “I can only use Thunder Blast nine times.”

Apparently, he felt awkward. “After that, my bloodline power will be drained. If I could destroy this Nether River with nine Thunder Blasts, I’d be willing to do it. But it seems...”

Even if he didn’t say that, everyone saw for themselves that nine Thunder Blasts weren’t enough to destroy this Nether River with a self-healing ability.

Nie Tian turned to the other three grand monarchs and asked, “Is there anything you can do?”

Grand Monarch Primal Wood let out a soft sigh. “The Nether River isn’t a solid existence. Rather, it was transformed from Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s residual soul awareness after his demise. The only things I could think of that might be effective were raging flames and Scotte’s lightning power. In fact, I thought Scotte’s lightning bloodline was our best shot.”

“I can’t believe even after his physical demise, the Nether River his awareness transformed into turned out to be this hard to kill,” Nie Tian said.

“After all, he’s one of the three mighty existences that have ever transcended the limits of tenth grade bloodlines.” Even space shook as Chatvic spoke. “Let me give it a shot!”

HOWL!

With a furious howl, his immense flesh aura spread towards a segment of the Nether River like a sea.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The clash between his flesh power and the Nether River gave rise to strange sounds.

Even though the soul-form beings in the Nether River perished in groups, that segment of the Nether River didn’t vanish.

Soon, he gave up and retracted his flesh aura in frustration. “My soul magics aren’t nearly comparable to Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s. It seems to me that searing flames, raging lightning power, and intense soul power are the only things that might have a chance at neutralizing this Nether River.”

“Perhaps there’s another way,” Grand Monarch Primal Wood exclaimed softly.

“What?” Scotte said.

Grand Monarch Primal Wood turned to look in Pei Qiqi’s direction. “There! That great vortex is the source of this branch of the Nether River. If we can find a way to destroy that great vortex and stop fresh water from flowing here from the Void World, then our problem will be solved.”

“Good point!” Chatvic said excitedly.

“Let’s go!” The four grand monarchs from the Spirit World rushed towards the distant great vortex where Pei Qiqi was.

Nie Tian followed along.

A figure stood aghast on a floating landmass that was covered in ice.

“Grand Monarch Primal Wood and three Ancientspirit grand monarchs!” Pang Chicheng couldn’t believe his own eyes.

Having lost the Four Manifestations Flame Soul Cauldron, he couldn’t leave the Silent Star Sea on his own.

At the same time, since he had been worried that Nie Tian would be waiting for him in the magical land where that dilapidated altar stood, he had refrained from going back there to derive enlightenment from those titan arms, and had holed up in this frigid heaven and earth instead.

He had sealed all of his flame aura within to hide himself.

Since Grand Monarch Primal Wood and the Ancientspirit grand monarchs were focused on the Nether River and the distance between them was far too great, they didn’t sense his existence.

He, however, saw their enormous figures flying across the distant starry river.

“Nie Tian! How did he enter a friendly relationship with these grand monarchs from the Spirit World?”

Pang Chicheng thought hard, but failed to think of an answer. Even so, he realized that they seemed to be here to destroy the Nether River.

“The Nether River!”

It occurred to him that this might be an opportunity to retake the Four Manifestations Flame Soul Cauldron and replace Nie Tian as the controller of this mysterious place.

Therefore, he also flew towards the great vortex stealthily.

...

“Nie Tian, only pure soul-form beings can pass through this great vortex.”

Pei Qiqi activated her bloodline talent, and a wisp of her soul will flew into the Space Boundaries Crystal, which then attempted to enter the great vortex with the crystal as its vessel.

However, even the Space Boundaries Crystal couldn’t get through.

That wisp of her soul will, on the other hand, could enter without any obstacles.

Scotte was taken aback. “Only pure soul-form beings can pass through? Doesn’t that mean even the Netherspirits, Devils, and Bonedrudes from the Void World couldn’t get here through the Nether River, but only those evil souls and vicious spirits can?”

“That’s right,” Pei Qiqi said.

“Can we enter with our souls?” Nie Tian asked.

Pei Qiqi pondered for a moment then said, “Probably, but that’d be a great risk. After all, you don’t know what lies on the other side. Also, if you want to go to the other side, you’ll have to sink your soul into this Nether River and go against its current. If you do that, I’m afraid...”

Countless spirits and souls fought and devoured each other in the Nether River.

There seemed to be some evil power in the Nether River that could bereave the souls that entered of their sanity.

No one present dared to separate their soul from their fleshly body and use it to enter the Nether River, where it would be subject to the corrosion of the Nether River water and the gnawing of countless evil spirits, much less going against the current into the Void World.

Who could guarantee that they would survive a journey like that?

“The first-generation Tree of Life sealed the Silent Star Sea with all of its power, and the power it channeled from numerous realms,” Pei Qiqi said. “That great vortex is a small opening that was created later. I suppose it was Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s residual will that did it.

“However, since this opening only allows the Nether River and soul-form beings from the Void World to pass through, I suppose even the Netherspirit grand monarchs didn’t have the courage to abandon their fleshly bodies, dive into the Nether River, and enter the Silent Star Sea with those senseless evil spirits.”

Grand Monarch Primal Wood took a moment to think, then said, “An opening that only allows soul-form beings through… Miss Pei, if someone created that opening, can it be destroyed? Can you destroy it with your spatial power and invaluable spatial treasure?”

Pei Qiqi had displayed her remarkable talent in the recent battles that had taken place in the human world. Grand Monarch Primal Wood and the outsider experts knew her shocking battle prowess better than anyone.

He was aware that she was most likely going to be the next sectmaster of the Void Spirit Society.

He also knew that the Space Boundaries Crystal in her possession was one of the most powerful spatial tools throughout the three worlds.

In fact, given time, it might actually grow to be more powerful than Qu Yi’s Void Mirror.

“Destroy the opening created by Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit?” Pei Qiqi shook her head. “I’m not sure that I can do it. Also, I don’t know if we’ll get the opposite result if I do it.”

Nie Tian was confused. “Opposite result?”

“What if I end up blowing the great vortex even larger?” Pei Qiqi said, seeming very uncertain about this solution. “What if it allows not only the soul-form beings, but fleshy beings through as well? If that happens, I suspect the Netherspirits will find out about it immediately, and then send forces into the Silent Star Sea at the first possible moment.”

Upon hearing these words, everyone present had grim looks on their faces.

“Then we can’t do it!” Grand Monarch Primal Wood said hastily. “If we don’t know for sure what will happen if we try to blow up the great vortex, we’d better wait till we find a reliable solution.”

“But fresh Nether River water is flowing through it with every passing minute,” Scotte said.

Having a headache over the situation, Nie Tian frowned and turned to Grand Monarch Primal Wood. “Did the third-generation Tree of Life give you any specific instructions before you came to find me? It only told you to come here with me and provide any help I need. Nothing more?”

Grand Monarch Primal Wood nodded silently.

“Was it so certain that I’d be able to find a solution?” Nie Tian found this hard to believe.

Grand Monarch Primal Wood nodded again. “Yes, it told me that you’d be able to lead us to a solution to the trouble in the Silent Star Sea and eliminate the threat of the branch of the Nether River that extends into it.”

Nie Tian felt perturbed. “But I don’t have a solution.”