The Nether River flew out of the Nether Realm and headed directly towards the Floragrims’ main realm, followed by the five mountainous statues.

Barbara and the other Netherspirits chased the Nether River into the starry river, but found that it was leaving at a speed beyond their imagination.

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t catch up to it. They could only watch it fly farther and farther away.

“Nie Tian!” Barbara roared madly in the starry river outside the Nether Realm.

Inside the Nether Realm.

Numerous Phantasms had a feeling of being driven into a dead end watching the Nether River leave along with the five statues that they had worshiped for countless years.

Deeply confused, the old female Phantasm cast her gaze down. “Why did this happen?

“Aren’t the Netherspirits supposed to take us over? Isn’t the Nether River in the Nether Realm only a branch of the Nether River in the Void World? If that’s true, why did it suddenly fly away after their arrival?

“And it didn’t seem to be leaving the Spirit World.”

She couldn’t think of an answer.

Some Phantasms flew into the starry river after Barbara and the Netherspirits with her, and whispered among themselves.

They also wanted to figure out what had just happened.

Barbara was an important figure of the Netherspirits. She had clearly attempted to draw power and strong spirits from the Nether River. However, it seemed to... have completely ignored her.

Not just that, but it had unprecedentedly left the Nether Realm and flown seemingly towards the Floragrims’ domain, as if it had been channeled by some force.

It was very strange that it would do that instead of returning to its origin in the Void World.

After pondering for a long while, the old female Phantasm said, “Barbara was calling Nie Tian’s name. Grand Monarch Unholy Wind died at Nie Tian’s hands, and I heard that he made a branch of the Nether River appear in the Seven Stars Realm Sea. Our lost treasure, the Spirit Pearl, is also in his possession. And those evil gods appeared to have developed fleshly bodies because of him...”

“That Nie Tian has a profound connection to us somehow!” another Phantasm exclaimed softly.

The old female Phantasm nodded. “Strangely, yes. Possessing the Spirit Pearl, commanding the evil gods, and being able to channel the Nether River... This is all very unusual. I also heard that he seized the Netherspirits’ precious treasure. Don’t tell me the Nether River’s leaving is actually his doing.”

...

In the Floragrims’ main realm.

Nie Tian’s true form was cleansing and refining his wood domain over and over with the power of the Tree of Life.

After absorbing a large amount of the wood power bestowed upon him by the Tree of Life, his wood domain had gone through incredible changes, as if it had become a brand new piece of land.

Other than the Godspirit Tree and the seventy-two ancient trees, a wide array of flowers and plants were now blooming in many areas of the land, as if they had been spawned by the terrifyingly strong wood power.

Rivers of rich wood power also flowed across the land like rivers.

The Floragrims’ forbidden land, however, was quickly withering. However, just before the ancient sky-reaching trees died, their seeds seemed to be transplanted into Nie Tian’s wood domain with the power of the Tree of Life.

Gradually, his domain grew into a magical land that was very similar to the Floragrims’ main realm in its glory.

Furthermore, his domain seemed to grow more and more materialized as these changes took place.

Nie Tian’s wood power sub-soul sensed the subtle changes, and muttered, “This domain of mine was forged from the pure spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, wood power, and soul power. Other cultivators may also need to gather and fuse various spiritual materials of a certain attribute into their domains in order to forge them.

“But since I have the Godspirit Tree, I was able to skip that troublesome step.

“Once my saint domain transforms into a god domain, it’ll be able to morph infinitely and assume the form of a dharma idol, yet it’ll still be different from an actual realm.

“What will my dharma idol be like...?”

He mobilized his power as he contemplated.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Wisps of rich wood power suddenly infiltrated his true form and started streaming through his meridians.

Even his star power sub-soul and flame power sub-soul, along with his star domain and flame domain, seemed to be nourished by the highly-refined power. As the power surged within his true form, they were all growing stronger rapidly.

Outside the realm.

Nie Tian’s star domain was filled with shining stars. His true soul, which had also flown out of the realm, was surrounded by the five evil gods. Right now, it was wielding the Spirit Scepter as if to conduct a summoning ritual.

SHEW!

The Nether River that should have remained in the Nether Realm arrived after crossing boundless space.

This Nether River looked very different from the ones Nie Tian had seen in the Seven Stars Realm Sea and the Silent Star Sea.

Both those ones had seemed to be soulless.

However, this Nether River, the one summoned here by the Spirit Scepter, seemed to have its own awareness.

Having witnessed the truth about the Blood Realms, he now knew that the so-called Nether River was a reflection of the River of Souls.

All of the Nether River branches that manifested in the three words were reflections of the River of Souls.

Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s residual will had created them by channeling the River of Souls and casting its reflections in the Mortal World, the Spirit World, and the Void World.

As Nie Tian pondered, the Spirit Scepter suddenly flew out of his hand and into that Nether River. As this happened, he noticed that five enormous stone statues had followed the Nether River here.

HOWL! ROAR!

The five evil gods immediately let out howls of excitement.

Before Nie Tian could do anything, the five of them swooped towards the mountainous statues.

The statues then started cracking. With every piece that fell off of them, a wisp of cyan flesh aura flew out and fused into one of the evil gods, as if to contribute to their strength.

“Stashed flesh power!” Nie Tian exclaimed, as he hadn’t expected that the stone statues that had flown here with the Nether River actually had the evil gods’ flesh power sealed within them.

Rumor had it that the five evil gods had exploded and perished.

Who would have thought that their soul fragments that had scattered across the Mortal World, Spirit World, and Void World would be regathered by the Spirit Pearl and him?

Besides that, some of their flesh auras had actually been secured and sealed within these stone statues for their revival.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Wisp after wisp of flesh aura flew out of the peeling statues and fused into the five evil gods like lightning bolts.

Nie Tian’s eyelids throbbed with astonishment as he discovered that as the flesh auras fused into the evil gods, their strength skyrocketed.

As of now, the five evil gods had already regathered their soul fragments. Compared to their former lives, all they lacked now was their flesh power as late tenth grade grand monarchs.

Now, as the flesh auras that belonged to them were returned to them, their strength was boosted sharply.

“Right now, their individual battle prowess should be higher than that of a middle tenth grade grand monarch like Grand Monarch Bloodlust or Grand Monarch Nether Channeler. But they’re still not as strong as late tenth grade grand monarchs yet. If they can recover their peak strength, then they’ll be five late tenth grade grand monarchs at my command!” With this thought, Nie Tian’s eyes lit up. “Now, I just don’t know how much power is sealed within these statues.”