You Qimiao and Han Qing, who had dived into the lake successively, didn’t surface again...

The lake was deep and dark. If the others got closer, they got so cold that even their teeth chattered.

Yu Suying of the Profound Purity Palace, who was at the middle God domain, made an attempt herself, but as powerful as she was, she had to fly out of the lake shortly after her entry.

Ice fragments fell to the ground and shattered. Yu Suying shook her head, her expression heavy. “Nie Tian, I can’t sense the movements of You Qimiao or my junior martial sister. This lake is so weird that it’s extremely difficult for my soul awareness to move around underwater. And the lake is bottomless. I don’t know where they are.”

“The lake wasn’t deep at first,” Zhao Shanling said. “When I first came to the Realm of Middle Continent and scanned it with my soul awareness, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But as the frosty aura in it grew, it suddenly changed, and I can no longer see through it.”

“Nie Tian, what now?” Yu Suying asked.

Nie Tian thought for a moment, then said, “You Qimiao and your junior martial sister are both talented cultivators proficient in the profound meaning of cold ice. Maybe they’re studying the wonders in the lake and aren’t in a hurry to leave before they can figure them out. Well, let’s ignore them for the time being.”

“Then what should we do now?” Yu Suying asked curiously.

“Zhao, get ready. I have a feeling that those grand monarchs will be here soon.” Nie Tian said.

Zhao Shanling chuckled. “Rest assured. The only thing I’m worried about is that the six grand monarchs will sense the anomaly in advance and make other preparations.”

“Don’t worry,” Nie Tian said with great confidence. “My true soul has mastered the Spirit Scepter. Once the six grand monarchs with fleshly bodies and souls come near the Realm of Middle Continent, I’ll locate them before they can sense your presence. Besides, they won’t even know that I’ve sensed their arrival. We don’t have to get everyone here until then.”

“Nie Tian, are you sure that your true form will not fight in this battle?” Yu Suying asked.

“No, it won’t” Nie Tian replied, “As long as our enemies are souled creatures, I, who rule the Spirit Scepter, can subdue them. My fighting strength won’t suffer without my true form. Besides...

“I should be able to summon the five evil gods when I need them.”

With the connection between his true soul and the five evil gods, he felt that he could summon them to his aid at any time by relying on the grand spell formation Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit of the Netherspirits had left, and the Spirit Scepter’s power.

Even the starry river of the Spirit World had been split open by the grand spell formation, allowing them to arrive in the Nether Realm in an instant.

Nie Tian’s true soul could feel that the five evil gods had been increasing their strength in the Nether Realm and the surrounding five realms.

He believed that together, they could even fight Grand Monarch Eternal Purgatory of the Demons head-on.

After absorbing the sealed flesh aura inside the stone statues, the five evil gods had been growing stronger by the day.

Now, even You Qimiao of the Remote Beginning Heavenly Sect, who had been badly injured, should be no match for them.

Half a day later.

Zhao Shanling’s wandering spatial light blades suddenly sensed something strange in another area of the Realm of Middle Continent.

A nearby bluish-brown mountain only three-thousand-meters high had looked rather ordinary.

When Zhao Shanling had arrived with Nie Tian and Yu Suying, they had noticed that there were small spatial light blades flying inside the mountain, making cutting sounds.

Bluish-brown rubble constantly rolled down the mountain.

Suddenly, the mountain burst forth with golden light, which looked like countless golden lightning bolts.

The ordinary mountain immediately became completely different.

“A golden mountain,” Zhao Shanling said, looking dazed and puzzled. “Nie Tian, I can swear that I didn’t perceive anything abnormal in the spatial light blades that I released. These spatial light blades that I’ve left behind were flitting nearby when I suddenly sensed metal power bursting from this mountain, so I came here to check.

“Who would expect that the metal power inside the mountain would suddenly increase dramatically, and in a while, even this ordinary mountain would become a golden one containing weird energy?”

Yu Suying was also surprised. “Metal power, metal power... The power I’ve been cultivating is actually a kind of metal power. I’ll see if my Heaven-purging Divine Light can detect anything.”

WHOOSH!

In an instant, a cluster of silvery light flew toward the golden mountain.

The Heaven-purging Divine Light was an immortal grade divine tool of the Profound Purity Palace. The rays of divine light it was made up of were like silver needles that were so sharp and powerful that they could penetrate outsiders’ flesh aura seas and humans’ domains.

Many rays of Heaven-purging Divine Light stabbed into the weird golden mountain and burst forth with gold and silver light with a loud clear ‘ding.’

However, not a single mark was left on the mountain.

All the rays of Heaven-purging Divine Light bounced back and reappeared behind Yu Suying.

A grim look appeared in Yu Suying’s eyes as she said to Nie Tian, “According to my perception, the mountain seems to be changing continuously. It seems that it is made of divine gold and fine iron. It is rumored that the metal element sect of the Five Elements Sect has a similar mountain with special metal inside, which can be made into the most powerful divine weapons after being mined.

“I have luckily seen the mountain once before, but it didn’t seem as special as this one.”

A surprised look appeared on Nie Tian’s face. “First it was the lake. Now, it’s this golden mountain. Why are strange changes occurring in the human birthplace one after another at this stage? Isn’t it said that the Spirit World is running out of energies, and is no longer fit for living? Isn’t it experiencing the end of a cycle?”

BOOM!

At this moment, thunder rolled and lightning flashed in another area of the Realm of Middle Continent.

Nie Tian’s true soul couldn’t help but shudder upon hearing the first roll of thunder.

It seemed that the raging thunder and lightning were even mighty enough to injure his true soul.

Even those who were proficient in thunder principles like the Thunder Devil Yuan Jiuchuan and Scotte, the lightning dragon, couldn’t scare Nie Tian’s true soul now that it held the Spirit Scepter, much less ordinary thunder and lightning.

However, now a single roll of thunder in the Realm of Middle Continent made his true soul uneasy.

“This is far too strange!” Zhao Shanling said, grabbing his hair in distress. “I’ve been in the Realm of Middle Continent for a while now and I’ve explored every inch of it, but there wasn’t anything weird before. If I hadn’t met your true soul, I might have left for other realms in search of wonders.”

With the thunder, rain poured down.

The pattering rainstorm contained wood vitality. It seems to be nourishing the earth that had been dry for hundreds of millions of years!

The land of the Realm of Middle Continent absorbed the nutrients crazily, like a sponge!

Yu Suying was dumbstruck. “What’s happening? A realm can change so much in such a short time? And the changes are so dense and weird!”

Nie Tian was also puzzled. “I don’t understand either. Why are there so many weird changes in the Realm of Middle Continent, the birthplace of the human race, while the Spirit World declines and the energies of heaven and earth vanish?”