Confusion filled Dong Li’s face as she turned to fix her eyes on Nie Tian.

Nie Tian, who was wielding the Spirit Scepter, looked almost identical to his true form other than the fact that he was in pure soul form.

Meeting her eyes, he remained as calm as ever.

Dong Li came to a sudden realization. “You know about that strange ward? What’s up with it? Though amplified by the Dark Aureole, my soul power still can’t penetrate it, not in the slightest.”

Nie Tian nodded. “It’s a ward made of a wide array of weird energies. It appears to be protecting something. The sudden changes in the Realm of Middle Continent appear to be stimulated by something in the depths of the earth. Hence, I suspect that the heart of the Realm of Middle Continent is going through significant changes.”

“Can you penetrate that ward with your soul awareness?” Dong Li asked.

“I haven’t succeeded yet,” Nie Tian said honestly.

He had only released his nine sub-souls because he wanted to see if they could make their refined soul power penetrate that energy ward and reach the heart of the Realm of Middle Continent.

He remembered when the existence of the Divine Flame and Nie Yan had caused fundamental changes to the heart of the Flame Land.

They had modified the veins that ran through the depths of the earth, created a lava lake at the heart of the earth, and established a complicated grand spell formation that contained the ultimate flame power.

As soon as the grand spell formation had come to form, the Flame Land had started channeling flame power from its surrounding realms, and even the entire Domain of Flame’s End.

The convergence of rich flame power had made Agaz and many who practiced fire incantations believe that the Flame Land was bound to become a holy land for fire-attributed beings throughout the three worlds, one that would surpass the Realm of Fire Spirit and the Holy Flame Mountain.

The Flame Land was indeed developing in that direction.

Could the sudden appearance of the frigid lake, the golden mountain, the land of lightning, and the area wreathed in wood power be signals that the heart of the Realm of Middle Continent was also experiencing some sort of transformation?

If the Divine Flame and Nie Yan had made the Flame Land, who or what was transforming the Realm of Middle Continent?

Also, who had built the secret teleportation portal in the Bone Sect’s ruins in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation, which connected to the Realm of Middle Continent?

According to Zhao Shanling, there wasn’t any flesh power in that teleportation portal, which meant it hadn’t been built by Voidspirits or members of the other outsider races.

Even though there were a number of races throughout the three worlds that didn’t carry special bloodlines, and humanity was only one of them, the Realm of Middle Continent and the Realm of Unbounded Desolation were both human realms.

Therefore, it was most likely that humans had built the teleportation portal.

“Could it be some sectmaster or expert of the Void Spirit Society?” With this thought, he assumed a serious expression and asked Ji Yuanquan, “Elder Ji, has any spatial power expert in the history of your sect ever lived in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation, or come to the Domain of the Falling Stars?”

Ji Yuanquan immediately realized what he was thinking. “So you suspect that the secret teleportation portal in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation was established by someone from the Void Spirit Society?”

“It can’t be someone from the Void Spirit Society!” Zhao Shanling called out with a grim face.

Nie Tian was taken aback.

“I’ve learned a large number of the Void Spirit Society’s spatial incantations through the Voidspirit Pagoda,” Zhao Shanling said with a serious expression. “The teleportation portal in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation doesn’t match the Void Spirit Society’s system in the slightest!”

“If he says so, then I guess it really doesn’t have anything to do with us,” Ji Yuanquan then said, “That Voidspirit Pagoda of his does carry our sect’s legacies. If he’s certain that the portal didn’t come from our system, then it must not be. Besides, I thought about that possibility since I learned about that teleportation portal and this place.

“I did some research, and I’m certain that none of our renowned seniors have ever lived in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.

“So I don’t think there’s any connection between that teleportation portal in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation and the Void Spirit Society.”

At this moment, Yu Suying, Yin Xingtian, Master Blood Spirit, and the others withdrew their soul power one after another.

They shook their heads as they exchanged frustrated glances.

Yu Suying, who was at the middle God domain, had failed to even detect that energy ward with her soul power, not to mention going through the ward to explore the wonders that lay beyond it.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Nie Tian’s nine sub-souls, which were scattered in different areas of the realm, flew back to the area where the Tree of Life had taken root one after another, returning to his true form.

Only his true soul was reluctant to give up. Wielding the Spirit Scepter, it hesitated over making more attempts.

At that point, Dong Li, who had made great efforts to stretch her soul power to the ward with the help of her Dark Aureole, withdrew her soul power and said, “Perhaps it’s because my cultivation base isn’t high enough that I can only sense the existence of that energy ward. I tried to send my soul power through it, but I couldn’t.”

Outstanding battle prowess didn’t always mean profound soul power.

Dong Li had been able to suppress mighty Devil and Demon grand monarchs mostly because of the dark stones, the Dark Aureole, the Dark King’s overwhelming bloodline power, and the black tortoise.

She herself hadn’t entered the God domain as Nie Tian had.

“Let me try again.”

After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian’s true soul stimulated the power of the Spirit Scepter.

Three murky rivers suddenly poured out of the scepter and stretched down towards the ground.

“Nether Rivers!” Yu Suying and the other exclaimed in astonishment.

In the blink of an eye, the three illusory Nether Rivers disappeared into the ground like water merging with the sea.

At the same time, the Spirit Scepter burst forth with cyan light, which rapidly enveloped a large area around it. Nie Tian’s true soul, however, gradually lost its clear edges and grew blurry.

With a single glance at it, the others realized that this was a sign of rapid soul power loss.

It appeared to be very consuming for Nie Tian to conjure those three Nether Rivers and send them into the depths of the earth, even with the help of the Spirit Scepter.

Nie Tian’s awareness seemed to have merged with the three illusory Nether Rivers. He felt as if his ethereal soul form had split in three, and plunged deep into the earth.

It wasn’t long before the energy ward Dong Li had detected appeared before him.

“Soul Infiltration!”

The three illusory Nether Rivers suddenly blossomed with misty light. Countless soul symbols shone like dazzling stars as they stimulated various soul wonders and shot into the energy ward.

FIZZ!

The peculiar energy ward suddenly burst forth with countless rays of unidentified energies, easily neutralizing the sea of soul symbols released by the Nether Rivers.

“There’s something strange about these energies,” Nie Tian thought to himself. “Years ago, when I fought You Qimiao in the Realm of Maelstrom, he pulled out a river of chaotic energies and attacked me with it. However, I contained and gained control of it with the special magnetic field I created with Primal Chaos. I even destroyed the Jade Heaven Sect’s headquarters with it. No one in the entire Domain of Jade Heaven was able to stop me.

“These energies are quite similar to those. Also, they carry an aura similar to that of the wondrous underground space in the Shatter Battlefield where the Chaos Behemoth was buried. And they remind me of the wide array of energies in the Seven Stars Realm Sea.”

Shortly afterwards...

Nie Tian’s soul power, which he had vested the three illusory Nether Rivers with, was almost drained, yet he still couldn’t penetrate the energy ward.

He had no choice but to withdraw his power.

The three illusory Nether Rivers flew back out of the earth and fused into the Spirit Scepter.

“Nope.” Nie Tian’s true soul shook his head and communicated with the third-generation Tree of Life through the sub-souls that had returned to his true form. “Even with the Spirit Scepter’s help, I still can’t penetrate that energy ward with my soul power and see what lies beyond.”

“Why don’t you try using the fragmentary star marks that are branded on your chest?” The Tree of Life responded.

Nie Tian was taken aback. “The fragmentary star marks?”