The Spirit Pearl’s soul came out of the misty world inside the Spirit Pearl and appeared in Nie Tian’s sea of soul awareness.

It condensed at an amazingly fast speed before morphing into a sub-soul of Grand Monarch Soul Capturer.

Nie Tian suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his soul.

The connection between him and the Spirit Pearl’s soul that had lasted for many years seemed to have been cut off ruthlessly by a sword.

He could no longer sense the aura of the Spirit Pearl’s soul. It appeared that the ninth grade grand patriarch’s fragmentary soul and awareness had all been erased, leaving no trace.

That was when he knew that the Spirit Pearl’s soul was gone for good.

All of a sudden, his heart overflowed with pain.

Not long ago, the Spirit Pearl’s soul had expressed its desire to take some fragmentary souls that he had captured and use them to help itself advance.

In the Domain of Shadow Devil, he had indeed done so, and the Spirit Pearl’s soul hadn’t disappointed him. In return, it had used the pure soul power it had refined to repay him and help him condense his soul.

Now, all of a sudden, the Spirit Pearl’s soul was gone, and was replaced by Grand Monarch Soul Capturer’s sub-soul.

“This Spirit Pearl’s soul has absorbed many Devils’ fragmentary souls in the Domain of Shadow Devil, and has finally grown to the extent that it can accommodate my will and be helpful,” Grand Monarch Soul Capturer talked to himself. “In fact, I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time now. I thought you’d die young and I wouldn’t have to spend so much energy dealing with you myself.”

The Spirit Pearl suddenly fell into his sub-soul’s palm.

BOOM!

The Spirit Pearl burst forth with brilliant divine light in Nie Tian’s sea of soul awareness. The cyan sphere of light was like a realm of souls forming in Nie Tian’s sea of soul awareness.

Nie Tian’s main soul and nine sub-souls all shook.

At that moment, Nie Tian had a strange feeling that Grand Monarch Soul Capturer should be the Spirit Pearl’s owner, not the soul it had replaced.

When the Spirit Pearl had been controlled by the soul, it couldn’t have displayed such wonders.

Nie Tian saw the Spirit Pearl become crystal clear as it emanated increasingly dazzling divine light.

Thousands of brilliant cyan soul characters flowed on the surface of the crystal pearl, manifesting profound true meanings of the soul.

When Grand Monarch Soul Capturer’s sub-soul held the Spirit Pearl, it seemed to be holding a world of its own.

Rays of blinding light shot out of the pearl.

Nie Tian felt unbearable pain as his main soul and nine sub-souls stared at the Spirit Pearl at the same time.

SPLASH!

A muddy, illusory Nether River showed up and surrounded the Spirit Pearl.

Grand Monarch Soul Capturer’s sub-soul pointed at the Spirit Pearl and the Nether River surrounding it, and asked Nie Tian, “Does that look familiar to you?”

Nie Tian was instantly taken aback. “The Realm of Dark Souls!”

The Spirit Pearl, which was now surrounded by the illusory Nether River, reminded him of the scene he had seen upon arriving at the Realm of Dark Souls through Pei Qiqi’s spatial passage.

The Realm of Dark Souls, which had been like a bright cyan ball surrounded by a Nether River, had once stunned him.

At this moment, the Spirit Pearl surrounded by the illusory Nether River bore a great resemblance to it!

Grand Monarch Soul Capturer laughed broadly and marveled, “Ha ha ha, you’re smart as I expected! There were three Spirit Pearls at the beginning. Thank you for finding them one by one and fusing them together.

“I’m grateful for that, but now, you’ll cough up all the refined soul power that you’ve gotten from the Spirit Pearls over the years.”

“Great Soul-conjuring Spell!” Grand Monarch Soul Capturer exclaimed softly.

The cyan light that the Spirit Pearl emitted shone on his main soul and nine sub-souls.

Nie Tian let out a cry of pain. His main soul and nine sub-souls suddenly started emitting “smoke.”

That “smoke” was refined soul power.

Attracted by the Spirit Pearl, the “smoke” naturally flew to it.

Grand Monarch Soul Capturer held the Spirit Pearl as if he were holding a realm, a world that only belonged to him, and an unusual space similar to the Realm of Dark Souls.

Nie Tian stared blankly at Grand Monarch Soul Capturer as thoughts flashed through his mind.

There was an unsurpassed genius named Grand Monarch Nether Spirit in the history of the Phantasms.

He was the first grand monarch who had truly understood the true meaning of the Nether River and won its approval.

It was he who had discovered that the Nether River in the Nether Realm had been transformed from a powerful Netherspirit’s sea of soul awareness.

It was also him who had learned about the existence of the five evil gods, and refined and scattered the three Spirit Pearls to collect the five evil gods’ fragmentary souls. Moreover, he hadn’t made them one, preventing the five evil gods’ fragmentary souls from getting together and thus preventing them from being fully revived.

It was also he who had derived wonders of the soul from the Nether River and created the Book of Spirits, the forbidden scripture.

His battle prowess and talent had surpassed all the other Phantasm grand monarchs. Even Grand Monarch Nether River, who had taken his position after him, was no match for him.

Grand Monarch Nether Spirit was truly the most powerful expert in the history of the Phantasms.

When he had been in his heyday, all the Ancientspirits of the Spirit World had avoided fighting him. He had even enjoyed a high level authority among the Demons, Fiends, and Bonebrutes.

While he had been alive, the four great ancient sects had been defeated repeatedly in the Dead Star Sea and had suffered heavy blows.

He had once stood at the peak of the entire Spirit World. His status in the Spirit World had been comparable to Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit of the Void World.

Unfortunately, it seemed Grand Monarch Nether Spirit had suffered a Qi deviation at the end of his life, after he had comprehended the true meaning of the Nether River; he had taken many lives, regardless of whether they had been friends or enemies.

In the end, this amazingly gifted grand monarch had exploded and died during cultivation, without being attacked by a strong enemy.

“The Netherspirits, the Spirit Pearl, Grand Monarch Nether Spirit... A grand monarch who is named after the Void World’s Netherspirits, which is the origin of his bloodline. Even his tools are called Spirit Pearls!”

A series of thoughts flashed through the torrential memories of Nie Tian’s main soul like lightning bolts.

A light of enlightenment suddenly emerged.

“You’re called Grand Monarch Soul Capturer in the Void World because the title ‘Netherspirits’ already existed in the Void World,” Nie Tian said. “You named yourself Grand Monarch Nether Spirit when you first comprehended the true meaning of the Nether River in the Spirit World. If you continued to call yourself Grand Monarch Nether Spirit after coming to the Void World, it’d be far too impudent and arrogant.”

“I never expected that you would come to the Void World and assume the identity of Grand Monarch Soul Capturer after you exploded and died in the Nether River.”

Nie Tian seemed to understand instantly after seeing the unusual phenomenon displayed by the Spirit Pearl in Grand Monarch Soul Capturer’s hands.

Grand Monarch Soul Capturer was, in fact, Grand Monarch Nether Spirit!

The Spirit Pearl that he had mastered over these years had been refined by this very grand monarch in front of him!

No wonder Luo Wanxiang could cultivate the Book of Spirits after secretly swearing his allegiance to the Netherspirits of the Void World and secretly colluding with the Phantasms in the Spirit World.

The evil magics that the Book of Spirits had recorded allowed casters to sacrifice souls in order to communicate with an ‘evil spirit.’ This so-called evil spirit was Grand Monarch Nether Spirit himself, who was also the Grand Monarch Soul Capturer in front of him!

Grand Monarch Soul Capturer didn’t try to deny this. “Good, you’ve finally figured it out, but there’s one more thing you haven’t figured out. It wasn’t me who wanted to contaminate the Nether River. It was the Nether River, or Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s fragmentary soul, that tried to possess me. He tried to come back to life in my body!”

The sub-soul looked Nie Tian’s soul, which had “smoke” rising from it, with a cold look. “Otherwise, why do you think I would suffer a Qi deviation and die in the Nether River in the Nether Realm? Do you take Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit as a kind being? He tricked me, and I only survived by chance. When I refined the Nether River in the Void World, I was just retaliating.

“After his scheme against me failed, he chose you. It’s just that I’ve beaten him to your body!”