The evil gods’ shrill soul screams echoed from within the five crackling Illusory Ancient Talismans.

“No!”

“Don’t!”

They had been able to communicate with Nie Tian the whole time.

After all, it was Nie Tian’s Blood Essence that had vested them with fleshly bodies. It was Nie Tian who had gone to great lengths to help them gradually build up their strength.

They had long since developed their own awareness and learned the human language. They simply chose not to communicate with Nie Tian on a soul level out of repulsion towards him.

However, at this moment, trapped on the dilapidated altar, they were suffering from the raging flames. Their fleshly bodies that had been reforged thanks to Nie Tian were being relentlessly damaged by the very person who had reforged them.

Their bodies weren’t the only things being damaged; their souls were as well.

They finally started to feel afraid.

Thanks to their soul connection, they could vaguely sense that Nie Tian wasn’t just saying things to scare them, but he was actually prepared to sacrifice them to strengthen the Spirit Pearl’s soul, which had limited potential, but abundant loyalty.

Due to the restrictions of the Illusory Ancient Talismans and the fact that they had failed to gather all of their lost memories and soul fragments from the Void World, they hadn’t recovered their peak power yet, and thus couldn’t resist the increasingly violent flame power from this wondrous altar.

If they didn’t yield, then they would be refined, both their bodies and souls perishing here.

They also had a terrifying feeling that if they were burned away on this altar, their soul awareness would dissipate completely, and could never be regathered.

That meant that even if others wanted to gather their remaining soul fragments in the Void World, it wouldn’t be enough to bring them back.

Therefore, they were finally scared. Realizing that they were facing extinction, they yielded and begged Nie Tian for mercy.

A sinister grin appeared on Nie Tian’s face. “You’re begging me for mercy now? It’s too late. I don’t want to waste any more time on you! So what if you were late tenth grade grand monarchs? Do you really think I can’t survive without you?

“When my bloodline enters the tenth grade and my cultivation base reaches the God domain, what are your grand monarchs, including that Grand Monarch Thousand Spirits, to me?

“It’s not like I’ve never faced a tenth grade grand monarch in battle!”

Overtaken with anger, Nie Tian completely ignored the evil gods’ pleas for mercy, and issued an order to the Flame Dragon Armor. “Go on! Burn their bodies and refine their souls! Those who don’t obey me are useless, and a waste of my precious Blood Essence!”

“Got it.” After giving a simple answer, the Flame Dragon Armor channeled even more flesh power from him to fuel the eight flame dragon skeletons, which then spewed even fiercer flame power at the altar.

“Master...” The Spirit Pearl’s soul wanted to say something, but stopped and sighed after seeing the state Nie Tian was in.

In despair, the five evil gods wailed for his forgiveness.

Nie Tian turned a deaf ear.

He had made up his mind. If he couldn’t completely tame the five of them, he might as well destroy them as soon as possible. Otherwise, they might stir up more trouble when he took another trip to the Void World.

Not to mention that Grand Monarch Thousand Spirits might be able to use them to reopen the portal.

In order to prevent future problems, he had decided to kill the five of them and use their soul power to strengthen the Spirit Pearl’s soul.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

As the five evil gods were being purged, the Spirit Pearl seemed to come under increasingly heavy pressure. The cyan heaven and earth inside of it seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.

“Master! Stop!” the Spirit Pearl’s soul cried anxiously.

Nie Tian was confused.

“It seems to me if they die, this pearl will perish too, and I’ll lose the place I need to survive!” The Spirit Pearl’s soul panicked. “There’s a strong connection between them and the Spirit Pearl. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they’re a whole. I, however, am the expendable one.

“If I perish, the Spirit Pearl can still persist. But if they perish, the Spirit Pearl will explode, and you’ll lose it forever.”

Nie Tian went blank for a moment before letting out a cold snort and lifting a hand to make a grabbing motion.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The five Illusory Ancient Talismans immediately flew over from the dilapidated altar.

“There were three Spirit Pearls originally, all of them forged by Grand Monarch Nether Spirit of my people with the five evil gods’ soul fragments he collected from the Spirit World and the Mortal World,” the Spirit Pearl’s soul explained. “He only made three of them because he was afraid that they would awaken and be difficult to contain if their soul fragments came together.

“Only by splitting them into three Spirit Pearls could he use their wonders with no scruples.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

“Master, by fusing the three Spirit Pearls together, you allowed them to gather their broken souls and regain their awareness. Then, you vested them with fleshly bodies with your unique Blood Essence.

“I am the one the pearl can live without.

“In fact, in a sense, I’m not the Spirit Pearl’s soul. They are!”

The Spirit Pearl’s soul that Nie Tian had created with a strand of his soul essence and the discarnate soul of a ninth grade Phantasm grand patriarch sounded sad and helpless as it carried on.

Nie Tian took a moment to think before letting out a gentle sigh.

Originally, the Spirit Pearls hadn’t needed a soul to control them. Each of them held nothing but a third of the five evil gods’ soul fragments that had been scattered in the Spirit World and the Mortal World.

Because of that, the unawakened five evil spirits had grown stronger and stronger as the Spirit Pearls devoured discarnate souls.

“If the three Spirit Pearls hadn’t merged, and their broken awareness hadn’t regathered, I might have still been able to restrain them as the soul of a Spirit Pearl,” the Spirit Pearl’s soul said, full of bitterness. “My strength only allowed me to suppress them when they were unawakened and weak.”

Nie Tian listened in silence as it brought out the truth it was reluctant to say. Even after it finished, he remained silent for a while.

During this time, the five Illusory Ancient Talismans floated quietly beside him. The evil gods within them could feel the Spirit Pearl’s soul’s sorrow.

However, none of them dared to make a sound, fearing that they would stir Nie Tian’s emotions, which were not yet stable. They were afraid that he would throw away all that he had helped them achieve, and plunge them into eternal silence.

After a long while, Nie Tian asked, holding the Spirit Pearl, “What do you think I should do? What can I do to benefit you? You don’t have to take those five into consideration. And this Spirit Pearl isn’t that valuable to me either. The stronger I become, the less helpful it’ll be, so don’t worry about that.”

Upon hearing this, the five evil gods within the Illusory Ancient Talismans grew very uneasy.

They concentrated on sensing even the most subtle changes in the soul will of the Spirit Pearl’s soul.

With a method Nie Tian couldn’t detect, they secretly sent it auras, asking for help and hoping it would talk Nie Tian out of eliminating them.

After contemplating for a long time, the Spirit Pearl’s soul said, “We can’t trust them whatever they say now.

“I have a feeling that they’re only loyal to their former master, Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit. Even the Netherspirits’ current high chieftain, Grand Monarch Thousand Spirits, might not be able to gain their allegiance.

“If that’s the case, then you can only solve the problem on the fundamental level by deriving Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s soul-enslaving magic from the Nether River and using it on the essence of their souls.

“Master, you observed that branch of the Nether River in the Seven Stars Realm Sea. You must have discovered many of its wonders. You might as well go through them in your mind and see if you can find anything.

“If you can’t, then there’s also another way.”

“What way?”

“Go to the Nether Realm. There’s another branch of the Nether River there, and those statues.”

“The Nether Realm?”

“Exactly, my ancestral land. While grand monarchs of all races are out finding a solution to the crisis they’re facing, I doubt that branch of the Nether River is heavily guarded. I suppose it’ll be safe to go there now. By going there, you can examine that branch of the Nether Realm and those stone statues, and see if you can find a way to control them completely.”

The evil god of rage let out a violent roar. “You bastard!

“You’re nothing but the discarnate soul of a petty Phantasm! All Phantasms should serve us as their masters! Yet you stoop so low as to swear allegiance to a human junior. For shame!

“I can’t believe a despicable one like you managed to rise to the ninth grade when you were alive!

“We should have devoured you when we had the chance!”

The suggestion put forth by the Spirit Pearl’s soul seemed to sting the evil gods, as they all sent furious soul will to it, venting their fury and expressing their intent to kill it. In fact, if they hadn’t been confined within the Illusory Ancient Talismans, they would have charged out and annihilated it right away.