Enormous meteors and landmasses floated quietly in the dim starry river.

This was the Domain of Forbidden Heaven, a vast domain between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. Fierce battles had caused many of its realms to explode into countless meteors and landmasses.

However, the Realm of Shattered Earth, which was located in the depths of the Domain of Forbidden Heaven, was filled with life force, and all sorts of spiritual energies of heaven and earth.

Nie Tian sat quietly on an irregularly-shaped meteor near the Realm of Shattered Earth.

With a whoosh, the Spirit Scepter, which he had seized from Barbara, manifested in his palm. Since he hadn’t put a strong restrictive spell on it, it attempted to escape.

“Don’t move!” He slapped it with his other hand, releasing wisps of lightning-like bloodline power and a glorious glow of divine light.

After being hit, the Spirit Scepter wiggled a bit before finally becoming silent and obedient.

Barbara’s soul shadow in the gem on top of the scepter had already faded completely.

WHOOSH!

The five evil gods flew out of the Spirit Pearl one after another to float around Nie Tian like five ancient Devil gods, humbling themselves before and serving him.

With a derisive laugh, Nie Tian took out a cyan crystal.

It was the Profound Truths Crystal he had refined from the countless mysterious soul symbols and soul strings in the branch of the Nether River in the Silent Star Sea.

In that recent battle, this very crystal had suppressed and devoured soul power from the Spirit Scepter.

“This scepter...” As he muttered to himself, the five evil gods suddenly sent out pieces of soul messages.

Like a rain of glowing spots, the messages fell into his sea of awareness and became a part of it.

“This super soul tool of Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit has a powerful soul within it.”

“The scepter went missing after his demise. That Barbara only made us feel uneasy and apprehensive because she carried his aura. It felt as if Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit was there himself when she channeled power from the Nether River with the Spirit Scepter.”

“It wasn’t Barbara that was fearsome. It was the unique aura of Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit she carried...”

From the soul messages from the evil gods, Nie Tian soon came to a deeper understanding of the Spirit Scepter. “A mighty soul tool that belonged to Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit. If Barbara could use it to channel the Nether River, then...”

Nie Tian contemplated with a frown and narrowed eyes.

During his battle against Barbara, he had activated his life bloodline, but failed to sense any special bloodline aura from her.

It appeared that she had relied on her soul power to wield and stimulate the Spirit Scepter, not her bloodline power.

This was completely different from how Aztec, the Son of Darkness, had wielded that eye.

“Aztec mainly relied on his bloodline, which allowed him to interact with the Dark King’s residual power within that eye. Even though the Spirit Scepter also contained Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit’s residual power, Barbara doesn’t carry a bloodline that allows her to interact with it. However, the Spirit Scepter somehow carries her soul strands and soul imprints.”

After pondering for a long while, he fixed his gaze on the gem that was embedded on the pommel of the Spirit Scepter. The longer he examined it, the more puzzled he felt.

Barbara’s soul shadow had manifested within that gem before.

Even now, he could still sense her soul aura thrumming within it, as if she was trying to locate it even though they were separated by the boundless starry river.

CRACK! CRACK!

He gouged the gem out with brutal force.

The gem appeared to be the vessel of the scepter that held Barbara’s residual soul will.

“Barbara senses the existence of the Spirit Scepter through this gem, doesn’t she?” With a derisive snort, he summoned flame power. Streams of flames that contained the magical laws of fire swirled out and engulfed the gem in raging flames.

He could even hear Barbara’s agonized shrieks from within it.

He took the Spirit Pearl out and sent messages to its soul, “Capture and refine Barbara’s residual soul awareness if it flies out of the gem. Don’t let a single wisp escape.”

FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!

Barbara’s soul awareness within the gem was gradually burned away by the raging flames.

Moments later, wisps of cyan-gray soul awareness rose from the gem in an attempt to escape, but were captured and devoured by the Spirit Pearl, which had been well-prepared.

Shortly after that, the peculiar gem exploded and turned into gray powder in the raging flames.

Barbara’s soul awareness and soul aura were completely purged from it.

Then, Nie Tian fixed his eyes on the Spirit Scepter again. After looking at the recess on the top, which was left by the gem, for a long time, he muttered to himself, “Perhaps I can try and fit the Profound Truths Crystal in it...”

With this thought, he pressed the cyan crystal, which he had refined from countless soul symbols and talismans in the Nether River branch in the Silent Star Sea with his bloodline talent, towards the recess.

The size and shape of the recess didn’t fit the cyan crystal.

However, as soon as the crystal made contact with the recess, the Spirit Scepter burst forth with blinding cyan light that seemed to create a misty magical heaven and earth very similar to the misty cyan space inside of the Spirit Pearl.

The recess also changed its size and shape on its own to fit the cyan crystal.

“Hmm?!”

Nie Tian let out a soft exclamation as he watched the recess sink deeper and expand wider so that the cyan Profound Truths Crystal fit seamlessly with the Spirit Scepter.

All of a sudden, the engravings of Nether Rivers on the scepter seemed to come alive, and started flowing slowly.

Flabbergasted, Nie Tian examined them with rapt attention, and saw that countless evil spirits and vicious souls were killing and devouring each other within them, while incomparably small soul symbols flickered in them like fragmentary stars.

It was as if all of the Nether River branches in the Spirit World and the Void World had been downscaled and engraved on this very scepter.

With a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, he said, “The Profound Truths Crystal seems to suit the Spirit Scepter even better! And this brand new Spirit Scepter doesn’t carry Barbara’s aura anymore. This Profound Truths Crystal is a condensation of the wonders within the Nether River branch in the Silent Star Sea. I went to great lengths to make it. Let’s see if I can...”

He took a deep breath as he focused his attention on the scepter.

Staring at the Profound Truths Crystal on top of the scepter, a soul shadow flew quietly out of his eyes.

It was a wisp of his true soul.

In a bold manner, the soul shadow approached the Spirit Scepter to touch the Profound Truths Crystal on its top.

SHEW!

Upon contact, the soul shadow fused into the Profound Truths Crystal, as if it had crossed into a whole other heaven and earth.

...

In the Domain of Endless Snow.

Barbara suddenly started howling like crazy, as if she were suffering a heart-wrenching pain.

Barbara, who was like a little girl, suddenly became as sinister as a ghoul. She even pulled her own hair off, causing her scalp to bleed. “My, my soul within the scepter is burning!”

The hearts of those from the Void World sank, as they knew that Nie Tian must be doing something to the Spirit Scepter.

Grand Monarch Thousand Spirits’ sub-soul noticed that the soul strings that connected the Spirit Scepter and her had been severed. With a deep sigh, he said, “The scepter is no longer yours. Even though I don’t know why, I’m sure that Nie Tian knows some of our race’s secrets.”