The illusory Nether River floated over Froste’s head, with countless evil spirits swarming within it.
As soon as the Nether River appeared, all of the Phantasms in its surroundings seemed to have their battle prowess amplified. Their various bloodline magics and the discarnate souls they released all became much more powerful.
BOOM!
The domain of an early Saint domain subordinate of Hou Chulan’s, who was well-versed in wood power, suddenly exploded.
Cyan Phantasm flesh aura immediately engulfed the man, along with a terrifying, soul-suffocating aura.
The sea of flesh aura rapidly morphed into a monster that caught the early Saint domain expert’s fleeing soul and tore it into wisps of gray smoke.
The humans lost their first Saint domain expert.
All of the Phantasms let out sinister, mad laughs.
Nie Tian was taken aback. “I can’t believe that illusory Nether River can actually enhance Phantasms’ battle prowess and make their discarnate souls even stronger and fiercer!”
He didn’t know that the Nether River wasn’t created or named after Grand Monarch Nether River.
Instead, it had been the Phantasm’s birthplace since ancient times.
It was said that all Phantasms were born from the Nether River, and their souls would return to it after their deaths. The wonders of the Nether River would reincarnate them.
However, tens of millions of years had passed before a Phantasm expert could gain a deep understanding of its wonders.
The Phantasms viewed the Nether River as their mother river, and their most mysterious birthplace.
All of this had changed after Grand Monarch Nether River had come along.
Grand Monarch Nether River was the first Phantasm expert to master the Nether River’s wondrous use, draw power from it, and use it to strengthen his bloodline.
The fact that he had been able to break through into the tenth grade, join the ranks of powerful grand monarchs, and become the Chief of the whole Phantasm race was all thanks to the enlightenment he had derived from the Nether River.
He had given up his original name and referred to himself as Grand Monarch Nether River since the day he had entered the tenth grade.
There had been quite a few powerful grand monarchs throughout Phantasm history. However, Grand Monarch Nether River’s strength and reputation had exceeded many from the previous generations.
In fact, the entire Phantasm world agreed that Grand Monarch Nether River was definitely one of the three mightiest grand monarchs their race had ever seen.
Meanwhile, this grand monarch was still leading the Phantasm race forward. Considering Phantasms’ exceptionally long lifespans, he was still in the prime of his life.
This meant that Grand Monarch Nether River might become even stronger in the future.
Perhaps he would become the most powerful grand monarch throughout Phantasm history, and become a god that future generations would worship.
As his direct descendant, Froste carried his bloodline, which had been branded with his profound understanding of the Nether River.
It was just that he had only been at the sixth grade when Nie Tian had first met him in the Shatter Battlefield.
Back then, he hadn’t awakened his most essential and wondrous bloodline talent yet, and was therefore unable to unleash this Nether River.
Only until recently had he broken through into the seventh grade and awakened Grand Monarch Nether River’s core bloodline talent. With the help of the mysterious battle armor his father had given him, he had finally been able to blend his bloodline power and the power of the battle armor to unleash that illusory Nether River.
To forge that suit of armor, Grand Monarch Nether River had gone through great lengths to draw water from the Nether River and fuse it with the wonders of his bloodline, along with hundreds of magical items gathered from across the Phantasm heaven and earth.
In fact, he had started making that suit of armor since the day Froste had been born.
That suit of battle armor, which Grand Monarch Nether River had named ‘Soul Ferry’, had the ability to channel power from the Nether River. However, since Froste hadn’t entered the seventh grade back then, he hadn’t been able to use it.
Now that he had, he could finally wear and use it freely.
Froste threw his head back and roared, “Bloodline, Nether River Power, Soul Ferry!”
One drop of Blood Essence after another suddenly flew out of his heart and fused into his unique suit of armor.
Numerous cyan veins and patterns that had been carved into its surface were lit up by his Blood Essence. One magical symbol after another rose from them, inside of which discarnate souls could be seen squirming, before flying towards the early Saint domain expert who had just died.
The mysterious symbols seemed to carry evil power that could manipulate the souls of the dead.
Like chains and ropes, they rapidly bound the dead Saint domain expert’s shredded soul back together.
WHOOSH!
The recombined discarnate soul returned to its fleshly body. In the next moment, cyan light burst forth from within the dead Saint domain expert’s hollow, glazed eyes.
Flesh split open at his brow. Blood condensed into a crystal between his eyebrows, which was very similar to the prismatic crystals Phantasms had.
The only difference was that it wasn’t his own soul shadow that was reflected in the crystal.
It was Froste’s!
“Wu Chao!” An exclamation escaped Ruan Qingliu’s mouth as she watched Wu Chao, who she had known for many years, be killed, resurrected, and now pounce towards Hou Chulan.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Many Phantasms in the vicinity released some Phantasm Qi, which converged on Wu Chao.
As he continued to receive the Phantasm Qi, a gruesome, bleak domain, instead of a wood domain, rapidly formed around him.
Wu Chao’s pupils shone with a strange light, as if he had already become a puppet.
Froste’s soul shadow could be seen letting out cunning laughs in the blood crystal between his eyebrows, as if to flaunt the fact that he had replaced Wu Chao and become the new owner of this body.
“Soul Ferry! Grand Monarch Nether River’s bloodline wonder!” Hou Chulan exclaimed, mourning and grief filling her eyes. She knew that this subordinate of hers had already been turned into something else by the joint effort of Froste’s bloodline power and the Soul Ferry Battle Armor.
However, she hadn’t expected that this young monarch before her, who was only at the seventh grade, could actually activate Grand Monarch Nether River’s Soul Ferry bloodline talent with the help of that peculiar suit of armor.
It was said that Grand Monarch Nether River’s bloodline power allowed him to channel the Nether River. Once he activated Soul Ferry, he would be able to resurrect the dead, vest them with his soul awareness, and command them to fight for him.
“Wu Chao is dead… Whatever Froste is now controlling is no longer a subordinate of mine, but a ruthless enemy.” Hou Chulan told herself over and over, fearing that she would hesitate about killing him and end up being killed.
“Divine bamboo…” As she muttered inwardly, the green bamboo that filled the island at the center of her wood domain instantly underwent glorious changes.
The green bamboo rapidly grew out from the depths of her domain, emanating a curious light and intoxicating power as they did.
As this happened, Wu Chao and the Phantasm Hou Chulan had been fighting suddenly felt as if they were lost in an overgrown bamboo forest. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t capture Hou Chulan’s aura.
The ninth grade Phantasm, who had communicated with Froste in secret, couldn’t help but marvel, “The Divine Daughter of the wood element sect is indeed beyond ordinary.”
Even as he and Wu Chao sent their power into Hou Chulan’s wood domain together, their power was rapidly lost in the depths of the bamboo forest, failing to locate Hou Chulan.
Nie Tian was also deeply impressed by this.
He had long since realized that each and every core disciple of the four great sects was far beyond ordinary, and had the ability to kill opponents with higher cultivation bases.
Hou Chulan was only at the late Void domain, yet she remained unscathed facing a ninth grade Phantasm grand patriarch and a Saint domain subordinate who had been reduced to a puppet of Froste’s.
Froste laughed derisively and shook his head. “Don’t tell me that you really thought you were our primary target, Nie Tian.”
“You’re far weaker than the Divine Daughter of the wood element sect. I only came to fight you because I couldn’t fully display my power when facing her. Only by fighting someone as weak as you would I be able to unleash the Nether River and cast Soul Ferry.
“The meaning of my existence is to strengthen my people, and also, every time you suffer a casualty, I’ll be able to turn him into my puppet with Soul Ferry.
“One minus on your side will be one plus for our side. The pressure on you will soon multiply.
“You don’t have any chance at winning this battle. You don’t think I’d dared to celebrate me entering the seventh grade by coming to the Domain of Heaven’s Origin to kill the Divine Daughter of the wood element sect without being fully prepared, do you?”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered as he subconsciously glanced around in a subtle manner.
Froste smiled coldly. “You and the others seem to be waiting for something, right? Is He Lianxiong from the Heaven Span Pavilion what you’re waiting for?”
Nie Tian was astonished.
The smile on Froste’s face became increasingly wide and sinister. “Forget about it. I doubt that he can even save himself, much less come to your aid. Don’t tell me that you think Qiu Hanshan is the only one in the entire Domain of Heaven’s Origin who had secret connections with us. Let me tell you this: I learned about it as soon as He Lianxiong set foot in the Domain of Heaven’s Origin!”
