The Flame Bird dashed over. It stopped in a place about ten meters from the Frost Blood Python as Qiao Yunxi asked in a loud voice, “What’s your next plan, Yin Yanan?”

Yin Yanan glanced at the six discarnate souls, which were now hovering around them at a safe distance. A bitter expression filled the corner of her mouth as she said, “Plan? What plan can I have? I wanted to get out of here, but that doesn’t seem to be an option anymore.”

The Frost Blood Python had suffered serious injuries from its battle against the six discarnate souls. Once she left Nie Tian, she would instantly become their target again.

She was well-aware that she wouldn’t be able to handle those fierce souls with just her and the Frost Blood Python.

If she wanted to live, she would have to stay with Nie Tian. Only the Spirit Pearl would be able to awe those fierce souls and protect her from them.

“How about we help you get rid of those fierce souls first?” Qiao Yunxi proposed.

Yin Yanan’s eyes instantly lit up. “That’d be good!”

With these words, she sent a soul message to the Frost Blood Python.

In the next moment, the Frost Blood Python started to shrink at a noticeable rate.

Seconds later, the enormous Frost Blood Python shrank by more than ten times, and became a swift little snake.

Qiao Yunxi turned to look at Nie Tian and said with furrowed eyebrows, “I beg you to return to your senses, Nie Tian. It’s not that big a deal that you’ve killed Hong Xian, but you can’t make an attempt on Yin Yanan’s life. If she dies at your hands, my whole sect will be in trouble.”

Nie Tian fixed Yin Yanan with a cold look, but didn’t say anything.

However, because of this, Yin Yanan didn’t even dare to approach the Flame Bird.

After pondering for a long while, Nie Tian finally nodded and said coldly, “Alright then.” 

Neither Yin Yanan nor Qiao Yunxi knew that the Bone Blood Demon currently only had about ten percent of its power left. Even if Nie Tian used Life Blend again and became one with the Bone Blood Demon, their battle prowess would be very limited.

Besides, Nie Tian had consumed a significant amount of his own power to launch two t.i.tan’s Wraths and activate Primal Chaos.

Therefore, he wouldn’t be able to kill the late Worldly realm Yin Yanan even if he wanted to.

Qiao Yunxi waved at Yin Yanan. “You can come over now.” 

Yin Yanan let out a sigh of relief after seeing that Nie Tian had finally agreed to a truce. She looked nervously at Nie Tian as she prepared to approach the Flame Bird with the Frost Blood Python.

The ruthless and bloodthirsty look in Nie Tian’s eyes was already gone as she looked into his eyes.

Only after she was convinced that Nie Tian wouldn’t try to kill her did she finally approach the Flame Bird with the Frost Blood Python.

There was limited room on the Flame Bird’s back. It hadn’t seemed crowded when it had just been Qiao Yunxi and Nie Tian, but now that she and the Frost Blood Python joined them, they had to sit almost shoulder to shoulder with each other.

The three of them each harbored different thoughts and remained on guard against each other.

Yin Yanan was afraid that Nie Tian would try to kill her. Nie Tian, who was in an unfavorable state, was worried that Yin Yanan would seek revenge. Qiao Yunxi, however, worried that conflicts would break out between the two of them.

The Frost Blood Python, which had witnessed Nie Tian’s might, remained rather obedient on the Flame Bird.

It also seemed to know that the six fierce souls would pounce on them as soon as something happened to Nie Tian or the Spirit Pearl in his hand.

“We only need to bear with each other until we lose those fierce souls,” Qiao Yunxi said. “Afterwards, we’ll be free to go our separate ways.”

Both Nie Tian and Yin Yanan nodded slightly.

WHOOs.h.!.+

The Flame Bird dashed off into the distance.

Like six wisps of dark smoke, the discarnate souls chased after the Flame Bird from afar.

Even though the Flame Bird was faster than the discarnate souls, they seemed to be able to track it by relying on their profound connection with the Phantasm soul.

Meanwhile, the Flame Bird couldn’t fly at full speed forever. Qiao Yunxi would have to stop it to infuse it with special fire-attributed materials from time to time.

Therefore, every time Qiao Yunxi did that, the fierce souls would catch up to them.

“d.a.m.n those foul things!” she cursed, looking deeply annoyed.

As she stopped the Flame Bird again to refill it with fire-attributed materials, the discarnate souls once again entered her sight.

Nie Tian, who was sitting on the Flame Bird and recovering strength with spirit stones, opened his eyes, and said, “The Phantasm soul that resides in the crystal between my eyebrows is the reason why those discarnate souls keep finding us. As long as it doesn’t die, those discarnate souls will always be able to track us down.”

“So what can we do?” Qiao Yunxi asked.

“We can probably lose them by getting rid of the Phantasm soul,” Nie Tian answered.

“Just do that then!” Qiao Yunxi said anxiously.

Nie Tian let out a cold harrumph. “If only it were that easy! I would have done it long ago if I knew how!”

“Kill the Phantasm soul...” Yin Yanan muttered. After a moment of pondering, she exclaimed, “I’ve got an idea!”

“You do?” Nie Tian fixed her with a doubtful gaze.

Yin Yanan looked somewhat angered by Nie Tian’s contemptuous tone. “My cultivation base is higher than yours, and my true soul is more refined than yours. Also, I can use the Frost Blood Python’s beast spirit to a.s.sist me!” Before Nie Tian could say anything, she added, “I don’t need you to do anything. Just let me try this out.”

WHOOs.h.!.+ WHOOs.h.!.+

One wisp of her soul awareness after another flew out of her true soul and left her sea of awareness.

Her soul awareness was mixed with that of the Frost Blood Python’s. Like numerous small snakes, they reached the prismatic crystal between Nie Tian’s eyebrows in a split second.

Nie Tian focused on sensing the changes.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

As Yin Yanan and the Frost Blood Python’s soul power attacked the prismatic crystal, the prismatic crystal suddenly blossomed with dazzling cyan light.

Then, Yin Yanan and the Frost Blood Python’s soul power interacted in a profound way, activating a unique soul magic.

“Icy Crystal Blast!”

The numerous fine wisps of soul power that looked like small snakes became as translucent and sparkling as ice before exploding violently in the next moment.

The explosion sent out countless sharp ice shards that pierced right into the prismatic crystal where the Phantasm soul resided.

In the dark s.p.a.ce inside the prismatic crystal, the ice shards exploded one after another, giving rise to an ice storm that surged towards the Phantasm soul.

In the depths of the dark s.p.a.ce, the Phantasm soul roared as it gathered soul power and formed an incomparably large hand. Like the hand of an ancient Phantasm G.o.d, it instantly reached out towards the ice storm.

In the next moment, the large illusory hand wrapped tightly around the entire ice storm.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

As the sharp ice shards that were formed by pure soul power were crushed one after another, Yin Yanan and the Frost Blood Python lost their soul power at an alarming rate.

As Yin Yanan hastily withdrew their last remaining soul power, her attempt to inflict serious damage on the Phantasm soul ended in complete failure.

Yin Yanan’s face turned pale as her soul awareness returned to her mind. “I failed. The Phantasm soul can form powerful soul magics inside that soul core. I can’t defeat it in there.” 

The Frost Blood Python flicked its forked tongue, making weak hissing sounds, as it appeared to have also sustained soul injuries.

“The fundamental reason is that our true soul isn’t powerful enough,” Yin Yanan said with a frustrated tone. “If Senior Hong and the other Soul realm experts had attacked that Phantasm soul together, they would have been able to annihilate it.”

Nie Tian let out a cold snort and said, “All they thought about after I surfaced was how to get the soul crystals in my hands. If they had helped me get rid of the Phantasm soul at the first possible moment, I wouldn’t have flipped out under its influence, and the bloodbath wouldn’t have happened.”

With an embarra.s.sed expression, Yin Yanan said, “I realized what they intended to do and tried to persuade them, but they didn’t listen to me.”

Nie Tian didn’t dwell on the matter. After a moment of silence, he said, “It’s not a good idea to fight the Phantasm soul in the soul core. So my suggestion is that we wait for the Phantasm soul to attack my sea of awareness, and when it does, you two join me in my sea of awareness.

“By moving the battlefield from the soul core to my sea of awareness, we’ll have a better chance at defeating it.”

With these words, he took out four soul crystals from within his ring of holding.

As soon as the first soul crystal flew into his palm, the Phantasm soul acted. A mysterious force instantly hooked the soul crystal and pulled it up to the prismatic crystal between Nie Tian’s eyebrows.

He rapidly handed out two of the other soul crystals, one to Qiao Yunxi and one to Yin Yanan, “Here! Use them to recover your soul power!”  

Immediately afterwards, he started channeling soul power from the one he left for himself to the nine fragmentary stars in his soul.

The Phantasm soul could only channel soul power from one soul crystal at a time. This was the reason why Nie Tian dared to take out four soul crystals at once.

Yin Yanan nodded vigorously. “This is a good idea!”

While she quickly handed the soul crystal to the Frost Blood Python, she took out the soul crystal Nie Tian had given her when they had been under the lake together and started absorbing its soul power.

Qiao Yunxi’s eyes lit up as she grabbed the soul crystal and started channeling power from it without uttering a word.

Once cultivators entered the Worldly realm, they would need to start cultivating their true soul. Copious soul power would be very helpful on that front.

To prepare for their upcoming battle in Nie Tian’s sea of awareness, the girls needed to absorb as much soul power from the soul crystals as they could.

As Nie Tian absorbed soul power from the soul crystal in his hand, a streak of starlight suddenly flashed across his eyes. Surprised, he tried to channel it with his awareness, and then it flew into the second fragmentary star mark on his chest.

The second fragmentary star mark recorded the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s profound soul magics. He had been unable to learn them due to his inadequate cultivation base.

Since the Phantasam soul couldn’t spare enough energy to do anything to him now, he needed to make good use of the time to derive enlightenment.

As his soul awareness flew into the second fragmentary star mark, numerous ancient magical symbols appeared, many of which instantly flew into the depths of his soul and became a part of him.

“Star souls! Starchain!”