"Old man, thank you for the gift. I shall not refuse this 'Grand Void Divine Water'!" Nie Kong gave a flick of his right hand, and the sphere of water vanished abruptly from his palm.

"Nie Kong, you..."

Yuan Ru finally processed the situation, nearly spitting blood in rage. His figure shot away from his original spot, materializing before Nie Kong, his five fingers like hooks, snatching fiercely.

However, this impossibly swift claw strike grasped nothing, for Nie Kong had disappeared!

Yuan Ru froze for a moment, then his spiritual sense immediately enveloped a thousand-meter radius, yet he still detected no trace of Nie Kong—as if this person had never existed in the world.

"How is this possible?"

Yuan Ru’s face was filled with disbelief. A cultivator at the peak of the Ninth Tier had managed to evade his spiritual sense sweep. Yuan Ru was not ready to give up; his dual gaze searched everywhere, but even amidst the surrounding chaotic and fierce battles, Nie Kong’s shadow was nowhere to be seen. Where exactly was he hiding?

Several hundred meters away, the battle between Tai Shu Yan and Lan Ling had reached its zenith.

Lan Ling had long revealed her true form; countless vines thrashed wildly, attacking Tai Shu Yan like tentacles from every direction. Unfortunately, the gap in their cultivation levels was too vast; Lan Ling could not overcome Tai Shu Yan, and every time the Fire Vulture flashed, it incinerated massive swathes of vines into ash.

Before long, the Death God Flower bloom, which Lan Ling had been hiding, flickered in Tai Shu Yan's sight.

"Hoo!"

The Fire Vulture spewed a torrent of flames, incinerating dozens of sweeping vines. The enormous Death God Flower finally revealed itself completely, with Lan Ling standing solemnly upon its petals, her expression grave.

"Did those two little things call you Lan Ling?"

The Fire Vulture circled as Tai Shu Yan approached Lan Ling with an almost leisurely stride. He spoke in a deep voice, "It is not easy for you to have cultivated to this extent. If you choose to submit to the Dan Immortal Sect, I can spare you and appoint you an elder. Furthermore, I can provide you with elixirs and spirit techniques to help you attain godhood."

Lan Ling sneered, "And if I refuse to submit?"

"Death!"

Yuan Tai squeezed the single syllable through his teeth, his tone saturated with killing intent. It would be best if this Flower Spirit could be subdued; if not, he would simply refine her essence.

"Do you have the ability to do so?" Lan Ling's lips curved slightly, displaying a strange smile.

"You can try..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Tai Shu Yan cried out in shock.

Nie Kong’s figure materialized behind Tai Shu Yan, silent as a phantom. He pressed his right hand lightly against Tai Shu Yan’s back, and a mass of hazy white energy poured from his palm, enveloping the man’s body.

With a violent yank of his right hand, Nie Kong actually tore a massive Fire Vulture from Tai Shu Yan’s interior. The hazy Chaos Divine Power surged forth, completely encasing the creature.

"Ah!"

Tai Shu Yan shrieked. What Nie Kong pulled out was not a Fire Vulture manifested through Dharma Appearance power, but the Dharma Appearance nurtured within him by the 'Spirit Soul Illusion Crystal.' Without his Dharma Appearance, though not entirely crippled, he had lost ninety-nine percent of his strength—which amounted to being essentially useless.

"My Dharma Appearance!"

Tai Shu Yan roared madly and lunged at Nie Kong.

But at this moment, his level was at most that of a Second Tier Phantom Spirit Master. In Nie Kong’s eyes, his movements were painfully slow. Before he could close the distance, Lan Ling's vines swept across, whipping Tai Shu Yan high into the air. With a face etched in despair and terror, he crashed heavily dozens of meters away, and there was no further movement.

"I possess the Chaos Divine Power, capable of refining everything. This Fire Vulture is precisely my first fortune!"

With a mere thought from Nie Kong, the Fire Vulture instantly melted, transforming into pure streams of power that surged into his body through his right palm like a tide, then continuously merged with the Chaos Divine Power.

Tai Shu Yan had cultivated for over a hundred years and passed the Second Stage Spirit Tribulation; the power contained within his Dharma Appearance was immensely potent! In an instant, Nie Kong's aura began to rise ferociously at a jaw-dropping speed. This aura condensed into tangible pillars of white smoke that escaped his body and shot straight into the heavens.

The commotion immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby.

"Is he undergoing a Spirit Tribulation?"

Seeing the hazy white smoke pillars, even Wu Hou and Zhuang Yu couldn't help but be startled, only then noticing the unconscious Tai Shu Yan on the ground.

"Nie Kong!"

A deafening roar echoed through the heavens and earth. The moment the smoke pillars appeared, Yuan Ru finally sensed Nie Kong’s presence. His figure crossed hundreds of meters in space, shooting toward the source. Before he even landed, a azure water dragon shrieked forth, its icy aura chilling the heart.

"The First Stage Spirit Tribulation is nothing more!"

Nie Kong suddenly burst into loud laughter. The smoke pillars surging toward the sky vanished abruptly; Tai Shu Yan's Dharma Appearance had been completely refined, helping him smoothly pass the First Stage Spirit Tribulation.

When he cultivated the Chaos Divine Power, Nie Kong had already sensed that his strength could advance again simply by refining and absorbing sufficient power. The reality proved him right. Moreover, during the process of passing the Spirit Tribulation, Nie Kong felt no inner demons; everything occurred naturally.

At this point, his cultivation had multiplied six or seven times, and the sheer potency of the Chaos Divine Power within his body had reached a terrifying level.

"Hoo!"

Seeing Yuan Ru charging fiercely, Nie Kong commanded with a thought, and Lan Ling entered the Beast Tablet. Nie Kong’s own figure then vanished from his position once more.

Yuan Ru’s water dragon instantly froze the surrounding space for tens of meters, yet it couldn't even snag a shadow of Nie Kong. His face turned ashen, nearly exploding his chest with fury, and his heart was filled with shock and doubt. What exactly had this person cultivated that allowed him to absorb and refine the Dharma Appearances of others to advance his cultivation and pass the Spirit Tribulation?

"Nie Kong!"

He uttered the two words coldly, his eyes sweeping the surroundings, sharp as frost and lightning...

...

Following a brief shock, the chaotic fighting resumed all around them.

The dozen-plus members of the Sea Clan and the ten experts from the Dan Immortal Sect were locked in a desperate struggle. The Sea Clan already had a numerical advantage, compounded by the occasional sneak attacks from Qing You, the Phantom Eagle King, and the Gourd. Although the Dan Immortal Sect members generally possessed slightly higher cultivation bases, they were gradually falling into a disadvantageous position.

The battle involving Wu Hou, Zhuang Yu, and Tai Yan presented a different scenario.

All three were newly ascended Spirit Gods. Wu Hou and Zhuang Yu joined forces to assail Tai Yan, but the adage "there is strength in numbers" failed to manifest in their offensive.

Although Tai Yan was alone, she had inherited the power cultivated by the Netherworld's foremost expert, the Great Evolution Spirit Venerable, over countless years. The dark origin power had evolved again into Dark Divine Power the moment she ascended to Spirit God. Currently, she was holding her own against Wu Hou and Zhuang Yu without showing any weakness.

"Boom!"

A streak of bloody light blasted away Wu Hou’s medicine cauldron and Zhuang Yu’s massive sword. Tai Yan’s face suddenly broke into a seductive smile, and her exquisite, curvaceous body transformed into the shape of her true form, the 'Glancing Back Grass.' A blood-red aura erupted from the proudly blooming flower, pressing down upon the two opponents like a tidal wave.

Zhuang Yu snorted in anger, his figure shifting slightly. His great sword dragged a sharp whistle as it cleaved straight down.

The moment the blade sliced into the blood mist, the strands of lightning lingering around the sword suddenly exploded, blasting a hole several tens of meters wide within the crimson fog. However, the blood mist quickly closed again, entirely engulfing Zhuang Yu, his person and his sword, leaving visible only a shadowy, indistinct silhouette.

... ...RO