Before the old woman could even react, her head, neck, limbs, and torso were tightly held by the giant palm, which had inflated dozens of times its original size, leaving not even a shadow exposed.

"Boom!"

The giant palm trembled violently, faint azure light sporadically bursting from between its fingers.

But precisely at that moment, Nie Kong’s figure slipped into the sphere like a phantom. Powerful Chaotic Divine Power instantly gathered in his palm, squeezing inward from the outside. The azure glow that had just begun to emanate vanished like a fleeting blossom and was immediately forced back.

Sensing the old woman struggling within his grasp, Nie Kong inwardly chuckled.

In Nie Kong’s perception, this old woman’s strength was roughly equal to his, perhaps even slightly superior. If they fought head-on, even with Nie Kong’s marvelous Chaotic Divine Power, he would eventually win, but it would cost him considerable effort, not to mention the four others standing nearby, and the horse-faced man whose strength was even greater.

Given the situation, how could Nie Kong allow her the chance for a direct confrontation?

In Nie Kong's plan, using the "Immortal Zither Sea Chart" was to make them arrogant, while distracting them with the futile attacks from Tai Yan and Yu Longyue to encourage their contempt. These individuals had indeed stayed in the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm for far too long, utterly disregarding Nie Kong, Tai Yan, and Yu Longyue as newly ascended Spirit Gods.

They had no idea about the wonder of Chaotic Divine Power.

Chaotic Divine Power allowed Nie Kong to completely merge with heaven and earth, coming and going without a trace—a veritable artifact for sneak attacks. Not long ago by the Immortal Zither Sea, Nie Kong had used this very method to extract the manifestations of Tai Shuyan and Zhuang Yu. With several prior successful practices, Nie Kong now wielded this technique with even greater ease.

The protective bubbles shielding the five Spirit God avatars, though magical, were ultimately condensed from power. According to Nie Kong’s senses, the divine power contained within the bubbles was identical to the divine power from the original "Immortal Zither Sea Chart," likely originating from the Sea Dragon God Venerable.

The only difference was the vast disparity in the intensity of the two water-based divine powers.

It was likely that after their soul imprints were erased, the Sea Dragon God Venerable realized Nie Kong had subdued the "Immortal Zither Sea Chart" and hastily concocted these five protective artifacts for them to resist the binding of the chart. Experience proved that the Sea Chart’s containment capability against these water spheres was indeed limited.

Fortunately, Nie Kong had not placed his hopes on the Sea Chart.

He merely used the chart as cover for his ambush. The first target he chose was the old woman being attacked by Yu Longyue. Chaotic Divine Power enveloped Nie Kong’s arm, silently piercing the sphere, and easily capturing the completely unprepared old rogue in one swift grasp.

Although the old woman was slightly stronger than Nie Kong, caught completely off guard, she was utterly suppressed by Nie Kong’s Chaotic Divine Power.

“Chaotic Divine Art!”

With a mere thought from Nie Kong, the abundant Chaotic Divine Power in the giant palm suddenly erupted into scorching flames, waves of intense heat surging toward the palm’s core.

Though these Spirit God avatars had humanoid forms, their shells were entirely condensed from the main body’s divine power. Only because a portion of the main body’s soul was injected into these shells did the avatars possess life. But regardless of whether the Spirit God avatars had life or not, in Nie Kong's eyes, they were nothing more than masses of surging divine power.

What Nie Kong intended to do was refine them.

The burning Chaotic Divine Power resembled the "Chaotic Heavenly Fire" before its absorption and refinement—a flame capable of melting time and all things, let alone a fully suppressed Spirit God avatar. In less than half a minute, the old woman within the giant palm had dissolved into a pool of pure divine power.

However, Nie Kong did not immediately obliterate the old woman's soul and consciousness. Instead, he isolated and imprisoned them within his own body. He did this out of concern that the destruction of her soul would alert her main body in the "Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm," which would be detrimental to seeing his plan through to the end.

By severing the old woman's soul's connection to the outside world, her main body would only feel confusion for the time being. By the time she realized what had happened, Nie Kong would have already accomplished what he set out to do.

Giving Yu Longyue a subtle glance, Nie Kong absorbed the old woman’s divine power into his body, refining it while quietly withdrawing from the sphere and merging back into the void.

"Whoosh!"

Tai Yan shed a stream of blood-red aura, which swept out and enveloped the empty sphere. The other sphere containing an avatar was released. "Blue Dome" twisted its massive tail, whipping it viciously toward the sphere. With a sharp crack, the sphere began spinning like a top.

Standing inside this sphere was a robust man in blue robes.

After two strikes from Blue Dome, the man in blue robes seemed to grow weary of the boring game. As Blue Dome’s tail swung for the third time, his right hand suddenly shot out of the sphere, reaching to grasp Blue Dome’s tail. But almost simultaneously, a giant hand seized him from behind.

In an instant, the entire blue-robed man was firmly held. His right arm, still locked in the grasping posture, swung briefly before being pressed into the center of the giant palm. Nie Kong's Chaotic Divine Power surged over him like a tidal wave, and the robust man was swiftly melted by the searing flames into pure divine power.

Immediately after, Nie Kong retreated, and Tai Yan’s blood-red aura swapped places with Blue Dome’s sphere.

The third time, the handsome young man was captured and melted into divine power!

The fourth time, the dark-clad brawny man was seized...

Nie Kong, Tai Yan, and Yu Longyue cooperated with such flawless synergy that barely a minute passed before all four Spirit God avatars were stealthily captured by Nie Kong.

Of course, these Spirit Gods were not all as motionless inside their spheres as the initial old woman.

After witnessing the attacks from Tai Yan and Yu Longyue, the initial novelty wore off, and they all began to take action. However, the moment the blue-robed man reached out, he became Nie Kong's second prey; the young man was ambushed by Nie Kong immediately after punching Blue Dome back.

As for the dark-clad man, his hands moved like blades, slicing and tearing at the blood-red aura enveloping his sphere, his expression utterly cold and merciless. Nie Kong remained hidden outside the sphere for more than ten seconds before finding the opportunity to strike, capturing him firmly in his palm in one swift move.

"Boom!"

From the final sphere, a terrifyingly violent surge of energy suddenly pierced through.

This energy fractured into countless fine threads that continuously streamed through the sphere, peppering the blood-red aura covering its surface with holes. Amidst the churning waves, Tai Yan’s low grunt could faintly be heard—he had clearly sustained a minor injury. The horse-faced elder inside the sphere, meanwhile, looked utterly grim, his eyes blazing with fury.

“What an astute tactic, succeeding in four consecutive sneak attacks!” The horse-faced elder’s thin cheeks twitched slightly, looking as if he had just been deeply insulted, displaying an air of extreme humiliation. “Come out. To deal with this old man, mere sneaking around is insufficient.”

“Very well, as you wish!”

Several dozen meters to the right of the sphere, Nie Kong’s figure suddenly flickered into existence out of thin air. He walked step by step toward the horse-faced elder, gradually releasing his restrained aura. By the time the distance between him and the sphere shortened to about twenty meters, the intensity of his aura had climbed to a terrifying level. After ascending to the Spirit God realm, Nie Kong’s refinement speed using the "Chaotic Divine Art" was astonishingly fast; in the process of ambushing the others, he had completely refined the divine power of all four.

By this moment, Nie Kong’s strength had increased by nearly half, and the intensity of his aura far surpassed that of the horse-faced elder.