319: Dream Space

Illusory Dream Space—the subtle ultimate skill of Heavenly Illusion Sacred Art.

Since stepping into the Demon Realm, Xiao Zhuo's adversaries have all been formidable.

Immortal-Demon Realm powerhouses, their Divine Souls long without weaknesses, and he often encountered powerful enemies whose Divine Souls were in no way inferior to his own.

Now, the waning moon pendant caused his Divine Soul power to surge, and he himself had advanced to the Taiyi Realm, equivalent to a Demonic Lord of the Demon Realm, his Divine Soul finally once again on par with the Prodigies of the same rank.

Illusion Dao Divine Abilities were always effective against those with weak Divine Souls, but had minimal effect on those with strong Divine Souls, and carried a great risk of backlash.

Hence, Xiao Zhuo rarely used it.

The eleventh-tier soul infant made Xiao Zhuo's Divine Soul unprecedentedly powerful; upon first entering this realm, he was already not inferior to a Peak Demonic Lord.

Perhaps only a Peak Demonic Lord specializing in the Great Dao of the Soul could contend with him.

Facing Chu Chen at this moment, it was the perfect opportunity to test just how powerful this Cultivation Technique truly was.

Chu Chen only felt the surrounding scenery suddenly vanish, his mind wavering slightly, and he was already in a pure gold hall.

"Where is this? Was I not... fighting just now?" Chu Chen felt bewildered.

At this moment, his memory was confused; he only vaguely remembered being in battle, but who his opponent was and how the process unfolded were all forgotten.

He tried his best to recall, but his memory scattered like quicksand, becoming increasingly blurry.

"No! How could my memory be like this?" A sudden warning sign arose in Chu Chen's heart!

However, with another trance, his eyes instantly became dull.

When he regained his senses, he only heard a ethereal voice from the depths of the hall: "You have finally arrived! Inheritor!"

All wariness in Chu Chen's eyes vanished, as if his previous doubts had never existed, his mind completely captivated by that voice.

He looked up and asked, "Inheritor? Me?"

"Precisely! This is the Legacy Sacred Hall of the Myriad Tribulations Saint. And you, are the Reincarnation of my master!" The voice was cold and emotionless, yet the information it conveyed sent Chu Chen's heart surging.

An invisible force shielded all doubts, leaving only ecstasy.

He did not hesitate, rushing towards the depths of the hall... Chu Chen effortlessly obtained the Saint Legacy, fused with the Saint's memories, and even gained a saint position.

When he stepped out of the Sacred Hall, he had transformed into an incomparably powerful, invincible Quasi-Saint.

In this era where all Saints had retreated, he rose powerfully.

As soon as he emerged from seclusion, he slew the former master of the Calamity Abyss and seized control of the Abyss.

Furthermore, with Saintly methods, he cultivated ten Calamity Quasi-Saints in just a hundred years to serve as his Saint Envoys, conquering the other eight great Abysses.

He himself remained hidden in the Calamity Abyss, fully dedicated to fusing with the saint position.

Without his personal presence, the ten Saint Envoys took only a thousand years to sweep across the Demon Realm, helping him unify the Demon Realm and become the co-lord of the Demon Realm.

He adopted the title of Myriad Tribulations Saint, gathering the immense Luck of the Demon Realm.

In the second millennium, the saint position was completely fused, and he became the first Saint to appear in the Immortal-Demon Realm in a million years!

His birth caused the Demon Realm's Luck to surge, with Prodigies emerging from the nine great Abysses, all joining his command.

The Immortal Realm sensed the crisis and sent three Immortal Emperors to test him, but he casually waved his hand and annihilated them all.

The Immortal-Demon War thus erupted.

He commanded the nine great Abysses, leading his army to invade the Immortal Realm.

Wherever they passed, immortal sects crumbled, and immortal blood stained the sky.

Tens of billions of heavenly soldiers were annihilated by him.

In just one year, they reached the ancestral court of the Heavenly Court!

Just as he was about to slay the contemporary Haotian Saint Emperor and completely occupy the Heavenly Court—

Boom!

A majestic Saintly might awakened from the depths of the Heavenly Court!

A withered figure appeared, surrounded by terrifying and bizarre power that even he could not comprehend, constantly eroding his Physical Body.

This hidden Saint of the Heavenly Court, to protect his Dao, had no choice but to abandon suppressing that strange power and briefly unleash his full strength.

However, how could a decaying Physical Body contend with the full might of a newly advanced Saint?

After a hundred breaths of intense fighting, the hidden Saint's aura plummeted, and he was finally annihilated by Chu Chen!

The moment the hidden Saint fell, that terrifying and bizarre corrosive power seemed to gain sentience, instantly devouring the Saint's remains, and like a maggot in the bone, it gnawed at him!

Chu Chen's Saintly power surged, desperately resisting, annihilating ninety-nine percent of the strange power, yet a tiny wisp of black Qi still silently infiltrated his Saintly Physical Body!

Although he felt something was amiss, he exhausted all his means but could no longer find any trace of that black Qi within his body.

He could only suppress his unease and continue to occupy the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Court fell! The Immortal-Demon Realm ushered in its seventh unification!

Chu Chen began to vigorously develop the Immortal-Demon Realm, and its strength began to continuously rise, climbing from an upper-middle position among the three thousand Major Thousand Worlds.

The entire Immortal-Demon Realm was flourishing, and countless citizens praised the Myriad Tribulations Saint!

However, good times did not last.

In just ten thousand years, Chu Chen was alarmed to discover that a cold, strange power had somehow grown within his body, ignoring all his Saintly methods, constantly growing stronger, and slowly beginning to devour his Saintly Physical Body!

The excruciating pain gnawed at his bones, tainting his Saintly heart.

The sense of security brought by the saint position was completely gone.

In desperation, Chu Chen announced his seclusion.

In reality, he was hidden within a Secret Realm of the Heavenly Court, frantically searching for a way to combat the strange power within him.

But even as a Saint, facing this power, he was utterly helpless!

He could only endure that inhuman torment day after day.

He finally understood why the hidden Saint of the Heavenly Court had been so withered.

He was unwilling!

A hundred thousand years later, he decided to leave the Immortal-Demon Realm and venture deep into the World Sea to seek a chance at survival.

However, at this very moment, he despairingly discovered—his Physical Body was out of control, his Divine Soul was infected, and his consciousness also began to act involuntarily... He had become a living shell of a Saintly Physical Body.

In the real battlefield.

After Xiao Zhuo unleashed the Illusory Dream Space, the ten-mile radius around them had transformed into a bizarre and dreamlike realm.

The Demonic Generals and Corpse Generals who had been forced back by the fierce battle dared not cross the boundary by half a step.

Everything within the Illusory Dream Space was as clear as lines on his palm to Xiao Zhuo.

Initially, he still needed to fully suppress the instinctive protection of Chu Chen's Divine Soul, encountering some resistance.

Afterward, Chu Chen completely succumbed to the beautiful dream he wove, without any further resistance.

This illusory dream world was terrifyingly real.

Xiao Zhuo's original intention was merely to weave a clichéd male protagonist's dream for Chu Chen; with his past life's experience of reading countless web novels, this was as easy as turning his hand.

However, when the dream evolved to the part about the Heavenly Court Saint, Xiao Zhuo was startled!

That plot was not from his hand! Instead, the Illusory Dream Space had spontaneously generated it!

A chill ran up Xiao Zhuo's spine.

He personally "witnessed" the terrifying outcome of a Saint being invaded by that strange power and turning into a living dead man in just a hundred thousand years!

Saints should be as eternal as heaven and earth, everlasting! This was an ironclad rule of the Immortal-Demon Realm!

Even with differences in strength, the defeated could be sealed, but it was absolutely difficult to kill them.

But in this illusory dream, he had not interfered in the slightest at the end, and Chu Chen became a living dead man!

Xiao Zhuo didn't know if this was due to an anomaly in the Illusory Dream Space, or if such terrifying power truly lurked in reality...

His mind was greatly shaken, and he immediately exited the Illusory Dream Space.

Before him, Chu Chen's Physical Body stood rigid, his eyes hollow, and his Divine Soul aura... had completely dissipated!

His Divine Soul had actually... perished in the dream!

A chill ran down Xiao Zhuo's spine, and an indescribable sense of horror gripped him.

The Illusory Dream Space was his creation, and he knew its limits of power.

He had the confidence to trap an enemy in a dream, but it was absolutely impossible to so easily and silently obliterate the Divine Soul of a Peak Demonic Lord!

As his consciousness returned to reality, Xiao Zhuo's eyes were as cold as a ten-thousand-year-old icy pool.

He formed a hand Seal with his fingertips and roared like thunder: "Illusory Dream Reversal, open!"

Immortal power surged, and the Void Realm trembled!

A corner of an immortal palace actually slowly materialized from nothingness with the incantation!

The moment the immortal palace appeared, the power of the Illusory Dream Dao that Xiao Zhuo wielded poured out like a bursting dam!

His face suddenly turned pale, and he clearly felt the Divine Ability rapidly slipping out of his control!

"Not good!" An alarm blared in his heart, and he immediately wanted to forcibly stop the spellcasting.

However, that power of the Illusory Dream Dao was like a wild horse, completely ignoring his will!

A never-before-seen trace of fear flashed across Xiao Zhuo's eyes.

He stared intently at the corner of the immortal palace, which was continuously solidifying from nothingness and revealing a glazed texture.