Lurking in the blood pool, black mud appears.

Inside the Myriad Demon Blood Pool was another world.

Viscous, mercury-like blood plasma enveloped his entire body. Immense pressure squeezed in from all directions, enough to easily crush the protective spiritual light of a Golden Core Cultivator. Furthermore, countless berserk Blood Evil Qi and chaotic residual Soul resentments, like invisible poisonous needles, frantically eroded his Divine Sense and Physical Body, attempting to assimilate the intruder into a part of this Blood Pool.

Even Nightmare felt his movements sluggish and his Demonic Essence consumption sharply increased. He had to compress his protective Demonic Essence to the extreme, relying mainly on his powerful Demonic Body to withstand the pressure, while simultaneously operating the Myriad Poison Demonic Scripture at full power, devouring and absorbing the invading negative energy to convert it into his own strength.

His vision was dark red, and his Divine Sense was greatly suppressed here, barely able to extend ten zhang around him. From time to time, twisted, strange creatures formed by condensed, thick Blood Evil Qi and resentment silently attacked, only to be scattered and devoured by the Demonic Essence Nightmare casually struck out.

Following the incomplete map provided by the Blood Beast and the route he determined using Blood Soul Tracking, he continuously dove deeper, adjusting his direction.

The deeper he went, the greater the pressure, and the blood water became darker, changing from dark red to nearly pitch black. The energy contained within was more berserk and pure, even beginning to give birth to some strange, physical Blood Evil Yao Beasts whose strength was comparable to Golden Core, or occasionally even Nascent Soul level existences!

Nightmare did not want to get entangled; he avoided what he could, and for what he couldn't, he instantly killed it using thunderous methods, lest the commotion attract more troublesome things.

After diving for an unknown period, the temperature of the surrounding blood water began to change strangely. Sometimes it was bone-chillingly cold, able to freeze the Divine Soul; other times it was scorching hot like magma, seemingly trying to melt a person. This was a sign of approaching the intersection area of the Underground Fire Veins and the extreme Yin Blood Evil Qi.

According to the Blood Beast's prompt, the “Black Mud” area was near the Fire Eye.

Nightmare became even more careful, his Divine Sense highly concentrated.

Suddenly, a massive Magma River appeared in front of him, slowly flowing through the blood water! The crimson magma and the pitch-black blood water did not merge; instead, they formed a strange equilibrium, squeezing and colliding with each other, erupting into terrifying energy turbulence!

This was the Underground Fire Veins the Blood Beast had mentioned!

Upon reaching this point, the images provided by the Blood Beast were already very blurry. Nightmare could only rely on the faint sensation of the Blood Soul Tracking to explore forward with difficulty along the edge of the Magma River.

The surrounding pressure had reached a terrifying degree; Nightmare's Demonic Bones were creaking. The intense heat emanating from the Magma River and the extreme cold of the blood water assaulted him alternately. If his Demonic Body hadn't been powerful, he would have long been torn apart by this extreme environment.

After advancing for another distance, the sensation from the Blood Soul Tracking suddenly became intense!

The direction pointed toward a corner of the Magma River!

Nightmare's spirits lifted, and he swam vigorously toward that spot.

After rounding the scorching magma corner, the sight before him caused him to pause slightly.

The anticipated cave entrance did not appear. Instead, there was a relatively “calm” area ahead. The blood water and magma formed a massive vortex here, and at the center of the vortex was a strange Vacuum Zone into which no blood water or magma could flow!

Below that Vacuum Zone was not the bottom of the pool, but a bottomless black hole! At the edge of the black hole, one could vaguely see some black substance, viscous like asphalt and flickering with a ghostly light, slowly wriggling!

This is it!

The Vacuum Zone and the black hole were clearly a powerful natural Restriction! And that wriggling black substance was undoubtedly the “cold black mud” the Blood Beast had mentioned!

Nightmare could clearly feel an extremely strange power fluctuation emanating from the black hole. This fluctuation was not energy, yet it seemed capable of penetrating all barriers, acting directly upon a person's destiny trajectory, causing one to involuntarily feel a sense of dread and disorientation, as if their past and future were being entangled and spied upon by countless threads!

The power of Karma! This is definitely karma mud!

Joy surged in Nightmare's heart, and he was about to move closer for a detailed look.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

The magma and blood water next to the Vacuum Zone suddenly boiled violently! Immediately afterward, three monsters, completely condensed from pure Fire Evil Qi and Blood Evil Qi, shaped like giant pythons with single horns growing from their heads, abruptly shot out from the boiling energy, blocking the path between Nightmare and the black hole!

These three monsters possessed powerful auras, having clearly reached the level of the Early Nascent Soul Stage! They had no eyes; pale flames burned in their hollow sockets, and they "stared" fixedly at Nightmare, emitting intense warning and hostility!

Clearly, they were the guardians of this natural Restriction, or perhaps, guards attracted by the karma mud itself!

"Roar!" The three Evil Pythons simultaneously let out a silent howl (the sound transmitted through the blood water was a spiritual fluctuation), carrying the power to twist the Divine Soul, and fiercely lunged at Nightmare! Wherever they passed, the blood water and magma gave way!

"Hmph! You beasts! Do you dare block me?"

Though surprised, Nightmare was not flustered, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. Having gone through so much trouble to find this place, how could he be scared away by a few energy-body monsters?

He fiercely activated his Demonic Essence, and the myriad poison true infant opened its eyes in his Dantian!

"demonic vine! myriad soul banner!"

The Wind-Devouring Demonic Vine instantly surged out from his sleeve. Having undergone multiple evolutions through devouring, it was now unafraid of Blood Evil Flames. Its vines, like black Flood Dragons, actively coiled around one of the Evil Pythons!

The myriad soul soul-devouring banner also appeared above his head. Although its power was restricted underwater, it still shook out thousands of fierce Souls, which shrieked as they pounced on another Evil Python, tearing and biting at it!

Nightmare himself, meanwhile, directly confronted the last and strongest Evil Python!

He was simple and direct, throwing a punch!

Upon the fist edge was no longer pure Demonic Essence, but the condensed power of that trace of rule fragment! Countless tiny, cold, strange runes, transcending the Laws of this realm, appeared on the surface of his fist!

Boom!

The fist and python collided!

The Evil Python, composed entirely of energy, let out a painful hiss the instant it made contact with the power of the Law! Its solid body seemed to have met its nemesis, rapidly collapsing and dissipating from the point of contact! The power of the rule fragment seemed to be "negating" its existence!

Nightmare succeeded with one punch and showed no mercy, using his fists, palms, fingers, and legs. Every strike contained the strange power of the rule fragment, forcing the Nascent Soul Evil Python to retreat steadily as its body continuously disintegrated!

On the other two sides, the Wind-Devouring Demonic Vine tightly coiled around its opponent, frantically devouring its Evil Qi energy, growing stronger with every fight. The myriad soul banner also fought its opponent to a standstill; although the fierce Souls were constantly purified by the Evil Fire, the Soul Power within the banner seemed inexhaustible.

The battle was incredibly fierce, stirring up monstrous waves deep within this Blood Pool!

Nightmare did not want to delay, fearing the commotion would attract the experts of the Blood Crow Tribe. He seized an opportunity, violently opened his mouth, and spat out a greyish-white stream of air—the annihilation nether spring!

Hiss!

The stream of air accurately hit the already wounded Nascent Soul Evil Python!

The power of the Nether Spring frantically eroded and annihilated its energy core!

The Evil Python let out one last, unwilling wail, and its massive body completely collapsed, dissolving into pure energy that dissipated into the blood water.

Nightmare repeated the process, quickly assisting the demonic vine and the myriad soul banner in dealing with the other two Evil Pythons.

The battle ended, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief, though his Demonic Essence consumption was considerable.

He dared not delay and immediately looked at the black hole and black mud beneath the Vacuum Zone.

How could he pass through this natural Restriction and obtain the karma mud?

He tentatively struck out a strand of Demonic Essence toward the Vacuum Zone.

When the Demonic Essence touched the edge of the Vacuum Zone, it seemed to hit an invisible yet incredibly tough wall, instantly bouncing back. It even triggered a Restriction counterattack, and an invisible fluctuation violently swept toward Nightmare!

Nightmare's expression changed slightly, and he hastily dodged. The fluctuation grazed his protective Demonic Essence, causing his Divine Soul to tremble slightly!

"What a formidable natural Restriction!" Nightmare's gaze was serious. This Restriction seemed capable of deflecting energy attacks and directly assaulting the Divine Soul.

He pondered for a moment, his gaze falling upon the slowly wriggling Karma Black Mud.

Since energy wouldn't work, then... what about physical contact? Or... contact at the Law level?

A thought struck him. He activated the power of the rule fragment again, but this time, instead of using it for attack, he covered his right hand with it, making his right hand seem to transcend some of the Law restraints of this realm.

Then, carefully and slowly, he extended the hand covered with the power of Law toward the barrier of the Vacuum Zone.

A miracle occurred!

The invisible barrier, capable of deflecting Nascent Soul attacks, rippled like water when it came into contact with the power of Law, generating no strong repulsion! His hand penetrated it little by little, with difficulty!

It worked!

Nightmare was overjoyed and continued to increase the output of the power of the Law!

Finally, with a soft sound, his entire arm completely passed through the barrier and entered the Vacuum Zone!

In an instant, an incredibly strange sensation spread from his arm throughout his body!

He seemed to see countless subtle "threads," flickering with various colors, extending from the void, trying to wrap around his arm and his Divine Soul! These threads represented Karma, destiny, and bonds!

This is the power of karma mud! It spontaneously adheres to Karma!

Nightmare suppressed the strange feeling of his Soul being spied upon and pulled, and fiercely reached out, grabbing a handful of the wriggling black mud!

It felt cold, viscous, and unbelievably heavy in his hand! It was as if he hadn't grabbed mud, but countless entangled destinies!

He dared not grab too much, quickly taking out a special jade box he had prepared earlier, made from scraps of reincarnation wood. He put a handful of black mud inside and immediately sealed the lid!

The instant the jade box was sealed, the threads of Karma attempting to coil around him abruptly vanished, and the strange feeling subsided.

Success!

Nightmare was excited and was about to withdraw his hand.

Suddenly!

From the depths of the bottomless black hole, an extremely ancient, extremely indifferent sigh suddenly echoed, as if originating from before the ages!

The sigh was not loud, but it resonated directly in the deepest part of Nightmare's Divine Soul, carrying an indescribable majesty and... a faint, almost imperceptible sense of scrutiny?

At the same time, the System notification sound in Nightmare's mind rang frantically:

[Warning! Warning! Detecting awakening fluctuations of a Hyper-Dimensional Consciousness!]

[Source of fluctuation: Source of karma mud!]

[Danger Level: Unknown! Exceeds current world limits!]

[Recommendation: Evacuate immediately! Evacuate immediately!]

Nightmare's scalp instantly exploded! Without thinking, he violently withdrew his hand, turned into a black stream of light, and frantically fled towards the surface of the Blood Pool at maximum speed!

The sigh did not pursue him, merely dissipating slowly.

But Nightmare could feel an indescribable, indifferent "gaze" that seemed to linger on him for a moment before slowly retracting.

Cold sweat broke out on his back. He pushed his speed to the limit, desperately rushing upward!

Such a terrifying existence actually resided at the source of this karma mud?! What level of existence was that?!

He dared not imagine; he just wanted to leave this damned place as quickly as possible!

He had arrived cautiously, but he fled desperately on his return.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally saw the faint red light coming from the entrance of the Blood Pool above, along with the massive silhouette of the disguised Blood Beast. Only then did he slightly relax.

Finally... he escaped!

He burst out of the Blood Pool surface and landed beside it, his breathing slightly erratic, a hint of lingering fear still on his face.

"Roar?" The Blood Beast's three heads turned, letting out a low, confused growl, seemingly asking if he had succeeded and why he was so flustered.

Nightmare regulated his breathing, glanced at the jade box in his hand, and nodded.

"I got the item. Prepare yourself; it's time for us to leave this place."

His gaze turned cold and sharp as he looked toward the top of the passage.

It was time to deliver a "grand gift" to the Blood Crow Tribe, and then successfully withdraw!