A desperate battle, a phantom escape through the void.

Soul Transformation Perfection!

This was an existence truly standing at the apex of this world! Its oppressive power was terrifying, far surpassing a Late-Stage Transformation Spirit, already touching the limits allowed by this world's Laws! The will emanating from that projected face alone almost froze Nightmare's Divine Soul, and the surrounding space became like a quagmire, making movement extremely difficult!

Behind him, Ice Soul Fairy's aura, though subtle, locked onto his retreat like a venomous snake, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment!

A fierce tiger in front, a jackal behind—a truly inescapable death trap!

Nightmare's heart sank to the bottom, but his eyes, at this moment, became incomparably cold and sharp. All distracting thoughts were discarded, leaving only the purest combat instinct and an extreme desire for survival!

“Old dog of the Sky Patrol Alliance! If you want This Sovereign's life, come and take it yourself!”

He roared, and instead of surrendering, he launched an attack first! His target was the giant projected face in the sky!

He knew that facing a Soul Transformation Perfection, fleeing was meaningless; only by fighting for his life could there be a glimmer of hope!

The power of the rule fragment burned wildly at an unprecedented speed! The star source core throbbed violently, providing immense energy! The star rule imprint, which had just begun to fuse, suddenly lit up!

“Annihilation! Starfall!”

He suddenly pushed his hands upwards! All the Nirvana Star Evil within him surged out without reservation, transforming into a twisted, swirling torrent of destruction, interwoven with gray-white and starlight, rising against the heavens! Wherever the torrent passed, space collapsed inch by inch, and all things returned to dead silence. Its power even surpassed the combined force of his previous confrontation with Ouyang Shuo!

This was his all-out, beyond-limit strike!

“A praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, overestimating your own strength!”

The giant face in the sky let out a cold snort of anger, and two extremely condensed star light pillars shot out from its enormous eyes! The light pillars were pure and vast, containing the terrifying Law power of a Soul Transformation Perfection, as if they could purify all evil in the world!

Boom! Boom! Boom! —!!!

The two forces collided violently!

There was no stalemate!

Nightmare's all-out Nirvana Starfall torrent lasted less than a single breath before the Soul Transformation Perfection's star light pillars crushed, purified, and dissipated it with overwhelming force!

The absolute disparity in strength could not be compensated for by sheer desperation!

Pfft!

Nightmare was hit hard, blood spewing out as if it were worthless, his body smashing backward like a kite with a broken string. Countless wounds appeared on his body, and his aura instantly became extremely weak!

However, at the moment he was sent flying, using the cover of that terrifying impact, a crazed and resolute glint flashed in his eyes!

“System! Burn all reserve energy! Calculate the optimal spatial jump coordinates! Activate Void Escape!”

“Command received! Overload operation initiated! Burning 87 star core fragments... burning Top-Grade Spirit Stones... energy injection... rule fragment assisting with positioning... coordinates locked: Northern Region Spatial Turbulence belt (original Star Road direction C)! Success rate 31.7%! Extremely high risk!”

“Warning: Forcibly performing a spatial jump will trigger severe spatial backlash! And the coordinate region is extremely dangerous!”

“Activate!” Nightmare did not hesitate!

At this moment, the star light pillar that had defeated the Nirvana Starfall only dimmed slightly, still carrying destructive power as it continued to blast towards the falling Nightmare! And Ice Soul Fairy behind him seemed to have noticed something, as an extremely cold Finger Wind silently struck towards Nightmare's vital spot at the back of his heart!

Attacked from above and below, he was certain to die!

Just at this critical moment!

Nightmare's body suddenly erupted with dazzling spatial light! The power of the rule fragment twisted the surrounding Laws, forcibly tearing open an extremely unstable, pitch-black spatial rift!

He fiercely spat out his last mouthful of essence blood, which merged into the rift. His body, like a swimming fish, narrowly plunged into the spatial rift just before the star light pillar and the icy Finger Wind could reach him!

Boom! Whoosh!

The star light pillar and the icy Finger Wind almost simultaneously struck Nightmare's lingering afterimage and the rapidly closing spatial rift!

Pfft!

Nightmare, who had already entered the spatial rift, once again spewed blood wildly. His back was almost pierced through by the aftershock of the Finger Wind, and his chest was severely injured by the terrifying tearing force generated when the spatial rift closed, adding injury upon injury! His aura was extremely weak!

And the spatial rift, after suffering two terrifying attacks, twisted violently and then completely collapsed and vanished!

“Trying to escape?!”

The giant face in the sky let out an astonished roar of anger. A giant hand, entirely condensed from starlight, suddenly reached down, grasping at the point where space had collapsed, but only found empty air! Nightmare's aura had completely vanished from the spot!

“To forcibly tear space and escape? How decisive!” Ice Soul Fairy's figure appeared not far away, looking at the empty Void Realm, a hint of surprise and playfulness flashing in her beautiful eyes. “However, after suffering such a heavy blow and entering the Spatial Turbulence, he's probably not far from death.”

She looked up at the angry giant face projection in the sky and chuckled softly: “Your Excellency Star Venerable, it seems your prey has escaped.”

“Hmph! He can't escape! No matter where he hides, to the ends of the earth, This Sovereign will drag him out and tear him to shreds!” The giant face made an angry vow, and the projection slowly dissipated, but the terrifying killing intent lingered in the heavens and earth for a long time.

Ice Soul Fairy looked at the spot where Nightmare had disappeared, her eyes flickering, lost in thought. Finally, she too transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the depths of the icy abyss... cold, silent, chaotic.

This was Nightmare's first sensation after regaining consciousness.

He found himself floating in a bizarre, twisted, colorful Void Realm. Here, there was no concept of up, down, left, or right, only countless violent Spatial Turbulence raging like colorful ribbons. From time to time, huge spatial fragments drifted and collided like icebergs, and further away, all-consuming spatial vortices slowly spun.

Spatial Turbulence Belt!

This was a crack in the world, a place of chaotic Laws, a forbidden zone that even Soul Transformation Cultivators dared not easily enter!

Nightmare's condition was extremely dire. His Physical Body was severely damaged, with multiple broken bones, internal organ damage, and his Demonic Essence in his Meridians was almost dry. His Divine Soul was also weak and dispirited due to the forced spatial jump and the rule fragment's overload, as if it could extinguish at any moment.

The most troublesome thing was an extremely cold Finger Force residue in his body, constantly eroding his vitality—it was the hidden move left by Ice Soul Fairy! And the backlash from the spatial jump was also continuously destroying the structure of his Physical Body.

Any other Soul Transformation Cultivator, suffering such heavy injuries and falling into such a desperate situation, would have long since perished.

But Nightmare, relying on the formidable Myriad Poison True Demonic Body and the sliver of true spirit protected by the rule fragment, stubbornly clung to life.

He painstakingly mobilized a trace of his remaining Divine Sense and the power of the rule fragment, barely setting up a thin cloaking barrier around him, drifting with the current on a relatively stable, massive spatial fragment, like a small boat in a raging storm.

“System... report status... scan surroundings...” He weakly murmured in his mind.

“Host status: Extremely critical. Physical Body damage 65%, Demonic Essence depleted, Divine Soul strength reduced to 31%, residual extreme cold Law power and spatial backlash power continuously damaging...”

“Scanning surroundings... confirmed entry into the outer Northern Region Spatial Turbulence belt... spatial coordinates chaotic... detected faint residual Star Road fluctuations (direction C)... distance unknown...”

“Recommendation: Immediately find a stable area to heal, clear the foreign Law power from the body, otherwise there is a risk of Realm regression or even demise...”

The System's prompt tone also carried a hint of weakness.

Nightmare smiled bitterly in his heart. Healing? Easier said than done. In this Spatial Turbulence, energy was violent and chaotic, impossible to absorb and replenish, and he had to constantly avoid spatial dangers.

He forced himself to sit up, took out his last few star core fragments and Medicinal Pills for healing, painstakingly absorbing the faint energy within them to temporarily stabilize his worsening injuries, while simultaneously operating the rule fragment to try and expel the extreme cold Finger Force from his body.

The process was slow and painful.

Time seemed to lose its meaning in this chaotic Void Realm.

After drifting for an unknown period, Nightmare's injuries were still severe, but he had at least temporarily curbed their worsening trend. He had to find a way to leave here as soon as possible, or at least find a relatively stable place.

Relying on the rule fragment's faint perception of space, he cautiously manipulated the spatial fragment beneath his feet, avoiding obvious spatial rifts and turbulence, and painstakingly moved towards the direction of the faint Star Road fluctuations detected by the System.

In the Void Realm, dangers lurked everywhere. Sometimes, a seemingly calm area would suddenly erupt in a spatial storm; other times, floating fragments would shatter without warning.

Once, he even encountered a group of “Void Rays” that roamed the Void Realm, feeding on spatial energy. Although their individual strength was only around the Nascent Soul level, their numbers were in the thousands, like a plague of locusts! Nightmare, using his last bit of strength, activated the Nirvana Star Evil and narrowly forced them back, but he himself suffered further injuries.

Just as he was almost at his limit, the chaotic Void Realm landscape ahead suddenly showed a slight difference.

The Spatial Turbulence there seemed to have become relatively calmer, and further away, a relatively stable, fragmented continent floating in the Void Realm was faintly visible?

And on the edge of that continent, there seemed to be a very faint trace of artificial construction?

Nightmare's spirit suddenly lifted!

He used his last strength to control the fragment, painstakingly drifting towards that continent.

The closer he got, the clearer the traces of artificial construction became. It seemed to be a... dilapidated, ancient stone hall, half of which had already collapsed into the Void Realm? The style of the stone hall was actually somewhat similar to the Star Palace Ruins he had seen before!

Could it be that Star Palace Ruins also existed within this Spatial Turbulence?

Finally, the spatial fragment beneath his feet slowly approached the edge of the shattered continent, bordering the area where the ruined stone hall stood.

Nightmare painstakingly stepped onto this desolate continent, riddled with meteor craters and traces of spatial erosion, and staggered towards the stone hall.

Most of the stone hall had already collapsed, disfigured by the erosion of Void Realm energy, but in its deepest part, a small section seemed relatively intact.

He walked step by step into the ruins of the stone hall, searching for a place to rest and heal.

Just as he reached the deepest part of the ruins, his footsteps suddenly halted!

Beneath a relatively intact wall, a skeleton was actually sitting cross-legged!

The skeleton was not human; its bones were crystal clear like jade, yet with a metallic luster, and a single horn grew from its forehead. Although it had long lost its life, it still exuded a powerful and ancient aura. Its strength in life was probably at least at the Soul Transformation level!

And the posture of this skeleton seemed to be guarding something inscribed on the wall.

Nightmare's gaze passed over the skeleton and looked at the wall.

On the wall, a piece of information was inscribed in ancient script, not of this world. And next to these words, a crude... star chart was also carved?

The direction pointed by that star chart seemed to... transcend this world?!

Nightmare's gaze was instantly drawn to that star chart!

And at this moment, in the hollow eye sockets of the single-horned skeleton, which had been dead for tens of thousands of years, two faint, eerie blue Soul fires suddenly lit up without warning!

A cold, hostile intent locked onto Nightmare!

“Intruding... Forbidden Ground... Die...”