Chapter 138 Alien Remains, Secrets of the Star Chart

The ghostly blue soul fire burning in the eye sockets of the one-horned skeleton was cold and dead, devoid of any emotion, containing only a pure will to guard this place from intrusion! The hostility and pressure it exuded, though far less than in its living days due to its demise eons ago, still made the heavily injured Nightmare feel immense pressure!

"Trespass... Forbidden Ground... Die..."

The cold read once again directly impacted Nightmare's Divine Soul. The skeleton suddenly raised its remaining bony right arm, fingers forming a claw, carrying residual power that could tear the Void Realm, and swiftly, like lightning, struck towards Nightmare's face!

This claw attack seemed simple, yet it contained a profound trajectory, sealing off all of Nightmare's evasion space!

If he were in his prime, Nightmare naturally wouldn't fear this mere skeleton driven by a remnant thought, but at this moment, he was severely injured and on the verge of death, his Demonic Essence depleted, his Divine Soul withered. Faced with this sudden attack, he was momentarily unable to respond effectively!

At this critical juncture, a fierce glint flashed in Nightmare's eyes. Disregarding his injuries entirely, he forcefully activated the rule fragment in his Sea of Consciousness!

Buzz!

A faint but supreme fluctuation, transcending the Law of this realm, suddenly spread from between his eyebrows!

The incoming bone claw, the moment it touched this fluctuation, suddenly froze! The profound power contained within its trajectory seemed to have met its nemesis, instantly becoming chaotic!

Even the two clusters of ghostly blue soul fire in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered violently, as if sensing an incomprehensible, irresistible majesty, letting out silent, terrified screeches!

"Shatter!"

Nightmare seized this opportunity, gathering the last trace of Nirvana Star Evil at his fingertip, and fiercely pointed it at the center of the frozen bone claw!

Crack!

The bone claw, which had already lost most of its spirituality, was instantly corroded by the Power of Annihilation. Starting from the middle finger, it shattered inch by inch, turning into dust!

The skeleton seemed to have suffered a heavy blow. Its entire frame trembled violently, and the soul fire in its eye sockets instantly dimmed by more than half. The cold hostility and protective will also greatly weakened.

It seemed unable to comprehend why this intruder possessed an aura that made its Origin tremble. Its lingering obsession fell into immense confusion.

Upon successfully landing the strike, Nightmare's injuries were also aggravated, causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood, his body swaying precariously. He struggled to stay upright, his cold gaze fixed on the skeleton. The aura of the rule fragment continued to faintly emanate, serving as a deterrent.

The one-horned skeleton remained rigid for a moment. Finally, the remaining protective obsession seemed unable to overcome its instinctive fear of the rule fragment. It slowly, and with extreme reluctance, lowered its other arm. The soul fire in its eye sockets completely extinguished, and it reverted to a lifeless, withered bone, slumping back to its original position, as if it had never awakened.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

Nightmare let out a long breath, cold sweat already soaking his back. It had truly been extremely perilous. If the rule fragment hadn't happened to have such a strong suppressing effect on this alien skeleton, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He dared not be careless. First, he carefully examined the skeleton, confirming that it had indeed fallen back into dormancy, before turning his gaze back to the writings and star chart on the wall.

He didn't recognize the characters, and the System database had no record of them. They were clearly not from this realm. However, between their strokes, a faint aura, similar in Origin to the rule fragment but far more ancient and vast, was subtly emanating.

"System, scan and record the text structure, attempt basic analysis. Focus on the star chart," Nightmare instructed, simultaneously immersing his Divine Sense into it, attempting to sense it with the rule fragment.

[Command received... Initiating scan and record... Text structure complex, containing unknown Law information... Analysis difficulty extremely high... Estimated to require significant time...]

[star chart analyzing... star chart coordinates extremely distant, pointing to unknown realm... Based on stellar positions and rule fragment feedback, target area may be completely beyond current known world range... Suspected to point to... a higher-level world plane?...]

A higher-level world plane?!

Nightmare's heart jolted! Could it be that Soul Transformation wasn't the end? Beyond this realm, was there an even vaster and more boundless world?

Was this star chart a path to a higher world?

And who was this one-horned skeleton? A creature from that higher world? Why did it perish here? Was it guarding this star chart, which led to its homeland or a higher Domain?

Countless questions instantly flooded Nightmare's mind.

He carefully observed the star chart, noting that although crude, it marked several distinct spatial nodes and dangerous areas, seemingly a relatively safe Star Road. However, the starting point of this Star Road... seemed not to be this realm, but rather required first reaching a specific jump point located in an extremely dangerous Void Realm.

With his current condition and the resources of this realm, attempting to reach that higher world using this chart would be nothing short of a fool's dream.

But this star chart undoubtedly opened a new door for him, pointing to a possible future direction!

He committed every detail of the star chart firmly to memory, imprinting it deep within his Divine Soul.

After completing all this, Nightmare felt an overwhelming sense of weakness and fatigue wash over him like a tide. His injuries could no longer be delayed.

He looked around. Although this dilapidated stone hall was simple, it seemed to be protected by some power. The Void Realm turbulence was relatively calm, making it a rare temporary place to heal.

He found a corner far from the skeleton, set up a few simple warning Restrictions, and then could no longer hold on. He sat cross-legged, took out the last few remaining star core fragments and Medicinal Pills, and began to fully circulate his Cultivation Technique to heal his injuries.

The rule fragment flickered faintly, helping him sort out the chaotic power within his body, prioritizing the expulsion of the extreme cold power left by Ice Soul Fairy and the backlash power of space.

The process was slow and painful. The extreme cold power was like a persistent disease, extremely stubborn, and the spatial power was destroying the Foundation of his Physical Body. Nightmare had to concentrate all his mind, grinding away and repairing it bit by bit.

Time quietly flowed in this silent Void Realm ruin.

After an unknown period, Nightmare's external injuries gradually healed, and most of the extreme cold power and spatial backlash power within him were cleared. His depleted Demonic Essence recovered somewhat, and his Divine Soul no longer felt such sharp pain. Although still far from complete recovery, he had at least temporarily escaped the brink of death.

He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi mixed with ice shards.

"I must leave here quickly and find more energy to replenish myself," Nightmare thought to himself. The energy here was too sparse and chaotic to support his full recovery.

He stood up and walked to the wall again, nodding slightly at the one-horned skeleton. Although they had been enemies just now, the other party had long since died, merely a remnant thought guarding the place, and the star chart it left behind was of great significance to him.

He carefully buried the skeleton beneath the stone hall, settling the Karma.

Afterward, he walked out of the stone hall and looked at the chaotic, boundless Void Realm, sensing the faint Star Road fluctuation captured by the System.

"Direction C... I hope it leads to a populated place."

He chose a direction, forced his Magic Power, and transformed into a streak of light, carefully avoiding the dangerous spatial rifts and turbulence, flying towards the direction from which the fluctuation came.

After an unknown period of arduous travel in the Void Realm, just as Nightmare felt that the Magic Power he had just recovered was about to be depleted again, changes finally appeared ahead!

The Void Realm turbulence there became significantly more orderly, and even traces of artificial management could be seen. Further ahead, faint energy fluctuations from a battle, along with several angry shouts and Yao Beast roars, could be heard!

People!

Nightmare's spirits lifted, and he immediately restrained his aura, quietly approaching.

He saw three Cultivators engaged in a bitter battle on a large floating landmass ahead. All three were at the Late Nascent Soul Stage, wearing uniform robes, seemingly from a certain Sect. Their opponents were seven or eight strange Yao Beasts resembling bats, but covered in bone armor, with fangs and sharp claws emitting Void Realm energy!

The individual strength of these Yao Beasts ranged from Early Nascent Soul Stage to Middle Stage, but their numbers were large, and they were extremely fierce and coordinated, forcing the three Cultivators into precarious situations, on the verge of collapse.

"Senior Brother! What should we do? There are more and more Void Bats!" a younger Cultivator anxiously shouted, his Flying Sword knocked away by a bat demon's sharp claw.

"Hold on! We've sent out a distress signal, Elder Steward should be here soon!" the leading middle-aged Cultivator gritted his teeth and roared, activating a shield Magic Treasure to desperately defend, but the shield's light was already flickering precariously.

Nightmare hid in the distance, observing calmly.

The aura of these Cultivators' Cultivation Technique was no different from the Human Race of this realm. It seemed he had indeed returned to the known world, though he didn't know exactly where in the Northern Region. And those Yao Beasts were clearly products of the Void Realm.

His gaze swept over the tokens on the three Cultivators' waists. They were engraved with a "Star" character pattern, next to which was a small boat mark.

This mark... he seemed to have seen it somewhere.

Nightmare pondered for a moment and then remembered. In Ouyang Shuo's storage Magic Treasure, there seemed to be a similar token. According to the System's scan information at the time, it was the insignia of a Northern Region Sect called "Star Raft Sea." Star Raft Sea specialized in Artifact Refining and Void Realm navigation, and was closely related to the Sky Patrol Alliance, but not its direct subordinate force.

"Star Raft Sea... Void Realm navigation..." A faint light flickered in Nightmare's eyes.

Perhaps, this was an opportunity.

Seeing that the three Cultivators were about to be devoured by the bats, Nightmare no longer hesitated.

He pointed his fingers like a knife, lightly tapping several times from a distance.

Several subtle, almost invisible Nirvana Star Evil Finger Wind, like invitations from the god of death, precisely penetrated the heads of those Void Bat Demons.

Puff, puff, puff!

The bat demons, who were frantically attacking, suddenly stiffened. The fierce light in their eyes instantly extinguished, and they fell from the sky like dumplings, their life force completely cut off.

They didn't even know how they died until their last breath.

The three Star Raft Sea Cultivators were closing their eyes, awaiting death, but found the attack abruptly stopped. They opened their eyes in confusion and were all stunned by the scene before them.

"Wh-what happened?"

"These Void Bats... why did they all suddenly die?"

Just as they were filled with shock and uncertainty, a calm voice came from nearby:

"Fellow Daoists, are you alright?"

The three of them turned their heads sharply, only to see a pale-faced young man in a black robe, who had appeared not far away at some unknown time, looking at them indifferently.