A bear carcass blocks the way; introspection reveals the true self.

Inside the cave, the faint blue glow of moss was the only light source, reflecting the silence after struggling on the edge of life and death.

Medicine Old Man leaned wearily against the rock wall, vigilantly watching for any movement outside the cave while simultaneously monitoring Nightmare's condition.

Nightmare was still unconscious, but his aura was no longer sliding rapidly toward the abyss as it had before; instead, it maintained an extremely weak yet exceptionally resilient balance.

Inside the space, the world tree seedling, having absorbed the power of that ancient fragment, radiated even stronger vitality; its emerald brilliance, like a warm stream, continuously washed over and nourished his dilapidated Physical Body and Divine Soul.

The primal cube hovered silently, an imperceptible flow of data occasionally streaming across its surface, seemingly continuously analyzing the Host's physical condition and environmental information from the outside.

The corpse of the Iron Claw Rock Bear blocking the cave entrance had become their temporary barrier, but also their greatest hidden danger.

The strong smell of blood and a certain aura dissipated when a hegemon-level creature died were like a lighthouse in the darkness, sufficient to attract all keen-sensed predators within a radius of dozens of miles.

Medicine Old Man knew very well that they could not stay here for long.

But Nightmare's current state could not withstand any movement at all.

"I must find a way to deal with this big guy, at least to cover up the scent..." Medicine Old Man frowned, his gaze falling on the Rock Bear's corpse covered in rock armor, feeling a sense of helplessness.

With his strength, wanting to move this behemoth weighing thousands of jin was no different from a pipe dream.

Just as Medicine Old Man was at his wit's end, inside the space, that void lotus seed, which had been silent all along, seemed to sense the "space" occupied by the massive corpse outside, as well as Medicine Old Man's strong desire to "clean up," and suddenly transmitted a faint fluctuation.

This fluctuation was not an active release of power, but rather more like an instinctive "reminder" or, one could say, a "suggestion."

At the same time, Nightmare's consciousness, which was in a state of deep coma and primarily maintained by instinct, had its residual analysis module capture this fluctuation and combine it with the primal cube's theory on matter-energy conversion.

A vague, optimal solution based on the current conditions was transmitted, like a subconscious thought, to the outermost layer of Nightmare's external interaction.

The unconscious Nightmare's lips moved slightly, emitting a few extremely slurred, almost unrecognizable syllables: "...Space... Storage..."

Medicine Old Man had been closely monitoring Nightmare and, seeing this, immediately leaned in: "Kid, what did you say?"

Nightmare could not respond, but those slurred syllables and the faint sense of attraction toward the cave entrance, vaguely transmitted from the space, gave Medicine Old Man a flash of inspiration!

He recalled the scene where Nightmare had conjured the black longsword out of thin air, and then associated it with those legends about ancient masters having worlds within their sleeves or Buddha kingdoms in their palms, and a bold conjecture surged into his mind.

"You mean... you can store this Rock Bear's corpse into that ‘world within your sleeve’ of yours?" Medicine Old Man asked tentatively; although it felt incredible, this young man before him had already created too many miracles.

Nightmare's space fluctuated imperceptibly, seemingly in acknowledgment.

Medicine Old Man's spirits lifted!

If he could really store the Rock Bear's corpse, not only would it solve the issues of the scent and the blockage, but this hegemon-level creature was full of treasures—the rock armor, sharp claws, bear gall, essence blood... Even in the Land of Absolute Spirit, these were incredibly precious Materials!

For Nightmare's recovery, it might be of great benefit!

He did not hesitate any longer and immediately took action.

He could not directly help Nightmare store it, but he could attempt to guide Nightmare's "will" toward the Rock Bear's corpse.

Medicine Old Man gently pressed one of Nightmare's cold hands onto the rock armor of the Rock Bear's forelimb that had extended into the cave.

Then, he concentrated his own weak mental will, acting like a bridge, connecting the faint sense of attraction from Nightmare's space with the Rock Bear's corpse outside.

"Kid, now! Store it inside!" Medicine Old Man shouted in a low voice, driving his own will to its limit.

As if responding to his call, inside Nightmare's space, the spiritual nature of the void lotus seed's spatial protection was triggered, and the space itself also consumed the sliver of power that had just stabilized, releasing a weak spatial fluctuation that enveloped the Rock Bear's forelimb it was in contact with—

Hum!

Like ripples in water, that Rock Bear corpse, massive as a mountain, vanished into thin air before Medicine Old Man's shocked eyes!

Only some splattered blood and broken rock debris were left in its place.

The cave entrance suddenly opened up, and the faint daylight from outside shone in, carrying the fresh air of the mountain forest after the rain, diluting the thick smell of blood inside the cave.

Success!

Medicine Old Man let out a long sigh of relief, collapsed onto the ground, and fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.

That mental guidance just now was also a significant burden for him.

But his eyes were filled with excitement, and his gaze toward Nightmare was even more different.

Such a method was already close to a miracle!

He quickly stood up, cleaned up the rubble at the cave entrance a bit, and found some branches and leaves to cover the traces, creating the illusion of a natural collapse.

After finishing all this, he returned to Nightmare's side to continue guarding him.

Meanwhile, Nightmare, having completed the act of "storing" the Rock Bear while unconscious, seemed to have tightened his connection with the void lotus seed by a sliver because of this successful spatial application.

His consciousness did not wake up, but it sank into a deeper state of "introspection."

Under the combined effect of external pressure (survival crisis) and internal assistance (World Tree, primal cube, ancient fragment power), his residual deductive instinct began to use the Primordial Theory as a framework, spontaneously integrating and organizing the power within his body.

Nirvana Internal Qi, World Tree life energy, the spatial charm of the void lotus seed, and the power of the "existence continuation" Law left behind by that ancient fragment... these powers, which originally had different attributes and even conflicted with each other, began to find a balance point for coexistence and symbiosis under the reconciliation of the primal cube's underlying logic, which surpassed the current world's understanding.

Inside his body, it was as if a miniature, incomplete, yet infinitely potential "Universe model" was evolving.

Destruction and vitality coexisted, space and matter intertwined, and rules sprouted from Chaos.

This was not a recovery of cultivation, but the foundation of a path!

It was the prototype of a brand-new cultivation system tailored for him in the Land of Absolute Spirit, this desert of rules!

Medicine Old Man watched the strange changes in Nightmare's aura—sometimes deathly silent, sometimes full of vitality, sometimes with spatial ripples—and although he could not understand it, he could feel that this young man was undergoing a crucial transformation.

He guarded silently by his side, like an old pine tree protecting a new seedling.

Outside the cave, the mountain forest remained fraught with danger.

Inside the cave, a divine child destined to overturn the order of this world was quietly nurturing a new flame amidst the ashes of death.