The mighty city was bathed in blood, and undercurrents surged.

Crossing the Wind-Eroded Canyon and traveling another three hundred miles, the scenery before his eyes gradually changed.

On the desolate land, sporadic abandoned farmland and village ruins began to appear. The closer he got to Qingyang City, the denser the traces of battle became—charred earth, broken weapons and armor, and piles of uncollected white bones all silently told of the horrific slaughter that had taken place here.

The air was filled with a thick scent of blood and gunpowder, even overpowering the inherent deathly silence of the Land of Absolute Spirit. In the distance, the silhouette of a towering, massive city slowly rose on the horizon.

That was Qingyang City.

Even from dozens of miles away, one could feel the majestic Aura of that ancient city. The city walls were dozens of zhang high, built entirely of massive dark cyan rocks, their surfaces covered in mottled traces left by time and war. At this moment, atop the city walls, the brilliance of Spells intertwined with the trajectories of giant stones thrown by catapults; the sounds of battle cries, beast roars, and explosions could be faintly heard. Clearly, the fighting was still ongoing.

However, unlike the siege Nightmare had imagined, where the city would be completely surrounded, the area around Qingyang City, while chaotic, did not show a beast tide covering the mountains and plains. Most of the Vicious Beasts seemed concentrated on attacking the front of the city, while the other directions appeared somewhat "empty."

"Surround three sides and leave one open? Or is it that... the mastermind behind the beast tide intends to drive the flow of people in a certain direction?" Nightmare's thoughts stirred, and he immediately sensed the anomaly. This did not look like a simple, mindless beast tide; it looked more like a purposeful military operation.

He did not choose to approach from the relatively calm sides, as that would make his target too obvious and easily arouse suspicion from the defenders or hidden lurkers on the city walls. He activated the Chaos Seed, suppressing his own Aura to the extreme, while simultaneously simulating the deathly silence and blood-soaked atmosphere of the surrounding environment. Like a ghost, he used the terrain as cover and stealthily moved toward the front of the city where the battle was most intense.

The closer he got, the more he could feel the brutality of the battlefield.

Below the city walls, corpses of Vicious Beasts and human soldiers were piled up like mountains, and fresh blood had dyed the earth dark red. Various strange-looking Vicious Beasts, like a tide, were crashing against the city walls wave after wave. There were "Siege Rhinos" with massive bodies covered in bone armor, ramming the city gates; "Winged Snake-Bats" that moved like the wind and could spit acid; and many more ordinary beasts whose names he couldn't even call, driven into a frenzy by some unknown power.

On the city walls, the defenders fought desperately. Archers continuously fired arrows, but many had little effect on the thick-skinned Vicious Beasts. More soldiers relied on rolling logs, boulders, boiling gold juice, and ballistae that flickered with a faint light, seemingly embedded with elemental crystals, to attack. Occasionally, one could see some clearly powerful Cultivators (perhaps called "Martial Artists" or "Qi Refining" practitioners in this realm) running along the ramparts, unleashing sharp Sword Qi or fist energy, knocking down powerful Vicious Beasts attempting to climb the walls.

But the defenders were clearly at a disadvantage, suffering heavy casualties with low morale. The city walls had damage in many places; although temporarily blocked with giant rocks and timber, they were in a precarious state.

Nightmare swept his gaze across the battlefield, focusing on the Vicious Beasts. He discovered that most of their eyes glowed with an abnormal red light, full of violence and Chaos, similar to the state of the wolf pack driven by the Eclipse Moon Organization in the Cangwu Mountain Range, but they seemed even more manic, lacking a bit of "order." Moreover, in the rear of the beast tide, he faintly captured several obscure, cold, and twisted spiritual fluctuations, guiding the direction of the beast swarm's attack!

"The people from the Eclipse Moon Organization are indeed manipulating this from behind the scenes." Nightmare's expression turned cold. They did not seem to be in a hurry to break the city immediately; rather, they were using the beast tide to consume the defenders' strength, while at the same time... it seemed as if they were searching for or waiting for something.

His gaze passed over the tragic siege battlefield and landed on the towering city gate. At this moment, the gate was tightly shut, being frantically rammed by a giant siege ram and countless Vicious Beasts, emitting dull, heavy thuds. Entering from the front was almost impossible.

His thoughts stirred, and Nightmare turned his attention to the city walls. The city walls, dozens of zhang high, were impassable for ordinary Cultivators, but for him, it was not a difficult task. He channeled the spatial charm of the void lotus seed, his figure becoming blurred, as if merging into the shadows, and silently "swam" upward along the shadowed parts of the city wall!

His movements were gentle and swift, like a gecko, avoiding the focal points of the battle between the defenders and the Vicious Beasts on the wall, sensing the structure and energy flow of the wall. Soon, he found a relatively hidden crack caused by the battle, channeling a trace of chaos qi flow, and like the finest carving knife, silently widened the crack. With a flash of his figure, he had already slipped inside the city wall!

Inside the city wall were wide passageways and troop shelters, now packed with exhausted, injured soldiers, as well as messengers and medical personnel running back and forth. The air was filled with a pungent mix of blood, sweat, and herbal medicine, the atmosphere oppressive and tense.

No one noticed that a shadowy figure had already slipped in.

Nightmare converged his Aura, looking like an ordinary, dust-covered wounded soldier, and walked along the passageway toward the interior of the city. His perception acted like invisible tentacles, rapidly collecting information from the surroundings.

"...The East Gate can't hold on much longer! We need reinforcements!"

"...The City Lord's Mansion has ordered us to hold the line at all costs! Anyone who retreats will be executed!"

"...Where are those gray-clothed adults? Don't they have a way to control the wild beasts?"

"...Shh! Watch your tongue! Those people are wicked, even the City Lord has to give them three points of respect..."

"...I heard they're looking for something? Digging everywhere in the city..."

"...Who cares what they're looking for! As long as they can help us hold the city!"

Fragmented information poured into Nightmare's mind. The gray-clothed people (Eclipse Moon Organization) held a special status in the city, seemed to be looking for something, and were involved in the defense to some extent, but did not seem to be putting in their full effort.

His perception extended quietly, attempting to capture the Aura of those "gray-clothed people." Soon, in the center of the city, in the direction of the tallest and most magnificent City Lord's Mansion, he sensed several condensed, cold, and dark energy fluctuations, originating from the same source as the Eclipse Moon Organization members he had encountered before, but much more powerful! One of them even made him feel a trace of a threat; its strength was probably not inferior to the previous Shadow Fiend!

"There is at least one Late Golden Core Stage, or even a stronger existence, sitting in command..." Nightmare's heart sank slightly. The situation was more complex than he had imagined.

He did not rashly approach the City Lord's Mansion but turned to explore other areas of the city. The interior of Qingyang City was far larger and more complex than Shiquan Village; streets crisscrossed, houses stood in rows, and although many shops were closed and pedestrians were scarce due to the war, one could still see its former prosperity. But now, this ancient city was shrouded in panic and despair.

In some remote alleys, Nightmare caught weak energy fluctuations and traces of excavation, which seemed to confirm what the refugees had said—that the people from the Eclipse Moon Organization were "looking for something" in the city.

His thoughts stirred, and he locked onto an abandoned residence that had just been excavated and still retained obvious traces of Eclipse Moon Organization energy, then quietly slipped inside.

The interior of the residence was a mess, with a large pit dug into the ground. At the bottom of the pit, there seemed to be a lingering, faint trace of a strange energy that was out of place in the Land of Absolute Spirit, carrying spatial fluctuations.

"This is..." Nightmare sensed carefully. Suddenly, in his internal space, the primal cube, which had been silent all this time, sent out a weak fluctuation again!

A stream of information merged into Nightmare's mind:

[Detected trace amounts of "void stone" Aura. void stone contains stable spatial power and can be used to construct teleportation arrays, stabilize Secret Realms, refine spatial Magical Artifacts... Deduction: The target being searched for may be related to spatial attributes.]

void stone? Was the Eclipse Moon Organization digging frantically in Qingyang City to search for treasures related to space?

What did they want to do? Construct a teleportation array? Connect to where? Or was it that... like the "demon ancestor origin pact," Qingyang City also hid some secret related to the ancient times and space?

The fog in Nightmare's mind seemed to have cleared a little, but a larger mystery followed.

He stood in the abandoned residence, looking toward the direction of the City Lord's Mansion, his eyes deep.

The undercurrents hidden within this ancient city, which was fighting a bloody battle, seemed even more turbulent than the beast tide outside.

And he, this fish of Chaos that had broken into it, what kind of waves would he stir up in this deep pool?