The Flames of Rift, the First Bites of the Dao Seed (Continued)

Though this vortex was only the size of a palm, it seemed to connect to the primordial ignorance when heaven and earth first opened. Gray chaos qi flow rotated rapidly within it, emitting a strange aura capable of swallowing all things and evolving all Laws.

"Courting death!" The Eshi Yue Cultivator saw that Nightmare dared to catch his full-strength strike with bare hands. A cruel glint flashed in his eyes as he urged his true yuan, causing the ghost-head fist aura to swell by another thirty percent, swearing to freeze and devour Nightmare's entire arm!

However, the moment that hideous ghost-head collided with the Chaos vortex—the violent collision he expected did not occur.

The ghost-head was like a clay ox entering the sea; it was easily swallowed by that tiny Chaos vortex! The moment the dark, cold energy touched the chaos qi flow, it was rapidly broken down and assimilated, becoming a part of the Chaos vortex's own rotation! Nightmare could even clearly feel a trace of pure energy feeding back through the vortex into the Chaos Seed, becoming nutrients to nourish it!

"What?!" The Eshi Yue Cultivator's Divine Soul shook violently as his connection to his true yuan and the fist aura was forcibly severed! Terrified, he prepared to withdraw and retreat.

But how could Nightmare give him the chance?

While devouring the fist aura, Nightmare brought his left fingers together like a sword. His mind channeled the wisp of Annihilation Concept within the Chaos Seed. A gray light flashed at his fingertips, as if crossing space, arriving first despite starting later, and tapped onto the protective dark light the Eshi Yue Cultivator had hastily erected!

Psh!

The protective dark light was pierced like paper! The Annihilation finger force penetrated his body, ignoring his Physical Body's defenses, and struck directly at his Divine Soul core!

The Eshi Yue Cultivator's eyes widened sharply, the light in them instantly fading, and his body collapsed softly, his life force extinguished. The dark energy remaining in his body was drawn by the chaos qi flow around Nightmare, flowing into him in wisps to become nutrients for the Chaos Seed.

All of this happened too quickly; from the moment Nightmare attacked to the Eshi Yue Cultivator's death, it was barely two breaths of time! The Middle Golden Core Eshi Yue Cultivator currently entangled with Mo Li didn't even have time to rescue him!

"Good!" Seeing this, Mo Li was greatly encouraged; her flaming sword aura surged, forcing her opponent back several steps.

Nightmare, however, frowned slightly. Although the Chaos Seed could convert the true yuan forcibly devoured from the Golden Core Cultivator just now, the cold and violent will still caused his Divine Soul to feel a slight stinging pain. This Eshi Yue Cultivation Technique was indeed sinister.

He looked up at the battlefield.

More and more Eshi Yue Cultivators and monsters were pouring out of the hundred-zhang spatial rift, and the defense line of Blackstone Camp was already looking stretched. Cracks appeared in many places on the city walls, and casualties among the defenders were increasing. Even more heart-wrenching was that deep within the rift, three auras far more powerful than a Middle Golden Core were slowly condensing, as if preparing to cross over!

"It's an Eshi Yue Protector-level expert! At least Early Nascent Soul Stage!" Mo Li's voice carried gravity, "The camp's great formation won't hold for much longer!"

Nightmare's mind sank into the Chaos Seed. The seed rotated ceaselessly, yearning even more for the chaotic energy pouring out of the rift. He could feel that if he could devour that energy, the seed would surely advance further!

Risk and opportunity coexisted.

"I'm going near the rift," Nightmare suddenly said.

Mo Li was stunned: "Are you crazy? That's where the Eshi Yue forces are most concentrated!"

"I know what I'm doing." Nightmare offered no further explanation; his figure had already turned into a gray stream of light, bypassing the frontal battlefield and darting toward the spatial rift from the side.

Along the way, Eshi Yue Cultivators attempted to stop him, but all were either devoured by his Chaos vortex or killed by his Annihilation finger force. He moved as if in an empty land, quickly approaching to within a hundred zhang of the rift.

The closer he got to the rift, the more immense the chaotic and tyrannical energy became. An ordinary Cultivator here would likely have their consciousness eroded within an hour or two, turning into a monster that only knew how to kill. But the Chaos Seed within Nightmare vibrated joyfully, like a long-parched land meeting sweet rain, crazily absorbing the surrounding energy.

Nightmare could even "hear" the sound of the seed growing—the pigeon-egg-sized gray light cluster was expanding and solidifying at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the naturally formed patterns on its surface were becoming increasingly profound and complex.

However, danger followed closely behind.

"You dare approach the Sacred Gate? You don't know the meaning of death!" A cold rebuke came from within the rift.

Immediately after, a figure shrouded in a black robe stepped out. This person's aura was as obscure as an abyss; the moment he appeared, the surrounding space seemed to freeze. It was exactly one of those three powerful auras, an Eshi Yue Protector-level expert!

The Black-Robed Person's gaze fell on Nightmare, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes: "Oh? This junior's Cultivation Technique... is quite strange. However, it's just right to capture you and present you to the Holy Master for study."

Before the words had faded, the Black-Robed Person reached out and grabbed. A giant claw covered in black scales appeared out of thin air, blotting out the sky and sun, carrying a terrifying might that could freeze Divine Souls and erode all things, grabbing down toward Nightmare's head!

The might of a Nascent Soul, terrifying indeed!

Nightmare's breath hitched, and the space around him seemed to be imprisoned, making it difficult even to move his fingers. But the color of Chaos in his eyes grew deeper, and deep within his mind, that Chaos Seed, now grown to the size of a fist, shook violently!

"Chaos—Heaven Opening!" Nightmare let out a low shout, pushing the power of the Chaos Seed to its limit! Gray chaos qi flow surged from around his body, transforming into a gray giant axe phantom that was both illusory and real, slashing upward against that black giant claw!

This axe strike contained all the insights he had gained from struggling to survive in the Land of Absolute Spirit, contemplating the beginning of Chaos, and evolving the birth and death of all things!

The gray giant axe collided with the black giant claw.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a strange sound of annihilation, as if matter and energy were being forcibly decomposed and returned to ignorance.

The black giant claw dissolved at a speed visible to the naked eye! It was not shattered, but "assimilated" and "returned to the Origin" by the Chaos intention contained within the gray giant axe!

"What?!" The Black-Robed Person finally changed color, "What kind of Law is this?!"

He felt that his Eshi Yue true yuan, which he had bitterly cultivated for hundreds of years, was retreating steadily before that gray chaos qi flow, like ice and snow meeting the sun!

Taking this opportunity, Nightmare retreated rapidly, while his mind channeled and pushed the devouring power of the Chaos Seed to the maximum!

Boom!

With him as the center, a Chaos vortex ten zhang in diameter suddenly expanded! This vortex was more than a hundred times larger than the one in his palm before; as it rotated, it actually pulled and devoured all the chaotic energy pouring out of the rift, the killing aura dissipating on the battlefield, and even the remnant power of the Black-Robed Person's attack!

The Black-Robed Person was both shocked and angry, and just as he was about to use another method, his expression suddenly changed.

Because he felt that the spatial rift, which had been forcibly opened, was beginning to tremble unstably! The edges of the rift twisted more intensely, as if it might collapse at any moment!

It was that Chaos vortex! It was crazily devouring the spatial energy maintaining the rift!

"Stop!" The Black-Robed Person shouted sharply, no longer caring about Nightmare, and urged his secret technique, attempting to stabilize the rift.

But it was too late.

Within Nightmare's body, after devouring a massive amount of energy, the Chaos Seed suddenly shook!

Crack.

It was as if some barrier had been broken.

On the surface of the seed, a clear Chaos pattern completely formed. Nightmare felt his mind elevate infinitely, and his perception of heaven and earth energy suddenly became more than ten times clearer! The nature of the true yuan in his body underwent a qualitative change, becoming more condensed and pure, carrying the conception of Chaos opening and the evolution of all things.

Golden Core Stage!

On this battlefield, between life and death, Nightmare had actually relied on the all-devouring characteristic of the Chaos Seed to forcibly break through to the Golden Core Stage!

And even more shocking was—

Rumble!

That hundred-zhang spatial rift, under the crazy devouring of the Chaos vortex, finally couldn't hold on, and its edges shattered inch by inch! Violent Spatial Turbulence rolled back out, sweeping in and shredding all the nearby Eshi Yue Cultivators and monsters!

"No—!" The Black-Robed Person's eyes were splitting with rage, and he urged all his cultivation to protect himself, but he could only watch helplessly as the rift collapsed.

A few breaths later, the rift completely disappeared. Only a twisted spatial scar remained, along with the corpses of Eshi Yue Cultivators all over the ground.

The battlefield fell silent.

Whether it was the remnants of the Eshi Yue, or the defenders of Blackstone Camp, they all stared dumbfounded at the vanished rift and at Nightmare, who stood in the air, surrounded by chaos qi flow.

"Retreat!" The Black-Robed Person spat out this word through gritted teeth, swept up some of the remaining troops, and turned into a black light to flee.

The Eshi Yue's strong attack this time had actually failed because of one person's power!

Nightmare landed slowly, and the aura around his body gradually receded. He could feel that after breaking through to the Golden Core Stage, the Chaos Seed had completely stabilized, transforming into a pigeon-egg-sized entity covered with Chaos dao patterns, suspended in the center of his Dantian, automatically breathing in heaven and earth energy.

Mo Li and the others gathered around, their eyes filled with shock and complexity as they looked at Nightmare.

"You... broke through?" Mo Li couldn't help but ask.

Nightmare nodded slightly and looked at the half-fragment in his hand. At this moment, the silver patterns on the fragment were slightly hot, pointing to the northwest—Star Burial Valley.

The Eshi Yue's conspiracy, the secret of the Jiu You Remnant Realm, the truth of the Land of Absolute Spirit... everything pointed there.

"I need to go to the Star Burial Valley," Nightmare said calmly.

Mo Li was silent for a moment, then said: "That is the lair where the Eshi Yue have operated the longest; the level of danger far exceeds this place. But... I will go with you."

Iron Mountain, Amu, and Qing Xiang also expressed their support.

Nightmare looked at these companions who had just fought side by side with him, and a trace of warmth rose in his heart. In this broken world fraught with crises, having companions was always good.

"We depart in three days," Nightmare said, "I need to stabilize my Realm, and you also need to prepare."

Everyone nodded.

Nightmare looked toward the northwest, and deep in his heart, the Chaos Seed pulsed slightly.

Star Burial Valley, perhaps there was a way back, perhaps there was a chance for Su Wanqing to wake up, perhaps there was the ultimate goal of the Eshi Yue Organization, or perhaps... the next direction for his Chaos Dao.

No matter what lay ahead, he was ready.

Three days passed in a flash.

Nightmare had stabilized his Early Golden Core Stage, and the Chaos Seed had become increasingly solid, with its efficiency in devouring and converting energy increasing several times over. He even tried to integrate a trace of Annihilation intention and spatial charm into the seed, creating several brand-new offensive and defensive means.

Mo Li and the others had also made full preparations. The Red Flame Squad was already an elite unit of the Sky Patrol Alliance, and this time they had received additional supplies and intelligence support provided by the camp's senior management.

At dawn on the fourth day, the group of five quietly left Blackstone Camp and headed toward the Star Burial Valley in the northwest.

The deeper they went into the hinterland of the Jiu You Remnant Realm, the worse the environment became. The dark red sky gradually turned deep purple, and the ground was covered with bottomless cracks, in which churning hot magma or cold yin winds rolled. Broken Law fragments were like sharp blades, occasionally slicing through space; a moment of carelessness would result in injury.

Along the way, they encountered several waves of attacks from native species of the Remnant Realm. These monsters seemed to have undergone some kind of mutation near the Star Burial Valley, becoming more violent and bearing clear traces of Eshi Yue energy on their bodies.

"The Eshi Yue are using these native species for experiments." Amu examined the corpse of a monster that resembled a giant scorpion, but with its carapace covered in strange runes, his expression grave, "They are trying to fuse the Eshi Yue Cultivation Technique with creatures of the Remnant Realm to create war weapons."

Nightmare's thoughts stirred, and his Divine Soul consciousness probed into the monster's corpse. Sure enough, he felt a familiar dark energy, originating from the same source as the Eshi Yue true yuan the Chaos Seed had devoured, but it was more violent and chaotic.

He tried to use the Chaos Seed to devour this energy and found that the conversion efficiency was even higher than devouring pure Eshi Yue true yuan. Although this energy was polluted, it retained the most primordial chaotic characteristics of the Remnant Realm, which was a great supplement for the Chaos Seed.

After traveling for another two days, the terrain changed abruptly.

A huge basin appeared in front, with continuous black peaks on its edge, surrounding the basin like the fangs of a giant beast. Inside the basin, the ground was a strange dark silver, devastated and covered with deep pits like meteorite impacts. In the sky, countless shattered star phantoms appeared and disappeared, emitting a desolate and ancient aura.

This was the Star Burial Valley.

And even more shocking was that in the center of the basin stood a towering black pyramid-shaped building! The building was over a thousand zhang tall, cast entirely from an unknown black metal, with dark blue energy lines flowing on its surface, originating from the same source as the lines on the half-fragment in Nightmare's hand!