The Secret of the Burial Valley of Stars, The True Face of the Eclipse Moon (Continued)

Nightmare and his four companions lurked in the shadows of the peaks on the edge of the basin, using secret arts to conceal their presence as they observed the towering black pyramid from afar.

"That is the lair of the Eclipse Moon..." Mo Li said in a low voice, flames of hatred burning in her eyes. "I once heard the Alliance Leader mention that the Eclipse Moon has been operating here for at least a century. That black tower is an ancient ruin they excavated from the depths of the Jiu You Remnant Realm and modified. It contains countless secret treasures and is the core of all their conspiracies."

The fragment in Nightmare's hand was faintly hot, its silver markings flowing ceaselessly, echoing the dark blue markings on the surface of the distant pyramid. He could feel a profound connection between the fragment and the black tower.

"What exactly are they trying to do?" Tie Shan asked in a muffled voice, veins bulging on the hand gripping his bone shield.

A-Mu took out a crystal lens and used it to observe the Formation layout around the black tower, his expression becoming increasingly grave. "They are setting up the... 'Jiu You Inverse Origin Formation'! This type of Formation requires the essence blood and Divine Soul of a massive number of living beings as a catalyst. It can forcibly reverse the Law of a place and open a passage to... the Unknown Realm!"

"The Unknown Realm?" Nightmare frowned slightly.

"Legend has it that before the Jiu You Remnant Realm completely shattered, it once had a brief connection with a higher-level world. I fear the Eclipse Moon intends to reopen that passage." A-Mu's voice trembled slightly. "If they succeed, it won't just be the Remnant Realm; I fear even the world we originally came from will be affected!"

Just then, the Chaos Seed deep within Nightmare's mind suddenly vibrated violently! An intense, almost instinctive craving emanated from the dao seed—it wanted to devour that black tower! More accurately, it wanted something deep within the black tower!

At the same time, within Nightmare's storage space, the world tree seedling, which had been silent all this time, also transmitted a faint mental fluctuation, filled with anxiety and longing.

"It seems we must go in and investigate," Nightmare said calmly.

The infiltration process was more difficult than imagined. The area around the black tower was not only filled with overt and covert sentries, but also various detection Formations. If not for Nightmare using the Chaos Seed to simulate the surrounding environmental Qi and the rich experience of Mo Li and the others, the five of them would have been unable to get within a hundred miles of the black tower.

Three days later, they finally found an opportunity—a squad of Eshi Yue Cultivators was escorting several Remnant Realm giant beasts bound by chains toward the black tower, seemingly as sacrifices for the Formation. The five of them blended in, disguised as Eshi Yue Cultivators, and successfully infiltrated the outer perimeter of the black tower.

The interior space of the black tower was far more vast than it appeared from the outside, clearly utilizing space folding technology. The passageways crisscrossed like a maze, and the air was filled with dense dark energy and the smell of blood.

The guidance from the fragment in Nightmare's hand became increasingly clear. Following its lead, the five of them avoided patrol squads and continued to delve deeper downward.

The further down they went, the fewer the guards, but the sense of oppression grew stronger. Ancient murals began to appear on the walls of the passageways, depicting scenes of stars falling and worlds shattering, as well as images of a group of beings clad in star robes, wielding immense power to Seal some terrifying entity.

"These murals... they depict the story of the ancient 'Heavenly Patrol Envoys' sealing the 'Void World-Devouring Beast'!" A-Mu said, shocked. "Legend says the Void World-Devouring Beast is a terrifying creature capable of devouring worlds. Ancient experts paid a huge price to Seal it deep within the Jiu You Remnant Realm. Could the Eclipse Moon be trying to..."

Before he could finish his sentence, massive energy fluctuations and the sound of dragging chains came from the end of the passage ahead.

The five of them held their breath and crept forward, arriving at a concealed observation port.

Below was an incomparably huge underground space, and in the center floated a writhing, dark purple ball of flesh over a hundred feet in diameter! The surface of the ball was covered in eye-like cavities, and countless thick black chains extended from the surrounding walls, piercing into the interior of the flesh ball, seemingly draining something from it.