Turbulent Star Sea, Hao's Troops Intercept and Kill

After leaving the campsite that had been burned into the Void Realm, Nightmare increased his speed even further.

The deeper one went into the Chaotic Star Sea, the more unstable space became.

The star fragments that had been relatively intact gradually disappeared, replaced by swirling, twisted patches of chaos qi flow.

Violent energy tore at everything, and occasionally, fractured space cracks would flash by, emitting a terrifying suction force.

Nightmare was shrouded in a faint layer of Star Demon Flame, silently devouring and refining the incoming turbulence.

The star dao fruit in his Sea of Consciousness glowed faintly, guiding his direction, but in this chaotic area, that guidance became intermittent and blurry.

He had to remain fully focused and navigate carefully.

The unexpected turn of events came without warning.

Just as he bypassed a violently rolling chaos qi flow, six sharp auras suddenly locked onto him from three directions ahead!

Figures flickered, and six Cultivators dressed in uniform white cloud-patterned robes formed a triangular encirclement, blocking him on a relatively stable floating rock platform.

All of them were at the Late Nascent Soul Stage, with solid auras and sharp eyes filled with undisguised killing intent and a hint of... condescending scrutiny.

The leader was a cold-faced man with a long face, holding a long sword flowing with green light.

His gaze swept over the Demonic Flame surrounding Nightmare, and the corners of his mouth curled into a cold arc.

"Scum of the Demonic Path, you really are lingering here," the long-faced man said in a cold, hard voice.

"By the order of Senior Brother Lin Hao, the son of destiny, we are to purge all evil and Demonic Paths in the Chaotic Star Sea. If you end your own life, you may keep your corpse intact."

The five people behind him took a step forward simultaneously, their auras connecting to vaguely form a simple yet powerful combined attack Formation, sealing off all of Nightmare's retreat paths.

Their movements were uniform, clearly those of well-trained elites.

Nightmare stopped, stood in the center of the platform, and calmly swept his gaze over the six of them.

Lin Hao's men.

They were fast.

"Lin Hao doesn't dare to come himself, so he sends a few dogs to die?" Nightmare spoke, his voice devoid of emotion, yet piercingly cold.

"Arrogant!" A flash of anger appeared in the long-faced man's eyes. "Form the Demon-Clearing Formation and suppress this monster!"

The six of them moved at once.

Their hand seals changed, and streams of pure, righteous green light rose from their bodies, intertwining to instantly form a massive green light Formation in the air.

Runes rotated in the center of the light Formation, emitting a powerful force of purification and suppression, descending upon Nightmare!

The air seemed to be purified, and even the surrounding chaos qi flow was temporarily pushed away.

"Purify the Demons and Slay the Evil!"

The six shouted in unison, and the power of the light Formation surged, intending to purify and annihilate Nightmare along with his Demonic Flame.

Nightmare looked up at the descending green light Formation, his eyes without even a ripple.

"Purify demons?" He whispered, seemingly with a hint of mockery.

The next moment—

Boom!!!

The dormant Star Demon Flame, like a Vicious Beast thoroughly enraged, soared from his body into the sky!

The dark purple flames were no longer burning quietly, but turned into a violent, raging tide, surging upwards!

The seemingly infinitely powerful green light of the "Demon-Clearing Formation," upon contacting the Demonic Flame, hissed like snow meeting a scorching sun, rapidly dimming and collapsing!

"What?!" The long-faced man's pupils shrank, and for the first time, his face showed horror.

This Demon-Clearing Formation was specifically designed to counter Devilish Qi; ordinary Demonic Path Cultivators would be injured upon contact, so why was it completely ineffective against this person's Demonic Flame?

He had no time to think, because Nightmare had moved.

No dodging, no maneuvering. Nightmare's figure disappeared from the spot like a ghost, and almost simultaneously, appeared directly in front of the long-faced man, less than a foot away!

So fast!

The long-faced man was terrified and instinctively thrust his sword, the sword light biting.

Nightmare merely raised his right index finger. At the tip of his finger, a point of dark light, as deep as a concentrated starry sky, suddenly lit up, with a faint, miniature, slowly rotating black star phantom visible within it.

"Demon Star Stab."

His fingertip tapped lightly, hitting the tip of the sword squarely.

Ding—

A crisp, extremely clear sound.

That high-grade green-light long sword began to shatter inch by inch from the tip! The shattering force, as if crushed by an invisible giant force, instantly spread to the hilt!

The long-faced man's right arm, along with half of his shoulder, exploded into a mist of blood!

"Argh—!" He let out a shrill scream and retreated violently.

But Nightmare's fingertip had already pointed out.

That point of dark starlight left his fingertip and silently sank into the space between his eyebrows, which was still wide open in terror as he retreated.

The scream stopped abruptly.

The long-faced man's body suddenly stiffened, and his eyes instantly lost all luster. A spark of dark purple fire lit up from within his forehead and quickly spread throughout his body.

Whoosh—

In less than half a breath, a complete body turned into black ashes drifting in the sky, and even the lingering aura of his Divine Soul was completely erased.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The killing intent and arrogance on the faces of the remaining five Righteous Path elites completely froze, turning into boundless fear.

The leader... the leader at the Peak of the Late Nascent Soul Stage who held the core of the Demon-Clearing Formation, was killed in seconds?

Escape!

This thought appeared in the minds of all five at the same time.

What mission, what order; in the face of absolute death, they were not worth mentioning!

The five scattered instantly, turning into five streams of light, fleeing frantically in different directions!

"Hmph."

A cold snort, like the sigh of the Grim Reaper, reached their ears.

Nightmare stood in place, not even bothering to pursue. He simply formed an ancient and strange hand seal in front of his chest.

"Star Sequence Reversal."

The low voice seemed to trigger some kind of Law.

With him as the center, the space within a hundred zhang suddenly blurred and twisted! Light was chaotic, and the sense of direction was instantly lost.

The five fleeing streams of light seemed to crash into an invisible quagmire, their speed plummeting.

Even more terrifyingly, they discovered in horror that although they were flying forward, their bodies were involuntarily retreating backward!

Space had been briefly twisted and reversed!

"No! What evil technique is this?!"

"Help! Senior Brother Lin Hao, save..."

The terrified cries had just sounded when they were cut off.

Nightmare extended his right hand, splayed his fingers, and made a grasping motion in the Void Realm toward the five figures struggling in the twisted space.

"Burn."

As if his words were Law, the Star Demon Flame that had already permeated the surroundings suddenly gathered and condensed, turning into five ferocious, roaring dark purple fire pythons that pounced accurately toward the five!

The fire pythons wrapped tightly around them, and the terrifying Demonic Flame instantly invaded their Meridians, Dantian, and Sea of Consciousness!

"Ah—!!!"

Short, extremely shrill screams sounded simultaneously, and disappeared the next moment.

The flames dissipated.

In the air, nothing remained. No ashes, no remnant souls, only five wisps of smoke about to dissipate, proving that several Nascent Soul Cultivators had once existed there.

Nightmare waved his hand, taking the Storage Pouch left behind by the long-faced man. He roughly broke the Restriction on it with his Divine Sense and scanned the interior.

Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, Materials... nothing special. His gaze fixed on a warm, white Jade Slip.

He took out the Jade Slip and probed it with his Divine Sense.

Soon, a flash of understanding passed through Nightmare's eyes, followed by an even deeper chill.

The Jade Slip was a sub-device of a one-way communication Magical Artifact, recording several messages from the master device:

"We have, as instructed by Senior Brother, arrived at the 'Turbulence Gorge' to set up defenses, intercepting all suspicious persons, especially those bearing Star or Demonic Path auras."

"Senior Brother Lin Hao has met with the Qingyun Sect Grand Elder and is heading full speed along the 'Heavenly Derivation Ancient Road' toward the Star Core Palace. Progress is smooth."

"Senior Brother has successfully subdued parts of the 'Star-Eroding Clan' and gained their assistance. If you encounter strong enemies, you may seek help from the Star-Eroding Clan; they are active in the 'Star-Eroding Rock' area."

"The Star Core Palace Legacy is of utmost importance; you must intercept any potential competitors and kill them without exception."

The message was not long, but clear enough.

Lin Hao not only took a safer and faster 'Heavenly Derivation Ancient Road' himself, but also subdued the local indigenous 'Star-Eroding Clan' as his minions.

And this squad was merely a pawn he cast out to clear the field and buy time.

"Heavenly Derivation Ancient Road... Star-Eroding Clan..." Nightmare repeated in a low voice, Demonic Flame dancing in his eyes.

He applied slight pressure with his fingers.

Crack.

The hard-textured communication Jade Slip turned to powder in his palm, falling rustlingly from between his fingers.

"Want to get there first?" Nightmare looked toward the deeper direction of the Chaotic Star Sea, which was where the Star Core Palace was located according to the star dao fruit's sensing, and also the general direction of the so-called 'Heavenly Derivation Ancient Road.'

The corners of his mouth curled into a cold, temperatureless arc.

"Then let's see who is faster."

He did not stay any longer, not even bothering to clean up any traces that might remain.

Nightmare's Demonic Flame swirled around him, turning into a dark purple meteor, faster and more violent than before, tearing through layers of chaos qi flow and shooting straight toward the Star Core Palace!

His speed was nearly doubled compared to before!

Since he now knew Lin Hao's route and schemes, his original plan had to change.

Not only did he have to enter the Star Core Palace first.

If he "happened to meet" them on the way...

In Nightmare's eyes, killing intent was like ice, and flames were like a tide.

Then he would intercept and kill them early!