The palace gates swung open, unleashing a devastating attack on the Hao tribe.

Outside the Legacy Hall, Lin Hao's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead.

The Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal hovered above his head, raining down streams of majestic golden light of Heavenly Dao.

Combined with the vast, sea-like cyan Origin Qi from the Qingyun Sect Grand Elder beside him, along with the combined efforts of several Nascent Soul elites and two confidantes, they formed a destructive torrent, madly assaulting the palace gate composed of two stellar phantoms!

“Open for me!!!”

Lin Hao roared, burning his life essence without hesitation to inject into the Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal.

The Seal's light flared brightly, faintly revealing phantoms of mountains, rivers, and thousands of people worshipping.

Carrying the suppressive power of the orthodox Heavenly Dao, it slammed fiercely against the palace gate.

The Grand Elder's face was as calm as water, but the horsetail whisk in his hand had long since transformed into a roaring cyan Dragon.

Every time the dragon claws tore, the gate's light flickered violently.

He was filled with shock and anger; the sturdiness of this gate far exceeded his imagination, and an Aura of destruction that made even him palpitate seeped out from behind the door.

“That Devil Head... did he really obtain the Legacy?” This thought made his attacks even more frantic.

Under such violent and continuous bombardment, the palace gate finally let out an unbearable groan.

The rotation speed of the stellar phantoms on its surface plummeted, the light dimmed rapidly, and fine cracks began to appear and spread.

“Almost there! Everyone, put in more effort!” Seeing this, Lin Hao's spirits lifted, and he shouted sternly.

Everyone gave their all, the light of various Magic Treasures and Daoist Magic reflecting off the Void Realm like daylight.

However, the moment before the gate was about to shatter—

All attacks stopped abruptly.

It wasn't that they stopped; rather, an indescribably terrifying suction force suddenly surged from within the gate!

It wasn't a physical attraction, but a domineering deprivation targeting energy, Laws, and even life force!

Following that, the cracked palace gate didn't explode outward, but... inward.

Silently, it turned into the finest black dust and drifted away.

The door opened.

There was no brilliant light, no surging Origin Qi.

There was only bottomless darkness, and a figure slowly stepping out from it.

Nightmare.

Compared to before he entered, his appearance hadn't changed much, but his temperament had undergone a heaven-turning change.

His black robes seemed to meld into the darkness behind him; only his eyes, like two pitch-black stars heading toward annihilation, coldly overlooked everyone outside the door.

He released no Aura, yet every person his gaze swept over felt as if their Soul was frozen and torn apart.

He stood there, yet seemed to be the sole center of this world.

Even the shattered starlight and chaotic energy flows around him seemed to fearfully detour around him.

“Night... Nightmare!” Lin Hao's pupils constricted, his heart gripped by an invisible hand, his breathing stifled.

The Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal above his head actually emitted a faint hum, its light involuntarily receding by thirty percent, as if encountering a natural enemy.

The Qingyun Sect Grand Elder's expression changed drastically.

With his high cultivation, his perception was the sharpest.

He clearly “saw” that within the Nightmare before him, there lay a terrifying, violent, destructive Universe!

The level of that power had already surpassed the Soul Transformation Realm he understood, touching upon... that legendary Realm!

“Half-step... Undergoing Tribulation?” The Grand Elder exclaimed, his voice trembling with disbelief.

How long had it been?

Having entered the Legacy Hall for such a short time, this youth had actually crossed that chasm?!

“Congratulations, you guessed correctly.” Nightmare finally spoke, his voice flat, without a hint of fluctuation, yet carrying a bone-deep chill.

“As a reward...”

He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread, and pressed down gently toward the crowd waiting in battle formation outside the gate.

“I shall bestow upon you, Annihilation.”

Before the words faded—

Boom!!!!

Centered on Nightmare, a deep, pitch-black Domain that seemed capable of devouring all light instantly expanded, covering a thousand zhang!

Within the Domain, starlight went out, Spiritual Qi rebelled and backlashed, and the light of all Daoist Magic and Magic Treasures belonging to Lin Hao's side rapidly dimmed and disintegrated!

Even the golden light of Lin Hao's Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal was suppressed and eroded by this pitch-black Domain, emitting painful groans!

Dao Reversal Ultimate Killing Array!

“Not good! Form a defensive array!” The Grand Elder roared in horror, instantly injecting his life's cultivation into his protective Magic Treasure.

A thick cyan light barrier enveloped him, Lin Hao, and the two confidantes.

The remaining Nascent Soul elites also gritted their teeth, each unleashing their strongest defensive measures.

However, it was useless.

The pitch-black Domain seemed to have a life of its own.

Countless pitch-black flames as thin as hair quietly sprouted from every part of the Domain.

Like conscious vipers, they ignored all physical and energy defenses, drilling directly into everyone's protective light, Meridians, Dantian, and even the Sea of Consciousness!

“Ugh ah—!!!”

Screams of extreme misery erupted almost simultaneously!

The Nascent Soul elites bore the brunt.

Their protective spiritual light shattered like bubbles, and the pitch-black flames burned from the inside out!

It wasn't ordinary burning; it was their mana, dao foundation, and Divine Soul being frantically reversed, devoured, and returned to nothingness by the flames!

They couldn't even struggle.

Their bodies, like weathered sand sculptures, rapidly dissolved in the black flames, turning into wisps of green smoke, leaving not even a scrap of residue.

Their Divine Soul was destroyed, and their True Spirit ceased to exist.

In the mere instant the Domain unfolded, several Nascent Soul elites were completely wiped out!

“Bastard!!” The Grand Elder's eyes were splitting.

He saw his own cyan light barrier covered in those eerie pitch-black flames, which were frantically eroding it.

The barrier's light dimmed rapidly, and his Origin Qi was being consumed at an unprecedented speed.

Lin Hao was even more shocked and furious.

He crazily drove the Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal, and the majestic golden light of Heavenly Dao attempted to disperse the surrounding black flames, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea—the effect was negligible.

The black flames seemed to naturally restrain his Heavenly Dao power!

“Brother Hao! Careful!” A confidante screamed, seeing a wisp of black fire pierce through a weak point in the Grand Elder's barrier, striking toward Lin Hao's back.

Lin Hao reacted extremely quickly, turning to slash with his sword, but the sword light was easily devoured by the black fire.

Seeing the black fire about to touch him—

“Get lost!”

Nightmare's cold voice rang out.

The next instant, his figure, like a ghost, appeared out of thin air within the light barrier set up by the Grand Elder!

Ignoring the barrier's obstruction, it was as if that defense, capable of resisting the attacks of a Peak Spirit Transformation, was mere air before him!

“What?!” The Grand Elder was terrified to his core.

At such a close distance, he could even see his own face, twisted in extreme fear, reflected in Nightmare's pitch-black pupils.

Nightmare didn't look at him, but merely flicked his finger at the wisp of black fire attacking Lin Hao.

The black fire dissipated.

But at the same time, Nightmare's other hand had already pierced through the Void Realm, pressing against the Grand Elder's chest.

In the palm, a point of pitch-black starlight, concentrated to the extreme, quietly flashed.

The hairs on the Grand Elder's body stood on end; the shadow of death had never been so clear!

He roared, condensing all his Origin Qi, Divine Soul power, and even burning part of his Lifespan to form a three-foot-thick cyan jade shield phantom covered in ancient Dao runes in front of his chest!

This was his trump card for saving his life—the Azure Underworld Dao Armor!

“Demonic Star, Shatter Heaven.”

Nightmare spat out four words.

The palm pressed against the Dao Armor vibrated slightly.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no brilliant energy counter-clash.

There was only a slight “crack” sound, like shattering glass, almost inaudible.

The Azure Underworld Dao Armor, which had condensed the Grand Elder's life's cultivation and part of his life Origin, and was capable of hard-resisting a blow from an Early Stage Undergoing Tribulation Cultivator, developed countless fine cracks starting from the point of contact with Nightmare's palm.

The cracks instantly spread to the entire Dao Armor, and then—

Bang!

The Dao Armor, along with the Grand Elder's chest, internal organs, and bones behind it... all turned into the finest black powder mixed with cyan light!

The Grand Elder's expression froze in boundless fear and disbelief.

He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but couldn't make a sound.

The next moment, a point of pitch-black flame ignited from the center of his crumbling body, instantly sweeping away everything that remained.

Whoosh—

A breeze blew by.

The Qingyun Sect Grand Elder, this Peak Spirit Transformation powerhouse who had once dominated the winds and clouds and stood at the pinnacle of the continent, completely vanished from between heaven and earth.

Body and Soul destroyed, not even a trace of Aura remained.

Silence.

Dead, deathly silence.

Lin Hao stood stunned on the spot, as if struck by lightning from the Nine Heavens, his brain blank.

The Grand Elder... died?

Just like that... was insta-killed?

The two confidantes beside him were even more scared out of their wits, their faces pale, trembling like chaff, looking at Nightmare as if looking at a world-destroying demon god that had crawled out of the Nine Netherworlds.

Nightmare slowly withdrew his palm, as if he had just casually swatted a fly.

Only then did he turn his gaze to the dazed Lin Hao and the two terrified women.

“It's your turn.”

His gaze fell on the two women.

The two were instantly like frogs stared at by a poisonous snake, lacking even the courage to run.

Nightmare extended his right index finger and pointed gently at the two in mid-air.

Two wisps of thin, pitch-black Demonic Flame threads appeared out of thin air, ignoring spatial distance, and instantly submerged into the two women's Dantian and Qi Sea!

“Ah—!!!”

The two let out heart-wrenching screams, feeling the dao seed they had painstakingly cultivated for many years in their Dantian being tightly entangled by the Demonic Flame threads, and then... violently crushed!

Their majestic mana instantly spiraled out of control and dissipated, their Meridians snapped inch by inch, and their cultivation poured out like a burst dam!

In just one breath, the two confidantes, who had once been graceful and possessed decent cultivation, were already withered in Aura, their faces as pale as paper, collapsing to the ground, completely reduced to cripples without any cultivation!

Only endless fear and despair remained in their eyes.

Nightmare didn't even glance at them, as if he had just disposed of two pieces of insignificant trash.

His gaze finally settled on Lin Hao.

Stung by this gaze, Lin Hao snapped back to reality, boundless fear and humiliation instantly drowning his reason.

“Nightmare! I'll fight you to the death!!” He roared, acting like a madman, desperately driving the dim Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal above his head, even burning his own Heavenly Dao Luck, turning into a brilliant yet tragic golden stream of light, throwing himself at Nightmare!

This was his final and strongest blow!

A hint of extremely faint, almost mocking expression finally flashed in Nightmare's eyes.

He didn't dodge or block.

He simply raised his right hand and clenched his five fingers in the void toward the rushing Lin Hao.

“Ultimate Killing, Restrict.”

The Dao Reversal Ultimate Killing Array shrouding the surroundings suddenly contracted and condensed inward!

All the pitch-black flames and destructive Laws instantly compressed to within three feet of Lin Hao!

“Puff—!!!”

Lin Hao's forward-rushing figure hit an invisible iron wall and flew backward!

He spat out blood, the golden light of his desperate attack easily annihilated by the pitch-black Domain, the Heavenly Dao Sacred Seal groaned, its light completely dimmed, and it shrank back into his body.

All the bones in his body were broken, his Meridians severely damaged, his Aura instantly dropped to the bottom, and he was heavily injured and dying!

Nightmare walked slowly to Lin Hao, who was paralyzed on the ground like a pile of mud, and looked down at him from above.

Lin Hao struggled to lift his head, his eyes full of bloodshot veins, resentment, fear, and a trace of lingering unwillingness.

“Kill... kill me...” He rasped, knowing that falling into Nightmare's hands meant a fate worse than death.

Nightmare squatted down, his pitch-black eyes looking at him calmly, as if looking at a valuable item.

“Kill you?” Nightmare slowly shook his head, his voice cold.

“Your Heavenly Destiny Luck has not yet been squeezed dry.”

He extended his index finger, a wisp of condensed Dao Reversal Demonic Star Flame leaping on his fingertip, and tapped it gently on Lin Hao's Dantian.

“Ah—!!!” Lin Hao let out an inhuman scream, feeling his cultivation being forcibly sealed and locked by a domineering power, to the point where he couldn't even self-destruct!

“Keeping you,” Nightmare stood up and brushed off non-existent dust, “to slowly plunder.”

He waved his hand, and a chain of pitch-black flames wrapped and sealed Lin Hao, who had completely lost the power to resist and was like a dead dog, and then lifted him up as if dragging trash.

Nightmare took one last look at this chaotic Void Realm—the place where the Grand Elder was reduced to ashes, the place where several elites were annihilated, the two confidantes who had become cripples and were paralyzed in a coma, and Lin Hao, who was sealed and imprisoned in his hand, his Luck not yet exhausted.

The battle for the Legacy was settled.

With an absolute crushing posture, he swept away all enemies.

Decisive in killing, leaving no one behind.

“Time to go back.”

Nightmare whispered to himself, carrying the sealed Lin Hao, his figure turning into a streak of pitch-black light, speeding away in the direction he came from, outside the Star Core Palace.

Behind him, only the dead-silent Legacy Hall remained, along with that lingering, Soul-trembling Ultimate Killing Aura.