The return journey was swiftly quelled, and the demonic power was awe-inspiring.

After completely erasing the traces of the Star Core Palace, Nightmare carried Lin Hao, who was heavily sealed by the Nidao Demonic Flame and on the verge of death, and transformed into a swift streak of pitch-black light, galloping towards the exit of the Chaotic Star Sea along the direction he had come.

The return journey was not peaceful.

The Chaotic Star Sea was a lawless place, filled with adventurers, outlaws, exiled Cultivators, and various unique races. Nightmare had killed his way here and caused such a huge commotion at the Legacy Hall, which had long attracted attention from many sides. Now that he was returning alone (carrying someone), although his aura was restrained, the 'lingering rhyme of the son of destiny' emitted by the prisoner, even if weakened by the Seal, was like a beacon in the night to certain beings.

The first wave of interception occurred in the broken asteroid belt outside the Meteorite Platform.

Five figures flashed out like ghosts from behind several huge asteroid fragments, blocking his path in a semicircle.

They were all at the Nascent Soul Stage, with messy clothing, greedy and fierce eyes—typical Loose Cultivators of the Star Sea. The leader was a one-eyed burly man carrying a door-sized ghost-head blade. His remaining eye stared fixedly at Lin Hao, who was wrapped in Demonic Flame chains in Nightmare's hand, and he licked his dry lips.

"Fellow Daoist, hold on," the one-eyed burly man said, his voice hoarse and filled with undisguised malice. "Is that... the legendary son of destiny, Lin Hao, that you are carrying?"

Nightmare stopped his escape light, his pitch-black eyes calmly sweeping over the five of them, as if looking at five corpses.

"So what if it is?" His voice was devoid of emotion.

"Hehe," the one-eyed burly man grinned, revealing yellow teeth. "The son of destiny is a piece of fat meat. Alive, handing him over to some major Righteous Path sects could trade for sky-high wealth and favors; dead, extracting his Soul and refining his spirit might squeeze out some mysteries of destiny... For you to enjoy it alone is too greedy, isn't it?"

The four people behind him spread out, vaguely forming a siege, their Magic Treasure lights flickering as they locked onto Nightmare.

"Seeers share, give our brothers a share, and everyone will be fine. Otherwise..." The one-eyed burly man's eyes turned cold. "In the depths of this Star Sea, if one or two people die, you won't even find their bones!"

They clearly regarded Nightmare as a lone traveler who had good luck and picked up a bargain, perhaps strong but definitely not invincible. After all, Nightmare's aura was as deep as an abyss, which they couldn't see through, but this only fueled their greed—this person must have other heavy treasures!

Nightmare's mouth seemed to twitch extremely slightly, like a sneer or impatience.

He was too lazy to even say another word.

A thought moved.

Centered on him, a nearly transparent pitch-black Domain with a radius of about ten zhang suddenly unfolded! The edges of the Domain were blurred, but it exuded an absolute deathly silence and destructive aura that made the Soul freeze—a miniaturized, instant-cast version of the Dao Reversal Ultimate Killing Array.

The greed on the faces of the five Loose Cultivators instantly froze, turning into boundless horror!

They found they couldn't move! Not only was their body bound by an invisible force, but even their internal Qi, Divine Sense, and even their thoughts seemed to have fallen into sticky, cold asphalt, operating sluggishly, almost stagnant!

They wanted to shout, but couldn't make a sound.

They wanted to escape, but couldn't lift their legs.

They wanted to activate their Magic Treasure, but their Qi wouldn't listen!

The only thing reflected in their eyes were the wisps of black flames quietly breeding within the pitch-black Domain, as if spreading from the deepest part of the underworld.

The flames touched their protective spiritual light, and the light went out instantly as if it were nonexistent.

The flames drilled into their skin; there was no burning pain, only a coldness and emptiness of all things returning to the void.

The flames invaded their Dantian and Sea of Consciousness; the Nascent Soul disintegrated in silent wailing, and the Divine Soul annihilated in absolute silence.

From the unfolding of the Domain to the five Nascent Soul Loose Cultivators silently turning into the finest black dust and drifting away with the wind, like five sand sculptures forgotten by time...

The whole process took less than three breaths.

Nightmare didn't even look at the drifting dust, the Domain quietly retracted, and he continued forward while carrying Lin Hao.

The second wave of trouble came a little later, in a narrow star gorge filled with fragments of Star-Eroding rock.

Two tall, grey-white figures stood like boulders on the only path of the star gorge. The star patterns on their bodies were deeper than those of the warriors encountered before, and their aura was more solid and heavy; they were both at the Early Spirit Transformation Stage, and their eyes were filled with deep-seated hatred and determination.

They were the remaining members of the same clan as the squad previously wiped out by Nightmare in the Star-Eroding rock area, and also a few of the Star-Eroding Clan who had truly received some small favors from Lin Hao and recognized his "destiny".

"Devil Head! Leave Lord Lin Hao!" The Star-Eroding Clan elite on the left roared, his voice trembling with anger, his Star-Eroding rock spear pointing at Nightmare, the tip of the spear flickering with starlight. "You slaughtered our warriors and destroyed our Holy Land, this hatred is irreconcilable!"

The elite on the right didn't speak, but silently set up a giant shield forged from Star Iron in front of him, and gripped a war hammer in his other hand, showing a stance of fighting to the death. They knew the terror of the Devil Head in front of them, but the blood feud of their clansmen and their last bit of loyalty to their "benefactor" Lin Hao made them choose to intercept here.

Nightmare stopped, his gaze sweeping over these two Star-Eroding Clan members. He could feel the Power of the Stars surging within them, carrying a tragic determination to die.

Unfortunately, it was meaningless.

"Revenge?" Nightmare finally spoke, his voice as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice. "Just you? You are worthy?"

He was even too lazy to unfold his Domain. Facing two Early Spirit Transformation Stage opponents who were naturally restrained by his own power and far inferior in strength, he chose the most direct and violent way.

He clenched his right hand into a fist and raised it to his chest.

Above the fist, there was no scorching light, only a pure "black" that seemed to be able to swallow everything. The black was not static, but slowly rotating and compressing, with the terrifying scene of stars collapsing and all things returning to the void vaguely flashing and disappearing inside.

Demonic Star Fist Intent, condensed.

The two Star-Eroding Clan elites felt the destructive fluctuation coming from the fist, which made their internal Star Origin tremble with fear, their faces changed drastically, and they roared, pouring all their power into the spear and giant shield!

Nightmare moved.

He just simply took a step forward, and then, punched out.

The movement was not fast, even a bit casual.

But the moment his fist struck, the space in front seemed to be squeezed and folded by an invisible giant force! His fist seemed to span dozens of zhang, appearing directly in the center of that Star Iron giant shield!

There was no loud noise of impact.

Only a "puff" sound that was extremely faint.

The Star Iron giant shield, which was enough to withstand the full-force bombardment of a Mid-stage Dao Replenishing, along with the upper body of the Star-Eroding Clan elite holding the shield behind it, instantly exploded like tofu hit by an invisible giant hammer! It wasn't shattered, but directly turned into the finest powder mixed with silver starlight!

The fist power did not end, piercing through the exploded blood mist and powder, and accurately slammed into the chest of the elite holding the spear behind.

That elite didn't even have time to react, only feeling an indescribable destructive force pass through his body.

He looked down and saw a bowl-sized, transparent hole in his chest. The edges of the hole were extremely smooth, without any flesh or bone residue, as if it had been directly "erased" by some absolute force.

Immediately afterwards, with that hole as the center, dense black cracks instantly covered his whole body.

Crash—

Like broken porcelain, the entire body of this Star-Eroding Clan elite, along with the spear in his hand, shattered into countless even pieces, and then before these pieces hit the ground, they were completely shaken into powder by the remaining Fist Intent and drifted away with the wind.

One punch, two Early Spirit Transformation Stage Star-Eroding Clan elites, wiped out, leaving no bones.

Nightmare retracted his fist, and the heart-palpitating black on his fist slowly faded. He didn't even have the slightest disorder in his aura, as if he had just casually swatted two flies.

He looked at the Star-Eroding rock fragments scattered on both sides of the star gorge, and then glanced outside the star gorge at the vaguely visible space channel entrance leading to the Meteorite Platform in the Far West Land of the Mortal Realm.

After a little pondering, Nightmare made a decision.

He waved his hand, and the remains of several broken Magic Treasures left by the five Loose Cultivators before, as well as several larger pieces of Star Iron shield fragments remaining after the two Star-Eroding Clan elites shattered, were rolled up by his Demonic Flame.

Then, he took these things, along with Lin Hao in his hand, to a floating island near the entrance of the Meteorite Platform, which was relatively open and easy for passing Cultivators to see.

Nightmare threw those broken Magic Treasure fragments and Star Iron shield fragments casually into the center of the floating island. Then, he flicked his finger, and a point of deep Dao Reversal Demonic Star Flame fell into those fragments.

Whoosh!

The Demonic Flame did not burn violently, but attached to those fragments like bone-attached gangrene, continuously emitting a cold, dead, and Soul-trembling destructive aura. This aura did not spread very far, but any Cultivator approaching the floating island within a certain range could clearly sense it and interpret the taste of warning and death from it.

After doing all this, Nightmare did not stay.

He carried Lin Hao and stepped into the space channel leading to the Meteorite Platform in the Far West Land of the Mortal Realm, his figure disappearing into it.

On the floating island, only those debris fragments burning with pitch-black Demonic Flame remained, like silent tombstones, showing later comers what kind of clean and neat slaughter had happened here, and what kind of unprovokable existence the person who left was.

Soon, later Cultivators discovered this floating island and the "relics" on it.

Sensing the heart-palpitating Demonic Flame aura, identifying the Star Iron of the Star-Eroding Clan and the remains of some Loose Cultivator Magic Treasures, combined with the faint fluctuations that had come from the depths of the Chaotic Star Sea before and the scattered rumors about the "son of destiny" and the mysterious demonic Cultivator...

A chilling speculation quickly spread among the Cultivators near the Meteorite Platform: A terrifying god of slaughter had returned from the depths of the Star Sea, and all those who blocked the way, whether Loose Cultivators or the Star-Eroding Clan, were killed in seconds, leaving no bones. And he seemed to have brought back an extraordinary "captive" to the Mortal Realm.

Since then, for a long time, the area near the entrance of the Meteorite Platform seemed exceptionally "clean". Even the most greedy and bold outlaws, when approaching the floating island burning with pitch-black flames, would feel a chill from the bottom of their Soul and choose to take a detour.

This insignificant "trace" left by Nightmare successfully played a deterrent role, saving him from the last possible small trouble on the return journey.

The pitch-black streak of light passed through the space channel, and the familiar breath of the Mortal Realm rushed towards him.

Far West Land, Meteorite Platform, arrived.