Traversing against the current, clearing obstacles in space

Ten Thousand Demon Valley, Dao Palace.

Nightmare handed a pitch-black token, branded with a trace of his own Divine Thought and the aura of the Reverse Path, to the Valley Master of the Ten Thousand Demon Valley.

"This token can temporarily mobilize part of the power of the Dao Reversing Heaven Extinguishing Array, and it can also sense my general location," Nightmare said in a calm voice.

"After I leave, if any forces from the Spirit Realm break in sporadically again, do not ask for instructions; directly activate the Formation and, in conjunction with the power within the Valley, kill without mercy.

If you encounter a large-scale invasion or a powerful enemy that cannot be resisted, you may use this token to temporarily seal the mountain gate and hold your ground while awaiting reinforcements."

"I will strictly obey the Master's orders!" The Valley Master received the token with both hands, his expression solemn.

"The Master is heading to the Spirit Realm alone; you must be extremely careful! I will certainly not fail the task entrusted to me regarding matters in the Mortal Realm!"

Nightmare nodded slightly, saying no more.

He closed his eyes, his mind sinking into his Dantian and Qi Sea.

There, the star dao fruit, the Origin of the Dao Reversal Demonic Star Flame, and the newly acquired guixu dao reversal key were forming a stable triangular structure, rotating slowly and resonating with each other.

"Reverse Path Shuttle... Activate!"

Guided by his intent, the guixu dao reversal key was the first to light up with the radiance of Chaos, and a profound spatial fluctuation emanated from the key itself, rapidly merging with the Nidao Demonic Flame permeating Nightmare's body.

Immediately after, the star dao fruit shed gentle starlight, providing precise positioning and stability for this spatial power.

Hum—!

In front of Nightmare, the air twisted and collapsed silently, forming a pitch-black vortex a zhang in diameter, inside which countless chaotic stars seemed to be born and destroyed.

The edges of the vortex were stable, emitting a profound and mysterious aura, completely different from the violent turbulence produced by ordinary spatial tearing; this was the stable channel opened by the "Reverse Path spatial shuttle"!

Nightmare stepped into the vortex, and his figure was instantly swallowed by the chaotic starlight.

The vortex then contracted inward and disappeared silently within the quiet room, without causing the slightest spatial tremor, as if it had never appeared.

...

Inside the spatial channel, it was not the brightly colored tunnel one might imagine, but a bizarre, uncertain "turbulence layer."

Here, there was no concept of up, down, left, or right, only violent and chaotic spatial energy, fragmented shards of Law, and twisted lights and shadows that occasionally flashed by, leading to unknown destinations.

Even with protective Magic Treasures, ordinary Cultivators would need to be extremely cautious when traveling here, as they could be swallowed by sudden spatial rifts at any time or eroded by chaotic Laws.

However, Nightmare was enveloped in a thin layer of chaotic halo dominated by the power of the guixu dao reversal key.

This halo was like the most agile skiff, traveling through the violent turbulence, always finding relatively stable "gaps" and "currents," moving at great speed while avoiding the vast majority of dangerous areas.

The Nidao Demonic Flame burned quietly inside the halo, silently refining and devouring the corrosive spatial energy that occasionally splashed over.

This was the advantage of the Reverse Path spatial shuttle—stable, efficient, and concealed.

But it was not without obstacles.

After traveling for about an hour, the scene of turbulence ahead suddenly became blurry and distorted.

Bursts of low, eerie noise, as if countless people were whispering, weeping, and laughing wildly in his ears, ignored the spatial barriers and drilled directly into Nightmare's Sea of Consciousness!

These noises were not real sounds, but an interfering force that acted directly on the Divine Soul!

They attempted to evoke the deepest fears, obsessions, regrets, and violence within a living being... Especially directed at the act of "Reverse Path," which defied common sense and went against the will of Heaven, the noises contained intense intentions of "questioning," "negation," and "tempting downfall"!

The "Reverse Path Heart Demon" left behind by the Heavenly Dao!

These Heart Demons were born from the residual thoughts left by the intense confrontation between the Laws of the Heavenly Dao and the power of the Reverse Path.

They were intangible and formless, specializing in attacking the Dao Heart, especially fond of eroding those Cultivators walking on the Heaven-Defying path.

Once they invaded the Divine Soul, the best-case scenario was a damaged Dao Heart and stagnant cultivation; the worst-case scenario was Qi Deviation, collapse of the Divine Soul, and becoming a monster that only knew how to kill and destroy.

The noise grew louder and more chaotic, as if countless cold, slimy hands were trying to probe into Nightmare's Sea of Consciousness, disrupting his thoughts and polluting his Dao Heart.

Nightmare frowned slightly, but his eyes remained as clear as ice.

"Mere residual thoughts, and you dare to disturb me?"

He snorted coldly, not even stopping his pace of travel.

With a thought, the Origin of the Dao Reversal Demonic Star Flame, which had been quietly nourishing in his Sea of Consciousness, suddenly erupted with blazing light!

The pitch-black flame did not burn outside his body, but rose from within, from the depths of his Divine Soul!

This flame had no temperature, but it carried an absolute will of "purification," "reversal," and "destruction," having a natural restraint against all negative, erosive, and chaotic Divine Soul power!

The moment those eerie noises and invisible hands that had drilled into his Sea of Consciousness touched the Demonic Flame rising within his Divine Soul, they encountered their nemesis!

"Chi chi chi—!"

As if cold water had been dripped into boiling oil, those Heart Demon noises emitted silent, shrill shrieks that could only be perceived at the level of the Divine Soul!

They struggled and twisted frantically, attempting to pollute the Demonic Flame, but under the domineering reversal and incineration characteristics of the Demonic Flame, they quickly dissolved, disintegrated, and turned into the purest fragments of Divine Soul energy, which were instead absorbed by Nightmare's Divine Soul, stabilizing his Dao Heart and strengthening his Divine Sense!

In less than two or three breaths, all the invading Reverse Path Heart Demons were incinerated, his Sea of Consciousness returned to clarity, and it was even more stable and transparent than before.

"Tempering the soul with Heart Demons; that's not bad." Nightmare's eyes did not change, and he continued forward.

For others, these Reverse Path Heart Demons might be a catastrophe, but for him, who carried the complete Reverse Path Legacy and had the Demonic Flame protecting his soul, they were merely a whetstone.

After traveling for another distance, a "node area" appeared ahead that was relatively stable but had an extremely complex spatial structure.

This place was like the confluence of multiple spatial undercurrents, with some fragmented land remains, strange energy crystals, and even several huge skeletons of unknown age floating about, emitting an ancient and decaying aura.

Clearly, Cultivators or creatures traversing space often passed through or stayed briefly here.

Just as Nightmare was about to accelerate through this node area, suddenly, five tyrannical auras rose without warning from several different directions, instantly locking onto him!

Five figures appeared like ghosts from behind those broken lands or skeletons, forming an encirclement and blocking Nightmare's path.

Their clothing was varied, but their auras were all at the Early Tribulation Crossing Stage, their eyes ferocious and greedy, and they carried a thick, bloody smell and the vicissitudes of long-term existence in the Spatial Turbulence.

The Magic Treasures in their hands were also varied, but without exception, they all emitted distinct spatial fluctuations, clearly specialized for fighting or plundering in the turbulence.

"Spatial plunderers!" Nightmare instantly understood their identities.

This was a group of desperadoes who specialized in occupying spatial nodes or turbulence thoroughfares, making a living by plundering inter-realm Cultivators.

They were familiar with the turbulent environment, used ruthless methods, and coordinated well; they were the Nightmare of many cross-realm Cultivators.

"Hehe, another fat sheep! You dare to take this path alone?" The leader was a one-eyed man with a cross-shaped scar on his face, holding a jagged machete like a door panel.

He licked his lips, his gaze sweeping over the chaotic halo around Nightmare's body and the pure aura faintly revealed, his greed undisguised.

"Boss, the halo on this kid isn't simple; it might be a good treasure!" A skinny, monkey-like Cultivator beside him said in a shrill voice.

"Cut the crap, old rules: kill him, and split the loot!" Another burly man, as sturdy as an iron tower, said in a muffled voice.

The five grinned and slowly approached, their auras intertwining, sealing off all possible escape routes for Nightmare.

In their view, Nightmare was alone; although his aura was deep, under the siege of five experts at the Early Tribulation Crossing Stage, he had no chance of survival.

Nightmare stopped, his gaze sweeping calmly over the five, as if looking at five corpses.

"Get lost, or die." His voice was flat, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.

"Yo? Still acting tough!" The scarred man laughed in extreme anger.

"Kid, do you know who your granddaddies are? In this territory, even if an Elder from a major Spirit Realm Sect passes by, they have to leave toll money! You..."

Before he could finish speaking, Nightmare moved.

He couldn't even be bothered to hear the other party finish their threats.

With a thought, the layer of chaotic halo used for traveling around his body suddenly shrank inward.

Immediately, five pitch-black fire threads, refined to the extreme, as thin as hair, and moving faster than Divine Sense could perceive, erupted from his fingertips like a teleportation!

Demonic Star Flame—Split Strike!

The grins on the faces of the scarred man and the other four instantly froze!

They didn't even see how Nightmare made his move; they only felt a chill between their eyebrows.

A cold, dead, and indescribably domineering destructive force had already pierced through all their protective spiritual light, protective Magic Treasures, and even their skulls, which were tougher than fine gold, precisely stabbing into the core intersection of their Divine Souls and Dantians!

No explosion, no screams.

The five Early Tribulation Crossing Stage spatial plunderers remained in their previous expressions and postures, frozen in the Void Realm.

The next moment, five black sparks lit up from within their foreheads and quickly spread throughout their bodies.

Whoosh—!

The silent flame swept past.

The five bodies, along with the Magic Treasures in their hands and the Storage Pouches on their bodies, quickly faded and disappeared in that pure black flame, as if they were handwriting erased by an eraser, not even leaving a trace of ash.

Only five lingering remnants of their Divine Souls, mixed with horror and bewilderment, proved they had once existed.

From the moment he struck to the five plunderers turning into dust, it took less than a single breath.

Nightmare didn't even give those five remnants a second look, as if he had just brushed away a few annoying flying insects.

He grabbed into the air, and five Storage Rings of decent quality (protected by Restrictions, they were not completely incinerated by the Demonic Flame) and several silver crystals that had fallen from them, emitting stable spatial fluctuations, fell into his hand.

"Spatial stability crystals?" Nightmare glanced at the silver crystals, feeling the pure spatial solidification power within them.

These things were treasures for ordinary cross-realm Cultivators, capable of assisting in stabilizing channels and resisting turbulence; for him, they were not very useful, but better than nothing; perhaps they would be useful in the future.

He put away the crystals and the rings, did not stop, continued to urge the guixu dao reversal key, the chaotic halo reappeared, wrapping him as he accelerated toward the Spirit Realm.

With the same-frequency fluctuations emitted by these few spatial stability crystals as a reference, his perception of the Spirit Realm's direction became clearer, and his traveling speed increased by a few points.

After an unknown amount of time, the violent and chaotic Spatial Turbulence ahead gradually became sparse and gentle, replaced by a unique spatial texture that was heavier, more viscous, and contained a faint but omnipresent "power of the Heavenly Dao."

The Spirit Realm was almost here!

Nightmare's eyes narrowed slightly, he restrained part of his Reverse Path aura, and lowered the fluctuations of the chaotic halo to the minimum.

The star dao fruit shed a faint light, further shielding his own sense of presence.

Finally, a hazy "boundary membrane" appeared ahead, rippling like water waves.

Outside the boundary membrane was the familiar chaotic Void Realm; inside the boundary membrane, brighter light, richer Spiritual Qi (mixed with the aura of the Heavenly Dao), and the outline of a vast, desolate land with a dark red tone were faintly visible.

The edge area of the Spirit Realm—the Fallen Spirit Wasteland!

Nightmare took a deep breath (although there was no air in the Spatial Turbulence), his figure turned into a very faint chaotic stream of light, and he silently penetrated that tough boundary membrane, officially setting foot on the land of the Spirit Realm!

As his feet touched the ground, Spiritual Qi several times denser than in the Mortal Realm, but carrying a distinct sense of "order" and "restraint," rushed toward him.

The sky was an eternal dark red, like a solidified bloody twilight.

The land was desolate, with only sporadic, strangely shaped dark red plants growing tenaciously.

The air was filled with a faint but omnipresent pressure from the Heavenly Dao; although weak, it was like background noise, constantly reminding the intruder—this place was a place with stricter Heavenly Dao order.

Nightmare looked up at the dark red firmament, then at the faint response from the star dao fruit in his hand, pointing to the "Lingyuan Forbidden Land" in the middle of the Spirit Realm.

"Spirit Realm... I have arrived."

He whispered to himself, and in his pitch-black eyes, there was only cold determination and a trace of eager Battle Intent.

The second dao reversal key was just ahead.

And standing in his way would be the entire Heavenly Dao force of the Spirit Realm.