Mine restoration and cleanup of remaining operations

According to the map's guidance, Nightmare stopped at the edge of a desolate area where the terrain gradually sloped downward and was covered with traces of massive artificial excavation.

Before him lay a boundless 'scarred land'—the deep-sunken earth looked as if it had been gnawed by a giant beast, leaving behind crisscrossing, bottomless mine pits and ravines; abandoned Ore conveyor racks and tracks, like the skeletons of giant beasts, were rusted, broken, and half-buried in the grey-black rock and soil; the air was filled with a thick, dusty smell mixed with various metals and the scent of decay; the Spiritual Qi was thin and turbid, far more barren and lifeless than other parts of the Black Rock Domain.

This was the ruins of the 'Black Rock origin crystal Mine.'

Once, it had been one of the important origin crystal veins of the Black Rock Domain, providing the Domain Lords Mansion with vast wealth and cultivation resources.

But countless years ago, the main vein had completely dried up, and the Domain Lords Mansion had withdrawn most of its personnel and equipment, leaving behind only an unrecoverable mess and a few bottomless mining slaves who had no profit to be squeezed, nowhere to go, and were forced to remain there.

Nightmare restrained his Aura, sliding into the depths of this Abandoned Mine like a shadow.

His target was the mine's former 'Core Refining Area' marked on the map; the buildings there were relatively intact, and perhaps he could find a temporary shelter to calmly digest the thick Origin plundered from the Black Wind Protector.

However, just as he approached an area of dilapidated stone houses—remodeled from abandoned workshops and barely able to provide shelter from the wind and rain—a burst of harsh scolding and whipping sounds reached his ears.

'...Trash! You've been digging for three days, and this is all the scraps you have? You can't even scrape together half a standard crystal! You bunch of trash, living is just a waste of Origin!'

'Mercy, my lord! Mercy! It's really... the mine tailings nearby have been sifted countless times, we really... really can't dig anything out!'

'Still daring to talk back?!'

'Smack! Smack! Smack!'

The sound of the heavy whip striking flesh was exceptionally clear, accompanied by suppressed groans of pain and desperate sobs.

Nightmare hid behind a huge piece of discarded Ore and watched coldly.

In a relatively open depression, about twenty or thirty people were gathered, ragged, emaciated, and with weak Auras.

Most of them were only the lowest-tier Cultivators of the Hongmeng Universe, some without even a formal Realm, just slightly stronger than Mortals.

At this moment, they huddled together like frightened livestock, their eyes filled with numbness and fear.

In the center of the depression stood ten Cultivators wearing armor similar to the previous checkpoint guards, but more dilapidated, and with the same dark red rock markings on their armor.

Their cultivation was all at the Early Stage Elementary Hongmeng Lord Realm, their Auras floating—clearly the kind of bottomless minions who were unwelcome in the Domain Lords Mansion system and had been sent to this godforsaken place to waste away their days—the mining slave Supervisory Team.

Leading them was a one-eyed man, brandishing a black whip flickering with faint runes, fiercely whipping an old mining slave who was kneeling on the ground, trembling.

The old mining slave was tightly clutching a few pieces of low-quality origin crystal fragments, only the size of a fingernail, which were flickering with a faint glimmer.

'Humph! This little bit isn't even enough to fill the gaps in my teeth!' The one-eyed man kicked the old mining slave over, snatched the fragments from his arms, weighed them, looked at them with utter disdain, yet deftly tucked them into his Storage Pouch.

He scanned the surrounding mining slaves, who dared to be angry but dared not speak, and sneered: 'Listen up! You're still far short of this month's management fees and protection fees! If you don't want to die, keep digging! Keep sifting! Keep grabbing! Even if you have to plow this land again, you must scrape together the crystals for me! Otherwise...'

He flicked the whip, producing a sound of breaking air, 'I will drain the Origin of the most useless ones among you and use it to light the mine lamps!'

The other members of the Supervisory Team also let out wild laughter, watching these desperate mining slaves like cats playing with mice.

To them, guarding the mine was a bitter job, but these remaining mining slaves were their only source of profit, which they could squeeze at will to gain meager benefits.

The Domain Lords Mansion had long forgotten this place; as long as they didn't cause too much of a stir and kill all the mining slaves (someone still had to do the work), they were the local tyrants here.

Nightmare watched this scene quietly.

He was not a saint with overflowing compassion; the Universe was cruel, and the weak were prey to the strong—he understood this better than anyone.

The life and death of these mining slaves had nothing to do with him.

Even the actions of this Supervisory Team were not particularly rare in the Hongmeng Universe.

However.

They were blocking his way.

This area was his chosen temporary resting point.

These noisy insects were bullying the weak here, creating noise and chaos, which made him feel... very annoyed.

Moreover, seeing the arrogant faces of these guys reminded him of some not-so-pleasant memories.

Although the nature was different, that kind of bullying the weak and extracting the last bit of value was disgusting.

That was enough.

Nightmare stepped out from behind the discarded Ore where he had been hiding.

He did not deliberately hide his footsteps; the slight sound of stepping on gravel was not obvious amidst the whipping and scolding, but it was like a piece of ice thrown into boiling oil, instantly alerting the Supervisory Team.

'Who is it?!' The one-eyed man turned abruptly, whip held across his chest, his one eye glaring fiercely in the direction Nightmare was walking from.

The other nine supervisory team members also immediately stopped laughing and quickly gathered, looking over vigilantly.

When they saw that the newcomer was just a young man in ordinary clothing with a restrained Aura (which even seemed a bit blurry in their perception), their tension slightly subsided, replaced by annoyance at being disturbed and scrutiny.

'Where did this kid come from? Don't you know this is a restricted mining area under the jurisdiction of the Blackrock Domain Lord's Mansion? Outsiders, get out immediately!' The one-eyed man shouted sternly, habitually putting on official airs.

He couldn't see Nightmare's depth, but the other party was alone and looked unfamiliar, so he assumed he wasn't a powerful character, likely just a Loose Cultivator who had stumbled in.

Nightmare did not answer, nor did he even look at the one-eyed man.

His gaze swept over the mining slaves whose eyes were filled with a trace of numbness and bewilderment, then fell back onto the Supervisory Team, and finally, stopped on the one-eyed man's face.

'You,' Nightmare spoke, his voice flat but carrying a cold texture, 'are very noisy.'

'What?' The one-eyed man was stunned, then immediately flew into a rage. 'You're courting death! Daring to run wild on my territory! Brothers, take him down! Let's see what kind of loot he has!'

The ten members of the Supervisory Team had long been itching for a fight.

Hearing this, they immediately yelled and urged their Origin to pounce forward.

Although their cultivation was not high, their coordination was decent; four people split off from the front, three from the left, and three from the right, launching an attack simultaneously.

The grey-black Origin light wove into a crude but sufficient net to trap an average Cultivator of the same rank.

The mining slaves retreated in terror, huddling together, not understanding what this suddenly appearing stranger wanted to do, but instinctively feeling that another disaster was about to descend.

Facing this seemingly overwhelming siege, Nightmare just raised his right hand and slightly opened his five fingers.

The next moment—

'Boom!'

No warning, no process.

A piece of profound, silent, yet boundless black flame, like the night sky suddenly descending, erupted from Nightmare as the center, instantly covering the entire depression!

Hongmeng Reverse Dao Demonic Star Flame!

This time, the flames did not have the violent momentum of the previous battle; instead, they carried a kind of absolute silence and destruction.

It spread silently, and wherever it passed, light distorted, sound was annihilated, and even the air seemed to be 'burned' into nothingness.

The ferocity on the faces of the ten attacking supervisory team members, the greed in their eyes, and the Origin light on their bodies all froze the moment they touched the black Demonic Flame.

Then, like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser, their bodies, armor, weapons, along with the attacks they launched and their screams, all decomposed and dissipated silently in the Demonic Flame, turning into the most primitive ashes, not even a wisp of blue smoke rising.

From the attack to the end, it took less than a heartbeat.

In the center of the depression, only Nightmare's quietly standing figure remained, along with ten almost imperceptible scorched marks on the ground.

That suffocating black Demonic Flame had already been retracted into his body, as if it had never appeared.

Dead silence.

Absolute dead silence.

Even the sound of the wind seemed to have stopped.

Those mining slaves who were huddled together all froze in place, eyes wide, mouths agape, as if petrified.

They couldn't understand what had just happened.

Those supervisory team members who were like demons in their eyes, whom they couldn't resist, those ten 'lords' of the Dominator Realm, were just... gone? Blown away like dust?

After the extreme fear, there was a deeper sense of emptiness, and... a trace of hope so faint that they could hardly believe it?

Nightmare slowly turned around, his gaze falling on this group of haggard, terrified mining slaves.

His eyes remained cold, without any warmth or pity, only a condescending scrutiny.

'I killed them,' Nightmare spoke, his voice clearly reaching every mining slave's ears, 'only because they were blocking my way and annoyed me.'

He paused, his gaze sweeping over those numb and bewildered faces.

'Now, the road is clean.'

'You,' he pointed his hand at these mining slaves, 'those who want to leave can go now, leave this mine, and go anywhere you want.'

The mining slaves looked at each other, no one dared to move.

Leave? They were already penniless, their Origin exhausted.

Leaving this relatively familiar Abandoned Mine for the vast and dangerous Black Rock Domain outside was equally a desperate situation for them.

'If you want to stay,' Nightmare continued, his tone flat but carrying unquestionable majesty, 'that is also fine. But this place is now under my management.'

'My rules are simple: be obedient, be useful, and you can live. If you are disobedient, useless, or annoy me...'

His gaze turned cold, and although he did not release any Aura, all the mining slaves felt their hearts clench violently.

'...you die.'

Two simple words, like ice picks piercing into the bone marrow, made all the mining slaves completely wake up.

This was not a savior; this was a terrifying existence more powerful, more unfathomable, and acting entirely on his own whims than the Supervisory Team!

After a brief silence and struggle, some of the most timid mining slaves kowtowed to Nightmare a few times, then scrambled and crawled out of the mine, not daring to look back.

Eventually, about fifteen people remained in the depression.

Most of them were relatively younger, and in their eyes, besides fear, there was a trace of unwillingness that had not been completely extinguished, and... awe of powerful strength.

They chose to stay because they had nowhere to go, and also because, in this world where the weak are prey to the strong, attaching themselves to the strong might be the only way to survive.

Nightmare's gaze swept over these fifteen people, his Divine Sense moved slightly, easily seeing through the residual Origin attributes and potential beneath their weak appearance.

Finally, he pointed out five people.

These five people, three men and two women, all had cultivation hovering on the edge of the Early Stage Elementary Hongmeng Lord Realm (though far less solid than regular Cultivators), and their Origin attributes were different, but relatively clearer than the others, and there was still some sharpness left in their eyes, not completely extinguished.

'You five, from today on, obey my orders for the time being.' Nightmare threw them a few pieces of the lowest-quality origin crystal fragments he had obtained from the previous enemies, 'Recover a bit, and then go do something.'

The five accepted the crystal fragments in fear and trepidation, as if they were treasures, and hurriedly bowed: 'Please... please instruct us, my lord!'

'Go and collect detailed intelligence on the Blackrock Domain Lord, as well as the forces under his command.' Nightmare's tone was flat, 'For example, the Origin attributes the Domain Lord Cultivates, possible weaknesses, the whereabouts and habits of the other two Protectors under his command, the deployment patterns of the personal guard... any useful news is fine. Be careful to remain hidden; if you are discovered, you know the consequences.'

The five felt a chill in their hearts and immediately understood the goal of this new master—it was actually the Domain Lord!

But they dared not have any questions and hurriedly agreed: 'Yes! My lord! We will definitely do our best!'

'Go.' Nightmare waved his hand.

The five did not dare to be negligent, each took a bit of the crystal fragments, and after recovering some strength, they quickly dispersed and disappeared into the complex terrain of the mine, starting to execute the first task after obtaining their 'new life.'

Nightmare ignored the remaining mining slaves, his figure flickered, and he arrived at the depths of the mine, the original 'Core Refining Area.'

There was a half-collapsed tower built of solid black rock, although damaged, the structure was relatively complete, and the interior space was spacious and hidden enough.

He entered the bottom floor of the tower, waved his hand to set up several layers of simple concealment and warning Restrictions—laid out with the Dao Reversal Origin, unless the Realm was far higher than his or one was proficient in breaking Restrictions, it would be extremely difficult to detect.

Subsequently, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Inside his body, the process of refining the Black Wind Protector's Origin was nearing its end.

Strands of pure and thick wind-attribute Origin were completely reverse-converted, integrated into his own Dao Reversal Dominator Origin, constantly consolidating his Foundation, pushing his Realm steadily toward the threshold of the Middle Sovereign.

'Blackrock Domain Lord... Middle Sovereign...' Nightmare thought indifferently, 'Once the intelligence is obtained, that will be the time for you to die.'

Outside the tower, the Abandoned Mine returned to dead silence, with only the whistling wind whipping up Ore dust.

But beneath this dead silence, an undercurrent targeting the highest power of the Black Rock Domain had already begun to surge.

Those five selected mining slaves, like pebbles thrown into still water, were quietly rippling in the dark corners of the Black Rock Domain.

Nightmare's temporary base was established here.

And a storm sweeping through the entire Black Rock Elementary Universe Domain had already entered the final brewing stage.