Desert cleanup enrages the divine court.

Deep within the Black Wind Desert, a temporary stronghold of the Reverse Path.

Calling it a stronghold was a stretch; it was actually just a temporary cave excavated inside a relatively stable, small, dead planet. The planet's surface was covered in thick black dust, which effectively blocked most conventional detection. The internal cave, reinforced with simple Formations and calcined with Demonic Flame, barely qualified as a foothold.

At this moment, inside the 'command room' at the center of the stronghold, a three-dimensional star chart constructed from spiritual energy hovered in mid-air. The main body of the star chart was a detailed local map of the Black Wind Desert, drawn by combining maps obtained from the Divine Court's intelligence station with preliminary reconnaissance from the past few days. It clearly marked five small outposts twinkling with pale golden light, three resource collection points marked with pickaxe symbols, and two patrol stations marked with crossed sword symbols.

These were all the overt forces deployed by the Hongmeng Divine Court in this 'edge of the edge' region of the Black Wind Desert.

Standing before the star chart were Nightmare, Blood Fang, and several elites of the Nidao Vanguard Army who had been promoted to squad leaders.

"Everyone, look clearly." Nightmare's voice echoed in the crude stone room, cold and clear. "Five outposts, scattered, acting as mutual support points; they are the eyes and ears, the early warning outposts of the Divine Court. Each outpost is garrisoned by about five to eight Cultivators, mostly led by those at the Early Stage of the Celestial Venerable Realm, with the rest at the Peak of the Dao Master Realm."

His fingertip pointed to the three resource collection points: "These are the lackeys the Divine Court uses to scrape resources here. They mostly mine local specialties like 'Black Evil Profound Crystals' and 'Grandmist Dust Gold,' which aren't worth much, but even a mosquito's leg has meat. Each site has slightly stronger garrison forces than the outposts, about ten people, with at least two at the Early Stage of the Celestial Venerable Realm sitting in charge."

Finally, he pointed to the two patrol stations: "These are the Divine Court's mobile forces here, responsible for regular patrols and support. Each has about twenty permanent personnel, led by a Cultivator at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Venerable Realm, with several Early Stage Celestial Venerable Realm Cultivators and over a dozen Peak Dao Master Realm Cultivators under their command. They are the forces we need to be most wary of before we completely clear this place."

Nightmare's gaze swept over the group: "Our goal is to uproot all these Divine Court forces using thunderous means in the shortest possible time. Leave no one behind."

"Alliance Leader, should we split our forces to act simultaneously? That would be the most efficient." A squad leader suggested.

Nightmare shook his head: "No. We are new here, and our practical adaptation to the desert environment and specific combat tactics against Divine Court Cultivators are not yet sufficient. Splitting forces is prone to variables; if one place cannot be resolved quickly, drawing support from patrol teams or other outposts would cause trouble."

He pointed to the star chart: "Concentrate our forces and eliminate them one by one. The order will start with this outpost on the outermost edge, which is relatively isolated."

His fingertip landed on a light point located on the northwest edge of the desert, about three million miles from their current position.

"Blood Fang, you take a team of thirty, ride a small assault ship to approach first, and be responsible for cutting off any possibility of external communication and early warning. I will follow with the main force. Remember, be fast, be ruthless, leave no survivors, and absolutely do not let them send any effective warnings."

"Understood!" A fierce glint flashed in Blood Fang's eyes as he bowed and accepted the order.

"The rest of you, check your equipment and adjust your state. We depart in an hour."

...

Black Wind Desert, northwest edge, "Gui-character 79 Outpost".

This outpost was built on a fragmented meteorite less than a hundred miles in diameter. The surface of the meteorite had been modified, with several low metal towers standing on it, from which faint spatial detection ripples emanated. Five Cultivators wearing simplified gray Divine Court uniforms were idling in the largest tower. The leader was a middle-aged Cultivator with a sinister face and a goatee, at the Early Stage of the Celestial Venerable Realm, fiddling with a monitoring Formation Plate. The other four, all at the Peak of the Dao Master Realm, were either meditating or watching the eternally chaotic stardust outside through the observation window.

"Damn, this ghost place is desolate, even a decent star beast is rarely seen." A Dao Master Realm Cultivator complained, "They said a rotation every three years, but it's been three years and two months, and we haven't even seen a shadow of a replacement."

"Cut the crap and just stay put. If something goes wrong and the higher-ups blame us, we'll all have to report to the 'Soul Devouring Mining Star'." The goateed Cultivator glared at him, but a trace of irritation flashed in his eyes too. Being exiled to such an edge outpost basically meant having no background or future within the Divine Court, only wasting time here, occasionally reporting some insignificant "abnormal fluctuations" to earn meager merit points.

Just then, on the monitoring Formation Plate, a rune representing spatial stability on the edge flickered extremely faintly, then recovered.

"Hmm?" The goateed Cultivator frowned and looked closely, but the rune showed no further anomalies. "Another damn Grandmist turbulence interference?" He muttered, not paying much attention. This kind of interference was too common in the Black Wind Desert.

He didn't know that just at that moment, a shuttle-shaped assault ship, painted with special wave-absorbing Materials and almost blending into the background starry sky, had quietly approached the back of the meteorite where the outpost was located. The ship's belly opened, and thirty figures, agile as civets, utilized the uneven surface of the meteorite and the chaotic energy field for cover, dispersing silently, holding interference and cracking devices specifically targeting Formation nodes.

"Communication Formation node locked, three people in position."

"Early warning rune array core found, five people surrounding it."

"Outer perimeter defense Formation eye controlled, can be paralyzed at any time."

Brief reports were transmitted into Blood Fang's mind via encrypted Divine Thought.

Blood Fang was hiding in the shadow of a crack in the meteorite, licked his somewhat dry lips, and a bloodthirsty light flashed in his eyes. He replied with only one word into the communication Jade Talisman in his hand:

"Move."

The next instant—

Thirty Nidao Vanguard Army elites struck simultaneously! The interference Formations that had already been set up were activated instantly, completely cutting off the weak connection between the interior of the outpost and the outside world! Targeted Formation-breaking tools precisely stabbed into various Formation nodes, and violent Reverse Path energy poured in, collapsing those already old and poorly maintained Formations from the inside!

Inside the tower, the monitoring Formation Plate in the goateed Cultivator's hand suddenly flashed wildly, then with a "puff" sound, emitted a puff of blue smoke and was completely scrapped! At the same time, all the lighting runes and communication magic arrays in the tower dimmed and extinguished simultaneously!

"Enemy attack?!" The goateed Cultivator reacted quickly, instantly springing up, his Celestial Venerable Realm aura erupting, and a silver Flying Sword was already in his hand.

However, it was too late.

The heavy alloy door of the tower was blasted away from the outside by an incredibly brutal force! A burly figure clad in heavy armor and holding a jagged war blade rushed in like a demon god; it was none other than Blood Fang!

"Kill!" Blood Fang roared, not giving the other side any chance to talk, the war blade brought a shrill sound of breaking air as it slashed directly at the goateed Cultivator's face!

The goateed Cultivator was furious and alarmed, blocking with his Flying Sword while screaming: "Activate self-destruction! Call for help from the patrol station..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

Because on Blood Fang's war blade, a layer of dark red flames with a rich, bloody, and chaotic aura suddenly rose! This was the "Blood Evil Reverse Fire" that Blood Fang had practiced by combining his own Blood Evil Path after initially fusing the Reverse Path Legacy fragments bestowed by Nightmare!

Clang!

The Flying Sword collided with the war blade, the silver Flying Sword let out a whimper, and its spiritual light instantly dimmed! The Blood Evil Reverse Fire spread like maggots on a tarsal bone, crazily eroding the goateed Cultivator's arm and Origin!

"Ah!" The goateed Cultivator screamed and retreated violently.

But Blood Fang did not forgive him, stepped forward, and the war blade swept across! The other four Peak Dao Master Realm Cultivators had just offered up their Magic Treasures when they were swept by this sharp, unparalleled blade; their protective divine light shattered like paper, and their Physical Bodies instantly carbonized and disintegrated in the Blood Evil Reverse Fire!

Despair flashed in the goateed Cultivator's eyes, he frantically urged his Origin to self-destruct, only to find that the strange fire that had invaded his body actually made his Origin operation sluggish!

Puchi!

Blood Fang's war blade pierced his heart without any resistance, the tip of the blade protruding from his back.

"You... who are you..." The goateed Cultivator stared fixedly at Blood Fang, his vitality rapidly fading.

"The people who are here to take your life." Blood Fang coldly pulled out the blade and shook off the blood flame on it. The goateed Cultivator's corpse fell softly to the ground.

From the start to the end, it took less than ten breaths. Five Divine Court Cultivators, all wiped out.

"Clean up the scene, check for any omissions, and take everything of value." Blood Fang ordered, then messaged Nightmare: "Gui-character 79 Outpost, cleared."

...

Over the next few days, in the Black Wind Desert, similar scenes played out one after another at the other four outposts and three resource collection points.

Nightmare led his main force like a precise and cold scalpel, following a set sequence, using overwhelming power and lightning speed to uproot these Divine Court peripheral outposts one by one.

Each operation was carried out with Blood Fang's elite squad responsible for initial infiltration and disabling early warnings, while Nightmare personally sat in command.

Once slightly stronger resistance was encountered (such as a Guest Elder at the Celestial Venerable Realm Middle Stage hidden at a resource point), he would strike directly, using the absolute power of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm, combined with his increasingly proficient Hongmeng Chaos Nirvana Anti-Dao Demon Star Flame, to instantly kill and devour them.

The battles were clean and swift, leaving no survivors and letting no news escape.

The plundered resources—mainly the origin crystal unique to the High Universe Domain and some rare minerals—were continuously sent back to the temporary base.

The Nidao Vanguard Army also grew rapidly in actual combat, gradually adapting to the battle rhythm and energy environment of the High Universe Domain, their coordination becoming increasingly tacit, and their awe and loyalty to Nightmare reaching new heights.

Until they cleared the last target—near the 'Jia-36 Patrol Station' located in the southeast of the desert, close to a large area of Grandmist turbulence—they accidentally encountered a Divine Court patrol team performing routine patrol duties.

This patrol team was not small in scale, led by a Celestial Venerable Realm Middle Stage Cultivator with a composed aura and eyes as sharp as a falcon, commanding twenty Celestial Venerable Realm Early Stage Cultivators!

They were riding a medium-sized patrol ship, having just sailed out from the edge of a turbulent zone, and happened to run into the main force of the Nidao Vanguard Army, which was approaching the patrol station and in a state of concealment.

Although the Nidao Vanguard Army strengthened their concealment immediately, the leading Celestial Venerable Realm Middle Stage Cultivator had extremely keen perception and immediately detected the abnormal energy disturbance.

'There is an unknown concealment field ahead! Alert!' the falcon-eyed Cultivator shouted sternly.

The patrol ship instantly entered combat state, and all the Cultivators flew out, forming a battle Formation.

Seeing that their whereabouts were exposed, Nightmare no longer hid.

'Since we've run into them, let's just finish them off together.' His cold voice rang out in his own camp.

The next moment, Nightmare's figure appeared directly in the void between the two sides.

He did not even give the falcon-eyed Cultivator a chance to ask questions.

With a thought, the terrifying pressure that had already reached the Early Stage of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm, mixed with the cold and dead silence of the Dao Reversal Ultimate Kill Domain, crashed down upon the twenty-one Divine Court Cultivators like an invisible tsunami!

'Hunyuan... Hunyuan Celestial Venerable?!' The falcon-eyed Cultivator's face turned as pale as paper instantly, his eyes filled with unbelievable terror!

He had been patrolling this edge for over a hundred years, and the strongest person he had ever seen was the deputy commander at the branch who was at the Early Stage of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm!

The black-clad youth in front of him, who looked excessively young, was emitting an aura of the same level, or even more dangerous and strange!

He wanted to flee, to send the highest level of alert, but under that terrifying Domain pressure, he felt his Divine Soul trembling, and his movements were more than a beat slow!

'Annihilate.' Nightmare only spat out one word, his right hand making a faint grasping motion toward the patrol team.

Twenty-one threads of 'Demonic Flame' as thin as hair and pitch-black as ink emerged silently from the void, precisely sinking into the center of the eyebrows of every Divine Court Cultivator—including the falcon-eyed Cultivator at the Celestial Venerable Realm Middle Stage.

They couldn't even let out a scream.

Twenty-one figures, as if pressed by a pause button, immediately turned into fly ash from the inside out, silently drifting in the cold desert starry sky.

Along with the medium-sized patrol ship, it was also swept by a wisp of overflowing Demonic Flame, and the ship's body quickly rusted, collapsed, and annihilated.

The battle ended as soon as it began.

Nightmare raised his hand and collected the remaining storage artifacts and identity tokens of the falcon-eyed Cultivator and others.

'Speed up and clear out the last patrol station.' He ordered indifferently, as if he had just casually cleaned up a few bugs blocking his way.

'Yes!' The Nidao Vanguard Army behind him replied in unison, their morale soaring.

However, neither Nightmare nor the Vanguard Army noticed, or rather, with their current means, they could not detect—at the moment before the patrol ship was completely annihilated, a highly secretive sub-communication talisman bound to the Divine Soul deep within the ship's body was triggered by the instantaneous death of the subject (the falcon-eyed Cultivator), sending an extremely short death signal and the final coordinates, which could hardly be intercepted by conventional means, to the far reaches beyond the Black Wind Desert...

Beyond the Black Wind Desert was the 'Black Wind Branch,' which belonged to the 73rd District of the eastern edge of the Hongmeng Divine Court.

The branch was built on a 'Black Wind Star' that had been transformed and had a relatively stable environment.

At this moment, in the 'Alarm Hall' at the core of the branch, a soul tablet representing the 'Jia-36 Patrol Team' suddenly shattered!

Immediately after, a Jade Slip next to it, which recorded the patrol team's final coordinates and a short death trigger signal, lit up with a dazzling red light!

The on-duty Cultivator shuddered and scrambled toward the main hall.

Soon after, the entire Black Wind Branch was shrouded in a repressed and violent rage.

In the branch main hall, sitting at the head was a middle-aged man with a cold face and eyes like a viper; he was the commander of the Black Wind Branch—Chu Li, who was at the Middle Stage of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm.

He held the Jade Slip that was glowing red, his face so gloomy that it was almost dripping water.

Below, several deputy commanders and deacons at the Early Stage of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm, as well as dozens of backbone members at the Peak of the Celestial Venerable Realm, dared not even breathe loudly.

'Gui-79 Outpost, Ren-14 Resource Point, Yi-55 Outpost... plus the current Jia-36 Patrol Team!' Chu Li's voice was like ice from the Nine Netherworlds, enunciating every word, 'In just seven days! All the overt outposts and patrol teams established by my Black Wind Branch in the Black Wind Desert have lost contact and have all been wiped out!'

He slammed the Jade Slip on the ground, and it shattered upon impact.

'Who did it?! Who has such guts to dare to attack the outposts of my Hongmeng Divine Court in the High Universe Domain?! Is it those scums from the 'Star Pirate Alliance'? Or the remnants of the 'Chaos City'?'

A deacon in charge of intelligence bit the bullet and stepped forward: 'Reporting to the commander, according to the vague information transmitted back and scattered reports from other channels in recent days, it seems... not any resistance force we are familiar with. The style of action is extremely ruthless and decisive, leaving no survivors, and... is suspected to have at least the combat power of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm.'

'Hunyuan Celestial Venerable?' Cold light exploded in Chu Li's eyes, 'Which Hunyuan Celestial Venerable would be bored enough to run to a backwater place like the Black Wind Desert and specifically target the scraps of my Divine Court? Unless...'

He thought of a possibility, and his face became even uglier: 'Unless it's some greenhorn from the 'Lower Realm'! Knowing nothing about the heights of heaven and earth, thinking that just by luckily breaking through to Hunyuan, they can provoke the majesty of the Divine Court?'

Although this guess was outrageous, combined with the fact that all outposts were uprooted in a short time with an overwhelming posture, it was actually somewhat possible.

Because only 'newcomers' who lack knowledge of the rules of the High Universe Domain and the terror of the Divine Court could do such reckless and efficient things.

'No matter who it is!' Chu Li stood up abruptly, his pressure as a Middle Stage Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm Cultivator released without reservation, enveloping the entire hall, 'Daring to slaughter Divine Court Cultivators is a capital crime! Pass on my order!'

'The first, second, and third elite brigades of the Black Wind Branch, assemble! Led personally by Deputy Commander Huo Gang!'

He looked at a fierce-looking strong man below with a hideous scar on his face; he was the deputy commander Huo Gang, who was at the Early Stage of the Hunyuan Celestial Venerable Realm.

'Huo Gang, I will give you fifty Celestial Venerable Realm Early Stage Cultivators and twenty Celestial Venerable Realm Middle Stage Cultivators! Get to the Black Wind Desert with the fastest speed! Find that bunch of scums who don't know death from life!'

'I want you to bring them all back—regardless of whether they are masterminds or accomplices! This commander wants to personally extract their souls and refine their spirits, and hang them outside the branch star gate to warn all the idiots who dare to provoke the Divine Court!'

A cruel and excited light flashed in Huo Gang's eyes, and he cupped his hands and sneered: 'Commander, rest assured! This subordinate will definitely root them out, leaving no one alive!'

Soon, on the 'Black Wind Star' where the Black Wind Branch was located, dozens of powerful auras soared into the sky.

Led by Huo Gang, they formed a battle Formation, turning into a vast stream of light, and rushed toward the direction of the Black Wind Desert, full of Killing Intent!

The Divine Court's anger had been ignited.

Deep in the desert, Nightmare, who had just completely cleared the last patrol station and formally brought the Black Wind Desert under his control, was standing on top of the sturdy fortress that he had newly occupied, which originally belonged to the Divine Court patrol station, looking out at the deep starry sky beyond the desert.

The Reverse Path Stele mark on the back of his hand was slightly warm.

As if sensing the coming, even more violent storm.