Secret Realm Core

Hearing Nightmare's command, Cheng Yuan dared not show the slightest negligence; suppressing his injuries and fear, he hurriedly took out a compass-shaped Magical Artifact from his bosom.

This Magical Artifact was called the "Evil-Guiding Compass," an auxiliary tool for his cultivation of the "Azure Evil Sword Body," and it was particularly sensitive to pure Evil Qi.

He carefully injected spiritual power into it, and the needle on the Evil-Guiding Compass immediately spun wildly, finally trembling as it pointed toward a direction deep within the Gobi Desert.

"Senior, this way!" Cheng Yuan said respectfully, taking the lead to guide the path.

Nightmare followed expressionlessly, his Divine Sense spreading out like an invisible spider web to the maximum extent, vigilant of everything around him.

This Secret Realm appeared desolate and deathly silent, yet it was filled with eeriness everywhere; those Malevolent Spirit Puppets were by no means the only danger.

Sure enough, after traveling only a few miles, the ground shook again, and several more Malevolent Spirit Puppets drilled out from the sandy ground, roaring as they pounced.

The aura of one of them even reached the Middle Golden Core!

This time, without waiting for Nightmare to act, Cheng Yuan, wanting to prove his value, volunteered: "Senior, these mere Puppets are not worth your effort; this Junior is willing to clear the obstacles for you!"

After saying this, the long sword in his hand glowed with a brilliant azure light, faintly carrying a trace of Evil Qi, and he unleashed his sword technique, engaging those few Puppets in battle.

The other two Qinglin Sect Disciples also hurriedly assisted from the side.

Nightmare was happy to be idle, watching with his hands behind his back while secretly observing Cheng Yuan's Cultivation Technique.

That "Azure Evil Sword Body" seemed capable of absorbing and refining Evil Qi to a certain extent, converting it into attack power, which indeed gave it an advantage in this place.

However, the grade of the Cultivation Technique was clearly not high; it was fine for dealing with Puppets of the same level, but it was stretched thin when encountering stronger ones.

A moment later, Cheng Yuan and the other two managed to resolve those few Puppets in a rather sorry state, each having suffered minor injuries with disordered breathing.

Nightmare still extracted the Evil Soul Crystals, not even glancing at them, and said indifferently: "Continue."

Cheng Yuan dared not complain; he swallowed a Medicinal Pill and once again activated the Evil-Guiding Compass to guide the direction.

The deeper they went, the more dense and pure the Evil Qi in the air became, almost turning into tangible gray-red mist; visibility was greatly reduced, and even his Divine Sense was significantly suppressed.

More huge, dilapidated buildings and strange statues began to appear on the ground, with styles that were ancient and ferocious, not resembling anything created by Righteous Path Cultivators.

The Malevolent Spirit Puppets encountered also became more numerous and stronger.

Even some Baleful Beasts formed by pure Evil Qi began to appear; they had indefinite forms, were fierce and fearless, and were extremely difficult to deal with.

Cheng Yuan and the other two were soon covered in wounds, their magic power greatly depleted, and it was only because Nightmare occasionally stepped in to instantly kill the strongest Puppets that they were able to continue moving forward.

Finally, after resolving another wave of attacks led by a Late Golden Core Stage Puppet, the scene ahead suddenly changed.

A huge, sunken basin appeared before their eyes.

In the center of the basin, it was not the Yin Vein spring eye they had imagined, but a relatively well-preserved black altar!

The altar was cast entirely from an unknown black metal, covered in mottled marks and complex runes.

On the body of the altar, nine huge black metal chains were coiled; each chain was pulled taut, deeply embedded into the ground around the basin, as if imprisoning something.

And that force of the Earthly Evil Yin Vein, pure to the extreme, was seeping out continuously from the bottom of the altar, permeating the entire basin!

What was even more alarming was that around the altar, ten lifelike dried corpses were sitting cross-legged!

These dried corpses were wearing ancient and tattered robes, their skin shriveled and stuck to their bones, yet they still maintained the posture of forming hand Seals, their facial expressions twisted, as if they had experienced great pain before death.

Powerful energy fluctuations emanated from their bodies; they all maintained the level of the Golden Core Stage, and three of them even reached the Late Golden Core Stage!

They were not Malevolent Spirit Puppets, but the real corpses of Cultivators, soaked in the dense Evil Qi of this place for ten thousand years, transforming into another kind of terrifying existence—Baleful Corpses!

"Nine... Nine Nether Evil-Locking Altar?!" Cheng Yuan saw the altar and seemed to recognize something, exclaiming out loud with an expression of extreme fear on his face, "The ancient altar legendarily used to Seal extremely evil Devil Heads or supreme evil objects! These Seniors... were the altar guardians who passed away here back then; they have actually turned into Baleful Corpses!"

His voice was filled with despair.

A single Late Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpse would be enough to wipe them all out, and there were three here, along with seven Early or Middle Golden Core Stage ones!

The three Qinglin Sect Disciples were even more pale, their legs weak.

Nightmare's gaze, however, passed over those terrifying Baleful Corpses and landed in the center of the altar.

Something seemed to be enshrined there, shrouded by dense Evil Qi, making it unclear, but it emitted an attraction that made even his Demonic Essence Nascent Soul palpitate.

【Ding! Secret Realm core "Nine Nether Evil-Locking Altar" discovered. High concentration of Earthly Evil Origin and unknown evil energy source detected.】

【Hidden quest triggered: Seize the Altar Core!】

【Quest objective: Break through the Baleful Corpse guards and seize the "Earthly Evil Source Core" or other core items in the center of the altar.】

【Quest reward: Dependent on the value of the seized item; minimum reward is one Earth Rank Medium Grade Cultivation Technique/Divine Ability and 10,000 Villain Points. Maximum reward is unknown.】

【Warning: Baleful Corpses possess immortal characteristics and Evil Qi attacks; extremely dangerous! It is advised that the Host act with caution!】

The System's prompt tone was unprecedentedly solemn.

Nightmare narrowed his eyes, quickly weighing the options in his heart.

The risk was huge, but the reward was also extremely tempting.

The Earthly Evil Source Core might have limited use for him, but that unknown evil energy source caused both the Myriad Poison Demonic Scripture and the Xiangliu Poison within his body to react.

It was worth a gamble!

Just as Nightmare was contemplating a countermeasure, one of the Early Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpses around the altar seemed to be startled by the aura of living people, abruptly opening its hollow eyes, with two clusters of scarlet Evil Fire leaping within its eye sockets!

"Hrr..." It let out a hoarse, inhuman roar, its stiff neck slowly turning to lock onto Cheng Yuan and the other two!

It was as if it were a signal!

Immediately following, the second, the third... all ten Baleful Corpses opened their scarlet Evil Fire eyes one after another, their cold and deathly gazes all focusing over!

The terrifying pressure of Evil Qi rushed toward them like a tangible tsunami!

"It's over..." Cheng Yuan's face was ashen, muttering to himself.

The three Qinglin Sect Disciples were so scared that their souls flew away and spirits scattered, turning around to run away!

"Stay where you are and form a defensive formation!" Nightmare's cold voice exploded in their ears like thunder, carrying an unquestionable tone of command.

Run away? In this environment, exposing one's back to ten Baleful Corpses would mean dying even faster!

Cheng Yuan shuddered, his desire to survive overcoming his fear, and he hurriedly roared: "Listen to Senior! Form the Three Talents Origin-Guarding Formation!"

The three stood back-to-back, desperately driving their remaining magic power to prop up a tottering azure light shield.

And Nightmare took a step forward, actively moving to meet those ten Baleful Corpses that were slowly standing up!

He took a deep breath, and the dense Evil Qi in the basin was swallowed into his belly like a whale drinking water, the "Myriad Poison Demonic Scripture" running madly to refine it!

Although it was not as smooth as Devilish Qi, it could still be briefly converted into massive Demonic Essence!

Facing such strong enemies, he dared not hold anything back!

The first to pounce was an Early Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpse, its sharp claws carrying a yin wind that could tear apart a Divine Soul, grabbing toward Nightmare's face!

Nightmare did not dodge or avoid, demonic light flashing in his eyes; his right hand turned into a claw, striking after but arriving first, reaching out like lightning!

It was not the "Soul Shattering Finger," but an idea that had just sprouted in his mind—combining the devouring characteristic of the "Myriad Poison Demonic Scripture" with the destruction power of the "Soul Shattering Finger," melting them into a claw technique!

"Nether Evil Claw!"

Screech!

Nightmare's claw was covered with a layer of dense gray-black Demonic Essence, the space at the edges slightly distorted; it arrived before the attack hit, directly grabbing the Baleful Corpse's wrist!

A teeth-aching corrosive sound rang out!

That Baleful Corpse's dried arm, as tough as a Magical Artifact, was easily crushed like rotten wood under Nightmare's demonic claw!

The dead silence Evil Qi contained within it was instantly swallowed and converted!

Nightmare took advantage of the momentum to pull, directly pulling the Baleful Corpse into a stagger, and his left finger pointed out like lightning!

Thwip!

The "Soul Shattering Finger" accurately and unerringly pointed into its eye socket, annihilating that cluster of scarlet Evil Fire!

The first Baleful Corpse instantly disintegrated into a pile of fly ash!

【Ding! Killed Early Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpse *1, obtained +800 Villain Points. (Due to environmental bonus)】

Nightmare's spirit was lifted! It was effective! The weakness of these Baleful Corpses was still the Evil Fire core, and his Demonic Technique happened to be able to restrain and even devour their Evil Qi!

But there was no time for him to catch his breath; the other two Middle Golden Core and three Early Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpses had already pounced at the same time!

Evil Qi rolled, sharp claws cutting through the air!

Nightmare let out a long howl, the "Demonic Shadow Evasion Technique" pushed to the limit, his figure flashing and moving within the narrow space like a ghost, the "Nether Evil Claw" and "Soul Shattering Finger" used alternately; every time he struck, a Baleful Corpse would be heavily injured or defeated!

The gray-black demonic shadow and the scarlet Baleful Corpses collided wildly, erupting with continuous roars!

The dissipating Evil Qi and Demonic Essence lifted the gravel on the ground in layers!

Cheng Yuan and the other two watched in a daze, their hearts and minds shaken beyond measure!

They had never seen such a powerful and bizarre way of fighting!

That mysterious Senior was actually fighting the group of corpses alone with his own strength, even faintly gaining the upper hand!

However, the good times did not last long.

The three Late Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpses that had remained unmoved finally moved!

They did not pounce directly but simultaneously raised their dried arms, forming the same ancient hand Seal!

Hum—!

The Evil Qi in the entire basin instantly boiled! The runes on the altar suddenly lit up!

Three black chains condensed from the purest Earthly Evil Qi, like poisonous dragons emerging from a cave, shot out from the hands of those three Late Stage Baleful Corpses, ignoring spatial distance, and instantly wrapped around Nightmare's body!

As the chains touched his body, Nightmare immediately felt as if he were being pressed down by three huge mountains, his movements suddenly becoming incomparably sluggish!

What was even more terrifying was that a horrifying devouring force came from the chains, madly extracting his Demonic Essence and vitality!

"Not good!" Nightmare's expression changed slightly; he used all his strength to circulate his Demonic Essence to resist, but he found it difficult to break free for a moment!

And just at this moment, the remaining Early and Middle Golden Core Stage Baleful Corpses took the opportunity to pounce wildly, their sharp claws grabbing fiercely toward the temporarily imprisoned Nightmare!

A moment of crisis!