An old friend is coming

Nascent Soul Stage! These three words exploded in Nightmare's mind like a thunderclap!

His current state was extremely poor; his Realm was unstable, his Demonic Essence was severely depleted, and both his Physical Body and Divine Soul were heavily injured. Let alone a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, even a Peak Golden Core Stage Cultivator would be difficult for him to handle!

Ten breaths! Only ten breaths of time! Escape! He must escape immediately!

A trace of determination flashed in Nightmare's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he instantly made the most correct choice!

He turned his head abruptly, his cold gaze sweeping over Cheng Yuan and the other two. These three had witnessed him seizing the Secret Realm core; they absolutely could not be left alive!

Cheng Yuan and his companions had just recovered from the relief of escaping death when they met Nightmare's emotionless eyes, and instantly felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar!

"Senior... spare..."

Before the plea for mercy could be uttered, Nightmare brought his fingers together like lightning, and three condensed forces of the Soul Shattering Finger had already shot through the air!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

A tiny bloody hole appeared on the center of each of their brows simultaneously. The light in their eyes instantly froze, filled with endless terror and bewilderment, before they collapsed softly to the ground, their life force instantly extinguished.

[Ding! Killed 3 Golden Core Cultivators, gained Villain Points +1500.] [Current Villain Points: 41000.]

The System's notification sound was cold and ruthless.

Nightmare didn't even look at their corpses. With a wave of his hand, demonic fire surged, burning the three corpses along with any traces into ashes.

At the same time, he took out the "void evasion talisman" he had just exchanged for not long ago, which hadn't even had time to warm up yet, without the slightest hesitation!

The terrifying Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had already descended like a net, locking onto this area! Space began to fluctuate violently, and a blurry figure radiating suffocating pressure was forcibly tearing through space, about to descend!

There was no time! Nightmare slammed his Demonic Essence into the silver Talisman in his hand!

Hum—! The void evasion talisman instantly erupted with dazzling silver light, and countless complex spatial runes lit up, violently twisting the space around him!

"Junior! Stay!"

An aged and majestic roar seemed to come from across space. A giant palm condensed from pure spiritual power, blotting out the sky, reached out from the not-yet-fully-formed spatial passage, fiercely grabbing towards Nightmare!

But, it was one step too late! Just at the moment the giant palm was about to close!

The silver light flashed violently, Nightmare's figure became completely blurred, as if melting into the Void Realm, and in the next instant, he completely disappeared! Only a slowly calming spatial ripple remained in place!

The giant spiritual palm grabbed at empty air and slammed fiercely into the valley! Rumble!!!

The earth shook and the mountains swayed! The entire valley, along with several surrounding peaks, collapsed instantly under this palm strike, turning into powder! A bottomless, giant palm print appeared on the earth, with dust rising to the sky!

A terrifying spiritual power storm raged, manifesting the monstrous fury of the newcomer!

The spatial passage finally stabilized, and an old man wearing a dark blue Daoist robe, with a gaunt face but eyes as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice, stepped out from it.

The old man's Divine Sense swept across a hundred miles in an instant like a storm, but he could no longer perceive even the slightest aura of the person who had taken the Secret Realm core!

"A void evasion talisman?!" The old man's expression became extremely ugly, a flash of shock and heartache in his eyes. "To actually have such a life-saving item! Just what kind of sacred figure is this, to be able to escape from under the nose of me, Profound Yin Ancestor?!"

He looked gloomily towards the direction of the now-vanished Secret Realm entrance, then looked at the giant palm print on the ground and the spot where Nightmare had last disappeared. He pinched his fingers to calculate, but only felt that the heavenly secrets were in complete Chaos, as if deliberately interfered with by some force.

"Hmph! No matter who you are, daring to touch the Earth Fiend Origin Core that I, Profound Yin Ancestor, have been eyeing for over a hundred years—even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I will surely drag you out and extract your soul to refine it!" The old man let out an unwilling roar that shook the surroundings. In the end, he could only flick his sleeves sullenly, tear through space again, and disappear.

Meanwhile, countless miles away. At the southernmost tip of the Southern Wasteland Demon Domain, above a stretch of rarely visited primeval jungle.

A certain spot in space rippled violently like water waves, then a silver light flashed, and a figure, as if forcibly squeezed out, fell out in a sorry state, smashing heavily towards the dense forest below!

Snap! Boom! The figure broke through dozens of thick branches in succession, finally smashing heavily onto the ground with a muffled thud, sending fallen leaves and dust flying into the sky.

It was Nightmare, who had escaped death by relying on the void evasion talisman!

"Puff—" Nightmare struggled to sit up, suddenly spitting out a large mouthful of stagnant blood. His face was pale as paper, and his aura was withered to the extreme.

The pressure of traveling through the Void Realm was far beyond his imagination, and coupled with the fact that his injuries were already not light, this was adding frost to snow. His Meridians were torn in many places, the light of his Demonic Golden Core was dim, and it felt as if he would fall from his Realm at any moment.

He endured the intense pain and dizziness, and struggled to scan his surroundings with his Divine Sense.

This was a completely unfamiliar primeval jungle, with ancient trees towering into the sky and vines like Dragons. The air was filled with Demonic Qi so thick it couldn't be dispersed, along with a more ancient and desolate aura. In the distance, mountains rolled, and there was no sign of human habitation.

"Finally... escaped..." Nightmare let out a sigh of relief, his tense nerves relaxing slightly, followed immediately by endless exhaustion and intense pain.

The terrifying pressure of that Nascent Soul Cultivator—Profound Yin Ancestor—still left him with lingering fear. If he hadn't decisively used the void evasion talisman, he would have already been utterly destroyed, body and soul, by now.

He quickly checked his own condition, his brows furrowed tightly. His injuries were even more severe than expected, and the danger of falling from his Realm had not been resolved.

He immediately took out all his healing Medicinal Pills and the remaining top-grade Demonic Essence Pills from the System space, swallowed them all at once, and then barely managed to find a hidden tree hollow. He set up a few simple concealment Restrictions and began to circulate his energy to heal with all his might.

The Myriad Poison Demonic Scripture circulated slowly, refining the medicinal power and nourishing his damaged Meridians and Golden Core. Although the Demonic Qi here was manic, its energy level was extremely high, and he forcibly extracted and refined it bit by bit.

Time passed slowly while he healed. After an unknown amount of time, Nightmare opened his eyes again. Although his face was still pale, his aura had finally stabilized, and his Realm was barely solidified at the Late Golden Core Stage. However, to fully recover, he would still need time and a large amount of energy.

Only then did he have the opportunity to carefully recall his previous experience. That Mysterious Black Stone... what on earth was it? Its devouring power was so terrifying and overbearing that even his Myriad Poison Demonic Body and Xiangliu Poison could barely suppress it. Moreover, the System seemed to have reacted to it...

With a thought, he tried to communicate with the System space to perceive the black stone. The black stone floated quietly within the System space, isolated and suppressed by an invisible System force, no longer emitting devouring power. It looked just like an ordinary black stone, completely unremarkable.

[Item: ??? (Unparsed)] [Description: Contains unknown high-dimensional energy Origin, possesses extremely strong devouring and assimilation characteristics, extremely dangerous. The System is accelerating the analysis; it is estimated that a large amount of Villain Points or special energy is required to activate further information.]

Even the System couldn't immediately identify it? Nightmare was even more astonished. The Origin of this thing was likely shockingly great.

He looked again at the Earth Fiend Origin Core. This thing was much more normal, constantly emitting pure Earth Fiend Qi, which could be used to Cultivate certain special Divine Abilities or refine Magic Treasures.

Finally, his gaze fell upon that Earth Rank High Grade Divine Ability, "World Devouring Demonic Vine". His Divine Sense sank into it, and countless profound pieces of information flooded into his mind.

"World Devouring Demonic Vine" was not a simple wood-attribute Divine Ability, but an extremely eerie and powerful Demonic Path secret technique. Upon reaching Major Achievement, one could condense a demonic vine seed within the body. The released demonic vine could not only devour the enemy's flesh, Primordial Spirit, spiritual power, and Demonic Qi, but could even briefly devour space, Formations, and Restrictions! It had extremely high growth potential and infinite power!

"It's just right for me!" A sharp light flashed in Nightmare's eyes. This Divine Ability had a certain degree of compatibility with the characteristics of the Myriad Poison Demonic Body, the Xiangliu Poison, and even the Mysterious Black Stone!

He couldn't wait to start comprehending it.

Just as Nightmare was immersed in healing and comprehending the Divine Ability, he did not notice, or rather, in his current state, he was completely unable to notice—far away, at the edge of the horizon.

A faint "cyan stream of light", almost blending into the clouds, was heading straight towards the primeval jungle where he was, moving at a speed that seemed slow but was actually covering a thousand miles in an instant.

Within the stream of light, a graceful figure was vaguely visible, with dark hair like a waterfall, clothes fluttering, and her whole body radiating a kind of natural, harmonious, yet unfathomable Dao charm.

Her direction did not seem to be an intentional pursuit, but more like some kind of predestined... "attraction".

[Warning! Detected special destiny fluctuation approaching! Analyzing fluctuation characteristics...] [Analysis result: Match rate 97%... Suspected "old acquaintance"...] [Suggestion: Conceal! Conceal immediately!]

The System's warning sound suddenly rang out again, but this time, it carried an unprecedented urgency and... a hint of indescribable gravity?

Nightmare suddenly woke up from his comprehension, his face instantly turning incomparably ugly. An old acquaintance?! At this time, in this place, someone who could be called an old acquaintance, and could make the System issue such a warning...

A cold, ethereal figure carrying an ancient zither instantly appeared in his mind. Could it be her?! How could she have come here?!