Inside Room 301, Huang Tian sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, quietly refining the spiritual qi accumulated within his body.
*Whoosh—*
Vigorous vitality surged ceaselessly through his meridians, and spiritual qi rolled like a vast river, coursing through complete heavenly circuits across his entire frame.
*Hum—*
After an unknown stretch of time, a sliver of light bloomed from his flesh. Faint and misty at first, it soon turned distinct, circulating across his skin with a translucent white radiance.
The light tinted everything around him, until the entire room seemed filled with a pool of tranquil, flowing moonlight.
Suddenly, a diminutive figure roughly three chi tall, draped in a misty immortal robe, leaped forth from his body. With a single stride, it cleared the room and stood suspended high in the heavens.
Hovering in midair, the figure cast its gaze toward the sky and gently exhaled. In an instant, its form grew steadily larger and taller.
Within a few breaths, a colossal giant materialized high in the sky. Standing fully a thousand zhang tall, his countenance was concealed behind drifting clouds; only his eyes, occasionally visible through rifts in the mist, shone with brilliant divine light.
He wore an immortal robe wrapped in swirling vapors. Crimson dawn, pure white midday clouds, and the pale violet of dusk mingled across the cloth, blending into an emerald green reminiscent of an aurora stretching across the horizon, exquisite and breathtaking beyond measure.
The robe was extraordinarily vast. Its hem spanned several li, drifting slowly a thousand zhang in the air. With every sway, it drew threads of shimmering radiance from the void. Wherever the sleeves draped down, the clouds were gently steered along, forming swirling vortices of misty vapor that rotated slowly around the giant.
"Wh-what is that?!"
It was mid-morning, and the streets bustled with traffic and pedestrians. Countless people stared up with slack jaws at the titan that had abruptly appeared in the heavens, struck dumb with shock and bewilderment.
"He's so huge! Is that... a person?"
"It is! A giant thousands of meters tall! I know who it is—it's an immortal! It's God Taiyi!"
"An immortal god has manifested!"
"Please, God Taiyi, bless me to pass all my exams these next few days!"
"Almighty immortal, please bless me to strike it rich and enjoy boundless wealth for the rest of my life!!"
Across Qingyang City, countless people bowed their heads in prayer. Many even knelt and kowtowed on the pavement, desperately begging for blessings.
Within the Dream Expeller Association branch headquarters, Li Ding, Guan Fu, and Zhou Zhenhong gazed ecstatically at the titan towering in the sky.
"Has he... has he attained immortality?" Zhou Zhenhong murmured.
Guan Fu looked at him helplessly. "Listen to what you're saying. I might not know what realm an immortal truly is, but God Taiyi is undoubtedly far beyond that. Why would he be demoted to an immortal?"
Zhou Zhenhong said sheepishly, "I meant Mr. Huang has attained immortality."
Everyone knew that Mr. Huang was merely an avatar manifested from a single wisp of Zhonghuang Taiyi's divine consciousness descended into the mortal world.
Li Ding murmured in yearning, "Even if it is not true immortality, it cannot be far off!"
"Speaking of which, over the past few days, nearly all the nightmares and dream relics across the world have been swept clean, haven't they?" Guan Fu suddenly recalled. "And now Mr. Huang has broken through once more. Could it be that the final battle is upon us?"
Everyone understood that the nightmares had not descended upon Ancient Star without reason. There was bound to be a root source behind it all, and only by destroying that source could the century-long nightmare enshrouding the world finally come to an end!
At those words, both of the other men grew tense. Li Ding drew a deep breath. "It's very likely. But with Mr. Huang here, whatever that source of nightmares may be, there is nothing to fear!"
Zhou Zhenhong pursed his lips and nodded heavily. "God Taiyi can sense whenever his name is spoken, sending a sliver of divine consciousness across unimaginable stretches of space and time. Such mighty power is far beyond anything we can fathom. No matter how formidable the nightmare's source is, it could never be his match."
Hearing this, Guan Fu gradually relaxed. Indeed, the gap between the two was far too vast. One was the supreme deity residing in the Zhonghuang Yuanji Heaven across countless universes and dimensions, while the other was merely the root of the nightmare that had terrorized mortals for a single century.
Then again, such a comparison was not entirely fitting either. The Mr. Huang on Ancient Star was only a descended wisp of God Taiyi's consciousness, not the deity acting in person. Otherwise, they would not feel even the slightest trace of tension or anxiety. But upon reflection, they knew that was impossible. In legend, immortal gods were free of calamity, eternal and undying, untrammeled and carefree. Why would such a being concern himself with the life and death of mere mortals?
To the eyes of an immortal god, the billions of souls on Ancient Star were probably no different from specks of dust. That God Taiyi had taken pity on all living beings and lowered a thought to descend was already humanity's greatest fortune. How could they dare to demand more?
High above, Huang Tian's Dharma Idol looked down upon the sprawling metropolis below. With a gentle flick of his sleeve, the idol dispersed like smoke, transforming into a wisp of cloud that vanished back into the room and merged into his physical body.
Opening his eyes, his gaze was as placid as a mountain lake. He carefully felt the transformations within his flesh, gaining a clear assessment of his current strength. Rising to his feet, he took a single stride, appearing high in the heavens. Harmonizing his spirit with the world, he quietly attuned himself to the obscure threads of karmic aura in the void.
After a long while, his gaze shifted toward the southeast. "The root of the nightmares lies in that direction. And it is waking right now!"
Without hesitation, he stepped forward, streaking away like a brilliant beam of light!
***
Maru was an island nation situated in the vast ocean, and the smallest country on Ancient Star. It covered an area of barely a hundred square kilometers, inhabited by roughly sixteen thousand people.
In its early years, Maru had relied on selling bird droppings—phosphate rock—as its primary economic pillar, enjoying decades of wealth. Later, once the phosphate reserves were exhausted, it gradually descended into poverty.
Fortunately, its geographical position was favorable. Furthermore, by adopting a pliable stance and voluntarily relinquishing certain sovereign privileges, it secured annual financial aid from neighboring great powers, keeping the tiny nation of barely ten thousand people from collapsing.
*Crash, crash—*
The ocean waves rolled, washing against the sand on the shore. In the center of the island stood a small hill roughly a dozen meters tall. Devoid of dense woods, it bore only scattered weeds. A flock of seagulls rested atop the mound, crying out from time to time.
Suddenly, an inexplicable aura emanated from within the hill. The seagulls froze in place. With a low rumble, the hillside parted smoothly, and a figure walked out from within.
He possessed a slender frame and purple hair cascading to his shoulders. A pair of bone horns grew from either side of his forehead. His face was pale, his eyes long and narrow with faint violet pupils. Most striking of all was a third "eye" situated at the center of his brow—a purple-black orb resembling a polished bead.
"Stranded in this realm for a hundred years, my injuries have mostly healed. Yet... why has the Origin Bead stopped feeding back power like before?"
Suspicion and confusion flickered in Fu Di's eyes.
The Origin Bead, known formally as the True Demon Origin Bead, was a supreme treasure he had obtained by chance from a secret realm. Keeping it close allowed one to comprehend the Dao of Fear, condense a Fear Dao Seed, and step into the True Demon realm!
Yet it was precisely because of this treasure that he had been hunted down by numerous rank-six monsters and demons. Heavily wounded, he had been forced to plunge into a spatial fissure, seeking a sliver of survival amid the boundless void, only to be swept into a temporal turbulence and flung blindly into this realm.
Fortunately, he had not died. Unfortunately, his injuries had been far too severe; he had only possessed enough strength to activate the bead one final time before sinking into a deep hibernation.
Luckily, the True Demon Origin Bead could do more than aid in comprehending the Dao of Fear. It could also spawn aberrations to terrify mortals, harvesting the power of their terror. Once refined by the bead, that power became exceedingly pure origin energy capable of mending its master's wounds.
It was only by absorbing nearly a century's worth of origin energy that he had gradually recovered, though he had remained in a state of suspended animation—until an aura shift startled him awake today.
He looked toward the distant horizon, his brow furrowing deeply. "This shift in the heavenly aura... has a cultivator broken through?"
He distinctly remembered that when he plummeted into this realm, he had swept it with his divine sense and found no cultivators whatsoever. Where had one suddenly sprung from?
As various speculations surfaced in his mind, he released his divine sense. In an instant, it encompassed the entire island, reflecting everything occurring upon it into his consciousness.
"Computers, internet, airplanes... Nightmares, dream expellers, Zhonghuang Taiyi, a descended immortal god?!!"
He froze on the spot.
Technological creations like computers, the internet, and airplanes felt somewhat novel, but they amounted to nothing significant. Nor was he surprised by nightmares and dream expellers, as those were essentially his own doing. But what in the world was this Zhonghuang Taiyi?!
Zhonghuang Yuanji Heaven? Zhonghuang Taiyi? Sensing names and answering invocations? Descending consciousness into mortal avatars?
He was utterly dumbfounded. To perceive invocations and project consciousness across boundless space and time—even the legendary Demon Sovereigns of the Ancient Demon Realm might not be capable of that!
*No, impossible! How could my luck be so foul that I'd stumble upon such a supreme existence while merely recovering from injuries in some random mortal realm?!*
He forced himself to analyze the situation calmly. Sensing invocations across an entire world was indeed astonishing, yet someone cultivating a unique secret art or divine ability within a single realm might pull it off. But doing so across infinite space-time was an entirely different matter—the difference between the two was at least as vast as the Ancient Demon Realm itself!
*Perhaps that person cultivates a specialized secret technique or divine ability allowing him to perceive his name being spoken across this planet. Even so, where did he come from? Was he, like me, swept into a temporal turbulence and cast here by accident?*
His expression turned grim.
*Furthermore, this person has wiped out so many of my aberrations. No wonder the Origin Bead stopped feeding power back to me. Damn him!*
His original plan had been to absorb origin energy to heal his wounds, then emerge from seclusion and use the bead to unleash an apocalyptic nightmare upon humanity, using the resulting dread to condense his Dao seed and ascend to the rank-seven True Demon realm.
Once one attained the True Demon or True Immortal realm, the difference was as vast as a snake transforming into a dragon—only then did one truly enter the Dao!
Yet now, with Huang Tian thwarting him, carrying out his plan would be exceedingly difficult. Not to mention, he worried that Huang Tian was coveting his Origin Bead.
Even as he pondered this, his expression shifted abruptly. He glanced toward the northwest, only to see a brilliant rainbow streaking straight toward the island!
*It's him!*
Feeling the majestic, righteous will radiating from that streaking rainbow, he frowned. *He's only at rank five, yet why is he so confident?*
He was truly unwilling to clash with him at this moment. For one, although he was a full rank higher, he had not yet recovered to his peak. Second, he knew nothing of his opponent's true capabilities.
*Hmph, I'll take a step back for now!*
With a cold snort, he shot into the sky, transforming into a streak of purple light that fled into the distance. Seeing this, the rainbow beam gave chase without pause.
Two streaks of light pursued one another across the boundless ocean at staggering speed.
By then, the satellites of the world's major nations had picked up the two figures racing over the sea.
"That's... Mr. Huang? Who is he chasing?"
"The person ahead is flying so fast?!"
"How could someone on par with Mr. Huang suddenly appear on Ancient Star?"
"The source of the nightmares! That's very likely the root of all nightmares!"
Watching the footage transmitted by the satellites, senior officials from every country held their breath. Encrypted hotlines rang and connected in frantic succession.
Above the sea, after flying for over a dozen breaths, Fu Di glanced back, inwardly startled. *How can his flight speed be so terrifying? He can actually keep pace with me?!*
He hastily pushed his secret art, accelerating further amid turbulent gales. Yet after another dozen breaths, he still could not shake off the rainbow beam behind him; instead, it was drawing closer.
His expression shifted repeatedly until he finally halted his flight. Suspending himself in midair, he glared coldly at Huang Tian, who was coming to a stop in the void opposite him. "Does Your Excellency truly insist on making things difficult for me?"
Huang Tian measured the man, his gaze lingering for an extra second on the eye at the center of his brow. He said placidly, "A victor must be decided sooner or later. Better to strike now."
Fu Di snorted coldly. He naturally knew this battle was inevitable. Both harbored secrets; even if Huang Tian had not sought him out, he would have probed Huang Tian's background to discover how his strength had grown so rapidly. It was only because Huang Tian had appeared so unnervingly confident that Fu Di had initially chosen to yield.
"In that case, there is no need for further words." Fu Di sneered. Demonic qi boiled around him as obscure incantations spilled from his lips. Sweeping his right sleeve, he cast three spells in succession. One took the form of a foul-smelling green toxic mist, another was completely formless and intangible, and the third was crimson as blood. These were his signature curses!
Nine Nether Bone-Corrosion Curse!
Yellow Springs Soul-Rotting Curse!
Blood Sea Spirit-Defiling Curse!
Once these three curses were unleashed, let alone a rank-five cultivator, even an opponent of the same rank would find them hard to withstand. Ordinary cultivators rarely dabbled in curses, leaving them ill-equipped to defend against them.
Yet facing all three curses, Huang Tian remained entirely composed. With a single thought, the Calamity-Evading Immortal Robe draped over his body suddenly blazed with radiance!
The robe shimmered with a gentle glow, as soothing as moonlight and as clear as autumn water. The moment the three curses struck the pure light, they dissolved into nothingness, like clay oxen plunging into the sea.
Fu Di's heart sank. *This man actually specializes in a disaster-evading secret technique?!*
Amid his shock, Huang Tian had already joined his fingers into a blade.
A sliver of white light burst into existence between heaven and earth. Spanning merely a chi at first, it expanded within the blink of an eye into a blade several thousand zhang long!
A silver-white heavenly blade spanned the firmament, slashing down toward Fu Di!
Sensing the majestic might of the blade, Fu Di felt his heart quiver. He thrust out a claw, and a sinister white claw manifested in the void, swelling as massive as a mountain to collide head-on with the heavenly blade!
*Boom!*
A dazzling burst of light erupted, sending massive shockwaves rolling in all directions. The churning sea surface abruptly caved inward, as though hundreds of millions of tons of explosives had detonated beneath the waves. Countless torrents of seawater blasted skyward amid howling tempests. Mountainous waves surged, fish were pulverized into a rain of blood, and the corals on the seabed were exposed to plain view.
Huang Tian was not in the least surprised that his heavenly blade had failed to achieve a decisive blow. His opponent was a full realm higher than him; even with his peerless divine arts, subduing him would not be simple.
Spreading his five fingers, Huang Tian parted the dense layers of clouds and pressed down with another palm!
This palm seemed to contain a world of its own, complete with the rotation of the sun and moon, the shifting of four seasons, and the birth and destruction of all things. Vast and all-encompassing, it blotted out the very sun!
Fu Di turned pale with fright. *Such terrifying power! How can a mere rank-five cultivator possess such monstrous might?!*
His heart pounded wildly. Roaring in fury, he sent demonic qi erupting from his body like tens of thousands of volcanoes bursting at once. Black demonic flames raged across his skin, instantly boiling the seawater below into vast clouds of white steam. Raising both hands toward the heavens, a Dharma Idol leaped forth from his physical form.
This idol stood over a thousand zhang tall, crowned with two horns, clad in black armor, and brandishing six arms. Facing the descending celestial palm, it raised all six arms toward the sky!
*Rumble!!*
The instant the colossal palm print clashed with the six mountain-thick arms, a deafening roar shook heaven and earth, the shockwave churning up vast expanses of waves!
Fu Di's body shuddered violently as he was thrown backward. Huang Tian seized the initiative. His body blazed with light, and a majestic, thousand-zhang Dharma Idol strode forth from within him.
This idol wore a crown adorned with twelve imperial tassels, while rivers of stars shifted across its imperial robes. The moment it manifested, without the slightest hesitation, it brought another palm crashing down. Fu Di scrambled to raise his arms in defense.
*Rumble, crash!!*
The thunderous din was endless, the ocean waves churning wildly!
The two immense Dharma Idols treaded upon the sky and sea. With every casual strike, furious tempests howled and countless towering waves rose, sweeping fish and shrimp high into the air before hurling them back into the sea. Across the ocean floor, marine life fled in blind panic.
Through satellite feeds, high-ranking officials worldwide watched the spectacle, utterly pale with terror.
"I-is this the power of gods and demons?!"
"Every casual strike of theirs is like a nuclear detonation!"
"Should we provide support for Mr. Huang?"
"From the looks of it, Mr. Huang holds the upper hand and is suppressing that suspected source of the nightmares. If we intervene rashly, we'll only cause trouble. Besides, with what could we possibly support him? Don't tell me you want to use fighter jets and missiles."
"Wait! Something just occurred to me. Issue an immediate order to ground all flights—"
Across Ancient Star, numerous nations issued simultaneous notices grounding all flights while warning the public to prepare for typhoons, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, triggering global uproar.
"What happened? Why were all flights worldwide suddenly grounded?"
"I have an important offline meeting to attend! When will flights resume?"
"Is it the end of the world?"
"Why a sudden tsunami warning? There hasn't been any typhoon weather these past two days..."
"Doomsday is here! Humanity is doomed!"
"Idiot above me, with God Taiyi watching over us, how could there be a doomsday!"
"Typhoons, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes... Putting it all together, I bet something massive happened out at sea. Don't tell me several nations started an all-out war in the ocean?!"
"Stop letting your imagination run wild. There hasn't been any major friction between the superpowers lately. How could a war suddenly break out? And even if there were a war, unless they threw dozens of nukes at each other, it wouldn't trigger a global tsunami."
Just as countless people were lost in confusion, an unexpected livestream cleared up the mystery.
"A battle of gods and demons! A battle of gods and demons!" A young man's voice trembled with excitement in the stream. He aimed his phone toward the distant horizon. "Over there! There are two people! Giants thousands of meters tall!"
The broadcast footage was blurry, yet one could still faintly make out two mountain-tall titans locked in combat over the boundless ocean far away.
Even across that vast distance, the shockwaves of every clash whipped up roaring gales, filling the livestream with deafening gusts of wind.
"The streamer's IP address says Moya—a tiny island nation in the ocean! So those two giants are fighting over the open sea? No wonder every country warned coastal residents about tsunamis!"
"Streamer, you'd better be careful! Stop streaming and drive as far from the coast as you can!"
"Don't! If you run, who's going to stream it for us?"
"One of those two giants looks like God Taiyi! Who is the other one? How can he fight God Taiyi head-on?"
"There's no other explanation—it must be the root of all nightmares!!"
"May the heavens bless God Taiyi with victory!"
Far across the sea from the island of Moya, Fu Di's expression was exceedingly dark. Even though he was a full realm higher than Huang Tian, he was being relentlessly beaten back!
*If not for that temporal turbulence destroying all my magical treasures, I would never be suppressed by him like this!*
Originally, each of his six-armed Dharma Idol's hands held an astonishingly powerful magical treasure: the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, the Soul-Bewitching Bell, the Blood River Chart, the Bone Jade Staff, the Heaven-Refining Jar, and the Mountain-Suppressing Seal. With all six treasures in hand, his might had been boundless!
Yet now, across his entire body, he had not a single treasure left aside from the Origin Bead. Even the bead was damaged. Otherwise, it would not have taken a full century merely to spawn fierce-rank nightmares; had it been intact, this mortal world would have long since devolved into a realm of horrors!
While he was cursing his misfortune, Huang Tian abruptly clenched his palm into a fist and drove it fiercely toward Fu Di's chest!
It was as if Mount Buzhou had snapped and the heavenly pillar had collapsed!
Watching the peerless fist reflect in his pupils, Fu Di only had time to raise his arms in defense before his colossal form shuddered violently. Like a falling meteor trailing demonic qi like a plume of flames, he plummeted from the sky and crashed violently into the vast ocean!
*BOOM!!!*
A monstrous crater was gouged out of the sea surface. Trillions of tons of seawater were crushed, swelling upward in an instant before expanding and detonating in a colossal ring at unimaginable speed!
Countless gargantuan waves rolled in every direction, sweeping fish and shrimp uncontrollably into the sky before flinging them back into the deep.
"Damn you!"
The moment he was hurled into the sea, Fu Di finally understood that he could never be Huang Tian's match unless...
With a thunderous crash, he leaped out of the deep ocean, the churning waves surging skyward with him. Hesitating no longer, he pressed his right finger to his brow. Instantly, the Origin Bead at the center of his forehead flared with deep purple light. The radiance was profound, radiating an immense, oppressive aura, as though some supreme horror lurked within.
*Forcibly activating the Origin Bead will inflict catastrophic damage upon it, but I have no other choice...*
He sighed inwardly. The Origin Bead was not originally an offensive treasure, but it was a rank-seven artifact after all. Once forcibly stimulated, it could manifest an aberration nearly invincible beneath the seventh rank to aid him in combat.
*Two against one... I should at least be able to win...*
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a dazzling five-colored brilliance abruptly flooded his vision!
Five divine rays blossomed and intertwined behind Huang Tian, spreading out like a peacock displaying its plumage to form an ethereal, dreamlike expanse of profound radiance. The moment this light appeared, it transformed into a cascade spanning heaven and earth, sweeping straight toward the Origin Bead at Fu Di's brow!
With a faint *pop*, Fu Di was horrified to discover that the soul-deep connection between himself and the Origin Bead had snapped cleanly. Escaping his control, the bead turned into a streak of light and flew toward Huang Tian.
"No!!"
His eyes nearly tore at the corners. He frantically chanted the control incantation, trying to summon the bead back, but it was entirely futile. The Origin Bead was swept up by the Five-Colored Divine Light and fell squarely into Huang Tian's grasp.
Gripping the Origin Bead, Huang Tian did not stop to examine it. Instead, he swept another beam of divine light downward. Like a rainbow crossing the firmament, it struck the reeling Fu Di squarely on the head, instantly leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Then, three more beams of divine light crashed down in succession, battering Fu Di until he was gravely wounded and fell unconscious. Only then did Huang Tian reach out. A mass of misty cloud enveloped Fu Di, drawing him to his side.
"He won! Mr. Huang won!" Watching their satellite screens, senior officials across the globe erupted into ecstatic cheers.
"I knew it! How could a mere source of nightmares ever contend with the supreme God Taiyi!"
While the world's leaders were rejoicing, Huang Tian hovered high in the sky, casting his gaze in every direction.
Following the fierce battle, the vast ocean was churning violently. Countless mountain-high waves rolled outward in all directions, turning a thousand-li radius into a tempestuous expanse of fury. The raging waves surged forward with terrifying momentum, crashing toward distant islands and continents.
Across the ocean surface, howling gales whipped up water, while dense storm clouds choked the sky, filled with darting serpents of lightning like an impending apocalypse.
Seeing this, Huang Tian swept his hand. The Calamity-Evading Immortal Robe draped over his shoulders fell into his grasp. Turning toward the roaring sea below, he tossed it gently downward. As the robe descended, five-colored mists swirled around it, spreading out smoothly until it spanned a thousand li!
The instant the boiling ocean touched that sky-spanning splendor, all its furious roaring abruptly ceased. Brushed by the five-colored immortal robe, the boundless waves gently subsided.
By then, the dark storm clouds in the sky had also been dispersed, revealing a pale azure firmament above a deep blue sea. The vast waters rippled gently, shattering beneath the brilliant sunshine into billions of dancing golden scales...
Chapter 178