Chapter 287 - Rise & Downfall

'Bang!' 

Elder Weng utilizes his Soul energy to combust his purest yang blood essence!

The energy released overloaded Elder Weng, bringing out the strongest state he could ever achieve! 

The foundation for nearly living being bodies would be their yang or yin blood essence. These contain a massive amount of pure yang or yin life energy. With this, one can functionally live. 

And by the process of either cultivation or World Spirit Master path, the yang or yin blood essence gradually evolves, gathering more and more qualitative energies. 

If one were to link their Soul energies directly into the yang or yin blood essence, it would overload the bloodstreams, completely combusting it. 

From then, one can achieve the highest state their prowess could possibly achieve!

However, the cost of it is incomparably severe and usually is only done in inescapable life-or-death situations. 

And such a situation was before Elder Weng's very eyes.

Despite it being an intricate process to perform, Elder Weng managed to combust his blood essence basically instantly. 

As his Divine aura tremendously surged, it spread throughout the mountain range, drawing other Holy Land forces' attention.

Their gazes zeroed in, thoughts flashing within their minds in just a split second. 

"Elder Weng?" Qiu Lan, Zheng, and Cui cast solemn looks towards Elder Weng. The trio was more than aware of this massive cost.

But Elder Weng didn't respond, only igniting his spatial ring to bring out a top-tier Spirit Artifact in the shape of a jewel change. 

Elder Weng crushed the jewel, causing the Spirit Artifact to release a dome of its own space essence. 

The space essence dome engulfed the whole Thunderous Sword Sect group. And in the next moment, the space essence dome blasted off at speeds naked to even Divine Star experts' eyes!

The space essence dome shot towards the borders of Nightmare Lord's space dao marks. 

As they touched, an incredible scene occurred. 

Instead of clashing through the space dao marks, the space essence dome actually infused into it!

Through the seamless infusion, the space essence dome directly teleported far away from the Nightmare Realm. 

At the same time, the other Holy Land forces weren't idle.

They all were using desperate attempts to escape the perilous situation. 

However, only a select few managed to barely retreat. 

Huang Dragon Elder Weilong could only escape after expending his Spiritual foundation.

While the Ancient Phoenix Elders needed to combust their Divine bloodline, forcefully relying on their innate bestial abilities to escape. 

As for the rest, they all weren't as lucky.

Short, horrified screams washed over the entire mountain range. 

All other Holy Land forces, whether they were low-tier or high mid-tier, were engulfed by the black miasma mist. Each of their bodies was absorbed without any resistance. 

It was an unprecedented slaughter at the highest degree. 

Great geniuses and high-ranking Elders were nothing but a sacrifice to Heavenly Venerate Nightmare Lord.

A being far past his prime can still cause wanton destruction like this. It was but one of the terrifying facets of Martial cultivation. 

… 

In the Nightmare Realm. 

A bright rainbow color glow sparked the white space.

All streams of color originated from the Dao Crystal Staff. As of now, the Dao Crystal itself was continually pulsating like a beating heart. 

It was previously fed a tremendous influx of Divine beings' energies which caused a qualitative transformation.

Cain still stood like a statue as his hands tightly grasped the Dao Crystal Staff. Within his pupils, the green Chaos lights had gradually dimmed. 

"Eh? C-Cain?" 

Clarity slowly returned to Kali and Amber's minds. They were cautiously observing Cain, not daring to make any rash movements. 

But before they could develop their thoughts, Nightmare Lord's voice suddenly sounded out.

"Perfect, completely perfect! Hehehe! Little girls, you will bear witness to the new rise of a Heavenly Venerate master! This boy will be a great body." 

As Nightmare Lord spoke, Kali and Amber felt their blood run cold.

His body? 

Just what else could he possibly mean? 

An ominous sensation suffocated their souls, but there was little they could do. 

In that moment, dark blue lights suddenly appeared. Flowing like a river stream, the dark blue lights instantly clumped together, rapidly formulating a figure. 

Within seconds, the dark blue light formed into what appears to be a human-like figure. 

Kali and Amber wordlessly cast their gazes on it, the ominous sensations in their Souls bursting like a volcano. 

Neither of them could make out any precise detail from this figure. 

But its aura was incredible! 

It even exuded sensations that Kali and Amber were a bit familiar with. That is sensations that only soul energy can seep! 

Before their shocked gazes, Nightmare Lord formed a faint Soul body.

He needed to expend a considerable amount of his realm's Heavenly energy foundation, causing the Dao Diagrams deep within to slightly dim. 

But because of the previous formation, Nightmare Lord had absorbed enough Divine beings to gain a massively richer reserves capacity.

This burden cost was just a tiny price in his eyes.

The moment Nightmare Lord's Soul body formed, he promptly rushed right into Cain's body! 

His figure flashed in a streak of blue light, seemingly breaching into Cain's body without any resistance.

"Ahh!! Cain!!" 

Kali and Amber were ready to take right off towards Cain. However, the moment they tried to do anything, they realized Heavenly energy had already completely locked down their bodies.

"Damnit!" The girls' only option was to grit their teeth, praying that Cain could somehow make it through this. 

Although, the threat now was a legendary Heavenly Venerate master!

No matter how many heaven-defying feats Cain performed, Kali and Amber couldn't suppress a desolate feeling from slowly taking over their souls.

....

Within Cain's internal body, everything appeared to be the same. Except for a faint blue streak of light rapidly flashing throughout it.

This was Heavenly Venerate Nightmare Lord's Soul body. 

For a legendary character at his height, it was more than easy to traverse through Cain's natural defenses, treating his internal body as if he was taking a stroll.

Soon enough, Nightmare Lord directly penetrated inside Cain's Soul's Core space. 

The soul's space was like an infinite black void. There wasn't any speck of Soul development here. Only the occasional flickers of green lights brought a slight change to the abyss-like space. 

"As expected from just a Sky Ruler's soul. Although, it a bit surprising the boy managed to reach the Spirit Soul level."

Nightmare Lord judged as he set his sights on Cain's Soul's Core. A small, green oval shape orb enters his vision. 

The orb sparkled like a jewel as it continually flickered out specks of green soul lights. 

Without expecting much, Nightmare Lord casually swept his Soul Sense over Cain's Soul's Core. However, the very moment his Soul Sense inspected just a tiny portion, Nightmare Lord completely froze. 

His indomitable Martial Heart that is akin to an unbreakable stone fiercely trembled! 

A mighty Heavenly Venerate, a being standing near the summit of the Martial World, was instantly disturbed by a mere Sky Ruler junior. 

Even Nightmare Lord himself felt a small portion of disbelief. But what he senses can't be fabricated. 

He may not have his Divine Sense, but his Soul Sense works just as well.

Nightmare Lord slowly uttered, his tone dripping with shock, "It just can't be…pure Heavenly Dao essence?! No…no, the more I sense it, the different it feels to the current Heavenly Dao. Could it be? True Source energy? But even the little I sensed way in the past feels vaguely different from whatever in this Soul's Core. And somehow, it is infused into this boy's soul?"

Thoughts moved like a thunderstorm inside Nightmare Lord's consciousness. 

His first and most realistic guess is this was a type of defensive method left down by another great Heavenly Venerate expert. 

The difficulty to do so is incomparably high, but not impossible. 

Recalling his prime days, Nightmare Lord himself encountered several peak Heavenly Great World geniuses with this life-saving method.

However, as seconds trickled by, Nightmare Lord perceived something far more outlandish. "Infuse? No, no…if it was, I would be able to perceive some sort of foreign source. Or, at the very least, it should not be completely connected to the boy. But this…there is no flaw. Whatever is inside the Soul's Core is completely fused within! He may have limiters in place to keep his soul intact. But the fact of the matter is this boy has the foundations of a horrifying future. Perhaps even Heavenly Venerate Crimson Thunder or Divine Faith's Heavenly Great World top-tier geniuses are lacking behind him!"

A freezing chill swept through the Nightmare Lord. 

Only moments passed since he first sensed Cain's Soul's Core. And after this short amount of time, Nightmare Lord had already dropped all of his previous plans. 

He had only one goal; to get the hell out of here now! 

Even if it was just pure Heavenly Venerate essence, Nightmare Lord would not want to be involved. The fact that there could possibly be True Source essence is just the icing on the cake.

Nightmare Lord shifted his Soul body around, preparing to make a dash out Cain's internal body. 

However, in the very process of turning around, Cain's Soul's Core violently shook!

Luminous green Chaos rays shined like the sun. An unfathomable pressure descended upon the whole Soul Space! 

"Shit!" 

Nightmare Lord desparingly cursed. Despite being a remnant soul with Heavenly Venerate foundations. Despite just previously absorbing hundreds of Divine cultivators' pure blood essence, bringing his prowess far beyond any Divine Ruler, Nightmare Lord felt massively pressured!

All of his movements slowed as Chaos aura tightened around him, trapping him into an invisible cage. 

"I will not be trapped here!" 

Nightmare Lord threw all consequences into the wind. He wanted to expend all of his previous energy accumulations at this moment.

Only this way he has a slight chance of escaping. 

But, how could Cain's Chaotic Emerald let this threat go? 

The Chaotic Emerald fiercely rumbled, discharging streams of Chaos energy towards the Nightmare Lord.

Nightmare Lord felt everything run cold. If he had his original cultivation, even with a heavily weakened body, he would be able to retreat from Cain's Soul Space.

But now, not only does he barely have a small percentage of his strength, but he was also caught entirely off guard. 

How could he ever expected for a mere Sky Ruler to have something this terrifying within him?

Sure, Cain managed to perform perfectly before. But Nightmare Lord was more than aware and even practiced himself about arcane strengthing soul techniques. 

Certainly, it was incomparably uncommon but not impossible. 

Furthermore, during the entire time Cain used Chaos energy, he never perceived anything threatening from it! To him, it felt like any other energy amplification technique. 

Even if he was still a Heavenly Venerate, Nightmare Lord would have a tremendously challenging time identifying a slight pulse of Chaos energy.

Any other genius, even a Heavenly Venerate's direct disciple who perfectly cultivated all the way up to the Great Divine Sea realm, will 100% fall if they were in Cain's position.

But Cain had the factor of surprise and the most crucial factor, Chaos energy!

All of these variables fused into Nightmare Lord's unexpected downfall.