Chapter 668 - 661: Descending Upon the Starry Sky Country
Hearing the voice of the terrifying figure behind him and feeling the horrifying pressure that descended with that gaze, Zhou’s body stiffened as if frozen. His once-ferocious expression and stare turned deathly pale, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
"The Nightmare City... what a peculiar place. I’ve already sealed the Master of Nightmares, yet this place somehow remains intact instead of collapsing."
The one who had suddenly appeared behind Zhou was none other than Zhou Yuanjue.
After replenishing his energy reserves, he had immediately initiated a True Realm Jump. This time, his target was the Nightmare City, which hovered above the Starry Sky Country, enslaving the nation.
If the Master of Nightmares were still active and in control of the Nightmare City, it would not have been so easy for him to invade using a True Realm Jump, even if he could lock onto the space’s coordinates.
But now, the Master of Nightmares was sealed. Although the Nightmare City still existed, with its authority transferred to several Ancestral Incarnations, they were not the Master of Nightmares. Nor had they recovered their peak power. Resisting an invasion by Zhou Yuanjue’s True Realm Jump was next to impossible.
Forget resisting—it wasn’t even easy for them to detect Zhou Yuanjue’s intrusion.
Take Zhou, for example. When Zhou Yuanjue entered the meeting hall, he was still running his mouth, spouting nonsense.
After glancing around the meeting hall, Zhou Yuanjue’s gaze returned to Zhou, who sat frozen in his seat, trembling slightly.
PAT.
He gently rested both his hands on Zhou’s shoulders, making Zhou flinch violently.
"Come on, tell me. How exactly did you plan to ’risk it all’?"
Zhou Yuanjue said to Zhou with a light chuckle.
"I... I..."
Zhou took a deep breath, wanting to spew the same arrogant nonsense as before, but the words caught in his throat as if blocked by something. He couldn’t get a single word out.
"What’s wrong? Can’t remember? Then you can take your time thinking about it inside my Seal."
Seeing his state, Zhou Yuanjue couldn’t help but smile faintly.
GURGLE GURGLE.
Countless cells began to multiply from his palms, rapidly covering Zhou’s entire body.
Then, they collapsed inward.
CRACK! CRACK!!
With a horrific sound of splintering bone, Zhou’s body was compressed by the crushing force of the powerful cells. Like a Rainbow, his entire form was squeezed down to the size of a basketball. Only his head remained intact within the translucent crystal, his face twisted in a mask of terror.
SNAP!
Zhou Yuanjue reached out and caught the basketball-sized crystal. He weighed it lightly in his hand, then looked toward the other two seats.
"And you two, do you share his sentiment?"
Zhou Yuanjue asked, a smile on his face as he looked at the other two Ancestral Incarnations.
"No... don’t misunderstand."
"This was all that idiot’s own decision. It has nothing to do with us."
Tuo slowly raised his hands, showing he was not a threat.
"Something so malicious and self-defeating..."
"We’re not so foolish as to do that."
"Things have come to this. As the defeated party, we don’t have many choices left."
The two heads of Mang and Yu spoke one after the other, their eyes fixed on Zhou Yuanjue’s face.
"For you, that is the wise choice."
Zhou Yuanjue walked slowly to the conference table and placed both palms flat upon its surface.
GURGLE GURGLE!!
A mass of writhing flesh spread from Zhou Yuanjue’s palms, splitting into two paths. It crept across the tabletop and gradually climbed onto the bodies of the two Ancestral Incarnations, eventually covering them completely.
Throughout this process, they offered no resistance. Even as their bodies were crushed and mangled, their expressions barely changed. However, deep in their eyes, a strange emotion flickered.
’Regret? Resignation? Despair?’
No one could know what they were truly thinking.
Watching the two new crystals fall from mid-air, Zhou Yuanjue was also silent for a moment.
’As long as I follow the connection between the Ancestral Incarnations and their original sealed bodies to uproot each Sealing Realm Image, this will all truly be over.’
Then, he turned his gaze to this special space, situated in the fissure between reality and the True Realm.
The fundamental power within this space, even without the Master of Nightmares’ control, continued to enslave and corrupt the spirits of the lifeforms under its dominion. It kept what was once the world’s most powerful nation trapped in a horrific nightmare.
He had come here for two reasons. The first was to seal the remaining Ancestral Incarnations to prevent them from causing any more trouble. The second was to completely shatter this Nightmare City and bring salvation and liberation to the people of the Starry Sky Country and its surrounding regions, who were suffering in dire straits.
"Well then, let’s begin."
Zhou Yuanjue muttered to himself.
VMMMM!!
His essential life sigil activated. A clearly visible Sacred Lotus Structure materialized around him, its countless tentacle-like roots swaying in the air before plunging violently into the Nightmare City.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!!!
Under the invasion of Zhou Yuanjue’s terrifying power, the entire Nightmare City, along with this whole peculiar space, began to tremble violently. Without its true master to control and command it, the Nightmare City was utterly unqualified to contend with his power.
「Meanwhile, in the Starry Sky Country.」
The sky was gloomy, and endless dark clouds blanketed the nation. Within them, a terrifying city was faintly visible.
The entire country seemed to have lost its color under the influence of the Power of Nightmare. The people were emaciated, their eyes vacant. Like wraiths wandering through a nightmare, they maintained the nation’s functions, following a pre-existing program set by some supreme entity.
No self, no dignity, no soul.
They had even forgotten what light and hope were.
Living like the walking dead, they had thought their lives would end within this nightmare.
But on this day, everything changed.
BOOM!!
The dark clouds in the sky trembled violently, and a terrifying, muffled clap of thunder exploded.
The thunder was deafening!
At the sound of the terrifying thunder, the bodies of all the people, who were like walking corpses, suddenly shuddered. Their programmed actions ceased abruptly. In their numb eyes, a flicker of rational light seemed to return.
Countless people looked to the sky at the same time.
The layers upon layers of dark clouds were torn apart. A brilliant ray of pure white light shone through, and the terrifying city in the sky that ruled over all began to crumble and dissipate at a visible rate.
As the Nightmare City collapsed, more and more of their sanity returned, restoring the vibrant light of humanity to their eyes.
They clearly saw a colossal Sacred Lotus bloom abruptly high in the sky. It scattered the final remnants of the Nightmare City, and its immense power also blew away the surrounding dark clouds.
Light returned to the land from the sky above. For the first time, everyone truly felt just how warm the sunlight was.
And in that sunlight, a figure hovered in the sky, back to the sun, looking down upon everything on the ground.
At that moment, they all believed they were looking at a true "God".