Otherworldly Desert Dust

...

On the fiery red edge of the land, Hell Nine-Headed City surged upward from the rocky surface, ramming headfirst into the thin realm.

For humans, the thin realm is merely a layer like neon, but for alien creatures, it's akin to a thick, millennia-old glacier. The massive body of Hell Nine-Headed City suddenly halted, and the entire city shuddered violently.

In the highest command castle, Wei Yan revealed a hint of surprise.

With the kinetic energy driving this city now, even mountain ranges stretching for hundreds of kilometers would be crushed into foam. This mere thin realm could actually withstand the force of their Grand Canyon City...

"Continue the collision," ordered Wei Yan.

Above three of its heads, huge crystalline mechanical horns emerged. The city retreated a distance before its dark engines reengaged, and even the Ten Thousand Melt Evil Cauldron released billowing heat waves, augmenting the momentum of Hell Nine-Headed City.

"Bang!!"

The thin realm shattered like ice in an instant, and the fully powered Hell Nine-Headed City, like an evil god from outer space, brazenly broke into the area inside the thin realm...

Its nine heads now bore no difference from living creatures, greedily flying out like nine demonic dragons competing for prey before them.

As the heads stretched forward, the entire body of Hell Nine-Headed City submerged into the shattered thin realm area, seeming to drill into another dimension, instantly disappearing at the edge of the land.

"Booming~~~~~~~~~"

A thunderous noise rumbled from within the thin realm after the collision due to the vast inertia of Hell Nine-Headed City. Its heads, originally meant to strangle the entire Nuwa Divine Tree, missed their mark.

The body slid across the black soil within the thin realm where there arose numerous low-rise buildings resembling short towers. Although densely scattered across the entirety of the thin realm, they lacked the feel of a thriving city and appeared more as a city of the dead.

"So the humans residing inside the Nuwa Divine Tree live in these black anthill-like structures??" A tall commander beside Wei Yan disdainfully asked.

Wei Yan coldly surveyed the area within the thin realm, his eyes connecting with one of the heads' pupils as he scanned the pitch-black dead city. Yet in the dead city, no life signs are present, though visible wisps of ghostly flames waft through those black towers...

"No, these aren't Human Clan!" Wei Yan immediately realized something, commanding the agile Asura Head to rise swiftly and gaze toward the dark Sky Shadow ahead.

The Asura Head emitted a sharp glare, piercing through the fog. A Demon Shadow, dropped from the sky, suddenly stood towering upfront, its horrifying Demon Breath like a black tsunami, sweeping toward the whole Hell Nine-Headed City!

"This isn't the Nuwa Divine Tree!" Wei Yan's face changed, turned extremely somber.

"What is that dark Sky Shadow??"

"It's the Nightmare Country Master!" Wei Yan coldly spat out these words, then shifted his gaze to a man in a dark black robe standing behind him.

The man in the dark robe suddenly stepped forward, his face showing utter shock from the scene transmitted back to him.

How could this be???

How could the information he obtained be wrong!

"Could this be a facade?" said the man in the dark robe.

"Heavenly Lord Wu, you've set a fine trap indeed, making all of humanity see you as a fearless hero, orchestrating a grand scheme to lead us here, so that the entire Nuwa God End could escape our hunting range." Wei Yan emitted a chilling aura.

The man in the dark robe now uncontrollably started shivering, sensing Da Xuan's God extreme cold wrath.

"The Nuwa God End must be nearby, you must believe me," said the man in the dark robe.

At that moment, a woman dressed in an ancient robe approached, glanced briefly at the suddenly kneeling Heavenly Lord Wu, then whispered into Wei Yan's ear: "We've fallen into the Nightmare Realm, the Nightmare Country Master has locked onto us, we must escape immediately."

"Full-speed retreat!" Wei Yan did not hesitate and immediately gave his order.

"I don't quite understand, even if the Nightmare Country Master has appeared, we don't need to fear, couldn't we just obliterate it into dust?" asked the tall commander.

Wei Yan was too lazy to explain, his hand swiftly delivering a slap that sent the talkative subordinate flying away from his command platform.

"Get the Ancient Monks to chant, we must prevent those nightmares from infiltrating our city!" Wei Yan commanded.

Although the city is massive, it is also exceptionally agile.

Upon learning that the black Sky Shadow ahead was a disguise by the Nightmare Country Master, the Hell Nine-headed Layer immediately changed direction, retreating towards the previously shattered thin realm.

Using all limbs, one moment it was like Nine Dragons Emerging from the Abyss, grand and imposing, the next moment it resembled nine fleeing water snakes, scrambling back to their original waters.

However, the Evil Power in the Nightmare Realm was exaggeratedly strong; the ghostly Ghost Fires in those black towers easily penetrated the steel and rocky defenses of Hell Nine-Headed City, and inexplicably, Soul Lamps appeared on the streets of the Nine-Headed City and even inside the houses of the resident monks.

The Soul Lamps emitted a pale, chilly glow, yet this light possessed a magical force that caused the enveloped people to lose their souls mindlessly, staring at the Nightmare Soul Lamps as if possessed.

Within the Soul Lamps, there seemed to be each person's most splendid and beautiful future, an allure no one could resist. Their souls swiftly got lost, completely falling into a delusory world, as if they had smoked a massive amount of tobacco or were immersed in a drunken dream.

In stark contrast to the kindness and simplicity of the Ancient Dream Demons, the Ancient Nightmares would exhaust each person's soul vitality, dragging living beings into a blissful dreamland. After a brief taste of transcendental delight unattainable in the Mortal World, they would then weave an endlessly long dream for the living. Compared to the previous momentary pleasure, this long dream was not worth mentioning at all; living beings were drained of vitality, their souls utterly lost!

The residents inside Hell Nine-Headed City did not enjoy much happiness; their excitement entirely provided by plunder and conquest. However, no one could live on such excitement forever — prolonged excitement led to numbness and exhaustion, and gradually, resentment and disgust also emerged. Along with the anxiety and fear brought about continuously by the proliferating Evil Spirits, many hidden dangers had already surfaced within the city.

In the past, when mental issues arose, the chanting of the Ancient Monks could always bring a trace of tranquility to the people.

But this time, it seemed as if half of the monks were possessed by evil.

"This is bad, the Ancient Temple monks can't suppress the growing evil nature!" the robed woman said.

"Release those tamed Holy Cultivators, they are the bane of Evil Spirits and Nightmares," Wei Yan said, expressionless, only somewhat irritated by the situation, "In three more minutes, we can escape from the Nightmare Realm."

At this moment, Wei Yan had understood.

The layer that seemed to protect the Divine Tree was actually a mirror-like barrier, perfectly dividing Da Xuan's land from the Nightmare land.

After they shattered that layer, the entire city had veritably plunged into the quagmire of nightmares.

The soil of the Cang Chu Divine Realm was active, meaning you couldn't just cross it and return without consequences. The moment they stepped into the Nightmare Realm, the soils turned into an Offshore Flow beneath their feet, continuously pulling the entire Hell Nine-Headed City deeper; unless they could unleash a force capable of breaking through space and earth contamination, they would keep drifting farther from the Da Xuan Shore!

Luckily, Hell Nine-Headed City possessed multiple technologies. Even if the Dark Engine failed during the revival period of Evil Spirits, they still had various ways to keep the entire city energized.

Nine heads transformed into intertwined giant dragons; the massive city base quickly turned into a wall-like formation. Through the combined action of crystal gears and transformable metal, Grand Canyon City morphed into an Earth Dragon of the canyon, burrowing into the ground at top speed and turning the solid rocky layers into a momentum that propelled their rapid return to the shore.

"We are moving away from the Nightmare Country Master," the robed woman stated.

Wei Yan merely lit an antique pipe, his eyes half-closed, revealing a trace of cold light, without ever showing signs of panic or disorder.

Kneeling on the ground, Heavenly Lord Wu felt this chill.

He wanted to argue in his defense, but he was completely at a loss for words.

He didn't understand why, despite years of infiltration, he still hadn't gained true trust, pondering which part of the ruse Li Feng had seen through!

"Heavenly Lord Wu, all the intelligence you provided in the past had no discrepancies, yet just at the Divine Tree, you fabricated lies, and precisely when our entire internal city was suffering from the invasion of Evil Spirits. You concealed this very well; probably, the entire Human Clan inside the Divine Tree is celebrating your feats now, having made a mockery of a Da Xuan's Divine City. It seems no lineage in the Cang Chu Divine Realm would underestimate Nuwa's people anymore..." Wei Yan said calmly.

"I... I..." Heavenly Lord Wu didn't know how to explain.

"I give you a dignified end," Wei Yan offered him a blood red Rose Dagger.

Heavenly Lord Wu began to tremble but had to reach out his hands to accept it.

If he didn't choose to die dignifiedly at this moment, Wei Yan would definitely send him to the Biological Battery box – that was the real Mortal Purgatory!

"BOOM!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, a violent surge of energy came from the ground ahead.

Just as Grand Canyon City was about to reach the shore, an unknown energy wave blasted the layers of the earth before them into a huge pit.

At this moment, the high-speed maneuvering of Grand Canyon City heavily relied on the subterranean rock layers, much like a ship's engine depends on water.

But on their path, the rock layers were completely evaporated by some force, and without air propulsion engines, relying on inertia alone was impossible to escape the "Offshore Flow" of the Nightmare Realm!

"Damn it!!!!" Wei Yan erupted in rage, leaping from his chair; now he finally showed a trace of panic, though overwhelmed by his furious roar, "This must be Levi's doing, kicking us while we are down!!"