The True Face of the Dark Emperor

The Second Layer of the Eternal Dream.

Gu Qingfeng charged toward the tens of thousands of demons and the Azure Demon Emperor, a savage grin twisting his lips.

"Come on, you trash! Let this venerable one have some fun!"

The next moment, countless demons roared as they swallowed Gu Qingfeng whole. The sounds of violent clashes, explosions, and howls filled the air.

"Damn it!"

Gu Qingfeng suddenly threw his head back and bellowed, "Jue Mingzi, you bleep! Are you bleeping kidding me?!"

Clearly, he had realized this was still a dream—because the demon attacks weren’t increasing his attributes.

Crack!

Space shattered, and all the demons vanished into nothingness.

"Brother Gu, please don’t be angry. Humanity is in a precarious state, so we had no choice but to resort to this. It was all for the sake of—"

Gu Qingfeng glared at the now-appearing Jue Mingzi, his expression twisting into something monstrous. "Heh heh heh... I’m starting to think you’re still fake. Stand still and let me test that theory."

With that, he raised his fist and lunged at Jue Mingzi.

Knowing he was in the wrong—and having witnessed Gu Qingfeng’s performance in the two layers of illusion—Jue Mingzi understood that this man feared no death and was a battle maniac through and through. Terrified, he hastily dodged.

Boom!

Gu Qingfeng’s punch landed on empty air, but the force alone caused the atmosphere to explode. Shockwaves rippled outward, uprooting trees and tearing apart the ground. Even space itself trembled faintly from the impact.

From a safe distance, Jue Mingzi paled at the sight.

Such terrifying physical power! If that punch had landed, this old man would’ve been done for!

How can this kid, who just entered the Divine Realm, possess such a monstrous body? Could he have a Heaven-defying physique?

Seeing his first strike miss, Gu Qingfeng immediately prepared for another.

Jue Mingzi’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest as he hastily shouted, "Brother Gu, wait! To make up for your losses, this old man is willing to grant you unrestricted access to the entire Scripture Pavilion! From now on, all divine-level techniques within are yours to study freely—they represent millennia of accumulation from our Dark—"

Gu Qingfeng remained unmoved. He decided to throw the punch first and talk later.

Jue Mingzi scrambled backward, still yelling, "And I’ll add ten thousand taels of gold as compensa—"

"Deal." Gu Qingfeng suddenly stopped, retracting his fist.

Jue Mingzi froze. I wasn’t even done speaking! You changed your mind way too fast!

If I’d known money would work, I wouldn’t have thrown in the Scripture Pavilion’s treasures!

What a blunder!

In truth, Gu Qingfeng hadn’t stopped because of the gold. Greed was just a facade—he was actually a very rational person.

After a cold assessment, he realized that since this was the territory of humanity’s Divine Realm experts, causing too much trouble wouldn’t benefit him. Better to wait—revenge was a dish best served cold.

"Now that we’ve settled this, Brother Gu, please follow me to meet the Dark Emperor."

With that, Jue Mingzi summoned another cloud from the sky and rode off.

Gu Qingfeng watched the familiar scene unfold, his eyebrow twitching.

Don’t tell me there’s a third dream layer...

Having learned his lesson, he quickly activated his Eyes of Truth and scrutinized his surroundings.

Relief washed over him. Not a dream. The real world.

The Eternal Dream of the Dark Realm was absurdly potent—even his Divine Realm peak-level soul couldn’t detect the illusion.

But he could always trust his Eyes of Truth. This ability, a "generous gift" from an Outer Realm Demon, could pierce through all falsehoods—even the laws of heaven and earth.

The Eyes of Truth far surpassed anything in the Qing Realm, making it the highest-tier ability Gu Qingfeng currently possessed.

The only downside was its massive energy consumption. If he could keep it active indefinitely, he’d never have fallen for the fake dream in the first place.

After confirming reality, Gu Qingfeng deactivated the Eyes of Truth and followed Jue Mingzi.

Half an hour later, he finally stood before the Dark Emperor and a gathering of Divine Realm experts. Their appearances and names matched those from the dream, so no reintroductions were needed.

"Brother Gu, congratulations on passing the trial. You are now officially a member of the Dark Realm," the Dark Emperor spoke, her voice cool and ethereal behind the golden mask.

Gu Qingfeng, still simmering with anger, wasn’t about to be polite.

His personal rule with humans was: You can push me once, even twice—but never a third time. One more deception, and I’ll flip the table.

(With demons, well… that was a different story.)

"Hmph. I passed your test, but you haven’t passed mine. If you want me to join the Dark Realm, I’ll need to see if you, the so-called Dark Emperor, are even qualified," Gu Qingfeng sneered.

The atmosphere instantly chilled.

A sword-bearing man with sharp brows and piercing eyes—Wei Guyun—snapped, "Gu Qingfeng! How dare you question the Dark Emperor?!"

Gu Qingfeng glanced at him, recalling the man from the dream. Ah, right. Wei Guyun. A swordsman.

"And how would you have me prove myself?" The Dark Emperor’s tone remained calm, betraying no emotion.

Gu Qingfeng smirked. "Start by taking off that mask. The leader of the Dark Realm, yet hiding your face? Highly suspicious. What if you’re the demon spy?"

Wei Guyun, who clearly revered the Dark Emperor, flared up. "Nonsense! The Dark Emperor is our leader—how could she be a demon spy? If she were, the Dark Realm would’ve fallen long ago!"

"Tch. Not necessarily. Like you said, joining the Dark Realm requires passing two dream trials—a harsh but effective method to ensure loyalty to humanity. But have you considered that one person in the entire Dark Realm is exempt from this check? The Dark Emperor herself! Because she makes the rules."

"You—!"

Wei Guyun wanted to argue further, but the Dark Emperor raised a hand to silence him.

"Brother Gu’s doubts are understandable. I have nothing to hide—this mask is merely a spiritual artifact."

As she spoke, the Dark Emperor lifted slender, jade-like fingers and slowly removed the golden mask.

Gu Qingfeng stared intently—but the moment her face was revealed, his mind blanked.

Oh no.

It’s that feeling—when blood flows through the left atrium, into the left ventricle, surges into the aorta, travels through the main vein to the right atrium, pumps into the right ventricle, rushes into the pulmonary artery, passes through the lungs, enters the pulmonary vein, and returns to the left atrium.

Mom, I’m in love again.

Wait… why ‘again’?

Gu Qingfeng had thought his standards were irreversibly raised after meeting the little corpse enchantress. But now, faced with the Dark Emperor’s visage, he realized—

There exists in this world a beauty so devastating it defies reason.

Her skin was like untouched snow, her eyes twin pools of clear water. Though her expression was cool, she carried an air of noble elegance that commanded respect—yet within that icy grace lurked an allure so potent it ensnared the soul.

Truly, her skin was smoother than polished jade, her gaze deeper than autumn waters, her lips redder than fresh blood, her face more exquisite than Xi Shi herself.