Nightmare's Rage, the Ten Driven to Despair

The moment that will rippled outward, the entire underground space felt as if it had been submerged in some freezing, viscous black water.

It was not a cold that stopped at the flesh, but one that seeped deep into the seams of the bones.

Many martial artists with weaker cultivation instantly turned pale. Their ears rang incessantly, as if countless fragmented whispers were drilling into their minds. Someone's vision blurred, and they actually saw the altar beneath their feet turn into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, with a black sun hanging in the sky and thousands of severed limbs struggling and crawling in the mud. Others saw their deepest fears: the destruction of their sect, the tragic deaths of their family and friends, or the shattering of their Dao heart, their expressions instantly falling into a daze.

Guard your mind!

Shen Xue was the first to realize something was wrong. She held her longsword horizontally in front of her. The sword hummed with a clear, resonant sound like snow falling into a freezing pool, forcefully shattering some of the surrounding illusions.

Yun Meng also bit the tip of her tongue, her hands rapidly forming incantation seals. A pale cyan spiritual light spread out, transforming into layers of ripples to stabilize the seas of consciousness for everyone nearby as much as possible. Don't look at it! And don't listen to its voice! That thing is eroding our minds!

But easier said than done. There were very few who could truly and completely block this invasion.

Because this was not a simple illusion, but the innate mental pollution carried by an ancient evil entity like the Night Fiend. Even though it was now just a remnant body that had been suppressed and sealed for many years, it was still enough to make ordinary martial artists pale at the mere mention of it.

Ahead, the black and red remnant body that was being forcefully suppressed by the Martial God Battle Seal suddenly swelled violently.

From the wounds that had already been slashed, frozen, and blasted open by the crowd, black blood no longer flowed. Instead, strands of dense shadows, as fine as hairs, drilled out. These shadows intertwined madly in midair, condensing into one faceless human visage after another. They opened their hollow mouths, letting out silent shrieks.

The next instant—

Boom!

Centered on the fissure in the altar, a much more intense mental storm abruptly exploded.

This time, even Rong Xiaotian was forced back three steps, a flash of crimson viciousness passing through his eyes as his breathing grew noticeably heavier. Ye Guyun's longsword trembled, the blade deviating by half an inch, nearly slashing the shoulder of Gu Han beside him. Bai Zhantang cursed out loud on the spot, This damn thing has a second phase to its madness?!

It's not a second phase, Gu Han said coldly, the veins on the back of his knife-wielding hand bulging. It's been pushed to the brink.

As he spoke, he slashed his knife down fiercely, splitting a shadowy face that lunged at him in half.

But the severed shadow did not dissipate immediately. Instead, it splashed along the blade's light, wrapping around his arm like black mist, causing a layer of gloomy gray patterns to rapidly emerge on his skin.

Gu Han's expression darkened. He jolted his True Essence, finally forcing the thing back.

Don't let its shadows touch you! he shouted sternly.

But the warning came half a step too late.

In the rear, a sect disciple was just a little too slow to dodge. A slender black shadow grazed his wrist, and he instantly acted as if he had gone mad. His eyes suddenly turned crimson, and with a backhand grip, he thrust his blade at the fellow disciple beside him.

Junior Brother Li!

Stop him!

The few of them fell into chaos. Finally, an elder raised his palm and knocked the disciple unconscious, barely stabilizing the situation.

This scene made everyone's hearts tighten.

The most troublesome aspect of this Night Fiend remnant was never just its tough physical body or its sinister aura, but that it seemingly possessed the innate ability to pry open the weakest parts of the human heart. As long as one's will was slightly lacking, they would be polluted without realizing it. At best, their mind would be damaged; at worst, they would lose control on the spot and turn into a weapon in its hands.

Your Majesty! Wei Zhongxian's expression changed drastically.

Because Wang Hao, who was at the very front of the altar, was bearing the greatest impact at this moment.

Almost ninety percent of the malice directed at the Martial God True Blood was concentrated entirely on him.

Wang Hao stood in place, his sleeves fluttering wildly. The blood-gold battle seal on his glabella was still glowing, but a trickle of fresh blood had already begun to slowly seep from the corner of his mouth.

He wasn't faking it.

This time, he really couldn't hold on much longer.

The intent transmitted by the Night Fiend remnant just now seemed to know that his identity was special, and almost all of its subsequent counterattacks were smashed toward him. The Martial God Battle Seal could indeed suppress evil entities, but it was ultimately just a prototype, and the power it could borrow was extremely limited. Meanwhile, even though the Night Fiend was just a remnant, it was once a ferocious beast carefully sealed by ancient powerhouses.

In a head-on clash, Wang Hao was actually at a huge disadvantage right now.

System prompts were already popping up frantically in his mind:

[Warning: Host's meridian load is approaching the critical limit.]

[Martial God Battle Seal prototype stability decreasing.]

[Night Fiend remnant is attempting to reverse-pollute the True Blood fluctuations.]

[Suggestion: Cease suppression immediately.]

Wang Hao didn't even bat an eyelid.

Cease?

What a joke.

If he let go at a time like this, not to mention whether the Night Fiend would break out, just the image of the new Emperor turning the tide that he had just established would collapse by half.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

Moreover—the eyes of everyone present were on him right now.

This was a god-given stage to perform.

Wang Hao took a sharp breath, forcefully suppressing the sweet metallic taste rising in his throat. His voice remained astonishingly steady: What is there to panic about! It is merely in its death throes.

He spoke with absolute certainty, as if the Night Fiend was already meat on the chopping block.

Hearing this, the wavering morale of many people actually steadied a bit.

Even Bai Zhantang couldn't help but mutter, This dog... this Emperor, if nothing else, really knows how to bluff at critical moments.

Beside him, Xiao Chen's face darkened. Shut up.

Bai Zhantang glanced at him. What, you're not convinced?

Xiao Chen said coldly, I just can't stand him.

I can't stand him either. Bai Zhantang grinned as he dodged. But haven't you noticed? No matter how much we can't stand him, we always have to rely on him to clean up the mess in the end. After a while, I'm almost getting used to it.

Xiao Chen choked on these words, his face growing even darker, yet for a moment, he truly couldn't find a way to refute them.

Because the truth was just that absurd.

He looked up at Wang Hao's back in front of him, emotions churning in his eyes: unwillingness, suppression, and a trace of indescribable frustration.

Originally, in the hearts of many, Wang Hao was just a guy taking advantage of his status and luck to reap cheap benefits. Even though his recent performances had been brilliant, many still felt that luck played a big part in it.

But in this battle at the Yanshan Secret Realm, the word luck was no longer enough to explain it.

First, the Martial God True Blood chose him.

Then, he summoned an avatar phantom in the heat of battle.

And now, facing the rampaging Night Fiend remnant, it was him again standing at the very front, using that blood-gold battle seal to firmly hold down the fissure in the altar.

No matter how unwilling Xiao Chen was to admit it, he had to acknowledge—this person, at least in life-and-death situations like this, could indeed hold the line.

However, this realization didn't make him feel any better; instead, it made him feel even more stifled.

Right at this moment, the Night Fiend remnant suddenly shuddered.

The black and red patterns on its surface throbbed madly like blood vessels, and sections of fragmented bone armor actually began to fall off on their own. With every piece that dropped, more black mist surged from deep within the fissure. The black mist did not scatter, but rapidly condensed into eight massive shadowy tentacles, whipping out in all directions like chain whips extending from the abyss.

Look out!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The first shadowy tentacle smashed down from the sky, directly shattering the ruined wall of a side hall into dust that soared into the air.

The second one swept across, sending three rogue cultivators who couldn't dodge in time flying. Half of one person's body was eroded black by the sinister energy, and he was dead the moment he hit the ground.

The third one was the most insidious. It did not rush the front line at all; instead, it curved around and fiercely whipped toward the several formation masters responsible for stabilizing the array behind the altar.

It had clearly realized that tangling only with the best fighters was useless; it needed to first disrupt those coordinating the suppression around it.

"Vile creature!"

Shen Xue's gaze turned cold. With a tap of her foot, she shot through the air like a white rainbow, instantly appearing in front of the rear formation masters. She thrust her sword. The sword stance was not flashy, but it was astonishingly fast. The snow-white sword light drew an extremely fine yet incredibly long line of frost in midair.

Slash!

That shadow tentacle was sliced mostly in half, wildly leaking black mist.

However, the severed portion did not completely dissipate. Instead, it continued to pounce forward like a living creature.

Shen Xue's expression remained unchanged. She brought the fingers of her left hand together and wiped them along the spine of her sword. In an instant, a freezing aura surged, encasing the entire shadow tentacle in ice midair before it shattered with a booming crash.

This move greatly boosted the morale of many onlookers.

"The Holy Maiden of the Ice and Snow Divine Palace truly lives up to her reputation!"

"Good sword!"

"The rear formation is saved!"

But before the cheers could fade, the other two shadow tentacles arrived simultaneously.

Yun Meng gave a soft shout. Spiritual light flowed around her body, and rings of illusory ocean ripples appeared beneath her feet. As soon as the two shadow tentacles approached her, they seemed to fall into layers of displaced space, their movements inexplicably slowing down by a fraction.

That mere fraction was enough for her to strike.

With a flip of her slender hand, a small, ancient mirror appeared in her palm. The surface of the mirror suddenly lit up with a faint blue glow, shining upon the shadow tentacles. In the next moment, the two massive black shadows seemed to be pulled by the mirror's light. Their surfaces began to overlap, twist, and distort, wildly tangling together until they slammed into each other with a bang, exploding into a massive cloud of black mist.

"You even brought out the Phantom Sea Mirror?" Bai Zhantang clicked his tongue. "Fairy Yun is truly willing to pay the price."

Yun Meng had no time to reply to him. She just said coldly, "Cut the nonsense and block the left!"

"Orders received."

Bai Zhantang might have a glib tongue, but his hands were not slow at all. Unfolding his folding fan, the fan ribs transformed into dozens of sharp, cold gleams, nailing toward the pouncing shadow tentacle on the left like a rainstorm. A strange kinetic energy was attached to each fan rib; after piercing into the black shadow, they rapidly spun and exploded, churning its insides to pieces.

However, the Night Fiend's counterattack did not stop there.

On the contrary, it seemed to have been driven completely mad. More bone joints, more shadows, and more black qi surged from the depths of the rift. The area beneath the entire altar began to shake violently, as if a true ancient ferocious beast was turning over underground, trying to overturn this entire world above.

Rong Xiaotian roared in anger. His muscles and bones bulged all over his body, and his already burly physique actually grew another size larger. Dark gold veins, resembling beast patterns, emerged on the surface of his skin.

"Come!"

He threw both fists out, meeting a main shadow tentacle head-on.

Thud!

When that punch landed, the air seemed to be beaten into a visible dent. The front section of the shadow tentacle shattered on the spot, but Rong Xiaotian's arms were also left numb from the shock. His shoulder bones cracked, and he slid backward for more than ten zhang before steadying himself.

"Exhilarating!" His mouth was full of blood, but he fought even more fiercely.

Ye Guyun, on the other hand, had a completely different style.

His sword moved with extreme stillness, his figure like a lone crane in the snow. He did not clash head-on with the Night Fiend but weaved through the black shadows. Every time he drew his sword, it precisely sliced at the most vulnerable and critical positions. In just a few short breaths, he had consecutively slashed seven times. Every sword strike broke bones and split the mist, tearing a large swath of the evil shadows pouncing toward the front-line martial artists into pieces.

Gu Han and Xiao Chen also completely let loose.

Gu Han's saber technique was fierce and ruthless, taking the path of trading injuries for injuries. Wherever his saber light passed, black blood splattered. He did not even furrow his brow when his own shoulder was pierced by a thin shadow.

Xiao Chen fought more ruthlessly as the battle went on. A strange fire spread from his palms to his entire body, as if he were draped in a crimson-gold armor of flames. Holding back his anger, his attacks were exceptionally violent. After shattering a section of a bone limb with a palm strike, he even stepped directly on the exploding bone fragments and charged forward, forcefully burning a forming human face into flying ash.

"Aren't you good at roaring?" Xiao Chen's eyes were icy cold. "Roar again for me to hear!"

The Night Fiend seemed to understand the mockery. From the depths of the rift, an extremely thin black needle suddenly shot out, so fast it was almost silent, aiming straight for the center of Xiao Chen's brows.

"Watch out!" Shen Xue shouted.

But the black needle was too fast, leaving almost no time to intercept it.

At the critical moment, a figure flashed to Xiao Chen's front side. A folding fan slapped horizontally, forcefully deflecting the black needle by three inches.

Clang!

The black needle grazed past the side of Xiao Chen's face, drawing a line of blood, and finally nailed into the stone wall. The entire stone wall instantly turned pitch black and rotted away.

Bai Zhantang shook his numb hand and bared his teeth. "You owe me a life."

Xiao Chen was taken aback.

He had never gotten along well with this chatty and romantic young master. He had not expected the other party to save him in such a moment.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Bai Zhantang scoffed, "Don't overthink it. I just simply don't want the Ten-Man Roster to lose a member today, otherwise it would sound too embarrassing when we get out."

Xiao Chen did not say thanks. He just nodded with a dark face and backhandedly blasted a fire seal forward, sweeping away another shadow for Bai Zhantang.

At this moment, the Ten-Man Roster finally had a bit of the feeling of advancing and retreating together.

Not far away, Wang Hao naturally took all of this in.

His face remained expressionless, but he nodded slightly in his heart.

This is how it should be.

Between tool-men, it was best to cultivate some comradeship in desperate situations, so they would be easier to use in the future.

Of course, what he cared about most right now was how to continue pushing the situation in the direction he wanted.

The stronger the Night Fiend's counterattack, the easier it would be to firmly pin this blame on someone.

Thus, Wang Hao took a deep breath and suddenly shouted sternly again: "Everyone has seen it! If someone had not tampered with the seal ahead of time and awakened this evil creature early, how could it possibly have erupted to such an extent in the secret realm?"

"The Heaven's Secret Pavilion calculates all the secrets of heaven, yet they extended their hands into this kind of ancient sealing array. They truly want to use the common people of the Eastern Wasteland as bargaining chips!"

"If this Yan Mountain cannot be suppressed today, the dead in the future will not just be a few people, but a thousand cities and tens of thousands of citizens!"

He infused every sentence with true essence, projecting his voice extremely far.

The battlefield was so chaotic right now that no one had the time to carefully distinguish logical loopholes. But the more chaotic and dangerous it was, the easier it was for people to instinctively cling to a chief culprit.

And the Heaven's Secret Pavilion just happened to be the most suitable one.

For a time, hatred appeared on the faces of many surrounding cultivators.

"That's right! It must be them!"

"Other than the Heaven's Secret Pavilion, who else could alter the array to such an extent?"

"That old thing Xie Wujiu really harbored ill intentions from the start!"

Even some people who were originally half-believing and half-doubting had their anger forced out by the Night Fiend at this moment. They began to follow Wang Hao's words and think further—if someone had not set up this trap, how could they have been dragged into such a perilous situation?

With resentment, the blame was pinned even more securely.

Yu Huatian watched from the rear, secretly alarmed, thinking to himself that His Majesty's methods were truly ruthless.

Suppressing evil on one hand, and shifting the blame on the other, he actually managed to do both without delay.

If it were anyone else, they would have long been pressured by the Night Fiend into just fighting for their lives. Who would still have the mind to conveniently manipulate the court of public opinion at the same time?