Nightmare Opens Its Eyes, Thunder Abyss Suppresses the Demon's Ninth Layer

Run!

The moment the word left Wang Hao's lips, the vertical pupil at the center of the black vortex snapped wide open.

It didn't open slowly.

It happened in a mere instant.

As if someone had carved an eye out of the void with a knife.

The vertical pupil was pure black, with no distinction between iris and sclera; the entire eye was a pool of bottomless ink.

What was in that ink?

Everything.

And yet, nothing at all.

That was the core of the Night Fiend's true body. It wasn't flesh and blood, nor soul, nor energy; it was a pure concept—the Dream of Devouring.

From the dawn of martial arts until now, however many people the Night Fiend had devoured, it held that many fragments of their dreams.

Everyone's joys and sorrows, their fears and desires, all sank into this vertical pupil, like a ball of dough kneaded billions of times.

This dough had fermented for nine thousand years.

Now, it had come alive.

The first instant the vertical pupil opened, there was no killing intent, no roaring, no avalanche-like outpouring of energy.

There was only silence.

Absolute silence.

The blood-red hue above Heaven-Severing Ridge faded away, as all colors were sucked into that vertical pupil.

The black waters ceased to churn, for the power within them had been drained dry.

The dream mist dissipated, not because they had won, but because the source of the mist had retracted all its tentacles, condensing into something even more terrifying.

The most terrifying part was the sound.

Every single sound between heaven and earth vanished.

The wind, the thunder, breathing, heartbeats—all were stifled as if pressed down by an invisible hand.

Deathly stillness.

Within this deathly stillness, only that vertical pupil slowly turned.

Wherever it looked, the void there began to turn transparent.

Not shattering, but turning transparent.

Like oil poured onto the back of a canvas, dissolving the colors on the front.

Old Master Ren was the first to notice something was wrong.

He looked at his hand—his right hand wrapped in cyan-gold true essence, the tip of his index finger was fading.

It wasn't losing its color.

Rather, the finger itself was slowly erasing from the world.

It's devouring reality!

Old Master Ren roared, pushing his true essence to its absolute limit, the dragon phantom on his dragon-head cane roaring to life.

But the moment the dragon phantom met the gaze of the vertical pupil, it was like paper burning through, silently annihilating.

It wasn't defeated; it was eaten.

It could even eat energy.

It could even eat concepts.

This was the form of a peak level-nine anomaly's true body fully awakened.

Previously, when Xie Wujiu merged with the Night Fiend, though he was half-god and half-anomaly, half of him was still human will. Xie Wujiu wanted to kill, to seek revenge, to prove himself. Because he desired something, his battle had a direction.

Now, Xie Wujiu had sacrificed himself.

The Night Fiend was no longer bound by any will.

It had no hatred, no love, no goal, not even a distinction between friend and foe.

It only had instinct.

Devour.

Devour everything tangible.

Devour everything intangible.

Devour until the very fact that you existed was wiped away.

So, true invincibility under the heavens wasn't about killing all your opponents—it was about wiping every trace of their existence clean from time itself.

Old Master Li's face turned ashen; he retreated violently while using his Blood Wolf Dharma Idol to cover his escape. The Blood Wolf pounced toward the vertical pupil, but it began to shrink in mid-air, as if its flesh and blood were being siphoned away from another dimension. By the time it reached the vertical pupil, only a thin wolf pelt remained, and then even the pelt vanished.

Don't look at it!

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword closed his eyes and drew his sword.

With his eyes closed, relying on his Sword Heart's perception, he unleashed a slash.

The sword light was like a cascading waterfall, cleaving through the deathly stillness.

The strike landed on the surface of the vertical pupil.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking stone.

There wasn't even a single scratch on the surface of the vertical pupil.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword's heart sank to the bottom of the abyss.

He was the strongest sword cultivator present, yet his full-powered strike couldn't even break the entity's skin.

We're doomed!

A Sky-Soaring Realm ancestor wailed in despair, turning to flee. But the moment he took a single step, the gaze of the vertical pupil swept over him.

The ancestor froze in place.

Then his silhouette began to blur, like a painting soaked in water, its colors fading and lines dissolving. Two breaths later, only a faint gray afterimage remained where he stood.

Another breath later, the afterimage was gone too.

A person simply vanished, leaving no trace behind, as if he had never lived in this world, never eaten the rice of the Great Zhou Dynasty, never sworn loyalty to anyone.

Terror exploded in everyone's hearts.

This wasn't dying in battle.

This was being deleted.

Warriors did not fear sacrifice. If they died, someone would remember them; they would enter the ancestral hall, have their names carved on the monument of heroes, and their names would remain in the Book of Life and Death. But the Night Fiend didn't kill you; it directly revoked your right to exist. Your past, present, and future were entirely formatted.

This was the deepest kind of fear.

Wang Hao did not look back.

It wasn't that he didn't want to run; he couldn't. After the Night Fiend's true body fully awakened, the entire anomaly domain began to shrink, contracting from a radius of several hundred miles around Heaven-Severing Ridge to a black cocoon-like space barely a thousand feet in diameter. Surrounding them wasn't the void, but the Night Fiend's will itself.

They couldn't break through, couldn't get out.

This was no longer Xie Wujiu's anomaly domain. They were inside the Night Fiend's body.

They were being digested.

The Emperor's Qi-Gazing Art was still active in Wang Hao's eyes. He could no longer clearly see the Night Fiend's qi, because the Night Fiend's true body lacked the very concept of qi. It was a monster made of concepts. But he could see something else—the flow of auras along the cocoon's walls.

The Night Fiend didn't devour people instantaneously, just as a human stomach takes time to digest food. Everything swallowed into the cocoon was still there, merely suppressed, broken down, and converted. That meant there was still a chance.

As long as they could pierce through a single layer of it, even just one layer, they could expose the things currently being devoured.

But the problem was—how to fight it?

The Heaven-Imprisoning Earth-Overturning Palm? Stacking seven palms could indeed shake Martial God-level defenses. But the Night Fiend's true body was no longer an ordinary Martial God in terms of cultivation; a peak level-nine anomaly corresponded to some threshold above the Martial God realm. And that wasn't even the most fatal part—the Night Fiend specialized in eating energy. If he launched a palm strike, half of its power would be eaten away just getting close.

The Nine Swords of Heaven-Cleaving? Severing karma, severing the void, severing the soul, severing fate—these sword intents inherently countered anomalies. But his cultivation was only at the peak of the Qi-Controlling Realm. No matter how heaven-defying the Nine Swords of Heaven-Cleaving were, they required a solid foundation to support them. Slashing ordinary anomalies was fine, but slashing a peak level-nine anomaly's true body? The gap was too massive.

The Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda? The Lightning Phoenix could indeed injure the Night Fiend, but only one final Lightning Phoenix remained on the eighth floor. At most, it could tear open a small rift, which wouldn't be fatal enough.

Wait.

Tearing open a small rift was enough.

As long as a rift was torn open, allowing the residual heavenly tribulation lightning from outside to surge in.

Xie Wujiu had sacrificed himself, detonating all the power within his body, but that power hadn't vanished. Though the heavenly tribulation lightning scars were shattered, residual lightning still scattered everywhere inside the cocoon, and the Night Fiend's true body was actively suppressing and digesting them. Once the cocoon wall was torn open, the difference in internal and external pressure would activate the residual lightning.

While the Night Fiend's true body digested its food, its stomach still contained the undigested residual heavenly tribulation lightning from its previous meal—this wasn't stomach acid; it was broken glass.

As Wang Hao's calculations reached this point, he suddenly smiled.

Everyone.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear within the deathly silence.

Everyone looked at him.

Over forty ancestors, the members of the Heaven's Pride Gang, Wei Zhongxian, and New Emperor Sword. None of them looked good. A few were still struggling desperately to avoid the vertical pupil's gaze, their figures already flickering in and out of existence.

Wang Hao said, I have good news and bad news.

Wanyan Gu, carrying his mace on his shoulder, released his true essence outward to forcefully resist the devouring power, and shouted at the top of his lungs, Let us hear the bad news first!

The bad news is Xie Wujiu is dead. What we are facing now is the main body of a peak level nine anomaly, a whole tier stronger than Xie Wujiu. In terms of conventional combat power, all of us combined would not even last half an incense stick of time before being swallowed by it.

The crowd's faces grew a few shades paler.

And the good news?

Wang Hao's gaze swept over the crowd, finally landing on the slowly rotating vertical pupil.

The good news is, it has a bad stomach and indigestion.

Wei Zhongxian was slightly startled. Your Majesty means?

In his final sacrifice, Xie Wujiu detonated the residual heavenly tribulation lightning within his body. The residual lightning has not dissipated; it is entirely inside the Night Fiend, like a handful of shattered nails piercing its stomach lining. Wang Hao raised his hand, pointing to faintly visible golden shattered light on a certain part of the cocoon wall. As long as I tear a slit in the cocoon wall, these shattered nails will be activated. Attacked from both inside and out, it will suffer a heavy blow.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword asked in a deep voice, Can it be torn open?

Wang Hao glanced at him. Even if it cannot be torn, we must tear it. Otherwise, do you think we have a second path?

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. His smile was faint, yet extremely sharp. However Your Majesty says we fight, this old man will fight.

Ye Guyun also smiled. We cannot escape anyway, so we might as well go all out. His solitary sword was held firmly in his hand, the blade growing hot. It was the instinctive reaction of a sword cultivator; the more dangerous it was, the more excited the sword became.

Xiao Chen's golden flames had burned to their absolute limit, and blood was beginning to seep from the surface of his skin. He did not speak, only nodding heavily.

Qin Hongye was even more direct. Drawing her second blade, she crossed her twin sabers. Where do we cut?

Wanyan Gu laughed heartily. Finally, I do not have to memorize acupuncture points! Wherever Your Majesty says to smash, I will smash!

Old Master Ren glanced at Old Master Li. The two sighed at the same time.

Let it be, Old Master Ren said. The debts owed in our youth, we will repay with our lives in our old age.

Old Master Li added, I have lived long enough anyway.

Wang Hao looked at the two of them and said, Do not be in such a hurry to leave your last words. I do not plan on dying here. The national treasury has not been filled yet.

The crowd...

At a time like this, he was still talking about the treasury?

Wang Hao stopped wasting words and raised the Thunder Abyss Demon Suppression Pagoda with one hand. The pagoda's body was archaic, and the lightning patterns on the first seven floors were fully illuminated. On the eighth floor, only the phantom of the last Lightning Phoenix was still circling. That Lightning Phoenix seemed to know this was the final strike, and its flames were exceptionally blazing.

Thunder Abyss, eighth floor, open.

The pagoda doors burst open. The final Lightning Phoenix spread its wings and flew out of the pagoda, golden-purple lightning fire surging forth, illuminating the entire black cocoon wall. The Lightning Phoenix spread its wings to a hundred zhang, its tail flames trailing like a burning comet, crashing straight toward that black vertical pupil.

The vertical pupil detected the threat.

It stopped rotating and stared fixedly at the Lightning Phoenix. The devouring power erupted unprecedentedly. The Lightning Phoenix's tail flames began to be stripped away in mid-air, sucked inch by inch into the vertical pupil. But the Lightning Phoenix was no ordinary energy body; it was the ultimate yang lightning might condensed on the eighth floor of the Thunder Abyss Demon Suppression Pagoda, born to be the nemesis of anomalies.

The more it devoured, the more painfully it burned.

The Lightning Phoenix grew smaller and smaller, eighty zhang, fifty zhang, twenty zhang, but its core grew increasingly brighter. At the final moment, only a three-foot-sized ball of purple-gold fire remained, viciously slamming into the surface of the vertical pupil.

Boom!

It exploded.

A crack finally appeared on the surface of the vertical pupil. It was extremely fine, like a hairline fracture on porcelain. But it was this single crack that caused the entire space within the cocoon to vibrate violently.

At the same time the crack appeared, Wang Hao's Emperor's Qi Observation Technique accurately captured the abnormal movement of the residual lightning within the cocoon. Those golden shattered lights scattered everywhere inside the Night Fiend's body felt the pull of the ultimate yang lightning might from the outside, and began to tremble, gather, and awaken.

The broken glass moved.

The main body of the Night Fiend made a sound for the first time. It was not a roar or a shriek, but a low humming, like ten thousand people murmuring simultaneously underwater. It was in pain.

The vertical pupil contracted violently, breaking its original slow rotating rhythm. It began to frantically scan its surroundings, like a giant beast whose internal organs had been pierced, trying to pick the thorns out of its stomach.

But it could not pick them out. The residual heavenly tribulation lightning was scattered too finely, every piece embedded in its most core areas. As long as it was still digesting this cocoon, the residual lightning would continue to sting it.

It really is afraid of lightning. Wang Hao's eyes turned cold. Everyone, strike now!

In the instant the Night Fiend's main body was torn by the residual lightning, a trace of disorder appeared in its devouring power. It was this trace of disorder that allowed the people swallowed into its body to feel their own strength once again.

Over forty ancestors erupted with their auras simultaneously. Cyan-gold, crimson, silver-white, dark green, various colors of true essence exploded like fireworks within the cocoon. In the void, over thirty figures trapped in dream fragments were revealed once more. These were the cultivators who had just been dragged into the nightmare by Xie Wujiu's clone and had yet to escape. Now, because the Night Fiend's main body was in disarray, the dream cages loosened, exposing them all.

Save them! Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword ordered, taking the lead to strike. His sword light transformed into dozens of fine silver threads, accurately piercing the core of every dream fragment and forcefully dragging those people out.

Ye Guyun was even more ruthless, executing a horizontal slash that simultaneously severed seven dream threads. The rescued cultivators were all dazed upon landing. Some were still calling for their masters, some were crying for their wives, and one person's first words upon waking were, Where is my spirit medicine? I just saw myself stealing the spirit medicine!

Old Master Li... Shut up, that was a dream.

The cultivator stared blankly at him. You are the ancestor of the Li family? The spirit medicine in your coffin was also a dream?

Old Master Li's face instantly turned ashen. We will talk about this after we get out.

Wang Hao did not participate in saving the people.