Myriad Phenomena of the Uncanny Realm

Wang Hao’s figure traced a brilliant golden arc through the black mist.

The Heavenly Sword sang in his hand, its platinum blade intertwining with silver-white thunder to form a blade of light that tore through the darkness.

The moment he charged into the black mist, eight level-nine fiends simultaneously sensed his presence—not his aura, but a force that all fiends instinctively loathed.

The power of national destiny.

It was a force forged from a nation, an empire, and billions of souls united as one. This power naturally suppressed all evil spirits and fiends, like sunlight dispelling shadows, or fierce fire melting ice.

The Soul Devourer was the first to react. Ninety-nine tentacles reached out from the black mist, each adorned with a human face screaming a soul-rending howl. The screams merged into a visible shockwave of sound, churning the black mist and shattering the surface of the sea.

“Too noisy.”

Wang Hao waved his left hand, and the Thunder Abyss Demon Suppression Tower shot out from his sleeve, swelling above his head to a hundred zhang tall. Silver-white lightning coiled around the tower, flickering violently against the sonic assault.

Yet the tower stood as firm as a mountain. Doors from the first to the seventh level simultaneously swung open, unleashing seven bolts of lightning—Thunder Serpent, Thunder Python, Thunder Phoenix—each taking a distinct form as they exploded into the black mist, shattering every bit of the Soul Devourer’s sonic onslaught.

“Sword-bitch, left wing!”

“Got it!”

The black humanoid figure of the Heavenly Sword separated from the blade, hands grasping at empty air as golden sword intent condensed into two long swords in its palms. Twin blades flashed, slashing at the Bone Dragon General lunging from the left.

Though one of the dragon’s bony wings had been blasted away by rune cannons, its speed remained astonishing. Its massive bony tail swept horizontally, the tail’s spike like a spear stretching a thousand zhang, aiming straight for the Heavenly Sword’s face.

The Heavenly Sword neither dodged nor parried; the right-hand sword’s tip pressed against the spear’s point.

At the instant the sword tip collided with the bone spear, a sharp, indescribable sword intent surged backward along the spear, piercing deep into the Bone Dragon General’s skeletal core. This was the sword intent of the Nine Heavens Breaking Swords—not merely cutting bone, but severing the fiendish core within.

The Bone Dragon General let out a pained roar as it abruptly retracted its tail, its massive body tumbling within the black mist. A fine crack appeared on its skeletal surface—small, but spreading from the inside out—proof that the sword intent had struck its fiendish core directly.

“Is that all you’ve got?” the Heavenly Sword sneered.

“A level-nine fiend? I’m ranked one hundred and twenty-six and I can wound you—what are you supposed to be?”

Before he finished speaking, the Myriad Souls Matrix’s black mist had already surrounded them from all sides.

Countless twisted humanoid forms extended translucent hands, grasping at the Heavenly Sword’s limbs and head.

Those hands had no physical form, yet they penetrated the sword intent’s defenses and seized the sword spirit itself.

The Heavenly Sword was a cursed weapon’s spirit; its essence was a soul.

The Myriad Souls Matrix’s power was perfectly countered against all soul-based beings—it could directly devour souls,

whether those souls belonged to the living, the dead, or weapon spirits.

“Sword-bitch!” Wang Hao’s pupils contracted sharply as his internal energy surged wildly into the Heavenly Sword’s core, the power of national destiny blazing into a golden shield enveloping the blade.

The shield spread along the connection between Wang Hao and the Heavenly Sword to the spirit of the weapon, incinerating all the transparent hands clutching the Heavenly Sword into blue smoke.

Seizing the opportunity, the Heavenly Sword broke free, transforming into a streak of black light as it returned to its sheath. Its aura was at least twenty percent weaker than before, but it still refused to admit defeat through gritted teeth:

“Damn it, this cursed thing is draining my power! Wang Hao, switch to another strike!”

“Nonsense, Your Majesty, I’ve already figured it out!” Wang Hao’s figure flashed, dodging the charge of the corpse mountain amalgamation, while simultaneously slapping out with his right palm.

Prison Heaven, Earth-Covering Palm — Fifth Palm.

A golden palm print descended from the sky, striking the initial Dragon King’s corpse that formed the core of the corpse mountain amalgamation.

That corpse had already been riddled like a sieve by rune cannons, and now with Wang Hao’s palm strike, it exploded into fragments with a thunderous blast. The scattered pieces of flesh each contained lingering dragon power, and as they fell into the seawater, dozens of towering water spouts erupted.

Yet the corpse mountain amalgamation was far from fatally wounded—its true form was the chains stitching the corpses together, not the corpses themselves.

After the initial Dragon King’s body shattered, the chains swiftly wrapped around other corpses drifting on the sea surface, piecing together a new form. This time, it assembled the corpse of a sea monster giant. Although not as massive as the dragon corpse, it was far more agile.

“Can’t kill it?” Wang Hao frowned.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t be killed—the regenerative abilities of a ninth-tier aberration were simply too formidable.

The Soul Devourer could endlessly regenerate its tentacles, the Bone Dragon General could constantly repair its bone spikes, the Myriad Souls Matrix absorbed the souls of the fallen to replenish itself, and the corpse mountain amalgamation could endlessly replace its bodies.

To truly kill a ninth-tier aberration, one must shatter its aberrant core—but each core was hidden deep within its body, protected by layers upon layers of aberrant power.

At that moment, a colossal sea anemone’s tentacle rose from the ocean floor, wrapping around Wang Hao’s left foot.

Barbs on the tentacle pierced through his protective energy, injecting a paralyzing aberrant toxin into his body through the wound.

Wang Hao’s left leg instantly went numb, and his body involuntarily began to fall.

“Your Majesty!” He Lanyue’s voice cracked on the city wall.

But there was no panic on Wang Hao’s face.

He glanced down at the tentacle coiling his foot, then did something no one expected—he swung his sword and slashed at his own left leg.

Not at the tentacle, but at his own leg.

The blade of the Heavenly Sword halted abruptly just an inch from his skin, but its sword intent pierced through his flesh, precisely forcing the aberrant toxin out of his body.

The control over the sword’s force was so precise it was almost cruel—too much and he would injure himself, too little and the toxin wouldn’t be expelled.

The moment the toxin was forced out, sensation returned to Wang Hao’s left leg.

He stomped down hard, crushing the tentacle wrapped around his foot, spraying black pus everywhere.

Then he raised his head, staring at the giant hand that had remained motionless the entire time.

The eye in the palm continued to watch him, its pupil’s gleam shifting from mockery to a kind of appraisal.

“Had enough of the show?” Wang Hao grinned, a trace of golden blood staining his teeth.

“Your eight pets have been fighting for so long and still haven’t taken me down. Isn’t it time for you to step in personally?”

The Giant Hand gave no response.

Yet the eight level-nine eerie creatures lurking in the black mist simultaneously ceased their movements.

It was as if they had received some silent command, all retreating in unison and leaving a vacuum zone spanning dozens of miles around Wang Hao.

Then, the Giant Hand slowly turned its palm, revealing a fist-sized eye staring directly at Wang Hao.

A voice exploded inside Wang Hao’s mind.

It wasn’t heard with his ears, but transmitted directly to his soul through divine telepathy.

The voice was ancient and deep, carrying the weight of an age long past. Every word pressed down on Wang Hao’s spirit like a towering mountain.

“Human Emperor. The power of your national fortune is delicious.”

Wang Hao’s pupils contracted sharply.

This was a half-step level ten eerie—a talking creature with high intelligence.

It wasn’t rare for eerie beings to speak; many high-level ones could mimic human speech.

But this one’s words carried clear logic and intent—it wasn’t instinctively hunting; it was consciously selecting its prey.

“Delicious?”

Wang Hao steadied his mind and restored his trademark brilliant smile.

“Then come and eat. I’m right here, neither too far nor too close—just the right bite.”

“No rush.” The voice sounded again, calm and leisurely like a gourmet savoring a delicacy.

“Your national fortune is not yet rich enough. When you gather more subjects, more generals, more strong warriors—when their fear, despair, and hope all converge upon you—that is when your national fortune will be at its most delicious.”

Wang Hao’s smile stiffened.

He understood what the eerie meant.

It was waiting—not to devour blood now with its nine level-nine eerie minions, but waiting for Wang Hao to amass greater power.

Waiting for the entire Eastern Wilderness army to arrive, for all the people of the Southern Frontier to gather at Zhen Nan Pass, for everyone’s hopes to be pinned on Wang Hao—only then would it strike, devouring all their hopes along with the national fortune.

This wasn’t hunting.

It was pig farming.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll lead my army to defeat you?” Wang Hao’s voice remained calm, though his fingers gripping the Heavenly Sword tightened slightly.

“Defeat?” The voice carried a hint of laughter, a condescending sneer.

“Human Emperor, have you ever seen the Myriad Phenomena Eerie Domain?”

As the words fell, the Giant Hand’s five fingers slowly closed.

Then the entire world shifted.

The black mist was no longer mist—in an instant, it solidified into a completely independent space overlapping the real world but utterly different.

The sky turned a deep eerie purple, the sea boiled with black water, and the air was thick with suffocating oppression. The city walls of Zhen Nan Pass, the warships of the Great Xia Navy, the elderly and weak fleets of the Southern Sea Dragon Clan, even the clouds on the distant horizon—all were pulled into this space in a heartbeat.

The Eerie Domain.

Only level six eerie creatures or above could unfold such a domain, and the higher the level, the stronger the domain.

Within this domain, eerie rules replaced reality’s laws. The world’s spiritual energy was completely sealed off, cultivators’ powers forcibly suppressed, and even martial gods could only unleash less than half their strength here.

The eerie original being was invincible within the Eerie Domain—its power was magnified exponentially by the domain, its regenerative abilities amplified without limit, and its will became the sole law governing the domain.

Although this half-step Tenth Rank eerie creature had not fully reached the Tenth Rank, it was already capable of unleashing an incomplete Eerie Domain—the Ten Thousand Phenomena Eerie Domain spanning thousands of miles.

Wang Hao felt the oppressive force.

His cultivation was forcibly suppressed by at least thirty percent within the Eerie Domain—his strength as a First Layer Martial God Realm cultivator was now barely enough to reach the threshold of that realm.

The thunderlight atop the Thunder Abyss Demon Suppression Tower dimmed by at least half, and the platinum sword glow on the Heavenly Sword also shortened noticeably.

He turned his gaze toward Zhen Nan Pass.

The soldiers on the city walls were collapsing one after another—those with weaker cultivation were directly stunned by the overwhelming pressure of the Eerie Domain, and all soldiers below the Skywalking Realm lost their combat effectiveness.

Even He Lanyue, a mid-stage Skywalking Realm powerhouse, paled and broke out in a fine cold sweat on his forehead.

The only one who remained standing steadily on the city wall was Wei Zhongxian.

The old eunuch stood expressionless atop the wall, hands tucked inside his sleeves, a talisman forming a golden light shield firmly protecting him.

“Old Wei!” Wang Hao’s voice pierced through the barrier of the Eerie Domain and reached the city wall.

“Order everyone to retreat inside the city! Activate all the city’s defensive arrays! No one is allowed to leave the city without my command!”

“Your servant obeys.” Wei Zhongxian bowed, then quickly turned to carry out the orders.