Chapter 130: Facing Eight Heaven Rank Experts Alone, Still Retreats Calmly!
The spectacular scene of the five insects exploding together had just ended, the combined attack from the two Heavenly Rank Experts, along with the attack from the first Heavenly Rank Expert that arrived later but struck first, all landed directly in front of Yuan Zhu.
“Open Heaven’s Gate!” ×3
Three layers of completely different attributes, yet their energies mutually attracted each other, secretly aligning with the profound principles of heaven and earth, forming the True Qi Ultimate Skill that collided and fused with one another, firmly locking onto Yuan Zhu, leaving him no escape and nowhere to hide.
Ultimately, a controllable Nightmare Rift was torn open directly in front of him, and in an instant, it erupted with terrifying suction. Immediately after, strands of Qi Threads wove together into three massive Nightmare attribute claws, extending from the fleeting rift, reaching straight for Yuan Zhu, attempting to drag him into the [Nightmare Dimension] for banishment.
Since they couldn’t eliminate the opponent in a short time, then to reduce the harm to Cicada City, banishing him back to the [Nightmare Layer] was the right move.
At the same time, more ghostly Qi Thread claws emerged like chains of doom from the Nightmare Rift, aiming to banish the remaining ‘Shadow Magic Worms (time bombs)’ that hadn’t escaped in time.
At this moment, witnessing the three armored cultivators joining forces to ‘Open Heaven’s Gate, unleashing certain death.’ Yuan Zhu felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu inside, preemptively mocked by Little Spicy Stick: “This is [Athena’s Sigh] wow!”
Spicy Stick, obsessed with repeatedly browsing and observing their boss’s childhood memories, was quite knowledgeable about 2D culture. At a glance, they recognized that these three Heavenly Rank masked Holy Cultivators were unleashing a combined technique together, tearing the sky and shattering the earth, delivering a god-slaying strike—the scene was just like the golden masked Holy Knights!
Crack!
As Spicy Stick sighed, Yuan Zhu, wrapped in the Shadow Uniform, countered by blocking the [Shadow Dream Hole] in front of him and forcefully pushing it into the temporarily opened Nightmare Rift, interfering with and obstructing the three Innates’ attack.
He also flung out another ‘Shadow Magic Worm’ to act as a scapegoat and take the tribulation, blocking the giant claw’s grasp. That giant hand didn’t dare to use excessive force, fearing it would crush the magic worm and trigger another round of ‘Holy Cough Big Explosion’, so it helplessly retracted quickly, planning to toss the magic worm into the Nightmare Layer.
But at the instant when half of the magic worm’s body fell into the Nightmare Rift while the other half still remained in Cicada City, Yuan Zhu decisively issued the command: “Destroy it, my cockroach!”
Little Spicy Stick cooperated by playing a tragic children’s song again: “Goodbye, daddy, tonight I’m setting sail far away. Don’t worry about me, I’ll self-detonate and my soul return to Cockroach Village.”
Boom!
The originally fleeting and self-healing ‘controllable Nightmare Rift’ was torn apart and widened in this instant by the eighth round of [Holy Light Blast].
This self-explosion was even more vicious than the previous ‘five rounds simultaneous explosion’. Though it was only the power of a single blast, it harmonized with the three Innates’ ‘Open Heaven combined strike’.
It was equivalent to the three Heavenly Rank Experts joining forces to open a ‘Nightmare Rift’ for him, then Yuan Zhu igniting a [Holy Cough Grenade], widening this rift while merging it with the ‘Holy Light vulnerabilities’ burned open by the previous seven explosions.
This wave not only further shook the foundational basis of [Cicada City]’s existence, but also merged the Nightmare Rift torn by the ‘eighth Holy Light Impact’ with those from previous impacts, reinforcing the [Crack].
If the underground space where [Cicada City] is located is compared to a container, then now a brand new [Holy Light attribute spatial crack from Holy Light Pollution] has appeared in the ‘spatial barrier’, beginning to leak water from the outside world ([Nightmare Layer])…
At the same time, a familiar feeling that seemed déjà vu surged into his heart once more.
He quickly recalled that the last time he had a similar feeling was when it transformed into Tiger Demon Stance and sneaked into Cicada City, looking up at the ‘Dream Hole’ and being bewitched by the Bubble World, inciting him to punch through the [Shadow Dimension], creating his own [Shadow Dream Hole].
Now, this feeling surged up again!
Gazing at the ‘Holy Light attribute Nightmare Rift’, the will of the Bubble World descended once more, calling and urging him to blast open this rift with purer, more intense [Holy Light], creating a brand new [Sacred Dream Hole]!
“Damn it, here we go again?!”
However, rationality prevailed for Yuan Zhu this time, and he did not cooperate with the Bubble World.
The reason was simple: the [Boss Template] behind Tiger Demon had very high intensity and this potential to open a Dream Hole, plus the [Shadow Dimension] reduced the difficulty, and with the world will providing inside-out cooperation, it could open the [Shadow Dream Hole].
But the [Holy Light] from a human body was far too lacking; he was merely a 1-seal small fry who hadn’t even condensed a [Soul Crystal]. In the cultivation world, he was just a Qi Refining Stage apprentice who hadn’t established Foundation yet, with extremely poor Holy Light purity—open your sister’s [Sacred Dream Hole]?
The fact that he could blast open this ‘Holy Pollution Rift’ right now wasn’t due to his own strength at all.
It was due to the selfless dedication of one ultimate sublimation ‘self-exploding magic worm’ after another. Essentially, it was still Tiger Demon doing the work, cooperating with the three Heavenly Rank Experts to jointly blast open the world barrier.
This once again proved that only [Tiger Demon] had the strength to open a Dream Hole! His Human Stance was purely borrowing force cleverly. The battle results looked flashy, but they were filled with so much bluff it was scary.
Not to mention he fundamentally lacked the ability to blast open a new [Dream Hole] and bring it under control—even if he could, he wouldn’t dare mess around. The appearance of this rift had already put [Cicada City] into red alert status.
The three Innates no longer paid attention to Yuan Zhu, instead joining forces to suppress the deep-level damage the [Holy Cough Crack] was causing to the underground city.
At the same time, in the instant Yuan Zhu blasted open the ‘Holy Light Rift’, borrowing the embedding of the [Shadow Dream Hole], he caught a fleeting glimpse of the Nightmare Dimension outside Cicada City.
Or rather, it wasn’t him actively observing, but in a certain instant, the Bubble World allowed some scenes and knowledge from deep within [Cicada City] to leak and infuse into the [Shadow Dream Hole], letting him passively comprehend some hidden cultivation knowledge.
In that instant, he saw a bizarre scene:
At the true core hub of [Cicada City], the City Lord who had opened an exclusive Dream Hole, along with the other four deputy City Lords who had refined and mastered their Dream Holes, were all in secluded cultivation, sitting in meditation.
These five were all in standard human form, wearing ancient robes, exuding the temperament of true cultivators of the Dao, currently in secluded cultivation. He guessed this was the standard appearance of Kunlun System immortal cultivators.
However, these five all emitted a strange aura that was both immortal-like and demonic. They had the ethereal immortal aura of immortals, yet also the demonic monster temperament of insects, like immortal insects wearing human skin, now fused into one body, indistinguishable from each other.
Was this [Feathered Immortal]?
The five [Supreme Heavenly Rank] experts were all sitting cross-legged with eyes closed in meditation, in a state of Primordial Spirit projection.
Above each of their heads extended an ‘invisible thin line’ woven from millions of Qi Threads, like kite strings, pouring their Essence, Qi, Spirit into the depths of the [Nightmare Dimension]. Using their physical bodies as anchors, while breathing spiritual energy, they infused True Qi energy into the ‘kite strings’.
And in the Nightmare world, five [masked immortal armors (armor-type Nightmare creatures)] emitting powerful ‘Nightmare Aura’ protected the internal ‘Essence, Qi, Spirit’, pulled like kites by the ‘Qi Threads’, drifting lost in the endless Nightmare depths, drifting with the current, engaging in exploration, slaughter, cultivation…
This brief scene flashed by in an instant, and when he tried to see more clearly, everything disappeared.
However, just this one glance let him comprehend a great deal of useless high-end knowledge.
For example, the purpose of the Bubble World encouraging him to open a ‘Dream Hole’. Every cultivator who opens an ‘exclusive Dream Hole’ in the underground world can escape into the Nightmare depths for high-difficulty operations.
The ‘Dream Hole’ was a safe passage: physical body as anchor, armor as raft, Qi Threads as guide… projecting the Primordial Spirit into the Nightmare Dimension, seizing essences, bringing them back to the Bubble World. Using the endless supplies, rules, polluting energy of the [Nightmare Layer] to repair, optimize, and perfect the world itself.
From this glimpse, [Cicada City] had five ‘harvesters’ doing high-difficulty work deep in the Nightmare, so more Insect Cities, more holes, more Nightmare workers serving the ‘Bubble World’.
Therefore, the Bubble World desired more, more innovative Dream Holes (Shadow Dream Holes) to bring surprises and variables to this world.
Additionally, just from witnessing this scene, Yuan Zhu’s mind was stuffed with techniques for wrapping oneself in ‘Nightmare Aura’ to disguise as a Nightmare creature; how to refine ‘kite strings’ using Qi Threads one didn’t possess; technology for tempering ‘Armor Casting’ with Nightmare essence…
It was precisely after seeing this scene that he understood the severity of the situation.
He seemed to have the upper hand, but in reality, it was entirely because his mad dog-like chain of [Holy Light Blasts] had threatened and intimidated these three lame Innates in front of him.
These three hadn’t been assigned ‘Dream Holes’, so they couldn’t fully utilize their armors. And Yuan Zhu’s crazy successive self-explosions had completely shocked them, not daring to easily start another battle. This demonic creature really self-detonates at the drop of a hat! Temperament highly flammable and explosive.
The opponents were beneficiaries of Cicada City’s interests, and there were still many unclaimed ‘Dream Holes’ above the city waiting to be divided and inherited. So they didn’t want to smash their own pots and pans.
If Yuan Zhu continued his reckless destruction, truly forcing them, shaking Cicada City’s foundation, damaging other ‘Dream Holes’—that would be severing their path to the Dao!
Then these Heavenly Rank Experts would truly disregard their property’s safety and launch a counter-kill. It wouldn’t be as simple as 1vs3. Especially after the ‘Holy Cough Rift’ appeared, seriously interfering and threatening Cicada City’s foundation, those five Supreme Experts with Primordial Spirits roaming the Nightmare would also pilot their armors back to the present world, preparing to brutally kill him.
Thus, Yuan Zhu stopped while ahead, completely changing his previous arrogant and domineering demeanor, releasing ten more Shadow Magic Worms to lurk without exploding.
He switched back to Tiger Demon Stance again, retrieving the slightly damaged [Shadow Dream Hole] embedded in the ‘Holy Cough Rift’, casually grabbing two magic worms as grenades to threaten the opponents, and finally activated [Ultimate Shadow Escape Fleeing Mode], silently fleeing without a word.
The battle record he created was too flashy; he had no confidence in surpassing himself. Why fight anymore? Retreat with this honor and accomplishment!
While fleeing, it sent a signal dark with threat and intimidation toward the three Innates working hard to suppress the [Holy Cough Rift]’s spatial expansion tendency:
As long as they let it flee away, it would no longer provoke [Cicada City], and wouldn’t detonate the remaining magic worms, letting them banish them as they wished. Otherwise…
Receiving the Tiger Demon’s intimidation signal, the three Heavenly Rank Experts felt displeased inside. If they truly went all out, any one of them dared to take on this bizarre ‘Nightmare Demonic Creature’ solo. But the opponent’s ‘polluting self-explosion’ was genuinely disgusting.
Using a never-before-seen and highly threatening ‘power (Holy Light)’ to blast open the Nightmare Rift, polluting and shaking Cicada City’s foundation—it had to be cleaned up quickly.
Therefore, they also didn’t want to overly stimulate the Tiger Demon, forcing it to shit an explosion in the city center, polluting the hard-built ‘Cicada City’.
If it were any Initate from other ‘Insect Cities’ invading and sneak-attacking, they wouldn’t cause such a huge mess. It was a crushing advantage from the never-before-contacted ‘Holy Light Pollution’. Once the opponents familiarized themselves with ‘Holy Light’ and prepared, such exaggerated battle records couldn’t be replicated again.
Deeply aware of this, the Tiger Demon madly dashed through the Shadow Layer, soon arriving at a passage exit heavily sealed layer by layer by the ‘City Protection Array’.
Facing the heavily defended iron walls, the Tiger Demon said nothing, loading skeletal armor over its entire body, grabbing a Shadow Magic Worm in its palm, detonating the Holy Light Particles inside it, then smashing a [Holy Cough Rasengan] onto it.
Boom!
Another ‘Holy Light little sun’ incredibly familiar to Cicada City Residents lit up at the edge corner of the underground city, blasting the City Protection Array sealing the safe exit into scattered pieces, burning open a gap.
The Tiger Demon’s body twisted and deformed, turning into a black Kitten silhouette, darting out.
On the other side, the three Innates holding control of the City Protection Array hesitated briefly, then chose to let the demonic creature leave, no more polluting Cicada City!
As the Tiger Demon sped away from the Central Urban Area into the barren and poorly regulated Upper City District, it saw the entire [Cicada City] plunged into chaos.
Nine consecutive rounds of [Holy Cough Big Explosion] had a huge impact on this Insect City. Not only triggering a small-scale ‘ground rumble (earthquake)’, throwing the Central Urban Area into panic.
At the same time, the foundation of the City Protection Array was shaken, large amounts of leaking ‘Holy Light Particles’ flowing through root tendril pipes into the Central Urban Area… Meanwhile, polluting energy also ran rampant on a small scale, drastically dropping Cicada City’s air quality, triggering a small peak outbreak of ‘Immortal Zombie Tendrils, Iron Poison, demonization’.
At this time, the Tiger Demon had smoothly escaped the rule of [Cicada City], escaping into a long unclaimed wild tunnel section. Only then did it breathe a sigh of relief.
About 10 minutes after the Tiger Demon fled, five terrifying and fearsome auras erupted from the ‘Dream Hole’, shooting straight to heaven and earth, quickly infecting massive ‘Immortal Realm Tree Root Tendrils’, completely dispersing and destroying the ‘Shadow Pollution, Holy Light Particles’ in the root tendril pipes.
And in breaths, they brought the root network covering and wrapping the entire [Cicada City] under control, repeatedly washing and disinfecting it with their own True Qi, and joining forces to suppress and repair the holes blasted by [Holy Light Blast] and the [Holy Light Cracks].
An angry voice questioned, the echo resounding through Cicada City, reverberating endlessly: “Who? Who did this!”
“A power never seen before?”
“It’s [Holy Light]!”
“[Holy Light]?”
“Intelligence from deep in the Nightmare, it’s an evil power no weaker than the [Immortal Path], excelling at polluting and twisting souls, wantonly plundering and burning life, destroying everything. And the [Great Moth], the destined archenemy in Feathered Immortals’ fate, despicable and shameless traitor!”
The five Cicada City Rulers successively deeply searched the Insect City, trying to dig out the enemy. But they only caught a few ‘Shadow Magic Worms’, crushing them with a lift of the hand, compressing the re-erupting [Holy Light Blast] within their five fingers into a glowing little pill, tossing it into their own [Dream Hole] to refine and absorb.
Just like that, the five Rulers successively analyzed the Holy Light Particles with their own ‘Nightmare Power’. Even without refining and absorbing, they summarized a set of targeted ‘True Qi defense skills’, and attempted to deduce a [Anti-Holy Light Martial Art] for better confrontation next time.
On the other side, the Tiger Demon returned victorious and unscathed to the secluded [Animal Husbandry Village], stuffing the [Shadow Dream Hole] full of treasures back into the core gap of the Shadow Domain, letting the camp resume operation.
Then, with the [Universe Within The Belly] stuffed full of pills, it felt waves of satiety and drowsiness. This wave was truly eaten to bursting, so good it curled the toes.
Thus, after a simple handover, leaving [Animal Husbandry Village] for Shopkeeper Lu to manage, it fell into deep sleep, beginning diligent secluded cultivation for upgrade.
