Chapter 312: The Nightmare Opens, the Nightmare Descends!

Icy sunlight pierced through the heavy clouds, pouring down unhindered to illuminate the shattered land.

It shone upon Su Mu's Pride Mask, the edges of the Silver-White Mask glinting with a cold light.

Opposite him stood the Undead King, one of the Seven Gold Kings and among the seven strongest individuals in the world today. The sovereign stood quietly in place, waiting for Su Mu to make his move.

A gentle breeze fluttered the hems of his robes, swaying his red teardrop earring.

Beneath the terrifying aura of the Undead King, the world seemed to plunge into silent, overwhelming dread.

Su Mu's indifferent gaze pierced through the Silver-White Mask, fixed on the Undead King. He was well aware of his opponent's power—a strength far beyond what a Silver like himself could match.

He possessed Divinity, but its sheer might depended entirely on its wielder.

Divinity was like a sniper rifle. In the hands of a master marksman, it could kill without a trace from a thousand miles away, claiming hundreds of lives in a single battle. In the hands of a frail college student, never mind hitting the target—the recoil from a single shot would be enough to dislocate their shoulder.

With his Silver-tier strength, driving the Divinity with all his might would only allow him to injure a Gold expert. He wasn't even guaranteed to kill an ordinary Gold, let alone a Gold King.

Perhaps the God's Eye could injure the Undead King, but what then? He would simply heal.

The Undead King did not bear that title for nothing. He dared to call himself undead precisely because even other Gold Kings could not kill him.

His only possible weakness was his soul. His physical body could not die, but his soul was not imperishable. In fact, due to the inherent flaws of the Blood Clan, it harbored certain vulnerabilities.

However, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. No matter how frail the Undead King's soul might be, that was only in comparison to other Gold Kings. Against ordinary Gold experts, it wasn't weak at all.

It was like a top student scoring perfectly in every subject but losing two points on an essay. To the genius, the essay was a glaring weakness, but to a failing student, it was just a humblebrag.

Su Mu didn't even need to think to know that the Divine Touch wouldn't deal much damage to the Undead King. At most, it would make the man's soul feel a pang of pain. Beyond that, it held no practical significance.

As for using the Divine Touch to extract the opponent's soul entirely?

Who had ever seen an ant drag an elephant?

All in all, the disparity in their strength was too vast. Even the Divinity of the Four Gods could not bridge that gap.

Yet Su Mu remained perfectly composed. Sometimes, personal strength wasn't the only kind of power that mattered. The amount of force one could borrow was a skill all its own.

"What's wrong? Do you not dare to strike when facing this king?" the Undead King asked haughtily.

Su Mu didn't answer. Instead, he indifferently studied the Imperial Palace before him. Though the Blood Clan's architectural style differed from humanity's—leaning heavily into a gloomy aesthetic—the palace was built with majestic grandeur, standing like an ancient city that had weathered a thousand years of storms without falling.

Seeing that Su Mu did not reply, the cold sneer on the Undead King's lips deepened. "It seems you've finally realized the gap between us. Good. The most important thing for a person is to know their own limits. Although rumors outside claim you are a Gold King, we both know the truth behind such lies meant to fool the ignorant masses. Don't end up deceiving yourself. Isn't that right, Pride?"

Su Mu slowly retracted his gaze. His indifferent voice drifted from beneath the Silver-White Mask, "Take one last look at your Imperial Palace."

The Undead King frowned. Just as he was about to speak, Su Mu continued, "Because after today, the Blood Moon Imperial Palace will no longer exist."

He slowly extended his right hand. His fingers were long, pale, and slender, like the meticulously maintained hands of a pianist.

That hand traced a flawless arc through the air, as if gently stroking a graceful musical note.

A moment later, his apathetic voice echoed out.

"The Nightmare opens... the nightmare descends!"

As Su Mu's fingers lightly swept past, the space began to warp and tremble. Then, a horrifying scene unfolded.

The space directly above Su Mu distorted completely. An eerie shattering sound echoed between heaven and earth, as if someone had punched a hole straight through the sky!

Crack... shatter...

The space above his head continually warped and fractured, ultimately forming a black hole that resembled the gaping maw of an Abyss. That black hole looked like the intersection of a bottomless Abyss and a twisted dimension. A terrifying, ominous aura seeped from within, bearing down heavily on the entire battlefield.

"This... what is this..." Feeling the horrifying presence rolling out from the black hole, a look of sheer terror surfaced on the Undead King's handsome face for the very first time.

Hum!

Eerie, raving whispers spread outward, sounding like murmurs from the cosmos' most primal chaos. It felt like tens of thousands of icy tentacles churning within a claustrophobic, deep-sea trench, every movement carrying the decaying stench of endless epochs and an evil power entirely beyond comprehension.

The black hole expanded, and the ravings grew louder. Gradually, the Undead King could even hear the roar of crashing ocean waves.

"The Nightmare World!?" The Undead King finally realized what lay behind the black hole. He grew even more horrified, his face filled with utter disbelief. "That's impossible! How could you open a passage to the Nightmare World!?"

"Hahaha..." Beneath the black hole, that tall, slender figure stood proudly. Spine-chilling, sickly laughter spilled from the Silver-White Mask.

"That's the exact expression! Fascinating, truly fascinating! As I see it, not even the Blood Moon Treasury can compare to the emotional value you're providing me right now. Sovereign of the Blood Clan from the Blood Moon Empire, the so-called 'undead' Undead King—today, I will show you what true immortality looks like!"

Crash... roar...

The surging roar of the ocean waves grew increasingly turbulent. Massive volumes of seawater actually began pouring out of the black hole.

The ocean water cascaded down with violent momentum. The colossal pillar of water crashed down like a giant aquatic whip wielded by the Sea God, savagely lashing the earth below.

As the seawater surged relentlessly, the surrounding air was thrown into absolute chaos by the sheer, overwhelming force. Howling gales whipped up, carrying thick veils of fine mist. The ground trembled beneath the torrent's impact, and the once-solid earth was quickly submerged to form temporary, sprawling lakes.

"Damn it!" Overcome with shock and rage, the Undead King suddenly exerted his power. A pair of wings as dark as ink sprouted from his back and flapped forcefully.

Violent winds, intertwined with blood-red flames, roared outward as he attempted to block the deluge.

Sizzle... hiss...

Huge swathes of seawater were scorched by the blood-flames, hissing like boiling water. Billowing steam transformed into a sky full of white mist, and the downpour's momentum was temporarily halted.

But a second later, a shocking change occurred!

Hum!

A horrifying murmur resounded from within the waters, sounding like the low growl of a deity. An indescribable, incomprehensible power rippled outward from the sea.

The Undead King's blood-flames were instantly extinguished by the seawater.