Chapter 355: Taoist Priest Xuanqing's Calculations Were Spot On!

The gods of Heaven had to be stronger than the gods of Hell. The logic was simple: just look at who was evil. Distinguishing the strong from the weak was easy because victory always sided with justice. The strong were the orthodox gods, and the weak were the evil gods.

Su Mu couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "It's a bit early to worry about gods. Right now, I should be focusing on the Supreme Heaven and the First Red King, who's eyeing us like a predator from just outside the Abyss."

The First Red King possessed the Pope's Saint Grade physique and controlled a massive faction like the Primal Divine Cult. After so many years of development, his strength had likely already crossed the threshold into the Saint Grade. Even if it hadn't, he was beyond anything a Gold King could match.

After all, raising one's strength within the Primal Divine Cult was far too simple—all it took was a sacrifice.

Su Mu was no longer worried about how to leave the Abyss; he could depart whenever he pleased.

As the controller of the Seven Kings Barrier, he could pass directly through it into the Present World. From there, he could use the Present World as a transit point to open the Two Worlds Passage and return to Holy Brilliance City.

However, he was in no rush, choosing instead to continue observing the Seven Kings Barrier.

As its controller, his perception was incredibly direct. With the Nightmare Creatures constantly hurling themselves off the cliff, the pressure bearing down on the Seven Kings Barrier mounted with every passing moment.

It felt like a ticking time bomb had been placed right in front of him, its countdown steadily dropping as it inched ever closer to detonation.

A moment later, Su Mu thought of a temporary fix—one that treated the symptoms but not the root cause.

If the Seven Kings Barrier was a dam, the invading Nightmare Creatures were the floodwaters. The water level was rising steadily, placing an ever-increasing strain on the dam until it teetered on the brink of collapse.

So how could he keep the dam from breaking?

The answer was simple: open the floodgates!

Normal dams had spillways. Simply put, this meant opening a breach in the dam to let a portion of the water flow through slowly. This prevented the cities downstream from being obliterated all at once, allowing them to absorb the deluge bit by bit.

He could apply the exact same logic here. Opening a small hole in the Seven Kings Barrier to let a fraction of the Nightmare Creatures through would relieve the pressure.

However, this was only a stopgap. The Nightmare Creatures were endless, their total numbers vastly outstripping the human population. If he released too many at once, humanity in the Present World would be wiped out long before the Seven Kings Barrier ever broke.

More importantly, a massive influx of Nightmare Creatures would bring their inherent "reality" pouring into the Present World, thereby elevating the Present World's own level of reality.

It was a known fact that the Present World was the dreamscape with the lowest level of reality, meaning any invading Nightmare Creature would cause that level to rise.

The Present World was only safe precisely because its low reality prevented the gods from entering. If that reality continuously climbed, the consequences would be catastrophic.

That was why Su Mu knew this method only treated the symptoms. It could buy them time, but it couldn't permanently avert the apocalypse.

But he couldn't afford to worry about that right now. Faced with the choice between total annihilation in a year or buying the world a few more years via the spillway to find a real solution...

Even a fool knew which to choose.

His mind made up, Su Mu came to a decision. At the right moment, he would tear a small rift in the Seven Kings Barrier and allow the Nightmare Creatures to invade the Present World!

Wait!

A strange look suddenly crossed Su Mu's face. Releasing Nightmare Creatures to invade the Present World...? Why did this plan feel a bit... evil?

Wasn't this exactly what the ultimate villain did in movies and novels?

If he actually went through with it, what would the world think of him? He would absolutely become public enemy number one!

He could claim he was saving the world all he wanted, but who would believe him while he was frantically summoning Nightmare Creatures to descend upon them? It would look exactly like he was trying to destroy the world!

However... that actually sounded incredibly fun!

A glimmer of anticipation danced in Su Mu's eyes, and the corners of his lips unconsciously curled upward. To a normal person, bearing the infamy of a world-destroyer while secretly saving it would feel like a tragically heroic sacrifice—a lonely path of shedding blood and tears while being misunderstood and isolated by all of humanity.

But to him, what could possibly be more entertaining than committing acts of global annihilation in the name of saving the world?

Besides, this wasn't even his first time doing something like this. It wasn't that long ago that he'd summoned the undead sirens to destroy the Blood Moon Imperial Palace.

"Looks like the Seven Deadly Sins have work to do again," Su Mu said, his signature smile creeping across his face as he slowly adjusted his Tinted Glasses. "I wonder if the Blood Moon Imperial Palace has finished its reconstruction yet?

"Never mind. I shouldn't keep shearing the same sheep. Maybe I should pay a visit to the other empires—like the Longyuan Empire of my dearly departed best friend?

"Oh, right. The Seven Kings Council is about to convene, isn't it? Those juniors are gathering to discuss how to deal with the Seven Deadly Sins."

A plan gradually took shape in Su Mu's mind. Though he would appear to be destroying the world, he was actually saving it. He would have to tread carefully and master that delicate balance; one wrong step, and his attempt to save the world would turn into actual annihilation.

If he was going to summon the Nightmare Creatures, he needed to ensure the people of the Present World were actually capable of killing them once they arrived.

With such a terrifying volume of Nightmare Creatures, who in the Present World possessed the strength to wipe them out?

It seemed the Seven Kings were the only ones up to the task.

"I hope those juniors of mine can appreciate the earnest intentions of this First King," Su Mu murmured, a morbid smile spreading across his face. The deep, crystalline blue light shining in his eyes was almost too intense to conceal.

"Looking at it this way, Taoist Priest Xuanqing's divinations were incredibly accurate after all."

He recalled his first meeting with Taoist Priest Xuanqing. Sikong Zhen had sought the priest out to divine the secrets of the Seven Deadly Sins, which unexpectedly resulted in a vision of the Seven Deadly Sins destroying the world. At the time, Su Mu had been utterly baffled as to why he would ever want to do such a thing.

He had never been a madman bent on annihilation; he just enjoyed having a bit of fun. He had destroyed worlds countless times before, and in truth, there was very little joy to be found in it. The absolute solitude that followed a world's destruction only left him feeling hollow.

Now, he understood everything. Taoist Priest Xuanqing's calculations had been spot on!

In a daze, Su Mu felt the boomerang of history smack him squarely in the forehead. Back in Star City, the Law Enforcement Bureau had sent someone to infiltrate his dream. To fool the dream-diver, Zhuang Qing, Su Mu had constructed a fake dreamscape where the Seven Deadly Sins held a council to discuss opening the Gate of Nightmare, destroying Star City, and turning the entire populace into Nightmare Creatures.

He had just been spinning a load of nonsense at the time, but who would have expected it to actually come true?

Su Mu marveled at the sheer irony of fate for a moment before letting his body sink slowly into the Seven Kings Barrier.

Passing through the barrier, he arrived in the incredibly familiar Real World—though perhaps calling it the Divine Dream World was more fitting now.

He stood high in the heavens, tens of thousands of li above the ground, looking like an isolated, transcendent god. Beneath his feet lay a vast and boundless sea of clouds, drifting lazily like tufts of cotton.