Chapter 427: Scorched Visage Saintess

"The Blood Moon Empire?" Su Mu's eyes flashed. He could already guess why the Pain Divine Cult had managed to expand so rapidly there.

"Exactly. The Pain Divine Cult is expanding rapidly in the Blood Moon Empire. Because of the empire's unique system, the Blood Clan holds absolute power and subjects humanity to the most brutal exploitation. It is a perfect hotbed for suffering, allowing the Pain Divine Cult to continuously grow."

Su Mu nodded. "And the Twelve Swords of Kingship?"

"This subordinate found Ash, one of the Twelve Swords of Kingship, and has already handed it over to Lady Envy. Including the one I found, Lady Envy has collected six of them."

"I understand. You may leave."

Su Mu waved his hand, dismissing Lin Canyang. He sat alone Above the White Mist, deep in thought.

Counting the Void Devourer and Mirage in his possession, plus the six held by Nangong Mengli, they had collected eight of the Twelve Swords of Kingship. Only four remained.

He had already used Supreme Heaven to locate the Twelve Swords of Kingship. Eleven were in the Present World, and the final one was in the Nightmare World, likely brought there by a Nightmare Apostle.

He had tasked the Seven Deadly Sins with collecting the eleven in the Present World, but he had assigned the one in the Nightmare World to the Primal Divine Cult.

Given the Primal Divine Cult's influence, finding a single sword shouldn't be difficult. He expected news within a few days.

Su Mu knew that his current priority was to continue elevating his strength to the absolute limit. Once all the Artifacts of the Seven Kings were gathered, he would enter the unknown Land of Origin.

Back then, after the Mad King emerged from the Land of Origin, he had essentially erased himself to start over. This clearly indicated that the Land of Origin harbored immense danger.

Thus, he brought out Supreme Heaven and began making wishes again.

He converted all his spiritual energy into physique. Previously, he had reached the limit of humanity and could not advance further. But now that the Giant Demon Essence Blood had shattered that bottleneck, he naturally had new room for growth.

As a dark golden light flashed, Su Mu's physical attributes immediately surged. He replenished his spiritual energy within the dream realm, and his total capacity also grew by one percent.

He then poured that spiritual energy back into Supreme Heaven, wishing to enhance his physique, repeating the cycle over and over.

If anyone had been present, they would have been terrified by Su Mu's method of advancement. It was like strapping himself to a rocket.

Several days later, Su Mu stopped making wishes. His body had once again reached its absolute limit. It turned out that not only humans had limits, but Giant Demons did as well.

Although he had become a Gold King and possessed the Giant Demon bloodline, even that bloodline couldn't withstand infinite wishes. It rapidly hit its ceiling.

The only way forward was to reach the Saint Grade. The Saint Grade was an entirely different realm. If a Gold King merely possessed the bloodline of a Giant Demon, then the Saint Grade meant possessing the complete form of a Giant Demon. Even the soul would transform into a Giant Demon's soul, subsequently connecting to the Saint Law—truly transcending the mortal and entering sainthood!

This was the ultimate limit any biological creature could achieve, because above the Saint Grade was the Demigod Realm—the domain of God.

Su Mu didn't choose to continue his breakthrough. For one, his strength had risen too quickly, which could lead to an unstable foundation. Secondly, he was worried that the Giant Demon's Law might conflict with his Dream Law.

He only had one soul. If he transformed it into a Giant Demon's soul, what would happen to his nightmare nature? He couldn't possibly turn his soul into an amalgamation of a Giant Demon and a nightmare, could he?

Thinking of nightmares brought up a new problem for Su Mu: he couldn't find a pure nightmare at all.

Giant Demons were, at the very least, a species that truly existed. But what about nightmares? Could those countless Nightmare Creatures truly represent the nightmare species?

He could only set this issue aside for now.

Afterward, Su Mu spent several days familiarizing himself with his newly empowered physique. Without a point of reference, even he didn't know just how terrifyingly strong his body had become.

Taking out little kids like the Dragon King with a single punch was no longer a problem. In fact, the Dragon King didn't even qualify as a unit of measurement for combat strength anymore.

...

...

The Nightmare World, Holy Brilliance City.

"Tell Hongye to come see me," Su Mu said impassively to the cultists in the church.

"Yes, Lord Divine Envoy!" A cultist hurriedly ran off to find Hongye.

A short while later, a figure wrapped entirely in bandages and leaning on a crutch entered the church. Upon seeing Su Mu, he threw the crutch aside and struggled to kneel on the ground.

"Hongye pays his respects to Lord Divine Envoy."

Su Mu frowned slightly. "What happened?"

Hongye's voice was hoarse. "This lowly one failed his duty and did not retrieve Whisper. I beg Lord Divine Envoy to punish me."

Whisper was the name of that Sword of Kingship.

"I recall that Whisper was located in a small nightmare. With your strength and the influence of the Primal Divine Cult, obtaining it shouldn't have been difficult."

Hongye spoke with deep resentment. "Lord Divine Envoy, this lowly one did indeed obtain Whisper from the nightmare. But on our way back, we were ambushed by the Pain Divine Cult. Everyone I brought with me was killed, and even I barely made it back alive. Whisper was stolen by the people of the Pain Divine Cult."

The Pain Divine Cult again?

The corners of Su Mu's mouth curled up. It seemed he had quite an affinity with the Pain Divine Cult.

"Their target shouldn't have been Whisper. It was you, wasn't it?"

Hongye nodded. "That's correct, Lord Divine Envoy. The Pain Divine Cult has been unusually active lately. Their followers claim that the God of Pain has awakened. To welcome the descent of the God of Pain, they've begun a frantic expansion. As the number one religion, and having recently lost our Pope, the Primal Divine Cult naturally became their primary target.

"It's not just the Pain Divine Cult. Recently, all the major evil god factions have become exceptionally active. The Primal Divine Cult has already suffered attacks from quite a few Evil God Cultists."

Su Mu's eyes flickered. It appeared that the abnormal movements of the evil gods in the Abyss had also affected the Nightmare World. These zealots were taking advantage of the opportunity to spread their faith, setting their sights on the largest faction, the Primal Divine Cult.

"What is the strength of the Pain Divine Cult's Pope?"

"The Pain Divine Cult has no Pope; they only have a Saintess. The Saintess is the ruler of the Pain Divine Cult. Legend has it that she was once an exceedingly beautiful woman. Some even called her the number one beauty in Hell, with countless suitors. But later, for some unknown reason, she joined the Pain Divine Cult.

"For her faith, she poured molten golden oil over her own face, destroying her peerless beauty. This drew the gaze of the God of Pain, who bestowed the Miracle of Pain upon her, elevating her to the position of Saintess.

"Although her strength cannot compare to the Pope, she is still a Saint Grade powerhouse."

"Saint Grade?" Su Mu smiled faintly. "You don't need to worry about Whisper anymore. I will handle it personally."

"Yes, Lord Divine Envoy."

Afterward, Su Mu brought out Supreme Heaven. He directly channeled his spiritual energy into it and made a wish to locate Whisper.

A moment later, the space slightly distorted, and his figure disappeared.

When he reappeared, he had arrived before an enormous nightmare bubble. This nightmare bubble was massive, spanning nearly half the size of Holy Brilliance City. It was pitch black, exuding an ominous aura.

Su Mu activated his Dreamwalking Mode, slipping into the nightmare bubble completely undetected.