Chapter 487: A Great Harvest

The Lord of Primal Desolation's expression changed drastically. Watching Illusion Ash and Dawn charge at him from the left and right, he knew he was finished.

With his strength, defeating two Saint Lords was impossible.

"You want to control me? Keep dreaming!" Yuanhuang's resolute voice echoed across the stars, hoarse yet booming.

He threw his eight arms wide, his muscles bulging. The divine aura of the Fallen Sin Maitreya boiled over. Terrifying energy compressed within his body before erupting from his skin in millions of blinding rays of light.

The light carried an aura of destruction. Ripples tore through the surrounding void, as if space itself was groaning under the strain, on the verge of total collapse.

Yuanhuang looked like a volcano on the brink of eruption, frantically storing energy for the blast.

Illusion Ash's expression shifted. "He wants to take us down with him! Dawn, hold him down!"

Countless vines radiating a divine aura sprouted from the void, constricting Yuanhuang like pythons.

Yuanhuang ignored them entirely, intent only on mutual destruction. His body trembled violently, muscles straining and veins bulging as world-destroying power began to erupt from him.

In that moment, with everything hanging by a thread, a frantic Illusion Ash closed the distance, the crystal-blue light in his eyes blazing.

As their eyes locked, the ferocity and resolve in Yuanhuang's gaze slowly faded, replaced by a dull haze of bewilderment. A heartbeat later, the apocalyptic energy primed to detonate within him settled back into silence.

Haa!

Illusion Ash breathed a sigh of immense relief, his forehead slick with cold sweat.

But in that very moment, disaster struck!

Squelch!

A thick vine violently skewered Illusion Ash right through the heart.

Illusion Ash cried out in agony, staring at Dawn in utter disbelief. "You..."

The puppet-like Dawn's eyes were entirely engulfed in a blazing crystal-blue light.

Illusion Ash's face contorted in horror. He finally understood—Dawn hadn't broken free from his control. The true mastermind had been possessing Dawn's body all along!

But it was too late.

A majestic tide of mental energy howled outward, slamming into Illusion Ash's soul like millions of jagged spikes.

"Ah!" Illusion Ash shrieked in agony, staggering backward.

Reflected in his panic-stricken eyes was a tailcoat fluttering in the wind, topped by a cold Silver-White Mask.

"This is our first meeting. I hope... you can teach me a few things," Su Mu said with a smile.

This was their first official meeting. It was just a pity that for some people, their very first meeting was also their last.

The two had never met, yet the moment they crossed paths, only one could walk away alive. Such was the cruelty of the divine path. Those who possessed the same Divine Puzzle were locked in a battle to the death from the very beginning.

This held true for both Illusion Ash and Su Mu. Had Illusion Ash discovered Su Mu first, he would have used any means necessary to slaughter him just the same.

Illusion Ash's pupils quaked, his pale face drained of blood. He knew he had lost. It was an absolute, crushing defeat. He had lost before his opponent even engaged him in combat.

The blinding rage and frustration of being manipulated to death morphed into raw fear the second Su Mu appeared.

Without a single word, his body merged into the dream and vanished.

"Fleeing in panic? Don't forget, everything you can do, I can do." Su Mu's smiling voice clung to him, like a shadow following its form.

One fleeing and one chasing, they continuously tore through the layers of the dream.

But the heavily injured Illusion Ash clearly couldn't outrun Su Mu and was quickly overtaken.

Staring at the tailcoat blocking his path, Illusion Ash didn't bother begging for mercy. He knew it was useless; destiny dictated that only one of them could live.

In this life-or-death crisis, his only option was to fight for his life!

Boom!

The crystal-blue light in Illusion Ash's eyes flared brilliantly as mental energy vast as a galaxy surged forth in a frenzy.

Su Mu offered a faint smile as nearly infinite mental energy erupted from his own eyes.

Their eyes locked. There were no flashy techniques, only the most direct mental clash.

The invisible mental energy became a raging tempest, crashing violently throughout the dreamscape.

The heavily injured Illusion Ash was no match for Su Mu. His mental energy constantly fractured, leaving him on the verge of total collapse.

But in that desperate moment, endless flames erupted from Illusion Ash's body. A massive pillar of divine fire blasted straight toward Su Mu.

"Go to hell!" Illusion Ash roared, revealing his final madness.

Clack, clack...

The grinding of heavy gears echoed through the void. A cold metallic sheen erupted from Su Mu as eight Bronze mechanical arms snapped open. Then, all eight arms punched forward in unison!

Bang!

The pillar of divine fire shattered instantly, disintegrating into a sky full of fiery rain that drifted down around them like glowing fireflies.

Amidst the raining fire, Su Mu maintained his smile, while Illusion Ash's face turned as pale as paper.

With that, Illusion Ash's power was utterly spent. He was now nothing more than meat on the chopping block.

"You can't kill me! The Temple of God Slaying—"

Boom!

A fist wreathed in a cold metallic gleam interrupted Illusion Ash's final words and obliterated his head.

"My apologies. I'm not in the habit of listening to last words." Su Mu flicked the blood from his hand, an apologetic smile resting on his face.

He strolled toward Illusion Ash's headless corpse. With a careless wave of his hand, two spheres of light radiating a divine aura drifted out of the remains.

One was a magnificent crystal-blue, the other a searing, deep crimson.

They were portions of the origin essence from Xuan Tian and the Sovereign of Flame Hell.

...

...

Three days later.

The Saint Lord war instigated by Su Mu had finally drawn to a close. He successfully took control over the three realms.

Nominally, of course, the three Saint Lords still ruled their respective realms. But in reality, Su Mu had disguised himself as Illusion Ash and Yuanhuang using his Illusion Technique, while Dawn had been reduced to an obedient puppet.

After killing Illusion Ash, he had conveniently executed Yuanhuang as well, purely for the Fallen Sin Maitreya Puzzle inside his body.

He only left Dawn, who was now a puppet. Since he had no use for the Merciful Holy Mother of Myriad Blossoms, he kept Dawn alive for the time being.

Now remaining in the Illusion Ash Realm, Su Mu successfully inherited Illusion Ash's legacy.

Everyone within the realm had been controlled by Illusion Ash's Illusion Technique, making Su Mu's takeover incredibly easy. After all, his power shared the same origin. Illusion Ash had spent years casting the Illusion Technique to control everyone; Su Mu didn't need to break it. He only needed to add a patch, shifting the target of their loyalty to himself.

The harvest from this war was incredibly rich. Not only had he acquired a portion of the Xuantian Origin, but he had also obtained the Fallen Sin Maitreya and the Sovereign of Flame Hell, along with three entire realms.

Now, Su Mu's only priority was to rapidly digest the acquired divine origins before the Temple of God Slaying came knocking at his door.

However, even if they did track him down, it wouldn't matter. He wasn't in the Real World at all, but inside the dream.

Utilizing the time acceleration of the dream, he constantly refined and assimilated the divine origins.

Deep within the Dream World, Su Mu sat with his eyes tightly shut. Crystal-blue light pulsed from his body, rendering the dream as magnificent and surreal as the bottom of the sea.

As the sole living nightmare in the world, his assimilation of the Xuantian Origin went flawlessly. With every passing moment, he could feel his soul undergoing a metamorphosis, as if evolving toward a higher dimension.

Just then, his eyes snapped open, his brows knitting into a slight frown. "The Temple of God Slaying arrived this quickly?"

Suddenly, the void in front of him rippled like water, revealing the scene of the outside world.