I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

The building collapsed, a fierce wind swept through, and countless eerie creatures were thrown about by the storm, landing scattered all over the ground.

And the bizarre, ten-thousand-eyed octopus of the Ascension Realm...

Half of its body is still attached to the exterior wall of the building, and above that is a smooth cross-section.

The other half of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus's body fell to the ground, amidst the gray smoke rings.

nature,

This Ascended Realm being is strange... still alive, its life force still surging.

Shi An opened his clear eyes and could see the still immense magical power within the Thousand-Eyed Octopus.

Li Feng's sword strike did indeed wound this Ascendant Realm being, causing him a minor injury. But that was all.

The fact that he was only slightly injured was due to the curse energy greatly enhancing the destructive power of the sword strike, and the perfect timing of the Sharpening Edge strike, which shattered the curse energy that had just gathered inside the Thousand-Eyed Octopus.

Most importantly, Lifeng possesses the life-severing characteristic.

Otherwise, even if a sword were to cleave the Thousand-Eyed Octopus in two, it would likely only be a minor scratch to this eerie creature.

"The Ascension Realm is bizarre and terrifying!"

at this time,

The octopus with a thousand eyes, whose body was split in two, seemed completely unaffected.

It swung down its whiskers, while its eyes continued to stare intently, thousands of gazes shooting down from above and below.

But Lifeng and Xiaoxue gradually adapted to the rhythm of the battle.

Countless rays of light flowed within its small, blood-red pupils as it looked around.

The octopus's gaze was incredibly fast, like light, and impossible to dodge. To blast through the gray gaze that had solidified the space, it would need to expend at least a wisp of magical energy.

However, Xiao Xue only had a total of 5 strands of curse energy.

A direct confrontation won't work!

With its all-seeing eyes, it observed its surroundings and, by observing the direction of the surging magical power within and around the Thousand-Eyed Octopus, determined the location of the gaze's sweep. It transformed into a blood mist and moved horizontally for a hundred meters.

The next moment, a gray light swept past from the side, freezing and annihilating everything.

at this time,

Mingyi had already retreated far away, and together with Zhuoling, they were killing the extraordinary and bizarre beings around them.

Li Feng and Xiao Xue, relying on their extraordinary predictive abilities through their Insightful Eyes, are currently dealing with the Thousand-Eyed Octopus.

They actually managed to handle it!

"Those two are engaged in a bizarre battle with a Transformation Realm expert? Those two are at most only at the Half-Step Transformation Realm, right?"

In the distance, there were extraordinary whispers.

Are they really at the same level as such powerful individuals?

"Miss Zhuopu, there is another one who is also very terrifying. You will find that they kill extraordinary monsters as easily as killing chickens. No wonder they can even kill through nine or twenty extraordinary monsters at the Great Perfection of the Trial Realm."

"But that's the limit."

Shi An murmured.

Li Feng and Xiao Xue have indeed managed to hold their own and won't be defeated in the short term, but killing this Ascending Transformation Realm monster... is simply impossible. The Ascending Transformation Realm monster has an extremely long health bar; even if this Thousand-Eyed Octopus remained motionless and allowed Li Feng and Xiao Xue to bombard it relentlessly, the two of them might not be able to kill it.

However, Shi An was already quite satisfied.

The Transcendent Great Perfection Realm and the Ascension Realm are completely different species of different ranks. Even the so-called number one person below the Ascension Realm couldn't withstand more than a few moves from someone at the Ascension Realm.

The fact that Lifeng and Xiaoxue could fight the Ascending Transformation Realm monster to an undefeated record already proves their extraordinary abilities.

"So what now? The probing has been enough. I have figured out the true combat strength of the strange Ascension Realm cultivators."

"Should we retreat now, wait until Lifeng, Xiaoxue Mingyi, and the others become stronger before coming back to settle scores, or...?"

This is not an isolated space, but a region, a small territory, on the pale wasteland.

Taking matters into one's own hands might bring misfortune.

but,

"Since we're already here!"

"If we can conquer this nightmare, the rewards will be immense. It's worth the risk!"

then,

At the top of the sky, the door of a shop in the safe zone was pushed open, and the store manager, Shi Da, walked out from inside.

He stood at the edge of the sky, his silver-white coat fluttering in the wind.

In the distance, terrifying fluctuations emanated intermittently, spreading outwards in waves.

Shi An didn't speak, but simply extended her hand.

The power of belief converged, transforming into a visible, brilliant golden energy. These energies danced and swirled, gathering in his palm and spreading inch by inch forward, forming a great, gilded sword.

"In the name of belief..."

at this time,

The two halves of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus, cleaved in two by the sharp blade, had climbed up the building and merged with the upper part. In the blink of an eye, the two halves were one, with no trace of the previous separation.

However, after merging, Li Feng and Xiao Xue found it easier to maneuver, only needing to keep their eyes on one direction.

suddenly,

This strange, instinctive Ascension Realm eye no longer stared at the two demons, but abruptly turned, with thousands of its pupils all fixed on an inconspicuous figure several kilometers away.

It instinctively sensed the threat.

Two or three thousand eyes on its body closed simultaneously, becoming lifeless under the all-seeing eye. In return, a huge gray vertical pupil, at least ten meters in diameter, suddenly split open in the center of the octopus's enormous body.

The moment the vertical pupils appeared, Shi An's hair stood on end.

He suspected that if he hadn't been enveloped in the light of faith, he might have been momentarily disoriented.

The few extraordinary beings watching from a greater distance couldn't bear it any longer. Even though the giant gray eye wasn't staring at them, they couldn't help but close their eyes. It was their body's instinct for self-preservation.

Shi An thought to himself, "I didn't expect it to have such a deadly move. This 10,000-eyed octopus is too terrifying and too dangerous; it absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"

Power of Faith -100!

Power of Faith -200!

Power of Faith -400!

As his power of belief continued to diminish, the golden light emanating from the gilded greatsword in his hand grew ever more brilliant and vast.

Shi An's arm trembled slightly.

The gray vertical pupils emitted an even larger gray beam of light than before.

The beam of light blotted out the sky, filling Shi An's entire field of vision.

Shi An stared straight ahead, gripped the sword hilt tightly with both hands, and swung the sword…

Slash!

"Clang!"

The gray light first enveloped the sky, sweeping over the taller buildings, but in less than a fraction of a second, the gray disappeared, and brilliant golden light filled the entire sky.

The scattered golden light shattered the gray light, then quickly converged.

It slashed into the massive body of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus.

The golden light disappeared.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

It was as if nothing had happened, or as if time had stood still.

The enormous vertical pupil at the center of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus, along with the remaining open eyeballs, shattered instantly. Wisps of gray smoke rose from the shattered eyeballs.

The enormous and terrifying body of the 10,000-eyed octopus began to turn to ash inch by inch.

This eerie creature, which lingered on the outskirts of the pale wasteland and instilled fear in countless people simply by its existence, was already defeated by a single sword strike...

Ashes.

In the distance, the few extraordinary beings who had just opened their eyes witnessed the scene of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus dissipating.

Their eyes widened.

They typed a question mark.

"What just happened?"

"Did we miss something?"

"Did...the store manager intervene?"

Someone spotted the store manager and felt it was a great pity!

The store manager finally made a move, and they completely missed it! He was right there, yet they didn't see him. This time, the safe zone was so bad it made everyone else laugh. "I can only say, typical store manager!"

After Shi An unleashed this sword strike, he nodded in satisfaction.

It's even better than he expected!

It's also possible that he poured too much of his belief into it.

As his body and soul grew stronger, the upper limit of the power of belief he could bear in a single strike also gradually increased. This time, for safety's sake, Shi An directly unleashed his strongest sword strike at this stage.

It seems he went a bit too far, but he doesn't regret it.

What if we fail to kill this formidable enemy with a single sword strike, and the Thousand-Eyed Octopus unleashes a deadly attack before it dies? This Ascending Transformation Realm being is ultimately too dangerous due to its strange nature.

After unleashing this sword strike and witnessing the bizarre demise of a Transformation Realm expert, Shi An retreated to the safe zone as quickly as possible.

His heart was still pounding rapidly.

Who would have thought that he, a relatively inexperienced Dream Faller who had only been in the Nightmare World for less than half a year, had already silently annihilated a Transformation Realm Anomaly?

That's just how I am.

But he did not let his guard down.

After slaying the Thousand-Eyed Octopus, Shi An received a mysterious prompt.

"Destroyed... The lord is strange."

"Within the general's territory... there are a total of 16 areas to conquer... the entire area can be completely conquered. At that time... the gray fog concentration will decrease... the stability of the surrounding area will increase... and..."

"If all areas are not conquered within 24 hours... the lord, the eerie 'Thousand-Eyed Octopus,' will be reborn."

This is a guide to conquering Territory-level Nightmare difficulty!

Perhaps because Shi An didn't follow the conventional path and directly beheaded the "Lord," the rules of heaven and earth gave him some extra hints.

The area he was in was merely the core area of ​​the territory of this Thousand-Eyed Octopus.

The surrounding area, mostly marked as Tulip District on the map, is the territory of the Thousand-Eyed Octopus. He needs to conquer these outer territories; otherwise, he won't be able to conquer the Territory-level Nightmare, and the Thousand-Eyed Octopus might even regenerate.

But at this moment, Shi An's attention was not on that.

There's still 24 hours left in the time limit for the strategy, so there's no rush.

After he had Lifeng obtain the cursed item extracted from the Thousand-Eyed Octopus, he rushed towards the entrance of the safe zone.

Shi An gazed into the distance through the floor-to-ceiling window:

"Although it's possible I'm just scaring myself, but..."

The thought had barely formed when a black dot appeared in the distant sky.

The black dot quickly grew larger, and it turned out to be an enormous mosquito!

It was about the size of a storefront in the safe zone, covered in deep, dark blue patterns. Beneath its body, a massive maw extended like a tail, its tip gleaming with a cold light.

As soon as this giant black-striped mosquito appeared, Shi An knew that this was another strange being in the Ascension Realm!

A spooky, parading type of monster!

Moreover, unlike when the Tower Ship Ghost first appeared, its power was restricted by the rules and could not be fully exerted. This black-striped giant mosquito was incredibly fast and completely unrestricted.

Fortunately, Li Feng was not a newcomer to the extraordinary realm. He stepped on the perfect floating light and shadow, and even incorporated a wisp of incantation energy.

He runs faster than the wind!

But at this time,

"Boom!"

The earth suddenly trembled, and a giant burrowing beetle emerged from beneath the ground, its drill bit still spinning at high speed.

Its body is half flesh and blood and half machine.

Its eyes were bloodshot, and its aura was incredibly terrifying.

This is yet another Ascension Realm expert!

"boom!!"

Countless black bats crossed the sky and gathered below, revealing a figure with a black cloak fluttering in the wind, but whose form was obscured by black mist.

The Third Ascension Realm!

"And this one is likely even more terrifying."

"As expected, conquering a territory-level nightmare is not that simple."

"It's possible that my actions alerted a higher-ranking anomaly. Or perhaps, the very act of attacking a lord-level anomaly would attract other anomalies that have undergone transformation." The black-striped giant mosquito and the mechanical beetle king attacked from both sides.

But Xiao Xue, Zhuo Ling, and Ming Yi also stepped in to cover for them.

Soon, Li Feng rushed through the gate of the safe zone.

"boom!!"

The attacks of the giant black-striped mosquitoes and mechanical beetles rained down one after another, hitting the floor-to-ceiling windows on the first floor of the safe zone...

There are no cracks.

Shi An wasn't excited. He didn't want to try out what other strange methods the Ascending Transformation Realm might have, and he was also worried about attracting even more terrifying strangeness.

He snapped his fingers, and the storefront in the safe zone high above the building quickly faded and disappeared.

Only two bewildered, wandering, eerie figures remained, circling in place.

From above, the dark figure looked down and then retreated a few minutes later.

The remaining two wandering anomalies, after roaming for about half an hour, one flew back into the sky and the other burrowed into the ground, disappearing without a trace. "It's over."

Shi An let out a long sigh.

He was 99.9% certain that wandering anomalies wouldn't stay in one place for long, but he only relaxed... halfway after the three anomalies completely disappeared.

The other half?

Shi An first sent out a large number of reconnaissance magic teleports through the gates of several surrounding safe zones.

After seeing that nothing unexpected had happened, they sent Xiao Xue out to probe again after a while.

Nothing to do.

Then everything is truly alright.

It's time to conquer the 16 areas required for Territory-level Nightmare difficulty.

At this moment, in the lobby of the safe zone.

Upon seeing General Lifeng and Mr. Xue strategically retreat, the few extraordinary beings observing from afar naturally ran as fast as they could. Fortunately, the patrolling anomalies did not target them.

They were still shaken, but after that came a sense of exhilaration.

They witnessed the battle for advancement!

This was a bizarre hunt against those in the Ascension Realm, and it was a success!

Zhang Niu was one of the extraordinary ones.

He then returned to the hall and ate some snacks to soothe his frightened soul.

Seeing a familiar face walk by, he smiled. "Hey Old Wang, how did you know I witnessed the bizarre demise of a Transformation Realm cultivator?" Old Wang: "???"

What the hell are you talking about? You're showing off right in front of me...

Wait, Ascension Realm? Annihilation?

Old Wang ordered several drinks brewed with precious herbs. He leaned forward and said, "Old Zhang, Brother Zhang, tell me in detail what happened?"

The shopkeeper annihilated the strange being in the Ascension Realm with a single sword strike!

Li Feng and his close associates from the safe zone are evenly matched with the strange beings who have risen to the next level!

The former is something that everyone firmly believes.

Although the store manager never claimed to be a Transformation Realm expert, the members all believed so, and some even thought he was the strongest person in the world. However, the latter...

"General Lifeng and the others are only at the Transcendent Realm, right?"

He is only halfway to the next level; his life status has not yet risen, and he is essentially still an extraordinary being.

However, quite a few members witnessed the battle firsthand.

There are several extraordinary individuals.

Below the extraordinary level, many members of the Third Refinement Realm still couldn't suppress their curiosity. They remotely controlled the magical flying eyes, enduring the invisible mental pressure, and regardless of whether the flying eyes would be damaged, they just had to take a few peeks.

This level of battle might be the only opportunity they'll ever have to witness in their lifetime.

A senior, exceptionally experienced person spoke up:

"When we attacked the Mantis Nest before, I saw General Lifeng and Mr. Xue take action. At that time, the two of them did not show overwhelming combat power. Now it seems that they were just hiding their strength because the situation was not dangerous at the time, leaving the opportunity to show us."

Another member thought for a moment and said:

"Boss, is it possible that these two have improved rapidly, weren't as strong before, but are now able to contend with those in the Ascendant Realm?" "Do you think that's possible?"

Compared to the many Dreamers who were merely observing or feeling a sense of pride, the truly astonished were the relatively few powerful individuals from Tiannan City present in the hall. Because the safe zone now covers a vast area, the number of times a random gate opens near Tiannan City is not very high.

Many powerful individuals from Tiannan who were looking for a safe zone never had the chance to find one.

However, as time went on, the number of powerful individuals from Tiannan City who came here was steadily increasing.

Compared to the three cities of Baijiang, and those extraordinary camps, they clearly understood what the Ascension Realm was.

They had witnessed the immense power of the Ascension Realm firsthand and were acutely aware of the indescribable, exaggerated gap between the Ascension Realm and the Transcendent Realm. At this moment,

Tiannan City Defense Circle.

One of the three pillar-level powerhouses, a rising-transformation realm expert, and the garrison commander of Zhenyue Luo, has emerged from seclusion.

He went out for a walk to clear his head and to take the opportunity to inspect the situation in each area.

He looked at Dai Xin in front of him.

"You mean, the shop manager in the safe zone is also a Transformation Realm expert?"

"Yes, although we didn't see him make a move, it's pretty much a done deal."

"Okay, okay!"

Luo Shoujun laughed loudly.

Although it's a pity that this shop manager isn't from Tiannan City, he's from Great Xia! Right now, Great Xia has more pillar-level powerhouses than the White Eagle side—amazing!

suddenly,

Dai Xin's expression changed slightly. He said, "Breaking news: the shopkeeper has slain a strange being at the Ascension Realm in the Pale Wasteland region!"

Luo Shoujun: "Can this be confirmed? If it can be confirmed, then this shop manager has definitely reached the Transformation Realm, and was not temporarily promoted using any special means."

Dai Xin: "It can be confirmed, and the news also says... says..."

Luo Shoujun: "Dai Xin, when did you become so hesitant?"

Dai Xin said, "It is said that there are two powerful individuals in the safe zone who can withstand the ascension with their extraordinary bodies."

Luo Zhizhu: "Huh?"

The area around the nameless building was previously a restricted zone.

Everyone who comes here has to go around it.

But at this moment, more and more people who had fallen into dreams began to rush towards this place.

Many of them were assigned tasks to conquer members in the surrounding 16 areas.

Many people are simply curious and want to see the traces of battles in the Ascension Realm.

then,

They saw the building with a section cut off, and the many buildings and land around it that had vanished into thin air, as if erased by an eraser.

Half a day later,

"Ding!"

"Notification: You have conquered the Territory-level Nightmare difficulty, and have obtained..."