For the past month or so, it had watched helplessly as Hu Qi devoured no fewer than five Dream Eyes in succession.

The way he controlled Dream Eyes was simply too brutal. Even though it had existed in this world for a long, long time, it had never heard of anything like it.

’This guy is an absolute monster. Could it be that, like me, he was also formed from some Dream Eye I’ve never heard of?’

Its line of thinking was not without reason.

It was mainly because Hu Qi’s various actions didn’t seem like those of a normal human.

Besides, the number of Dream Eyes in this world was vast, and new ones would even appear over time.

It wasn’t impossible that such a special type of Dream Eye really existed.

But Hu Qi was completely unaware of these thoughts from Hu San, nor did he have any mind to care.

After dealing with the Dream Eye in the Ancient Castle, Hu Qi prepared to leave.

As he did, several bodies appeared on the ground. The corpses were quite strange—their bodies seemed to have been air-dried, hard as rock. There were both men and women.

These were all ordinary people who had previously been hanging in midair by ropes.

They had all clearly died at the hands of the Dream Eye that resided here.

They only fell from above after Hu Qi devoured the Dream Eye.

Hu Qi also noticed something.

They had the emblem of a certain school on them, making it easy to guess...

...that they were probably a group of young people who, driven by curiosity and a thirst for adventure, had wanted to enter the Ancient Castle to explore.

Moreover, judging by the style of their clothes, they didn’t seem to have all come here at the same time.

The time span was likely more than a decade.

Normally, if a person is hanged...

...the body, under the influence of gravity, remains in a suspended state for a long time.

The area of the neck compressed by the rope would inevitably leave a clear ligature mark, along with varying degrees of bruising and skin abrasions.

As time passes, the body gradually undergoes a series of decompositional changes. First, livor mortis would appear on the lower, uncompressed parts of the body.

Then it would slowly spread. Next, the body would gradually swell and discolor, and the internal tissues would begin to break down.

It would then start to emit a foul, pungent odor, and might even bloat due to the buildup of decomposition gases.

But the bodies before him were completely different. Their skin was still intact, but all their flesh and blood seemed to have been sucked dry, giving them an indescribably eerie appearance.

However, after devouring this Dream Eye, Hu Qi understood the reason.

This Hangman’s Rope wasn’t just for tying people up. To some extent, it also possessed the Ability to suppress Dream Eyes and could drain the flesh, blood, and Vitality of those it bound.

Once bound by this Hangman’s Rope...

...it was equivalent to stepping through death’s door. This was also the reason it was called the ’Hangman’s Rope’.

Although this Hangman’s Rope was quite powerful, it was not an original Dream Eye.

As for why the Hangman’s Rope around Hu San’s neck was able to suppress it...

...besides the Nightmare Power contained within the Hangman’s Rope itself...

...more importantly...

...Hu Qi had previously devoured numerous Dream Eyes, such as the Bone Shattering Hammer that Wei Fan coveted.

After these Dream Eyes’ powers were refined by Hu Qi using the Crimson Sun Demon Elephant Flame Prison Skill, he could mobilize them at will without needing to manifest them.

Even an ordinary punch or move could carry the power of these Dream Eyes.

Right now, the stacked Abilities of numerous Dream Eyes were what successfully suppressed Hu San.

However, this method was still slightly weaker than directly unleashing the full power of a Dream Eye itself.

Hu Qi stepped over the eerie corpses and continued toward the door.

But just as he reached the entrance, his steps suddenly halted. He frowned slightly, his gaze turning in a certain direction.

’Ouyang Shuokong is in trouble!?’

Just a moment ago, his main body had sent him a warning. The portion of Divine Soul Origin belonging to Ouyang Shuokong had now fallen into an extremely weakened state.

For this to happen, there was only one possibility: the other party had been severely injured, perhaps even to the point of near death.

At this thought, Hu Qi’s expression shifted slightly. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Although Ouyang Shuokong was no match for him, he was by no means a simple character.

Moreover, Ouyang Shuokong had been following his orders, trailing that suspected Heaven’s Chosen One, Wei Fan.

Ouyang Shuokong had been consistently sending him information before, but there had been no word for the past few days.

Originally, Hu Qi hadn’t thought much of it; after all, it wasn’t the first time this had happened in the last month.

But looking at it now, combined with the current situation, something was clearly wrong.

’Looks like I have to go back and check.’

The moment the thought occurred,

Hu Qi’s figure seemed to turn ethereal and transparent, piercing straight through the heavily sealed, thick wooden door and appearing outside.

The Ancient Castle was in a rather remote location. The main door, as well as the windows, were all sealed shut with sheet metal.

However, the metal sheets on some of the windows looked newer.

Presumably, after someone had discovered the desiccated bodies, they had resealed the windows to prevent any further incidents.

And so the bodies were naturally left inside the Ancient Castle.

After all, no one would be foolish enough to venture back inside for a few corpses.

Or perhaps it was because of the frequent Nightmare incidents in this area.

The local authorities also had their concerns, which was why the place seemed so desolate.

Hu Qi glanced to the side.

Surrounding the Ancient Castle was a ditch several meters wide.

It was autumn, and the trees were bare and bleak.

The surface of the water in the ditch was covered with withered yellow leaves, but there was no sign of any fish.

After coming outside, Hu Qi moved. He grabbed Hu San, who was beside him, and leaped directly into the water, vanishing without a trace.

Strangely, the water’s surface didn’t splash, but merely rippled outward in concentric circles.

It looked...

...as if a single, light leaf had fallen onto it.

If one looked closely, they would discover that the water’s surface, which had been reflecting the dim sky, had now bizarrely transformed to show an entirely different scene.

However, the image was fleeting and quickly returned to normal.

The ripples gradually faded, and the withered leaves on the surface floated back, once again covering that patch of water.

...

「Yu Country, Cyan Seal City, Central District.」

On a cold, desolate street, rain fell steadily, forming small puddles on the ground.

The dim yellow streetlights cast a faint glow, their halos blurring even more in the rainy mist.

Just then,

a blurry figure appeared at the end of the street, as if slowly materializing from the cold, damp mist.

Perched on the figure’s shoulder was what looked like a palm-sized creature.

It was none other than Hu Qi and Hu San, who had been thousands of miles away just moments before.

As he devoured more Dream Eyes,

the Nightmare Power he could wield grew even stronger.

Coupled with the fact that he had no fear of a Dream Eye’s backlash, he used Ouyang Shuokong’s aura as a beacon to travel here directly from the Mirror World.

"Hm?"

He frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping around.

’Ouyang Shuokong’s aura is clearly supposed to be right here.’

But after he arrived, it had become faint and erratic.

As if it were being obscured by something.

Thinking of this,

Hu Qi closed his eyes.

He brought his index and middle fingers together and pressed them to the center of his forehead.

The next instant,

a special wave of energy suddenly pulsed outward from him, with his body as the epicenter.

For a moment, the falling rain all around him seemed to freeze in place.