The moment Shen Bai unleashed his Divine Hundred Miles Divine Power, he became a blur of afterimages.

Simultaneously, his sword and fists grew even more terrifying.

Burst Speed.

Shen Bai was pushing the Explosive Speed Attribute of Divine Hundred Miles to its absolute limit.

Empowered by this terrifying speed, every punch and sword strike became even more potent.

Shen Bai felt that ’even if the Sect Leader were resurrected, he wouldn’t be able to withstand a single one of my strikes in this Burst Speed state.’

There were no flashy special effects; every one of Shen Bai’s punches and strikes was brutally simple and direct.

But their power was as devastating as a landslide, and within a few breaths, the ground was strewn with members of the Jia Division.

"Haaa..."

Shen Bai wiped the blade of Cold Moon with his fingers and let out a long breath, his gaze turning toward the white fog in the distance.

Half of the Qi in his body was gone, making even Shen Bai feel that the battle had been quite perilous.

After all, this was a group of Meridian Realm masters, all of them battle-hardened members of the Observatory. Not a single one of them was a slacker.

Thus, from Shen Bai’s perspective, consuming half of his Qi was already an astronomical amount.

Of course, if anyone else knew that Shen Bai had defeated a whole group of Meridian Realm masters—a clear case of overcoming adversity and attacking upward—while using only half his Qi, their eyes would go wide in disbelief.

After all, his only loss was Qi; there wasn’t a single scratch on him.

These members of the Jia Division were lucky. They were all battle-hardened and experienced; otherwise, the slightest carelessness would have cost them their lives at Shen Bai’s hands.

As he looked at the heavily injured and unconscious Jia Division members on the ground, Shen Bai sensed the dense surrounding fog beginning to dissipate. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"What, finally decided to show yourself?" Shen Bai said coolly. "It seems even a supernatural entity can’t sit still at a time like this."

The Nightmare hadn’t affected him. ’I don’t know why,’ Shen Bai thought. ’Perhaps it has to do with the situation I encountered when I first entered.’

’After all, I was the only one who entered that mysterious, dark environment.’

’Of course, I’m also certain I haven’t fallen into a dream within a dream.’

’I’m not acting erratically like those Jia Division members.’

The surrounding white mist was now rapidly vanishing.

It disappeared as if it had never existed, completely gone in just a few breaths.

Simultaneously, the wailing members of the Jia Division who had been lying on the ground also vanished along with the mist.

"A little interesting. So you’re not planning to come out?" Shen Bai said coolly, surveying the landscape as the fog receded.

As he spoke, the changes in his surroundings became clear.

The white fog scattered, revealing the same theater from the very beginning.

This time, however, the theater was very different.

At the very front of the theater, a statue stood upon the stage.

The statue had eight arms and three faces, each one bearing a sinister, cold expression.

A faint, eerie aura emanated from the statue.

A sinister cold radiated from it, spreading relentlessly and plunging the theater back into a terrifying chill.

But Shen Bai did not see the person he was hoping to find.

"In other words, you want to control Landlord Long, but you can’t manage it just yet."

’The Nightmare makes people lose all rationality in the dream, but I haven’t encountered Long Yan. This proves the Nightmare is trying to control Long Yan, but is failing.’

The moment Shen Bai said this, the statue—a manifestation of the Nightmare—began to tremble violently.

Its three faces quivered, and its eight arms swayed like seaweed.

A peculiar, sinister chill enveloped Shen Bai.

He felt an eerie presence bore into his mind, as if trying to alter his thoughts.

But just as quickly, as Shen Bai silently activated the Mystic Heart Spell, the eerie presence vanished without a trace.

Control was all about influencing another’s mind.

And the Mystic Heart Spell happened to have two Attributes perfectly suited to resolving Shen Bai’s current predicament.

"Looks like there’s nothing more to wait for." Shen Bai shook his head and walked up to the statue.

As he approached, the statue emitted an even more intense, sinister chill, attempting to influence his mind.

But it had no effect on him whatsoever.

Shen Bai shook his head, then thrust forward with Cold Moon.

Cold Moon pierced straight through the statue, which instantly crumbled into a pile of ash.

A moment later, five wisps of Evil Qi materialized before Shen Bai, which he promptly collected.

Shen Bai raised an eyebrow, thinking, ’Not bad. Another great haul.’

He had now accumulated fifteen wisps of Evil Qi. That was a considerable amount, enough to support a second qualitative transformation for one of his Divine Powers, or to appraise a few Deceitful Objects.

Shen Bai had initially thought this trip would yield nothing. After all, according to Liu Wufeng’s plan, they were just supposed to investigate the situation first and then decide on a course of action.

But he never expected to get into a baffling fight with the Jia Division, then run into the Nightmare, and even obtain five wisps of Evil Qi from it.

Shen Bai needed Evil Qi, so for him, this was a welcome windfall.

As this thought crossed his mind, the surrounding scenery collapsed like a building stripped of its foundations.

Shen Bai felt a wave of disorientation, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a courtyard at the Observatory.

Shen Bai sheathed Cold Moon at his waist. ’Looks like it really was aimed at me,’ he thought.

’Even the way I entered the Dream Realm was different from everyone else. It’s obvious that I was the target this whole time.’