97: Chapter 97 Everyone Enters the Dream, I'll Harvest Their Souls!

[This time, the landing posture was very ungraceful.]

[Tang Xun landed face-first, slammed ruthlessly into a puddle of foul-smelling mud by a massive force.]

["Pah!"]

[He scrambled to sit up in a sorry state, spitting out a mouthful of black mud that tasted like rotting water plants.]

[What met his eyes was a desperate, Desolate Swamp.]

[There were no towering trees here, no primitive, wild vitality.]

[Only rotting withered wood reaching toward the sky like the hand bones of a dead man.]

[The air was so thick it was suffocating, every breath carrying the sour, rotten stench of long-fermented corpses.]

[This hellish place was the complete opposite of that giant's world from just now.]

[Tang Xun didn't rush to move. He first touched the center of his brow.]

[It was as smooth as before, the skin intact, but the moment his fingertips touched it, a strange throb came from deep within his mind.]

[It felt as if a seed that hadn't sprouted yet, or a closed eye, was buried beneath the skin.]

[It was still there.]

[That wasn't a dream.]

[His consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness, where the golden, shimmering "Savage God Dragon Transformation Art" floated quietly. Every character exuded an arrogant vibe of "I am the best in the world."]

["Perfect, let's see what it's made of."]

[Tang Xun didn't care about the filth on the ground. He sat cross-legged in the mud and began to circulate the Cultivation Technique according to the first layer's method in the scripture.]

[There were no Spiritual Qi fluctuations, let alone any light or shadow special effects.]

[As the Cultivation Technique circulated, the gray Death Qi around him—which others would avoid at all costs—actually surged toward him frantically, like sharks smelling blood.]

[Pain.]

[It wasn't intense, but it was dense, like being pricked by needles.]

[That Death Qi drilled into his pores, was crudely crushed and purified by the Cultivation Technique, and finally turned into wisps of icy energy that were forced into his muscles.]

[This feeling was like someone using a steel wool ball to scrub the grime off his muscles.]

["Too many Impurities, the efficiency is a bit low."]

[Tang Xun frowned and stopped the Cultivation Technique.]

[Although it had only been a few breaths, he could feel that his Physical Body had indeed become a tiny bit tougher.]

[This kind of improvement didn't require cultivating a Spiritual Root; it relied purely on plundering energy from the environment to strengthen oneself.]

["Plundering the essence of all things..." He chewed on these words, a playful look in his eyes. "This Cultivation Technique and this place are a perfect match."]

["Or rather, was this place originally a farm prepared for cultivating this thing?"]

[He stood up and patted the mud off his buttocks.]

[This swamp was not empty.]

[Countless fragmented lights and shadows floated on the turbid water surface.]

[They varied in size—some like broken glass, some like fireflies—flickering in and out of existence in the gray mist.]

[Tang Xun waded through the muddy water toward the nearest cluster of light and shadow.]

[That light and shadow was only about the size of a palm, with jagged edges, looking like a torn corner of some image.]

[Just as he came within three feet of this light and shadow...]

[...the invisible vertical line at the center of his brow suddenly burned.]

[Buzz—]

[Tang Xun's vision was instantly pulled away. The swamp before him disappeared, replaced by a narrow perspective.]

[In the image, a young Cultivator in black robes was kneeling on a mountain of golden Spirit Stones, laughing so hard he was drooling.]

["I'm rich! It's all mine! No one even think about snatching it!"]

[This person was a Disciple of the Heavenly Demon Valley.]

[At this moment, this fellow was death-gripping a huge Top-Grade Spirit Stone. The expression on his face shifted from ecstasy to ferocity, and finally, he actually opened his mouth and bit into that Spirit Stone.]

[Crack.]

[It wasn't his teeth that shattered, but his head.]

[That wasn't a Spirit Stone at all, but a Ghoul with a mouth full of sharp teeth.]

[The image came to an abrupt halt.]

[The moment that Heavenly Demon Valley Disciple's head was bitten off, the cluster of light and shadow also dimmed, finally turning into a stream of pure mental energy that was swallowed in one gulp by the vertical line on Tang Xun's brow.]

[Burp.]

[A satisfied burp seemed to echo in his mind.]

[A warm current flowed from the center of his brow throughout his body. The slight stinging pain from his earlier cultivation disappeared instantly, and his spirit felt fuller than ever before.]

[Tang Xun stood in place, stunned for two seconds.]

[Then, he smiled.]

[His smile was even more arrogant and malicious than that of the Heavenly Demon Valley Disciple just now.]

[He had a rough idea of the current situation.]

[This Secret Realm was divided into two layers.]

[Those fools outside, whether they were Core Formation Elders or Nascent Soul True Lords, were all trapped in the "Front World," undergoing illusion tests woven from their inner desires.]

[Just like that unlucky Heavenly Demon Valley Disciple just now.]

[That was the first round of screening.]

[And he, because of the giant's gift, or perhaps because of this eerie "eye," had skipped the exam entirely and entered the back-end administrator mode.]

[This place was the "Back World."]

[It was a Soul scrapyard for all the failures.]

[All those who failed or died in the illusions—their shattered Divine Souls and obsessions would turn into these light and shadow fragments, floating over this swamp.]

[For others, this was a place of death.]

[But for Tang Xun, who possessed the Savage God Dragon Transformation Art and this strange eye...]

[He looked at the dense, countless light and shadow fragments covering the swamp and rubbed his hands together.]

["What bullshit trial."]

["This is clearly a buffet."]

["Fellow Daoists, you just take your time enjoying your dreams. I'll graciously accept your inheritance."]

[Tang Xun rolled up his sleeves, not caring how disgusting the mud beneath his feet was. Like a miser who had seen gold all over the ground, he lunged toward the nearest large patch of light and shadow fragments.]

[To refuse a gift from heaven is to invite disaster.]

[Time to eat!]}],