The Empire’s Request for Help, and the Partner with the God of Nightmares…

Cao Xing gently scooped up the beauty; with a "pop" sound, her body gave a slight tremble.

"Let's go, let's go out and take a look together," Cao Xing said in a low voice.

"Mm—" Liu Muxue responded in a sweet voice.

She took a few deep breaths to suppress the surging emotions in her heart, and her expression also returned to calm.

The two quickly got out of bed, put on their clothes, and then each donned their equipment.

They arrived outside the territory at top speed.

"Whoosh—" The cold wind was still howling at night, and the temperature had reached a staggering -70°C.

At this moment, it was snowing heavily outside the territory.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, completely obscuring the moon's radiance; only the lighthouses within the territory were still emitting light.

In the midst of the swirling snow, a hunched figure stood.

It seemed to have been waiting here for a long time, and the snow beneath its feet had already covered its ankles.

It was that lumpy-legged peasant woman from before.

Compared to the last time it came to the territory with that massive, imposing group of demons, this time it was alone.

Seeming to sense Cao Xing's arrival, the lumpy-legged peasant woman quickly raised its head, its gaze fixed directly on him.

Cao Xing floated in mid-air and asked calmly, "Is something the matter?"

That lumpy-legged peasant woman said in a low voice, "The Demon Lord asked me to ask you, when will you hand over the Seed of Light's corpse to us?"

"The Lord said: The Nightmare God has already arrived in this world and is secretly gathering strength; we must act as soon as possible."

It seemed to fear Cao Xing somewhat and didn't dare to speak loudly.

Especially after seeing Liu Muxue beside him, it lowered its head even further, not daring to take another look.

Hearing this, a look of contemplation appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

When the world barrier was breached last time, some gods from the Abyssal Land seized the opportunity to escape.

However, what Cao Xing didn't expect was that after these gods emerged, they didn't act with great fanfare, but all chose to lie low.

The Nightmare God was the same.

Cao Xing didn't know much about the Nightmare God, only that he was a rather vengeful god.

He had originally thought that once this guy came out, he would immediately make a move against him.

But now it seemed that Démǔ was very patient.

Cao Xing asked, "Does your Demon Lord know Démǔ's location?"

The lumpy-legged peasant woman was slightly stunned, then shook its head and said, "I don't know—"

"Then go back and tell him to help me find a way to locate the Nightmare God, and then I will find a way to summon him here."

Since he knew Démǔ had already arrived in this world and had confirmed the other party as an enemy, this guy would sooner or later make a move against him.

Then Cao Xing certainly wouldn't sit and wait for death, waiting for the enemy to come knocking.

Under the current circumstances, striking first was definitely the best course of action.

The lumpy-legged peasant woman seemed to realize something too.

The Otherworld Lord before it wanted to take the initiative to attack and deal with the Nightmare God!

For a moment, a strong sense of disbelief surged in its heart.

After all, that was a god.

Even if he had lost his divinity, he was an existence beyond the reach of ordinary people.

If it were anyone else, they would thank the heavens if the other party didn't come to cause trouble for them.

He actually wanted to actively deal with him; he was simply crazy!

However, when the lumpy-legged peasant woman's gaze swept over the territory behind Cao Xing, it faintly felt a strong sense of oppression in its heart.

It seemed to sense many terrifying auras within it.

Each aura was even capable of killing it easily.

As a demon, it couldn't help but swallow its saliva, and a trace of awe rose in its heart.

Perhaps, with this Otherworld Lord's power, he could really contend with the Nightmare God?

"I… I understand."

"I will go and pass this on to the Demon Lord!"

After saying this, the lumpy-legged peasant woman turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated on the spot.

It seemed afraid that if it left a step too slowly, it would be kept behind by this temperamental human lord.

Watching its figure flee at high speed, Cao Xing smiled: "Why run so fast?"

"I've already promised the Demon Lord that I won't make a move against your demon race."

Beside him, Liu Muxue saw the demon leave and also retracted the Legendary-level aura on her body.

Cao Xing shook his head and said: "Let's go, Muxue, let's go back and rest too."

"Continue doing what we hadn't finished earlier."

Hearing that last sentence, the majesty on this Legendary Aurora Knight's face instantly vanished, turning instead into an incomparable flush.

She lowered her head and responded softly: "Mm—"

The two quickly returned to the Lords Castle.

The matter of the lumpy-legged peasant woman was just an interlude and didn't weigh much on Cao Xing's mind.

With Cao Xing's strength, unless the Demon Lord came in person, this group of demons could no longer pose a threat.

Moreover, he was still in a cooperative relationship with this group of demons.

Currently, the one Cao Xing wanted to deal with more was the Nightmare God Démǔ.

Half an hour later.

On the big bed in the Lords Castle, two figures were locked in close combat.

Liu Muxue's fair arms wrapped around Cao Xing's shoulders, clutching his neck.

Her stunning face turned crimson, and low sounds escaped her lips.

"A-Xing, hold me tight—"

"Okay."

Cao Xing responded softly, then instantly embraced that fiery body.

After a fierce struggle, Liu Muxue suddenly widened her eyes, an indescribable emotion appearing in her beautiful eyes.

Ying! Accompanied by a long sigh, the beauty collapsed limply onto him.

And Cao Xing held Liu Muxue, looking at the ceiling above.

The two shared the tranquility after the storm.

A moment later, Liu Muxue raised her head and said softly: "Oh right, A-Xing, there's something I forgot to tell you."

"What is it?" Cao Xing asked.

Liu Muxue said: "A Survivor sent me a private message a few days ago; the content was fragmented and looked very strange."

"But I pieced together the information he sent and roughly understood what he meant."

"He said he had something very important to find you about, and he had sent you many private messages before, but you didn't reply."

"It seems to be related to the Human Empire."

Cao Xing was slightly stunned; his private chat interface was usually in a closed state.

Except for messages from friends, he basically rarely checked it.

Otherwise, he would be bombarded with a massive amount of private messages every day, and he wouldn't be able to do anything else.

But there were still quite a few people who knew that Liu Muxue was in the same territory as him.

Unable to reach Cao Xing, they turned to Liu Muxue instead.

However, people like this generally really had something important.

"Related to the Human Empire?"

Cao Xing pondered for a moment, then asked: "What is that person's name?"

Liu Muxue took a look and replied: "Meng Yi."

Hearing this name, Cao Xing recalled in his mind, but there was no information about him.

Before this, he shouldn't have had any contact with this person.

"I see, I'll check the messages."

After saying this, Cao Xing opened the private chat interface.

Amidst the massive amount of private messages, he entered the two characters "Meng Yi."

In an instant, only seven messages remained among the huge pile of messages.

These seven messages were all quite strange; they were all sent at the same time every day, even the same second.

Cao Xing clicked on these messages one by one.

A moment later, his brows furrowed slightly.

7 days ago, 00:00.

Meng Yi: "Cao, I am in… the center of the Western Continent… save me."

6 days ago, 00:00.

Meng Yi: "We are currently… all trapped in a dream… only I briefly woke up…"

5 days ago, 00:00.

Meng Yi: "Ancient Dragon Dream Morpheus… has arrived in the Western Continent. I saw some eerie scenes in the dream…"

Meng Yi: "I woke up again… I saw three dragons gathered together… then… one dragon fell…"

"Today's dream is very strange. I saw the entire Western Continent covered by a special power, and those ancient territories were all destroyed…"

"The Human Empire is about to collapse, please help… break the dream…"

After reading the seven messages sent by this Meng Yi, Cao Xing's brows knit together deeply.

Although what he said was somewhat fragmented, he could still roughly understand the meaning and summarized a few points.

1: The Human Empire is covered by the power of another Ancient Dragon, namely Mensis, and all the strong ones, as well as the Survivors within, are trapped in the dream.

2: Everyone else is unable to break free from the dream; only this Meng Yi is quite special, able to wake up at a specific time every day.

3: He saw some special things through the dream, including the scene of three dragons gathering, and one of them falling.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing couldn't help but associate it with his previous guess.

"Does the fall of that dragon portend the death of Zhuoma?"

"Then the other two dragons are the Death Dragon and the Dream Dragon?"

Obviously, the situation now was becoming increasingly complicated.

After all, before this, the six Ancient Dragons were basically in their own territories and would not easily move their positions.

However, through previous clues, Cao Xing deduced that the Death Dragon might be moving from the Northern Continent to the Western Continent.

This continent will gather two Ancient Dragons.

This was already enough to give people a headache.

As it turns out, there is now another Dream Dragon.

Then, there was the information from the next two paragraphs of Meng Yi's message.

One of them stated that the Western Continent would be shrouded by a special power, and the ancient territories in the center of the continent would be destroyed, including the Human Empire, which was also struggling to hold on.

He wanted Cao Xing to go over and dispel the dream of Mensis.

However, faced with such a request, Cao Xing said speechlessly: "Damn it—for a true god-level Dragon like this, it's useless even if you come to me."

Liu Muxue, who was by his side, seemed to notice the worry between Cao Xing's brows and asked softly: "A-Xing, did something happen?"

Cao Xing originally wanted to say it was nothing, but when he thought of his relationship with Liu Muxue, there was no need to hide anything.

Moreover, this woman had strong adaptability and a very clear train of thought.

Often, she would offer some different insights.

Thus, Cao Xing laid out all the information Meng Yi had sent, as well as his own conjectures.

After hearing this, Liu Muxue also realized the complexity of the situation.

"Another Ancient Dragon? Even the Human Empire has been trapped by this Dragon's power—"

Liu Muxue lowered her head to ponder for a moment, then said softly: "This Meng Yi must have seen the previous live stream and known that our territory has several Legendary powerhouses, so he wanted you to step in and help."

Cao Xing nodded: "Yes, but we can't manage this matter."

"The Empire has far more powerhouses than we do. According to the old King, during the Blood Chaos a thousand years ago, they even directly dispatched more than one demigod to defeat Jiang Luo and the Blood Legion."

"If such powerful forces are helpless, we are even less capable of doing anything."

Liu Muxue nodded slightly; she knew that what Cao Xing said was the truth.

Although they were already among the top tier of Survivors globally.

But in this world, there were still many existences far more powerful and terrifying than them.

Even true god-level beings could die, let alone just a few Legendary ones.

At this moment, Liu Muxue seemed to think of something, and a flash of inspiration crossed her eyes: "A-Xing, the things that have happened recently seem to have some connection, or perhaps they are some kind of omen."

"We first came into contact with the resurrected army, and according to your meaning, the Death Dragon might be moving towards the Western Continent."

"Now, will the 'Dream Fragment Layer' event that the system is about to launch be related to the Dream Dragon?"

After listening to her analysis, Cao Xing pondered for a moment.

Then he nodded: "That makes sense—the system wouldn't launch some strange event for no reason."

"From entering this world until now, almost every event has had some connection with this world."

"Perhaps it's also possible that this is to let us adapt to the Dream Dragon's power in advance."

After reaching this conclusion, the two of them fell into deep thought again.

As time passed and their understanding of this world grew.

One Ancient Dragon after another appeared, and even those ancient gods were showing themselves one after another.

No one knew how many more secrets this world still held.

A moment later, Cao Xing shook his head and said: "Let's sleep first, Muxue; we'll talk about these things later."

"Okay." The beauty beside his pillow replied obediently.

Then, the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms—

Outside, heavy snow was falling, and the cold night wind whistled past.

Inside, the house was supplied with heating 24 hours a day, making the environment in the room extremely comfortable.

Before long, sleepiness washed over them like a tide.

However, before falling asleep, Cao Xing still sent a reply to Meng Yi.

Late at night, after the whole world had fallen into a deep sleep.

A hunter wearing a coat and carrying a wooden bow stood quietly in the heavy snow.

Behind him, a large group of pale-faced existences with fanatical eyes were kneeling.

They whispered in low voices, their sounds uniform and devout:

"Listen to the echo, return to the source—"

"The echo never ceases, the faith never dies—"

"The echo is the god's whisper, the guidance of fate—"

The hunter watched them, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

"Very good, the Echo Temple finally has its first batch of fanatics."

"Next, they only need to worship day and night and continuously contribute the power of faith; one day, I will be able to re-condense my godhood."

"And ascend to the position of a god once again!"

Thinking of this, a flash of burning heat crossed his eyes, but he quickly calmed down.

"However—the power of faith provided by these believers is still too little; I still need to recruit more believers."

"But now is not the time for large-scale actions; I need to accumulate more power, otherwise, it is very likely I will be targeted by those guys."

Thinking of this, the hunter's gaze locked onto another small mountain village a dozen kilometers away.

On the other side, the Otherworld Lord with strange markings on his face was currently standing beside the well of a small village.

Beside him, a giant snake with a body length of several dozen meters, covered in pitch-black scales, was coiled on the ground.

Its scarlet tongue flicked out from time to time, making a "hissing" sound, seemingly expressing submission to the young man before it.

This black snake was exactly the one that had been defeated by Cao Xing in the Witch Forest, later escaped from the ancient castle, and then followed the Church of Light to attack Lake Doron City.

Now, it had appeared again and come to the side of the Nightmare God.

"Hiss, hiss." The black snake flicked its tongue, its huge head lowering slightly, appearing exceptionally docile.

The young man reached out and stroked its head a few times: "Not a bad little guy—after sensing that I had emerged, you actually came to find me on your own initiative."

"Considering your loyal following, from now on, you shall follow me."

The black snake seemed to understand his words; its huge body curled up slightly, as if expressing its loyalty.

The young man's mouth curved into an arc, and he gradually turned his head, looking forward.

There, hundreds of villagers dressed in thin clothing were gathered.

At this moment, they all had their eyes closed, their faces pale, as if they had already lost all signs of life.

The young man slowly reached out his hand, making a pulling gesture.

The next moment, a large amount of purple light spots flew out from these villagers and gathered in the young man's hand.

He took a deep breath and absorbed all these light spots into his body.

"Hiss—"

The young man couldn't help but let out a cry of satisfaction, as if he had experienced some kind of intense pleasure, his whole being in a state of sublimation.

A moment later, he let out a heavy breath again.

The expression on his face disappeared, and he became cold and gloomy again.

"I didn't expect that I, the dignified Nightmare God, would actually be reduced to such a state."

"Not only do I have to act sneakily, but I can only target these small villages, with only a few dozen new believers a day."

"At this rate, if I want to recreate the Nightmare Court and re-condense my Nightmare godhood, I don't know when that will be."

You must know that in their prime, which of these gods didn't have tens of millions of believers?

Especially Démǔ, as the god who controlled nightmares, he could enter the dreams of countless living beings.

Furthermore, he had a massive organization—the Nightmare Court—developing believers for him everywhere, drawing an endless stream of the power of faith.

At that time, Démǔ could be said to be infinitely glorious, and the power of faith he absorbed every day was among the top tier of all gods.

But as they were stripped of their godhood and their divine power dissipated, those believers gradually left him.

Including the once-great Nightmare Court, which was also destroyed.

From then on, the name of the Nightmare God gradually disappeared from this continent.

Thinking of this, a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes.

"The current dormancy is only temporary."

"Once I re-condense my godhood, I will definitely take back everything I once lost."

The black snake on the side heard this and seemed to sense its master's mood.

It opened its bloody maw and made a "hissing" sound, seemingly echoing his words.

The young man looked at the black snake's appearance, the ruthlessness in his eyes gradually disappearing, and a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

He patted the black snake's head again, his tone rarely carrying a hint of gentleness: "You little guy are quite intelligent."

"You're quite a good seedling."

Pausing for a moment, a look of contemplation appeared in his eyes.

"It just so happens that I know of a place where a powerful 'Snake Rune Stone' is hidden; let's see if we can get our hands on it and then transplant it into your body."

"Perhaps there's a chance for you to break through to the Legendary realm."

Hearing this, the black snake's eyes instantly turned vertical.

A flash of excitement shone in its scarlet eyes.

Its huge body twisted slightly, as if expressing its anticipation.

The smile on the young man's face deepened a bit more, and he said in a low voice: "Let's go, it's time to take back what belongs to us." After saying this, he led the hundreds of sleeping villagers behind him and headed toward a certain place.

The giant black snake followed closely behind, its huge body sliding across the snow, making a "rustling" friction sound—

(PS: I'm going to catch a dragon tomorrow; there will be a new pet!)