Chapter 86: News of the Mother Goddess

After a round of exchange and leaving behind means of contact,

the three of them each disguised themselves and left the coffee shop.

In the following days, Gune continued his steady routine of idling and cultivating, immersing himself in the contemplation of the world's mysteries.

Unbeknownst to him, the time had come for the agreed-upon second exchange with the Steel Sorcerer "Thorstein."

Inside a quiet room of a small inn.

Whoosh...

Passing through the grotesque plane that pierced the barriers of flesh and nightmare,

Gune arrived in the Blood Dream World.

Then, Gune opened the door and stepped onto the street.

After glancing around, he walked toward the distant castle of the Supernatural Association on the mountainside.

As he walked, Gune pondered to himself.

"I've been hunting too many pirates these past few days; they've all fled this area."

"Looks like I need to switch locations. I hear there are plenty of pirates near some northern ports."

What Gune didn't know was

that during these days of his relentless pirate slaughter and blood crystal farming,

the rumor of the "Curse of Misfortune" among pirates had already spread throughout the Dragon Head Great Seaport.

It was said that in the nightmare world, a terrifying creature hunted one vicious pirate after another in their dreams.

Every nightfall, even if you didn't sleep, this creature might find you, drag you into the nightmare world, and beat you senseless.

If you died in the nightmare, this creature would devour your flesh and soul.

Being beaten in a nightmare was already unbearable.

Waking up to find your qi and blood depleted, your constitution weakened, or even a splitting headache and soul damage—that was a double blow.

At first, it was just a rumor circulating in the nearby area.

But as more and more people fell victim to this nightmare creature,

many realized that a truly grotesque and terrifying nightmare creature had likely arrived at the Dragon Head Great Seaport.

This nightmare creature fed on evil.

Like an angel, it specifically targeted pirates.

If that were all, it might be bearable.

After all, among pirates, there were also experts who could enter the dream world.

Once the news spread, many dream experts entered dreams to patrol the area for traces of the nightmare creature.

But the result was that they found nothing.

And the nightmare creature continued to hunt pirates every night as usual.

This meant that even dream experts found it difficult to deal with this creature.

No one knew what the nightmare creature looked like; they only vaguely sensed it was a terrifying, demon-like grotesque nightmare being.

This nightmare creature followed pirates like a curse, clinging to them like a shadow. Even some pirates who had left the Dragon Head Great Seaport on demon ships couldn't escape its pursuit.

Moreover, this grotesque nightmare creature was impossible to deal with.

In recent days, rumors about the nightmare creature had begun to intensify.

Even whispers about pirates being "infected by nightmare memetic curses," "gazed upon by a terrifying creature," or "the awakening of mysterious grotesque powers" had started to spread.

But regardless, within the Dragon Head Great Seaport, pirates were beginning to tremble in fear—that was an undeniable fact.

...

Half an hour later,

Gune arrived at the entrance of the Supernatural Association's castle on the mountainside.

As soon as he got there, he froze in place.

At the spot where he had met the two seniors, Thorstein and Gultong, a few days earlier,

two items were conspicuously left behind.

There lay a blood crystal, large and round.

Beside it, a soul fragment, long and wide.

Looking at these "blood crystals" and "soul fragments" left behind upon death,

Gune vaguely guessed what had happened.

With a flick of his hand, he collected the blood crystal and soul fragment.

Then, Gune began to condense a blood sphere, completely enveloping himself.

After a moment of waiting, Thorstein's deep voice rang out.

"Friend, since you're here, just pull me in directly!"

"Mm!" Gune replied.

Following the direction of the voice, Gune used [Blood Origin · Great Blood Dream Curse] to pull Thorstein into the Blood Dream World.

Once inside the Blood Dream World, Thorstein looked around.

Seeing nothing, his gaze fell on the man-sized blood sphere that was Gune.

Gune raised a hand and quickly condensed a massive blood sphere around them, enveloping both of them.

Even now, Gune wouldn't let any potential eavesdropping experts overhear their conversation.

"How did it go?" After a moment of deliberation, Gune asked in a low voice.

"An unprecedented victory!" Thorstein laughed.

Hearing this, Gune breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good thing my deduction was correct; if it had been a blunder, I'd have been embarrassed."

"At the same time, this confirms that my scrying methods, with almost no fate shackles, hold a great advantage when contending with other forces."

"Now that my fate shackles are completely severed, it means everything I scry is true, and my enemies can't detect my scrying, let alone stop it."

"That's excellent." Gune nodded slightly.

"What were the specifics?" Gune asked, calming his mind.

"That island hidden deep in the mist was not only the lair of the Mother Goddess of the Human-Faced Flower Cult but also their painstakingly built stronghold of decades."

"This time, five 'Divine Envoys' and over twenty Grandmasters participated in the battle."

"In one engagement, we pursued the Mother Goddess of the Human-Faced Flower Cult for over five thousand kilometers. In the end, she used divine power to escape."

"However, by using divine power, the world's suppression on her will become even stronger and more terrifying; she likely won't be able to accomplish much in the future."

"The Mother Goddess escaped, but the other Grandmaster-level experts weren't so lucky."

"In this battle, we directly killed over fifteen Grandmasters of the Human-Faced Flower Cult; the rest were severely wounded and fled."

"Three Flower Emperor bodies were slain."

"At least twenty Flower King bodies."

"Pity, those Flower King and Flower Emperor bodies of the Human-Faced Flower Cult were too cunning; many escaped."

"As for the intermediate and high-level supernaturals, countless were killed or wounded."

"And the entire stronghold was uprooted by the several Divine Envoys."

"This battle was an unprecedented, exhilarating victory. It dealt a heavy blow to the Human-Faced Flower Cult, even damaging their foundation. They won't recover for a long time, giving us a huge relief! Hahaha..."

At this point, Thorstein couldn't help but burst into laughter.

He hadn't told anyone about this news; sharing such exciting news now was especially satisfying.

Hearing Thorstein's words, Gune felt a thrill run through him, his whole body relaxed.

The Human-Faced Flower Cult and their followers had been causing trouble and harming lives everywhere; finding their stronghold and crippling them in one battle—

how could that not be exhilarating?

Gune wanted to ask about Meisha's fate, but considering that no one would likely notice her existence at this time, he refrained to avoid exposing her identity.

After all, the longer Gune could keep his Blood Dreamer identity hidden, the better.

Two days earlier, [Blood Origin · Great Blood Dream Curse] had reached level one, allowing him to pull Meisha into the Blood Dream World from an extreme distance.

To avoid interfering with the siege of the Human-Faced Flower Cult by the many experts, Gune hadn't rashly pulled Meisha.

Now that the battle was over,

when he returned, he could use Meisha's blood to pull her and determine whether she was alive or dead.

After a hearty laugh, Thorstein continued.

"Of course, this great victory is significant in itself. Secondly, by striking the Human-Faced Flower Cult's stronghold, we sent a powerful signal: we can find those evil gods."

"This will create a greater deterrent to the activities of those evil gods and their followers, making them even more afraid to act recklessly."

"This battle has had an enormous impact."

Thorstein then looked at Gune and asked softly,

"The information you provided, friend, is invaluable."

"If you have any requests, I, Thorstein, will certainly report them to the Association's higher-ups. I believe that as long as the request isn't excessive, the Association will fully satisfy it."

"Also, do you know of any other strongholds or the locations of the other two evil gods?"

After thinking for a moment, Gune said softly, "There are indeed some things I'd like the Supernatural Association to help me with, but not right now."

"As for the locations of those evil gods and other strongholds, I don't have detailed information yet, but I think I should be able to find some soon."

"When I do, I'll let you know." Gune said.

Thorstein's expression shifted slightly upon hearing this.

"I suspected before that this guy might be a powerful Star Domain Sequence from beyond the stars with extraordinary abilities. Now it seems that's the case."

"Otherwise, how could he find the detailed locations of those evil gods and their strongholds?"

With this thought, Thorstein bowed slightly to Gune.

"Then I thank you very much, sir."

"Also, there's one more thing." Thorstein said after a moment's hesitation.

"When you leave, I hope you can send us back."

"Otherwise, I find that we seem to be completely trapped in the Blood Dream World by a strange force."

"We can only leave through death."

"If our projection bodies die here in the Blood Dream World, though our main bodies are unharmed, they will still suffer some damage."

"Last time, after Gultong and I returned, his soul seemed to be somewhat damaged; it'll take about a week or two to barely recover."

"And I lost a small amount of qi and blood."

"I think since you can easily pull us into the Blood Dream World, sending us back shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Hearing this, Gune thought for a moment and then nodded in response.

"I was indeed a bit careless last time. Rest assured, I'll send you back this time."