New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 108 Nightmare
As the Tiger Demon went down all the way and passed through the stratum representing the 'Midtown Area', the density of the underground passages increased significantly, and 'ventilation ducts' of different thicknesses were opened one after another along the tunnel, with fresh air constantly flowing in or out to maintain the oxygen content in the underground space.

If Uptown is like endless subway tunnels and car tunnels, then Midtown becomes a complex and bustling underground maze.

The prosperous areas are like underground commercial streets and pedestrian streets; while in the deserted areas, there are many hollowed-out "underground holes" on both sides of the passage, similar to the rooms in the surface world.

Unlike the surface world, with its neatly planned streets and buildings of varying heights, the underground world is filled with complex, interwoven tunnels of limited height.

On the ground, you can see distant scenes and judge the direction and distance of different streets by looking out. You can see a large scene at a glance, and if you climb up a tall building, the view is even better and wider.

But the underground was completely different: oppressive, narrow, and short. Everything was visible at a glance. There were only "caves" with doors on either side, and unless you entered, you couldn't see anything. It was even more impossible to understand the underground layout and structure outside this passage.

According to the siblings, if a Zerg travels underground, they can use the pheromones in the air to quickly understand the underground caverns' layout and structure. This is like someone on the surface using their eyes to determine the topography of a street, allowing them to reach their destination directly.

In the 'Central City', the Tiger Demon felt a sense of powerlessness, like a blind man. Even if he could spread his 'Shadow Perception', it could only illuminate a small area of the map's fog.

Fortunately, the [Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture] has a map editing function. You only need to tour the underground world to create a corresponding model to prevent yourself from getting lost.

"Exploring the underground world is too uncomfortable."

Xiao La Tiao: "I heard that the 'lower city' has opened up a much larger underground cave space. It's no longer a maze of tunnels, but a real underground city!"

Along the way, Tiger Demon felt outrageous about the over-dense number of holes and tunnels in 'Midtown'.

Logically speaking, this high-density underground tunnel network and the large number of hollowed-out "cavities" have long violated the laws of physics. Especially at a depth of 30km underground, without sufficient mechanical support, it should have collapsed under the pressure of gravity long ago.

However, the appearance of the Immortal Tree Roots directly defied the laws of physics, allowing the underground world to remain intact even after being hollowed out. Simply attracting a few thick roots around the dense underground cavities would serve as support.

Of course, while observing from the shadows, the Tiger Demon continued to infiltrate the walls, discovering a large number of incomprehensible runes hidden deep within the walls, ceiling, and bottom of the underground tunnel. Special energies flowed within them, forming a vast force field system.

He guessed that this might be some kind of [formation]?
The indigenous people used the roots of the fairyland trees as raw materials, and added some methods of refining and setting up formations to stimulate the spiritual energy contained in the roots of the fairyland trees, allowing the power of the formation to circulate and further support and strengthen the underground space structure of the "Central City"; and they also arranged a complex ventilation system to allow a large number of indigenous people to live densely.

It seems that establishing a [Insect City] requires more than just population and digging holes; it also requires technical support like [Arrays]... which makes perfect sense. Landmark buildings require professional design, and underground insect cities also require [Arrays] support and planning.

Seeing that more and more indigenous people were coming and going in the underground passage, the tiger demon's huge body made it difficult to hide, so it simply hid in the shadows, lurked in the darkness, moved slowly, and observed the outside world curiously.

...

Since entering the bubble world, Yuan Zhu feels that he is back to normal.

He could not escape into the shadow in Running because the restraining force of the Duling planet was too strong and the laws were strict, suppressing all extraordinary powers. Once exceeded, they would be repelled from ascending.

In Running, Tiger Demon could only use shadows superficially. However, after entering the bubble world, the [Shadow Layer] connected with him again.

However, the specifications and level of this world far exceeded those of the [Little West Red Realm], and he couldn't directly open the entrance to the 'Shadow World'. However, he could stay in the gap between the 'Shadow Dimension' and the 'Underworld' for a long time, constantly drawing shadow power to replenish the Tiger Demon.

Therefore, it is possible to achieve infinite shadow stealth, and even dare to stay in the shadow layer for a long time to "sleep", passively practice, and continuously improve the strength of the [BOSS template].

Although it couldn't escape into the Shadow World, an invisible connection had already been established between the two sides. The Tiger Demon had a premonition that if necessary, a full-strength attack, exhausting its entire mana bar, would pierce the Shadow Dimension and force its way in to investigate.

However, wandering into the unknown shadow world while in the 'empty blue' state was somewhat dangerous, so it held back and did not act rashly.

As long as he could hide in the shadow layer and practice for a few days, absorbing more shadow power, he could expand the upper limit of his mana bar again. Then it wouldn't be too late to enter the [Shadow Dimension].

...

According to the "simple map" provided by the siblings, the Tiger Demon sneaked all the way to the more prosperous area of ​​the central city, and released four eggplant-headed ghosts to observe the living conditions of [Cicada City] from multiple angles.

The residents here, in both appearance and clothing style, are more similar to Earth's Eastern civilization. However, their clothing is simpler, tends to be short, and there is no custom of growing hair. It seems like a world where all warriors are the same.

Here, it is true that 'everyone has something to practice, and everyone has something to eat.'

Apart from various "insect-like" ornaments, pendants, necklaces, and daily tools, the local residents do not have any insect-like characteristics on their bodies.

They claim to be [Zerg], but their eyes have normal human-like pupils, and they don't even have compound eyes. They look like pure-blooded humans no matter how you look at them.

However, due to the [Qi Refining Technique], there is a strange smell of pollution in the body. Living in a highly polluted environment for a long time, the body's deviation is abnormally high, like a walking source of pollution.

In the central city area, besides the hurried humans, there are all kinds of strange and polluted insects displayed on stalls and sold.

Among them, cicadas are the most numerous. There are larvae with hard shells, winged adults, and various eggs. Some are alive, some are dead. Small ones look like normal insects, while large ones range in size from fists to balls...

Besides the numerous insect products being sold, one can also see a wide variety of mushrooms, mosses, and very rare plants. The plants in the underground world are very strange, with very few greens, and the majority being purple, blue, and red.

On many of the stalls, he even saw human limbs, cut up and put on sale. They weren't for consumption, but for cultivating medicinal herbs. Some had even sprouted, with runes painted on their skin.

All flesh and blood resources in this barren underground world have been unprecedentedly developed and utilized. In particular, the monks who practiced the art of refining Qi in their lifetime became precious resources after death and must be recycled.

The bizarre pictures opened the Tiger Demon's eyes. After all, this was not a normal world. It was even more outrageous than the Western Red Realm.

...

The Tiger Demon crept downward, the closer it got to the lower half of the "Central City," the greater the pressure it faced. The Tiger Demon itself was fine, remaining hidden within the mezzanine, quite resilient. However, the minions it had sent out to explore Cicada City, occasionally stealing "products" from stalls and sending them into the shadowy mezzanine, had repeatedly caused the "Qi Refining Experts" among the indigenous residents to turn their heads in confusion.

The indigenous people, whose clothing, mental state and social status were obviously superior, would look at the place where the "henchmen" were staying with puzzled expressions from time to time.

Although he didn't find anything, he sensed something on the spiritual level. He looked confused, as if his senses were wrong, and then turned and left.

"Amazing! This [Qi Refining System] practitioner is extremely sensitive in terms of perception."

The closer you get to the 'lower city', the wider the passages become, the better the environment becomes, and the more powerful the number of warriors increases. Besides the more intense and purer 'pollution' they exude, they also wield special insect-type supernatural weapons.

A small number of the "powerful" wore scattered pieces of "metal insect armor" on their arms, legs, chests, and abdomens. The Tiger Demon clearly sensed that these scattered "armor components" were unusual, resonating with the "true qi" in their bodies, as if they had life.

Especially a strong man wearing an "insect mask" on his face, which gave him the illusion of seeing a martial arts version of Kamen Rider.

"Why is the style so outrageous? The upper and middle levels are still in the martial arts style, but why does it jump to [Kamen Rider] in the middle and lower levels?"

Full of curiosity, the Tiger Demon bypassed a patrol-like group of monks and found the road leading to the 'lower city'.

When we reached the area near the 'downtown area', the originally dense and prosperous tunnel network began to decrease, with only a few necessary roads heading downwards.

These passages were wider and more pleasant, but no one dared to linger nearby. Only guards stood guard at intervals, each wearing scattered armor and weapons.

Along the way, several guards successively locked onto the minions in the shadows, and even took the initiative to check. This forced the Tiger Demon to recall these useless people and explore secretly himself.

At this time, the tiger demon hiding in the mezzanine had already filled a backpack with spoils, all of which were research materials that he had collected from one resident after another with his skillful hands.

After passing through a passage with an extremely steep slope, a huge amount of spiritual energy rushed towards him, and the Tiger Demon's vision suddenly became clear.

After diving to an unknown depth, it finally reached the "lower city" at the heart of [Cicada City]. This was no longer a dense maze of tunnels, but a vast underground space several kilometers high. Giant columnar buildings, resembling ant nests, rose from the ground. Thick tree trunks fell from the sky, growing upside down, their branches unfurling, transforming into trees covered in purple leaves.

Ant nests on the ground intertwined with the drooping purple trees in mid-air, each intertwining with the other. Rich spiritual energy and fresh oxygen diffused from the branches and leaves of these trees.

“It’s kind of spectacular!”

Originally, the 'Tiger Demon King', who wanted to conquer [Cicada City] and dominate the world with his strength, or at least use his strength to subdue the local nobles, now obediently gave up the idea of using his strength to suppress others.

He felt that the [Tiger Demon] seemed unable to defeat the nobles entrenched in [Cicada City]. The oppressive feeling brought to him by those purple-leafed reverse-growing trees was no less than that of the [Buddha Eggplant] that spread towards the sky and stars after going berserk.

"Boss, look at the sky in the southwest. There are a bunch of holes in the sky hidden among the purple trees!"

Yuan Zhu looked in the direction Xiao Latiao pointed out. There was a special hemispherical building in that direction. There was a long chimney pipe on top of it, spewing out endless black smoke.

The black smoke made him feel extremely nauseous and disgusted. It was an extremely concentrated pollution, mixed with rolling heat waves. It kept twisting and deforming as it rose, and it also turned into "insect phantoms" that screamed and roared one after another, as if trying to struggle to escape from the black smoke?

But no matter how he rushed and escaped, he was eventually carried by the black smoke and drilled into the "black hole" between the branches of the purple reverse-growth tree.

High in the sky, where the trees intersected each other, dense black holes appeared. Their size was hard to estimate, but they were as dense as a honeycomb. Billowing black smoke was sucked into these "black holes" and disappeared.

Seeing those holes, the Tiger Demon, hiding in the shadows, had an inexplicable epiphany. Simply by 'seeing' them, some inexplicable knowledge crept into its brain, revealing the truth.

[Dream Hole: The entrance to the nightmare world, a secret passage into the dream world.]

Furthermore, his connection to the Shadow Layer was also fluctuating violently. The Shadow told him that if he charged into the Shadow Dimension with all his might, he could also open the Dream Hole leading to the Nightmare, gaining his own entrance. He then urged him to charge quickly and open his own Dream Hole.

Tiger Demon: "???"

So, why did I fall into the nightmare when I opened the [Shadow Dimension]? With this exclusive [Dream Hole], does it mean I have entered the [School of Nightmares]?
"Hey, Snake, what do you think? These 'Dream Holes' give me a strange feeling, yet a little familiar... and an inexplicable urge."

The Tiger Demon suppressed the urge to "open a dream hole" that welled up in his heart. The more he observed the black smoke in the sky being plundered and drawn by the "dream hole", the more he wanted to open a nightmare hole and throw himself into it.

Xiao La Tiao reviewed the various intelligence he had gathered during this period and suddenly said, "I have a bold guess! Could this [Dream Hole] be the [Gate] of the second level of the Duling Spirit?"

Each pollution system is unique, so the levels are determined by the "natural phenomena" triggered by the practitioner's spirit. The first level is "Seed," which essentially condenses a unique "transcendent pollution core." The next level is called "Gate."

"Boss, do you think this [Dream Hole] is like a [Gate] leading to the Nightmare World? Your [Boss Template] has unlimited potential, and you've been hiding in the Garden World to sleep and rest recently, so your strength has increased significantly. Do you think the 'Tiger Demon' has become powerful enough to be able to access the [Gate]?"

Xiao La Tiao offered an unreliable opinion, and Yuan Zhu began to think along her lines: "According to what you said, those holes are all doors? Then how many powerful people are there in Chan City?"

There are at least a dozen Dream Holes in the sky. Based on this ratio, there must be at least a dozen cultivators in [Cicada City] who are no less powerful than the Tiger Demons?!

This is also a [Insect City]. There are at least dozens of Insect Cities in the underground world.

Latiao: "Let's take a closer look? I think we can gather some useful information. Maybe... we can send in a ghost and test it out?"

"You can get closer and take a look, but the minions are precious. Instead of testing them, why not find a safe place, use [Shadow] to open the Nightmare Hole, and throw them in to give it a try?"

"Agree!"

(End of this chapter)