From the outside, this egg didn’t look very smooth; in fact, it even had some black and gray speckles typical of stone. But when touched with a finger, it gave off a strangely warm sensation.

Grant Sullivan stared at the beast egg without moving. After a short while, his head suddenly buzzed, his consciousness grew hazy, and a series of bizarre images appeared before his eyes.

He seemed to be soaring high in the sky. Below, among mound-like mountain peaks, a massive black horse wreathed in roaring flames was desperately fleeing forward. Suddenly, its body dropped, and a giant claw the size of a small hill reached out, grabbing the beast and tearing it in two. Then, with a triumphant tilt of its head, it let out a clear cry, and from both sides, two enormous blue bird heads darted out like lightning, each snatching up half of the beast’s corpse and swallowing it, emitting the same clear cry.

He forced himself to glance to both sides, and what he saw shocked him to his core. Everything before his eyes shattered and dissolved, and after another moment of disorientation, the stone chamber reappeared before him.

He was still sitting cross-legged on the cushion, holding the stone egg, but now his head felt heavy and his mind was utterly exhausted.

Grant Sullivan drew in a sharp breath, his gaze fixed and dazed on the beast egg in his hands.

The last scene he saw was of four identical blue bird heads on each side, each as large as a pavilion, with neck feathers as crystalline and translucent as blue ice. All the blue bird heads grew from the same body, and if he included the main head that he himself represented, this was actually a colossal bird with nine heads.

“Nine-Headed Ghost Cuckoo, this is the egg of a Nine-Headed Ghost Cuckoo! Only this ancient fierce bird matches perfectly. If it really is this beast, then I’ve truly stumbled upon an incredible fortune this time.” Grant Sullivan’s thoughts raced, and after a moment he found the answer, drawing in another sharp breath, but then he was overwhelmed with joy.

According to legend, the Nine-Headed Ghost Cuckoo was born from primordial filth, able to wield the power of extreme cold, and from birth could devour ghosts and eat monsters. Once fully grown, it could even eat flood dragons and swallow phoenixes, ranking among the most terrifying of ancient beasts.

If he could use its essence blood to create a bloodline mark, even if it only granted him one or two percent of this beast’s innate power, it would be enough for him to run rampant in the Nightmare Realm.

Thinking this, Grant Sullivan carefully placed the beast egg back in its box, then took out a variety of miscellaneous items from his person, including a half-magic spirit brush, a small bottle of prepared spirit liquid, several multicolored spirit stones, and a few jade plates of various shapes.

He grabbed the spirit brush and the small bottle of spirit liquid, then walked to the center of the stone chamber and began to carefully draw out a certain magic array.

……

A few days later, outside the door of Grant Sullivan’s secluded chamber, Victor Sullivan was pacing anxiously in front of Warren, his face full of worry.

“Warren, has Brother Chen still not come out? We really can’t wait any longer.” Victor Sullivan suddenly stopped in his tracks and said impatiently.

“Young Master Tu, before the young lord went in, he instructed that no one was to disturb him until he came out.” The page boy shook his head, insisting.

“But…”

“Victor Sullivan, is it time to go to the Nightmare Palace?” At that moment, Grant Sullivan’s voice suddenly came from behind.

“Young lord!”

“Brother Chen, you’re finally out. The clan’s team heading to the Nightmare Palace is about to depart.”

The page boy and the chubby youth were both overjoyed at these words and quickly turned to look.

With a creak, the door opened, and Grant Sullivan walked out, smiling at the two of them.

……

Half a month later, on the surface of Qiongyao Lake, the black vortex had expanded to an astonishing size of over a thousand acres. The black palace at its center was now almost fully revealed, with only about a tenth of it still faintly hidden within the vortex.

Across the vast lake, more than a hundred flying magic vessels of various sizes were densely parked. Most were in the shape of carriages or boats—some as large as palatial halls, others only big enough for two or three people to stand.

The most eye-catching was a giant dragon boat, dozens of zhang long from bow to stern, with a palace-like cabin in the center divided into three levels, its surface adorned with carved dragons and painted phoenixes, resplendent in gold and jade.

On the deck at the front of the dragon boat stood a dozen or so young men and women in golden robes, pointing and gesturing at the nearby flying vessels and the black vortex, acting as if no one else was present.

Meanwhile, the people on the other flying vessels all looked at the group on the dragon boat with furtive, awed expressions.

Just then, a sound of something breaking through the air came from the distant sky. First a black dot appeared, then it rapidly grew larger as it approached.

Only then did people see clearly—it was a giant sea turtle, its shell pale green, covered by a hemispherical white light shield, with the vague shapes of people standing inside.

“Hmph! That’s the Xuanwu mechanical beast—the Yue family has arrived too.” One of the young men on the dragon boat snorted coldly at the sight of the giant turtle.

“Tsk tsk, I’ve long heard that the Yue family, one of the other two great immortal clans, is unmatched in the art of mechanical puppet beasts. Seeing it with my own eyes today, it truly lives up to its reputation.” Someone nearby stared at the giant turtle with shining eyes, exclaiming in wonder.