When Krune came back to himself, he was already inside the Soul World. Sure enough, his Spatial Ring appeared close to him. Also, he was in his wisp form from the very start. After checking his Spatial Ring, he quickly found the searching Spiritual Equipments that his group shared between each other.

Krune first took Laka's red pearl and put his Spiritual Energy into it. Fortunately, it really did work as they predicted. Krune could now tell in which direction Laka and Hanan were located.

​​

As Krune began to move, he noticed that his Soul Power was weakening by the time. That was the Soul World Formation Norzulun talked about.

'At this rate, I would resist at most two days. The others will probably take even less.'

As he looked around, he noticed that this was a dark world. There was no sun to speak of. Not too surprisingly, Divine Sense was restricted here too. However, it could still go further than Krune's Mental Energy. Krune's Divine Sense could reach as far as almost 200km of distance. His mental energy, on the other hand, could only go the same 80km from before.

Nevertheless, Krune decided to use both at the same time. There was no lack of Spiritual Equipment capable of hiding one from Divine Sense. But if those with such type of equipment appeared in his Mental Energy range, he would immediately notice it. Of course, Krune also did the same and covered his wisp body in a layer of Purple Tribulation Lightning.

'Phew... I was in doubt if I would be able to use Tribulation Lightning. It seems like it was also replicated inside. Probably, the formation uses the user's memories for what can exist or not.'

However, Krune soon noticed that Laws could not be used here. That was to be expected. One must remember that this is a nonexistent world, a fake. So how could there be Laws in this place? That being said, everyone's attack power was drastically reduced. Also, it would be impossible to deploy Domains since they are reliant on Laws.

Although Krune couldn't see very well, his Divine Sense was another story. He could tell that other than the lack of light in his range, the rest was pretty much like a regular land. He could see a few hills or mountains inside his Divine Sense. The weird thing is how many trees and plants are available as well. Since there was no sun, Krune expected that the planet would be barren, but that wasn't the case.

'Well, this is a fake world to start with, so I guess that logic won't serve much here.'

But just as Krune began to move, he noticed something weird happening. Some kind of dark energy started to conglomerate together into a single point around 50km away from him. The impressive thing is that his Divine Sense couldn't pick it up. Only his Mental Energy noticed that happening. A few minutes later, that dark energy took the form of an enormous wolf, which immediately dashed in his direction.

'So that is a Nightmare Demon. Even with my Purple Tribulation Lightning layer, it seems like it can tell exactly where I am. Also, only my Mental Energy can feel its presence. I wonder what will happen with the Laka and Hanan.'

But Krune soon noticed that he didn't need to worry. His divine sense couldn't catch its presence, but the dark energy was easy to be felt. The reason was simple, though. The Nightmare Demons were also made of Soul Energy, so his Soul reacted to its presence. It's just that they would be quite close by the time the Souls can feel it.

'It seems like it needs to be at least 10km away before my Soul can detect its presence. I wonder how strong they are.'

In only took a few seconds for the Nightmare Demon to arrive. It then immediately pounced at Krune.

"Tribulation Lightning Movement."

*Zap!*

*Boom!*

The Nightmare Demon's attack hit the ground at full power, creating an enormous crater a hundred meters large. Krune was quite impressed since the demon did it with only the strength of its body.

'Impressive. Although it is made of Dark and Soul Energies, its physical body can still do so much damage. An ordinary peak Divine Path Realm cultivator or demon beast would definitely be severely injured if hit by it. However...'

Before the Nightmare Demon could attack Krune once more, it got assaulted by purple flame blades from all sides.

"Tribulation Blazing Wind Blades!"

That was a little gift Krune left behind the moment he dodged the demon.

*Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish...*

The blades hit its body head-on, cutting as deep as they could and exploding in the end. The demon seemed to be utterly shredded by Krune's attack. However, it was not over. Dark energy began to surge from the surroundings, quickly entering its body. At speed visible with the naked eye, Krune could see its dark body growing back to its original form.

'It can heal itself as well. Also, the lack of Laws affects my strength by a lot. My Tribulation Blazing Winds Blades would have definitely cut through its body instead of stopping in the middle if I was in the real world. But they are simply too weak when I can't use Wind, Fire, and Purple Tribulation Lightning Laws.'

As Krune observed the beast recovering, he also noticed another problem.

'When I attack, I use Soul Power as well. I need to finish it quickly.'

Krune didn't hold back and immediately bombarded the Nightmare Demon Beast. Soon, he noticed a small Dark Core, which kept absorbing the surrounding energy.

'I see, destroying its body is useless, I need to get rid of the Core.'

"Purple Tribulation Line!"

Before the demon's body could reform again, the core was hit by Krune's attack, which pierced right through it. The core then crumbled as a surge of Soul Energy rushed into Krune's Wisp Core.

'Oh... There isn't too much Soul Energy, but it is at least enough to recover the Soul Energy I used to destroy it. Seems like the Nightmare Demons are quite a good source of Soul Energy.'

It was good that the other participants didn't hear Krune's words. Only he with his heaven-defying Soul Power could destroy a Nightmare Demon Beast this easily. Norzulun had made it very clear before the second phase started. Soul Power would directly influence your attack and defense. Krune has the most powerful Soul between all competitors, that's why it seemed okay for him.

But for the others... Well, they also had the power to get rid of the Nightmare Demon Beasts, but the reward in Soul Energy was far from enough to recover what they used. Of course, everyone was still learning how to fight the Nightmare Demons, so they also spent more time and energy to find about the Nightmare Demon's Core.

Krune didn't have much time to keep looking. It seems like the Nightmare Demon's death had attracted other Demons nearby. Krune soon found a Nightmare Demon Cultivator and two Nightmare Demon Beasts rushing in his direction with his Mental Energy.

'They seem to be connected to each other. Once I kill one, I must move away immediately.'

Krune could most likely kill those three, but he decided to not spend too long in a single place. Those Nightmare Demons definitely had the power of Peak Divine Path Realm cultivators and demon beasts. If too many of then gathered together, even Krune would be helpless against them.

"Tribulation Lightning Movement!"

*Zap!*

With a flash of purple lightning, Krune disappeared in the distance. The nearby Nightmare Demons noticed his presence and changed direction, but Krune was simply too fast. There was also a limit to how far they can sense the participants, so once Krune opened enough distance, they stopped the pursuit.

Without a target, those Nightmare Demon beasts spread in several directions. They had only one objective, find the Heavenly Competition participants and get rid of them.

The other participants don't have Krune's Mental Energy, so they only noticed more Nightmare Demon Beasts coming at them after they were already close. Some unlucky ones even got surrounded, which made things very difficult for them.

Some were able to escape; others had no other choice and gave up before dying. Some simply couldn't accept losing here and ended having their Souls destroyed.

Laka was one of those who got surrounded. Fortunately for him, he had Krune's Purple Flame Dragon Pearl, which vastly increased his strength. At first, he kept killing one Nightmare Demon after another. But even he understood that staying there would only lead to his death. With his sturdy Dragon Body and the Purple Flame Dragon Pearl, Laka broke through the encirclement and disappeared in the distance.

"Sigh... these things never stop coming. Well, at least now I know I need to destroy the Cores instead of their bodies. As long as I found lonely ones, I can recover as much Soul Power as I use to kill them and still get some extra. This Purple Flame Dragon Pearl Really helps."

Laka then checked the tracking spiritual equipment and could tell that both Krune and Hanan were coming in his direction.

Hanan was a lot more cautious than Laka. He noticed that after killing the first Nightmare Demon, another two appeared a short moment after. Hanan quickly reached the conclusion that he can't stay put in the same place. That being said, Hanan immediately retreated without even looking behind.

'Hum... Laka is the closest one, and Krune is rushing in his direction too. I better go there, as well.'

Just like that, the second phase started.