Locke heard birds and beasts in the Emerald Dream's jungle fleeing and scattering in groups, as if something terrifying was in the distance.

Before he could react, he saw an Ancient Life Tree treant walking toward them from afar.

Locke was stunned for a moment, not expecting to encounter an Ancient Life Tree here. But thinking carefully, since the Emerald Dream was the underworld for plants and one of the planes where natural forces were most concentrated, having First Circle level Ancient Life Trees wasn't strange.

But the next moment, Grace looked at Locke and said, "Fly up. Don't hesitate, don't think."

As she spoke, she shook the Wind Bell Dandelion in her hand, jumped up from the apple tree leaf, and flew toward the sky.

Although Locke didn't understand her meaning, he immediately used Plant Mimicry: Green Dragon to fly up as well, his massive mental dragon presence descending on the surroundings.

At the same time, he looked down and saw the seemingly sacred Ancient Life Tree in the distance casting toward him and Grace a life spear formed from branches of the Ancient Life Tree's canopy.

That life spear destroyed the canopy of the apple tree they had been standing on, simultaneously summoning a spiritual spring. But that spring wasn't life-giving spring water that could nourish life. Instead, it was completely pitch-black, emitting a foul stench, a special type of spiritual spring water.

Locke looked in astonishment at the pool of black spiritual spring water surrounding the life spear below his feet, finding it hard to believe this was magic released by an Ancient Life Tree.

At the Cloud Marsh Cup, he had seen the spring of life released by Edgar's Ancient Life Tree. That spring water could constantly restore living beings' life force, worthy of being called a divine artifact.

But this pool of filth below was the opposite.

Just flying above it, Locke and Grace developed skin rashes. The edges of Locke's Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow's banana leaves began curling inward, and the roots of Witch Grace's Wind Bell Dandelion also began yellowing.

"Such powerful malevolence." Locke's expression changed slightly, sensing that the power below was extremely similar to natural force yet completely different. This caused his life magic to be very easily polluted by it.

He looked up into the distance and saw that massive Ancient Life Tree treant, upon discovering their target, actually uprooted itself at a speed impossible for treants and charged madly toward them.

Like a person dying of thirst in a desert who discovers a water source and runs over frantically.

At the same time, the Ancient Life Tree's appearance changed. From a beautiful, powerful, sacred, and perfect Ancient Life Tree, it transformed into an ugly mutated treant with grotesque, stubby roots that looked like deformed roots, with withered yellow branches.

Only in its outline could one vaguely see that it had once been an Ancient Life Tree.

A terrible power had twisted the original Ancient Life Tree.

Locke immediately used the wizard's Spiritual Vision. He discovered that this Ancient Life Tree was still composed of aggregated plant spirits, not a real magical plant.

So it didn't have the common weakness of treants being slow runners.

It fundamentally wasn't an Ancient Life Tree, or it had once been an Ancient Life Tree, but now it wasn't.

"They destroyed me. They destroyed me for themselves. They destroyed me despite my pleas." A red eye suddenly grew on the trunk of this strange existence transformed from the Ancient Life Tree, then one eye after another drilled out from its trunk.

Like a beautiful dream turning into a nightmare.

The strange existence let out an odd tone. "In the end, they also destroyed themselves. Hahaha~"

"This land should be destroyed. Nightmares will destroy all beauty."

The nightmare transformed from the Ancient Life Tree no longer produced spring water around it, but murky, foul-smelling black water. That black water with strong acidic properties touched the soil, causing it to crack and harden. Plants yellowed, withered, blackened, and developed mold spots.

The originally docile magical creatures in the Emerald Dream, after touching that black water, found the black sewage transforming into tiny black worms that drilled into the magical creatures through their pores, entering them and causing those magical creatures to fall into abnormal berserk states.

The originally gentle Purple Demon Leopard King's eyes immediately turned black, then it bared its fangs and claws, staring at Locke and Witch Grace.

Locke realized that this strange creature whose predecessor was an Ancient Life Tree was currently, fundamentally, a nightmare.

However, this was his first time encountering a nightmare. He only felt a terrible malevolence emanating from the nightmare.

Moreover, his life magic became polluted by its malevolence just by getting close.

Locke maneuvered the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow to dodge the Purple Demon Leopard King lunging at him. He saw the Leopard King transform into purple afterimages in mid-air, moving through the air like a sharp blade.

The Purple Demon Leopard King came with Evocation School spell-like abilities, meaning magical creatures' innate spell abilities. It could transform into something similar to an evocation blade in mid-air, moving rapidly through the air while attacking enemies.

Possessing speed, strength, and attack power, only its defense was relatively weak compared to same-level creatures. It had always been a very efficient killer in nature.

But at this moment, what it encountered wasn't Locke in the outside world, but Locke in the Emerald Dream, blessed with Emerald Dream power, possessing a natural avatar with unlimited magical power.

Locke raised his hand with a killing move. A beam of Myst's Power transformed into a giant axe, eliminating that magical creature controlled by nightmare power.

Locke saw the life nightmare attacking toward him, "Doomsday, when will you arrive! That is the end of all life!"

Streams of black sewage attacked toward him. Locke removed the Angel's Tear bracelet that Witch Yekaterina had given him.

It was better to take this thing off during battle.

Although his super intuition hadn't truly awakened yet, what if it suddenly worked during battle, but he had it blocked because he was wearing a Second Circle magical artifact?

At this moment, Locke used Myst's Power to block the black sewage heavy cannon the opponent shot at him.

He was surprised to discover that the sewage the life nightmare shot at him could actually assimilate Myst's Power. Although the speed was slower compared to normal natural force, it was indeed still happening.

Locke quickly retreated.

At the same time, Witch Grace saw that Locke actually used his permanent defensive field to directly receive the life nightmare's ring element particle sewage. Her pupils suddenly constricted sharply. "How is that possible?"

"That's the nightmare's ring element heavy particle sewage. Can a wizard's permanent defensive field actually block it?"

Witch Grace looked at Locke with surprise and uncertainty.

She hadn't expected someone so fierce as to use their own permanent defensive field to directly tank a nightmare's ring element heavy particle sewage.

Were wizards from the Three Marsh Lands all this outstanding?

Witch Grace said to Locke, "Locke, this is the conscription battlefield. Within the conscription battlefield, there exist those special beings that, at the same level stage, cannot be easily dealt with. For example, this life nightmare transformed from an Ancient Life Tree possesses power that ordinary plant-type wizards at the First Circle stage find difficult to resolve."

"Our Jungle's Hand has a contract with the Emerald Dream. We enter the conscription battlefield to resolve these problems that ordinary plant-type wizards of the same level cannot solve."

"The Jungle's Hand becomes the Emerald Dream's cleanup crew."

"In exchange, we obtain special privileges that the Emerald Dream grants to our collective Jungle's Hand member wizards."

"That's why I need to enter the conscription battlefield on behalf of the Jungle's Hand to fulfill the contract. What's your situation?"

At this moment, Locke had pulled away from the life nightmare. The life nightmare turned and attacked Witch Grace instead.

Witch Grace used a magical plant and plant-type spell model that Locke hadn't seen before. A potato shield appeared on her left side. The potato rapidly enlarged to human height, blocking one strike from the life nightmare.

The next moment, that potato's surface exploded.

From where the life nightmare's branches broke, large amounts of black-blue viscous liquid spurted out, resembling blood. That liquid stuck to the potato, and immediately the entire potato began withering and shrinking. Witch Grace's expression also changed, fine sweat appearing on her forehead.

She seemed to become very pained. Even though she hadn't made contact with the life nightmare's black-blue blood, she still suffered enormous damage, and her permanent defensive field couldn't resist this power.

The life nightmare laughed wildly. "Our time of death approaches."

"We destroyed ourselves!"

The next moment, the life nightmare was about to continue attacking, but Locke timely transformed Myst's Power into an axe and chopped down at it with one blow.

The natural force field cut into its branch trunk. Life force field, Harvest force field, and Withering force continuously transformed to combat the strange body force within the life nightmare. The four seasons rotated, the force fields didn't stop, forming a cycle. Then the life nightmare's branches snapped with a crack.

A large portion of its branches fell down, causing large amounts of black-blue viscous liquid to fall from its branches.

The life nightmare rolled on the ground in pain. "Pain, hurt!"

Locke looked at it coldly. "I've really heard enough of your crazy ravings."

"Could you please shut up?"

Locke looked at Witch Grace, saying, "I was summoned here by the world will of the Emerald Dream."

"However, if you have information about nightmares on hand, could you share it with me? If the Emerald Dream summoned me here to kill nightmares, then the more information I have, the better."

Witch Grace seized the opportunity, continuously shaking the Wind Bell Dandelion six times, seizing the chance to distance herself from the life nightmare.

She looked at Locke, saying, "I see. You're indeed very special, actually possessing the power to resist erosion from ring element heavy particles. Although the heavy particles are still eroding your power, the erosion speed is very slow, and your permanent defensive field shows characteristics of conversely purifying this special heavy particle."

"No wonder the world will of the Emerald Dream wanted to summon you in."

"It's just..." Witch Grace's eyes flashed with hesitation, "This information is all top-secret information of our Jungle's Hand. Normally speaking, it cannot be shared with non-Jungle's Hand members. How about you join our Jungle's Hand and become our member? Then I'll immediately share the information with you?"

Locke was somewhat speechless. Whether it was Witch Grace before him or Wizard Salvador, both tried to pull him into the Jungle's Hand.

Locke thought for a moment and tentatively said, "I need nightmare information to eliminate nightmares. Even if I'm not a Jungle's Hand member, it shouldn't affect me actively eliminating nightmare pollution, right?"

Witch Grace froze for a moment, then her eyes became fanatical. "That's right. Protecting the environment is every wizard's responsibility. Compared to your awareness, I was indeed too selfish just now. I shouldn't have wanted to keep this environmental protection information to myself. After I return, I need to admit my mistake to our Third Circle mentor and write a self-criticism!"

"I'll tell you everything about nightmares right now."

"We just need to temporarily isolate ourselves from the life nightmare. It's more terrifying than I thought." Witch Grace coughed weakly. "I originally came to kill it, but during our brief exchange just now, I realized that with Beast Soul Avatar, I couldn't possibly defeat it."

"In fact, its name is Isisdar. It has already killed five Jungle's Hand members who came to clean it up. If I fail this time, the next one to come will very likely be a Second Circle wizard!"

Locke hadn't expected that what he originally intended as a test, prepared to try other ways to trade with Witch Grace if it failed, would actually work with just an offhand remark.

In a sense, Jungle's Hand wizards could be considered unified in knowledge and action.

At that moment, the life nightmare had already climbed up from the ground. It seemed to have become very angry, and with it as the center, the land and plants had become completely barren.

This barren power, in turn, nourished it, rapidly repairing the parts Locke had cut off earlier.

Life nightmare Isisdar climbed up from the ground. Its branches bulged like blood vessels. It suddenly used branch-formed hands to dig open its tree body, extracting from within a beating heart.

That was an animal's heart.

But not a normally colored heart. Instead, it was black-blue.

After seeing that heart, Witch Grace immediately closed her eyes unbearably. "Damn it. What have wizards in the main material plane done to turn such a kind and beautiful Ancient Life Tree into what it is now?"

Locke frowned, trying to deduce from Witch Grace's words what exactly nightmares were.

Meanwhile, the life nightmare roared. "I sensed it. I remembered you. This power... you and I come from the same world. I am the spirit transformed from plants that died in the Great Truth World."

"In the endless void, nightmares transformed from your Great Truth World's plants at death are the most powerful type."

"Hahahaha... I finally remembered."

The life nightmare threw the heart on the ground. Immediately, the ground was corroded into a black-blue sewage pool out of nowhere. Then the heart was pierced, and a strange, ugly sapling sprouted from within.

Locke had a bad suspicion. "If Edgar saw this scene, he'd probably be very angry. I hope that even if he contracts with the Emerald Dream, he won't be summoned into the conscription area."

From that heart, a new treant rapidly grew. It was a War Treant.

The beautiful image of the mighty and powerful War Treant existed for less than 5 seconds. As the War Treant roared, in an instant, as if a beautiful dream turned into a nightmare, the War Treant's beautiful image changed, becoming a short, ugly tree stump, very low but with very thick branches.

The War Treant transformed into a War Nightmare.

Locke was speechless. "I knew it."

He picked up Sea Gold Sand, summoning countless plant spirits to gather together, amplifying the Glittering Sea Gold Sand while using the plant-type spell model Flowing Gold Sand Waterfall.

Wizard battles were battles of information.

Since there was now a channel to understand nightmare information, Locke had no intention of fighting the life nightmare desperately beforehand. After all, the opponent's special power was indeed strange. Without understanding the details, he didn't dare charge in recklessly.

Under the blessing of plant spirits and the amplification of the tree fern Sea Gold Sand, in an instant, overwhelming gold sand covered Locke, Grace, and the two nightmares.

The life nightmare laughed shrilly. "You can't escape."

From the canopy of the war nightmare, rolling black-green smoke emerged, very pungent and possessing strong acidity. Everything it touched was corroded.

At the same time, the war nightmare deployed its battlefield domain, trying to lock onto Locke's hostility while pulling Locke into the battlefield domain, preventing him from escaping through visual deception.

But after half a minute, the large eyes on the war nightmare's trunk showed puzzlement, because it hadn't succeeded.

Meanwhile, Locke summoned the Styx Ferryman in the flowing gold sand waterfall. After paying two underworld gold coins, he entered the spirit world phantom state with Witch Grace and left freely.

Archaeologists had a godly escape skill—summoning the Styx Ferryman. Once entering the phantom state, one could gain resistance to most magic and enter a semi-invisible state, allowing quick retreat in the gold sand storm.

When the flowing gold sand waterfall stopped, the two nightmares, looking at the wizards who had lost their trail, fell into fury.

The life nightmare said in a low voice, "The heart of revenge never stops."

"Wizards, I will find you." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I will kill you, kill all of you. I am the enemy of life. I am the life nightmare."

As nightmare power polluted the surrounding flora and fauna, the Emerald Dream that had originally been in a paradise state instantly became hell.

Moreover, as the pollution range expanded, the originally sunny Emerald Dream also became dark and terrifying.

Lightning filled the sky above.

Inside the hollow trunk of a large baobab tree, Locke dismissed the summoning of the Styx Ferryman, sent the ferryman away, then looked at Witch Grace seriously, saying, "Witch Grace, now can you tell me what exactly nightmares are? My current understanding is that nightmares are plant spirits that died for special reasons and came to this land of plant death, forming a type of power due to some special resentment."

Witch Grace nodded. "Your understanding isn't wrong. You've stated the essence of nightmares."

"Moreover, nightmares are special within the Emerald Dream. The Emerald Dream has absolutely no ability to eliminate nightmares itself. So nightmares can rapidly grow in the Emerald Dream, and certain special nightmares, especially those whose natural race soul level is extremely high, can rapidly advance their level while quickly gaining power."

Locke immediately realized the key point.

Adult Ancient Life Trees were only Second Circle high-rank, or possibly even Third Circle after maturity.

That meant if a life nightmare was allowed to act freely in the Emerald Dream, it could very possibly become a Second Circle level existence in a short time.

No wonder the Emerald Dream needed to establish a conscription battlefield.

No wonder the Emerald Dream needed to establish cooperation with Jungle's Hand wizards, inviting Jungle's Hand wizards to become cleanup crews here and granting the Jungle's Hand special privileges.

Locke asked, "Then, the source of those nightmares..."

Witch Grace nodded, confirming Locke's guess. "As you guessed, the predecessors of those nightmares were plants that died in major worlds throughout the endless void due to serious pollution from various civilization developments."

"Those plants suffered death methods that didn't originally exist in nature, so they accumulated enormous rage. If they were just ordinary common grass in life, that would be one thing. But some were magical plants that accumulated large amounts of plant spirits. These magical plants that died due to environmental pollution have a certain probability of transforming into nightmares in the Emerald Dream."

"Nightmares are absolutely pessimistic from birth." Witch Grace shook her head, showing a pitying expression. "Nightmares suffered harm brought by development, so they mistakenly believe that development will inevitably bring harm, and development is the instinct of civilization and life. So they mistakenly believe that the future of all civilizations is destruction."

Witch Grace said, "Nightmares are misled by their own tragedies."

"One of our Jungle's Hand's main tenets is believing that environmental protection and civilization development coexist and can mutually achieve each other, rather than being opposed."

"Precisely because of this, I say that if your Three Marsh Lands accepted our Jungle's Hand's theoretical guidance, you could definitely triple magical heavy industry output within five years, quintuple it within ten years, and increase it tenfold within thirty years!"

Locke coughed awkwardly. "Who told you this?"

Witch Grace said proudly, "My Third Circle mentor in the Jungle's Hand said so."

Locke nodded, then directly skipped this topic. "So those two nightmares just now were the reincarnations in the Emerald Dream of magical plant spirits killed by environmental pollution?"

"But what about the evil power on them?"

Witch Grace said, "I wanted to ask you. How can your permanent defensive field directly block ring element heavy particle sewage?"

"Those are heavy elements that only appear in high-temperature, high-pressure environments during world formation."

"Moreover, nightmares are already vicious enough. But the life nightmare you just saw is probably even more vicious. According to our Jungle's Hand's investigation, life nightmare Isisdar was formed from the Blue Rice Blight incident in Spiral Basin."

"That major malicious incident caused by magical heavy industry illegal discharge killed and disabled over five thousand wizard apprentices of various levels!"

"Countless mortals died and were injured. Only after that incident could the Jungle's Hand forcefully enter that wizard land."