Is that a Wisp?

"Haah… ugh… gah!" Krune grunted, feeling his head hurt while veins appeared all over his face.

"Liu Heng! What's happening to you?" The Emperor was alarmed as he was just about to call for the Royal Physician when Krune raised his hands, motioning that he was fine.

Retracting his Mental Energy scan, he closed his eyes, meditating as the Mental Energy healed his mind, cooling it down.

A couple of minutes later, his eyes shot open as Krune nodded, "To think that's what Nightmares require."

"Did you sense something in them?" The Emperor was surprised at his claim.

"Yes." Krune massaged his forehead, saying, "Based on what I probed and obtained just now, it's impossible for a Nightmare to be birthed so easily. Or to be more exact, for a Nightmare to finish forming, a catalyst is required."

"A catalyst?" The Emperor was confused. "But in all our records, something like this wasn't written."

'If not for my Mental Energy scan, I wouldn't have found it either.' Krune nodded, saying, "For a Nightmare to actually begin condensing from the negative emotions, death must happen. An unwilling death of someone indignant with their life."

"Only with that catalyst would it begin forming. After absorbing negative emotions after this stage, it would burrow into a human," Krune continued. "It's not possession, but it would actively begin to absorb every negative emotion the person generates. So, they would always target the most miserable of humans as their targets."

"The day this target dies is when the Nightmare is born. This is also the reason we're unable to sense a Nightmare's location until it is born," he concluded.

The Emperor's eyes lit up, nodding in response. "I see. This makes perfect sense. A lot of our scholars had thought about this issue before but failed to find an answer."

Krune then spent the rest of the day probing through the Nightmare Cores to select those he required. And what he hadn't ever expected was the fact that the Royal Treasury would actually contain tens of thousands of Nightmare Cores.

"How come there are so many Nightmare Cores here?"

"Well, not anyone can use them to forge an Imperial Arms. Usually, a blacksmith would have to consume their lifeforce to create this. At most, they can make two Imperial Arms." The Emperor shook his head. "So, nurturing such talented blacksmiths takes decades. On the other hand, Nightmares appear constantly. So, our stock of Nightmare Cores continues to increase."

'Even the Su Family barely has twenty Nightmare Cores in their treasure.' Krune smiled wryly after hearing that. 'That's the difference with having a Star Imperial Meister every generation.'

"Alright, I'm done," Krune said, having picked more than 700 Nightmare Cores. Even the Emperor couldn't sit still at his choice.

Controlling his urge to refuse, the Emperor asked, "Are you sure you need this many?"

"Yep." Krune nodded. "If what I have planned is attained, even when our Empire faces a tremendous threat, we'll still have the will to live and persevere."

"This would become the hope for our future," he added in all seriousness.

"Alright, I'll trust you." The Emperor nodded. "Our enemies are increasing in strength as we speak. However, they are located beyond our reach."

He sighed, lamenting, "If only my hands weren't tied by the Demon held captive here, I would have charged into the enemy's base while leading our flying troops."

The County Arms of the Imperial Family allowed them to fly after all. Even otherwise, the Emperor was capable of carrying them through his Star Imperial Arms.

"That's why I have taken so many Nightmare Cores. Don't worry, I'll make something related to that." Krune smiled, packing the Nightmare Cores in a suitcase the Emperor had prepared.

Before leaving the Imperial Palace, Krune asked, "Can I look at the captive Demon? Why haven't we tried to kill it even though it has been sealed?"

"That's unfortunately due to the nature of seal erected by the first Emperor." The Emperor sighed, leading Krune through a flight of stairs that went a kilometer into the ground.

Both of them were sweating due to the heat when they arrived at a massive cavern.

Seated before them calmly was a figure that reached a height of five meters, emanating a suffocating presence that even Krune felt difficulty in breathing for a moment.

There were no chains around it, no special power constricting it, etc. At times, the Demon lifted its hand, making a menacing action before scratching its butt. It sported a bored expression on its face, sleeping.

"This is the problem." The Emperor raised his hand, placing it on an invisible barrier. "The first Emperor's seal was something that isolated this Demon from this world. This is as if the Demon is in another dimension, even though we can see its actions."

"So, even if we attack, all we would be doing is weakening the seal. Without destroying the seal, it's impossible to attack the Demon." He sighed. "That's why every generation of Emperor had no other choice but to reinforce and strengthen the seal. None of them had the confidence of winning against this Demon without sacrificing at least half the Empire."

"Over time, as the seal was continuously strengthened, the Demon was completely isolated in this sealed dimension. Even though we're standing before it, it's unable to see us. All it's able to see is the small cavern that the seal encapsulates. That's all. The same scenery for more than a millennium," the Emperor spoke.

"The sealing power of every Star Imperial Meister is different. So, as we overlaid our powers atop the original seal, it has now become something inaccessible to those from our world," he added as he smiled wryly.

"But can this seal still be broken?" Krune asked.

"Yes." The Emperor nodded. "However, it'll need a collaborative effort from tens of Demons that attack it nonstop for months at a stretch."

"I see." Krune thought, placing his hand on the transparent barrier, gently touching his Mental Energy on it, observing its patterns, power, and so on.

'This is like a formation.' He nodded, smiling. 'But, this cannot even guard against Godly Energy, not to mention my Mental Energy.'

"Now, to unleash the true potential of Mental Energy." He smiled, seeping it in through the seal easily, making it seep into the Demon's mind, sighing as he muttered, "Is this the realm of comprehension Heavin has attained in regards to Mental Energy?"