Nightmare was a tall and scrawny man.
He wasn’t only scrawny but he also had long skinny arms and legs. Yue Yang remembered vaguely that he had read a poem in the past, it was ‘My Old Home’ written by Lu Xun, which depicted a woman called Madam Yang with legs akin to sticks. It still remained fresh in Yue Yang’s mind. He reckoned that this Nightmare who was standing arrogantly with his hands resting on his hips was more or less like that Madam Yang. If his hair was shorter a little bit, he would have looked like the scrawny, old and wizened Xie Ya Long.
(Shiro: Xie Ya Long is some high-ranking guy jailed for corruption in China)
That Tiger Nian, on the other hand, didn’t look like that at all. Although Tiger Nian was a little old, his hair was all black, strong and straight, like thorns. He simply looked full of energy.
His thick arms and robust body was filled with explosive power.
A pair of tiger eyes glinted menacingly, terrorizing everyone’s hearts.
If his beard didn’t show strands of white hairs, no one would be able to tell that he was an old man.
These two people were Innate Level 3 Rankers and they possessed summoning grimoires. The thing that surprised Yue Yang was that they only owned Gold Grimoire. He remembered Phoenix Fairy Beauty telling Yue Yang that these kind of people were most probably be power-levelled to the Innate level. Due to maturing before they were ready, they completely exhausted their whole potential ahead of them. Hence, they were completely looked down upon real Innate Rankers. Of course, some people would use this way to obtain Innate power due to their impatience. As a result, the price they had to pay was reaching their maximum growth at Innate Level 3. Their summoning grimoire was also limited from growing and levelling up, there was no way it could rank-up to higher levels.
Previously, Yue Yang had fought against Yao Guang, Kai Yan and Tian Quan of the Seven Great Bears who were power-levelled by Shun Tian. They were not very highly-skilled, and they were also only Innate Level 3 and below. However, they all possessed Platinum Grimoire.
This proved that Yao Guang, Tian Quan and the others were already quite matured before they were power-levelled. They had cultivated until their grimoire became Platinum-ranked before they were power-levelled.
Unexpectedly, Nightmare and Tiger Nian didn’t even possess a Platinum Grimoire.
They only had a Gold Grimoire.
Yue Yang didn’t know Nightmare’s and Tiger Nian’s previous experiences. If he were to ask the people of Thunder Fortress, he would definitely be shocked. That time, right before Nightmare and Tiger Nian reached the Innate realm, they had actually murdered their own teacher who had raised them painstakingly. They ate their teacher’s body and ability like beasts and power-levelled to the Innate Realm immediately.
Because they had acted so evilly, the Innate Alliance rejected them and did not recognize their strength.
When Yao Guang and Tian Quan power-levelled to the Innate Realm, they only did that with Shun Tian’s help and a quick-growth medicine.
They had already been looked down by the others using this way, let alone Nightmare and Tiger Nian who ate their master’s flesh.
The Seven Great Bears, although their names were quite notorious in the Sixth Floor of Tong Tian Tower, compared to Nightmare and Tiger Nian, they were all good children!
“Newbie, you are really crazy!” Nightmare let out an extremely sharp condescending laughter, piercing Yue Yang’s eardrums.
“Is this your last words?” Yue Yang took out a book and scratched out some line of words, as if he was recording something.
“What do you mean?” Although Tiger Nian was arrogant, he was extremely cautious. He was both suspicious and curious towards the little book that Yue Yang had. Forget about them, even the whole audience were curious about what Yue Yang had written on his book. Facing against two Innate Level 3 Rankers, facing against such evil murderers like Nightmare and Tiger Nian, how could he have the mood to write something?
“I suddenly remembered, seems like I will be able to exchange your heads for something good in the Adventurer’s Guild after I killed you. I have to write it down, otherwise I might forget and wasted it.” Yue Yang’s words was like
Yue Huang was too arrogant. Forget about outsiders, even Jia De thought that Yue Yang was too haughty.
They were two Innate Level 3 Rankers, it was not as if they were normal Level 3 weakling warriors. Yue Yang had not even fought them before, but he actually wanted to get their heads as reward?
What kind of people were Nightmare and Tiger Nian?
Even though the number of people who wanted them dead might not reach 100,000, there would at least be 99,999 of them. However, these two outcasts were still living well until now. It couldn’t be denied that these two people were powerful. If they were even a little bit weaker, their graves would probably be full of weed by now. How could they still live in the Thunder Fortress happily? Those people who knew of Nightmare’s and Tiger Nian’s abilities were even more convinced that Yue Yang would definitely be defeated. Nightmare and Tiger Nian were powerful Innate Level 3s, they even had unique, high-levelled beasts. That time, when they were not yet Innate, they managed to kill their master who was Innate Level 5.
From this, it was apparent how terrifying their Beasts were.
The fat An Dong laughed coldly, “This rascal is gonna die!“
The mysterious man wearing a wide brimmed hat shrugged his shoulders, “Mr. An Dong, forgive me as I don’t agree with your views. I won’t deny that Nightmare and Tiger Nian’s Beasts are very unique, but they are not undefeatable.”
The fat An Dong’ face darkened, “You’re preparing to leak information to that lad? “
The man wearing the wide brimmed hat waved his hands gracefully, “Don’t think that I’m like you. Since we are agreed upon this game, I will definitely abide by the rules.“
“It will be best if you do that. Don’t forget that you betted one million.” An Dong warned the men repeatedly.
“…Do I have to thank you for the reminder?“ The mysterious men was nonchalant towards An Dong’s attitude.
At the side of the arena, Jia De twisted his hands nervously.
He was in dilemma deciding if he should remind Titan that Nightmare and Tiger Nian’s Beasts were unique. On one hand, if Titan lost, he wouldn’t gain anything; however, on the other hand, if he broke the rules first, although he would still be alright if Titan wins because no one would care about the mistakes made by the one who emerged victorious, if Titan lost, he feared that he would be killed.
Was he going to watch the young Titan getting defeated just because he didn’t know the powerfulness of his opponents’ Beasts?
Even if it’s not for the 280,000 he betted, he should care for his new friend Titan.
Although casually, at least that Titan mentioned the word ‘friend’!
A Ranker wanting to be friends with a merchant, there won’t be many Ranker who would do that in the Tong Tian Tower, right? Feeling an urge, Jia De left his seat and shouted loudly at the side of the arena. “Wait! “
“You want to interrupt the game? “ More than ten guards crowded around him immediately .
“I, I am his friend and I just want to show him my support. Do you want to drink up? You should rest now because you just finished a round. It’s unfair for you to start the second round immediately!” Jia De waved a bottle in his hands as he prepared to tell Yue Yang more about the unique Beasts of Nightmare and Tiger Nian once Yue Yang approached him to drink water.
“It’s okay, the fight will end soon effortlessly.“ Yue Yang smiled slightly, signalling to Jia De not to be over anxious.
“Huh?! “ Jia De perspired profusely, thinking that this lad was either too haughty or too young.
Did Yue Yang not realise his undertone ?
He wasn’t really asking for him to drink up or rest, but rather, he wanted to speak to him. Did Yue Yang really not understand?
Jia De wanted to open his mouth to speak again, but he suddenly thought of Yue Yang’s words not long ago. “Allow me to say one thing, if you want to be my friend, the only thing you must do is to believe in me! “
Should he continue trusting Yue Yang?
During his fight against the three Chief Bodyguards just now, Jia De was similarly worried but Yue Yang’s victory proved his worries and doubts unnecessary. At the same time, he also earned him a handsome reward. Now that the fight was beginning again, could he not trust Yue Yang completely for once? Jia De the fat toad gritted his teeth and smiled at Yue Yang.
Although he believed in his words, to the old him, it was simply ludicrous.
But now, he was willing to try to believe for once!
Just for once!
Hearing Yue Yang’s arrogant response, the speculators’ responses varied vastly. An Dong smiled coldly, while the gamblers cheered passionately as they favoured haughty Rankers. Weaklings? Let all of them die! The gamblers didn’t support goody two shoes but rather, arrogant, chic and powerful champions! Of course those gamblers who betted on Yue Yang losing cursed loudly, but because they were the minority, their cursings were washed away by the loud cheerings.
“…” Tiger Nian smiled coldly in silence.
“ Newbie, since you want to die early, I will grant your wish.“ Nightmare held onto the Gold Grimoire as he started summoning swiftly.
A dark glow appeared on the Gold Grimoire, just like thick smoke, it rose to the sky in a warped fashion.
It then swirled around the whole arena’s roof and morphed into a dark hazy-like state as it descended slowly towards the ground.
Yue Yang didn’t respond as he watched silently.
The ground of the arena spilt suddenly and out came boiling hot lava that was blood red in colour. It then spread towards Yue Yang’s feet. As Yue Yang didn’t move, the lava surrounded his feet and caused him to be unable to move anymore. The air in the arena became insanely hot. Everyone couldn’t stand the heat and started to perspire profusely. This include Jia De who was sitting at the side, his sweat fell like waterfall.
The place that Nightmare and Tiger Nian were standing on rose above the ground, and morphed into two tall pillars.
Countless soil, together with the walls of the arena came crumbling down. Some metal cages that were used to keep Beasts also stumbled and fell into the lava.
With a sizzling sound, they melted and turned into smoke.
In the next moment, they became part of the lava .
Yue Yang’s eyes were calm and one wouldn’t be able to tell any changes, it was as if the pool of lava weren’t there.
Just then, under the control of Nightmare’s fingers, innumerable spikes emerged from the ground and went straight through Yue Yang’s feet. Blood spilled all over the place as the the bloodied spikes tore through his feet , causing everyone to exclaim in shock.
Nightmare summoned the third time as a meteoroid fell from the sky and went crashing into Yue Yang’s head.
Yue Yang remained stationary.
The meteorite brushed past his scalp and landed beside him with a thud, causing splashing magma around him.
The enormous shock wave caused everyone to fall to the ground in an unruly manner. Some cried pitifully as they were scalded by the hot lava that splashed onto them. As their body got caught on fire,some of they rolled around while others slapped themselves in an attempt to extinguish the fire. Jia De the fat toad’s obese, heavy body flew to the Level Two of the arena that was meant for the VIPs. Some lava got onto his bottom and it caught fire, sizzling as smoke rose.
Jia De’s face was twisted from the pain, and he could only grit his teeth to stop himself from crying in pain.
“Not bad, it’d be better if it rained some chilli powder from the sky.“ Yue Yang spoke suddenly.
“Chilli powder?“ Everyone was stunned, why would one want to rain chilli powder?
“If there isn’t any chilli powder, this huge bowl of noodle wouldn’t be tasteful enough . Eating noodle without chilli powder isn’t satisfying … “ Yue Yang explained.
“This is lava! “ Nightmare’s nose was twisted in anger, what kind of gaze was that? Did these look like noodles? It was obviously lava, it had no relation to eating noodles at all!
“Agreed, this is lava brand instant noodles, if you add some hot water, pour some flavourings, together with poached eggs and some chilli powder or spicy sauce, it’d be perfect, nope, we will still have to add some vegetables. If there’s some left over ribs in the fridge, it’d be nice to add two whole pieces in! “ Yue Yang almost drooled while he was speaking , but nobody could understand his words.
Instant noodles, fridge…nobody had heard of them before.
Also, how was eating noodles and lava related?
Everyone scratched their heads hard but was still far from comprehending him…
Just then, an eerie thing happened. The boiling hot lava disappeared and in the centre of the arena, there appeared a sole, gigantic bowl containing noodles.
Inside were ingredients such as poached egg, ribs and spicy sauce. Yue Yang walked towards it in huge steps ,with chopsticks in his hands, he seemed to be preparing to eat the noodles. The observant ones had already noticed that his pierced foot, and the lava that splashed onto him disappeared as he looked as good as before. To make things more eerie, Nightmare turned into a white pig all of a sudden.
The chopsticks in Yue Yang’s hand turned into a meat chopper as he explained, “Ribs ain’t enough, I’ll have to kill a pig and barbeque it for some barbecued pork!“
“No, I’m not a pig, this is an illusion…“ Nightmare shrieked in horror.
All the illusions disappeared.
Yue Yang didn’t move an inch as he watched silently.
Standing before him were the stunned Tiger Nian and Nightmare, who was covered in perspiration.
To add to the shock, Nightmare continued to cry hysterically, “I wasn’t killed, I wasn’t placed onto the table, no, I wasn’t butchered into pieces nor was I barbequed, no, this is my Beast, this is an illusion, I didn’t die… This is impossible, how could others control my Beast, this is all an illusion… Tiger Nian save me, no, you can’t kill me ,you can’t betray me, we are… This is impossible, you are already dead, I already ate you, no, no, teacher, spare me…”
Nightmare’s hysterical cries stopped suddenly.
Nightmare collapsed as his body twitched and convulsed into spasms as if he just saw the most terrifying thing on Earth.
His eyes were wide opened and bulging like that of a dead fish. His pupils expanded and froze gradually.
Tiger Nian shook Nightmares body vigorously and slapped him continually as he tried to wake Nightmare up from the illusions of his ‘Nightmare Beast’. Unfortunately, all he could do was to watch his partner, Nightmare, die from fright.
Nightmare, a serial killer who toyed with his opponent and a disciple who killed his own teacher with a Beast, is dead.
He died from his own ‘Nightmare Beast’.
In the illusion of the Nightmare Beast, everything were delusional, but if you affirmed it, they would become reality. When a person died in the illusion, his body would also die in reality… It was because the illusion would kill a person’s soul! Under Nightmare’s control, this unique ability had taken the lives of several victims. Even Warriors who were stronger than Nightmare couldn’t escape it.
But to Yue Yang, who could see through the illusions in the Gemini Temple and Virgo Temple, this kind of illusion was really just a piece of cake.
Not to mention, Yue Yang even possessed the Heaven Eyes Divine Vision which could help him see through his opponents’ ability.
“…It’s impossible!“ The fat An Dong’s perspiration fell like waterfall as he stared at Yue Yang in the arena in horror. With a pale complexion, he whispered to himself, “This is impossible, this is a delusion, this lad couldn’t have killed Nightmare, he’s the mighty Nightmare!“
“Please allow me to remind you, Mr. An Dong, that this is a fact.“ The mysterious man curled his lips and smiled.