"Since you weren't affected, I'll completely destroy your spirit!" The Nightmare's childish voice echoed in Ye Fan's mind. "A mere human... Damn it, what is this thing!"
The young Nightmare seemed to have seen a terrifying sight and let out a cry of alarm.
Ye Fan felt a pang of sympathy for it.
If it had been any other demonic beast.
Even one at the Qi Refining stage, if the system hadn't intervened, he would have been dead for sure.
But it had to be a Nightmare, a spiritual entity formed from negative emotions...
If this little Nightmare was a small boat.
Then his accumulated spiritual world across 99 lifetimes was no different from a vast, raging ocean to it!
And not just any ocean, but the wrathful, explosive fury of the Sea God...
Let alone a young Nightmare.
Even a Tribulation Crossing stage cultivator proficient in spiritual arts would be utterly useless.
The reality unfolded as Ye Fan had predicted.
After a yelp, the young Nightmare fell silent.
As expected, it had been thoroughly shattered by his spiritual sea.
With the death of the young Nightmare, Liang Rujing and the others successfully awoke.
Through Ye Fan's explanation, they finally understood what had happened.
Once they understood, an awkward silence fell upon them.
It was too humiliating.
Fortunately, they quickly adjusted their mindset.
Since everyone had lost face earlier, there was no longer any point in worrying about embarrassment.
As long as you don't feel awkward, the awkwardness is for others!
After speaking, Ye Fan casually retracted his flying bed.
The group curiously peered into the well.
"Hiss—!"
A single glance made them flinch back in fear.
In that instant, all sorts of negative emotions flooded their minds.
If they had fallen in earlier, they would have been utterly doomed.
Without further delay, the group left the tomb chamber through the exit.
As soon as they stepped out, everyone was stunned.
Even Ye Fan was no exception.
The exit of the tomb was right behind the door?
The entrance they had come in through was only a few steps away.
Such an ancient ruin, fraught with peril, yielded nothing?
This was hardly cultivation-like!
"Senior Ye..." Zhang San asked nervously, "We haven't fallen into some mental attack or illusion again, have we...?"
"Probably not," Ye Fan replied casually, frowning.
He could be absolutely certain there were no formations around.
With the young Nightmare dead, there could no longer be any spiritual attacks.
As for other Nightmares?
Even a million more wouldn't be enough to fill a corner of his spiritual sea.
And he was certain that no spiritual entity had entered his spiritual sea just now.
Could they really have just come out like this?
Wait...
There seemed to be another possibility...
However, Ye Fan wasn't entirely sure, so he didn't say anything more.
As they parted ways, Bu Queqian once again proposed taking Ye Fan as his subordinate.
His escorts couldn't help but want to slap him.
After seeing Bu Queqian and his entourage off, Ye Fan and Liang Rujing returned in her small flying boat.
"Ye Fan, why have you been frowning since we came out?" Liang Rujing asked curiously. "Is it because you didn't find any treasures?"
"It's nothing," Ye Fan said, rubbing her head. "I just can't figure out a few things. Don't worry about it."
After Liang Rujing left, Ye Fan strolled through the Purple Cloud Sect.
Everything around him seemed no different from usual, yet he felt something was subtly wrong.
Three days later, Ye Fan was leisurely fishing by Jingming Lake.
Although the unsettling feeling had lingered, Ye Fan couldn't be bothered to dwell on it.
At worst, he'd just end up killing himself.
And that was something he was already wishing for!
Within minutes, Ye Fan reeled in a spirit fish about two feet long.
Ye Fan's face lit up with sudden realization.
"There really is something wrong!" Ye Fan smiled, looking at the fish in the bucket.
After leaving the old Purple Cloud Sect grounds, he had been cursed.
He had fished hundreds of times, but each time he either caught nothing or some other miscellaneous junk.
In short, no fish!
Now that he had caught a fish, wasn't that a clear sign of a problem?
"I was right," Ye Fan leisurely cast his line again. "I really was dragged into the Nightmare domain."
[Hey? Host, you're quite clever, aren't you?]
[How about we make a deal?]
[You sign in, and I'll help you break out of the Nightmare domain.]
Ye Fan ignored the system and continued fishing leisurely.
[Damn lazy bum!]
[Stop fishing, you brat!]
[The one you should be fishing for is yourself, you lazy bum!!!]
As the system roared in impotent fury, the surroundings changed once more.
The Purple Cloud Sect was gone.
Ye Fan was now standing in a tomb chamber, with churning black mist swirling a few meters around him.
Beside him were Liang Rujing and the others, looking utterly bewildered.
"Human, I underestimated you," a black unicorn horse, taller than a man, emerged from the surrounding black mist. "I didn't expect you to awaken."
It was a mature Nightmare!
[Are you blind, you idiot!]
[That was all my system's doing, what does it have to do with this lazy bum!]
Before Ye Fan could say anything, the system had already shouted in exasperation.
But it was useless.
The Nightmare couldn't hear it.
Ye Fan looked at the Nightmare with an expression of "as expected."
When a mature Nightmare pulls an enemy into its domain, the process occurs without any warning.
After all, this was a domain-level ability, unrelated to the strength of the spiritual sea.
This was the terror of the Nightmare.
Unless one's spiritual sea far surpassed the Nightmare itself, one could only be at its mercy.
It was fortunate that demons from the abyss could not easily enter the human realm, otherwise, it would have been a catastrophe for humanity!
If a single Nightmare was so terrifying, what about the other demons?
After all, the Nightmare was only a Rank 10 existence in the abyss.
In Ye Fan's previous 99 lifetimes, for various reasons, he had descended into the abyss more than once.
At his peak, he could effortlessly toy with gods; the terrifying extent of his power was unimaginable.
Yet, even then, he had only descended to the 50th level of the abyss at most.
No one knew how many levels the abyss truly had, and his descent to the 50th level was the highest record in the cultivation world.
"If you were a bit stronger, I might not be your match," the Nightmare's dull voice interrupted Ye Fan's thoughts. "But alas, this is your limit."
Within the Nightmare's domain, the Nightmare was an omnipotent god.
In its view, if Ye Fan had the strength to break through its domain, he would have done so already.
Since he hadn't, it meant his spiritual power was insufficient.
This meant Ye Fan could only be slaughtered at its whim!
[Host, pretend to sign in, and I'll help you shatter this little pony's domain, how about it?]
Ye Fan ignored it and cast a sympathetic glance at the Nightmare.
The Nightmare's power stemmed from negative emotions.
And negative emotions fell under the purview of spiritual power.
As long as one's spiritual power far surpassed that of the Nightmare, one could transcend its rules.
One could even turn the tables and alter the rules!
Speaking of spiritual power...
It seemed like it was its turn now.
"Since you dare to disturb the master's eternal slumber, you shall pay the price you deserve!"