On the competition stage, two figures stood facing each other.
Lin Xi stood on one side, her emerald-green eyes quietly gazing at the black-robed person opposite her, while Sleep Nightmare Douluo standing across from her slowly raised his hand, pulling his hood back a bit to reveal a pale, thin face; within his sunken eye sockets, a pair of dark purple eyes were tightly locked onto Lin Xi.
In essence, both of them belonged to the category of mental-type Spirit Masters.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo was very clear about this in his heart, and because of this, he unhesitatingly chose Lin Xi as his challenge target.
His method of Cultivate was completely different from ordinary Spirit Masters; others relied on Cultivate Spirit Power and absorbing Spirit Rings to improve themselves, while he relied on devouring the resentment of others after death, and then transforming those grievances into his own Mental Force, accumulating bit by bit, piling up bit by bit, to reach the step he was at today.
This road was not easy to walk, and could even be said to be a road stained with blood.
Back then, Sleep Nightmare Douluo slaughtered that entire village because he needed those grievances, the strong emotions erupted by those people before death, whether anger, fear, or despair, those were all the nourishment he desired most.
The number of people in a village was enough for him to Breakthrough his Bottleneck at the time, so he acted, cleanly and neatly, leaving not a single one behind.
And now he stood here, on the competition stage of this Shrek Academy in the Sky, with a very pure purpose, which was to defeat Lin Xi.
Of course he knew that he could not do anything out of line to Lin Xi here; that Dean Lin Feng up above stood with his hands behind his back, looking seemingly casual, yet that pair of eyes constantly shrouded the entire competition stage.
If he dared to use those methods during the competition to harm the mental Origin of Lin Xi, he would probably be crushed to death with a wave in the next instant, without even the chance to resist.
He could not afford to take this risk.
Therefore, the purpose of his coming this time was very simple: to win the match and get the reward, nothing more.
And the reason he chose Lin Xi was also because Lin Xi was the only Spirit Master among the bottom ten who leaned towards Mental Force.
As for the strength or weakness of the opponent's Mental Force, Sleep Nightmare Douluo was not clear about it; after all, through the light screen, one could not feel the battle of mental-type Spirit Masters, as everything was formless, whether it was attack or defense.
What could be felt was merely the fluctuation of Spirit Power.
Now standing on this competition stage, he finally had the opportunity to feel up close just how formidable the Mental Force of this Shrek Academy's student was.
Just at this moment, the match began. Sleep Nightmare Douluo took the lead in launching an attack, directly releasing his Spirit, Nightmare Demon.
This kind of Spirit Beast was not considered strong in combat power among Spirit Beasts, and could even be said to be on the weaker side, but its illusion abilities were extremely outstanding, almost deserving to be called a natural illusion Grandmaster.
When Sleep Nightmare Douluo acquired this Spirit back then, he already knew how to walk his path in the future; he gave up all capabilities of frontal combat and poured all his effort into illusions.
His First Spirit Skill, Nightmare Mist Pervades. (No Spirit Abilities were mentioned in the original novel)
A clump of gray mist spread from under his feet, rapidly diffusing and shrouding the entire competition stage. Within Lin Xi's vision, everything became hazy.
However, Lin Xi did not panic. Her emerald-green eyes slightly condensed, and the Phantom Butterfly Spirit quietly emerged behind her.
"Phantom Butterfly Dance."
A circle of light-green light diffused from around Lin Xi, while countless small butterflies surrounded this light.
The gray mist collided with the green light, and this mist unexpectedly had no way to penetrate that layer of light-green light.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo followed up by forming a weird handprint in front of his chest, and his Second Spirit Ability was released accordingly.
Nightmare Shadows Entwine.
Countless grayish-black shadows condensed out from the mist. Those shadows had no fixed shape, sometimes twisting into human forms, sometimes into ferocious beast heads, and they lunged toward Lin Xi from all directions with a chilling aura.
Seeing this, a flash of light swept across Lin Xi's emerald-green eyes. She gently raised her hands, and the wings of the Phantom Butterfly behind her abruptly spread open.
"Illusion Realm of Ten Thousand Beasts."
At this instant, the green light around Lin Xi surged greatly, and the light diffused outward. Wherever it passed, head after head of phantom beasts condensed from Mental Force emerged out of thin air.
Tigers, leopards, wolves, eagles, snakes, all kinds of fierce beasts appeared overlapping one another. Their bodies were translucent, yet they carried a genuine sense of oppression. The eyes of every single phantom beast shone with emerald-green light, and they collectively charged toward those grayish-black Nightmare Shadows.
The two forces of illusions collided with a bang in the center of the competition stage.
The grayish-black Nightmare Shadows and the emerald-green phantom beasts intertwined together, biting, devouring, and dissipating each other, yet continuously re-condensing.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo stood there, his dark purple eyes slightly narrowing. He perceived very clearly that Lin Xi's Mental Force barrier remained solid; while releasing so many phantom beasts, her own defense did not weaken in the slightest.
This little girl's Mental Force was quite formidable.
A sense of emotion involuntarily rose in Sleep Nightmare Douluo's heart. His Cultivate to his current Realm relied on decades of slaughter and devouring day after day; the grievances piled up by countless lives had forged his current Mental Force strength.
Yet Lin Xi before him, looking to be just over a dozen years old, unexpectedly already possessed a Mental Force comparable to his own.
Just how many Golden Pearls had she eaten?
If he had such resources back then, why would he need to slaughter those Mortals and low-tier Spirit Masters?
Why would he be wanted by the entire continent and hide here and there for so many years?
What a pity, backgrounds were different after all.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo indeed felt envy in his heart, but he also knew that envy was envy, and this battle before him still had to be won.
His hands changed handprints once again, releasing the Third Soul Skill and Fourth Soul Skill simultaneously.
Nightmare Realm Overlap, Nightmare Cage.
Two layers of grayish-black light simultaneously burst forth from within his body, one layer shrouding the entire competition stage, and the other directly pressing toward Lin Xi's mental barrier, attempting to trap her within it.
Lin Xi's brows slightly furrowed. She could feel that her mental pressure had suddenly increased a lot.
The light of Phantom Butterfly Dance began to slightly tremble, and the phantom beasts of Illusion Realm of Ten Thousand Beasts also began to become unstable, with several phantom beasts directly shattering and dissipating the moment they collided with the Nightmare Shadows.
Yet she did not retreat; her emerald-green eyes remained bright. She injected more Mental Force into the Spirit, and the wings of the Phantom Butterfly abruptly flapped, diffusing a new layer of green light.
Both sides were engaging in combat with illusions, probing each other, and the rhythm of the battle was becoming faster and faster.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo's Nightmare Shadows constantly changed forms, sometimes transforming into a giant python for Binding, sometimes transforming into sharp blades for piercing, while Lin Xi's phantom beasts were constantly replenished and continuously counterattacked.
However, as they fought on, Sleep Nightmare Douluo discovered something amiss.
He perceived that his Mental Force was consuming at a perceptible speed; every time a Nightmare Shadow was shattered, he lost a portion of Mental Force.
As for Lin Xi's side, her consumption of Mental Force was clearly also very large, and the consumption required to maintain Illusion Realm of Ten Thousand Beasts was by no means less than his own, yet her recovery speed was much faster than his.
The strength of their Mental Force was the same, but the opponent's mana regeneration was actually faster than his?
The means of this Shrek Academy were truly hard to guard against.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo quickly calculated in his heart that continuing to deadlock like this would be unfavorable to him.
Moreover, Lin Xi still had methods she hadn't displayed yet, such as the method she displayed within the Blood God Army. Regarding that method, Sleep Nightmare Douluo was not sure if he could cope with it.
Since that was the case, he would finish the battle quickly and no longer delay.
Sleep Nightmare Douluo took a deep breath, and within those sunken eye sockets, the dark purple light suddenly became intense.
His hands suddenly pressed together, and then he pulled outward. Nine Spirit Rings simultaneously rose from beneath his feet, and those Spirit Rings were arranged in order: two yellows, two purples, and five blacks. (In the original novel, Zhongli Wu of the Holy Spirit Cult has a Spirit Ring configuration of six blacks and three reds, and Feng Ling has three purples, five blacks, and one red, which should be means to elevate Spirit Ring ages; however, the Scorpion Tiger Douluo has a normal configuration of two yellows, two purples, and five blacks, and the same style of Scorpion Tiger Douluo is taken here)
Immediately following that, those nine Spirit Rings burned simultaneously, with all nine Spirit Rings burning with grayish-black flames. (The Great Saint Spirit and Second Saint Spirit in the Holy Spirit Cult have this method, and here all members of the Holy Spirit Cult have it)
At this very instant, Sleep Nightmare Douluo's Spirit Power and Mental Force both gained an explosive increase in an instant!
In the Divine Realm, Oscar looked at this scene before him through the light screen and couldn't help but be directly stunned.
"This... Why does this move feel a bit like Xiao San's Ring Explosion?"
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A/N:
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