Chapter 263: Nightmare

The magical beast had shiny black fur, eyes like rubies, long black manes on its neck, and four black hooves. It resembled a black horse, only much larger—about three meters tall. On top of its head grew a red, spiraled horn over a foot long, looking extremely sharp.
“This is… the legendary unicorn?” Ye Feng was astonished.
“It’s a Nightmare!” Bernard recognized the beast’s species at a glance.
“What are its characteristics?” Ye Feng pressed further.
“A Nightmare is a very special magical beast. They can enter people’s dreams, create various illusions, and devour a person’s soul once they’re exhausted,” Bernard explained. “But that’s only something they do in their juvenile stage. As they mature and consume more souls, they gain powerful spiritual strength. They still have the ability to create illusions, but usually, they prefer close combat.”
“If it’s close combat, we can just kill it directly, right?” Ye Feng asked.
“It’s a bit difficult, because their close combat is fought in multiple against one…” Before Bernard could finish, Ye Feng understood what he meant—because he saw the Nightmare split into two, then two become four, four become eight… eventually splitting into thousands, surrounding Ye Feng and the two other beasts before stopping.
“Damn, isn’t this cheating?!” Ye Feng couldn’t help cursing. “How can this be fair?”
“Among these thousands of Nightmares, there might be only one real one, or maybe none at all,” Bernard said helplessly, looking at the surrounding Nightmares.
“If we kill them one by one, who knows how long it will take!” Ye Feng was also worried now.
“Boss, let me take care of it!” Xiao Yu stepped forward. “I and Xiao Bei can launch large-scale attacks, but this Nightmare’s strength is comparable to that of an Eighth Calamity Immortal or even greater. Xiao Bei’s attacks probably won’t be very effective. If we kill them one by one, it will take forever. Let me break this illusion first, and then the boss can fight it one-on-one!”
“Hmm, okay then!” Ye Feng nodded. Since the opponent had resorted to such a tactic, it was only fair to ask for help.
Xiao Bei was somewhat frustrated after hearing this, but Xiao Yu was indeed right—his attacks wouldn’t work well.

At that moment, Xiao Yu spread its wings, let out a sharp cry toward the sky, then plunged its claws deep into the ground. The area where its claws dug in instantly turned a fiery red and began to crack continuously. Seeing this, Ye Feng and Xiao Bei immediately lifted off the ground and watched quietly what was happening. On the ground, the fiery red color spread further, and the cracks expanded outward like a spiderweb, leaving mottled marks. Soon, the entire ground started to vibrate slowly, with the vibrations growing more intense over time. Then, a voice reached Ye Feng’s ears: “Boss, all of you, float above my head. No matter what happens, don’t move!” As soon as the voice faded, Ye Feng saw everything around him instantly engulfed in fiery red light. Scorching red flames erupted from the ground around him, with only a small area above Xiao Yu unaffected by the flames. It was like a volcanic eruption, except instead of lava, flames were ejected, reaching heights of several kilometers—far beyond what a volcano could achieve. When the red veil settled, an area of several kilometers was completely scorched, leaving not a single blade of grass. Ye Feng was shocked; this move was truly terrifying. He looked around again. The black Nightmare still appeared dazed, clearly unexpecting its own tactic to be countered so easily. “Hey, now isn’t the time to be in a daze,” Ye Feng said as he appeared in front of the Nightmare. With his left hand, he firmly grabbed the sharp horn on its head. “It seems you rely on this horn to cast illusions. I thought it was an offensive weapon! It looks so sharp, but it’s actually just for deception.” The Nightmare tried to break free from Ye Feng’s grip when he suddenly appeared before it, but no matter how hard it struggled, it was in vain. Hearing Ye Feng’s words, it struggled even harder. “It seems my observation was correct!” Ye Feng smiled. “Just before you used that move, there was a barely noticeable red glow on this horn.” As soon as he finished speaking, another red glow flashed, and Ye Feng felt a tingling sensation in his hand. Then, a red electric current climbed up his arm from his hand gripping the horn.

In pain, Ye Feng immediately released his grip. The Night Fiend took the opportunity to leap backward, putting dozens of meters between them, and stared coldly at Ye Feng. It could certainly sense that Ye Feng’s cultivation level was not high—only at the Tribulation Stage. It had thought it had found an easy target, only to find that the other party could pinch its horns with one hand, rendering it immobile. After all, its horns were both its offensive weapon and its weakness. Ye Feng shook his left hand, which still felt numb. “You seem to know quite a few tricks!” The Night Fiend stared in shock at Ye Feng, who seemed unharmed at all. After all, that powerful electric current should have been enough to kill a Spirit Immortal-level warrior, yet this man didn’t seem to have suffered any damage. “That electric current seems to have some special properties—it directly attacked my dantian. But it seems to have become a supplement for my dantian. It seems the techniques taught in the ‘Wu Dian’ indeed have unique merits,” Ye Feng said with a smile. “But if I hadn’t been wearing this top-grade immortal armor, I probably would have suffered greatly from that attack! Although right now I only feel some numbness in my arm.” “If that’s all you can do, then stay here for me,” Ye Feng said as he flashed in front of the Night Fiend, his right hand forming a claw and aiming at the sharp horns above its head. Unexpectedly, his hand passed through empty air—the right hand only pierced through the Night Fiend’s afterimage. “Boss, its speed is comparable to that of bird-like magical beasts of the same level. It’s a really tough opponent,” Bernard added. “Its speed is indeed good,” Xiao Yu nodded as well, though from her expression, it seemed she didn’t take the opponent’s speed seriously. “It’s on par with higher-ranked bird-like magical beasts. For someone without wings, that’s indeed something to be proud of.” “I was worried it would be killed right away!” Ye Feng wasn’t panicked; instead, he seemed somewhat excited. As soon as Ye Feng finished speaking, a red lightning bolt flashed, and his figure disappeared instantly. Seeing Ye Feng vanish, the Night Fiend was also slightly shocked—it clearly hadn’t expected Ye Feng to have such speed. Ye Feng reappeared above the Night Fiend’s neck, forming a hand blade with one hand and slashing down sharply at its neck, without making the slightest sound. But the Night Fiend remained alert and almost immediately dodged and attacked in return. Another red lightning bolt shot out from its long horns on its forehead, aiming straight at Ye Feng. Ye Feng disappeared again.

From this close encounter, Nightmare also felt that Ye Feng’s way of disappearing was extremely unusual. It didn’t seem to be due to speed, as it realized it couldn’t even track Ye Feng’s movement with its own eyes. It seemed to vanish out of thin air, and whenever it reappeared, it did so without any warning or trace.

After several confrontations, Nightmare finally confirmed its suspicion. Ye Feng could disappear the moment an attack reached him, without causing any spatial disturbance, and he reappeared silently each time. If not for its keen instinct to sense danger, it might have been killed by this human many times over.

Moreover, in every clash, it seemed to gain no advantage at all. Although it wasn’t a strength-based magical beast, its physical strength was slightly greater than that of ordinary magical beasts of the same rank due to the need for speed. Yet this man could confront it head-on with his cultivation at the Tribulation stage—this was what Nightmare found most puzzling.

“Could this guy be a human-shaped magical beast?” Nightmare even began to doubt.

Ye Feng, on the other hand, grew increasingly excited. His attacks became more and more spontaneous, and he could sense the resonance between his attacks and external energy growing stronger. As the number of confrontations increased, his eyes gradually managed to track Nightmare’s movements. Though he still couldn’t keep up with its speed, he had made significant progress.

After all, Nightmare’s speed was several times faster than that of experts at the Spirit Immortal level.

The battle between the two gradually reached a stalemate; neither could strike the other’s vital points, and the occasional clashes were evenly matched.

Seeing that its attacks were ineffective, Nightmare realized its hunting plan had completely failed. After all, there were three opponents, yet only one was fighting right now. If the other two joined the fight, it had no chance of winning.

It began to consider retreating.

“Boss, it’s trying to escape!” Bernard suddenly shouted. As soon as his voice fell, the trees around them suddenly swelled up, enclosing the area.

Nightmare, trying to flee, was immediately blocked. It glared angrily at Ye Feng and the others.

“How about this, Nightmare? If you tell us where that guy at the Supreme Immortal level is in this area, we’ll let you go,” Ye Feng said, unwilling to continue fighting. After several hours of confrontation, he knew it would be difficult to kill Nightmare alone.

“You actually dare to challenge Nasario? Hmph, ignorant humans—Nasario is the supreme ruler of the Six Realms.” The Nightmare sneered when Ye Feng and the others asked this question. “A single sneeze from it could wipe you out.”
“Stop talking nonsense and tell us where it is!” Xiao Yu said coldly.
“Hmph, it doesn’t hurt to tell you! Anyway, you bunch are just going to die anyway!” The Nightmare let out a cold snort. “Nasario lives in the giant rock cave at the northernmost end…”
“Alright, one more question—have you seen any humans around?” Ye Feng thought that since there were Six Realms here, Su Mo, who entered the mirror with him, might also be in this forest.
“Humans? Of course. They’ve been here for tens of thousands of years…” The Nightmare was honest.
“There are indeed other humans here!” Ye Feng frowned deeply, knowing this was not good news for him.
“Judging by your appearance, you don’t seem to be one of their accomplices!” The Nightmare continued. “But there was a girl dressed as neatly as you who was just captured by them. She must be your companion, right?”
“Where was she taken?” Ye Feng asked immediately.