Nightmare Master – CH 010

Chapter 10. Crisis

Leaving aside the terrified disciples and servants outside the bronze mirror, the three nightmare masters locked in a chaotic battle within the dream were dumbfounded as they watched the ashes swirling around Yun Chuan.

The drummer shouted first, “We’ve encountered a terrible evil today! The competition has gone awry! The Xie family’s young lady has arrived, and now even spirit bandits have come! What exactly are you trying to do, you little brat?”

Old Sixth Zhao, controlling the locusts, was even more excited, laughing loudly amidst the whirlwind of locusts. “Good! I love a good show!”

Yun Chuan, supporting Xie Yuzhu, rose into the air on the ashes. She dodged the waves of sound, tree branches, and locusts, spinning once at the center where the three nightmares converged, her fingers rapidly tracing patterns on her clothes.

Xie Yuzhu obediently played the role of hostage, asking in a barely audible voice, “What are you calculating?”

Yun Chuan also lowered her voice, “Calculating who I can beat.”

“Who?”

“I cannot beat anyone.”

“Then what do we do!?”

“Pick someone and help them beat the others quickly.”

As soon as Yun Chuan finished speaking, she flicked her wrist, sending ashes flying to cut off the branch about to pierce Old Sixth Zhao, deflecting the venom as well.

Old Sixth Zhao turned to look at Yun Chuan, surprised. “Little girl, you are actually helping me?”

“If you win until all your dreams are shattered, then I can get out,” Yun Chuan answered honestly, hovering in the air.

Xie Yuzhu, stiff as a board, protested with a groan, “Why did you help him instead of the scholar? It is so unethical to repay kindness with enmity!”

Yun Chuan replied earnestly, “A righteous person should kill me to save you.”

“…”

“Only the unrighteous will stand on my side.”

Xie Yuzhu, a fence-sitter, swayed with the wind: “You are right.”

As expected, Old Sixth Zhao ignored Xie Yuzhu’s binding and was quite pleased with himself for having received help. Xu Shu, his face ashen, shouted, “This girl is actually a spirit bandit! It seems all this chaos was caused by her! Everyone, let’s apprehend her first!”

The moment the branch rushed towards Yun Chuan, drums thundered, locusts soared, and ashes rained down like arrows—all three forces attacked simultaneously. The nightmare in the forest was instantly shattered, and Xu Shu’s angry face vanished along with the dream.

On the high platform, Xu Shu, who had been sleeping soundly, awoke with a dark expression. The disciples of the immortal sects outside the bronze mirror witnessed this scene, their indignation reaching the heavens. The righteous had been defeated by the unrighteous and those who took advantage of the situation—this was utterly outrageous!

Meanwhile, Yun Chuan in the dream simply clapped his hands, saying with satisfaction, “A dream broken.”

Then, the Nightmare Master, who was beating the drum, even tried to persuade Yun Chuan to help him. Yun Chuan, always mindful of alliances, readily agreed—he helped Old Sixth Zhao eliminate the other party.

Thus, this suddenly appearing, rebellious spirit bandit and the mad Old Sixth Zhao tacitly formed an alliance. Old Sixth Zhao was already quite strong, and Yun Chuan’s bracelet was also extremely powerful. Whoever Old Sixth Zhao’s nameplate on the carved wooden board touched was knocked off, and the bracelet wobbled upwards, unstoppable and invincible.

The groupings were already chaotic, and with Yun Chuan’s intervention, the competition speed increased dramatically. In less than half an hour, Old Sixth Zhao’s nameplate soared to the top, seemingly closing in on the position of Alliance Leader. But its rapid rise was abruptly halted—his nameplate was knocked to the ground by another rapidly rising nameplate.

In the dream, Yun Chuan and Xie Yuzhu had not even realized what was happening, nor did they see the Nightmare Master, who had knocked down Old Sixth Zhao’s nameplate, before they fell into another dream and crashed to the ground.

Xie Yuzhu groggily got up and found herself surrounded by the city of Fujiang. The wide central street connected various lanes, with silk shops, pharmacies, butcher shops, and other businesses lined up along the street, their doors tightly shut. Vultures perched on the rooftops of the buildings, and in the distance, the golden beads atop the Zhaiyue Tower could be seen. She racked her brains for a moment, then exclaimed in shock, “This is… Liujie Street in Fujiang City?”

Xie Yuzhu looked down at the ground. Every crack in the paving stones was filled with blood, which slowly seeped out and covered the ground, reflecting the blood-red moon in the sky.

Liujie Street was the execution ground in autumn.

Her heart tightened. Before she could even understand what was happening, she heard a torrential surge of footsteps. A dark mass of corpses rushed in from all the streets and alleys. These corpses were headless, ragged, and varied in height, their claws outstretched, and large scabs on their necks were still gushing blood. They ran, leaving a trail of blood as they went—a true river of blood.

Xie Yuzhu was terrified again. Amidst her screams, Yun Chuan pulled her close, maintaining a restraining stance, then plucked an apple from a nearby tree and smashed it on the ground. The moment the apple fell, it sprouted and grew rapidly, sprawling into a dense canopy of branches that blocked the oncoming corpses.

The apple tree instantly blossomed and bore fruit, new fruit falling in droves. New apple trees burst through the brickwork, tearing apart corpses and sucking the blood from the river, growing lush and green upwards. Horizontal branches spread out, wrapping around Yun Chuan and Xie Yuzhu, lifting them high above.

Yun Chuan, using the branches to dodge the horde of corpses, plucked apples and threw them into the piles of bodies. Each throw felled a section of corpses, and an apple tree sprouted, soon turning the marketplace into an apple orchard. The outer three rings of Yun Chuan’s bracelet spun rapidly, almost sparking.

Xie Yuzhu covered her mouth, watching the corpses climbing upwards recklessly, trampling over one another. Even though they were headless, their cries of injustice rose and fell like a tidal wave, their origins unknown. To die unjustly in life was bad enough, but to be trampled underfoot and used as a ladder by others who died unjustly in death—when would this cycle of revenge end!

Could this be an executioner’s dream? Compared to the nightmares of water, trees, and insects, this was practically paradise!

Seeing the corpses moving faster and faster, and the apples no longer able to keep up with their crawling speed, Yun Chuan scattered a handful of ash into the air and blew it back. The ash, bathed in the blood-red moonlight, transformed into dozens of wild wolves, swooping down to tear the corpses apart and drag them from the apple tree.

Yun Chuan did not look away; she kept her head up, gazing at a rooftop not far away. Xie Yuzhu followed Yun Chuan’s gaze and saw, under the blood-red moon, standing on the rooftop a man in his early forties, wearing a dark blue robe, tall but lean, with a thick, piercing beard and piercing eyes.

Xie Yuzhu recognized the man; she had seen him when she slipped away—it was none other than the infamous Nightmare Master Ren Tang.

Xie Yuzhu’s mind raced, then a sudden realization dawned on her: this was Ren Tang’s dream! The only Nightmare Master capable of instantly defeating Old Sixth Zhao was Ren Tang. Now that Old Sixth Zhao was no longer her ally, Yun Chuan could not defeat any Nightmare Master alone, let alone Ren Tang!

Ren Tang’s gaze shifted from the bracelet on Yun Chuan’s wrist to her face, and he said in a deep voice, “You are the spirit bandit from Fu Family Village?”

Upon hearing this, Xie Yuzhu immediately reacted, waving her arms and legs, loudly shouting, “Master Ren! Master Ren, stop! I am the sixth young lady of the Xie family! She’s choking me! Help me!”

Yun Chuan cooperated by poking a sharp branch at Xie Yuzhu’s neck, saying, “Let me out, or I will kill her.”

Ren Tang smiled coldly, and the branch in Yun Chuan’s hand instantly gushed blood and melted. Yun Chuan immediately threw the branch away, and Ren Tang’s voice rang out from afar: “This spirit bandit girl, you probably do not understand yet. You are stepping into a dream I control. Facing me, there’s only one word: defeat.”

It was common knowledge that the night was the domain of the Nightmare Master, and the Nightmare Master was a god within nightmares. And since they were gods, they were naturally—omnipotent.

Ren Tang raised his hand, and the earth began to tremble and crack violently. A fissure suddenly appeared between Yun Chuan and Xie Yuzhu, rapidly widening. A dark horde of corpses, like beetles, swarmed from the rooftops, their stench overwhelming. They staggered and crawled up the treetops, surrounding Yun Chuan, instantly staining the leaves crimson.

“Young Lady Xie, do not be afraid; I will certainly protect you,” Ren Tang said firmly.

Xie Yuzhu stood frozen, gazing at Yun Chuan across the newly appeared fissure. She stammered, “Actually… “

Before she could finish, the blue light on Yun Chuan’s bracelet flashed and then vanished in an instant. In that instant, the trees stopped growing, the wolves disappeared, and ashes drifted across the night sky, obscuring the blood moon. Xie Yuzhu’s words caught in her throat.

No way?! Why did that magical bracelet have to break now, of all times? How could anyone be so unlucky?!

Xie Yuzhu wailed inwardly while Ren Tang shouted, “A mere spirit bandit dares to invade the dream world, disrupt order, and sabotage the Nightmare Master Alliance! How dare you show such disrespect to the Nightmare Masters? Who gave you the audacity?”

Ren Tang pointed at Yun Chuan and coldly said, “This is your burial ground!”

Xie Yuzhu was sweating profusely, her mind racing.

Yun Chuan, however, looked confused: “You said… “

Before Yun Chuan could finish speaking, the headless corpses swarmed forward, rushing towards her, their bloodied hands about to grab her face.

At the critical moment, accompanied by Xie Yuzhu’s scream, the weather suddenly changed.

A long, gaping hole suddenly opened in the sky, like a gaping, laughing mouth, and countless sheets of white paper rained down from it, crashing down like hailstones.

The overwhelming sheen of white paper was incredibly heavy. Once it hit the ground, it remained motionless, layer upon layer covering the blood-soaked streets and trees, pressing the corpses down and burying them completely. In the blink of an eye, a thick layer of white paper had been piled up, turning the entire world into a vast white expanse.

Yun Chuan, Ren Tang, and Xie Yuzhu were buried up to their knees in the white paper, exchanging bewildered glances.

Suddenly, a piece of white paper floating in mid-air stopped, then frantically sprouted new pieces, falling in a waterfall of paper, gradually revealing a human shape. The paper abruptly spun upwards and scattered, revealing a beautiful woman in colorful clothes at the center, facing Yun Chuan, her back to Ren Tang—it was Wen Ci.

Wen Ci scrutinized Yun Chuan from head to toe, her gaze sweeping over the bloodstains on her body, lingering for a moment on her smoking bracelet. Then, gritting her teeth, she said sarcastically, “You are incredibly powerful.”

Having said that, Wen Ci turned to Ren Tang, slightly raising her chin: “Invading dreams, disrupting order, destroying the Nightmare Master Alliance, the person you just mentioned… “

Wen Ci raised a finger and pointed to herself: “It’s me.”