208: The Tragedy of the Nightmare Clan

The essence of an illusion is to create an entirely new world, one that, no matter how minor the detail, is identical to reality, thereby making the Martial Artist believe everything is real, ultimately immersing them and causing them to completely lose themselves.

The Nightmare Clan's ability allows them to steal a Martial Artist's memories and perfectly construct an illusion based on those memories, ensuring that even the smallest details are flawless.

Furthermore, the stronger the Nightmare, the more memories he can steal, and the higher the level of the target whose memories he can steal.

This is the most terrifying illusion.

For other illusion Cultivators, at most, they construct another world, using negative emotions like fear, terror, and anger to make the Martial Artist ignore the possibility of being trapped in an illusion, ultimately succeeding in killing the Martial Artist through the illusion.

But the Nightmare Clan is different; they can construct an illusion that is identical to reality, making it even easier for the target to lose themself.

It is precisely because of this that the Nightmare Clan is unparalleled in the Dao of illusion.

And this Nightmare in front of him believed he had stolen all of Shen Xi's memories, from childhood to adulthood, from a babbling infant to being hunted by the Two-Headed Sheep, fighting back, and finally having to leave Twenty-first City to escape the Senator's revenge, as well as all subsequent experiences—the Nightmare had stolen it all.

Based on these memories, the illusion he constructed was absolutely meticulous, with no possible flaws, yet Shen Xi still detected something was wrong and successfully escaped the illusion by letting his guard down. This was something the Nightmare could not accept.

This was a challenge to his ability!

"Some memories you can steal, but some memories you simply cannot," Shen Xi said with a calm smile.

That's right, that's the answer.

The Nightmare believed he had completely stolen Shen Xi's memories, but in reality, some of the most crucial memories were completely untouched.

For example, the System!

This was Shen Xi's biggest secret, and his most powerful cheat that allowed him to rise.

Due to the System's special nature, the Nightmare simply could not steal any memories related to the System.

Naturally, he also couldn't construct the System within the illusion.

This is also why Shen Xi, within the illusion, always maintained a distance from those Martial Dao Five Realms powerhouses, to prevent them from suppressing him and denying him the chance to self-detonate.

If the System were present, Shen Xi would be able to self-detonate with ease through its help.

Even if a Martial Dao Five Realms powerhouse was right in front of him, he wouldn't be able to stop him.

And Shen Xi had noticed something was amiss from the very beginning because he realized that the System's voice had disappeared.

Besides that, there was another flaw.

That was the existence of Little Doll.

The Nightmare learned through Shen Xi's memories that he had successfully passed the Tower of the Heavens' trial, which is why he constructed the scene of eighteen powerhouses besieging Twenty-first City, forcing Shen Xi to hand over the Tower of the Heavens' treasure.

It must be admitted, this was indeed very realistic and logical.

Moreover, starting with such a powerful hand made it easier for the Martial Artist, in their fear, to be influenced by the illusion and thus overlook the fact that they were in an illusion, ultimately sinking completely and losing themselves.

However, because he hadn't stolen any memories about Little Doll, the Nightmare didn't know that Shen Xi had two opportunities to summon Little Doll to act.

What if there were eighteen Martial Dao Five Realms powerhouses? Once Little Doll acted, all these guys would die.

But Shen Xi couldn't summon Little Doll, which was also a huge loophole.

Simply put, whether it was Little Doll or the System, both were existences beyond the Nightmare's comprehension; his strength was insufficient to steal any memories about them, and thus, these two huge flaws were left behind.

And the truth, Shen Xi naturally wouldn't tell the System.

If the other party didn't understand, he could guess!

"What's the point of asking so much? You've already lost!" Shen Xi said, looking at the Nightmare with an unruffled expression, enunciating each word.

Hearing this, the Nightmare finally showed an unwilling expression and sighed helplessly, "Yes! I've already lost... Do what you will with me!"

As he spoke, the faint light involuntarily flickered.

Clearly, facing death, the Nightmare was also filled with fear.

However, he knew that even fear couldn't change the inevitable outcome of death, so he endured, not wanting Shen Xi to laugh at him in his final moments.

If anyone was to blame, it could only be fate for giving the Nightmare Clan such extraordinary illusionary abilities, but also taking away their ability to fight head-on.

"I could, however, spare your life," Shen Xi suddenly said.

"What!" the Nightmare exclaimed in astonishment.

A pair of eyes appeared in the faint light, scrutinizing Shen Xi up and down in disbelief.

Soon, the Nightmare seemed to realize something, and his attitude turned somewhat sinister, "Are you planning to use me as a tool for Cultivation? That's impossible. I'd rather die than be treated like livestock!"

The Nightmare's attitude was full of hostility, just like Shen Xi when he negotiated with the eighteen powerhouses in the illusion earlier, ready to self-detonate if things didn't go his way.

In fact, Shen Xi understood the Nightmare's attitude.

The reason was simple: the Nightmare Clan had suffered too much throughout history.

Why was the Nightmare Clan almost extinct in ancient times? It was because too many illusion Cultivators wanted to use them for illusion Cultivation.

To be precise, it was to Cultivate using the Nightmare's flesh and blood, which was that faint ball of light.

Due to their extraordinary talent in illusions, the Nightmare Clan's flesh and blood were an unparalleled tonic for illusion Cultivators. Each time they Cultivated, a portion of the faint light would be taken for Cultivation, which could enhance their comprehension of the Dao of illusions and accelerate their Cultivation progress.

What was the difference between such a life and that of an animal?

Livestock are fattened for meat, and the Nightmare Clan is kept to have their flesh and blood extracted—it's all the same situation.

What's more tragic is that livestock have no self-awareness, but the Nightmare Clan does; they are well aware of their fate and know that once they surrender, not only they but also their descendants will face the same end.

This also led to many tragedies unfolding for the Nightmare Clan.

When the Nightmare heard that Shen Xi intended to spare him, he naturally thought of the various encounters of his ancestors, which made him resist from the bottom of his heart.

He would rather die than live a humiliating life!

"Don't misunderstand, I don't intend to treat you as livestock, but rather to cooperate," Shen Xi said, understanding the Nightmare's thoughts, and quickly explained.