157: Fear buffet, boss, give me another plate!

The sensation of consciousness being dragged felt like a soul being forcibly uploaded to a server with a five-digit latency after the network cable was unplugged.

In Tang Yan’s “vision,” there was a chaotic spiritual kaleidoscope.

There was no up, down, left, or right here, only infinitely magnified, primal scenes of terror.

One second, he was experiencing the weightlessness of freefall from ten thousand meters; the next, he was sealed in an airtight coffin, feeling the heavy thud of earth being shoveled onto its lid; the next, he was in a world with no one else, experiencing an extreme loneliness that even denied him an echo.

This was like taking all the horror movies, escape rooms, and haunted house experiences in the world, compressing them into a mental virus, and launching a saturation attack on his brain.

A grand and ancient voice echoed in this chaos, carrying a seductive magic.

“Give up, weary soul. Resistance is meaningless, for fear is the essence of the world. As long as you cease to think and merge into this darkness, you will attain eternal peace, free from betrayal, free from worries…”

The voice sounded exactly like a spam email sent promptly at midnight, with the subject line: “Shocking! One Trick to Achieve Permanent Mental Relaxation!”

Tang Yan sat cross-legged in the center of this mental storm, as steady as an old dog.

Facing an illusion powerful enough to cause any Kage-level Ninja to suffer a mental breakdown, he even had the leisure to inwardly complain: “Good heavens, is this a buy-one-get-one-free value-added service? Is the main focus an immersive experience?”

He did not fight against the illusions, nor did he pay attention to the “customer service” voice’s enticing persuasion. Resistance was a mortal’s approach, but he was here for technical analysis.

“Myriad Celestial Crafting Box, activate the ‘Psycho-Material Composition Analysis’ module.”

He closed his eyes, allowing the waves of fear to wash over his consciousness. In his perception, these so-called fears were no longer vague emotions but complex yet traceable energy data streams.

Analysis initiated…

Target: ‘Fear’ Soul Energy Collective.

Core Logic Analysis: Fear = Unknown Variable + Uncontrolled State.

Cracking solution being deduced…

“So that’s it,” Tang Yan realized.

The root of fear came from the imagination of the unknown and the powerlessness of losing control of a situation.

Then, if he could just turn all “unknowns” into “knowns” and all “uncontrolled” into “controlled,” wouldn’t the problem be solved?

So, Tang Yan did the opposite.

He did not release Chakra, nor did he construct any defenses. He did something that even the core will of the “Fear” Soul had not anticipated—he began to “share” his knowledge base.

The next moment, the style of this chaotic fear space changed abruptly!

The hideous ghostly faces and twisted monsters were covered by massive, glowing puppet design blueprints. On the blueprints, the eight-legged blade limb structure of the Shanxiao - Giyan and the thousand-mechanism axis transformation core of the Xiao Yin were each part clearly labeled.

The endless dark abyss was permeated by clear causal logic lines. From “Akatsuki Organization Member Composition and Individual Weakness Analysis” to “Fourth Ninja World War Key Node Deduction,” and then to “Feasibility Breakthrough Report on Ōtsutsuki Clan Technical Barriers,” the entire future of the Ninja World was projected by him in the form of a PPT, page by page, into this mental space.

The screams representing death and despair were gradually replaced by another sound—the “clack” of countless gears precisely meshing, the “clink” of metal components being precisely forged, and the “hum” of energy cores operating stably.

This was no longer a playground of fear but had transformed into an incredibly grand, real-time construction of a super mechanical city.

The core will of the “Fear” Soul was dumbfounded.

It was like an old ghost who made a living by scaring children, but today it encountered a mischievous child who pulled out “Advanced Mathematics” and “Quantum Physics” and started lecturing him.

The fear it created became a joke in the face of Tang Yan’s vast, almost cheating, “knowns.” Its proud “uncontrolled” atmosphere was even more fragile and vulnerable in the face of his precisely timed “Ninja World Future Development Five-Year Plan.”

“No… this is impossible…” The ancient voice trembled and panicked for the first time. “How could you… define me?!”

It discovered that this human soul, far from being devoured by fear, had begun to “analyze” and “define” it in reverse!

In front of Tang Yan’s knowledge system, it became no longer mysterious, no longer unknown, and thus, no longer terrifying.

For the first time in its existence, the core will of the “Fear” Soul felt “fear.”

Just as its will wavered and its mental defense showed a flaw, Tang Yan unleashed the trump card he had already prepared.

“Time for the main course.”

He abruptly released his “Nether” Soul, which had completely solidified and taken form when he had just overcome his “past life” obsession!

The “Nether” Soul represented ultimate spiritual power and the essence of “seeing through illusions.”

It did not transform into a sword or a beast, but in this space dominated by blueprints and logic lines, it transformed into a gigantic eye made of ghostly blue flames!

That eye was calm, profound, and devoid of any emotion, as if it were an observer of the universe, the embodiment of truth.

The moment this “Nether Blue Eye” opened, all sounds ceased.

Under its gaze, all remaining fear illusions melted away like ice under the scorching sun. The mechanical cities and logic lines instantly vanished; all disguises were peeled away layer by layer.

The entire mental space became pure and transparent, leaving only a constantly trembling, pulsating heart in the very center, seemingly composed of countless black crystals.

That was the true form of the “Fear” Soul.

“Found you.”

Tang Yan’s consciousness slowly moved forward, and at the moment the crystal heart completely collapsed from being seen through, he reached out and grabbed it.

The sensation was cold, hard, and accompanied by a slight, violent tremor, like catching a startled hummingbird.

…

Outside, in front of the Waterfall of Truth.

Killer Bee and Chiyo were extremely tense. The huge black energy cocoon enveloping Tang Yan emitted an increasingly ominous aura, as if it would explode at any second.

“Eight-Tails! Can he… can he still hold on?!” Killer Bee was so anxious he was almost about to perform beatboxing on the spot.

“I don’t know… I can’t sense his Chakra anymore… only that pure fear remains…” Gyūki’s voice was also extremely grave.

Just then, another anomaly occurred!

The gigantic, distorted black energy cocoon suddenly stopped expanding. Immediately after, like a punctured balloon, all the black energy transformed into streams of black light, surging madly towards the core of the cocoon—Tang Yan’s palm—like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea!

It took no more than three seconds.

The fear energy filling the sky vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

The Waterfall of Truth returned to its clarity, the sound of water still roared, sunlight once again spilled down, and everything seemed so peaceful.

Except for Tang Yan, who was sitting cross-legged on the rock.

He slowly opened his right hand, and in his palm lay a polygonal crystal, entirely black, shimmering with a dangerous luster.

Killer Bee and Gyūki in his mind were both petrified.

They could not comprehend what was happening before their eyes.

The “Negative Will Collective of the Waterfall of Truth,” which could cause countless genius Ninja to suffer mental breakdowns and even gave the Eight-Tails trouble, was like a self-heating, pre-packaged takeout with a fancy box in front of Tang Yan.

Not only was he unharmed, but he even “packaged” and took away the waterfall’s core energy?!

This wasn’t a trial; this was stocking up!

Tang Yan stood up, brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes, and put away the “Fear” Soul crystal. He glanced at the dumbfounded Killer Bee and Chiyo, who had a pale face and an expression of “Who am I? Where am I?” beside him.

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

“Don’t get me wrong, your Kumogakure’s spiritual spa service is really top-notch. It’s just that the souvenir you give away when you leave is a bit too hardcore in style.”