Chapter 35 The Nightmare Descends, the Crushing Mental Storm
The air in the Gloomy Forest seemed to freeze at this moment.
The four followers brought by Wang Xiao, who were originally charging towards Jiang Chen with aggressive Aura, instinctively stopped in their tracks the moment they met Jiang Chen's gaze.
A shiver originating from the depths of their Soul crept up their spines, as if they had been targeted by some kind of apex predator.
"Playing god!"
Wang Xiao snorted coldly, suppressing the inexplicable unease in his heart. He was a Genius heavily cultivated by the Wang family, possessing a rare "Illusion" talent, and his specialty was mental attacks. In his view, a guy like Jiang Chen who only knew how to sleep must have weak Mental Energy, and he could make him kneel and beg for mercy in a single encounter.
"Let me show you what real mental suppression is!"
Wang Xiao's eyes suddenly turned an eerie pink, and the folding fan in his hand snapped open. The fierce ghost pattern painted on the fan face seemed to come alive.
"Illusion: Heart Demon Attraction!"
An invisible mental ripple spread out like a wave, heading straight for Jiang Chen's mind.
This move was extremely vicious, capable of conjuring up the most fearful memories in a person's heart, causing them to fall into madness.
Su Qingyue, standing to the side, felt a sudden dizziness in her head, and the scene before her began to distort, as if she saw countless fierce ghosts rushing towards her. She covered her head in pain and shouted, "Jiang Chen! Be careful! This is a mental attack!"
However, Jiang Chen, who was at the center of the attack, didn't even frown.
In fact, he even revealed a strange smile.
"Mental attack?"
Jiang Chen looked at Wang Xiao as if he were looking at an idiot holding a water pistol to put out a fire.
Possessing the 【Supreme Nightmare System】, and being "tortured" in his dreams by beings at the level of the Abyss Empress every day, Jiang Chen's Mental Energy had long been as tough as diamond, not to mention the defensive mechanism that came with the System.
Wang Xiao's little illusion attack drilled into Jiang Chen's mind like a drop of sewage falling into an endless ocean, not even causing a ripple.
Moreover.
This attack, instead, activated a passive defense mechanism within Jiang Chen's body.
【Ding! Malicious mental garbage intrusion detected.】
【Judgment: Low-level noise interfering with sleep.】
【Triggering passive counterattack: Empress's Waking Up Anger (Weakened Version).】
【Currently dragging the target into the "Abyssal Dream" for education...】
"Roar—!"
In Wang Xiao's mental field of vision, the world changed instantly.
He had originally thought he was invading the Sea of Consciousness of a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. But in the next second, he discovered with horror that he was standing on a boundless black wasteland.
The sky was blood-red, and under his feet were piles of white bones.
And at the end of the wasteland, on a black throne that towered into the clouds, a pair of huge eyes burning with purple flames slowly opened.
Those eyes stared at him coldly, as if looking at a humble ant.
Behind those eyes, one could vaguely see a purple-haired Empress with wings on her back and a peerless appearance, looking down with contempt at this insect that had disturbed her sweet dreams.
It was just a glance.
"Get out."
A rebuke that seemed to come from the ancient times exploded in the depths of Wang Xiao's Soul.
"Ah!!!"
In reality, Wang Xiao suddenly let out an extremely shrill scream.
This scream did not sound human, making those around him shudder.
Wang Xiao's folding fan fell to the ground, and two lines of blood gushed wildly from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, and ear canals. He clutched his head tightly with both hands, rolling on the ground as if he had gone mad, his fingernails scratching his face until it was bloody and blurred.
"Don't come over! Don't look at me! I was wrong! Don't eat me! Ah—!"
That was the pain of a mental world collapsing, far more terrifying than physical pain.
"Brother Xiao!"
The four followers were shocked. They never expected that Wang Xiao, who usually played with other people's spirits in the palm of his hand, would be backlashed like this in a single encounter.
"This kid is strange! Attack together, cripple him!"
One of the burly men roared, drew the battle blade from his back, and slashed at Jiang Chen's neck with a whistling wind.
Jiang Chen stood in place without moving, and even... closed his eyes.
【Activating: Automatic Pathfinding · Combat Mode.】
【Target: Clean up surrounding noise sources.】
【Mental Energy consumption: 1 point per second.】
Just as the battle blade was about to fall, Jiang Chen's body suddenly swayed in an extremely weird way.
That movement was like a sleepwalker dodging obstacles, without any warning, and it didn't conform to any martial arts principles.
Whoosh!
The battle blade brushed past the tip of his nose, slashed onto the rock on the ground, and sparks flew.
"What?!" The burly man's pupils shrank.
Before he could pull out his blade, Jiang Chen's body leaned forward.
He looked like he hadn't stood firm, bumping softly into the burly man's arms. But at the moment of contact, Jiang Chen's shoulder shook violently.
A force like a landslide and tsunami erupted.
Bang!
A muffled sound.
The burly man's 180-jin body was hit as if by a high-speed truck, flying backward more than ten meters, breaking a large tree before stopping, his chest collapsed, and he passed out on the spot.
"So many mosquitoes..."
Jiang Chen muttered with his eyes closed, his footsteps becoming messy and ethereal, like a drunken Immortal, weaving between the remaining three.
"Kill him!"
The remaining three had red eyes, and fists, feet, and weapons fell like raindrops.
But Jiang Chen was like a slippery loach, always able to dodge attacks at the last possible moment. After each dodge, he would seemingly casually wave his hand or lift his leg.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Three crisp sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
One person was slapped, spun three times on the spot, and fainted; one was kicked in the knee and knelt on the ground; the last one was pushed by Jiang Chen, his head hit the tree trunk, and his eyes rolled back.
The whole battle, from start to finish, took less than ten seconds.
Jiang Chen opened his eyes, yawned, looked at Wang Xiao rolling on the ground, walked over, and stepped on his chest.
"Ah... don't kill me... Empress, spare me... don't kill me..." Wang Xiao was already delirious from the torture of the illusion, tears and snot flowing, and his crotch was wet.
"Can't take it already?"
Jiang Chen leaned down, took out their team's points bag from Wang Xiao's arms, and weighed it, "Quite heavy, thanks. Consider it the mental damage fee for disturbing my sleep."
He turned his head and waved to Su Qingyue and Little Fatty Chen, who were already dumbfounded.
"What are you stunned for? Pick up the loot. These are all gift-giving boys, don't take it for nothing."
Su Qingyue finally came back to her senses, looking at Jiang Chen with eyes full of shock and... admiration.
If the previous Jiang Chen only made her feel interesting and mysterious, then the current Jiang Chen was an unfathomable powerhouse in her eyes. Even a behemoth like the Wang family was just a joke in front of him.
"Jiang Chen, that move you just did... was that also trained by sleeping?" Su Qingyue couldn't help asking.
Jiang Chen threw the bag of points to Little Fatty Chen and climbed back up the tree.
"Yeah. There's everything in dreams."
His voice gradually became lazy, "Stop making noise, that nightmare backlash just now consumed a bit too much, I need to take a nap. You guys handle the rest of the road yourself."
After speaking, in less than three seconds, the familiar snoring sound rang out again.
The sunlight spilled on Jiang Chen's face through the leaves, looking so peaceful. Who would have thought that just a moment ago, this sleeping big boy had effortlessly crippled the Genius team of the Imperial Capital Wang family?
Deep in the forest.
A miniature insect drone responsible for monitoring transmitted this scene back to the school command center in its entirety.
Chief Instructor Shen Yan looked at the big screen and didn't speak for a long time.
"Chief Instructor, this Jiang Chen..." The instructor next to him had a trembling voice, "Although the drone can't capture mental fluctuations, looking at Wang Xiao's instant collapse, it was definitely a high-level mental backlash! This Jiang Chen... his Mental Energy rating has probably reached the 'Transcendence Realm' level!"
Chief Instructor Shen Yan took a deep breath, a flash of fanatical light in his eyes.
"This is the real good seedling! What Wang family, Li family, in the face of absolute talent, they are all bullshit!"
He slapped the table hard, making the teacup jump.
"Pass the order down, the first place in this field training is undoubtedly him! In addition, list him as an S-class core observation object for the 'Seed Project'. Anyone who dares to mess with him behind my back is going against me, Chief Instructor Shen Yan!"
Three days later.
When the Jiang Chen trio walked out of the Gloomy Forest, they were greeted by the attention of all the freshmen in the school.
On that huge leaderboard, the name of Jiang Chen's group hung high at the top, with a point total ten times that of the second place!
The name of the "Sleep God" completely resounded through the Imperial Capital Martial Arts University.
And for Jiang Chen, all of this was just a bonus brought by changing places to sleep.
What he really cared about was the System prompt that had just popped up in his mind:
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the "Initial Sharpness" achievement.】
【Obtained special item: Empress's Calming Pillow (Fragment 1/3).】
【Description: Collect fragments to summon a real-world projection of the Empress once.】
【Remark: Although it is only a projection, perhaps it can satisfy some of the host's bold ideas?】
Jiang Chen's eyes lit up instantly.
Real-world projection?
That means... in the future, he won't have to dream to hug a big thigh in reality? Even... can use her as an air conditioner?
"This high martial arts world is getting more and more interesting." Jiang Chen thought happily, touching his somewhat empty stomach, "But for now, it's more important to go to the cafeteria to eat."