Chapter 238: Chapter 177: Customized Nightmare, Part 2

After leaving Canglan County, given his and Tian Yun’s speed, it took less than two hours to reach the area where the Cheetah Camp was stationed.

After observing the barracks from a distance for a while, Zou Feng found a concealed location and prepared to begin his cultivation.

Although Tian Yun knew their mission was to assassinate Zhang Yinxiu, she was naturally perplexed to see Zou Feng preparing to cultivate.

“Zou Lang, are we just going to wait here?”

“Are you sure Zhang Yinxiu will leave the barracks?”

Clearly, she didn’t believe Zou Feng intended to sneak into the barracks to assassinate Zhang Yinxiu.

Zou Feng couldn’t explain much, so he simply said with conviction, “Sister Yun, trust me. In two or three days, Zhang Yinxiu will definitely leave the Cheetah Camp.”

He was going to “train” Zhang Yinxiu until he came out.

Unlike the Fourth Grade Old Thief Yuwen, Zhang Yinxiu was, after all, only at the Peak of Fifth Grade.

If he went all out with the “training,” he couldn’t kill Zhang Yinxiu in a short time, but he could make him believe he had contracted a bizarre illness.

These were troubled times, and men of high status and power were especially protective of their health.

The moment they detected an abnormality they couldn’t resolve on their own, they would immediately seek help from someone more capable.

Zou Feng had already learned that in Jiangnan Prefecture City, there was a Divine Doctor Xue, known as the Lingnan Saint Hand, who practiced medicine for a living.

Whenever the dignitaries of Jiangnan Prefecture encountered a strange illness or injury they couldn’t handle, they would almost always spend a fortune to visit him for a consultation.

As for why they had to go to him for a consultation instead of simply “inviting” him over?

The reason was simple: this Divine Doctor Xue was a Fourth Grade Expert himself. He only cared about money; connections and favors were useless.

Therefore, Zou Feng was ninety percent certain that Zhang Yinxiu, once he believed he had a strange illness, would definitely leave the camp and head to Jiangnan Prefecture City to seek treatment.

However, to make a Peak of Fifth Grade master believe he had contracted an extremely troublesome illness in such a short time, Zou Feng would have to cultivate the two of his skills that currently had the most potent side effects.

Namely, the Five Poison Fire Lotus Skill and the Great Universal Hand.

Cultivating these two skills, both of which he had already brought to the Peak of Perfection, consumed extremely rare resources.

Fortunately, his previous trip to the Southern Border had been quite fruitful.

The White Jade Spider Poison, an extra gift from Teng County, was perfect for cultivating the Five Poison Fire Lotus Skill.

As for the Great Universal Hand, the Wangchuan Road provided the necessary environment for its cultivation.

Although the effects of Wangchuan Road were optimal when he didn’t transfer them, experiencing the “drunkenness” himself.

But now was not the time to worry about that. All the side effects had to be borne by Zhang Yinxiu.

And so, Zou Feng immediately began cultivating on the spot, while Tian Yun acted as his guardian nearby, simultaneously keeping watch on the Cheetah Camp.

In the blink of an eye, a night passed.

Just as dawn was breaking, the Cheetah Camp’s Marshal, Zhang Yinxiu, shot bolt upright in bed.

His forehead was beaded with cold sweat, and his body was drenched as if he had just stepped out of a bath.

He had woken up drenched in sweat, clearly because he had been tormented by nightmares all night long.

This left him utterly bewildered upon waking.

Ever since he had achieved mastery in his martial arts, he hadn’t just stopped having nightmares; even wet dreams were a distant memory.

What was most absurd was that even after waking, he could still clearly remember the scenes from his dream, and the lingering fear left him shaken.

After all, who wouldn’t be terrified? He dreamt he was kidnapped by dozens of giant apes with muscles like forged steel. They pinned down his arms and legs, brought out torture devices, and did all sorts of… indescribable things.

Who could possibly endure that? Even if Zhang Yinxiu considered himself a valiant general who would charge through hell and high water…

…he truly couldn’t help but fear the great punishment of the rod.

After getting out of bed, Zhang Yinxiu, still bare-chested, grabbed the water basin in his room and dumped it over his head.

It was as if he truly felt defiled and had to cleanse his body immediately.

Yet, the cold water did nothing to clear his head.

His mind remained groggy and his steps were unsteady. But what terrified him most was…

…even his backside ached with a faint, burning pain!

“AHHHH—”

The scene from the dream flashed through his mind again. Roaring with immense frustration, Zhang Yinxiu slammed his fist onto the wooden table before him.

Elsewhere, Zou Feng slowly concluded his cultivation.

He had to eat and rest, after all; he couldn’t cultivate nonstop.

This night of torment had surely given Zhang Yinxiu the thrill of a lifetime.

In truth, Zou Feng could guess the nature of Zhang Yinxiu’s nightmares.

After all, he had orchestrated them himself.

The most crucial part of cultivating the Great Universal Hand was Visualization.

After drinking from the Wangchuan Road, Zou Feng began to visualize giant apes in his mind, intentionally imagining them torturing a man.

Visualizing such chaotic scenes during cultivation was incredibly dangerous, practically a form of suicide.

But since it was all for the sake of giving Zhang Yinxiu a “good dream,” he visualized whatever was most stimulating.

Zhang Yinxiu had slept for an entire night, but it was the equivalent of being mentally tortured for an entire night.

Once he was rested enough, he would use the side effects of the Five Poison Fire Lotus Skill to torment Zhang Yinxiu’s physical body.

It would make him suspect his nightmares were starting to bleed into reality.

’If that still isn’t enough to make the bastard rush to a doctor, then tonight, I’ll have to visualize Ox-headed and Horse-faced demons, or perhaps something even more grotesque…’

In truth, these things Zou Feng visualized were of little help to his current cultivation of the Great Universal Hand.

But to make the side effects more potent, he was essentially cultivating recklessly—the more self-destructive the method, the better.

But to clean up the mess Old Thief Yuwen had made, he had no choice but to temporarily ignore the effectiveness of his cultivation and focus solely on maxing out the side effects.

Sure enough, after another night passed, Zhang Yinxiu was on the verge of going insane.

The physical discomfort could have been alleviated. With his Peak of Fifth Grade cultivation, taking some elixirs and meditating should have been enough.

The problem was, the moment he fell asleep, he was plagued by obscene and terrifying nightmares.

Worse, his physical weakness made it impossible for him to force himself to stay awake.

’No, I can’t go on like this!’

Early the next morning, Zhang Yinxiu made a swift decision. Taking only eight Personal Guards, he hurriedly departed from the barracks.

He needed to get to a doctor as quickly as possible; he couldn’t very well march an entire army toward Jiangnan Prefecture with great fanfare.

Furthermore, since the Celestial Essence Sword Sect had successfully assassinated the rebel leader within Jiangnan Prefecture, the rebel army had retreated several hundred li.

This meant that, in the current Jiangnan Prefecture, there was virtually no one on the surface—aside from their own experts and the Celestial Essence Sword Sect—who could pose a threat to Zhang Yinxiu.

Thus, he didn’t consider rushing to Jiangnan Prefecture City for treatment with only eight Personal Guards to be a particularly risky endeavor.

’Besides,’ he thought, ’who could possibly know that I’ve suddenly contracted a strange illness and am immediately seeking treatment, other than the Personal Guards with me?’

In short, Zhang Yinxiu wasn’t being careless. After all, he could never have anticipated the existence of something like the List of Gods…

“Zou Lang, some people are leaving the camp!”

Tian Yun, who had been watching the Cheetah Camp from a high vantage point, spotted them immediately.

Of course, the distance was too great for her to be certain if Zhang Yinxiu was among them.

But Zou Feng knew as soon as he heard. The man had finally cracked and was going to find a doctor.

“That must be Zhang Pifu. Let’s go!”

The surrounding terrain was open, which was hardly an ideal place for an ambush.

But Zou Feng had already scouted out a suitable ambush spot when they first arrived. All they had to do now was get there ahead of time and lie in wait.

About ten li from the barracks, Zhang Yinxiu’s path would take him through a relatively narrow river valley.

Zou Feng reached the cliffs above the river valley ahead of time and began to form his Crimson Poison Needle.

He would first use the Crimson Poison Needle for a long-range attack, effectively acting as a sniper.

Moreover, preparing it in advance and gathering strength would enhance the Crimson Poison Needle’s power to some degree.

Zou Feng quickly entered a focused state. Calming his breath, he began to rapidly condense and compress the Gang Qi on his finger, which pulsed intermittently with an extremely ominous red light.

In Tian Yun’s eyes, as Zou Feng entered this state of meditation, from a distance it was as if he had transformed into a giant Poison Scorpion, its stinger raised high, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

Of course, this was merely an illusion created by his Gang Qi Transformation.

Before long, Zou Feng’s middle finger began to swell abnormally. The terrifyingly potent poison continued to gather; if he didn’t fire it soon, he would likely suffer a backlash and have his finger blown to bits.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep