Ranking

Night fell over the desert, which had both day and night.

The wind howled past, kicking up grains of sand from the ground. Gradually, the grains gathered in greater numbers, and with the temperature difference between day and night, the desert went into full-blown chaos—a sandstorm!

At that moment, a figure walked through the sandstorm, completely ignoring this terrifying natural phenomenon. It was Lu Yan'an. His combat boots pressed into the soft quicksand, yet he showed no sign of sinking, walking across it as easily as solid ground! The environment had no negative effect on him whatsoever. Even gravity thirty thousand times stronger than on Yuan Planet couldn't make him lose his perfect control over his body!

Lu Yan'an walked on in silence. Suddenly, he stopped, his ears twitching slightly. He could just make out the sounds of battle coming from far away, distinct from the howling wind. At last, a trace of excitement appeared in his calm eyes. "Anyone willing to fight in conditions like these must be confident in their abilities. Killing a strong opponent like that is far more efficient!"

Whoosh!

Lu Yan'an pushed off lightly with his toes and became a blur, swiftly making his way toward the sounds. In only a moment, he had reached a sand dune.

"Hm?" Lu Yan'an looked ahead. Although it was night and a sandstorm was raging, his mental strength and dynamic vision were far beyond ordinary. Neither the blowing sand nor the darkness could obstruct his sight. At a glance, he could still see things thousands of meters away. During the day, as long as nothing blocked his line of sight, seeing a hundred kilometers into the distance was easy.

"That's..."

A lopsided battle was unfolding across the quicksand in the distance. One person was chasing down a group of others, slaughtering them mercilessly!

"Thump!" A martial artist failed to dodge and chose to take the attack head-on. The spear pierced through the second-tier armor he'd used to defend himself and punched straight through his chest. He died on the spot.

The one holding the spear was a little giant, a full five meters tall, with thick legs and arms and dark red skin. Though enormous, he moved with remarkable agility. Every sweep of his spear claimed another life!

The man's appearance and fighting style stirred something in Lu Yan'an as he watched from the dune. "A bold martial artist, skilled with a spear and nimble on his feet. He must be Gui Qiang!" As one of the super-strong fighters who had crossed over from another World Zone, Lu Yan'an had familiarized himself with some of the well-known experts in World Area 45 since entering the desert.

"Gui Qiang" was one such figure! His strange, nimble spear techniques seemed utterly at odds with his bold, forthright personality.

"Interesting." A flicker of excitement crossed Lu Yan'an's eyes, and he headed straight for Gui Qiang in the distance.

After killing one opponent, the giant martial artist immediately rushed after the next. His unpredictable footwork was a perfect match for his spear techniques. Every attack and every movement seemed bound by no rules, brimming with imagination. But just as he was about to knock down the last remaining martial artist, he stopped attacking...

The giant martial artist suddenly halted and stared at the sand dune ahead.

The sandstorm raged, and there was no light in the night. Visibility was almost completely blocked. But thanks to his superhuman sixth sense, Gui Qiang still sensed something out of the ordinary!

A figure silently emerged from the blowing sand. Compared to the mighty giant "Gui Qiang," he looked exceptionally small and slender, standing only about one meter and seventy centimeters tall. He carried no weapon, only a pair of alloy gauntlets on his hands. Step by step, he walked toward the battlefield...

The bold giant martial artist "Gui Qiang" stared at Lu Yan'an, excitement flashing in his eyes.

Lu Yan'an looked at his opponent, his eyes still as calm as a still pond.

"Nightmare?" Gui Qiang's voice was filled with excitement and coldness.

"Gui Qiang?" Lu Yan'an replied calmly, paying no attention to anyone else.

One side was the most outstanding genius martial artist in this World Zone; the other, a genius Illusionist who had crossed over from another World Zone. Under the witness of the raging sandstorm, they had finally met! The strongest fighters generally spent the early stages accumulating points. Only after they had enough points would they seek out opponents of their own level for life-or-death battles. The Illusion Dream who had challenged Lu Yan'an earlier had done the same.

"Shall we fight now?" Gui Qiang fixed his razor-sharp gaze on Lu Yan'an.

"Yes." Lu Yan'an nodded. "Right now!"

"Then let's see whether you can live up to that arrogant title of 'Nightmare'!"

With that, he slammed his right foot into the quicksand. The sand was soft, but it did nothing to hinder his push-off. In a flash, he shot toward Lu Yan'an, his spear thrusting like a dragon as he launched a series of attacks. He seemed to know Lu Yan'an's reputation and wanted to catch him off guard with an unconventional assault, killing him before he could use his illusions!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The spear struck Lu Yan'an's gauntlets, ringing out sharply as sparks flew!

"Haha! So this is all Nightmare can do?" Gui Qiang laughed mockingly, apparently trying to put pressure on Lu Yan'an.

But Lu Yan'an kept his defense steady. No matter how tricky Gui Qiang's attack angles or how unpredictable his footwork, Lu Yan'an blocked every blow with his gauntlets! In this clash of offense and defense, the initiative gradually shifted from the aggressor to the defender. The first surge of energy faded, then the second, then the third!

At last, Lu Yan'an seized on a momentary opening as Gui Qiang attacked and swiftly retreated. As he fell back, he had already formed the secret technique "Huo Shen." The mental illusion swept over Gui Qiang in an instant, engulfing him!

As expected, martial artists were slightly more resistant to illusions than Controllers of the same level, but they were still helpless against illusions of Lu Yan'an's caliber! Gui Qiang was easily caught in the illusion he had constructed.

Lu Yan'an wasn't having an easy time of it. Against the willpower of true genius martial artists, his illusions could no longer kill them instantly. They could only restrict their movements for a few seconds. Seizing his opportunity, Lu Yan'an abruptly switched from defense to offense and drove a charged punch toward Gui Qiang's head.

Just as the punch was about to land, Gui Qiang suddenly broke free of the illusion! Seeing the fist right in front of him, he could only tilt his head aside before instantly unleashing his eightfold earth domain, hoping to withstand Lu Yan'an's charged blow!

"Bang!" It was all in vain. Even though he regained his awareness at the last moment and activated his earth domain to strengthen his defense, all his struggles were futile against Lu Yan'an's charged punch! The immense force shattered Gui Qiang's head like a watermelon.

"You're pretty strong, but it's a shame you ran into me!" Lu Yan'an said, sounding rather proud.

Still, his words weren't mere posturing. In the more than ten days since he'd arrived in World Area 45, Gui Qiang was the only martial artist who hadn't been taken out by a single illusion in his fight with Lu Yan'an—and the only strong opponent who had managed to keep struggling after breaking free of one!

Standing beside Gui Qiang's corpse, Lu Yan'an looked down at the screen on his right wrist.

The screen had changed.

Participant: Lu Yan'an (Black Dragon Mountain Empire)

Points:

Rank: 2

"As expected of a super-strong fighter in this desert World Zone. Gui Qiang had been around since the very beginning, and after all this time, he gave me more than ten million points." Lu Yan'an mused.

Killing Gui Qiang had increased his own score by more than ten million points, which meant Gui Qiang himself must have had around twenty million. His strength was enough to qualify for the next stage in Ganwu Universe Country. Although he was still far below the geniuses in the Virtual Universe Company's Core Layer, he was more than strong enough to join the "Ganwu Dojo" in Ganwu Universe Country. He was certainly worthy of being a genius with an eightfold domain!

"Since I have just about enough points, it's time to start preparing for the challenge! Heh, this will be my first time fighting a traditional Illusionist. I can't wait!" Under the tutelage of Lord Shen, a "Orthodox Illusionist," Lu Yan'an understood how powerful his own path was, but he had never had a standard by which to judge it. His upcoming battle with Illusion Dream would help him better gauge his ability as an Illusionist.

"Don't disappoint me, Illusion Dream!" A hint of anticipation shone in Lu Yan'an's eyes as he turned and headed back toward World Area 44. He couldn't wait to fight Illusion Dream!