What big talk. This man's boasting practically reached the heavens.
After Zhou Yang's words fell, the Auspicious Beast should have scoffed, yet, strangely, she felt a sense of conviction in his words, born of some mysterious perception.
It was as though the person before her possessed the ability to accomplish what he said, behind that utterly confident tone.
Still, the being before her had appeared beside the forbidden zone deep within the Star Dou Great Forest through this suit of armor, without even being discovered by Di Tian and the others. That was enough to show that he did indeed possess some strength.
"What's your objective?"
Hearing the Auspicious Beast's words, Zhou Yang nearly lost his composure.
This girl was far too blunt. Couldn't she beat around the bush a little?
Fortunately, as a demon king, he counted as a member of the tokusatsu villain camp. Answering every question was a mark of a well-mannered villain, something also documented in Ultraman Jack.
After all, Alien Bat had said that the plan to eliminate Ultraman had been decided by Lord Zoffy.
"Next, I'll tell you in the most straightforward, most direct, least roundabout, most truthful, least circuitous, most heart-piercing, most hardcore, most decisive, least drawn-out... least wordy, least dawdling way possible: I'm just passing through."
Kids, this is how our children's tokusatsu shows work.
All he had to do was deliver that thunderous line. He believed she could understand; from here on, he just had to believe.
Belief needed no reason.
Zhou Yang's answer was quite effective. With the goodwill in his words laid bare, the atmosphere was no longer so tense, swords drawn and bows bent.
But that speech had outright fried Wang Qiu'er's brain.
Listening to that long string of adjectives, she had been nervously guessing at all sorts of conspiracies.
Who would have thought that only Zhou Yang's final sentence would reveal she had been overthinking things?
"Human, can't you just make yourself clear?" The Auspicious Beast's voice carried some dissatisfaction.
As for why the Auspicious Beast had recognized Zhou Yang as human, there was no need to elaborate. Di Tian had said that all humans were evil, and Zhou Yang's actions just now made her feel she had been made a fool of.
Only inherently evil humans would toy with beasts.
Hmph, humans were the worst!
Fortunately, she could sense her Uncle Scarlet King approaching, while even Uncle Di Tian was hurrying over.
Once Uncle Di Tian came, everything would be all right. Once Uncle Di Tian came, he could beat this armored man flat.
She wanted to see just what sort of being was beneath that armor, only daring to cower inside without showing his face.
Most importantly, this suit of armor genuinely looked beautiful. That gleam of crystal-like splendor that had shone from it just now had won the Auspicious Beast over.
Once this man was defeated, considering that he had come with goodwill and had not attacked first, she would spare his life and make this chatterbox serve her.
Zhou Yang: Should I be thanking you?
Just as she was about to ask something else to stall for time, the Hyper Zecter at Zhou Yang's waist began buzzing and crackling again.
"Oh-ho, looks like time's up."
Seeing this, Zhou Yang understood that this little bug of his had finally stabilized. Next, it would send him back.
"Time's up? Time for what?" At his words, a rather human look of confusion appeared in the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's beastly eyes.
But Zhou Yang did not answer. Instead, he launched into a strange speech of his own accord.
"Goodbye, little Auspicious Beast in the spiderweb. Don't have too much contact with people who play with eyes. Be careful you don't get yourself caught up in it. You can't handle what's behind it."
Glancing at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, Zhou Yang offered advice with what little kindness he possessed.
After that came things like, "Those who know, know. Those who don't, I won't say much more..." leaving the Three-Eyed Golden Lion dumbfounded.
Three-Eyed Golden Lion: What is this guy talking about?.jpg
The next moment, cyan light and electric currents enveloped Zhou Yang once more, and he abruptly vanished before the Auspicious Beast's horrified eyes.
"He disappeared?!"
After bidding farewell to the Auspicious Beast, Zhou Yang reappeared high in the sky ten thousand years later.
[Secret level: Return] [Survival difficulty: Reality, freedom, release]
"Damn you, where the hell have you sent me?"
Looking at the dark gold words flickering across the mask's screen before his eyes, Zhou Yang got quite a fright. Fortunately, it was nothing more than harmless text, an ordinary prank.
He could not help complaining, even though he more or less knew it was the handiwork of a certain idle person who understood him best.
But he still wanted to complain. Did they really have nothing better to do?
Though, just now, it really had nearly made him think he had transmigrated again into some strange little world of wonders.
Calming down, Zhou Yang was about to take a step when he felt his foot meet empty air.
Zhou Yang clapped his hands, suddenly enlightened.
"Oh, I'm still in the sky. Almost forgot."
At the same time, his body finally seemed to be dragged back by that damned gravity.
Man!
The red figure plummeted through the air. However, with his first experience behind him, Zhou Yang adjusted his posture with even better movements and returned home.
Moreover, during that moment high in the sky when he had spun madly like a crashing helicopter, inspiration had struck, and a killing move had actually surfaced in his mind.
Restoring the twin-bladed rotor, he would deliver the most violent blows through a dense, ferocious offensive.
He had comprehended Tornado's deadly killing move-Lightning Whirlwind Slash!
"What a powerful skill. I'll definitely put it to good use next time."
As luck would have it, Kabuto came with two blades.
Ever since resolving the Demon Plane incident, the world had been at peace, and Zhou Yang had returned to his leisurely daily life of cultivation.
Truly a cause for celebration, with joy in everything.
To stand shoulder to shoulder with the king of showing off, Zhou Yang had naturally put in a great deal of effort. His level of combat prowess could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as before.
However, just as his real-world practical combat training reached perfection...
One night, while he slept, a belt actually grew from his chest amid a dark gold glow, beginning his very own "nightmare."
"Seriously, is there no end to this?!" Zhou Yang never could have imagined that, even after all this, there was still work waiting for him.
But this was the Douluo Continent, and there was no Dark Code Organization here.
The world within dreams, however, was an excellent training ground. Here, he no longer needed to exercise as much restraint as in reality and could go all out.
But this time, no one led him through the training. There was no guidance.
What awaited him was a little girl crying before him, shrouded in a nightmare, her dead family lying in pools of blood beside her, while a nightmare nearby feasted and took pleasure in it.
Although he was no good Rider, these nightmares were an eyesore. It certainly was not because he had a kind heart and wanted to help people.
"So that's it. Using nightmares as training material?" That was what Zhou Yang thought, feeling he had grasped the meaning.
Unlike in reality, he could really stretch his limbs in dreams.
He glanced at the little girl wiping away her tears, her face filled with pain and despair.
He didn't know her.
Then he charged forward.
Although he was not as unique as Manjome, nor did he have any capsule machine from which to obtain capsules, he did come equipped with a capsule bearing the image of a Rider with outstretched limbs.
"Nightmares belong in the trash!"
[ZE-ZT-Z!]
And in this nightmare called "training," he began to furiously tatakae against the nightmares to protect other people's dreams.
Training as he fought, he could fully exercise all his abilities within dreams, unlike in reality, where he honed his techniques with his hands and feet bound.