Chapter 817: Excruciating Pain

Everyone gave the same introduction of themselves, reporting their names and power levels.

The old man wasn't surprised in the slightest after hearing their self-introductions, and he said, "My name is Nightmare. I'm sure that name will be cemented into your minds very soon. This is the demonic island, and the place we're situated at now is the demonic valley, which lies at the center of the island. I am one of the demons here, you can call me Old Demon Nightmare."

Old Demon Nightmare? He was clearly a human, so why was he referring to himself as a demon?

Tang Wulin was rather perplexed, but it seemed like it wasn't an appropriate question to ask.

"What are we going to do now, Senior?" Tang Wulin asked. He had to figure out what this military training was going to entail first!

Nightmare chuckled, "Don't be in such a hurry; there are many things for all of you to do here. This place will be where you rest and recuperate from now on. Whatever you do, remember this: don't try to approach that Light of Destruction over there. If you come into contact with it, no one can save you, understood?"

Light of Destruction? Tang Wulin was naturally quite curious about this Light of Destruction, as were all of his friends. Just the mere sight of the purple light erupting into the heavens filled one with a sense of horror and apprehension; just how terrifying was this light? Furthermore, they could sense that the presence of this Light of Destruction was most likely directly responsible for the peculiar state of the demonic island.

"Your military training will commence tomorrow. You'll have to find your own food; the forest has all types of food for you to hunt and gather. That will be all for now." As soon as Nightmare's voice trailed off, he turned around to leave. His body suddenly turned transparent, and he vanished from everyone's field of view in the blink of an eye.

Following his departure, Tang Wulin said, "Let's all rest here until we've recovered our energy and soul power. The life force energy here is very abundant, so this is a very good place to rest and recover."

Everyone was already very eager to begin recovering here. They had just come from a place that was completely devoid of natural energies and arrived in this valley with such rich life force energy; how could they not be eager to cultivate here? Was there anything more important to a Soul Master than having abundant soul power?

After all of his friends had sat down to rest, Tang Wulin also sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate. He had never experienced such abundant life force energy anywhere else, not even on the Sea God's Island. This was extremely beneficial to his cultivation, especially because he possessed the Bluesilver Emperor martial soul, which was extremely sensitive to life force energy.

Just as Tang Wulin was about to enter a meditative state, he was suddenly struck by a sense of impending peril, and his eyes immediately sprang open, just in time to see a black shadow hurtling toward him.

He reflexively raised his hands and thrust them forward at once, but the black shadow was simply too fast, and he let loose a muffled groan as his entire body was sent flying by a tremendous force.

All of his friends had also been attacked at the same time, and they'd been caught completely off guard, getting swatted away in all directions.

What's going on? 

All of them immediately unleashed their martial souls before hurriedly adopting their battle formation. However, right at this moment, sharp pain began to spear through their bodies.

All of them looked down to discover a small hole on each of their bodies at the places where they'd been struck, and blood was seeping out of those holes. In the next instant, the sharp pain transformed into a burning sensation.

Xie Xie was the first one to cry out as he tried to reach for the injured area.

"Don't move!" Tang Wulin immediately grabbed onto his arm to stop him. He had also been struck by an intense burning sensation, and what was quite astonishing to him was that even his bloodline power was unable to alleviate the pain in the slightest.

"Is this poison?" Ye Xinglan gritted her teeth as she struggled to withstand the agony.

"Since when did Shrek’s Seven Monsters become the seven complacent lambs? Did you think that this place was safe?" Nightmare's voice rang out from all directions around them.

"Have a taste of this neurotoxin and think about what you did wrong. Don't try to treat yourselves or use your soul power to resist it; none of that will work. You'll only be in pain for two hours before the poison wears off. Hurry up and show me your agonized expressions! I haven't felt this happy for a long time!"

Even as Nightmare was speaking, the agony that Tang Wulin and the others were experiencing was spiking dramatically in intensity. The assault system Soul Masters among them could still handle this level of pain, but Xie Xie, Xu Lizhi, and Xu Xiaoyan's faces had already turned deathly pale. All three of them were trembling uncontrollably with pain, and they were gritting their teeth with all their might.

They were finally beginning to understand why Old Demon "Nightmare" had such a name.

But they'd only just gotten here! And wasn't this way too cruel of a method just to teach them a lesson in complacency?

Tang Wulin was faring the best among everyone. This wasn't because he was experiencing any less pain, but simply because he had superhuman pain tolerance. After being tormented throughout his life by his Golden Dragon King bloodline, his pain threshold far exceeded that of the average person.

Even so, beads of sweat were still beginning to appear on his forehead, and his body was beginning to tremble slightly.

"Argh!" Xie Xie finally couldn't help but cry out once again. His yell seemed to be a contagious signal, and everyone else also began to cry out in agony.

They had to endure this for two hours! Was this supposed to be part of their training?

After only 10 minutes had passed, everyone was already writhing and rolling on the ground from agony with the exceptions of Tang Wulin, Ye Xinglan, and Yuanen Yehui.

Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan were both sitting on the ground with their legs crossed, and it was quite clear from their trembling bodies that they were also approaching the limit of their pain threshold.

Strangely enough, the agony was constantly being exacerbated.

Tang Wulin was still just barely able to stand, but his body was also beginning to sway unsteadily.

Right at this moment, the pain suddenly lessened slightly before slowly fading away.

The human body had limitless latent potential, and after experiencing one level of pain for a certain period of time, it would adapt and make the agony feel as if it weren't so severe.

Finally, after another 10 minutes, the pain had been alleviated to the extent that it was just barely tolerable, and everyone struggled into a sitting position.

"This is way too cruel! We haven't even done anything yet; are they trying to intimidate us from the very beginning?" Xie Xie complained.

A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "We were too careless. This military training was clearly a very traumatizing experience even for Elder Cai and Grandteacher, so we should've been more careful. From now on, we can't all rest together; we'll have to rest in shifts while others keep a lookout. It's a good thing that the senior was lying to us when he said that these toxins would be effective for two hours."

Yuanen Yehui suddenly said, "I'm not sure he was lying. I've done some research into neurotoxins in the past, and these things don't wear off that easily. Perhaps the pain will come in waves..."

As soon as her voice trailed off, the pain that everyone was afflicted by was exacerbated once again. As expected, they weren't going to be let off the hook so easily!

Thus, a cycle ensued with 10-minute blocks of agony, interspersed by 10-minute blocks of barely tolerable pain...

This was torture both on a physical level, as well as on a psychological level! The level of agony they were experiencing was extremely intense, but it was limited to an extent that they were still unable to fall unconscious from it.

After an hour, everyone was severely dehydrated from sweating profusely.

Tang Wulin had also sat down onto the ground. He was still able to maintain a sitting position along with Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan, but the other four were barely able to even remain conscious.

When the pain was in a tolerable range for Xu Lizhi, he would make some Recovery Pork Buns for everyone to replenish their energy.

Xie Xie turned to Tang Wulin, and implored, "Just knock me out, Boss! I can't take this anymore! It hurts so much!"

Yuanen Yehui glared at him, and said, "No, if you fall unconscious, the neurotoxins could harm your internal organs. Only when you remain in a conscious state can you use your soul power to protect yourself. Just endure this pain, and you'll be fine."Yuanen Yehui reached out and dragged Xie Xie over to her side as she spoke.

With Yuanen Yehui for support, Xie Xie's emotions stabilized a little.

Right at this moment, an approving voice sounded. "Not bad, you still haven't fallen unconscious even after an hour. At least you've all got decent capacity for punishment. Seeing as all of you have performed so splendidly, you get a pass on this trial."

Nightmare appeared before everyone again with a small jar in his hands. He made his way over to Tang Wulin before handing the jar over to him. "Only with a strong stimulus like pain can you learn a lesson that'll stay with you for a lifetime. This is the antidote; apply it directly over your wounds."

Tang Wulin accepted the jar with a wry smile on his face. "You sure don't hold back, Senior Nightmare!"

Old Demon Nightmare said in an indifferent voice, "All of you have come to this place for military training, so I have to deliver on that. Everything that you're experiencing now is something that you could face in the future. There's a big difference between the human body's ability to withstand pain for the first time as opposed to being afflicted by pain over and over again, especially on a psychological level."

After his voice trailed off, he stood up and vanished once again.