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Chapter 1055: A Corpse Ghoul Nearing Its Peak

As the coffin exploded, Yang Haoran's body remained completely still, unmoving. The flying wood shards and the powerful shockwave generated by the explosion were both repelled by the dense Yin Qi he emitted.

The figure that appeared after the coffin burst was quite close to him, allowing him a clear view.

This was a zombie, specifically a Corpse Ghoul, but the Corpse Qi emanating from it was exceptionally dense, and its power fluctuations were immensely strong, far surpassing any of the four Corpse Ghouls the Crippled Elder had previously possessed. Judging by the power emanating from this Corpse Ghoul, its strength was already quite close to the peak of its realm. Given sufficient resources to nurture it, it wasn't impossible for it to advance to a Corpse King in a few more years.

To date, Yang Haoran had never encountered a Corpse Ghoul whose power fluctuations were this formidable.

With a backward leap, Yang Haoran widened the distance between himself and the Corpse Ghoul. Zombies excelled at close-quarters combat. While his own close-combat abilities weren't terrible, they were only suitable for dealing with opponents weaker than himself. Against an opponent of equal standing, if the other party wasn't skilled in close combat, that was one thing, but if they were, he would naturally be at a disadvantage.

Currently, he had only opened his Heaven Soul. At his current cultivation, even with only his Heaven Soul opened, a full burst of his power would place him at the peak of the Heaven Soul realm. Compared to the Corpse Ghoul before him, he was certainly more powerful.

However, challenging the opponent's strong suit with his own weakness would inevitably lead to a disadvantage. Therefore, he had no intention of engaging this Corpse Ghoul in close combat; instead, he decided to use his own strengths to counter the opponent's.

As he leaped backward, Remnant Moon transformed into a black streak, shooting towards Xu Jingwen once more.

Xu Jingwen had just stabilized himself and hadn't even had time to catch his breath when he saw Remnant Moon, now a black streak, shooting towards him again. He understood perfectly well that, given his speed, dodging Remnant Moon's pursuit might be possible if the distance was greater and the frequency slower. But if the distance closed and Remnant Moon's attack frequency increased, he would undoubtedly suffer a great loss.

So, he decided not to face Remnant Moon himself, as that would be courting death. He chose to use the Corpse Ghoul he had nurtured to confront Remnant Moon. After all, this Corpse Ghoul was his strongest asset. With the Corpse Ghoul handling Remnant Moon, he would have an opportunity to directly attack Yang Haoran, the Underworld Official.

In a mere instant, Xu Jingwen formed a plan in his mind. Under his command, the Corpse Ghoul's roar instantly ceased, then it vanished from its spot, reappearing the next moment directly in front of him.

Just as the Corpse Ghoul shielded him, Remnant Moon arrived as expected.

Boom! ! !

The Corpse Ghoul punched like lightning, striking the side of Remnant Moon. With a resounding crash, Remnant Moon was actually smashed into the ground by the Corpse Ghoul's punch.

Seeing this, Xu Jingwen, who was behind the Corpse Ghoul, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His greatest fear was that his nurtured Corpse Ghoul would be no match for Yang Haoran's Soul Armament. If that were the case, his situation would become perilous. But judging from the scene before him, the worst had not happened; instead, his own Corpse Ghoul had gained the upper hand.

He was different from the Crippled Elder. The Crippled Elder nurtured four Corpse Ghouls, and each Corpse Ghoul controlled numerous Corpse Ghosts. In Xu Jingwen's opinion, such a practice was a complete waste of resources. Rather than nurturing a large number of zombies and consuming resources, it was better to invest all resources into a single zombie. Only then could a Corpse King be cultivated earlier.

Once a Corpse King was successfully nurtured, one's overall combat power would terrifyingly increase. Even the strongest Corpse Ghoul was but an ant before a Corpse King.

Therefore, he didn't waste resources on other zombies; instead, he poured all his resources into the Corpse Ghoul currently before him, thus cultivating a formidable killing machine that was close to the peak of the Corpse Ghoul realm.

Now, witnessing Yang Haoran's Soul Armament being smashed into the ground by his Corpse Ghoul's punch, he felt both relief and immense pride. Reflecting on the Crippled Elder's miserable fate just moments ago, and then looking at himself, he felt his initial decision had been correct.

Although the Crippled Elder had four Corpse Ghouls and a large number of Corpse Ghosts, Yang Haoran had dealt with him and his Corpse Ghouls even before opening his Heaven Soul.

Conversely, he, Xu Jingwen, had not only forced Yang Haoran to open his Heaven Soul, but his own nurtured Corpse Ghoul had even suppressed Yang Haoran's Soul Armament. Given such a significant disparity, he felt he had every reason and right to be proud.

However, he did not know that Yang Haoran, unwilling to expose too much of his true strength, had not used his full power at all. Let alone unleashing his complete strength, even if he had employed all the power available to him after opening his Heaven Soul, the destructive force unleashed by Remnant Moon would have been far greater than this.

After smashing Remnant Moon into the ground with one punch, the Corpse Ghoul didn't stop. Before Remnant Moon could launch another attack, it bent down and began to furiously pound Remnant Moon, seemingly intending to use this opportunity to crush it.

Loud thuds echoed incessantly. The ground violently shook under the Corpse Ghoul's fierce assault. Each punch caused significant damage to the ground. In the blink of an eye, the Corpse Ghoul had brutally punched a large crater into the earth, stirring up a massive cloud of dust and generating powerful shockwaves.

Under such circumstances, if Xu Jingwen continued to remain behind the Corpse Ghoul, he would very likely be injured by these powerful shockwaves. Therefore, he instantly put as much distance as possible between himself and the Corpse Ghoul.

However, he did not retreat backward; instead, he dashed with the fastest speed towards Yang Haoran's position.

In Xu Jingwen's view, with his nurtured Corpse Ghoul occupying Yang Haoran's Soul Armament, this was the perfect opportunity to strike a killing blow against Yang Haoran. Once the Soul Armament broke free, given its extreme speed, it would become much more difficult for him to capture Yang Haoran. Thus, he certainly didn't want to miss what he considered an excellent chance to attack.

Comparatively, Xu Jingwen's close-combat ability was certainly no match for his Corpse Ghoul, but this didn't mean his close-combat skills were poor. At least, he personally felt his close-combat abilities were quite good.

It was precisely this confidence that emboldened him to charge directly at Yang Haoran. At this moment, he had already forgotten the scene where Yang Haoran had kicked him flying just moments ago.

Facing Xu Jingwen, who was rapidly charging towards him, Yang Haoran's face was cold. He didn't move his body, appearing to still have no intention of dodging. However, he took his other hand out of his pocket and quickly formed hand seals.

His hand seals were incredibly fast, his fingers rapidly shifting, appearing as nothing but afterimages to the naked eye.

Before Xu Jingwen could even reach him, his hand-sealing movements abruptly stopped.

"Ghost Art! Ghost Fiend Soul Chain!"

A low roar escaped Yang Haoran's lips. A chilling wind howled, ghost laughter echoed, and several Ghost Fiend Soul Chains materialized. Some burst from the ground, others coalesced from thin air, surrounding the attacking Xu Jingwen. The closest Ghost Fiend Soul Chain opened its gaping, bloody maw and bit down on Xu Jingwen's body.

Xu Jingwen's expression changed. He knew his own capabilities; in this situation, he absolutely couldn't perform an effective dodge. So, he immediately concentrated his power into his hands, then punched out at the ghostly head biting towards him.

Boom! ! !

His fist struck the ghostly head, creating a deafening roar. Xu Jingwen's body remained completely still, but the ghostly head was sent flying by his punch.

Although he was arrogant, he did possess genuine skill. The power of this punch was not to be underestimated; otherwise, it would have been impossible to send the ghostly head flying. After all, with Yang Haoran's current strength, the Ghost Fiend Soul Chains he conjured were incredibly powerful. Without absolute power, it would have been impossible to knock a ghostly head flying with a single punch.

However, Yang Haoran had summoned more than one Ghost Fiend Soul Chain. Xu Jingwen had only sent one flying with his punch. After he knocked that one back, the other Ghost Fiend Soul Chains immediately swarmed him, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

Facing this situation, Xu Jingwen could only exert his full strength to deal with these Ghost Fiend Soul Chains. If he couldn't break through them, he couldn't possibly get close to Yang Haoran.

While fighting the Ghost Fiend Soul Chains, Xu Jingwen retrieved a wooden sword from his independent space. The sword's blade was engraved with scarlet runes. Although it was merely a wooden sword, it was exceptionally sharp. With this wooden sword in hand, his attack power increased significantly.