Chapter 1174: You’ve Been Acting All Along!
The significant change in Big Sister in such a short time was, of course, due to the Soul Fusion Spirit Medium Secret Art she had just unleashed.
Once this secret art is successfully deployed, the practitioner merges with their Guardian Spirit. While their strength receives a massive boost, they also acquire some of the Guardian Spirit’s characteristics. However, typically, the practitioner remains in control of the body, not the Guardian Spirit.
The reason Big Sister was now clad in blood-red robes, with even her hair, eyes, and eyebrows transforming to a similar hue, was precisely because she had gained some characteristics of a Blood-Clad Evil Spirit.
Of course, some of her own features were retained, such as her appearance, figure, and height, all of which remained as they were before.
These were secondary; the primary point was that after successful Soul Fusion, she still retained control of her body. She remained the master of this physical form.
Soul Fusion is a Spirit Medium Secret Art, not understood by all Spirit Mediums. Furthermore, even if one comprehends it, successfully unleashing it comes with limitations. This restriction dictates that the Guardian Spirit must be Blood-Clad for the art to succeed; otherwise, even if one understood this Spirit Medium Secret Art, it would be impossible to perform.
Here, "Blood-Clad" refers not only to Blood-Clad Evil Spirits but also to higher-level Blood-Clad entities. As for Blood-Clad entities lower than Evil Spirits, such spiritual beings do not exist. Even if they did, they certainly wouldn't be naturally formed.
A spiritual being capable of becoming blood-clad must possess at least the Evil Spirit realm; they absolutely cannot be mere Evil Spirits (evil Spirits). This distinction depends on the torment and devastation experienced during life. Any spirit capable of transforming into a blood-clad entity after death indicates that their resentment before dying had reached an extremely high degree, incomparable to the suffering an Evil Spirit (evil spirit) might have endured in life.
Although Big Sister's strength had significantly increased, compared to Yang Haoran, her power was still far inferior. Judging by the power fluctuations Big Sister was now emitting, she had approximately reached the pinnacle of a Spirit Master.
Big Sister's strength had already reached the peak of a Spirit Master, but due to the extensive depletion of Spirit Power within her body and severe injuries, the power fluctuations she had previously emanated had become very weak, falling light-years short of a peak Spirit Master's.
Now, after successfully performing Soul Fusion, she was surprisingly able to unleash power fluctuations characteristic of a peak Spirit Master, even in her current physical condition. This clearly demonstrated the immense power of this Spirit Medium Secret Art.
Big Sister understood perfectly well that although her strength had vastly improved, it was still too far behind Yang Haoran's. Trying to deal with Yang Haoran with this level of power was simply unrealistic. However, Soul Fusion was merely one part of her current plan, and also just one of her trump cards. She believed the next move she was about to make was the key to success.
Just a moment ago, Remnant Moon had been sent flying, but it sustained no damage. The violent power generated by the ghost face's explosion not only failed to shatter Remnant Moon but didn't even leave a single crack on it.
Even with Big Sister's successful Soul Fusion, Yang Haoran's expression remained unchanged. He still wore his usual cold face, and his eyes were as blood-red as before, as if he hadn't noticed the change in Big Sister, or perhaps as if he simply didn't care.
Under Yang Haoran's control, Remnant Moon attacked Big Sister once more. If one observed carefully, they would notice that Remnant Moon's speed had significantly increased compared to before.
Big Sister's expression shifted, and a flicker of shock passed through her equally blood-red eyes. She dared not confront Remnant Moon head-on, instead using all her strength to continuously evade.
Yang Haoran attacked, Big Sister dodged. All of this seemed to be the same as before, with no substantial change. If there was any change, it was that Big Sister's dodging speed was faster, but simultaneously, Remnant Moon's speed had also increased. Even with faster dodging, Big Sister wouldn't gain much advantage and would eventually be worn down to death by Yang Haoran.
However, this time, Big Sister didn't merely focus on dodging as she had before; she had other intentions.
“Yang Haoran, you don’t have to pretend anymore. I know you weren’t actually awakened by your inner demon. You just wanted to eliminate the major factions of Ancient City but lacked a suitable excuse. When Wan Wu Yi attacked you, intending to awaken the inner demon deep within your heart, you simply went along with the plan, faking your awakening, and then unleashed a bloody massacre upon the various factions. This way, you would become the biggest beneficiary of this great war. Even if the experts from the major factions came looking for trouble afterwards, you could completely shift the blame onto Wan Wu Yi. You not only hid yourself deeply, but you also played a very clever game, didn't you! ”
Big Sister spoke to Yang Haoran while dodging Remnant Moon.
After Wan Wu Yi awakened Yang Haoran’s inner demon, Big Sister’s attention on Yang Haoran never waned. Initially, she thought that while Wan Wu Yi had successfully awakened Yang Haoran’s inner demon, he lacked the ability to control Yang Haoran, which led to Yang Haoran's indiscriminate slaughter, even killing his own people without mercy.
Of course, "his own people" here didn't refer to Yang Haoran's subordinates, but rather those controlled by Wan Wu Yi.
Big Sister had put herself in Wan Wu Yi’s shoes at the time. If she were Wan Wu Yi, she definitely wouldn't have allowed Yang Haoran to engage in indiscriminate slaughter. Even if the other controlled individuals were insignificant in her eyes and seemed to have little value, she wouldn’t have eliminated them at that moment. She would have waited until after the war to deal with them.
Therefore, Yang Haoran’s indiscriminate slaughter first made her think that although Wan Wu Yi had awakened Yang Haoran’s inner demon, he couldn't control Yang Haoran. As for why he couldn't control Yang Haoran, and what specific link went wrong, she couldn't be certain at the time. However, she had some guesses: she believed that Yang Haoran's inner demon, once awakened, might have become too powerful, exceeding Wan Wu Yi's controllable range, which resulted in Yang Haoran being uncontrollable.
This was only Big Sister's initial thought, but when Wan Wu Yi died and Yang Haoran didn't immediately return to normal, she began to doubt her initial guess, though it was only a suspicion; she hadn't completely rejected it.
Wan Wu Yi's death didn't immediately restore Yang Haoran's lucidity. She thought perhaps it was due to insufficient time, and that with a bit more time, Yang Haoran's awakened inner demon would probably fall dormant.
However, the reality was precisely the opposite of what she had imagined. As time passed bit by bit, all the people from the major factions who had besieged Yang Haoran, except for a very few who escaped, were slaughtered clean by Yang Haoran. Yet, Yang Haoran still hadn't regained lucidity; he still maintained the appearance of an awakened inner demon. It was then that she realized something was amiss, but she still couldn't be certain that Yang Haoran had been faking the entire time.
Just moments ago, Remnant Moon's sudden acceleration in attack speed deeply shocked her.
Remnant Moon could increase its speed again, and by no small margin—what did that indicate?
It indicated that Yang Haoran had not been using his full strength before, and thus Remnant Moon's speed had not been pushed to its limit. If Yang Haoran had used his full strength from the beginning, Remnant Moon's speed could absolutely not have increased so drastically.
In her view, if Yang Haoran had truly succeeded in awakening his inner demon and become a mere killing machine, then every one of his moves would undoubtedly be at full power; he should absolutely not hold back. This was because all those who had previously awakened their inner demons, without exception, had behaved in this manner—they always unleashed their full power with every strike.
Yang Haoran was different from them. The only explanation was that Yang Haoran had never truly had his inner demon awakened; he was merely putting on a very convincing act.
Big Sister’s shock wasn't just because she felt she had seen through Yang Haoran’s disguise. More than that, it was because of Yang Haoran’s terrifying strength.
If her speculation was correct, it meant that the strength Yang Haoran displayed today was entirely his own inherent power, not something achieved through secret arts or external means. And it was very possible that, even now, Yang Haoran had not used his full strength. How could this not shock her!
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