Chapter 1183: Searching for the Corpse
Yang Haoran had reasons for not acting against the Holy Mother Cult, just as he had reasons for not killing Big Sister and Shang Yuanqi earlier and allowing them to escape.
After the Ancient Demon Palace emerged from the ground, not all non-ordinary individuals in Gu Mo City participated in the battle; many chose to hide in the distance or observe from the shadows. Most of these were independent individuals without affiliations.
This meant they had witnessed the entirety of the bloody battle within the Ancient Demon Palace. They were not just observers, but witnesses to the entire conflict.
These onlookers had also seen Yang Haoran’s every move. Therefore, there were things he couldn't do. It was one thing before Wan Wu Yi attacked him, but once Wan Wu Yi made his move, Yang Haoran chose to feign being possessed by his inner demons, using the opportunity to slaughter people from various major factions. He had to play this role flawlessly, without revealing any flaws.
If he didn’t play the role well, and everyone discovered he was merely faking it to eliminate the major factions, then when the leaders of those factions came seeking retribution, his situation would become dire.
Conversely, if he played his role well, these onlookers would become his witnesses. Even if trouble still found him afterward, it would be significantly less severe.
It was precisely to play this role effectively that he did not summon his second Soul Armament, Black Lightning. He wanted to use this to tell everyone that he, Yang Haoran, had not actually opened his Earth and Heaven Souls, and that his terrifying surge in power was solely due to the influence of his inner demons.
He didn’t unleash any Ghost Arts, also to maintain this facade. A person controlled by inner demons knows only a frenzied, reckless assault and ceaseless slaughter. Under such a state, conjuring seals to cast Ghost Arts felt somewhat inappropriate to him, so he simply refrained from using any.
Initially, Big Sister hadn't yet broken through to the Great Spirit Caller realm, and killing her would have been much easier then. However, Big Sister was incredibly experienced in battle and reacted exceptionally fast. Thus, in that short span of time, he failed to kill her, and instead, she managed to break through to the Great Spirit Caller realm.
If Big Sister had broken through any later, she definitely wouldn't have had the chance, as she would have died by his hand before then.
After Big Sister successfully broke through, killing her became considerably harder, especially when her power was at its peak, even surpassing his own. Under such circumstances, attempting to kill her without using his full strength was naturally impossible.
To successfully kill Big Sister, he even increased the power and speed of Remnant Moon midway through the fight. It was precisely this action that made Big Sister realize something was amiss, leading her to conclude that he wasn't controlled by inner demons at all, and everything was a pretense.
Of course, he wouldn't admit to such a thing. Admitting it would not only negate all his efforts but also bring him immense trouble. So, he feigned not hearing Big Sister’s words and continued to act as if he were controlled by inner demons.
However, afterward, he dared not further enhance Remnant Moon's power. Once might be acceptable; as long as he didn’t abandon his role, everything could be explained. But doing it repeatedly would be very difficult to justify.
When Big Sister tore through space, taking Shang Yuanqi with her and preparing to escape the Ancient Demon Palace, a strong killing intent surged within him. He didn’t want to let them leave; he understood the principle that if you "cut the grass without removing the roots, it will grow again with the spring breeze."
Moreover, if the two escaped, they would surely expose his pretense of being controlled by inner demons. Regardless of whether others believed them, it would still bring him trouble. To prevent such complications, the best approach was to ensure that those who knew the truth could never speak.
Therefore, at that moment, his killing intent was exceptionally strong, so much so that it was even manifested through his eyes. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, immediately concealing the revealed killing intent so that others wouldn't perceive it. Otherwise, it would certainly have made more people realize he wasn't controlled by inner demons.
However, to avoid revealing himself, he did not use other methods to stop them and could only let Big Sister and Shang Yuanqi escape. Even though he was very unwilling, he had no other choice.
Of course, given the circumstances, even if he had disregarded the consequences and used other methods to stop Big Sister and Shang Yuanqi from leaving, it might not have succeeded. Big Sister had forcibly accelerated the healing of the spatial rift. In that situation, successfully preventing their escape would have been very difficult, and he had no confidence in it; the probability of failure was much higher than that of success.
Their successful escape was indeed a problem for him, the biggest being that Big Sister knew he hadn't been controlled by inner demons. If the major factions found out he had slaughtered their people while not under the influence of inner demons, it would definitely cause him trouble.
However, he already had a countermeasure in mind for this. If someone from the major factions did come knocking, he had a way to completely wash his hands of the matter, and even if they didn't believe him, they wouldn't be able to do anything.
After Big Sister and Shang Yuanqi successfully escaped, his reason for attacking Xia Xinger and the other two, even nearly taking Xiang Chuan's life multiple times, was all for the benefit of the onlookers. The purpose was self-evident: he wanted to reinforce their perception that he, Yang Haoran, was indeed controlled by inner demons. Otherwise, how could he even try to kill his own people?
Whether it was his attack on Xia Xinger or his later attacks on Xiang Chuan, he was only putting on a show; he never truly intended to kill them. Otherwise, both would have long since died beneath his Remnant Moon.
As for why he set up the Absolute Prohibition now, it was naturally because he didn't want others to see what he would do next. The play was over, and others had seen him recover his consciousness with Xia Xinger's help. He appeared to be very weak after recovering, and since Xiang Chuan had left, he was now alone. For safety's sake, setting up an Absolute Prohibition here was absolutely reasonable and logical. No one would suspect anything, and even if they did, it would be meaningless.
Patting the dust from his body, Yang Haoran wore a faint smile as his gaze swept across the scattered corpses, as if searching for something.
He was indeed looking for something—specifically, a corpse: Wan Wu Yi's corpse.
If there was only Wan Wu Yi's corpse here, finding it would naturally be simple. But the reality was quite the opposite; not only was Wan Wu Yi's corpse not the only one, but the corpses were piled like mountains. Finding a single corpse among so many was indeed quite difficult. After all, corpses were different from living people; living people could be found based on the various fluctuations emanating from their bodies, but corpses had no such fluctuations, so finding them naturally took some time.
Yang Haoran's eyes scanned the scene, seeing only mangled and incomplete bodies; there was no sign of Wan Wu Yi's corpse.
Despite this, Yang Haoran's expression remained unchanged, a faint smile still on his face. Following the impression in his memory, he walked towards a certain spot.
Arriving at the location he recalled, Yang Haoran waved his hand, and all the corpses rose into the air, floating suspended above him, allowing him to clearly discern if any of them were the target he sought.
Regrettably, he did not find Wan Wu Yi's corpse among this pile. Yang Haoran wasn't anxious. After a brief thought, he walked to another area and used the same method to search for Wan Wu Yi's corpse. This time, however, he still couldn't find Wan Wu Yi's corpse among the multitude of bodies.
In the time that followed, Yang Haoran successively searched for Wan Wu Yi's corpse in multiple areas but found nothing. It wasn't until he sensed activity outside the Absolute Prohibition that he had to temporarily stop his search, waving his hand to withdraw the barrier.
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