Chapter 1141: Heavy Casualties (Part 1)
After several Resentful Spirits were forcibly drawn into the Soul-Gathering Bead, the bead immediately turned black, floating in mid-air and trembling violently.
An ordinary Soul-Gathering Bead was almost full after containing a single Evil Spirit; forcibly cramming in other ghostly entities would likely cause it to shatter.
Though the ghostly entities Yang Haoran had taken into his Soul-Gathering Bead were Resentful Spirits and not Evil Spirits, they were still powerful entities, and each possessed strength comparable to an ordinary Evil Spirit. Logically, one Soul-Gathering Bead should only be able to hold one such Resentful Spirit; any more would exceed its capacity and result in its destruction.
The reason Yang Haoran's Soul-Gathering Bead did not shatter was entirely because it was no ordinary Soul-Gathering Bead; it was an enhanced version. Compared to a regular Soul-Gathering Bead, this upgraded version had a larger capacity and was far sturdier, allowing Yang Haoran to cram all these Resentful Spirits into it in one go.
Although he successfully collected the Resentful Spirits into the Soul-Gathering Bead, their fierce struggles were precisely why the bead, floating in mid-air, was trembling so violently at this moment.
With a faint smile, Yang Haoran gently beckoned towards the hovering Soul-Gathering Bead. He grasped it in his hand, and as a wave of Yin Qi surged from his palm, the violently trembling Soul-Gathering Bead instantly calmed down.
It wasn't that the Resentful Spirits inside the Soul-Gathering Bead had chosen to yield and cease their resistance; rather, Yang Haoran had directly suppressed them with absolute power. Under the might of this force, these Resentful Spirits, already trapped within the Soul-Gathering Bead, completely lost the ability to resist, which was why the violently trembling bead quieted down.
After putting away the Soul-Gathering Bead, Yang Haoran did not immediately leave. Instead, he flicked his finger towards a certain spot in the collapsed house, and a surge of Spirit Power shot forth. This burst of Spirit Power was small in size but considerable in power. Upon hitting the collapsed house, it instantly blasted a large hole, more than two meters in diameter.
Not long after Yang Haoran left, a young man slowly crawled out of the large hole he had blasted open. The man was covered in blood, barely breathing. After crawling out, he didn't dare to stop and rest to recover. Instead, he gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet. He first bowed respectfully in all four directions, then immediately fled towards the outskirts of Tongyou City.
The young man was just an ordinary person, but compared to some unlucky ordinary people, his luck was relatively good. Even though he was buried under the ruins, he was only severely injured and not outright dead. Had it been someone with worse luck encountering such a situation, they would surely have become a corpse long ago; how could they have crawled out of the ruins?
The reason those few Resentful Spirits had appeared here was that they had sensed the presence of a living person still beneath the ruins, and they wanted to find him and feast upon him.
Yang Haoran naturally also sensed that there was still a living person under the ruins here, which was why he casually opened up a large hole when he left. To him, it was a trivial matter that could be accomplished with a mere flick of his finger, but to the young man trapped under the ruins, such a feat was simply beyond the capabilities of ordinary people like him. This seemingly ordinary hole was far from ordinary in the young man's eyes, for it was a lifeline that could save his life.
Though severely injured, the man's mind was not yet muddled. As the passage was opened and the dawn of hope shone in, he saw Yang Haoran, clad in black. However, he had never seen Yang Haoran before, so he naturally had no idea who Yang Haoran was. But he knew that this lifeline had been opened for him by Yang Haoran, so he felt immense gratitude in his heart. After crawling out of the ruins, he didn't know where Yang Haoran had gone, which was why he bowed respectfully in all four directions, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.
As for why he disregarded his severe injuries and gritted his teeth to flee towards the outskirts of Tongyou City, that was even easier to understand. For ordinary people like him, Tongyou City was now a living hell. He felt that if he didn't find a way to escape, nine times out of ten, he would die here, with a very slim chance of survival.
Although life wasn't particularly easy for ordinary people in Tongyou City in the past, they weren't constantly facing the threat of death. Even if the major factions had disputes, they were merely minor skirmishes. Ordinary people, unless exceptionally unlucky or actively seeking death, generally wouldn't have their lives threatened. After all, the factions behind them also served as their protective umbrella.
But now, the battle that had erupted in Tongyou City was no longer a minor skirmish, but an earth-shattering war that had drawn in many factions. Under such circumstances, the factions not participating in this great war still had the ability to deploy personnel to protect the ordinary people under their command. But those deeply involved in this great war—how could they still care for the ordinary people under their command? This led to heavy casualties among these ordinary people. Some saw no hope of survival and even chose to flee, and this young man was just one of them, not the only one.
While Yang Haoran was heading towards the center of Tongyou City, he saw no large-scale battles, but he did witness numerous small-scale skirmishes. There were scenes of Resentful Spirits harming people, other ghostly entities fighting humans, and, of course, humans fighting each other.
Yang Haoran no longer intervened in these small-scale battles as he had before, because there were simply too many of them; he could not possibly intervene in each one.
Most importantly, neither side of the skirmishes belonged to their Underworld Office, but to other factions. It was unclear whether they were allies or enemies, so it was even less likely for him to intervene. If the person he helped turned out not to be an ally of his side, but rather a member of an opposing faction, intervening indiscriminately might inadvertently be helping an enemy faction against his own allies. If news of that spread, it would surely become a laughingstock among others. He wouldn't do something so foolish.
Of course, before making a move, he could first clarify their identities and only then make his move, after confirming whether they were allies or enemies. This approach could indeed prevent accidentally harming his own people. However, with so many small-scale skirmishes, where would he find the leisure to ask each one for their identity? Thus, even though he witnessed many small-scale skirmishes along the way, he neither made a move nor stopped his steps.
It wasn't until he was close to the center of Tongyou City that a corpse before him made him stop.
The corpse lay with its back facing him, its back to the sky and its face pressed to the ground. Although he couldn't see the corpse's face, he recognized the black robe it wore. It was the unique Death God attire of their Underworld Office, and what's more, it was their new style of Death God attire.
The Death God attire worn by the deceased had become badly damaged and tattered, but the three large characters "Jingling Continent" on the back of the attire, and the smaller character "Nine" symbolizing the Ninth District, were still faintly distinguishable. This alone was enough to confirm the deceased's identity.
While Yang Haoran couldn't be certain if this person was a Night Watcher from Tongyou City or a Night Watcher who had come from another city to assist, one thing was certain: this person was a Night Watcher from his Ninth District.
The closer he got to the center of Tongyou City, the more chaotic the situation became, and the more small-scale skirmishes he encountered. However, Yang Haoran hadn't previously found any members of their Underworld Office, nor had he seen any corpses of their Underworld Office personnel. Thus, the corpse before him was the first he had seen since arriving in Tongyou City.
As a Guardian, Yang Haoran naturally felt no pleasure in his heart looking at the corpse of a Night Watcher from their Ninth District lying before him. The faint smile on his face receded considerably. But as his gaze swept forward, the faint smile on his face completely vanished.
Not far ahead of this corpse, lay more than a dozen other bodies on the ground. And of these dozen or so corpses, nearly a significant majority were Night Watchers from their Underworld Office, and their deaths were quite gruesome.
If these Night Watchers had merely died physically, it wouldn't have been so bad, because as long as their souls were still intact, he would have a way to allow them to continue to exist in this world in another form. However, under his perception, he found no trace of their souls within these Night Watchers' bodies. This indicated that these Night Watchers had not only died physically, but their souls had also disappeared. They could have been devoured, or extracted and taken away by the enemy, or perhaps directly scattered by their opponents.
Regardless of the possibility, none of them made Yang Haoran feel any joy. It was precisely because of this that the faint smile on his face completely disappeared.
"Rest for now. Afterward, I will arrange for someone to collect your bodies. If I fail to do so, it means my own body will also be waiting for others to collect."
Yang Haoran's gaze swept over the corpses of the Night Watchers present as he said calmly. As his voice fell, he looked towards a certain direction.
There, a small-scale skirmish was drawing to a close. Two Night Watchers, facing a siege by four individuals, were on the verge of collapsing.
Yang Haoran originally did not want to intervene in such small-scale battles. However, since Night Watchers were involved, and he had witnessed it himself, and most importantly, it was Night Watchers from their Underworld Office who were being besieged to the point of imminent defeat, not their opponents—under such circumstances, he naturally could not turn a blind eye. If he chose to ignore them, then in a short while, these two Night Watchers would tragically die at the hands of their enemies.
Knowing that these two Night Watchers were about to lose their lives, yet leaving without a word? He was not yet so callous. Besides, saving them was merely a casual act; it wouldn't waste any of his time at all. He truly could not find a reason to ignore the matter.
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