Chapter 1147: The Scheme
The Ghost King wanted to re-form his physical body, but Yang Haoran didn't give him the chance. Before the large and small Yin Qi masses could coalesce, they were struck by bolts of lightning descending from the sky.
Some Yin Qi, hit by the lightning, was directly scattered, breaking into several smaller Yin Qi masses. Other Yin Qi was shredded by Remnant Moon, similarly turning into even smaller Yin Qi clumps.
The increased number of Yin Qi clumps not only inflicted damage on the Ghost King but also made it far more difficult for him to re-form his physical body. It was already a struggle for a few clumps of Yin Qi to gather; the difficulty would naturally increase with more clumps.
Unless Yang Haoran slowed his attack frequency, the Yin Qi into which the Ghost King had transformed might have a chance to re-form a physical body. If Yang Haoran did not slow his attack frequency, it would be exceedingly difficult for the Ghost King to re-coalesce his physical body, and the Yin Qi he embodied would grow weaker and weaker under Yang Haoran's continuous assaults, until he was finally struck to Soul Transformation.
Of course, Yang Haoran wouldn't voluntarily slow his attack frequency. Since he had successfully shattered the Ghost King's physical body, this was a golden opportunity for him to eliminate this Ghost King. Even if he couldn't eliminate the Ghost King immediately, he could suppress him, preventing the Ghost King from acting wantonly in front of him, thereby increasing his chances of eliminating the Great Spirit Caller.
Truth be told, the Ghost King's strength was quite formidable, and even this Ghost King, currently crippled by Yang Haoran, was no exception. It was just a pity for this Ghost King that he had encountered Yang Haoran.
Judging by the power fluctuations emanating from this Ghost King, he should be similar to Tang Shi, a being who had just stepped into the Ghost King realm. In contrast, Yang Haoran's strength had already reached the late Earth Soul realm. Even if he wasn't unleashing his full power at this moment, but rather suppressing his strength to the mid-Earth Soul level, Yang Haoran was still an unmatched existence for this Ghost King. Facing Yang Haoran, he naturally had no chance of victory.
If one were to make a comparison, the weakest Ghost King would be slightly inferior to an Underworld Official who had just entered the Earth Soul realm, considering the suppressive effect of Spirit Power on ghostly entities.
However, a truly formidable Ghost King—let alone an Underworld Official who had opened their Earth Soul—might not even be defeated by an Underworld Official who had opened all three, Heaven, Earth, and Life Souls.
Therefore, a truly formidable Ghost King possesses terrifying strength. If Yang Haoran were to encounter such a Ghost King, even if he used all his strength and all his methods, he would absolutely not be their match.
However, although the Great Spirit Caller's Guardian Spirit had reached the Ghost King realm, it had only just entered this realm. Compared to Yang Haoran, there was an enormous disparity in strength. It was only natural that it would be manipulated by Yang Haoran.
Yet, tragically, this Ghost King had initially believed Yang Haoran's strength wouldn't be too great, and that teaming up with his master would surely allow them to take down Yang Haoran without issue. Reality, however, was precisely the opposite.
Faced with Yang Haoran's terrifying strength, his physical body had already suffered two severe blows in a short time. Especially this time, his physical body was directly sliced into several pieces by Remnant Moon, causing immense damage. Now, he couldn't even re-coalesce his physical body, which caused a flicker of fear to emerge in his heart, despite his usually fierce and malevolent nature.
It had been a long time since he had felt such fear. He had even believed that he had completely lost the emotion of fear, thinking that no one could make him feel it. Yet, now, that long-absent fear had suddenly surfaced, a faint trace of it, in the depths of his heart.
Although it was only a trace, it was undeniably present. And the reason for his fear, of course, was the dread of being struck to Soul Transformation by Yang Haoran in this manner!
His worries were not unfounded. If this continued, he truly would be struck to Soul Transformation by Yang Haoran; that much was certain.
He had rushed over eagerly to help, believing his presence would allow them to slay Yang Haoran in short order. Yet, the outcome was that he hadn't harmed a single hair on Yang Haoran's head, and instead had been crippled by Yang Haoran in a brief period. It was indeed quite tragic.
The Great Spirit Caller watched the Ghost King's current predicament unfold. She knew that if she didn't find a way to help the Ghost King escape his current predicament, she would likely lose another Guardian Spirit, and one of Ghost King level at that. Such a loss was unacceptable to her, so she had to find a way to change this.
Her body continuously flickered, dodging the lightning bolts that incessantly rained down from above. But she wasn't idle during her evasions; her hands rapidly formed seals, preparing to unleash Spiritual Arts to attack Yang Haoran, hoping to reverse her current disadvantage and find an opportunity to rescue her Guardian Spirit.
In an inconspicuous corner of Tongyou City, two figures stood side-by-side, their gazes fixed far away on Yang Haoran in the sky. Not a single power fluctuation emanated from their bodies, yet around them lay numerous corpses, all of them, without exception, clad in the Death God attire unique to Underworld Office Night Watchers.
Tongyou City at present could aptly be described as being in dire straits. In such a situation, no ordinary person, no matter how bold, would dare to brazenly stand amidst a pile of corpses, casually watching the spectacle. To do so would be to gamble with their very lives, as even a minor ripple from the battle between non-ordinary beings could claim their lives.
The fact that these two dared to do so, with no trace of fear on their faces, as if they weren't at all concerned about the non-ordinary beings' battle affecting them, nor about becoming food for some monsters, indicated that they were not ordinary people at all. Furthermore, their strength should be considerable, or perhaps they were extremely confident in their own abilities.
"This Yang Haoran was formerly unknown. I wasn't even aware of such a person. I never imagined his strength would be so formidable, possessing not only mid-Earth Soul realm power but also extremely rich combat experience. He truly surprises me."
The speaker was a lanky man, not old, appearing to be in his early to mid-thirties based on his looks. As he spoke, his face held an undisguised expression of surprise.
"This Yang Haoran must have been very deep in hiding before he became a Guardian. Otherwise, with his strength, it would have been difficult for him not to attract our attention. Judging by the power fluctuations he's emitting, the intensity of the Spirit Power within him is considerably stronger than Ding Tianhua, that veteran Soul-Sower. To multitask, simultaneously controlling two Soul Armaments against an enemy, and doing so with such ease, showing no strain at all—that's also something Ding Tianhua couldn't achieve. Leaving aside everything else, just these two points alone show that Yang Haoran's overall combat strength has already left Ding Tianhua several streets behind."
The one who replied to the lanky man was a woman in her forties. Although her appearance was unremarkable, seeming quite ordinary, the black eye patch on her face was extremely conspicuous.
Under normal circumstances, if one's eyes were perfectly sound, no one would bother to put on an eye patch for no reason. However, if one had lost an eye, then wearing an eye patch for the sake of one's appearance would be perfectly normal.
The middle-aged woman with the eye patch only had one usable eye, but this did not hinder her ability to discern the essence of a situation. Just like Yang Haoran, who was currently in the sky, she saw things more clearly than the lanky man beside her.
The lanky man considered the eyepatch woman's statement, then nodded gently.
"You're right," he said. "Yang Haoran's overall combat strength is indeed incomparable to Ding Tianhua's. From Yang Haoran's current state, it seems he hasn't even used his full power. On the other hand, Cold Yue seems to be on the verge of collapsing."
The middle-aged woman heard this, chuckled coldly, and then spoke.
"It's not that Cold Yue 'seems' to be on the verge of collapsing," she said. "She genuinely is. Look at the Spiritual Arts she's using—how much impact have they had on Yang Haoran?"
As the two conversed, the Great Spirit Caller battling Yang Haoran in the sky, the one they referred to as Cold Yue, had already used her full strength while dodging the lightning bolts, successfully unleashing two Spiritual Arts in succession.
Both of these Spiritual Arts were offensive types, and their power was not to be underestimated. However, neither of them had much impact on Yang Haoran. Instead, Cold Yue herself had expended a considerable amount of Communication Power.
Of course, it wasn't that the Spiritual Arts Cold Yue unleashed had no effect whatsoever. At the very least, their successful deployment bought some breathing time for her Guardian Spirit; a portion of the Yin Qi scattered by the lightning successfully coalesced, reducing the large-scale dispersion. But it was only a portion of the Yin Qi that gathered, not all of it.
Cold Yue, already gravely wounded and suffering from excessive Communication Power depletion, was originally no match for Yang Haoran. Now, having successively unleashed two Spiritual Arts and consumed even more Communication Power, she was even less of a match for Yang Haoran.
Furthermore, with the Ghost King's shattered physical body yet to successfully re-coalesce, and now lacking a powerful helper, facing Yang Haoran in his peak state alone was indeed extremely strenuous for her.
Just as the eyepatch woman had said, Cold Yue was truly on the verge of collapsing now.
"If this continues," the lanky man said, "Cold Yue will likely be defeated in just a few more minutes. At that point, her injuries will compound, and she might even die at Yang Haoran's hands."
Having said this, the lanky man turned his gaze to the eyepatch woman and asked.
"When do we make our move? Do we continue to watch?"
The eyepatch woman did not immediately answer the lanky man's question. She pondered for a moment, then chuckled coldly and gently shook her head.
"Heh heh, no need to rush," she said. "The longer Cold Yue holds out, the more Yang Haoran will relax his guard. This will only benefit us when we make our move, not harm us. Besides, whether we intervene to rescue Cold Yue now or assist her later, it won't change the fact that she has little combat power left. Since that's the case, why shouldn't we wait a little longer for the optimal moment to strike?"
Hearing this, the lanky man couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly, seemingly not quite agreeing with the eyepatch woman's decision. However, he didn't voice his opposition directly. After a moment of hesitation, he simply nodded gently, saying nothing else.
Receiving no verbal response from the lanky man, the eyepatch woman slowly turned her head and looked at him. The slight furrow in his brow was perfectly visible to her.
The eyepatch woman had a pretty good idea why the lanky man wore such an expression and why he remained silent. She chuckled coldly, then continued with a smile.
"Heh heh," she said, "although I don't particularly like this Cold Yue woman, I have to admit she gambled correctly this time. She successfully allowed our operation to reel in a big fish—the Guardian of Jingling Continent's Ninth District Underworld Division. Although this Yang Haoran has only recently ascended to the Guardian position, he is indeed the Guardian of the Ninth District. If we can slay him here, our merits this time will be immense. And if we can capture him alive, our merits will double!"
The lanky man said nothing, but the middle-aged woman didn't stop. As she spoke, the cold smile on her face deepened considerably, and even her tone exuded a strong sense of delight. From this, one could tell that she was in quite a good mood.
The drastic changes in Tongyou City this time were, in fact, merely a setup—a trap laid by Cold Yue and her subordinates for the Underworld Division.
Tongyou City was one of the few large cities in Jingling Continent, and the Tongyou City Underworld Division exerted immense influence within it, possessing equally formidable strength. That was why the Spirit Masters had targeted the Tongyou City Underworld Division this time. Once they took down the Tongyou City Underworld Division, it would not only be a significant blow to the Jingling Continent's Ninth District Underworld Division, but also have extremely negative repercussions. Conversely, the Spirit Masters' reputation would greatly increase.
However, this was merely one of Cold Yue and the other Spirit Masters' objectives for this operation. Furthermore, this was their overt objective, one that anyone who gave the matter some thought could easily discern, so it was fair to say this goal was laid bare.
Aside from this overt objective, Cold Yue and the other Spirit Masters had another purpose for this operation: to use it as an opportunity to fish out a few more big fish from the Underworld Division.
Because, in their view, once the Tongyou City Underworld Division suffered a devastating blow, Yang Haoran, the newly appointed Guardian, would surely dispatch experts to reinforce the Tongyou City Underworld Division. At that point, the Spirit Masters would strike, capturing all these reinforcements in one fell swoop. The merits they would gain, and the benefits they would acquire, would then multiply several times over. This was the hidden objective of Cold Yue and the other Spirit Masters, and their primary goal.
To successfully achieve this objective, and to avoid alerting their targets, the lanky man and the eyepatch woman had remained hidden in the shadows from the very beginning, waiting for the optimal moment to strike.
Five days had passed since the battle began. During these five days, the Underworld Division had received various reinforcements. Some were relief troops Ding Tianhua had desperately sought, while others were Underworld Officials who had come to Tongyou City to accumulate military merits after Yang Haoran issued orders.
Whether they were the relief troops Ding Tianhua had summoned, or the Underworld Officials who came to Tongyou City to earn military merits after Yang Haoran's decree, none of these individuals were the "big fish" the lanky man and eyepatch woman, hidden in the shadows, were looking for. Furthermore, under Cold Yue's leadership, the Spirit Master side held a complete advantage, making it unnecessary for the two of them to intervene. That was why they had remained hidden the entire time.
The suggestion to use this operation to fish out big targets had been put forth by Cold Yue. At the time, the eyepatch woman had initially opposed it, believing that all battles conducted by the Spirit Masters should be swift and decisive to minimize losses.
If they deliberately dragged out the fight just to lure out a few big fish, the Spirit Masters might even face the consequence of being encircled and annihilated by the Underworld Division. At that point, not only would they fail to catch the fish, but they themselves might be eaten by the fish.
Therefore, for safety's sake, she did not quite approve of Cold Yue's suggestion.
However, after deliberation, the higher-ups decided to adopt Cold Yue's proposal. They believed that if they were going to act, they should make it a big one, forcing the Underworld Division to pay a heavy price. This would create a greater impact and allow them to reap more benefits.
But for safety's sake, the higher-ups did not send Cold Yue alone to execute this mission. Instead, they dispatched her and the lanky man together. However, according to their plan, neither of them was to reveal themselves until a "big fish" appeared.
Their so-called "big fish" didn't solely refer to Yang Haoran. Any Underworld Division expert who had entered the Earth Soul realm was a "big fish" in their eyes. What they desired was to seize this opportunity to capture several such Earth Soul realm experts.
For several days in a row, their so-called "big fish" did not appear. Even the "small fish" who had opened their Heaven Soul didn't come in large numbers. Quite a few Night Watchers arrived, but in their eyes, Night Watchers didn't even count as small fish; at most, they were tiny shrimp, and they had absolutely no interest in such small fry.
In the eyepatch woman's view, the battle in Tongyou City was drawing to a close. The multi-day conflict was certainly ending today, as Ding Tianhua, the Soul-Sower of the Tongyou City Underworld Division, could not possibly survive past today. Once Ding Tianhua, the Soul-Sower, died, the Tongyou City Underworld Division would be completely wiped out by them within an hour at most.
With the Tongyou City Underworld Division eradicated, one of their objectives for this operation was achieved. However, their other objective had not been met, as no "big fish" had appeared at all. In the eyepatch woman's opinion, with the battle drawing to a close and no "big fish" yet appearing, they likely wouldn't show up now. Perhaps Tongyou City had already been abandoned by the Ninth District.
This matter had been proposed by Cold Yue, and with the ideal outcome not achieved, the eyepatch woman had been ready to watch Cold Yue make a fool of herself, wondering how Cold Yue would explain herself upon her return. She had even planned how she would mock Cold Yue. What she hadn't expected was that, at the very last moment, a "big fish" truly did appear in Tongyou City, and this big fish was none other than Yang Haoran, the Guardian of Jingling Continent's Ninth District Underworld Division!
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