Novels online

Chapter 1155 Fierce Ghosts Unleashed

Yang Haoran's intense interest in the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art stemmed primarily from his desire for another means to rapidly increase his strength. However, upon discovering that he couldn't even meet the most basic cultivation conditions, and highly mindful of the severe side effects of the technique, his initial excitement turned into helplessness.

Nevertheless, even the Crippled Elder from back then knew to keep this Spiritualist secret art, so Yang Haoran certainly wasn't foolish enough to destroy it.

The Crippled Elder's main purpose for keeping this secret art was to exchange it with other Spirit Mediums for useful items. Yang Haoran, of course, had no such intention.

If Yang Haoran had encountered this situation when he had just become a Night Watcher, his thoughts would likely have been similar to the Crippled Elder's at the time. After all, his identity, status, strength, vision, and many other factors then limited the scope of his ambition.

But with his current identity and status, his thoughts were naturally not so simple. After some deliberation, an idea began to take shape in his mind: even if he couldn't cultivate this secret art himself, it didn't mean it couldn't be used by him. He believed that if he implemented his idea, this secret art would definitely prove to be of great use.

However, he still needed some time to refine this idea and plan his preparations, only then could he truly maximize the value of this secret art.

He consistently held one belief: everything had a use, even trash was no exception. The key lay in how it was applied, and this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art was certainly not trash.

Several days later, Yang Haoran looked at the Soul Crystal he had retrieved from the Soul-Refining Cauldron, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. Though not exaggerated, the smile showed he was genuinely happy.

During the battle in Death Valley, all the high-level spectral entities he had acquired were refined using his Soul-Refining Cauldron. As they were all high-level spectral entities, the energy they contained was quite astonishing, so he didn't refine them together but rather one by one.

Initially, he wasn't successful, and what he refined were still Soul Pills. However, when he finally refined the Crippled Elder's Guardian Spirit, the situation changed. Not only did he refine a considerable batch of Soul Pills, but he also produced a Soul Crystal—the very one currently before his eyes.

The Crippled Elder's Guardian Spirit was the highest-ranked and strongest existence among the Guardian Spirits he had obtained that day. While other Guardian Spirits hadn't successfully yielded Soul Crystals, this one did. From this, his analysis seemed correct: the stronger and higher-ranked the spectral entity, the greater the success rate of refining Soul Crystals.

This time, he not only successfully refined a Soul Crystal but also reconfirmed the accuracy of his analysis, so he was naturally very pleased.

Of course, what made him happiest was acquiring another Soul Crystal.

Currently, Soul Pills were becoming less and less effective for him. If he relied solely on absorbing and refining Soul Pills to improve himself, he didn't know when he would ever successfully break through to the Life Soul realm. To reach his minimum desired speed of improvement, he had to focus on Soul Crystals.

Unfortunately, Soul Crystals were exceedingly rare. Although the Underworld had a clear exchange rate for Soul Pills to Soul Crystals, Soul Crystals themselves were still very uncommon. Even if one offered enough Soul Pills, even far more than the exchange rate stipulated, there was no guarantee of successfully exchanging them for a Soul Crystal.

At first, Yang Haoran didn't understand why this was the case, but now that he had reached his current realm, and consuming Soul Pills no longer significantly boosted his strength, he finally understood.

In his opinion, the reason why Soul Crystals were so rare even in the Underworld was likely because they were monopolized by the bigwigs of their Underworld Office. He knew that Soul Pills were too slow for personal strength enhancement and needed to be replaced by Soul Crystals, so how could those high-ranking officials of the Underworld Office not know this?

Since they also needed Soul Crystals to improve their strength, they certainly wouldn't want Soul Crystals to flow out of their hands.

It was important to note that both Soul Crystals and Soul Pills were refined by specialized institutions within the Underworld Office, not naturally growing. If the senior figures of the Underworld Office wanted to prevent Soul Crystals from circulating externally, it would be a simple matter. Any rare Soul Crystals that occasionally appeared, in Yang Haoran's view, were either merely for appearances or had flowed out through special channels due to particular reasons.

Yang Haoran looked at the Soul Crystal before him, feeling a sense of relief. If not for having the Soul-Refining Cauldron at hand, acquiring Soul Crystals would likely be incredibly difficult for him, even if he possessed a large number of Soul Pills.

Although Yang Haoran was now one of the Underworld Office's Guardians, there were as many as forty-five Guardians in the Underworld Office, and he was just one of them.

Moreover, among Guardians, there were ranks and statuses. Among the forty-five Guardians, he and Xu Meijing had been Guardians for the shortest time, followed by Huo Laoban. Naturally, their status among the forty-five Guardians was also the lowest, and they were less likely to be respected by other Guardians.

Therefore, even as a high-ranking official of the Underworld Office, he was unaware of certain unsavory matters that involved significant interests and couldn't be openly discussed.

Furthermore, with the ongoing war, everyone was overwhelmed, focusing all their energy on combating the enemy. It was impossible to socialize and converse with veteran Guardians, making it even harder for him to learn about such unmentionable matters.

However, Yang Haoran disliked being kept in the dark about things. So, he decided that the next time he saw Luo Yao, he would subtly bring up the matter to see if Luo Yao was willing to enlighten him. If so, that would be ideal. If Luo Yao was unwilling to discuss it, he would have to seek other channels to understand the situation.

He believed that with his status as a Guardian, resolutely setting out to uncover this matter shouldn't be too difficult.

Yang Haoran first put away the Soul-Refining Cauldron and the large quantity of Soul Pills. Then, he carefully admired the Soul Crystal before cautiously putting it away.

He then couldn't help but think of Xu Meijing. He wondered how many Soul Crystals Xu Meijing had refined by now and whether she had discovered any tricks to increase the success rate of refining them. He had wanted to inform Xu Meijing of his discovery via a Communication Talisman, but after a moment's hesitation, he decided against it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to share his experience with Xu Meijing, but he didn't know what kind of environment Xu Meijing was currently in or who might be around her. If he shared his Soul Crystal refining experience via a Communication Talisman, and someone else discovered something suspicious, the trouble could be immense!

For safety reasons, he abandoned the idea, deciding to tell her in person the next time they met.

No sooner had this thought arisen in his mind than Yang Haoran sensed something. He raised an eyebrow slightly, then with a gentle wave of his hand, retrieved a Soul-Gathering Bead from his personal space.

This Soul-Gathering Bead was precisely the one containing Zhong Siyu.

Inside the Soul-Gathering Bead, the miniature Zhong Siyu was no longer unconscious. At this moment, her face was contorted with fury, her white short dress had become Blood-Clad, and she was relentlessly pounding her fists against the inner wall of the Soul-Gathering Bead.

With each successive punch Zhong Siyu landed against the inner wall of the Soul-Gathering Bead, the bead, suspended in mid-air, began to shake violently, looking as if it was on the verge of giving out.

This scene slightly startled Yang Haoran. He had used Soul-Gathering Beads to capture Ghost King-level spectral entities more than once or twice before, but he had never encountered such a situation. He had never seen a spectral entity capable of making a Soul-Gathering Bead shake as if it were about to shatter.

If the Soul-Gathering Bead containing Zhong Siyu were just an ordinary one at this moment, he could understand it, as ordinary Soul-Gathering Beads had limited defensive capabilities, and even some powerful Evil Spirits could shake them.

But the Soul-Gathering Bead holding Zhong Siyu was no ordinary one; it was a higher-grade Soul-Gathering Bead. Yang Haoran used this type of Soul-Gathering Bead whenever he collected Ghost King-level spectral entities.

Such Soul-Gathering Beads possessed astonishingly strong defensive capabilities. Once an entity was contained within, breaking out from the inside was no easy feat, which was why the scene before him surprised Yang Haoran. R)A​N0B​ES

However, it was merely a slight surprise. After all, the spectral entities he had previously collected into Soul-Gathering Beads were not as powerful as Zhong Siyu, so it was normal for her to behave differently.

Furthermore, after he collected Zhong Siyu into the Soul-Gathering Bead, he hadn't placed a seal on it. If he had expended even a small amount of Spirit Power to set a seal, Zhong Siyu wouldn't have been able to struggle so fiercely.

Yang Haoran's surprise came and went quickly. Looking at Zhong Siyu, whose face was filled with rage, a faint smile appeared on his own face. He first set up a restrictive barrier around the area. This was to prevent Zhong Siyu's powerful Ghost Qi from spreading out, and also to prevent any commotion from her enraged attacks.

A Blood-Clad like Zhong Siyu naturally possessed an extremely violent temper. Seeing Zhong Siyu so furious, Yang Haoran couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't act recklessly once released. Therefore, setting up a restrictive barrier was absolutely necessary, and this barrier had to be strong. If it were too weak, how could it withstand Zhong Siyu's rampage?

After expending a considerable amount of Spirit Power to successfully set up a restrictive barrier, Yang Haoran waved his hand and released Zhong Siyu from the Soul-Gathering Bead.

Inside the Soul-Gathering Bead, Zhong Siyu's corporeal form dissolved into wisps of Yin Qi that drilled out of the bead. Each wisp of Yin Qi, upon leaving the bead, immediately expanded, transforming into extremely dense clouds of Yin Qi. A ghostly wind suddenly swept through the room, clattering and rattling the furniture and utensils, sending them toppling and scattering across the floor.

The concentrated Yin Qi converged, churned violently, and then coalesced, reforming into Zhong Siyu.

This room was Yang Haoran's private chamber, typically used for cultivation or refining Soul Pills. Though a cultivation room, it was well-equipped and luxuriously decorated. After all, if he got tired from cultivating, he could rest right there. Everything he might need was readily at hand, without having to leave the room.

However, the Yin Qi stirred up by Zhong Siyu as she reformed her body had directly left the room in utter chaos.

The violent Yin wind was merely an appetizer. Once Zhong Siyu had successfully formed her physical body, she launched herself at Yang Haoran, a sinister grin plastered across her face.