Chapter 148: Breaking the Illusion
As the power of the Blood Array beneath Child Tong erupted, the lights throughout the floor began to flicker, alternating between bright and dim, accompanied by a sizzling electrical hum.
Yang Haoran's expression subtly shifted. He sensed the approach of the Skin-Borrowing Ghost.
"He's here!"
No sooner had his warning fallen than all the electric lights on the entire floor extinguished as if the power had suddenly been cut.
"Be careful! This is an illusion! Don't be fooled by him!"
Yang Haoran warned loudly. This Skin-Borrowing Ghost was even more cautious than he had imagined. After being forcibly summoned here by the Blood Array set up by Child Tong, it hadn't even appeared before immediately unleashing its strongest technique. Clearly, it understood its current predicament and intended to eliminate the three of them as quickly as possible.
"Ghost Eye, Open!"
A low growl escaped Yang Haoran's lips, and his eyes instantly turned as black as ink. As his Ghost Eye activated, the world before him transformed, no longer shrouded in darkness.
The floor was still the same floor, the lights were still the original lights, and they were still on. Yet, on this floor that should have only contained the three of them, an additional figure now stood before them.
One of its eyes was normal, but the other was a milky white—a clear sign that a spirit had stepped into the Half-step Evil Spirit realm.
This ghost was, naturally, the Skin-Borrowing Ghost who had recently thrown Tianhe Hospital into chaos.
In terms of strength, this Skin-Borrowing Ghost before them was still weaker than the red-dressed evil spirit from before, a fact discernible from the Yin Qi it emanated.
As for Yang Haoran, his strength had significantly increased compared to when he first battled the red-dressed evil spirit. It was precisely because of this that he was able to instantly break free from the Skin-Borrowing Ghost's illusion the moment his Ghost Eye activated.
Seeing Yang Haoran instantly regain his senses from its illusion, the Skin-Borrowing Ghost seemed taken aback, actually pausing for a moment.
Yang Haoran wasted no time. He wanted to catch the Skin-Borrowing Ghost off guard, so he violently swept his hands, and the Spirit Power within him surged out, transforming into two chains as thick as arms. Amidst a clattering crash of colliding chains, they tightly bound the Skin-Borrowing Ghost.
The Skin-Borrowing Ghost snapped out of its daze, its face a mix of shock and fury. Glaring ferociously at Yang Haoran, it let out an enraged roar.
The Yin Qi coiling around its spirit body boiled and surged at that moment, and a powerful force actually shattered the chains formed by Yang Haoran's Spirit Power.
The shattered chains dissipated into Yin Qi, and Yang Haoran, who had been controlling them, was also affected, his body involuntarily stumbling back a few steps.
Although this Skin-Borrowing Ghost's strength was not comparable to the red-dressed evil spirit from the Wu Family Villa, it was still considerably powerful. With his current abilities, facing it alone was still too difficult.
Steadying himself, Yang Haoran glanced aside. He was somewhat worried about Wang Yiming and Child Tong, fearing they might fall into the Skin-Borrowing Ghost's illusion and do something dangerous.
However, the situation he saw was not quite as he had imagined. Although both of them had fallen into their respective illusions, Child Tong quickly broke free and regained his senses.
He saw the magic array beneath Child Tong erupt in a brilliant crimson glow, enveloping his entire body. Protected by this layer of blood-light, he awakened from the illusion after Yang Haoran.
Though his speed was half a beat slower than Yang Haoran's, it was still quite remarkable, especially considering the power fluctuations emanating from him were significantly weaker than Yang Haoran's.
Yang Haoran was able to instantly break the illusion due to the presence of his Ghost Eye.
As for Child Tong, the fact that he could achieve this despite being weaker than Yang Haoran was thanks to the Blood Array beneath him. It was precisely because of this Blood Array that he was able to dispel the illusion after Yang Haoran.
Although Child Tong had broken the Skin-Borrowing Ghost's illusion, Wang Yiming's expression beside him was amiss. He looked at Yang Haoran and Child Tong, his face filled with killing intent.
"You cunning Skin-Borrowing Ghost, I didn't expect you to have accomplices!"
Wang Yiming's voice was frigid. From his words, it was evident that he was currently trapped within the illusion conjured by the Skin-Borrowing Ghost, and everything he saw was completely different from reality.
He seemed to have mistaken Yang Haoran and Child Tong for the Skin-Borrowing Ghost and its accomplices.
As the icy voice rang out, Wang Yiming, with a wave of his hand, summoned several Ghost-Slaying Talismans from his Talisman Pouch. Their targets were not the real Skin-Borrowing Ghost, but Yang Haoran and Child Tong.
Yang Haoran's expression changed. He wanted to act and restrain Wang Yiming to prevent being harmed by his talismans, but Child Tong seemed to have anticipated this and acted even faster.
A crimson thread shot out, directly hitting Wang Yiming's glabella.
Due to the activation of his Ghost Eye, Yang Haoran could clearly see a rune at Wang Yiming's glabella. This was a Talisman Master Power Seed, similar in nature to the Death God Seal found on a Night Watcher's glabella.
Instead of exploding with the expected destructive power, the crimson thread actually dissolved the moment it struck the Power Seed.
Wang Yiming's body trembled slightly, his murderous gaze first showing confusion before he instantly regained clarity.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. From the moment Yang Haoran moved to deal with the Skin-Borrowing Ghost to Wang Yiming breaking free from the illusion, only a few breaths of time had passed in total.
The Skin-Borrowing Ghost's expression turned ugly. It had intended to use the illusion to make Yang Haoran and the other two fight each other to the death, but to its astonishment, Yang Haoran had immediately broken the illusion and regained his senses just after it had been cast.
It didn't give up because of this. One person had regained consciousness, but two others were still trapped in the illusion it had created. As long as it prevented them from escaping the illusion, achieving its goal of "killing with a borrowed knife" wouldn't be difficult.
But what it never expected was that after Yang Haoran broke through its illusion, Child Tong also relied on the Blood Array beneath him to similarly shatter the illusion and regain his consciousness.
It had placed its hopes on Wang Yiming, hoping Wang Yiming could cause some trouble for Yang Haoran and Child Tong, giving it another chance to forcibly drag them back into the illusion. Then, by controlling all three to jump directly out the window, all its problems would be solved!
Just as it seemed they were about to attack each other, another unexpected twist occurred. Child Tong, using the power of the Blood Array beneath him, forcefully rescued Wang Yiming from the illusion, dashing the Skin-Borrowing Ghost's plans.
Having regained his senses, Wang Yiming didn't need anyone's explanation to know he had been afflicted. Glancing at the several Ghost-Slaying Talismans floating suspended before him, his expression turned grim, and he let out a low roar:
"Go!"
The Ghost-Slaying Talismans shot towards the Skin-Borrowing Ghost like flying daggers, moving at extreme speed and tearing through the air with a rushing sound.
The Skin-Borrowing Ghost's expression was even uglier than Wang Yiming's. It let out a non-human shriek, and its spirit body instantly transformed into a ball of black Yin Qi, attempting to flee the area.
Seeing this, Child Tong quickly formed hand seals again. As his fingers rapidly shifted, the Blood Array beneath him suddenly burst forth with countless crimson threads, which spread across the entire floor at a visibly rapid pace.
At a glance, the floor now looked as if it had been bound by thousands upon thousands of crimson threads in a unique pattern.
The Yin Qi formed from the Skin-Borrowing Ghost's spirit body struck the wall, but instead of passing directly through it as usual, it was repelled by a force, thrown back.
The moment it was repelled by this force, a chain materialized out of thin air, binding the ball of Yin Qi that was its spirit body.
Several Ghost-Slaying Talismans arrived as if on cue, all striking the Yin Qi bound by the chain. Hit by multiple Ghost-Slaying Talismans, the ball of Yin Qi instantly grew much fainter.
This skirmish clearly saw Yang Haoran's side gain the upper hand, yet not a hint of joy could be seen on Yang Haoran's face. Instead, his expression was extremely serious.
The reason for this was that he sensed the power fluctuations emanating from the Blood Array beneath Child Tong had significantly weakened.
When he looked at Child Tong again, he saw that Child Tong's face was pale, and blood was overflowing from the corner of his mouth. It was clear that he was now maintaining the Blood Array beneath him with considerable difficulty.
If they didn't take advantage of the time Child Tong could still barely maintain the Blood Array to eliminate the Skin-Borrowing Ghost, once the Blood Array dissipated, it would be uncertain whether they could defeat the Skin-Borrowing Ghost at all, and even if they could, they might not be able to keep it from escaping.
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