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Chapter 1298: Third Soul Armament (XI)

Their first Soul Armaments had temporarily met in a stalemate, but since this was not the outcome either of them desired, both immediately activated their second Soul Armaments.

Yang Haoran's second Soul Armament was naturally his Black Lightning. Under his two-pronged mental control, black lightning bolts continuously descended from the dark clouds above, striking towards Ulan below.

Ulan's second Soul Armament happened to be a black Ghost Head Shield. While this shield could also be used to attack enemies, its offensive power was quite limited. As a defensive Soul Armament, its greatest ability was to fend off attacks for its master.

Facing the black lightning bolts descending one after another from above, Ulan's Ghost Head Shield Soul Armament immediately proved its immense utility. Under her mental command, the Ghost Head Shield quickly expanded, floating suspended above her head, intercepting every falling lightning bolt.

Furthermore, no matter how her body moved, the shield above would move with her, constantly protecting her from below. After a sustained period, their battle devolved into a stalemate, with neither able to gain the upper hand.

However, in this stalemate, both suffered considerable expenditure. On one hand was the mental drain: simultaneously controlling two Soul Armaments against an enemy was incredibly taxing on one's mind. Without the ability to multitask, simultaneously wielding two Soul Armaments in combat would not only make it difficult to fully unleash their power but also lead to extreme disarray, creating numerous vulnerabilities for the enemy to exploit.

On the other hand, the consumption of Spirit Power within their bodies was also significant. Every offensive and defensive action by their two Soul Armaments depleted a certain amount of their Spirit Power. Even if the current battle hadn't lasted particularly long, it had already caused a notable drain on their internal Spirit Power.

Of course, any battle entails consumption; this is an immutable fact. The crucial point, however, was whether the expenditure of their own energy was valuable, and that was the question weighing most heavily on both their minds.

Ulan uttered her cold words, and as she spoke, the slender Soft Sword, which had been entangled with Remnant Moon, was suddenly recalled to her. She grasped it in her hand, no longer controlling the Soul Armament with her mind, but instead choosing to directly wield it. As she continuously swung the Soft Sword in her hand, streaks of black sword qi ripped through space, shooting towards Yang Haoran from various cunning angles.

Facing this situation, Yang Haoran immediately injected a large amount of Spirit Power into Remnant Moon. With the Spirit Power's enhancement, Remnant Moon's volume surged. Under its rapid rotation, it successfully blocked all of the incoming sword qi for Yang Haoran.

The sword qi collided with Remnant Moon, emitting a thunderous roar. Although Remnant Moon successfully blocked the barrage of sword qi, the powerful impact still caused the enormous Remnant Moon to be pushed back inch by inch. Facing this, Yang Haoran could only inject even more Spirit Power into Remnant Moon to resist Ulan's wave of sword qi attacks.

Yang Haoran, in battle against his foes, had always been impervious to verbal taunts and never allowed himself to be led by the nose. Yet, when Ulan urged him to quickly deploy his third Soul Armament, he genuinely considered it.

The reason he heeded Ulan's words was not that her verbal provocation had succeeded, but rather because he himself believed it was the appropriate course of action.

The reason was simple: at their level of power, if they did not employ powerful, extraordinary means, it would be absolutely impossible to swiftly dispatch their opponent. This involved numerous factors, such as the profound depth of their internal power, extensive combat experience, and a variety of life-saving techniques.

It was precisely because of these factors that attempting to kill such a formidable expert in a short amount of time was exceedingly difficult. What Yang Haoran was currently considering was that the Absolute Prohibition barrier Ulan had cast with her Ghost Art here would only last for one hour. During this hour, they could not escape, nor could outsiders enter—this was the perfect, discreet opportunity to eliminate Ulan.

If he couldn't eliminate Ulan within an hour, then once the Absolute Prohibition dissipated, it would become even more challenging to get rid of her. After all, if Ulan was determined to flee, she would undoubtedly employ some special techniques, and whether he could successfully thwart her escape was truly uncertain.

Beyond that, there was another issue: if the barrier created by the Absolute Prohibition were to disappear, Ulan could contact allies through various means, and might even summon the Tong Continent Great Emperor to personally descend upon this location. If it truly came to that, both he and Zhong Siyu could die here today, let alone succeed in killing Ulan.

There was also a critically important point: if Ulan truly escaped his grasp today, he could be certain, even without thinking, that Ulan would sensationalize and spread news of today's events far and wide. His situation would then become perilous. Even if the Tong Continent Yin Division didn't bother him, Luo Yao would undoubtedly seek him out to verify the circumstances. At that point, not only would he bring immense trouble upon himself, but many secrets that violated Yin Division laws might also be exposed. If it truly came to that, failing to remain a Guardian would be a minor concern; it was highly probable he would lose his own life and the lives of his trusted subordinates. This was not the outcome he desired.

Therefore, he absolutely had to eliminate Ulan within this hour. Once this hour passed and the Absolute Prohibition vanished, many uncontrollable factors would emerge, and that was a risk he could not afford.

If Yang Haoran could ponder these things, how could Ulan not? Her ability to consider these points yet still verbally provoke Yang Haoran stemmed from her conviction that Yang Haoran lacked the power to kill her, let alone dispatch her within an hour. Even if Yang Haoran and Zhong Siyu joined forces, she possessed absolute confidence in her ability to hold out for an hour, thus she had no concerns whatsoever for her own safety.

Conversely, she believed herself fully capable of killing Yang Haoran. She was more concerned that after an hour, when the Absolute Prohibition vanished, Yang Haoran would find a way to escape. Hence, she outright provoked him, wanting to gauge Yang Haoran's true capabilities first, so she could get a measure of him in her mind before prescribing the right "medicine" and deploying the appropriate tactics to kill him!

Both had their own thoughts and their own considerations, yet both shared one common belief: they both believed they could kill the other!

"Heh heh, since you, Guardian Ulan, have spoken, then I shall respectfully obey!"

While simultaneously controlling Remnant Moon to parry Ulan's relentless sword qi attacks and manipulating Black Lightning to continuously send bolts crashing down onto the Ghost Head Shield, Yang Haoran, despite his dual focus, was still able to respond to Ulan with a faint smile on his face.

As Yang Haoran's words fell, the third mass of Yin Qi violently swirling around his body immediately reacted. The intensity of the Yin Qi's churning increased significantly compared to before, and a black butterfly subsequently flew out from within the vigorously rolling Yin Qi. It slowly flapped its wings, dancing gracefully around Yang Haoran's body, giving the impression of not being there for a fight, but rather to collect flowers.

This black butterfly was the size of an adult's palm, considerably larger than an ordinary butterfly. Yet, this was not its truly unique feature, for being merely somewhat bigger than a common butterfly hardly counted as unique. Its true distinction lay in its two wings, each bearing a ghost face—one a male ghost face, the other a female ghost face.

The two ghost faces were lifelike, and both bore terrifying smiles, imparting a chilling, eerie sensation, as if two evil spirits were sealed within these two wings.

This black butterfly was Yang Haoran's third Soul Armament, and because its wings featured two terrifyingly smiling ghost faces, he had named this Soul Armament the Ghost Butterfly.

Ulan naturally perceived that the Ghost Butterfly was Yang Haoran's third Soul Armament. However, what she hadn't anticipated was that Yang Haoran's third Soul Armament would be like this, which indeed took her by surprise.

Both of Yang Haoran's first and second Soul Armaments were offensive types, so she had surmised that his third Soul Armament would very likely be a defensive type, much like the shield she was currently controlling. Yet, the outcome defied her expectations, for the Ghost Butterfly, by all appearances, was not a defensive Soul Armament.