Chapter 155: Seeking Guidance
Without Du Xiao's ear-splitting curses, Nine Dragons Slope cemetery instantly grew quiet.
But this silence lasted only for a moment, instantly shattered by Yang Haoran's quirky phone ringtone.
He took out his phone and checked; the caller was Wang Yiming.
Yang Haoran took a deep breath, calming his emotions, before finally answering the call.
"Brother Yang, where are you now? What's the situation?"
Wang Yiming's worried voice rang out from the other end of the line.
"I'm at Nine Dragons Slope cemetery. I've collected the Skin-Borrowing Ghost into a Soul-Gathering Bead, but there were some issues during the process. Oh, and is Child Tong alright?"
"Child Tong is just exhausted and passed out; nothing serious. But what kind of issues did you encounter?"
"I can't explain it clearly over the phone. If you have time, you'd best come over and see for yourself."
"No, you can just come by yourself."
"Alright, wait for me. I'll be right there."
After hanging up, the smile vanished from Yang Haoran's face, and his gaze once again fell upon Du Xiao's corpse.
He first inspected the corpse but found nothing of value on Du Xiao, not even a single life-saving item.
However, a thought struck him, and he instantly understood what was going on.
For a Spirit Medium to graduate and become a true Spirit Master, they must complete a graduation task. This task is the same for all Spirit Mediums: they must, using only their own strength, sign a contract with a powerful spiritual entity, without relying on any external power.
Since Du Xiao was out to complete his graduation task, it was only natural that he hadn't brought anything valuable with him, so as not to rely on any external power.
"This kid's personality is so arrogant and domineering; he must have been spoiled by his master. His master must dote on him. With a personality like his, he must have caused a lot of trouble, yet he's still alive and well today, probably due to his master's protection."
At this thought, Yang Haoran's eyes narrowed, and he came to a conclusion.
"Du Xiao's master is likely very powerful!"
This was merely Yang Haoran's guess, and he couldn't be certain if it was true.
However, one thing he could be certain of was that now that he had killed Du Xiao, if the matter was handled properly, it would be fine, but if not, it would definitely bring him considerable trouble.
To minimize future trouble, he definitely had to take Du Xiao's soul. Originally, he had planned to wait seven days for Du Xiao's soul to coalesce into a spirit before collecting it, but after much deliberation, he felt that waiting so long might lead to unforeseen complications. The best course of action was to forcibly extract Du Xiao's soul from his body and coalesce it into a spirit right now.
Just like when Xu Meijing extracted Zhou's soul back in the mountain cave.
Xu Meijing had been able to do it with such ease because her strength was already formidable, and she knew the method, so she accomplished it effortlessly.
Yang Haoran, however, did not possess Xu Meijing's formidable strength, nor did he know the method for forcibly extracting a target's soul and then coalescing it into a spirit. Therefore, at this moment, attempting to forcibly extract Du Xiao's soul would be quite difficult to manage.
After a brief consideration, Yang Haoran dialed Xu Meijing's number.
The call rang a few times before being answered. From the other end came Xu Meijing's cold and crisp voice.
"What is it?"
By now, Yang Haoran had grown accustomed to Xu Meijing's attitude, so he didn't take it to heart.
"How are things in Ancheng? Are you settling in? " Yang Haoran asked with a smile.
"Sigh, it's alright. " Xu Meijing responded with a sigh.
"From your tone, have you run into some trouble? " Yang Haoran asked.
"I did run into some trouble, but it's nothing major; it'll just take some time to resolve. Tell me, what do you need? Don't bother with useless pleasantries."
Xu Meijing's words made Yang Haoran's smile turn a bit awkward.
"Can't I call you even if there's nothing wrong? " Yang Haoran asked, chuckling.
"Nonsense! I've been in Ancheng for a while now, and I haven't received a single call or even a message from you. Now you call me and say there's nothing wrong? I'd believe a ghost before I believed you!"
Xu Meijing's words made Yang Haoran even more awkward. Indeed, he hadn't called or texted Xu Meijing at all during this time. Being busy was only one reason, but not the main one. The primary reason was his apprehension; he didn't dare to casually call Xu Meijing.
As for what he was apprehensive about, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Perhaps it was because the more he cared, the more constrained and hesitant he became in his actions, fearing he might mess something up.
Seeing Yang Haoran fall silent, Xu Meijing's voice grew a little impatient. She urged, "Are you going to tell me what's going on or not? If not, I'm hanging up."
"Wait! " Yang Haoran's heart pounded, and he quickly spoke up. "Uh, uh, there really is something I needed to call you about today."
"Heh, just as I guessed. Alright, what is it? Don't be so wishy-washy; act like a man and get to the point! " Xu Meijing's voice revealed her displeasure.
"I want to ask for your guidance on how to forcibly extract the soul of a newly deceased person and coalesce it into a spirit. Can I do it with my current strength?"
For some reason, Yang Haoran felt a little timid. His voice was soft, and his posture was very humble as he spoke.
"Oh, that's not difficult. It might be a bit strenuous with your current strength, but it's not impossible. Try doing it this way. . ."
Next, Xu Meijing began to instruct Yang Haoran directly over the phone.
Yang Haoran had originally thought it would be a very complicated matter, but after Xu Meijing's explanation, he found that it was actually quite simple. Of course, 'simple' here only applied to those with sufficient strength, like Xu Meijing herself.
For him, whose strength was too weak, performing it would be very difficult.
First, he needed to use his perceptive abilities to locate the target's soul within their body, then use Spirit Power to lock onto the soul, forcibly coalesce it into a spirit, and finally extract the newly formed spirit from the body.
This method could be applied not only to corpses but also to living beings; however, the latter demanded greater strength from the caster.
After hanging up, Yang Haoran didn't immediately act on Du Xiao's corpse. Instead, his mind was filled with Xu Meijing's image. He realized there truly was a reason he was single; often, he simply hadn't focused his attention on such matters.
He shook his head, ultimately deciding to put the matter aside for now. He felt that his first priority should be to improve his strength, for only when his strength reached a certain level could he strive for certain things.
This was a very realistic problem: how could a man who knew nothing, had nothing, possessed no good looks, and no special skills, still fantasize about winning a beauty? It was impossible.
If one wanted something, one had to work hard to get it, but this had to be built on a foundation of certain strength. A loser with no strength or good looks being surrounded by wives and concubines? That only happened in novels and movies.
His gaze once again fell on Du Xiao's corpse. Yang Haoran began to sense the soul within it. After a long moment, he released the Spirit Power within his body, gradually merging it into Du Xiao's corpse, bit by bit.
Extracting the soul of a newly deceased person sounded simple, but for Yang Haoran, it was quite difficult. Ultimately, it was still due to insufficient strength; if he had enough power, he could do it as easily as Xu Meijing.
Gradually, Yang Haoran found that his Spirit Power was becoming insufficient, but he didn't give up because of it. He continued to follow the steps.
Sweat beads had appeared on his forehead at some point, and his face gradually turned pale, but Yang Haoran didn't pay these things any mind. All his attention was focused on Du Xiao's corpse.
A little while later, Yang Haoran's Spirit Power was almost entirely depleted. Just then, his eyes lit up, and a low shout escaped his lips—
"Get out!"
As this low shout rang out, the Spirit Power that had merged into Du Xiao's body transformed into a hand, forcibly tearing Du Xiao's soul from his corpse in one go!
The soul had been forcibly coalesced into a spirit by Yang Haoran. Just like Zhou's soul back then, the spectral form that was Du Xiao's soul had its eyes tightly shut, in a state of deep slumber, completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world.
Comments