Chapter 170: Casualties
It was a long time after Du Da left that Yang Haoran finally snapped out of his daze. His face was grim, entirely devoid of the relaxed smile he'd worn moments before.
The reason he had been able to smile earlier was, first, due to his grim determination to die, and later, to deal with Du Da. But now that he hadn't died and Du Da was gone, he found himself utterly unable to crack a smile.
Although he had survived the night, it was, after all, only temporary. If this matter wasn't handled properly, then he would only have a month left to live this life.
As for the next life, those whose souls have been dispersed have no right to speak of a next life.
"That old scoundrel, his heart is truly vicious beyond compare. How did such a menace not get struck dead by lightning? He's actually living so comfortably; truly, a disaster left for a thousand years."
He touched his brow; it didn't hurt or itch. Yang Haoran couldn't help but shake his head, letting out a long sigh.
"Alas, possessing powers that ordinary people lack, while living a life far more spectacular than theirs, also makes it far more dangerous. Ordinary people, as long as they aren't utterly unlucky, even if they lose their lives, at least their souls remain, and they can reincarnate. But for us? We might just end up with our souls dispersed."
No sooner had his lamentation faded than the phone on the bed rang with a quirky tune. Hearing that peculiar ringtone, Yang Haoran forced a bitter smile onto his face.
Since matters had progressed to this point, the next step was to find a way to change things. Whether he succeeded or not, he had to exert his utmost effort to alter the situation, rather than lamenting or complaining here.
Standing up from the floor, Yang Haoran walked towards the bed. The room was small; he reached the bedside in two steps.
The Death God Pendant, empowered by Deng Feng, had returned to normal, lying silently on the bed, unmoving. Only his phone continuously vibrated as the ringtone sounded.
Yang Haoran picked up his phone, checked the caller ID, and saw it was none other than Master Jiang calling.
Without hesitation, Yang Haoran quickly answered the call.
"Hello, Master Jiang."
Although Yang Haoran tried his best to make his voice sound calm, it still came out weakly when he spoke.
He had only just opened his mouth, his words unfinished, when Master Jiang interrupted him.
"Xiao Yang, it's good that you're alright! Something big has happened! Get back to the temple quickly!"
Master Jiang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Yang Haoran's voice, but then his own voice became extremely anxious, tinged with a weakness that made him sound even more feeble than Yang Haoran. He seemed to have suffered a serious injury.
Yang Haoran also let out a sigh of relief upon hearing Master Jiang's weak voice. Regardless, it at least indicated that Master Jiang was still alive, which, for Yang Haoran, was already good news.
And the reason Master Jiang felt relieved after hearing Yang Haoran's voice was likely due to thoughts not far different from Yang Haoran's own.
Master Jiang didn't offer Yang Haoran much explanation, hanging up the phone after just one sentence. Yang Haoran could even hear Deng Feng's furious curses echoing from the other end of the line.
Although the furious curses weren't directed at Yang Haoran, they indicated that Deng Feng, the Emissary of Death, was in an extremely foul mood.
After hanging up, Yang Haoran knew without thinking that the Night Watchers must have suffered devastating losses tonight. Otherwise, Deng Feng wouldn't be in such a rage that even he, on the other end of the phone, could hear his furious curses.
In that moment, Yang Haoran felt he had underestimated that old man, Du Da. The old man had been with him all evening, yet even so, he seemed to have inflicted immense losses upon the Night Watchers.
If this was the result without him even showing his face, wouldn't the Night Watchers have been completely wiped out if he had?
Thinking of this, and then of the Soul Dispersing Needle inside his body, Yang Haoran gathered all three items from the bed, then left the convenience store with a contemplative expression, hurrying towards the South Lake Death God Temple.
All the way there, his mind was preoccupied with one question: was the Soul Dispersing Needle in his body, which felt like a death warrant, truly something no one but Du Da, that old scoundrel, could remove?
Du Da had actually been planning for over a decade just to deal with Lecheng's Underworld Office and Deng Feng, even going so far as to use his own disciple as bait. What he was doing this for was currently unknown, but one thing was certain: that old scoundrel Du Da was extremely wary of Deng Feng.
What he was wary of was naturally not Deng Feng's identity as an Emissary of Death. Having become a Spirit Medium, he had prepared himself to stand in opposition to the Underworld Office. How could someone who dared to defy the entire Underworld Office care about the identity of a mere Emissary of Death?
What he was wary of was Deng Feng's strength.
This question was actually easy to figure out: if Du Da wasn't afraid of Deng Feng's strength, why would he go to such lengths with so many tricks? Why would he plan for over a decade? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just kill Deng Feng directly?
Since he didn't do that, and instead played so many tricks, it was highly likely that he was wary of Deng Feng's strength.
He had demanded that Yang Haoran lure Deng Feng into the Ghost Building, and he had also insisted that Deng Feng must fight the entity within the Ghost Building. From this, it was clear that not only did Du Da want to reap the benefits while others fought, but he also wanted to eliminate the entity in the Ghost Building. And it seemed he was also extremely wary of that entity in the Ghost Building, which was why he pulled such a stunt.
However, there was one thing Yang Haoran still couldn't understand: what exactly was Du Da doing all this for? Was it for revenge, or to gain something, or perhaps both?
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Yang Haoran arrived at the South Lake Death God Temple before he knew it. He abandoned his car and hurried towards the temple.
The temple, however, was quiet. Aside from the main gate being open, everything else was as usual. This was how the Death God Temple always was after midnight.
Yang Haoran didn't pause his steps, rushing towards the secluded small room within the temple, then passing through a stone wall to enter the main hall.
As soon as he entered the hall, he caught a faint whiff of blood. Then, two bloody and mangled corpses came into Yang Haoran's sight.
Due to severe facial damage, Yang Haoran couldn't immediately distinguish who the two individuals were. However, both were wearing the Black Robes unique to the Death God Temple keepers.
His gaze swept over the other Night Watchers present. Exactly two were missing. From this, it seemed highly likely that the two unrecognizable corpses lying on the ground were those missing individuals.
Two more people had died. In such a short time, two more had perished!
Besides these two who had died, all the other Night Watchers present were wounded, especially Master Jiang, whose injuries were the most severe.
In comparison, Yang Haoran was ironically the cleanest and most unblemished among all the Night Watchers. He was neatly dressed, and apart from his slightly bloodshot eyes and some residual bloodstains on his face, there wasn't a single injury on his body.
His eyes were bloodshot and his face had residual bloodstains because he had forcibly activated his Ghost Eye while trapped in the illusion earlier.
As for Du Da's Guardian Yin Spirit swallowing his entire head and tearing at his neck, that was entirely an illusion, so having no wounds was normal.
At this moment, Yang Haoran stood among all the Night Watchers, appearing utterly out of place. Yet, who could know that, apart from the two tragically dead on the ground, he was actually the most miserable of all the Night Watchers?
Yang Haoran approached Master Jiang and quietly asked, "What happened here?"
Although he had a rough guess in his mind, a guess was just a guess and not necessarily the truth, which was why he asked.
Currently, Yang Haoran could barely protect himself, and he originally had no mind to bother with these matters. But in order to gain a deeper understanding of Du Da, he still decided to clarify the entire sequence of events, hoping he might uncover something from it.
"Both of them belonged to the same temple," Master Jiang explained, his voice weak. "They left after the meeting tonight and were ambushed by an Evil Spirit. Trapped in an illusion, the two of them forcibly mistook their companions for enemies, ultimately suffering this fate before us."
"Then how did you get injured, and what about their wounds? " Yang Haoran continued to ask.
"After they fell into the illusion, they immediately sent out a distress signal through their Death God Pendants. Upon learning of the situation, I immediately took my temple keepers and rushed towards the location indicated by the Death God Pendants. Since the other Night Watchers hadn't gone far yet, we converged while en route to the rescue. Who knew the other party had already anticipated our route and set up an ambush early? We failed to rescue them and also fell into an illusion. " Master Jiang recounted.
"So, your injuries were caused by the other Night Watchers? " Yang Haoran asked.
Master Jiang nodded, then said, "I was the first to realize something was wrong and knew we had fallen into an Evil Spirit's illusion. So, I never attacked, only defended. Even then, I nearly died under the illusion. When dealing with beings like Evil Spirits, especially powerful ones, the fewer people there are, the better. Too many people will only make you die faster!"
Yang Haoran's brows furrowed slightly. From Master Jiang's words, it seemed Du Da had employed two other Evil Spirits to deal with the other Night Watchers tonight. Counting the Slit-Mouth Woman ghost who appeared at the convenience store, Du Da had three Evil Spirits at his disposal, and none of them were ordinary Evil Spirits; they were all exceptionally powerful ones.
It went without saying that the Evil Spirit that trapped Master Jiang and the others was immensely powerful. If it weren't strong, how could it have trapped so many of them, leaving each one wounded, and nearly killing Master Jiang? Without formidable strength, it naturally couldn't have achieved that.
And as for the Evil Spirit that killed the two Night Watchers, it went without saying: to make two veteran Night Watchers kill each other in such a short time, without absolute power, it absolutely couldn't have been done.
As for the Slit-Mouth Woman Yang Haoran faced, anyone who'd encountered her would know: if Du Da hadn't wanted to avoid killing him, then there wouldn't be two corpses lying here now, but three.
Comments