Chapter 203: Prelude to a Breakthrough
Du Da's suggestion made Zhong Siyu stiffen. She clearly hadn't expected his proposal to be like that.
After a momentary daze, Zhong Siyu snapped back to reality and couldn't help but burst into laughter, her gaze filled with undisguised contempt for Du Da.
Du Da, however, showed little reaction to Zhong Siyu's laughter. He merely frowned, a hint of displeasure appearing on his face.
"Make me your Guardian Yin Spirit? You ancient fossil, you certainly plan well, don't you? Is this one of the reasons you dared to venture here tonight? " Zhong Siyu asked with a sneer.
Du Da shook his head and said, "My main purpose for daring to come tonight was to kill Deng Feng. Secondly, it was to let my Guardian Yin Spirit devour you, allowing her to successfully evolve into an Evil Spirit. However, events unfolded beyond my expectations, so I had to temporarily change my plans. Now that Deng Feng is dead, he has left us with unexpected benefits. It would naturally be best if you and I could resolve this without resorting to a fight, wouldn't you agree?"
Du Da's face was grim as he spoke with utter seriousness, devoid of any hint of jest. Zhong Siyu, upon hearing his words, twisted her features into an even more bloodthirsty sneer.
"You ancient fossil, were you asleep when you were playing dead on the ground just now? Are you still dreaming? Make me your Guardian Yin Spirit? What makes you worthy? !"
Du Da, whose expression had previously shown little change, now had his face darken at Zhong Siyu's words.
"Since you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me. It will probably be much easier to discuss signing a contract after I've beaten you into submission."
"You ancient fossil, I thought you were a smart one, but it seems you're just a bit too conceited for your own good. I can forcibly suppress the power unleashed by several Death God Seals; do you really think I only have the strength you see right now? " Zhong Siyu asked with a sneer.
"You don't need to speak so mysteriously. If you truly had the ability to kill me, why would you waste time talking here? The reason neither of us has made a move is simply because we each have our own concerns."
"I can probably guess some of your concerns. Once you attack me, you likely won't be able to divert your attention to suppressing the Death God Seal within that boy's body, am I right?"
Du Da's words were delivered with extreme certainty, as if he had seen through everything, but Zhong Siyu's response was curt.
"Heh heh, incorrect."
In Du Da's eyes, Zhong Siyu was simply putting on an act of bravado. He was certain his guess wasn't wrong; Zhong Siyu just wouldn't, or couldn't, admit it.
Shaking his head, Du Da spoke with a regretful expression, "If you refuse to drink a toast, you'll have to drink a forfeit. In that case, I'll just have to subdue you first, then slowly 'educate' you."
Having said that, Du Da seemed to lose interest in exchanging further pleasantries with Zhong Siyu. Although his strength hadn't returned to its peak, the Death God Seal within his body constantly released Yin Qi for his recovery and improvement. He felt confident he could take down Zhong Siyu.
With a burst of Communication Power, Du Da's aura surged instantly. His hunched body, in that moment, seemed to swell to the height of a towering mountain.
Putting aside other aspects for now, simply in terms of aura, Du Da could completely overwhelm Zhong Siyu at this moment.
Yet, Zhong Siyu still wore a sneer, her expression utterly unaffected by the change in Du Da's formidable aura.
A bloody glint flashed in her eyes as she acted before Du Da, enveloping him in an illusion.
The world before him didn't change, but Zhong Siyu vanished from his sight. Du Da was startled at first, thinking Zhong Siyu had concealed her physical body to launch a sneak attack. But then he felt something was wrong, his face darkening and his brows furrowing in a deep frown.
"So it's an illusion. Your reduced strength has made your illusions riddled with flaws. To think you could deal with me with just this level of illusion is truly naive."
Du Da spoke coldly, then rapidly formed hand seals. His ten fingers shifted incessantly, creating streaks of afterimages.
"Spiritual Art: Illusion Break!"
A fierce shout erupted from his mouth, and a powerful wave of energy swept outwards. The world before him wavered, then, like glass struck by a heavy blow, it shattered into countless fragments with a sharp crack.
Spirit Mediums, much like the Underworld Office agents, constantly deal with ghostly entities. Spirit Mediums, in particular, often seek out powerful spectral beings to find a stronger Guardian Yin Spirit for themselves, or to empower their existing one. These potent ghosts often possess the ability to create illusions, and it's easy to get trapped and toyed with to death by them. Thus, Spirit Mediums developed this Spiritual Art specifically to counter ghostly illusions.
If it had been an illusion cast by Zhong Siyu at her peak, Du Da wouldn't have been able to easily break through it, even with his Spiritual Art: Illusion Break. Recalling earlier, Deng Feng, as an Emissary of Death, was almost ensnared by Zhong Siyu's illusion, which demonstrated just how terrifying her illusions could be.
But now, Zhong Siyu's strength was far from her peak. This weakening of her power resulted in her illusions becoming much weaker, which was why Du Da was able to break them so easily.
The moment the illusion broke, a surge of Yin Qi roared towards him. Du Da's face was grim. With his Communication Power channeled into his staff, he swung it, cleaving the space before him.
Boom!
The Yin Qi scattered, and the powerful recoil sent Du Da's body drifting several meters backward.
Zhong Siyu, however, did not stop. With a sneer, she manipulated vast amounts of Yin Qi, unleashing them from all directions to bombard Du Da.
A series of mournful wails and eerie ghostly laughter echoed through the space. The Yin Qi transformed into terrifying ghost faces, rushing at Du Da one after another, as if intending to devour his very soul.
"Petty tricks!"
Du Da let out a sharp cry. His staff, imbued with Communication Power, billowed with black smoke. He swung it repeatedly, each strike scattering a ghost face. In just a few breaths, the eerie wails and laughter in the space vanished, and all the ghost faces formed by Yin Qi dissipated into thin air under Du Da's staff.
"You are no match for me now. Becoming my Guardian Yin Spirit would benefit us both. Why can't you understand such a simple truth—"
His words were cut short. Du Da's expression abruptly shifted as his gaze moved from Zhong Siyu, locking onto Yang Haoran's position below.
At the same time, Zhong Siyu also seemed to sense something, her eyes darting towards Yang Haoran below.
Yang Haoran was currently lying flat on a mass of Yin Qi, his entire body a bloody mess, no longer recognizable as human.
At some unknown point, he had stopped screaming, and his body had ceased struggling. He lay there quietly on the Yin Qi, resembling a corpse mauled by a wild beast.
However, though seemingly a corpse, this was not truly the case, for the body still possessed life fluctuations. The person hadn't died, so it naturally couldn't be called a corpse.
If it were merely that, it naturally wouldn't have simultaneously captured the attention of two powerful figures like Du Da and Zhong Siyu. The reason both of them had, by coincidence, fixed their gaze on Yang Haoran was because the already extremely weak life fluctuations emanating from his body had, at that very moment, suddenly intensified.
Dense Yin Qi enveloped Yang Haoran's body. The flesh and blood that had been torn away began to regenerate at a visible pace. If one looked closely, they might even notice the growing flesh rapidly writhing.
This was Spirit Power repairing Yang Haoran's damaged body. However, to achieve such rapid restoration, it required not only immense Spirit Power but also specific conditions.
And this specific condition was when a qualitative change occurred in one's internal power during a realm breakthrough — only then could such a scene, like the one unfolding on Yang Haoran's body, possibly happen.
Yang Haoran was merely a Night Watcher. His next realm was to open his Heaven Soul and enter the Open Soul realm. The scene unfolding on him now meant that he was very likely about to open his Heaven Soul!
Du Da and Zhong Siyu watched the scene before them. Both instantly grasped the implication. However, their reactions were as different as heaven and earth.
Zhong Siyu chuckled, seemingly in good spirits, while Du Da's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water, his heart filled with both shock and fury.
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