Chapter 314: The Youth
The little girl’s spirit body transformed into Yin Qi and lunged at Wu Mei. Wu Mei fled in a panic, but trapped within the barrier and inherently slower than the transforming Yin Qi, she was swiftly ensnared by the Yin Qi formed from the little girl’s spirit body.
The Yin Qi coalesced to form the little girl’s swollen head. Beneath the head, there was no body, only black Yin Qi that coiled around Wu Mei’s form like a python, constricting her tightly.
The little girl opened her cavernous mouth and, like an enraged beast, began ferociously tearing at Wu Mei.
The little girl’s bites could inflict no actual harm; after all, she was already dead, and her spirit body could not directly damage physical objects.
Wu Mei, however, was unaware of this. Seeing the little girl’s terrifying ferocity, she shrieked, clutching her head and sobbing uncontrollably.
Yang Haoran simply stood smoking, silently observing the scene, with no intention of intervening.
According to the regulations of the Underworld Office, as an Underworld official, he was obligated to intervene in such situations. Yet, he did nothing, watching everything unfold with the detachment of a mere bystander.
In truth, Yang Haoran was already exercising considerable restraint. Were it not for the strictures of the Underworld Office, he might well have given in to the impulse to lend the little girl a helping hand.
Just then, however, he seemed to sense something. He exhaled a plume of smoke and cast his gaze in a particular direction.
The newcomer, naturally, also noticed Yang Haoran’s presence. Without slowing, he surged towards the barrier.
As his body neared the barrier, a flash of spiritual light erupted, and Yang Haoran’s forbidden barrier was forcibly torn open, creating a gap through which the newcomer shot inside with a whoosh.
The breach in the barrier sealed itself instantly the moment he entered, returning to its original state.
The newcomer was a youth, appearing to be only fourteen or fifteen years old. His skin was dark, and his features utterly ordinary—a trait he shared with Yang Haoran.
“Impudent spirit! To harm a living person—you seek death! ”
As the youth appeared, he flicked his hand towards Wu Mei and the little girl. A talisman whistled through the air, transforming into a streak of yellow light that shot rapidly towards the little girl clinging to Wu Mei.
This was a Ghost-Slaying Talisman. With the little girl’s meager abilities, should it strike her, even if she didn’t suffer Soul Transformation, she would certainly be close to it.
The little girl, still furiously tearing at Wu Mei, sensed the danger. Her expression shifted, and she looked back in terror, seeing a yellow light rushing towards her with extreme speed.
In such a situation, anyone with even a modicum of combat experience would choose to evade first, rather than turning back to look. But the little girl was, after all, just a child; she had no combat experience, which was why she subconsciously turned her head.
By the time she saw the incoming talisman, it was too late to dodge. Just as the Ghost-Slaying Talisman was about to strike her spirit body, a cloud of Yin Qi suddenly appeared before her face. The Yin Qi coalesced with lightning speed, forming a bloodless, fleshless black hand.
This hand was roughly the size of an adult’s. The moment it materialized, the incoming talisman was firmly clamped between two fingers.
The talisman vibrated violently, trying to escape the grip of the fingers, but no matter how it struggled, it could not break free from between those two digits.
Then, with a gentle flick of the hand, the Ghost-Slaying Talisman suffered a devastating blow, turning into scattered ash.
Ghost-Slaying Talismans were specifically designed to counter ghostly entities. As talismans meant to suppress ghosts, they naturally possessed a strong suppressive effect on Yin Qi as well.
Yet now, this Ghost-Slaying Talisman had been easily shattered by a hand formed from Yin Qi, turning completely to ash before it even had a chance to burn.
The youth was astonished. He looked at Yang Haoran, his expression turning extremely serious.
The little girl also recovered her senses at this moment. The sense of danger the Ghost-Slaying Talisman had brought her was simply too intense. Snapping back to reality, she dared not remain on Wu Mei, and so her spirit body transformed into Yin Qi and streamed towards Yang Haoran.
When her spirit body coalesced once more, she hid behind Yang Haoran, peeking out her head and casting a fearful glance at the youth.
Wu Mei, meanwhile, seemed to have grasped a lifeline in her drowning desperation, scrambling and sobbing as she rushed towards the youth.
“Little brother, save me! Little brother, please save me! ”
As Wu Mei charged towards the youth, she cried out loudly. To any uninformed outsider, Yang Haoran and the little girl must have appeared to be no good, while Wu Mei, the actual murderer, seemed like a helpless, pitiful victim.
The youth before them was precisely such an uninformed person. In his eyes, Yang Haoran and the little girl—one human, one ghost—were clearly the aggressors, and the pitiful woman, Wu Mei, was undoubtedly the victim.
The reason he believed this was simply because it was what his eyes perceived.
“Hearing is deceiving; seeing is believing. ” If this was what he saw, then what else could it be but the truth?
“Auntie, don’t worry,” the youth assured Wu Mei, making a solemn promise. “With me here, I absolutely won’t let them harm you. ”
At the youth’s words, Wu Mei’s sobs intensified, becoming even more heart-wrenching, as if she had suffered some immense grievance and humiliation.
Seeing Wu Mei weep so miserably, the youth’s expression instantly darkened further. The anger in his heart made his eyes practically blaze with fire.
He shifted his gaze from Wu Mei to Yang Haoran. The anger in his heart remained, but alongside it, a strong sense of wariness.
He hadn’t sensed any particularly powerful energy fluctuations from Yang Haoran, but he had clearly witnessed the previous exchange: his Ghost-Slaying Talisman had been utterly useless against the man. This indicated that the opponent’s strength was far greater than he had imagined; he was simply hiding his true power, not unleashing it fully.
Although the other party felt dangerous, the youth held firmly to his principles and beliefs, and thus had no intention of backing down.
“You’re a Spirit Medium, aren’t you? Manipulating ghostly entities to harm people—aren’t you afraid of incurring divine retribution? ” the youth said to Yang Haoran, his voice low and solemn.
The youth still looked somewhat callow, but his tone of voice was remarkably antiquated. His manner of speaking and demeanor exuded an aura of righteous solemnity.
A smile appeared on Yang Haoran’s face. This youth actually thought he was a Spirit Medium. But with a moment’s thought, it wasn’t unreasonable for the other party to believe that.
Firstly, like Underworld officials, Spirit Mediums were constantly enveloped in Yin Qi, and their Communication Power was very similar to the Spirit Power of Underworld officials. Without careful observation, or if one wasn’t an expert, it was easy to confuse the two.
Furthermore, it wasn’t uncommon for Spirit Mediums to manipulate ghostly entities to harm the living. While not every Spirit Medium did so, their numbers were certainly not few.
Conversely, it was rare for Underworld officials to condone ghostly entities harming the living, as Underworld officials were bound by the laws of the Underworld Office and dared not act as freely as Spirit Mediums.
In Yang Haoran’s view, it was perhaps for these reasons that the youth before him had mistakenly taken him for a Spirit Medium.
Of course, fundamentally, it was still because the youth’s cultivation was insufficient. If his discernment had reached a certain level, how could he possibly fail to distinguish between Spirit Power and Communication Power?
“You’re a Talisman Master? ” Yang Haoran not only failed to answer the youth but instead inquired about his identity.
The youth was not one for intricate schemes. With a stern face, he declared in a low voice, “I am a Talisman Master, but I am not from the Talisman Order. I am an Exorcist. And my mission is to eradicate heretics like you! ”
As his words fell, the youth no longer waited for Yang Haoran’s reply. He unslung the backpack from his shoulders, tossed it to the ground, then with a wave of his hands, several talismans, like sharp blades, flew towards Yang Haoran!
Concurrently, the backpack on the ground opened on its own, and a yellow light shot out. The youth leaped into the air, seizing the yellow light in his hand.
The yellow light dispersed, revealing an ancient, simple Eight Trigrams Mirror.
The talismans he unleashed were all Ghost-Slaying Talismans. Although Ghost-Slaying Talismans could restrain ghostly entities and Yin Qi, from the previous encounter, he understood that these talismans would absolutely not inflict much damage on Yang Haoran.
He acted despite knowing this because he hadn’t intended to subdue Yang Haoran with just a few Ghost-Slaying Talismans. He merely wanted to buy himself a little time.
The instant he seized the Eight Trigrams Mirror, the youth’s body did not descend but remained suspended in the air. He intended to unleash more powerful techniques against Yang Haoran, but he was too stunned by the scene before him to speak.
Yang Haoran simply flicked his finger, and the cigarette butt in his hand shot towards the incoming talismans. This cigarette butt, which should have been entirely harmless, erupted with terrifying energy fluctuations under Yang Haoran’s control.
“Boom! ”
The talismans collided with the cigarette butt, unleashing a thunderous explosion. The cigarette butt vanished without a trace, and the several Ghost-Slaying Talismans also dissolved into ash.
A powerful force swept outwards, but Yang Haoran remained perfectly still, and the little girl hiding behind him was also unaffected.
Wu Mei, however, being an ordinary person, fared poorly. She was directly blasted away by the force.
Seeing this, the youth quickly waved his hand, and a gentle force caught the flying Wu Mei. He himself, however, was sent flying by the impact, only stopping when he crashed into the barrier.
The youth truly had not expected Yang Haoran to destroy his several Ghost-Slaying Talismans in such a manner. The casualness with which it was done genuinely rattled him.
He had thought that even if the Ghost-Slaying Talismans couldn’t harm Yang Haoran, they would at least stall him for a moment. But the outcome was entirely different from what he had imagined.
The youth was indeed astonished, but his hand movements were anything but slow. The instant he steadied himself, he forcefully flung the Eight Trigrams Mirror in his hand towards Yang Haoran!
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