Chapter 329: Absorbing Spirit Power
The evil spirit was in a state of excitement at this moment. However, he wasn't completely without vigilance towards his surroundings. The instant the black chains struck, he sensed them.
The laughter continued, but compared to before, the evil spirit's cackle now held a hint of contempt amidst its exhilaration.
Potent Yin Qi transformed into distorted ghostly faces, surging forth to meet the incoming chains.
Simultaneously, his hands became wreathed in Yin Qi, and he actually reached out to seize the Remnant Moon.
Boom, boom, boom!
The chains and ghostly faces collided, erupting in a series of tremendous crashes. The chains shattered, and the ghostly faces vanished with shrill, miserable cries.
Meanwhile, the Soul Armament, Remnant Moon, was firmly clutched by the evil spirit's hands. The Remnant Moon spun rapidly but couldn't break through the defense formed by the evil spirit's hands, only managing to tear apart some of the Yin Qi wrapped around them.
This sight caused Yang Haoran's brows to furrow deeply. He truly hadn't expected this evil spirit to dare directly take the Remnant Moon with its Spirit Body. What surprised him even more was that the evil spirit had actually managed to hold it.
The surprise attack hadn't achieved the desired effect, leaving Yang Haoran feeling a degree of regret.
Yang Haoran didn't answer the evil spirit's question, as he felt such an idiotic inquiry required no response. He merely let out a cold laugh.
As a smile appeared on his face, the Remnant Moon's rotation speed suddenly accelerated, its volume doubled, and it violently erupted with a power fluctuation even stronger than before.
Bang!
The protective Yin Qi wrapped around the evil spirit's hands was instantly scattered by the Remnant Moon. Its expression shifted, but it was too late to dodge. A black light flashed past, directly cleaving its Spirit Body in two.
Boom!
The Remnant Moon plunged deep into the stone wall, causing cracks to spider across it. The entire ancient tomb vibrated violently under this single strike from the Remnant Moon.
The evil spirit's cleaved Spirit Body dissolved into Yin Qi, then re-coalesced. However, compared to before, the evil spirit's Spirit Body was noticeably fainter, less substantial than it had been.
In the first exchange, the evil spirit's Spirit Body had been wounded by Yang Haoran. Yet, Yang Haoran didn't let this go to his head, for the power fluctuations emanating from the evil spirit at that moment were still terrifying.
Yang Haoran's expression remained largely unchanged, a faint sneer gracing his lips. The evil spirit's face, however, had turned rather unsightly. Taking a slight loss in the very first exchange against Yang Haoran was, in its eyes, a blatant provocation and insult.
"I'm displeased now!"
The evil spirit spoke coldly, Yin Qi churning around its body, its facial features contorting into a ferocious grimace.
It was an evil spirit by nature, its heart brimming with resentment and brutality. Provoked by Yang Haoran's actions, it instantly revealed its true colors.
As the evil spirit's voice rang out, all the shattered stones on the ground, regardless of size, began to tremble violently. Then, as if summoned, they floated suspended in the air.
Yang Haoran naturally knew what the evil spirit intended. He had seen this very move performed by Zhong Siyu back then. This was an evil spirit's ability to manipulate objects, a power not possessed by mere Evil Spirits (evil Spirits). The evil spirit's inherent strength determined the quantity of objects it could control and their destructive power. The fact that this evil spirit could manipulate so many stones simultaneously showed its strength far surpassed that of an ordinary evil spirit.
"Die for me!"
The evil spirit roared, and all the stones rained down towards Yang Haoran below. The small ones were like bullets, the large ones like cannonballs, all targeting Yang Haoran.
Yang Haoran's body remained motionless. At that moment, the Remnant Moon let out a hum, extracting itself from the stone wall and transforming into a black light that shielded him.
Bang, bang, bang!
Stones of varying sizes relentlessly pounded against the Remnant Moon's protective barrier. The stones shattered, while the Remnant Moon was gradually pushed back.
Facing this situation, Yang Haoran extended both hands towards the Remnant Moon. A vast amount of Spirit Power erupted from his palms, pouring into the Remnant Moon.
With the infusion of a massive amount of Spirit Power, the Remnant Moon's might instantly surged. It was no longer pushed back by the stones, and within a few breaths, all the stones had been reduced to dust.
Although this move from the evil spirit hadn't wounded Yang Haoran, it had caused him a considerable expenditure of energy.
Wielding a Soul Armament inherently consumed a great deal of Spirit Power. Injecting a large amount of Spirit Power directly into the Soul Armament naturally led to an even greater expenditure of Spirit Power.
"You've got some skill, but that's not enough!"
The evil spirit spoke with a grotesque grin. Then, its Spirit Body dissipated into a cloud of Yin Qi, which slammed into the Remnant Moon with incredible speed.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, the Remnant Moon was repelled, slamming into Yang Haoran's body.
Yang Haoran's smile vanished. He let out a muffled groan, his body recoiling several steps under the powerful impact. With each step, the flagstones beneath his feet shattered, and when his final step landed, the ground beneath him was forcefully imprinted with a circular crater.
In this exchange, Yang Haoran was clearly at a disadvantage. Yet, the evil spirit seemed dissatisfied with this outcome. The Yin Qi formed from its Spirit Body lunged at Yang Haoran once more. Just as Yang Haoran steadied himself, the Yin Qi, transformed from the evil spirit's Spirit Body, slammed into him again.
This time, however, Yang Haoran wasn't sent flying. It wasn't that he had successfully blocked the evil spirit's attack; rather, the evil spirit had intended it. The primary goal of this strike wasn't to knock him back, but to trap him.
The instant the Yin Qi, transformed from the evil spirit's Spirit Body, struck Yang Haoran, it immediately spread, enveloping Yang Haoran entirely.
Yang Haoran's expression darkened. The moment his body was enveloped by the Yin Qi, he found that he was completely immobilized, unable to move a single inch.
However, this wasn't the main issue. The crucial problem was that after the Yin Qi, transformed from the evil spirit's Spirit Body, immobilized his body, it began greedily absorbing the Spirit Power within him.
An Emissary of Death's Spirit Power could suppress ghostly entities; while it might not guarantee critical hits with every strike, it could certainly inflict additional damage upon them.
But at the same time, Spirit Power was also the best tonic in the eyes of ghostly entities, the fastest way for them to increase their strength. Thus, for ghosts, Spirit Power was the most tempting existence.
Spirit Power was a regenerative force. Even if it was completely depleted for various reasons, a period of rest would allow one to restore the Spirit Power within their body to its original level.
However, there was one exception: if an Emissary of Death's Spirit Power was devoured and refined by a ghostly entity, it would not regenerate.
To put it plainly, when a ghostly entity consumed an Emissary of Death's Spirit Power, it was a direct loss—each bit consumed meant one less bit. It wouldn't regenerate on its own afterward. To recover it, one would have to replenish it through methods that enhanced Spirit Power, such as Pure Yin Qi.
However, this referred to the Spirit Power within an Emissary of Death's body that hadn't been released. If it was Spirit Power released through activating a Soul Armament or other means, its consumption by a ghostly entity would neither affect the Emissary of Death nor greatly benefit the ghost itself. This was because such Spirit Power underwent a qualitative change during its release from the Emissary of Death's body, differing fundamentally from the unreleased Spirit Power within.
The reason this evil spirit had immobilized Yang Haoran instead of directly attacking him was precisely to prevent Yang Haoran from expending more Spirit Power.
Because every bit of Spirit Power Yang Haoran expended meant less Spirit Power within his body, and recovering that expended Spirit Power took time. If Yang Haoran's Spirit Power was completely exhausted, what would there be left for the evil spirit to consume?
If it truly came to that, the only method would be to imprison Yang Haoran, then wait for his Spirit Power to recover before consuming it. However, such an approach was too time-consuming, and there were too many variables involved, so it didn't wish to do that.
What it wanted to do was precisely what it was doing now: firmly restrain Yang Haoran first, then forcibly extract and devour the Spirit Power within his body.
This way, its own strength would grow progressively stronger, while Yang Haoran's strength would diminish with the consumption of his Spirit Power. Once Yang Haoran's strength weakened to a certain extent, then Yang Haoran, this Emissary of Death, would be utterly powerless before it, left to its mercy.
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