Chapter 392: The Old Man's Soul
Just as it had been when they left before, the ground was still pockmarked and uneven, and the Good Times Funeral Supplies Store remained a ruin. The only difference was that the scent of blood here had faded slightly compared to when they last departed.
Yang Haoran stood still, then closed his eyes under Luo Dui's questioning gaze. A moment later, his eyes snapped open, and he extended his right hand towards a certain direction, letting out a deep roar,
"Condense!"
As the word "Condense" left his lips, a gust of Yin wind swept through the area, and from the direction his right hand pointed, streaks of white smoke suddenly materialized out of thin air.
The white smoke coalesced, forming a faint, ethereal silhouette. The appearance of this phantom finally made Luo Dui understand what Yang Haoran was doing.
This silhouette was a Soul Body, and none other than the old man who had refined the Resentful Spirits.
What Yang Haoran was doing now was forcefully condensing the old man's Soul.
Previously, during the battle with the Resentful Spirit, the old man had died at its hands. Later, when Yang Haoran and his two companions attacked the Resentful Spirit, it had hurled the old man, whom it was gnawing on, towards Luo Dui's peach wood sword. As a result, the old man's corpse was instantly pulverized by the peach wood sword.
Although his corpse was obliterated, the old man's Soul had not dispersed. His Soul, which had yet to coalesce into a Spirit, had merely drifted here, and after seven days, it would naturally gather into a Spirit, reappearing at this very spot.
Just moments ago, at the Spirit Police headquarters, Yang Haoran had suddenly recalled this matter, causing his expression to change. Without any hesitation, he immediately rushed back from the Spirit Police headquarters.
His purpose was simple: to forcefully condense the old man's Soul into a Spirit and then take it away.
From the current situation, Yang Haoran was proceeding very smoothly. The old man's Soul had successfully been condensed into a Spirit, but because it was a forceful condensation, the old man's Soul Body consciousness had not yet awakened, and his eyes remained tightly shut.
"We didn't find anything substantial in the old man's funeral supplies store before, but we all forgot a very important thing: the old man himself is a considerable gain. From his mouth, perhaps we can glean unexpected information."
Yang Haoran retracted his right hand, and the Yin wind in the area ceased. His gaze rested on the old man's Soul Body, a faint smile gracing his lips as he spoke to Luo Dui.
Luo Dui nodded, agreeing with Yang Haoran's assessment.
"It seems we were all careless and nearly forgot about his Soul. As long as we capture his Soul, we're sure to extract some useful information from him," Luo Dui remarked.
This was precisely Yang Haoran's intention, which was why he had rushed back from the Spirit Police headquarters immediately.
He was in such a hurry because he couldn't be certain if the old man had left any hidden tricks on himself before his death. If the old man had indeed left some such means, then failing to promptly take his Soul away could very likely allow it to escape. That's why, upon remembering this, he had immediately rushed back from the Spirit Police headquarters without a moment's delay.
Summoning his Soul-Gathering Bead, Yang Haoran drew the old man's Soul into it, then returned with Luo Dui to the Spirit Police headquarters.
Upon returning to the Spirit Police headquarters, he first sealed the old man's Soul Body and handed it over to Luo Dui. Once the old man's consciousness awakened, a thorough interrogation was inevitable, as the Spirit Police also desired to extract valuable information from him.
In addition, Yang Haoran took out two Ghost Infants and handed them to Luo Dui for the Spirit Police to study.
He made this decision because the Spirit Police had suffered heavy losses in this mission, and their visible gains thus far were a considerable number of Ghost Infants and a powerful Resentful Spirit, both of which were inside Yang Haoran's Soul-Gathering Bead. In other words, Yang Haoran had reaped all the benefits alone.
Of course, Yang Haoran couldn't let things stand that way, so he decided to provide two Ghost Infants for the Spirit Police to research. Along with the old man's Soul, it could be said that both parties had divided the spoils.
Ghost Infants are a type of Resentful Spirit, and their value to the Spirit Police primarily lay in research. Yang Haoran felt that two were sufficient for the Spirit Police.
Furthermore, Yang Haoran first entrusting the old man's Soul to the Spirit Police for handling was, in fact, the greatest gain for them. As for how much they could obtain, that would depend on the Spirit Police's methods and how much valuable information they could extract from the old man.
Naturally, once the Spirit Police had squeezed all the value out of the old man, Yang Haoran would still reclaim his Soul, because he intended to wring it dry one more time.
If he had no intentions whatsoever regarding the old man's Soul, why would he have rushed back to the Good Times Funeral Supplies Store to forcefully condense and take it away?
Superficially, it seemed Yang Haoran had claimed the lion's share of the gains from this operation, while the Spirit Police had only received a small portion. However, this was not truly the case. If the Spirit Police could obtain the information they desired from the old man, its value would be immeasurable.
Moreover, Yang Haoran and Luo Dui had long had an agreement: if they jointly carried out a mission, all ghostly entities would belong to their Underworld Office. Therefore, even if the Spirit Police had been completely wiped out in this operation, it would have been perfectly justifiable for Yang Haoran not to hand over a single Ghost Infant or the old man's Soul to them.
Seven days later, the Souls of the six deceased coalesced into Spirits. With Luo Dui's renewed gratitude, Yang Haoran took away the Souls of all six.
Concurrently, the old man's Soul consciousness also awakened. However, his fate was rather miserable; for a period of time, he would undoubtedly endure various forms of torture from the Spirit Police, who would then extract useful information.
In addition, during this period, the Night Watchers with lighter injuries successively left the Spirit Police headquarters and returned to their respective posts. In this operation, more than half of the Night Watchers had been deployed. If they didn't return to their positions promptly, it would certainly cause problems, preventing all Death God Temple operations from proceeding normally.
To address this, Yang Haoran specifically made adjustments to the Night Watchers' roles to ensure the Lecheng Underworld Office could operate smoothly.
As for the more severely injured Night Watchers, such as Old Master Wu, although he had awakened from his coma, a certain amount of time was still naturally required for his full recovery.
Half a month later, the severely injured Night Watchers had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent, and thus all left the Spirit Police headquarters. With the Spirit Police's professional medical team treating them, their recovery speed was remarkably swift.
After all the Night Watchers gathered, Yang Haoran personally buried the two deceased Night Watchers on the back mountain of the South Lake Death God Temple and erected tombstones for them.
However, during the burial process, although the atmosphere was somewhat heavy, it was more so bizarre. This was because the Souls of these two deceased Night Watchers were right there among the Night Watcher ranks, personally witnessing their own physical bodies being interred.
The other Night Watchers were naturally aware of the two men's presence. It was precisely because they knew that the living Night Watchers present felt a sense of oddity.
As members of the Underworld Office, their perspectives naturally differed from ordinary people. Under Yang Haoran's ideological influence, they all believed that as long as one's Soul was not scattered, it didn't represent true death.
As long as the Soul remained, only the physical body had perished.
It was precisely because of this belief that when the two Night Watchers' corpses were buried, the other Night Watchers' moods weren't overly somber, for in their eyes, the two had not truly died.
Furthermore, after learning that Yang Haoran had already made arrangements for their Souls, they naturally felt even less heavy-hearted.
After burying the two men's bodies, Yang Haoran led the Night Watchers to the meeting room of the South Lake Death God Temple. They held a brief meeting regarding the Resentful Spirit operation, after which Yang Haoran collected the Souls from the Night Watchers' hands and performed Soul Qi Infusion for each of them.
This time, in addition to the portion of Soul Qi Infusion that the Night Watchers were entitled to, Yang Haoran also provided an extra subsidy, which originated from the previous mission.
All Night Watchers who had participated in the Good Times Funeral Supplies Store mission received an additional Pure Yin Qi subsidy.
Night Watchers who had not participated in that operation also received a subsidy, as their workload in staying behind was considerable. However, their subsidy was significantly less than that of the former.
The Lecheng Underworld Office gradually returned to normal. As two Night Watchers had died, Old Master Wu selected two new recruits to fill the vacancies.
After handling these matters, Yang Haoran sought out Luo Dui and requested the old man's Soul back.
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