Chapter 538: He's Dead
With a decision made in his heart, Yang Haoran prepared to act according to his plan. However, before he could make a move, the restrictive formation where Pharmacist Feng was located suddenly vibrated violently, then exploded with a "boom!"
The wave of air generated by the formation's explosion swept outwards. Yang Haoran did not evade; instead, he mobilized a portion of his Spirit Power to protect his body.
The airwave slammed into him, but protected by his Spirit Power, he not only remained unharmed but didn't even shift an inch. He stood suspended in mid-air, his body unmovable no matter how violent the airwave became.
He paid no mind to the airwave formed by the exploding formation. What concerned him now was the situation within the formation.
Although Yang Haoran hadn't entered the formation, he had seen the situation inside when the formation had previously revealed itself. But now that the formation had shattered, what he saw was completely different from what he had seen before.
There was no small hut, no herb garden, no vegetable patch, and no young girl within the formation. It wasn't that these things had been destroyed by battle; it was because they had never existed there in the first place.
While a great battle could cause a certain degree of destruction to the environment, some remnants of the original objects would still remain.
But what Yang Haoran saw after the formation shattered was a small lake. No hut, no herb garden, no vegetable patch, no young girl — none of them existed. In other words, the scene he had witnessed from outside the formation earlier was merely an illusion conjured by the formation, not a true reality.
Strangely, the entire lake was black, and a visible black smoke rose from its surface.
This scene felt familiar to Yang Haoran. After a brief thought, he recalled the Blackwater Pool where he had once obtained the Sunken Yin Stone.
However, this lake was fundamentally different from the Blackwater Pool. The Blackwater Pool's water was black due to an extremely dense concentration of Yin Qi, but in the lake Yang Haoran now observed, he sensed no Yin Qi, nor was the black smoke rising from its surface Yin Qi.
Yang Haoran was still wondering why the lake water was black and what the rising black smoke was when a scream caught his attention.
In the lake, a woman was struggling fiercely in the water. It was this woman who was emitting the piercing shriek.
This woman was none other than the Black Talisman Master's young girlfriend!
Besides the woman struggling violently in the lake, three other figures hovered above it: the masked Pharmacist Feng, the Talisman Order's Black Talisman Master, and the old exorcist who had entered the formation last.
Hearing the woman's screams, the Black Talisman Master's expression changed drastically. He swiftly waved his hand, and a large hand formed from power, scooping the woman out of the lake.
However, the woman's screams did not cease upon leaving the lake. She thrashed violently in the giant hand formed of power, her shrieks even more piercing than when she was in the water.
Under Yang Haoran's gaze, the woman's body began to fester and ooze pus. Her beautiful face rapidly broke out in boils, visibly swelling. The boils grew at an alarming rate, and once they reached a certain size, they would immediately burst, leaving thumb-sized holes all over her face.
In the blink of an eye, the woman's face was covered in holes. No fresh blood flowed from these orifices, only repulsive pus.
"Ah! Dearest. . . dearest, save. . . save me! Ah! ! !"
The woman extended her hand towards the Black Talisman Master. While screaming, she also pleaded for his help, her eyes filled with the terror of death.
Her originally fair and slender arms were now also breaking out in boils, devoid of any boneless grace, conveying only horror and revulsion.
The Black Talisman Master had initially chosen to pull the woman from the water to save her, but upon seeing her current grotesque appearance, his brow furrowed, and his eyes filled with disgust.
"Dearest, living like this is simply too exhausting for you. I don't want to see you continue suffering like this. Rest well, my love. I love you."
As his words fell, the Black Talisman Master immediately released his grip, as if fearing that a moment's delay would affect him as well.
As he let go, the giant hand formed of power vanished, and the woman's body plummeted from the air, falling once again towards the lake below.
"No! ! !"
A voice filled with despair burst from the woman's lips. Before her scream had fully faded, she crashed back into the lake, splashing water.
Plummeting into the lake once more, the woman let out heart-rending shrieks. Her entire body, already festering, now shed large chunks of flesh. She struggled for only a few moments before her life force dissipated, leaving behind a skeletal frame draped with strands of flesh on the lake's surface.
This scene made Yang Haoran understand why the lake water was black and what the black smoke rising from its surface was.
The lake water was black because it contained potent poison. And the black smoke rising from the surface was a toxic mist formed by that poison.
The woman's body festered, breaking out in repulsive boils, and eventually reduced to a skeleton, all due to the effects of the potent poison.
With the woman reduced to a skeleton, the Black Talisman Master didn't spare her another glance. His gaze had already fallen upon Yang Haoran.
Not only the Black Talisman Master, but also the old exorcist and Pharmacist Feng, all three of their gazes were now fixed on Yang Haoran, for they had all sensed the powerful Spirit Power emanating from him.
The three of them were not in good condition. Both the Black Talisman Master and the old exorcist bore wounds, and the power fluctuations emanating from their bodies were significantly weaker than before.
However, compared to the other two, Pharmacist Feng's physical condition was even worse. His clothes were tattered, his appearance disheveled, and the power fluctuations emanating from within him were exceedingly weak, indicating he had sustained severe injuries.
To fight one against three and even kill one, even if it was the weakest opponent, was still quite an impressive feat. After all, both the Black Talisman Master and the exorcist were individually more powerful than him, and they had come prepared.
The reason Pharmacist Feng could still kill one opponent and severely injure the other two in such a situation, besides the formation helping him immensely, was undoubtedly due to the various medicines he had refined.
The formation's sudden explosion certainly wasn't caused by Pharmacist Feng. After all, this formation was one of Pharmacist Feng's means of combating enemies; he wouldn't have done such a thing.
The formation must have been destroyed by the Black Talisman Master and the exorcist. It was only during the process of breaking the formation that the Black Talisman Master failed to protect his young girlfriend, leading to her falling into the lake and ultimately losing her life.
The three turned their gazes to Yang Haoran, and Yang Haoran likewise looked back at them. Compared to Yang Haoran's calm composure, all three of them showed expressions of shock.
For none of them had expected the power fluctuations emanating from Yang Haoran to be so formidable, nor had they anticipated that Yang Haoran possessed a Soul Armament.
"Where's my brother? ! " the old exorcist exclaimed, his face instantly turning ugly as he didn't see his sibling.
Just now, inside the formation, because the light screen it generated was not transparent but a misty haze, he had no idea what was happening outside.
Similarly, what happened inside could not be known to the outside world, unless one possessed powerful ocular techniques or special means.
Now that the formation had shattered, he saw Yang Haoran, an Underworld Official, but not his own brother, which sparked an ominous premonition in his heart.
"Oh, him? He's dead," Yang Haoran said with a smile, his tone light, as if narrating a trivial matter.
Upon hearing that his brother was dead, the exorcist's face instantly changed drastically, and his eyes, fixed on Yang Haoran, became streaked with blood.
"You did it? " the old exorcist asked through gritted teeth.
Yang Haoran nodded, a smile on his face as he replied, "That's right, I did."
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