Chapter 587: Speculation and Analysis
That casual remark from the Spirit Master provided Yang Haoran with two crucial pieces of information.
The first point was that this Spirit Master's strength must be formidable, as he was already preparing to break through to the Grand Spirit Master realm.
Within the Spiritualist community, above a Spiritualist is a Spirit Master, and above a Spirit Master is a Grand Spirit Master. What kind of existence is a Grand Spirit Master? Their strength is equivalent to an Underworld Official who has opened both their Heaven and Earth Souls!
Here, 'Underworld Official' refers to an Emissary of Death who has opened both their Heaven and Earth Souls, and it also includes Guardians who have opened both their Heaven and Earth Souls.
In the Underworld Office, an Underworld Official who successfully opens both their Heaven and Earth Souls isn't necessarily guaranteed to become a Guardian. This is because each Emperor only commands nine Guardians, a set rule. Therefore, even if an Emissary of Death successfully opens both their Heaven and Earth Souls, becoming a Guardian remains incredibly difficult, requiring both strength and luck.
However, all those who do become Guardians are individuals who have successfully opened both their Heaven and Earth Souls.
A Grand Spirit Master among Spiritualists is equivalent to an Underworld Official who has opened both their Heaven and Earth Souls. Their strength is far beyond what Yang Haoran, who has currently only opened his Heaven Soul, can contend with. He couldn't even fathom the extent of such an existence's power!
As for the Spirit Master mentioned by the female ghost, the fact that he was preparing to break through to the Grand Spirit Master realm presented two possibilities.
The second possibility was that he was still some distance from the peak of a Spirit Master, nowhere near the point of breakthrough. In that case, his 'preparations for breakthrough' were merely a matter of taking precautions, making early arrangements to accelerate his strength's improvement and shorten the time it would take to reach the Spirit Master's peak.
Much like the former Deng Feng, who was still a long way from opening his Earth Soul. Yet, to shorten that distance, he resorted to using a secret art to modify the Death God Seal, then implanted the altered Death God Seal into the Night Watchers under his command, aiming to achieve his goals through such means.
At that time, he too was preparing to open his Earth Soul, but that didn't mean he had already reached the peak of the Heaven Soul realm. The Spirit Master mentioned by the female ghost could very well be in a similar situation.
As for which of these two possibilities was the truth, Yang Haoran dared not jump to conclusions. He needed further confirmation before he could make a reasonable judgment.
This was the first piece of information Yang Haoran analyzed from the Spirit Master's words.
The second piece of information concerned the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City who had been captured alive.
Why would the other party capture the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City alive and believe that this Emissary of Death would be of great use to him in breaking through to the Grand Spirit Master realm? This involved the Spirit Power within an Underworld Official!
The Spirit Power within an Underworld Official was an excellent tonic for ghosts, akin to the status of a Soul Pill in the eyes of an Underworld Official. Since a Spirit Master's Guardian Spirit was a ghost, if the Guardian Spirit devoured the Spirit Power within an Underworld Official, its strength would also increase accordingly.
Due to the unique nature of the relationship between a Spirit Master and their Guardian Spirit, if the Guardian Spirit's strength improved, the Spirit Master's strength would also increase proportionally. Similarly, if the Spirit Master's strength improved, the Guardian Spirit would also benefit.
To a certain extent, once a Spirit Master forms a pact with a Guardian Spirit, their growth rate would be twice the normal pace.
If this Spirit Master allowed his Guardian Spirit to devour the Spirit Power within the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City, his strength would undoubtedly increase, naturally pushing him a step closer to the Grand Spirit Master realm.
As for why the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City hadn't died yet, it was certainly because he had sustained severe injuries in that battle, and his Spirit Power was likely exhausted. Without the aid of Soul Pills or other special means, it would take a certain amount of time for him to fully recover his internal Spirit Power. If the Spirit Master wanted his Guardian Spirit to completely drain the Spirit Power from the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City, he would naturally have to spend time allowing the Emissary of Death's Spirit Power to slowly regenerate.
As for whether the Spirit Power was devoured bit by bit as it recovered, or if it would only be consumed after a full replenishment, that process was hard to say. Both possibilities existed, entirely dependent on this Spirit Master's preferences.
But one thing was certain: once the Spirit Power within the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City was completely consumed, his demise would follow.
While the Spirit Power within an Underworld Official could self-replenish after being expended, if unreleased internal Spirit Power was forcibly devoured by a ghost, it would not recover on its own. Each consumed bit would be lost permanently. Afterward, if one wished to replenish it, they would only be able to regain the corresponding Spirit Power through Soul Pills or other items containing Pure Yin Qi.
Seeing Yang Haoran deep in thought, the female ghost dared not interrupt him. She could only watch him nervously, hoping to glean some information advantageous to herself from his current facial expressions and reactions.
However, apart from his thoughtful expression, Yang Haoran's face revealed no other information, leaving her feeling utterly uncertain.
Under this anxious torment, Yang Haoran finally spoke.
"How long has the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City been captured by you? " Yang Haoran asked.
"Four days," the female ghost quickly replied, this time without the slightest hesitation.
Since all the important matters had been revealed, she no longer cared about such trivial information, hence her complete lack of hesitation this time.
"Four days. . . " Yang Haoran murmured to himself, mentally calculating the time.
Although they were both Emissaries of Death, individuals of different strengths required varying amounts of time to fully recover their internal Spirit Power after it was depleted.
Under normal circumstances, if one deliberately meditated and regulated their breath to restore internal Spirit Power, the speed would far surpass natural recovery, even without external aid.
Given that the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City had been captured alive by the Spirit Master, and knew that the other party was after his internal Spirit Power, he surely wouldn't deliberately attempt to restore his Spirit Power, unless he confidently believed he could escape once his Spirit Power rapidly recovered.
However, upon closer thought, this possibility didn't seem likely. If he truly possessed a means to escape, how could he have been captured alive in the first place?
Moreover, the other party wasn't foolish either. Since they were determined to completely devour his internal Spirit Power, they would undoubtedly have left several precautions on him to prevent his escape once his strength recovered.
Therefore, in Yang Haoran's view, this Emissary of Death from Cloud River City would certainly not deliberately attempt to restore his internal Spirit Power, because only by not doing so could he live longer. As long as he remained alive, there was still hope, no matter how slim. If a miracle truly occurred, his life would be spared.
Yang Haoran believed that the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City wouldn't be foolish enough to intentionally recover his Spirit Power. However, how much longer he could endure remained unknown to Yang Haoran.
After all, he knew nothing about the strength of the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City, so he couldn't make an accurate judgment.
However, after a brief thought, he realized that determining how much longer the Emissary of Death from Cloud River City could last wasn't entirely impossible. Since the female ghost before him had been involved in the events of that day, she should have some understanding of the Cloud River City Emissary of Death's strength.
From the female ghost's mouth, he could ascertain a general idea of the Cloud River City Emissary of Death's strength, and then use that to estimate how much longer he could hold on.
But compared to figuring out how much longer the Cloud River City Emissary of Death could persist, he was currently more concerned about another matter.
This matter was about first clarifying the strength of the Spirit Master the female ghost spoke of: had he already reached the pinnacle of a Spirit Master, or was he still a long way from it?
If it was the latter, then it wouldn't be so bad. Besides being a bit more cautious, he would proceed as planned, certainly aiming to maximize the gains from this trip.
But if it was the former, then things would be troublesome. Not only would he not seek further gains in Cloud River City, but he would also try to make a quick escape. After all, a Spirit Master of that caliber was not someone he could currently handle. If he ended up losing his life instead of gaining any benefits, it would be a total loss.
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