Chapter 649: One Technique is Hard to Find
Although Yang Haoran's recent words had caused Bai Xue a moment of discomfort, she quickly recovered, a smile once again blossoming on her face.
"Heh heh, ask whatever you like. Never mind trivial matters; even if you want to know how many moles I have on my body, I can tell you all of them, and I won't even call you a pervert. How about that? Aren't I good to you?"
Bai Xue's impropriety gave Yang Haoran a slight headache. With a wry smile, he said, "Stop teasing me. What I want to ask is, how many demon arts do you know?"
Demon arts, much like the Underworld Office's Ghost Arts or a Spirit Medium's spiritual arts, are fundamentally similar. They all involve channeling one's internal power through specific techniques to achieve astonishing destructive or defensive capabilities, far surpassing the effects of simply unleashing raw power.
Having known Bai Xue for so long, he had never seen her unleash any powerful demon arts. Even ordinary ones, she rarely displayed. This was precisely why he was asking now.
"Demon arts, well, aside from those innate ones, I don't know many others," Bai Xue replied.
"Innate demon arts? " Yang Haoran was somewhat surprised, and a little puzzled.
"How should I explain it? Take transformation arts, for example. When we cultivate to become refined spirits, we naturally know how to use these transformation arts. Even though we've never practiced them, we still understand how to perform them, just like a newborn baby knows how to suckle. This is a power bestowed upon us demons by the heavens, present from the moment we achieve sentience. This ability is what I call innate demon arts."
Yang Haoran gave a wry smile. "Acquiring Ghost Arts is much harder than you imagine," he replied.
"If I told you, Underworld Official Brother, that I want to acquire demon arts, it might be even harder than for you to acquire Ghost Arts. Would you believe me? " Bai Xue asked with a smile.
"Oh? Do tell. " Yang Haoran chuckled noncommittally, then prompted.
"Powerful demon arts are almost exclusively controlled by the major demon clans. While there are powerful demon arts that have circulated outside, they are very few in number. When found by other demons, they are treated as treasures and collected, never easily passed on to outsiders."
At this point, Bai Xue shed her usual coquettish demeanor, her expression turning somewhat sorrowful and forlorn.
"I am merely an ordinary white snake. After fortunately gaining sentience, I endured countless hardships and narrowly escaped death time and again before I was lucky enough to cultivate into a refined spirit and assume human form. I have no clan behind me; I cannot compare to those demons who do. Their parents and elders are all demons, so they are born as refined spirits, not only avoiding the various dangers one faces on the path to becoming a demon but also possessing vast resources from birth as their backing. Various powerful demon arts are among those resources."
Bai Xue smiled helplessly, took a sip of her now-cool tea, and continued.
"You humans often say, 'Comparing oneself to others can drive one to exasperation. ' It's the same for us demons. For demons like me, without a clan background, if we wish to acquire powerful demon arts to enhance our strength, there are only three ways."
"What three ways? " Yang Haoran asked.
"Either by luck, by self-creation, or by force. Relying on luck has too low a chance, like finding a needle in a haystack. Relying on self-creation has an even lower chance, and it's incredibly difficult; without sufficient experience, it's simply impossible to create powerful demon arts. As for stealing, without absolute power, the likelihood of successfully snatching demon arts from major clans is almost zero; on the contrary, you'd only lose your life. It is precisely for these reasons that it becomes exceedingly difficult for demons like us, without clan backgrounds, to acquire powerful demon arts."
After hearing Bai Xue's explanation, the confusion in Yang Haoran's heart cleared. Now he finally understood why Bai Xue didn't unleash powerful demon arts: it wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she simply couldn't. In this regard, she was quite similar to him.
Fearing Yang Haoran might underestimate her strength, Bai Xue spoke again, her tone secretive.
"Heh heh, Underworld Official Brother, don't underestimate me. It's not that I, Bai Xue, don't know any powerful demon arts. On the contrary, I happen to know one formidable demon art; it's just too powerful, so I usually don't use it. It's my trump card."
Seeing Bai Xue's confident demeanor, the smile on Yang Haoran's face deepened.
"Heh heh, if the opportunity arises, I'd certainly like to witness it," Yang Haoran said with a laugh.
"It's better not to, I'm afraid I'd scare you half to death," Bai Xue chuckled, a triumphant look on her face.
For the remainder of their time, the two discussed the current situation. Bai Xue shared some information she had obtained from official channels. This information included events that had already occurred but were unknown to the outside world, as well as some unhappened events that were merely official conjectures based on collected intelligence.
Bai Xue wasn't sure which pieces of information would be useful to Yang Haoran and which wouldn't, so to avoid missing anything important, she told him everything she knew.
After spending nearly an hour in Yang Haoran's study, Bai Xue finally exited the room and returned to her own bedroom.
Many lesser demons had appeared last night. After they were slain, some of their Demon Pills fell into the hands of the Spirit Police, while others were acquired by the hired allies.
As for the Demon Pills that fell into the Spirit Police's hands, Captain Luo didn't keep a single one, handing them all over to Bai Xue for her to deal with as she saw fit. This was because, among the entire Spirit Police team, only Bai Xue could make use of Demon Pills. Furthermore, over the past day and night, Bai Xue had made significant contributions to both the Spirit Police and Lecheng, which was why Captain Luo decided to give her all the Demon Pills acquired last night.
Although they were only the Demon Pills of lesser demons, even a mosquito has meat. After Bai Xue refined them, her strength would still see a certain degree of improvement.
Besides the Demon Pills, Captain Luo also gave Bai Xue some heavenly materials and earthly treasures imbued with spiritual energy for her to refine and absorb. In the current circumstances, Captain Luo also wanted Bai Xue's strength to increase so that she could play a greater role, hence he was not at all stingy with her.
Moreover, if he didn't give Bai Xue a bit more incentive, how could he keep her? Times had changed; the world was in chaos and had become far more dangerous. Without sufficient benefits, who would be willing to risk their life for you?
Captain Luo understood this principle, which was why he acted as he did. Currently, the Spirit Police team was overwhelmed, and Bai Xue being able to return to refine the Demon Pills was already a special consideration from Captain Luo. His request was simple: she had to be available on call whenever her assistance was needed.
Although mobile phones were unusable now, the Spirit Police had specialized walkie-talkies, so even if she remained in the villa, Captain Luo could contact her at any time.
After Bai Xue left the study, Yang Haoran was the only one remaining. He lit a cigarette, beginning to process the information Bai Xue had shared with him.
The information Bai Xue brought him was significantly helpful, providing him with a clearer understanding of the current situation. After all, the official channels gathered far more detailed and comprehensive intelligence.
Undeniably, there were certain confidential details Bai Xue certainly couldn't have known, and perhaps even Captain Luo wasn't privy to them. However, Yang Haoran was already quite satisfied with the information he had received. Given Bai Xue's current status and position within the Spirit Police, expecting her to know classified information was simply asking too much.
The only thing that left him both regretful and puzzled was that the Spirit Police also had no news of the Spirit Mediums—absolutely none. It was as if the Spirit Mediums had genuinely vanished into thin air in Lecheng.
"Why have these Spirit Mediums remained hidden all this time? Do they intend to stay out of the fray?"
Yang Haoran's expression was grave, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the tabletop as he continuously pondered the question.
"No, that's not right. Their goal is to throw this world into chaos. What benefit could staying out of it possibly bring them?"
As this thought crossed his mind, Yang Haoran's expression stiffened. A flash of insight ignited in his brain; he seemed to have grasped something.
"Staying out of it. . . staying out of it. . ."
He muttered to himself, then his eyes lit up, and his gaze sharpened, as if he had suddenly understood everything.
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