Chapter 793: An Irrefutable Reason
At this moment, the Old Crone had already turned around, releasing her power to bind Wang Yiming and Jiang Die. Hearing Yang Haoran's words, she immediately retorted.
"Why do you care so much? Kill those who should be killed, seize what should be seized. Only then can you rapidly increase your strength. If you don't speak, and I don't speak, who will know it was you who did it?"
As her voice faded, Wang Yiming and Jiang Die were already bound by the Talisman Spirit Power she had unleashed. For two people whose bodies couldn't move, binding them was merely a flick of her wrist.
Yet, it was precisely at this moment that the Old Crone suddenly realized there was something amiss with Yang Haoran's words. Yang Haoran had spoken of the consequences of an outsider inciting an Underworld agent to attack another Underworld agent, not the consequences of an Underworld agent attacking another Underworld agent!
Realizing the oddity of the statement, the Old Crone's hunched body trembled slightly. Before she could react further, she felt a sudden surge of powerful Yin Qi from behind her.
The Old Crone knew things were bad. At this point, she had no time to worry about Wang Yiming and Jiang Die. She tossed the bound duo aside, her body simultaneously flashing away into the distance.
Boom! ! !
A burst of Spirit Power struck the spot where she had been, directly blasting a large crater into the ground. Dirt and rubble flew, with some even landing on the Old Crone's body.
"Emissary Yang, what are you doing? Don't you want to be a hero anymore?"
How could the Old Crone not know what Yang Haoran was doing? It was clear he was preparing to kill her. Yet, tragically, even at this point, she still believed Yang Haoran's mind wasn't sharp enough and tried to continue fooling him.
"Of course I want to be a hero, but our Underworld Office has a rule: deliberately murdering another Underworld agent is a capital offense. If an outsider incites an Underworld agent to kill another Underworld agent, that is also a capital offense. I have always abided by the laws of our Underworld Office. Compared to the Underworld Office's laws, being a hero isn't worth a damn."
Yang Haoran's words were delivered with a resounding force, and his acting was superb. Anyone unfamiliar with his character would surely believe his words were heartfelt, completely devoid of falsehoods. They would think he was truly such a law-abiding Underworld agent!
The Old Crone was also fooled by Yang Haoran's speech. According to her understanding of Yang Haoran, he was a mercenary, someone who would dare to do anything for sufficient profit. But what Yang Haoran was demonstrating right now was precisely the opposite of what she knew.
For a moment, the Old Crone felt unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, wondering if her understanding of Yang Haoran was wrong, or if Yang Haoran was deliberately putting on an act of righteousness in front of her.
Before she could discern the truth of Yang Haoran's words, he spoke again.
"Old Talisman Master, while the conditions you offered are very tempting, it's a pity you've encountered me. I, Yang Haoran, am not someone who would disregard the Underworld Office's laws for profit. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. In my heart, nothing is more important than the laws of the Underworld Office!"
Although the Old Crone didn't know whether Yang Haoran's statements were true or false, with words spoken to this extent, one thing she could be sure of was that their cooperation had fallen through!
"You dare to toy with me!"
The Old Crone raged, her face chilling as she furiously berated Yang Haoran.
"Heh heh, please, Old Talisman Master, don't speak nonsense. You're already so old; I wouldn't dare to toy with you. If word got out, it would ruin my reputation."
It would have been better if Yang Haoran hadn't said that. The moment these words left his mouth, the Old Crone trembled with anger, her hand gripping her walking stick so tightly it crackled. She had lived to this age and had never been so brazenly mocked.
"I showed the Underworld Office respect, which is why I called you Emissary Yang. I never thought you'd actually take yourself so seriously. Since you won't cooperate and are determined to die, then I shall grant your wish!"
The Old Crone spoke furiously, thrusting her walking stick into the ground. Black Talismans, one after another, were retrieved from her independent space and floated in front of her. At a glance, there were at least a dozen of them.
Under the Old Crone's control, the Black Talismans shot towards Yang Haoran.
As for Yang Haoran, when the Old Crone took out the talismans from her independent space, his hands quickly formed seals. When the Old Crone controlled the talismans to attack him, his hand seals also ceased.
"Ghost Art! Ghost Fiend Soul Chain!"
A low voice emanated from Yang Haoran's mouth. As his deep voice echoed, a power fluctuation far stronger than the Old Crone's erupted from his body.
The appearance of this power fluctuation caused the Old Crone, who was controlling the talismans, to blanch. She had never dreamed that the power fluctuation unleashed by Yang Haoran would be so much stronger than hers.
According to her understanding, Yang Haoran's strength should have been weaker than hers. Yet, the power fluctuation Yang Haoran was currently erupting was not only stronger than hers, but significantly stronger—this was completely different from what she had known.
She could accept some margin of error in the information she had, but she could not accept that the error would be this vast!
But she didn't know that the power Yang Haoran was currently unleashing was merely a small fraction of his full strength. If she had known this, she probably wouldn't have even dared to appear before Yang Haoran today, let alone try to fool him.
Just as shock arose in the Old Crone's heart, and before she could make any other reaction, the talismans she had unleashed collided with the Ghost Fiend Soul Chains Yang Haoran had condensed.
Yang Haoran hadn't pushed the Ghost Fiend Soul Chain Ghost Art to its absolute limit, because against a Black Talisman Master of the Old Crone's caliber, there was simply no need to. The Old Crone wasn't worthy of him activating the art to such an extent. He had merely casually unleashed this technique, only condensing three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains.
Although there were only three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains, their power was not to be underestimated. At least in the Old Crone's eyes, the power unleashed by these three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains was quite terrifying.
Amidst a series of thunderous roars, the numerous Black Talismans unleashed by the Old Crone were instantly torn apart by the three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains. After the talismans were shredded, the three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains attacked the Old Crone from different directions, forming a pincer movement that enveloped her, sealing off all her escape routes.
With her escape routes sealed, the Old Crone had nowhere to hide. She wanted to mobilize her own power for defense, and she also wanted to retrieve more talismans from her independent space to cope with the current passive situation, but before she could do either of those things, her physical body was already swallowed by the three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains.
A deafening roar rang out, and the earth trembled violently. A cloud of dust and smoke rose from the Old Crone's position, and amidst this dust, her screams could be heard. The churning forms of the three Ghost Fiend Soul Chains appeared faintly in the haze.
The piercing screams didn't last long. After just a few seconds, the screams abruptly ceased, and a gust of Yin wind scattered the dust and smoke, revealing the scene beneath.
A large crater had been blasted into the spot where the Old Crone had been, with scattered limbs and blood pooling on the ground. A blood-stained walking stick was clutched tightly by a severed hand.
Yang Haoran flashed forward to the pile of remains, stomped on the blood-stained walking stick, and with a faint smile, looked at the dismembered body on the ground.
"Heh heh, I don't deny that I can be a bit foolish sometimes, but I'm not foolish all the time. At least, I wasn't foolish when facing you, yet you insisted on believing I was. So, I can only apologize to you."
Yang Haoran spoke with a faint smile, then forcibly extracted the Old Crone's soul, condensed it into a spirit, and put it away.
He had actually seen through the Old Crone's attempts to fool him long ago, offering him so many empty promises just to keep him from interfering, allowing her to easily take Wang Yiming and Jiang Die.
In truth, even if the Old Crone hadn't been fooling him, he wouldn't have handed Wang Yiming over to her. As for Jiang Die, he was indifferent; it didn't matter whether she was taken or not.
The reason he hadn't immediately attacked the Old Crone wasn't that he wanted to toy with her, nor was it to deliberately scare Wang Yiming and Jiang Die. Rather, it was because he needed a reason to act, a truly irrefutable reason.
After all, the strength of their Jingling Continent Yin Division was far from what it used to be, and the Talisman Order was equally a colossus. Killing a Black Talisman Master from the Talisman Order without a solid reason, he worried, would bring him great trouble. That's why he deliberately set a trap, provoking the Old Crone into saying those death-seeking words.
If only Wang Yiming had escaped to this place today, it would have been fine; he wouldn't have needed so much trouble. Killing the Old Crone then would have been no big deal. But with Jiang Die also here, he had to be cautious, because he didn't trust this woman, and he certainly didn't want to leave any leverage in her hands.
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