Eighty-third Chapter: Illusion
Yang Haoran's confidence stemmed from his knowledge that the Evil Spirit's attacks wouldn't affect him. However, the scene that unfolded next left him stunned.
Countless strands of hair, sharp as steel needles, effortlessly pierced his skin and tore through his body. Blood spurted, and an excruciating pain surged through him, making his facial expression freeze. Then, his vision went black, and he toppled straight down onto the ground.
The Evil Spirit's hair was actually able to inflict real damage on him? How was that possible?
That was absolutely impossible!
Yang Haoran refused to believe this was real. Based on his understanding of Evil Spirits, it was utterly impossible for an Evil Spirit to achieve such a feat.
Yet, how could the current situation be explained? He had been riddled like a sieve by the Evil Spirit's hair; the flowing blood, the piercing pain—everything felt so real.
He even vaguely heard Wang Yiming and Ma Ling calling out to him, their voices fading into the distance as his consciousness began to blur.
Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, his tightly shut eyes snapped open. His Ghost Eye, which had previously stopped emitting Yin Qi, once again surged with black Yin Qi.
The wounds on his body remained, and blood still flowed, but Yang Haoran, who had suddenly grasped a certain truth, completely ignored his injuries and the blood.
Yang Haoran thought to himself. Although the wounds on his body still lingered, the excruciating pain vanished completely the moment he understood the problem, as if it had never been there.
Although he had figured out the problem, one thing still shocked him immensely: when had he fallen into the illusion?
He had been highly vigilant all along, yet even so, he had still fallen into the Evil Spirit's illusion, and didn't even know how he had become ensnared. This was the most terrifying part.
Seeing Yang Haoran rise from the pool of blood, Wang Yiming and Ma Ling both showed expressions of excitement, and with great concern, asked about his injuries.
In response to their eagerness, Yang Haoran merely cast a cold glance at them, saying nothing.
The reason for his sudden coldness was singular: in his eyes, Ma Ling and Wang Yiming, who were currently expressing such extreme concern for him, were very likely not real.
As expected, under the careful scrutiny of his Ghost Eye, Yang Haoran discovered the problem. Ma Ling and Wang Yiming's bodies originally had a faint spiritual glow emanating from them, a manifestation of the power within them. But now, there was no spiritual glow on either of them; he couldn't even sense any power fluctuations.
Yang Haoran's coldness caused Ma Ling and Wang Yiming to look puzzled, appearing quite perplexed. Yet, at that very moment, the overwhelming torrent of hair attacked again.
This time, not only was Yang Haoran targeted, but Ma Ling and Wang Yiming were also caught within the attack's range.
"Be careful!"
Wang Yiming shouted a warning, then immediately conjured several talismans, sending them to meet the incoming strands of hair. From his posture, it seemed he intended to use his talismans to block the red-robed Evil Spirit's attack.
Ma Ling wasn't idle either; she directly hurled her Black Leather Case at the hair, a simple and violent act.
As for Yang Haoran, this time he still did nothing, allowing the overwhelming hair to assault him.
At this point, he was certain that all of this was merely an illusion, like a dream. If it were real, even if he hadn't died, there was no way he would still have the strength to stand up. The fact that he was still alive only proved that everything was a fabrication.
The talismans were engulfed by the hair; the miraculous talismans offered no resistance whatsoever. Ma Ling's Black Leather Case fared even worse; the moment it touched the hair, it was pierced and torn to shreds.
The hair once again pierced Yang Haoran's body. This time, it wasn't just him; Ma Ling and Wang Yiming's bodies were also riddled with strands of hair. Amidst two pained shrieks, their bodies were ripped into pieces, leaving behind a floor covered in blood and mangled flesh.
Yang Haoran was naturally no exception. His body was likewise torn apart by the hair, but his head remained completely intact.
His disembodied head rolled once in the pool of blood. His black Ghost Eye fixed on the red-robed Evil Spirit floating in mid-air. Suddenly, he chuckled.
However, in the current situation, a lone head suddenly smiling amidst a pool of blood and shredded flesh was indeed a truly horrifying and terrifying sight.
"Attacking an Underworld Official is no different from assaulting a police officer. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
The voice came from Yang Haoran's mouth. As the sound resonated, his solitary head floated in the air, followed by wisps of black Yin Qi wrapping around it, and his body, which had been torn to shreds, reformed once more.
The red-robed Evil Spirit's body trembled slightly. She wasn't surprised that Yang Haoran's body could spontaneously re-form; what caused her reaction was Yang Haoran's words at that moment.
But it was merely a slight tremor in her Spirit Body. She quickly returned to normal and then erupted with a terrifying surge of resentment.
She was an Evil Spirit, not an ordinary ghost. To become such an entity, her resentment must have been sky-high. How could a single sentence change her, even if Yang Haoran was an Underworld Official?
Let alone the red-robed Evil Spirit before him, who wasn't intimidated by Yang Haoran. Even the male and female ghosts he had previously collected into his Soul-Gathering Bead hadn't taken Yang Haoran seriously, and had even wanted to devour him.
It wasn't that these ghosts weren't afraid of Underworld Officials, but rather that Yang Haoran's strength was limited and hadn't yet reached a level that would instill fear in them. If the Undertaker Deng Feng were to stand here, the red-robed Evil Spirit would certainly react quite differently.
After a brief moment of daze, the red-robed Evil Spirit attacked Yang Haoran once more. His body, which had only just reformed, was again torn and pulverized by thousands of hair strands.
This time, Yang Haoran didn't even have his head left intact.
However, his consciousness still persisted. Relying on his awareness, he once again re-formed his body.
The red-robed Evil Spirit still didn't stop. She seemed intent on endlessly pulverizing Yang Haoran's body. The moment Yang Haoran's body recovered, she would immediately rip it into fragments, while Yang Haoran remained completely unable to resist, forced to watch helplessly as his body was torn apart again and again.
As his body re-formed once more, Yang Haoran's expression turned grim. If this endless cycle continued, he would undoubtedly be slowly exhausted to death by the red-robed Evil Spirit. When his body could no longer coalesce, it would mean he had perished within this illusion.
"I must find a way to break this illusion!"
Worry sprouted in Yang Haoran's heart. He was currently trapped in the illusion set by the red-robed Evil Spirit, and he had no idea what the situation was like in reality. He didn't care too much about the lives of others, but Guan Hai was still outside. Guan Hai was just an ordinary person with no abilities; if he also fell into the illusion created by the red-robed Evil Spirit, his situation would be perilous.
Thinking thus, he activated his Ghost Eye to its maximum. A large amount of Spirit Power surged into his Ghost Eye, causing a sharp pain in his eyes, and even more black Yin Qi emanated from them.
Doing so would accelerate the consumption of his Spirit Power. He didn't have much Spirit Power to begin with, and if the consumption rate increased, it could easily lead to its depletion.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't choose to do this, because once his Spirit Power was exhausted, it would mean he was barely any different from an ordinary person. But the current situation left him no choice.
With his Ghost Eye pushed to its limit, the world before him began to change. Everything, including the red-robed Evil Spirit, became distorted and unreal, dreamlike and illusory. He wanted to see this world clearly, but couldn't, as if an invisible force was blinding his eyes.
Through the haze, the red-robed Evil Spirit attacked him again. The black strands of hair surged forth as if alive, intent on pulverizing Yang Haoran's body once more.
"Break for me!"
Seeing the hair approach him, a low roar escaped Yang Haoran's lips. His Ghost Eye erupted with an eerie black glow at that instant; the piercing pain intensified, and blood spilled from the corners of his eyes. The world before him shattered inch by inch like glass struck by a heavy blow, and the overwhelming torrent of hair dissolved into wisps of Yin Qi, vanishing completely.
The world before him pieced itself back together. Yang Haoran was still inside the villa, still standing in the living room.
Compared to the previous world, there seemed to be no difference, but with careful observation, one would notice the discrepancies between this world and the last.
In the previous world, after Ma Ling and Wang Yiming died, it seemed only Yang Haoran and the red-robed Evil Spirit remained. Now, however, Ma Ling and Wang Yiming were standing not far from him, and Guan Hai, along with the Wu family members, had also appeared in his line of sight.
Only, their eyes were now tightly shut, and their expressions varied: pain, fear, regret—a medley of negative emotions appeared on their faces, as if they were currently enduring suffering that outsiders could not possibly comprehend.
Yang Haoran took it all in. He knew that everyone, just like him moments ago, had fallen into the illusion created by the red-robed Evil Spirit.
The red-robed Evil Spirit still floated in the air, her single white eye, visible through the gaps in her black hair, stared fixedly at Yang Haoran below.
Her gaze held shock; it seemed she hadn't anticipated that Yang Haoran would be able to emerge alive from the illusion she had crafted.
Yang Haoran ignored the red-robed Evil Spirit. As long as he wasn't trapped in an illusion, this red-robed Evil Spirit had no way to harm him.
He didn't even have time to wipe the blood from the corner of his eyes. With a swift movement, he dashed towards Guan Hai.
Guan Hai's eyes were currently shut, his face flickering between expressions of regret, pain, and sometimes maniacal laughter, his emotions extremely unstable.
Yang Haoran didn't know what Guan Hai was experiencing at that moment, but he knew that if he didn't quickly get Guan Hai out of the illusion, Guan Hai would likely bid farewell to this world very soon.
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