Realm of the Night God

With Du Xiao's unpleasant curses now absent, the Cemetery of Nine Dragon Hill fell into an immediate silence.

However, this tranquility lasted only for a moment as Yang Haoran's quirky ringtone broke the silence.

Glancing at his mobile phone, he saw it was Wang Yiming calling.

Yang Haoran took a deep breath, composed himself, then answered the call.

"Brother Yang, where are you now? How's the situation?" came Wang Yiming's worried voice from the other end.

"I'm currently at Nine Dragon Hill Cemetery. I've captured the skin ghost into the soul gathering bead, but there have been some issues during the process. By the way, is Tong alright?" Yang Haoran replied.

"Tong just fainted due to excessive consumption, nothing serious. But what happened on your end?" Wang Yiming inquired.

"It's not clear over the phone. If you're free, it's best to come and see for yourself."

"Do you need more hands?"

"Alright, wait for me. I'll be there soon."

Ending the call, the smile vanished from Yang Haoran's face as his gaze returned to Du Xiao's corpse.

He inspected the body, finding nothing of value on Du Xiao, not even a life-saving object.

But then he understood what was happening.

For a spirit master to graduate and become a true spirit master, they needed to complete a graduation task, which was the same for all spirit masters: to contract a powerful ghost with their own strength, without using any external forces.

Since Du Xiao was here to complete his graduation task, it was normal for him not to carry anything valuable to avoid using external forces.

"With such an arrogant and domineering personality, he must have been indulged by his master. His master must dote on him a lot. With his personality, he must have caused a lot of trouble. Yet, he managed to survive unscathed until now, probably because of his master's protection," Yang Haoran thought to himself, narrowing his eyes, drawing a conclusion.

"Du Xiao's master is probably very powerful!"

This was just Yang Haoran's speculation, and he wasn't sure if it was true.

But one thing he was sure of: killing Du Xiao. If he handled it well, it wouldn't matter, but if he didn't handle it well, it would definitely bring him trouble.

To minimize his trouble, he would definitely take Du Xiao's soul away. Originally, he planned to wait seven days for Du Xiao's soul to condense into a spirit before collecting it. But after careful consideration, he felt that this time was too long, and there might be accidents. The best approach was to forcibly extract Du Xiao's soul from his body and condense it into a spirit now!

Just like when Xu Meijing extracted Master Zhou's soul back in the cave.

Xu Meijing was able to do this effortlessly because of her terrifying strength and her knowledge of the method.

Yang Haoran didn't have Xu Meijing's strength, nor did he have the method to forcibly extract the target's soul and condense it into a spirit. So, trying to forcibly extract Du Xiao's soul at this moment would be quite difficult.

After a brief consideration, Yang Haoran dialed Xu Meijing's number.

The phone rang a few times before it was answered, and Xu Meijing's cold and crisp voice came from the other end.

"What's the matter?"

Yang Haoran was accustomed to Xu Meijing's attitude by now, so he didn't mind.

"How's Ancheng? Are you getting used to it?" Yang Haoran asked with a smile.

"It's alright," Xu Meijing sighed, responding.

"From the tone of your voice, did you encounter some trouble?" Yang Haoran inquired.

"I've encountered some trouble, but it's not a big deal. It'll be resolved with some time. Why did you call me? Don't bother with useless preambles," Xu Meijing replied, making Yang Haoran's smile a bit awkward.

"It's not like I can't call you when nothing's wrong," Yang Haoran chuckled.

"Stop talking nonsense. I've been in Ancheng for a while now, and I haven't seen you call me once, not even a text. You call me now, claiming there's nothing wrong? I don't buy it," Xu Meijing's response made Yang Haoran even more awkward. Indeed, he hadn't called or texted Xu Meijing during this time. While busyness was a factor, it wasn't the main reason. He felt somewhat apprehensive and didn't dare to casually call Xu Meijing. As for what made him uneasy, he wasn't sure himself. Perhaps it was because the more he cared, the more he felt constrained and hesitant, fearing he might not handle things well.

Seeing Yang Haoran's silence, Xu Meijing's voice grew impatient, urging, "What's the matter? If there's nothing, I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Yang Haoran hurriedly spoke up, feeling a bit flustered. "Um... I called you today because there's actually something."

"Heh, I knew it. Well, spit it out. Don't beat around the bush. Speak up like a man," Xu Meijing's voice expressed annoyance.

"I want to ask for your advice on forcibly extracting the soul of someone who just died and condensing it into a spirit. Can I do it with my current strength?" Yang Haoran's voice sounded light, his posture humble.

"It's not that difficult. With your current strength, it might be a bit challenging, but not impossible. Here's what you can try..." Xu Meijing proceeded to teach Yang Haoran over the phone.

Yang Haoran initially thought it was a complex matter, but after Xu Meijing's explanation, he found it surprisingly simple. Of course, this simplicity was relative to those with sufficient strength, like Xu Meijing. For him, whose strength was lacking, it seemed quite difficult.

First, he had to use his sensing ability to locate the soul within the target's body, then use Yin spirit power to lock onto the soul, forcibly condense it into a spirit, and finally extract the condensed spirit from the body.

This method could be applied not only to corpses but also to living beings, although the latter required a higher level of proficiency from the practitioner.

After hanging up, Yang Haoran didn't immediately act on Du Xiao's body. Instead, his mind was filled with thoughts of Xu Meijing. He realized there was a reason why he was single because most of the time, he hadn't focused on this aspect.

Shaking his head, he ultimately decided to set this matter aside for now. He believed the first thing he needed to do was to improve his own strength. Only when his strength reached a certain level could he strive for other things.

This was a practical problem. A man who knew nothing, had nothing, lacked good looks, skills, yet still dreamed of winning over beautiful women—how could that happen? Such scenarios were only found in movies.

Returning his gaze to Du Xiao's body, Yang Haoran began to sense the soul within. After a while, he released his Yin spirit power from his body and gradually infused it into Du Xiao's corpse.

Extracting the soul of someone who had just died seemed simple, but it was quite difficult for Yang Haoran due to his inadequate strength. Ultimately, it boiled down to his lack of strength. If his strength were sufficient, he could effortlessly achieve what Xu Meijing did.

Slowly, Yang Haoran noticed that his Yin spirit power was running low. However, he didn't give up; he continued with the procedure.

Sweat appeared on his forehead at some point, his face gradually turning pale. Yet, Yang Haoran paid no attention to this. All his focus was on Du Xiao's body.

After a while, with his Yin spirit power almost depleted, Yang Haoran's eyes lit up. He uttered a low shout.

"Come out!"

With this command, his infused Yin spirit power transformed into a hand, forcefully pulling Du Xiao's soul out of his body!

Du Xiao's soul had been forcibly condensed into a spirit by Yang Haoran, just like Master Zhou's before. At this moment, Du Xiao's undead form had tightly shut eyes, asleep, unaware of what was happening in the outside world.

[Heartfelt thankyou for the support! BokuBoku]