Realm of the Night God

The malevolent spirit was currently in an excited state. However, he wasn't entirely careless of his surroundings. In the moment when the black chains attacked, he sensed it.

Laughter continued, but this time, the laughter from the malevolent spirit carried a hint of disdain amid the excitement.

The intense Yin Qi transformed into distorted ghost faces, meeting the incoming chains head-on.

Simultaneously, his hands entangled with Yin Qi, unexpectedly reaching out towards the Waning Moon!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chains clashed with the ghost faces, erupting into several deafening sounds. The chains shattered, and the ghost faces emitted a chilling scream before disappearing.

Meanwhile, the soul weapon, Waning Moon, was firmly grasped by the malevolent spirit. Although Waning Moon rapidly rotated, it couldn't break through the defense formed by the malevolent spirit's hands, only managing to dispel some of the Yin Qi entwined around his hands.

This scene furrowed Yang Haoran's brows. He hadn't anticipated that this malevolent spirit would dare to directly confront Waning Moon with his own soul body. What surprised him even more was that the malevolent spirit actually caught it!

The sneak attack didn't yield the desired effect, leaving Yang Haoran somewhat disappointed.

"Hahaha! I haven't properly thanked you yet, why are you so eager to make a move?" the malevolent spirit laughed, then glanced at the Waning Moon caught in his hands, continuing, "Yin spirit power, soul weapon, hmm, so you're the Underworld Envoy, here to capture me?"

Yang Haoran didn't bother answering the malevolent spirit's question. He found such a foolish question entirely unnecessary to respond to, merely smiling coldly.

As a smile spread across his face, the speed of Waning Moon's rotation suddenly accelerated, and its size doubled, unleashing a much more powerful force than before!

Bang!!!

The protective Yin Qi surrounding the malevolent spirit's hands was instantly dispersed by Waning Moon. His expression changed, but it was too late to dodge. A black light flashed, directly cleaving his soul body apart.

Boom!!!

Waning Moon was deeply embedded in the stone wall, cracks appearing on its surface, and the entire ancient tomb trembled violently under Waning Moon's strike.

The malevolent spirit's shattered soul body turned into Yin Qi, then condensed again, but compared to before, it appeared fainter, not as solid as before.

In the first round, the malevolent spirit was injured by Yang Haoran's attack on his soul body. However, Yang Haoran didn't become overconfident because of this. The malevolent spirit still emitted a terrifying power fluctuation.

Yang Haoran's expression remained unchanged, a faint smirk on his face. However, the malevolent spirit's complexion didn't look too good. Being at a disadvantage in the first round against Yang Haoran was nothing short of a blatant provocation and insult in his eyes.

"I'm starting to get annoyed!"

The malevolent spirit spoke coldly, Yin Qi surging around him, his facial expression becoming fierce.

As a malevolent spirit filled with resentment and hostility, provoked by Yang Haoran's actions, his true nature was revealed instantly.

As the malevolent spirit's voice sounded, all the broken stones on the ground, regardless of size, trembled violently at this moment, then floated up as if summoned!

Yang Haoran knew exactly what the malevolent spirit intended to do. He had seen this move before when facing Zhong Siyu. It was the malevolent spirit's ability to control objects, a power that ordinary evil spirits didn't possess. The strength of the malevolent spirit determined the quantity and destructive power of the controlled objects. At this moment, the fact that the malevolent spirit could manipulate so many stones simultaneously indicated that his strength far exceeded that of an ordinary malevolent spirit.

"Die!!"

The malevolent spirit roared, and all the stones, big and small, rained down towards Yang Haoran below, each one aimed at him like bullets or cannonballs!

Yang Haoran remained motionless, and at this moment, Waning Moon emitted a buzzing sound, breaking free from the stone wall and turning into a black light, shielding him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Stones of various sizes continuously struck the protective barrier formed by Waning Moon. The stones shattered, and Waning Moon was gradually pushed back.

Faced with this situation, Yang Haoran extended his hands towards Waning Moon, and a large amount of Yin spirit power spewed from his palms, pouring into Waning Moon.

With a large influx of Yin spirit power, the power of Waning Moon suddenly surged, no longer being forced back by the stones. After a few breaths, all the stones turned into powder.

Although this move from the malevolent spirit didn't injure Yang Haoran, it did cause him considerable depletion.

Using a soul weapon inherently consumed a considerable amount of Yin spirit power. Injecting a large amount of Yin spirit power into the soul weapon naturally resulted in even greater consumption.

"Not bad, but not enough!" The malevolent spirit's face twisted into a grimace as he spoke. Then, his soul body dissipated into a mass of Yin Qi and slammed onto Waning Moon at an incredible speed.

Boom!!!

With a loud noise, Waning Moon was pushed back, crashing into Yang Haoran.

Yang Haoran's smile faded, a muffled grunt escaping his mouth as his body retreated several steps under the powerful impact. With each step, he crushed the stones on the ground, creating a circular pit when he finally came to a stop.

This time, it was evident that Yang Haoran was at a disadvantage, and the malevolent spirit seemed dissatisfied with this outcome. The Yin Qi formed by his soul body once again surged towards Yang Haoran. Just as Yang Haoran stabilized himself, the Yin Qi collided with him again!

However, this time, Yang Haoran wasn't sent flying. It wasn't because he successfully blocked the malevolent spirit's attack, but because the malevolent spirit intended it. The primary purpose of the malevolent spirit's attack wasn't to knock him away but to trap him.

The moment the Yin Qi formed by the malevolent spirit's soul body collided with Yang Haoran, it immediately spread, enveloping Yang Haoran entirely.

Yang Haoran's expression darkened. In the instant his body was enveloped by the Yin Qi, he found himself immobilized, unable to move at all.

However, that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that after the Yin Qi formed by the malevolent spirit's soul body trapped him, it greedily began to absorb the Yin spirit power within his body.

The Yin spirit power of an Underworld Envoy could restrain ghosts. Although it didn't necessarily deal critical blows every time, it could definitely cause additional damage to ghosts.

However, at the same time, Yin spirit power was the best tonic for ghosts. It was the fastest way for them to enhance their strength. So, to ghosts, Yin spirit power was the most tempting existence.

Yin spirit power was a renewable resource. Even if it was depleted for various reasons, it could be restored to its original level with some rest over time.

However, there was one exception. If the Yin spirit power within an Underworld Envoy was devoured and assimilated by a ghost, it wouldn't recover.

To put it plainly, when a ghost devoured the Yin spirit power within an Underworld Envoy, it was a case of the more it devoured, the less there was. It wouldn't replenish itself afterward. If one wanted to restore it, they would have to supplement it by enhancing Yin spirit power through methods like pure Yin Qi.

However, this Yin spirit power referred to the Yin spirit power within the Underworld Envoy that hadn't been released. If it was the Yin spirit power released by activating a soul weapon or using other methods, it wouldn't have much effect on the Underworld Envoy itself. That's because this type of Yin spirit power had undergone a qualitative change during its release from the Underworld Envoy's body, making it different from the Yin spirit power still within the body.

The reason this malevolent spirit trapped Yang Haoran instead of attacking him directly was that he didn't want Yang Haoran to expend more Yin spirit power. Every bit of Yin spirit power Yang Haoran expended meant less for him, and replenishing this depleted Yin spirit power would take time. If Yang Haoran's Yin spirit power were completely depleted, what would he devour?

If it came to that, the only way would be to imprison Yang Haoran, then wait for his Yin spirit power to recover before devouring it. However, this method was too time-consuming, and there were too many variables involved, so he didn't want to do it.

What he wanted was what was happening now: to trap Yang Haoran first, then forcibly extract and devour the Yin spirit power within him.

In this way, his strength would grow stronger and stronger, while Yang Haoran's strength would weaken as his Yin spirit power was devoured. When Yang Haoran's strength weakened to a certain extent, this Underworld Envoy would become completely powerless before him, unable even to resist, and would be at his mercy!