Realm of the Night God

The Guardian Spirit is the strongest ability of a spirit master. Without a Guardian Spirit, a spirit master's power would be greatly diminished, just like an Underworld Envoy without a soul weapon.

It's clear that Zhao Hong is a spirit master, as the powerful spiritual force emanating from her body is something an ordinary spirit master could never possess.

The spiritual force erupting from the man's body is slightly weaker than Zhao Hong's, but the man has a Guardian Spirit, and it's even a malevolent spirit. Although it has only recently advanced to the malevolent spirit realm, a malevolent spirit is still far more powerful than an evil spirit. At this moment, he has the upper hand over Zhao Hong!

"No wonder you dared to come and cause me trouble. It turns out your Guardian Spirit has successfully advanced to the malevolent spirit realm."

Zhao Hong wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her expression was serious, but she didn't appear flustered.

"Heh heh, even if my Guardian Spirit hasn't advanced to the malevolent spirit realm, did you think I wouldn't dare come and cause you trouble?" The man asked with a smile.

"Humph, do you really not know if you dare or not in your heart?" Zhao Hong snorted and asked.

The man laughed coldly, not answering Zhao Hong's question. Instead, he asked in return, "Heh heh, are you just trying to stall for time by rambling on about these useless things?"

Zhao Hong's expression changed slightly, as if the man had guessed her intentions.

Seeing this, the man laughed loudly and said, "It seems I've hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, I won't give you that opportunity. After tonight, there will be no more Zhao Hong in this world."

As soon as he finished speaking, the female malevolent spirit's soul body behind the man transformed into Yin Qi and rushed towards Zhao Hong. The man also channeled the Yin spirit power within his body to attack Zhao Hong.

The two clashed again, but the situation was highly unfavorable for Zhao Hong, with the man firmly occupying the upper hand.

Yang Haoran had no idea what grudge had caused the two spirit masters to fight each other, but he didn't care at all.

As far as he was concerned, the more fiercely they fought, the better it was for him. He wished they would fight until they were half-dead, so he could reap the benefits.

Bai Xue, of course, understood Yang Haoran's intentions, so she didn't speak or make any noise, quietly hiding in the shadows to watch the show.

Through his observations, Yang Haoran realized that the power of these two spirit masters surpassed that of Duda from before, as the spiritual force they released was much stronger than Duda's.

In Yang Haoran's eyes, Duda was undoubtedly a master among masters back then. However, compared to now, Yang Haoran could confidently say that Duda would not be his match.

As for Yang Haoran's current strength compared to the previous Burial Master Deng Feng, there was still a considerable gap. If it weren't for the fact that he had fortuitously acquired and absorbed several of Deng Feng's secret Death Mark Seals, the gap between them would be even greater.

He was not on par with the former Deng Feng, and Duda's strength was inferior to his own now. Yet at that time, Duda dared to set his sights on Deng Feng, not because his strength surpassed Deng Feng's, but rather because he wanted to gamble big with little.

If Duda had truly possessed the strength to confront Deng Feng directly, he wouldn't have resorted to such cunning tricks, forcing Yang Haoran to lure Deng Feng into the ghost building where Zhong Siyu was located. If he was powerful enough, he could have simply confronted Deng Feng directly and killed him.

What Deng Feng truly feared was not the spirit master Duda, but rather the girl Zhong Siyu in the ghost building, who had suffered immense torment and became a blood-red malevolent spirit after her death.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Duda's strength was insignificant. He was just not as powerful as Deng Feng or Zhong Siyu. In fact, he was quite formidable, with his strength combined with his cunning making him a difficult opponent to deal with.

Otherwise, Deng Feng wouldn't have been unable to capture him for so many years. From Deng Feng's conversation with Yang Haoran back then, it was evident that Deng Feng had known about Duda, or at least recognized him as a spirit master, but had been unable to do anything about him, precisely because Duda was cunning and cautious, making him difficult to handle.

However, all of that was in the past. Regardless of whether it was the spirit master Duda or the former Burial Master Deng Feng, their souls had long since scattered. In the end, there were only two beneficiaries: Yang Haoran and the malevolent spirit Zhong Siyu.

As he secretly watched the two spirit masters battling, Yang Haoran couldn't help but recall the spirit master Duda from back then, the one who had nearly caused his soul to scatter.

The fierce battle raged on for half an hour. After that time, the area where they had fought was riddled with craters and holes, with their battlefield spanning a radius of hundreds of meters.

Due to her lack of a Guardian Spirit, Zhao Hong was eventually overpowered by the man. After being struck and sent flying, she coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, her face turning pale and her entire being appearing dejected.

"Tsk tsk, a spirit master without a Guardian Spirit is like an ordinary person without hands, too easy to deal with, not even worth the effort!"

Zhao Hong ignored the man's words. Her expression was grim, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

The man sneered and slowly approached Zhao Hong, continuing to taunt her.

"If you hadn't meddled in that old man Duda's affairs last year, you wouldn't have ended up in your current predicament. Your Guardian Spirit was forcibly shattered, which must have been extremely painful. I know you have a new Guardian Spirit now, but I don't know where you've sent him to feed. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have the chance to meet him tonight."

The man's words caused Yang Haoran, who was lurking in the shadows, to change his expression slightly. This made him recall that shortly before the battle in the ghost building, Deng Feng had indeed been injured, and this injury hadn't fully healed by the time of the ghost building battle.

At that time, according to his understanding, Deng Feng had been injured while intercepting Duda, and Duda had also lost a powerful evil spirit besides his Guardian Spirit. However, from the man's words, it seemed that the situation was different from what he had understood. This spirit master Zhao Hong had also been involved, and she had lost her Guardian Spirit.

If the man hadn't mentioned this tonight, Yang Haoran might never have known about it in his lifetime.

However, although he now knew about this, he was only somewhat surprised and didn't care much. What he cared about was why the man didn't take this opportunity to kill Zhao Hong.

If it were him, he would never have wasted a single word with her. He would have killed her first, then forcibly extracted her soul. If he had anything to say, he could talk to her soul slowly later. Why bother rambling at this critical juncture?

"This guy is very strong, but he's ultimately still too young. If he keeps rambling on, he might end up getting killed by Zhao Hong instead."

Zhao Hong still ignored the man. Seeing him approach closer, she suddenly crawled up from the ground and dashed madly in one direction. Along the way, she even channeled her spiritual power, attempting to open a spatial rift to escape through.

However, just as a crack in space appeared, before it could fully open, her body was struck and flung away again by the spiritual force. The crack that had barely formed immediately vanished, and space returned to normal without the subsequent infusion of power.

"Humph! So persistent! You actually thought you could escape by opening a spatial rift? Did you think I would give you that chance?"

Throughout their confrontation, Zhao Hong had tried to open a spatial rift to escape multiple times, but the man had kept a close watch on her, never giving her an opportunity. Whenever he detected her attempting to open a rift, he would immediately stop her with overwhelming force.

It was for this reason that, despite her repeated attempts to open a spatial rift, she had never succeeded.

The man moved in a few flashes, appearing in front of Zhao Hong. The mocking smile on his face had turned into a vicious grin as he grabbed Zhao Hong's neck and lifted her entire body into the air.

"Zhao Hong, when you controlled your Guardian Spirit to devour mine, did you ever imagine this day would come? Did you even dream that I would not only regain a Guardian Spirit but also manage to advance her to the malevolent spirit realm in such a short time? Hahahahaha, are you shocked?"

With a ferocious grin, the man violently slammed the Zhao Hong he was holding onto the ground!

Shattered stones flew everywhere, and Zhao Hong's body left a small crater in the ground.

The man didn't stop there. He pulled Zhao Hong up from the rubble and continued to grin viciously, "I know you're waiting for your Guardian Spirit to return, but I didn't want to give you that time. However, not giving you that time would make it seem like I'm afraid of you, so I'll give you that time. But how much time I give you depends on how long you can withstand my violence!"

As the man finished speaking, he slammed Zhao Hong violently into the ground again, at the same spot as before.

A dull thud echoed, and Zhao Hong immediately spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, with blood pouring from her ears and nose, and her entire head split open.