Realm of the Night God

Zhao Hong's body was split in two and fell to the ground. Yang Haoran, who had been lurking in the darkness, stepped out from the moonlight, a relieved smile on his face, as he approached Zhao Hong's body.

The moment Bai Xue released the power seal, Zhao Hong sensed that something was amiss. However, Bai Xue's attack was just too fast, combined with the demon's powerful resurgence, Zhao Hong was left in a passive position.

As for Yang Haoran, he did not unseal his power together with Bai Xue. Instead, he lay in wait for the right moment to strike. His original intention was to attack Zhao Hong first and achieve a one-hit kill. But before he had the chance, he discovered that Zhao Hong's Guardian Spirit was about to cast an illusion to affect Bai Xue.

Yang Haoran, of course, could not allow that to happen. If the Guardian Spirit's illusion succeeded in affecting Bai Xue, she would have been somewhat impacted, giving Zhao Hong a chance to escape. So, Yang Haoran struck first, before the Guardian Spirit could act.

In order to strike, he had to unseal his own power, exposing his presence and location. However, he did not emerge from the darkness, as long as he remained unseen, the enemy would not be able to judge his next move from his facial expressions or body language, giving him a significant advantage.

It was precisely because of this that when Zhao Hong abandoned his legs to escape from Bai Xue, Yang Haoran seized the best opportunity to strike, unleashing the full speed of Waning Moon, successfully achieving a one-hit kill.

Seeing Zhao Hong's body split in two and crash to the ground, the Guardian Spirit was filled with despair. It had thought that by defeating the man, the fight would be over, but now others had reaped the benefits.

Overcome with despair, the Guardian Spirit's struggles became futile, for it knew that all was lost, and no amount of struggling could change the outcome.

Under Yang Haoran's control, the Soul Gathering Bead exerted a powerful suction, and despite the Guardian Spirit's frantic resistance, its soul body was gradually pulled into the Bead.

With the Guardian Spirit completely absorbed into the Soul Gathering Bead, the chains binding it dissipated into Yin Qi, and the Bead flew towards Yang Haoran's location.

Yang Haoran, with his hands in his pockets, took a leisurely stroll, his body flashing with each step, until he reached Zhao Hong's body. As he stopped, the Soul Gathering Bead slipped into his pocket, re-embedding itself in his ring.

At the same time, Waning Moon let out a soft call and transformed into a black glow, returning to hover above his shoulder, gently rotating and reflecting the faint moonlight.

Bai Xue opened her mouth and let out a victorious roar, her massive snake body enveloped in a green glow, which then transformed into her human form, landing beside Yang Haoran.

"Hehe, how exhilarating! This feeling of lurking in the dark and hunting down prey is much more satisfying than a straightforward confrontation," Bai Xue said with a seductive smile, still savoring the experience.

Bai Xue's sense of satisfaction came not only from the thrill of the hunt, but also from the fact that Zhao Hong's strength far exceeded her own, yet she had still managed to overpower her completely, forcing her to sacrifice her legs to escape. This gave her a sense of accomplishment like never before.

As Bai Xue's words faded, a disturbance suddenly rippled through the space above Zhao Hong's body, causing both Yang Haoran and Bai Xue's expressions to change abruptly.

The two of them reflexively retreated, putting a safe distance between themselves and the spatial disturbance, while preparing to strike at any moment.

Under their wary gaze, a spatial rift opened, but unlike the usual vertical rifts used for teleportation, this one was horizontal, parallel to the ground. The rift was not large, barely big enough for an adult to pass through.

After the rift appeared, no one emerged, but a torrent of items began pouring out.

Seeing this, Yang Haoran's eyes lit up, as he understood what was happening.

Bai Xue paused for a moment, then she too realized what was going on, and a surprised smile blossomed on her face.

"It's exploded, it's exploded!" Yang Haoran exclaimed excitedly.

What was happening before their eyes was something Yang Haoran had heard of, but never witnessed. The independent space of a powerful cultivator could, upon their death, potentially expel all the items stored within. This was a rare occurrence, but it was now unfolding before them - the contents of Zhao Hong's personal space were being spilled out.

"My goodness, Underworld Envoy big brother, it looks like we've hit the jackpot this time," Bai Xue said excitedly as she watched the endless stream of items pour out from the space rift.

Yang Haoran was smiling from ear to ear, just about to respond to Bai Xue's question, when he suddenly sensed something. The smile on his face took on a colder edge.

Under Bai Xue's puzzled gaze, Yang Haoran suddenly lashed out, and chains made of Yin spirit power appeared out of nowhere, plunging into the ground in front of Zhao Hong's body.

Shattered stones flew, the ground churned, and the Yin spirit power chains seemed to be chasing some prey underground. Moments later, the chains suddenly withdrew from the ground, and in the swirling dust, something was bound at the end of the chains - Zhao Hong's soul.

Seeing Zhao Hong's soul, Bai Xue's face showed surprise. It was clear she had not expected Zhao Hong to have already tampered with her own physical body, so that when the body was destroyed, Zhao Hong's soul could quickly condense into a spirit.

She was even more surprised that when her and Yang Haoran's attention was diverted to the items pouring out of the space rift, Zhao Hong's soul took the opportunity to escape.

In fact, Zhao Hong's choice to flee at this moment was the right one. This was the best chance, because once all of her collection items had been emptied out, Yang Haoran would surely move to extract her soul from the body. At that point, Yang Haoran would undoubtedly discover that her soul had already been tampered with, and escaping from his grasp would become much more difficult, with almost no chance of success.

So, she was very clever in choosing to sneak away when Yang Haoran and Bai Xue's attention was diverted. But what she didn't realize was that Yang Haoran was even more cautious than she imagined. Even though his attention was drawn to her collection items, he still maintained some focus on her body.

And so the current scene unfolded - the moment her soul left the body, Yang Haoran sensed it and immediately used his powerful methods to drag her soul out from underground!

"Hehe, I'm afraid I can't let your soul escape just like that," Yang Haoran said with a benevolent smile, addressing Zhao Hong's soul.

Zhao Hong's expression was unsightly. Bound by the chains, she did not struggle, knowing that it would be futile. With her current soul body, there was no way she could break free from the chains formed by Yang Haoran's Yin spirit power.

However, although she did not struggle, the look she gave Yang Haoran was filled with malice and resentment.

"I know you, the newly appointed Burial Master of Lecheng. I had already planned to have you dealt with in the near future. I never expected you to get the jump on me instead. You really are a tough one!"

After spitting out these venomous words at Yang Haoran, Zhao Hong closed her mouth, unwilling to say another word. But the resentment in her gaze did not diminish.