Realm of the Night God

Time has flown by, with five months having passed. During this time, Yang Haoran has not taken a single step outside the barrier.

Some people have contacted him during this period, such as Xu Meijing, Master Wu, and Bai Xue. They have all called Yang Haoran, but due to the extremely poor signal in the Yin place, and the fact that his thoughts have been entirely focused on refining the soul-refining cauldron, their conversations have been limited to just checking on each other's well-being.

Within the barrier, Yang Haoran is suspended in the air, cross-legged, with a small cauldron the size of a fist floating in front of him. This cauldron is the soul-refining cauldron that he has been eagerly trying to refine.

Compared to the previous soul-refining cauldron, the current one has undergone significant changes. Although its size remains the same, other aspects have transformed.

When Yang Haoran first obtained the soul-refining cauldron from Xu Meijing, it was a greyish-white color, appearing like an ordinary stone cauldron carved out of rock. The craftsmanship was also not very impressive, as the soul-refining cauldron was quite rough and far from refined.

However, now, the soul-refining cauldron is a deep, inky black color, with a smooth and glossy surface, as if it has been coated with a layer of oil. The appearance is now exquisite, forming a stark contrast to its previous state.

The dramatic changes in the soul-refining cauldron are due to it continuously absorbing Yin Qi. As it absorbs more Yin Qi, the rough surface becomes smoother. Similarly, the color gradually shifts from greyish-white to black.

Judging by the current color and smoothness of the soul-refining cauldron, it is likely not far from being fully refined.

Due to the cauldron's voracious consumption of Yin Qi, the Yin Qi in this Extreme Yin place has been significantly reduced, to the point where it can no longer be considered an Extreme Yin place.

However, although this place is no longer considered an Extreme Yin place, there is still a small amount of Yin Qi remaining that the soul-refining cauldron has not yet fully absorbed.

Yang Haoran looks at the floating soul-refining cauldron before him, his face beaded with sweat and his breathing labored, but a smile graces his lips, and his gaze is intensely focused.

At this point, the speed at which the soul-refining cauldron is absorbing Yin Qi has slowed considerably, far slower than it was in the beginning. Even with Yang Haoran exerting his full effort to drive the cauldron, the situation remains unchanged.

Yang Haoran knows that this is because the soul-refining cauldron is nearing its saturation point in absorbing Yin Qi. In this state, every tiny bit of Yin Qi it absorbs requires tremendous effort, hence the slower pace.

Of course, it is Yang Haoran himself who is truly exerting the most effort, which is why he is drenched in sweat and his breathing is labored as he drives the soul-refining cauldron.

This situation with the soul-refining cauldron is similar to Yang Haoran's experience of downloading a movie online, where the download is nearly complete but seems to be crawling at a snail's pace in the final moments. This evokes a mix of anticipation, excitement, urgency, and even a touch of worry, fearing that the download might fail.

"Just a little more, just a little more and it will succeed!" Yang Haoran exclaims, disregarding the rapid depletion of his Yin spirit power and pushing himself to the limit to complete the final step.

After some time, Yang Haoran feels his Yin spirit power is about to be exhausted again. This frustrates him, as if his Yin spirit power is depleted before the soul-refining cauldron is successfully refined, he will have to take time to recover his Yin spirit power before continuing the process, further delaying the completion.

Just as he is worrying about this, the suspended soul-refining cauldron suddenly trembles slightly, instantly capturing his full attention.

Yang Haoran's eyes light up, ignoring the sweat dripping into his eyes, and intently observes the soul-refining cauldron. He realizes that it is no longer absorbing the Yin Qi from this place, even with his full effort to drive it.

"It's done!" the excited voice echoes in his mind, and as if confirming his realization, the soul-refining cauldron suddenly erupts in a column of black light!

Fortunately, the double-layered barrier in this place blocks the black light column within the first barrier, preventing it from drawing attention from others. If it had burst out unchecked, the sudden appearance of the black light column could have alerted others, which would not be a good thing for Yang Haoran.

Gazing at the soul-refining cauldron within the black light, sensing the strange and oppressive power emanating from it, Yang Haoran's smile grows broader, and his eyes crinkle into crescent moons, his emotions uncharacteristically exuberant.

After nearly a year of efforts, Yang Haoran has finally succeeded in refining the soul-refining cauldron in this moment and place, and the sense of excitement is understandable.

Actually, the reason why Yang Haoran was able to refine the soul-refining cauldron in such a short time was mainly due to luck. If he didn't have enough luck, he might not have even found the dark yin stone by now, let alone refine the soul-refining cauldron.

Even if Xu Meijing had found the dark yin stone and given him a soul-refining cauldron embryo, without enough luck to find an extreme yin place or a place rich in Yin Qi, he wouldn't be able to refine the soul-refining cauldron in such a short time, not even in three to five years.

With excitement in his heart, Yang Haoran tried to control the soul-refining cauldron according to what he knew. After a while, the black light beam retracted back into the soul-refining cauldron.

Although the soul-refining cauldron no longer emitted the black light under Yang Haoran's control, it was still giving off visible Yin Qi.

Looking at it, the soul-refining cauldron was shrouded in a dense black Yin Qi, which seemed very ominous and made it clear that it was not an item used by righteous people.

With a smile on his face, Yang Haoran grabbed the soul-refining cauldron in front of him and carefully examined it.

He didn't care about what was righteous or not, he only needed power, powerful strength.

Moreover, he was an Underworld Envoy, and in the laws of their Yin Division, the Underworld Envoys represented justice and the righteous way.

At this moment, Yang Haoran was eager to try out the soul-refining cauldron's ability to refine soul pills, but he ultimately suppressed the urge, as this was not a place to linger.

Also, his Yin spirit power was running low, so if he tried to refine soul pills here and something went wrong, he might end up in big trouble.

So the idea of refining soul pills to test the soul-refining cauldron's unique abilities was just a passing thought, and given Yang Haoran's personality, he wouldn't actually do it.

Carefully storing the soul-refining cauldron in his independent space, Yang Haoran's mood was unable to calm down for a long time. With this soul-refining cauldron, he had a kind of external aid, and in the future, as long as he had enough souls, the distance between him and the other Underworld Envoys would become smaller and smaller.

Eventually, the strength of the other Underworld Envoys might even be far surpassed by him.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Haoran closed his eyes and adjusted his emotions, trying to recover some of his Yin spirit power. About an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes.

At this point, his inner turmoil had been completely calmed, and the joy and excitement brought by the soul-refining cauldron had been tucked away in his heart, not showing the slightest trace on his face.

He had returned to normal, with his familiar smile, crescent moon eyes, and the hidden blade in his smile.

"It's been a while, it's time to go back."

The calm voice came from Yang Haoran's mouth, and then he withdrew the restriction barrier he had set up in this place, and also destroyed the restriction barrier that Zhao Hong had set up earlier.

With this done, the true face of this place was finally revealed - dead trees and plants, blackened rocks, no birds in the sky, and no beasts on the ground, a deathly silence.

Due to the long-term strong Yin Qi influence, this place had become like this, but fortunately, the remaining Yin Qi was not much.

Yang Haoran waved his hand, and a strong yin wind swept through, dispersing the remaining Yin Qi in the area.

Without the Yin Qi, this place would soon return to normal.

Taking a last look at this place, Yang Haoran smiled and tore open a space rift, then decisively left.