Chapter 82: Evil Spirit
At this moment, Yang Haoran was certain that the formidable presence he sensed upon entering the villa was none other than the red-robed female ghost before him.
This red-robed female ghost seemed to know how to restrain the Yin Qi emanating from herself. Hence, Ma Ling and Wang Yiming did not sense her presence upon entering the villa. Only Yang Haoran, as a Night Watcher, was an exception due to his ability to perceive Yin, which surpassed that of Ma Ling and Wang Yiming.
As for why they couldn't sense the presence of this female ghost later, Yang Haoran couldn't figure it out before. But now he knew what was going on.
The reason they couldn't sense the presence of this red-robed female ghost was that she had left the villa without him noticing. From the current situation, it was highly likely that she had left with Second Son Wu.
Why the female ghost would follow Second Son Wu was evident. There must be some grievances between them. However, Yang Haoran didn't have the time or inclination to dwell on the specifics of their enmity because this red-robed female ghost gave him a dangerous feeling. He needed to catch her off guard to gain an advantage.
That's how he thought, and that's what he did. He discreetly removed the soul gathering bead and swiftly hurled it towards the female ghost.
Powered by Yin spirit, the soul gathering bead moved swiftly like a bullet, instantly appearing in front of the female ghost, heading towards the face of the red-robed female ghost.
Just as it was about to hit the red-robed female ghost, the soul gathering bead suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if hitting an invisible barrier, unable to move any further.
The rush of Yin wind brought by the soul gathering bead blew the black hair covering the female ghost's face, revealing a gap in the hair. This gap was small, only showing one of the female ghost's eyes and a corner of her mouth.
The corner of the female ghost's mouth lifted into a smirk, a very eerie one.
Everyone present was startled by this scene, without exception. This included Yang Haoran, Ma Ling, and Wang Yiming.
However, the reason Yang Haoran and the others were startled was not because of the terrifying and eerie smile of the red-robed female ghost but because of the eye revealed through the gap in her black hair.
This eye was milky white, the opposite of Yang Haoran's pitch-black ghost eye. However, similarly, this milky white eye also gave an extremely chilling feeling.
"A white eye, this is..." Wang Yiming's voice trembled. He obviously knew what the white eye beneath the black hair meant.
"Evil spirit, it's actually an evil spirit! It's indeed a formidable opponent!" Ma Ling's face also showed astonishment.
Through one eye, Ma Ling and Wang Yiming both recognized that this red-robed female ghost was not an undead but an evil spirit.
Though undead and evil spirit differed by only one word, their strength was vastly different.
When ordinary people die, they can form a soul body seven days later, commonly known as undead.
Ordinary undead have little attacking power and can only scare people in their dreams.
Powerful undead, like the male and female ghosts Yang Haoran collected in the soul gathering bead earlier, not only scare people in their dreams but also affect the minds of weak-willed living beings, causing them to hallucinate. If they encounter strong-willed living beings, their influence is insufficient, just like the male ghost couldn't do anything to Master Wu.
These powerful undead, beyond ordinary undead, mostly enhance themselves by devouring other undead. However, there are cases where the deceased, with great resentment before death, and non-natural deaths result in them becoming evil spirits. In these cases, the deceased can turn into an evil spirit seven days after death.
Compared to undead, evil spirits are highly aggressive. They possess all the abilities of undead and can create realistic illusions, leading living beings astray and manipulating them.
While powerful undead can induce illusions, the difference between them and the illusions created by evil spirits is significant. It's like comparing an electric scooter to a sports car—both are vehicles, but fundamentally different, incomparable.
Besides being much stronger than undead, evil spirits have another characteristic that undead lack—their eyes. Evil spirits have all-white eyes, which are their most conspicuous feature. Once a creature with eyes of milky white is spotted, there's no doubt it's an evil spirit!
Ma Ling and Wang Yiming could both see that the red-robed female ghost before them was a powerful evil spirit, and as a Night Watcher, Yang Haoran couldn't possibly fail to recognize it.
Yang Haoran didn't have the mood to care about Ma Ling and Wang Yiming's astonishment at this moment. His expression changed slightly as he immediately exerted all his strength to activate the soul gathering bead!
The soul gathering bead, suspended in mid-air, suddenly shook violently. Visible Yin Qi surged from the soul gathering bead, erupting into a massive suction force that enveloped the red-robed evil spirit.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary undead encountering this would undoubtedly be easily captured by the soul gathering bead. Even if they faced powerful undead and couldn't immediately capture them in the soul gathering bead, it would undoubtedly have a significant impact on them.
However, at this moment... facing Yang Haoran's full-powered soul gathering bead, the evil spirit in the red robe showed no signs of distortion or deformation in her soul. She floated steadily in the air, with only her robe swaying and a few strands of hair dancing, without any movement of her soul.
Yang Haoran was greatly shocked. He hadn't expected that even with his full-powered soul gathering bead, he couldn't even shake the opponent's soul!
Since becoming a Night Watcher, Yang Haoran had never encountered an evil spirit or fought one, but he knew they were formidable. He just hadn't realized they could be this powerful!
Despite the fact that the soul gathering bead and Yin spirit power had strong restraints against spirits, he couldn't shake the evil spirit's soul even in the slightest. This demonstrated how powerful the evil spirit was.
Despite his shock, Yang Haoran didn't give up his attack. Once the bow is drawn, the arrow must be released. Since he had taken action, he must find any means to shake the red-robed evil spirit and capture her in the soul gathering bead!
A large amount of Yin Qi spewed out from the soul gathering bead, forming a thick iron chain that lashed out towards the red-robed evil spirit!
Whether it was because the iron chain's speed was too fast for the red-robed evil spirit to evade, or because the evil spirit simply didn't regard this attack seriously, the iron chain successfully bound her body tightly.
The iron chain made a clattering sound. Under Yang Haoran's control, it straightened and began to tighten slowly, intending to forcibly capture the red-robed evil spirit into the soul gathering bead.
To Yang Haoran's surprise, the appearance of the chain did not achieve the desired effect. The red-robed evil spirit's soul still floated motionless in place, unaffected.
"Wang Yiming! Ghost slaying talisman!"
Yang Haoran knew that it was impossible to capture this red-robed evil spirit into the soul gathering bead with his own strength alone. He needed the help of Wang Yiming and Ma Ling.
Wang Yiming solemnly responded, and a ghost slaying talisman appeared between his fingers. Without hesitation, he hurled the ghost slaying talisman towards the red-robed evil spirit.
Yang Haoran had witnessed the power of the ghost slaying talisman before. It could instantly cut a powerful undead into pieces, possessing formidable attack power!
As expected, the ghost slaying talisman successfully hit the red-robed evil spirit. After burning on her body, it indeed inflicted continuous cuts on her. However, the scene of the evil spirit being cut into pieces as imagined did not occur. Instead, she only sustained a few more wounds.
The ghost slaying talisman was specifically designed by the Fu Sect to deal with spirits, and it had powerful killing power against any spirit, including evil spirits. However, the power of the ghost slaying talisman was directly proportional to the strength of the talisman maker. Since Wang Yiming's strength was limited, the ghost slaying talisman he drew couldn't reach the level of destroying an evil spirit, hence the current situation.
Since the ghost slaying talisman didn't have the desired effect, Wang Yiming prepared to take out other talismans to try. Regardless of the outcome, as long as it could have a certain impact on the red-robed evil spirit, it would be good.
However, before he could take out other talismans, the red-robed evil spirit, who had been suspended motionless, suddenly moved.
First, she emitted a ghostly cry that sounded neither male nor female, then she exerted force and shattered the chains binding her body.
The chains, formed of Yin Qi, seemed as flimsy as noodles in front of her, and after being shattered, they dissipated into Yin Qi.
With the chains shattered, the red-robed evil spirit regained her freedom. At this moment, without any further action, the soul gathering bead in front of her flew out and embedded itself into the wall.
All of this took only an instant, but when Yang Haoran realized what was happening, the soul gathering bead had already been knocked away.
With no soul gathering bead to shield him, the red-robed evil spirit seemed to lose her last bit of threat. She shook her head, and countless black hairs, like thousands of steel needles, pierced towards Yang Haoran!
Seeing her like this, it seemed she wanted to deal with Yang Haoran, the Night Watcher, first before dealing with the others.
Yang Haoran remained calm, showing no intention to dodge or counterattack. He allowed the dense strands of hair to rain down on him like falling raindrops!
Despite the evil spirit's strength, she was still just a spirit. She had only a soul and no physical body, meaning that none of her body parts could harm a living person. So, faced with the dense strands of hair piercing towards him, Yang Haoran remained calm, without any thought of dodging.
But the next moment, he was stunned!