WHOOSH!
The moment this top-tier talismanic method from the "Stuacn Spirit-Suppressing Talismans", the "Great Rain-Dispersing Incantation", was cast, the continuous black rain covering an area of over a dozen miles above Sevrin came to an abrupt halt without warning.
At the same instant, the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon was once again smashed into a ground full of black blood fragments by Sevrin's physical shell, which threw a punch carrying millions of rolling thunders.
This time, the Intoxicated Dragon's regeneration speed was noticeably slower, and its soul body was also slightly more blurry after recovering.
Clearly, without the black rain drenching its body, it couldn't lock its health bar.
"Under the power of this Daoist curse, not a single drop of your black rain will fall for a full half-hour."
Looking at the once-again resurrected Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon, Sevrin's Yang-Spirit gave a cold smile, "Let's see how you play with me this time."
Saying this, he transformed back into a giant Intoxicated Dragon, his ghostly mouth opening wide as he roared and lunged at the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon, which had just regenerated only to be brutally beaten and suppressed by Sevrin's physical shell once more.
This time, Sevrin intended to swallow it whole, making it dissipate completely within his stomach.
...
At the same time, in the distant temporary Demon-Slaying Bureau outpost, the group of Demon-Slaying Lieutenants, who had watched almost the entire battle in the abyss through the recording talisman array, finally managed to pull themselves out of their continuous state of shock.
"It's truly... truly inconceivable."
Zenom stared wide-eyed at the screen, watching the image of Sevrin using his physical body to suppress the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon with projected force while his Yang-Spirit, transformed into an Intoxicated Dragon, tore into and devoured the opponent mouthful by mouthful. He muttered as if in a trance, "Sevrin... he's not a grandmaster at all... he's... a god? Otherwise, why would he have so many... so many mysterious abilities?!"
In fact, facing Sevrin's various mysterious and strange powers, Zenom's performance, though a bit shaky, was quite good considering he could still voice his doubts.
People like Shaxe and Xixun beside him were essentially jaw-dropped throughout, unable to speak a single word.
Clearly, the two of them were thoroughly stunned by the battle between Sevrin and the Intoxicated Dragon.
Rheta, who was relatively more composed, managed to suppress her shock and continuously asked Clover Holloway various questions:
"Commander Clover, those lightning bolts Sevrin used just now looked quite a bit like your "Thunder-Fire Tyrant Seal". And there's the "Great Rain-Dispersing Incantation"... isn't that something only found in the complete set of the Stuacn Spirit-Suppressing Talismans? Why can Sevrin use it too? And finally... Sevrin... why can he transform into a ghostly entity exactly like that Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon?"
Facing Rheta's various inquiries, Clover Holloway, who was also deeply shocked by Sevrin's battle, let out a long breath and offered his own explanations or thoughts:
"The power of thunder used by Lieutenant Sevrin indeed shares some similarities with my Thunder-Fire Tyrant Seal. However, the power is much greater, and the blast radius is also significantly larger. Therefore, I suspect... it is a similar type of technique.
As for the rain-dispersing incantation... hmm~ that is indeed hard to explain. After all, the complete talisman set is typically only allowed to be learned once one is promoted to a Dragon-Rank Lieutenant. Thus, I am also unclear where Lieutenant Sevrin learned it from.
Finally, regarding Lieutenant Sevrin's ghostly transformation ability, I'll make a bold guess... perhaps the ghostly entity he can transform into isn't limited to just one kind, as we imagined.
Or perhaps the essence of this ghost-turning ability... is very likely the mimicry of ghostly entities. That is, after seeing or coming into contact with a certain ghostly entity, Lieutenant Sevrin can transform into its likeness and even master a portion of its abilities."
HISS~
As soon as Clover Holloway spoke these words, every Demon-Slaying Lieutenant present sucked in a breath of cold air.
Being able to mimic the likeness of a ghostly entity and even master a portion of its abilities just by seeing it... that... was a bit too much.
If such a heaven-defying divine ability truly existed, then what was the point of others training so hard?
Training? Training my ass!
"If such a divine ability truly exists..." Zenom whispered with barely concealed shock, "What rank would it be? Top Grade?"
"Top Grade isn't enough."
Clover Holloway furrowed his brows in thought and let out a sigh, saying, "Such an unheard-of divine ability must be at least at the King-Rank."
The legendary King-Rank divine ability?!
The group of Lieutenants looked at each other.
Then, thinking again about Sevrin being eighteen and his Grandmaster-level cultivation, they all couldn't help but let out a sigh, feeling completely deflated. They all cursed powerlessly in their hearts:
"Truly... a monster."
...
The heart of the Panuan Abyss.
After a round of what could be described as brutal devouring, the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon was forcibly swallowed piece by piece by the ghostly entity formed by Sevrin's Yang-Spirit, ignoring its struggles and piteous cries, turning it into sustenance for his growth.
BELCH~
After letting out a violent burp that triggered a series of sonic booms, Sevrin, in his Intoxicated Dragon form, reached into his wide-open mouth with a thin claw, rummaging around before pulling out a long, pitch-black spine.
Indeed, this thing that looked like a spine was the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon's soul-remains.
Unlike the three ranks of ghostly entities, Wandering Soul, Vengeful Spirit, and Devouring Ghost, once entering the Yin Soldier rank, a ghost was no longer just a ghost.
Or to be more precise, a ghost at the Yin Soldier rank should be called a Spectral being.
This was the core reason why the Intoxicated Dragon's inherent skill was named "Spectral Soul-Remains" rather than "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains".
BUZZ—
As the grotto portal opened, Sevrin, whose soul had returned to his physical body, casually tossed the soul-remains inside. Then, he soared into the sky, rushing at extreme speed toward the top of the abyss.
Now that he had cleared out the Thousand-Year Intoxicated Dragon, his next step was to find Dashan and his family.
In fact, before he had even flown into this abyss.
While on his way here, Sevrin had already used a type of divination from the "Stuacn Spirit-Suppressing Talismans" to calculate precisely.
He had deduced that Dashan's family's final traces didn't seem to be within the abyss, but elsewhere in this Yellow Spring Domain.
That place might be the ruins of Nina Town.
Because of this, when he had charged into the abyss earlier, Sevrin had been able to slaughter the swarming ghostly entities without any hesitation or restraint.
"But... why would Dashan's family's final traces be in Nina Town?"
As Sevrin sped through the layers of mist, he was filled with confusion. "Weren't they always in the limestone caves of Mount Pasha?"
Holding this question, Sevrin, moving at over 4,000 meters per second, soon tore through the dark sky and crossed a vast distance, descending into Nina Town.
Upon his arrival, Sevrin realized that this once bustling and prosperous small town... would be more appropriately called the Yellow Spring Lake.
Currently, there was only the sound of large patches of dark, yellow-turbid water gurgling and shifting, along with piles of desolate ruins floating in the murky water, and also drifting on the surface of the Yellow Spring lake... were rows of silent, withered corpses.
Everything was so desolate and sorrowful.
"Sigh..."
Gazing at the tragic scene around him, Sevrin let out a long sigh, intending to cast his art again to find the remains of Dashan's family and give them a proper burial.
But just then, an extremely weak and hoarse shout drifted from a pile of ruins a hundred meters behind Sevrin:
"Lord Sevrin? Is... is it you?!"
Upon hearing that shout.
Sevrin first froze for a moment, then immediately turned around and waved his hand.
Using projected force from a distance, he turned the ruins over a hundred meters away entirely into a cloud of dust.
WHOOSH—
Once all the dust and crushed gravel had cleared away, that pile of ruins, formed by several collapsed houses, was revealed to be a slanted stone platform about dozens of meters wide.
And in the center of that stone platform lay an incomplete, hunched, hideous monster that was neither human nor ghost.
[ Character Name: Unknown
Level: Evil-Host → Yin-Gathering Mutation
Mastered Skills: "Yin-Absorption Evil-Nourishing""Death-Enduring Survival"
Special Traits: [Level 1 Resurrection]
Expert Shards: None ]
"An Evil-Host... judging by the name, could it be a type of sinister species born after evil energy parasitizes a physical body and soul? A kind of... deformed lifeform?
And this Resurrection trait... I feel like this is an even stronger characteristic than Self-healing. It's truly a case of... a beautiful sprout coming from an ugly bamboo."
Thinking privately, Sevrin instantly finished learning all of this monster's skills. Then, he stepped in front of it and asked in a deep voice:
"Were you the one speaking just now? Who... who are you exactly?"
In fact, when Sevrin first arrived here, he had already "seen" this hideous monster called an Evil-Host hiding beneath the ruins through his mental perception.
But because it was truly too weak, even weaker than an ordinary person, Sevrin hadn't paid it much mind.
But now, this monster, which was neither human nor ghost, was actually able to recognize his identity.
This... was very unusual.
It must have been transformed from someone he knew.
"Lo-Lord Sevrin, it's me, I am..."
This monster, whose entire body was covered in pitch-black, festering sores, looked up and said hoarsely, "I am... Dashan."
Shocked!
Sevrin stood stunned for a moment.
He slowly lowered his head, staring intently at this monster claiming to be Dashan.
He saw that besides the grayish-black festering sores covering its entire body, the features on its face were also extremely distorted and twisted.
Even within those two hollow eye sockets, there were only two points of flickering ghostly blue fire instead of a single normal eyeball.
This... didn't look like Dashan in the slightest.
But Sevrin still believed him.
He asked with a heavy expression:
"How... how did you turn into this? And weren't you and your family in the limestone cave? Why did you appear in the ruins of Nina Town?"
"Lo-Lord Sevrin, it's like this."
Dashan said stutteringly, "Before you left the cavern, you... you suggested our family return to Nina Town. I, I refused you then.
Afterward, I... I thought about it more, and felt that since you were so good to us, you would never harm us. If I just rejected your kindness like that, it would truly... truly be against my conscience, I felt very guilty.
So... so a short while after you left, our family... we found a way to move the two oxen out of the cavern, and then drove the oxen back, back to Nina Town."
Perhaps after turning into a monster that was neither human nor ghost, speaking too much was physically draining, for after this explanation, Dashan took several deep breaths before speaking again:
"Lord Sevrin, once our family returned to the town, we found... found that our house was already tattered. Even the streets around our home were deserted; many people we knew had moved away.
But it was alright; the house was broken but could be fixed, and once fixed, we could live there. It was fine that there were no neighbors; we... we happened to be afraid of people.
But just as we spent several days fixing the rooms and were planning to have a meal to celebrate, that pitch-black great wind and fog arrived.
And that yellow river water came too; the river smashed through the rooms and knocked down the walls. The water was poisoned; my wife and two children, after soaking in the river, they couldn't make it. Their bodies all shriveled up.
Then... I, I didn't die, but I turned into this ghost-like form. And... and those two oxen you gave us, sob sob sob..."
Dashan suddenly broke into tears and kowtowed frantically, "I'm so sorry, Lord. Your oxen... those two oxen, I didn't take good care of them. They were swept away and killed by that river; both are dead, they're all dead!"
"It doesn't matter."
Looking at the guilt-stricken, wailing Dashan, Sevrin's face was solemn, but his tone was extremely gentle, "They were just two oxen. If they're gone, they're gone."
Strangely, even though Sevrin said this, Dashan continued to weep incessantly.
However, as he had now become a monster, he could only cry out streaks of foul, blood-gray liquid, without a single drop of a living person's true tears.
Sevrin just quietly watched Dashan weep, letting him vent his suffering without saying a word.
It wasn't until a long time later that Dashan calmed down and looked up, saying:
"Lord, I beg of you, can... can you save my wife and my children?"
Clearly, in his heart, Sevrin was an omnipotent living deity who could easily solve any crisis.
"Huh? They're still alive?"
Without hesitation, Sevrin asked directly, "Take me to see them."
"Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord!"
Hearing Sevrin agree, Dashan was both surprised and overjoyed, and he hurriedly straightened up and kowtowed repeatedly.
He then stood up from the ground and limped to the edge of the ruins. He grabbed a tattered mat and threw it back, revealing three shriveled corpses, one large and two small.
Sevrin stepped forward and furrowed his brows as he examined these three corpses, asking doubtfully:
"They... seem to be dead. It's just that there is a strange aura active within their bodies. This aura is neither human nor ghost; I don't know what category it belongs to."
"They are alive, Lord."
Dashan said excitedly, "They really aren't dead. I, I, I'll prove it to you!"
Having said that, he lowered his head, bit his own arm, and gave a violent pull, brutally tearing open a savage wound.
Then Dashan raised his arm and held it to the mouth of the largest shriveled corpse.
BANG!
As if stimulated by the blood, the shriveled corpse suddenly opened its mouth to reveal a row of fangs, biting fiercely into the wound on Dashan's arm and beginning to gulp down his blood.
After it had sucked for a while, Dashan quickly patted the corpse's head and said:
"Good, good, that's enough. Don't suck anymore; the children still need to eat."
Strangely, once the shriveled corpse heard the word "children," it immediately released its fangs and lay back down in a deathly still manner, allowing Dashan to pull his arm back.
"Lord."
Then, while turning to explain to Sevrin, Dashan began to use his own blood to feed the two smaller shriveled corpses beside him. "For these past two or three days, I've fed them several times a day, a few mouthfuls each time. I'm just afraid their mother and the two of them won't survive."
But Sevrin, watching his actions, asked doubtfully: "Don't you fear that by self-harming and bleeding like this every day, you'll aggravate your injuries and eventually die from them?"
"Lord, in truth, I..."
Dashan looked up and said, "I have already died many times."
"When that yellowish river water surged over, I died on the spot once. Later, I don't know how, but I came back to life.
After coming back to life, I turned into this ghost-like form. And yesterday and the day before, I bled too much to stop and died twice more.
But after a while, I would always come back to life again."
Dashan was confused, but Sevrin, who had learned his skills, knew exactly why...
The reason he could undergo Resurrection was precisely because of that "Death-Enduring Survival" skill.
This kind of skill, as the name suggests, allowed one to absorb external Yin Qi and convert it into so-called evil power after they had completely lost all vitality and died, then consume that evil power to return to the world of the living and undergo Resurrection.
In a certain sense, this could be considered a cheat skill.
"Lord Sevrin, you've seen it all."
After feeding blood to the two small corpses, Dashan once again knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Sevrin, "They really aren't dead; they've just caught a strange illness. It's an illness from the poison of that Yellow Water. Lord, I beg of you, please save them!"
"Alright."
Sevrin nodded, "Let me give it a try."
"Good! Good!" Dashan hurriedly stood up and moved to the side, "Please, give it a try."
Immediately, Sevrin stood before the three shriveled corpses and began tracing talismans in the air, performing the life-prolonging miracle from the "Heavenly Lotus Earthly Saint Salvation Scripture":
"The root of ten thousand Qi, the wheel of the five elements. With the lotus as a guide, I save your shattered soul. Let the spirit return to its place, and the essence continue in the mortal world. Hasten!"
BUZZ—
As illusory golden lotuses flashed and disappeared, a beam of jade-colored light carrying a refreshing fragrance suddenly erupted from Sevrin's fingertip, shining onto the shriveled corpse of Dashan's wife.
...
There was no movement at all. The shriveled corpse before Sevrin remained lying still, motionless.
"...Let me try one more time."
Under Dashan's expectant gaze, Sevrin muttered as he once again traced talismans in the air to perform the life-prolonging art.
BUZZ—
Golden lotuses and green light flashed and vanished once more.
Looking at the still-motionless shriveled corpse before him, Sevrin frowned and said, "Tsk... failed again?"
Just as he was feeling a bit disappointed, the shriveled corpse suddenly trembled and slowly sat upright.
"It moved! It moved!"
Dashan rushed over, supporting the seated shriveled corpse, and asked urgently, "How do you feel?"
But right then, the face of this shriveled corpse underwent a sudden, drastic change.
From its original appearance, which, though shriveled and withered, still had clear features, it transformed into a twisted, ferocious, and hideously ugly visage.
At the same time, the eyeballs in its two eye sockets ignited without any fuel, turning into two flickering dots of ghostly blue phosphorescence.
In Sevrin's vision, this "shriveled corpse's" previously empty personal interface also suddenly became exactly the same as Dashan's.
Essentially, after undergoing Sevrin's art, Dashan's wife had also turned into an Evil-Host, possessing that "Death-Enduring Survival" skill that allowed for reincarnation.
"Lord, this... this isn't right."
Seeing his wife turn into such a form, Dashan hurriedly stood up and asked, "Why... why did Ngoc Phân also turn into this ghost-like form like me?"
"Don't be in a hurry," Sevrin crossed his arms, frowning in thought, "Let me think about it."
"Alright, alright." Dashan nodded frantically, then rushed back to his still-unconscious wife and began massaging her arms and shoulders.
Sevrin, meanwhile, took a single step and dashed thirty meters away. He performed the life-prolonging art on another shriveled corpse floating on the surface of the murky river water.
Strangely, even though he performed the art four or five times on the same body, he was unable to awaken it or turn it into an Evil-Host.
"What's going on?"
Sevrin stepped back onto the stone platform and began to ponder.
"I understand now!"
A moment later, he suddenly looked up and muttered, "That's it. Both were killed by the washing of the Yellow Spring waters, but Dashan and his wife are Ghost Citizens, while that nameless corpse from just now was a human when alive.
Ghostly entities do not fear Yellow Spring water, but humans perish at a single touch. Ghost Citizens are between humans and ghosts, after touching Yellow Spring water... they enter a state of suspended animation. After a period of suspended animation, they will transform into an Evil-Host possessing the Resurrection ability.
And the art I learned is a life-prolonging art meant only for living things. If someone has already truly died, it's no longer effective. Tsk~"
After understanding all this, Sevrin turned to Dashan and his wife and spoke his deductions and thoughts directly:
"Dashan, you saw it just now. If I use my art to prolong their lives, your children can be saved, but they will turn into forms like yours. So you'd better think it over and decide if you want me to save them."
This was a cruel choice, and Sevrin could only leave the decision to Dashan himself.
"I..." Dashan hesitated, not knowing what to do.
"Lord."
At this moment, his wife spoke, her voice hoarse to the extreme, "Please allow the two of us to discuss this properly."
"Alright." Sevrin nodded and stepped to the side, letting them deliberate on their own.
After this woman woke up and found that both Dashan and herself had become such hideous monsters, neither human nor ghost, she didn't collapse but instead quickly calmed down, she was truly remarkable.
It seemed her personality was quite resilient.
Perhaps the true leader of their family wasn't Dashan, but her.
Just then, a flock of yellow talisman birds descended from the sky and flew in front of Sevrin. Together, they vibrated and emitted a voice he knew very well:
"Lieutenant Sevrin, I'll keep this short. I just saw you performing the art of salvation, are you trying to revive those two small shriveled corpses right now?"
"Commander Clover?"
Sevrin looked at the flock of yellow paper birds floating around him and asked doubtfully, "Is this... the recording talisman array? Interesting, it can even transmit voices from a distance?"
"Lieutenant Sevrin, that isn't important."
Clover Holloway spoke through the talisman birds from a distance, "I don't know where you learned it, and that no longer matters. What I want to tell you now is this:
This incomplete scripture cannot bring any dead person back to life. Performing the art on a corpse randomly will either have no effect at all, or in an extremely small probability, cause the birth of a Evil Spirit entity that is neither human nor ghost.
No matter how many memories of their living days a Evil Spirit possesses, they will gradually lose them as time passes. Moreover, no matter how gentle their temperament was in life, they will become increasingly cruel, eventually turning into a bloodthirsty evil beast that can continuously revive as long as external Yin Qi persists.
I take a bold guess: that Evil Spirit you just gave birth to through your art, Lieutenant Sevrin, must have been a legendary Ghost Citizen before death. This kind of half-ghost, half-human, half-living and nearly-dead outlier will undoubtedly turn into an undying Evil Spirit if stimulated by the life-prolonging art of the scripture, causing endless harm."
"So what you mean is..."
Sevrin said with a solemn face, "You want me... not to save those two children?"