Chapter 1272
Wraith Spirit
Chapter 1272 Wraith Spirit
Under the hazy moonlight, the mist, the lake, and everything around it took on an eerie bluish-green hue.
The sweet fragrance emanating from somewhere was so alluring and pleasant that it made you instinctively want to get closer and smell it more carefully.
Shen Xiuyuan held Du Xingyu's compass in his hand. He had forced it on him earlier, saying it would give him some sense of involvement and prevent him from just standing there motionless...
The pointer, which was just swaying slightly, is now spinning wildly.
Du Xingyu's face was also covered in a bluish-green reflection, making him look terribly unsightly.
Lin Fan opened his mouth and unexpectedly exhaled a breath of white air.
It's important to know that swamp forests are located at the southernmost tip of the continent, with a climate similar to that of Hainan Island in H country. Hot and humid are good descriptions of them, but they have absolutely nothing to do with cold.
Lin Fan has a low body temperature and is less sensitive to cold than others.
She had just noticed the cold when the temperature suddenly dropped to a bone-chilling low, as if she had been suddenly thrown into a freezer.
"What kind of trick is this?" Shen Xiuyuan couldn't help but gasp, rubbing his arm with one hand.
Even though no spirits appeared, one could still sense that danger was approaching.
Lin Fan raised a handful of fire from his palm, hovering it between the three of them. The small flame dispelled the chill and restored their stiff limbs to normal.
"Thank... Look over there!" Before Shen Xiuyuan could finish his thanks, he grabbed Lin Fan, who was facing him and controlling the fire.
Lin Fan turned around.
The appearance of the firelight caused many of the hovering water droplets to glow orange, which reflected off the nearby blue and green light, creating a wonderful halo.
Countless translucent humanoid silhouettes floated in the halo, their faces indistinct, yet their bodies shrouded in almost solidified black mist.
“These are vengeful spirits.” Du Xingyu’s palm lit up slightly, and Yunxiu summoned it, with golden runes covering the umbrella’s surface. “The black aura around them is the resentment formed from their resentment before death, and it is also their means of attack. The stronger the resentment, the stronger the black aura.”
"Be extremely careful not to come into contact with resentment. Otherwise, festering flesh will be the least of your worries. These things can disrupt your meridians and blood circulation, causing internal injuries. If they accidentally invade your consciousness, your emotions, memories... will all be maliciously attacked and altered."
“I’ve seen people driven mad by attacks from vengeful spirits,” Shen Xiuyuan said, frowning. “Because they were constantly plagued by nightmares, their mental state became extremely fragile, and when they came to seek medical help, they were already on the verge of collapse.”
"And then?" Lin Fan asked, "Was he cured?"
Shen Xiuyuan shook his head: "He was shrouded in negative emotions for too long. Although the resentment was completely dispelled, his spirit had collapsed. Not long after he returned, I heard he still committed suicide, and died peacefully..."
Lin Fan remained silent, then looked up and asked Du Xingyu, "What kind of spell is best for dealing with vengeful spirits?"
“If the number isn’t large, your previous methods plus the Cleansing Spell should be enough.” Du Xingyu smiled wryly. “But this is the first time I’ve seen so many vengeful spirits. For safety reasons, I suggest protecting yourself while fighting and retreating. If there’s an opportunity, it’s best to leave.”
As they spoke, golden runes drooped down from the umbrella and landed on the ground, forming a small tent-like curtain that just covered the three people who were huddled together for warmth.
"I'm sorry. I must have made a mistake when breaking the formation, which led everyone here," Lin Fan said with remorse.
She thought she could do it, and Shen Xiuyuan and Du Xingyu trusted her completely, but little did she expect...
“It might not be your fault,” Du Xingyu shook his head to comfort her. “I’ve heard that if it’s a vengeful spirit with extremely high resentment, it can distort space and create a special labyrinthine domain that people can’t escape from. It can also cause changes in the weather, like the sudden drop in temperature right now… I suspect that we might have just stumbled into the domain of a high-level vengeful spirit.”
The surrounding trees were frozen solid. The moist water droplets turned into hard ice beads, falling onto the already icy ground with a cracking sound.
In such extreme temperatures, without proper insulation, people can freeze to death in the blink of an eye.
Lin Fan was far from relieved. Whether she had gone to the wrong place or stumbled into the domain of a high-level vengeful spirit, the situation was dire.
Yun Xiuzhao's golden runes seemed to sense the danger and began to flicker slowly.
The surging black mist instantly retreated to the side of the water droplet. Before it could make any other move, it was frozen along with the suspended water droplet.
The three were astonished to see the countless vengeful spirits in the air frozen indiscriminately, the dark figures locked inside transparent blocks of ice.
The sounds of freezing continued incessantly, along with the clatter of ice hitting the ground and shattering. These sounds echoed incessantly in their ears, like urgent warnings. "Not even sparing their own kind?" Du Xingyu's smile vanished. He stared intently at the surrounding commotion, his free hand rummaging through his disciple token.
Suddenly, the moonlight disappeared.
The three looked up and saw the night sky seem to fall, carrying countless frozen, vengeful spirit droplets that swept towards them.
Du Xingyu hadn't found a suitable magical artifact yet, and his hand holding the umbrella trembled violently.
A cyan aura rose along the umbrella handle, causing the red and blue intersecting ribs to spin and expand, projecting above the umbrella surface to form a huge, crisscrossing hollow bamboo net. The slender, pointed ends of the net pointed directly upwards, towards the direction from which the resentment originated.
With a loud "boom," it sounded like a building being blown up at close range.
The overwhelming darkness was firmly blocked from above by bamboo strips, unable to penetrate an inch.
Countless drops of frozen water turned to dust the moment they hit the bamboo mesh. Some that didn't hit it fell down and then hit Yunxiu's runes, hissing and disappearing in the blink of an eye.
"It's blocked!" Shen Xiuyuan finally regained his breathing.
Du Xingyu was covered in cold sweat and felt unwell.
The vengeful spirit was enormous. Although it was blocked by Yunxiu's summons, the drooping part of it completely enveloped them.
They are now trapped in this vengeful spirit's pocket, and the only exit is right beneath their feet, which is still within its territory.
How can we break this deadlock? Du Xingyu's mind raced.
"If only I had the Broken Sky Sword!" Du Xingyu had been so disgusted with it before, but now he longed for it even more.
"The Sky-Severing Sword?" Lin Fan also realized the precarious situation. Hearing Du Xingyu's question, he asked, "Does it require the power of lightning?"
She has one too. If all else fails, cheating wouldn't be a problem, right?
"Yes!" Du Xingyu nodded. "I should have dragged Ling Yichen along..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the net of annihilation above his head was squeezed and deformed, making a sound as if it could no longer support itself.
Lin Fan hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to add spiritual power to the umbrella or unleash lightning directly. Then, while trying to find an excuse, he saw the black vengeful spirit shudder violently, quickly release them, and fly backward back into the sky...
"Hey!" Ling Yichen broke through the space and saw Lin Fan and the other two inside the golden defense, all looking up at the sky.
He glanced around, but it was completely dark and there was nothing there. "Are you guys crazy?"
Du Xingyu had never liked Ling Yichen so much before, and rushed over like a swallow returning to its nest: "Senior Brother Ling~~"
Ling Yichen shuddered, took a step back, and pointed the Broken Sky Sword at Du Xingyu: "Are you possessed by a ghost?!"
Du Xingyu and he had a decent relationship, but it shouldn't have warranted such... indescribable sounds. It was disgusting.
"Lin Fan, Senior Brother?" Mu Jingjing's head appeared behind Ling Yichen. "Are you alright?"
"No!" Du Xingyu quickly stopped her. "Don't come in! There's a vengeful spirit's domain here. Let's get out of here first!"
After hearing this, Mu Jingjing shrank back. Then, the scenery behind Ling Yichen was pulled back like a curtain, revealing a completely different scene outside.
Du Xingyu didn't dare to be careless either. He led Lin Fan and the other two out of the domain before finally putting Yun Xiuzhao away, then collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. Shen Xiuyuan quickly stepped forward to check on him.
Outside, the sky was ablaze with the colors of sunset; it was only dusk.
Lin Fan was completely relieved after he actually touched Mu Jingjing by following the rope, and then asked her.
How did you know we were in trouble?