C130 One Black and One White!

The Yin Acolyte remained silent.

Yet, through the intensity of his gaze, everyone could discern his unspoken message.

Take, for instance, this moment.

He watched Yan Lu with a grin, uttering not a single word, but the derision and mockery in his eyes couldn't have been clearer.

Blood traced the corners of Yan Lu's eyes, his expression twisted into something sinister and horrifying.

And yet, in the face of the Yin Acolyte, Yan Lu was powerless to retaliate.

It wasn't just Yan Lu who was at a loss; even Yu Yuan, who had otherwise navigated the forbidden area with ease, found himself without a clear strategy to handle the enigmatic Yin Acolyte who had emerged so unexpectedly.

"Who exactly is he?"

This question echoed in Yu Yuan's mind. He had reached out to the sword spirit multiple times, driven by a fierce desire for answers.

But the sword spirit remained unresponsive.

To the sword spirit, it seemed the Yin Acolyte was neither foe nor a target to be vanquished—regardless of the Yin Acolyte's past actions.

"The flesh and bones, freshly forged, are incomplete, yet so unnaturally sinister."

As shock rippled through the onlookers, Lee Yuchan snapped to action.

Clad in heavy armor, exuding a potent scent of blood, her eyes glacial, she released the iron ring from her left hand.

The ring morphed into a sphere before her, emitting a nauseating blood stench that was almost unbearable.

Then, droplets of greenish-black blood, imbued with an icy power, shot towards the Yin Acolyte.

Upon closer inspection, each bead seemed to harbor a strand of Yuchan's remnant soul.

It was as though multiple echoes of Yuchan's spirit had transformed into phantoms, bolstering the potency of the greenish-black beads.

The beads hovered above the Yin Acolyte's head, then abruptly came to a halt.

Within them, the remnant souls—Yuchan's own—began to writhe and contort, taking on the visage of the Yin Acolyte in a most eerie transformation.

As the Yin Acolyte had once consumed Yan Tong, it appeared that Yuchan, within the beads, sought to engulf the Yin Acolyte's remnant soul.

"Lunar Spirit."

Yu Yuan watched the transformation of the greenish-black blood beads and understood that once a cultivator broke through to the Lunar Spirit realm, their battles would inevitably involve soul impacts.

"Everyone, stay away from them."

At his command, the crowd that had surged into the dilapidated palace receded like a tide, falling back behind him. Despite his admission that he might not be able to slay the Yin Acolyte who had emerged so suddenly, the people still instinctively rallied around him as their focal point. Yet, some cast resentful glances at him from behind, upset that he hadn't dispatched the Moonfiend with the same swift decisiveness as he had with Yan Tong, using his arm as a sword to reduce the Moonfiend to ashes in an instant.

"Yu Yuan, the Yin Acolyte isn't a physical being," Lee Yu whispered, clutching the Soul Orb. "Yan Tong's residual soul and flesh have been collected by him, giving the illusion of a body. But in reality, it's still an illusion. He's likely a unique type of soul from the forbidden area."

"Or perhaps, he's a mutated variant of a residual soul from a human cultivator who perished there."

"He hasn't spoken, which leads me to believe his consciousness isn't whole. The three souls of heaven, earth, and man are all lacking."

"It's possible he's only a fragment of the Lunar or Solar Spirit."

Despite the eerie presence of the Yin Acolyte, Lee Yu remained composed, without a trace of panic. "The Soulsever Staff wielded by Yan Lu is said to have originated from the Moonfall Sanctuary, brought back by those who explored it before us. Its provenance is incredibly ancient, and to this day, the Yan family is uncertain of its rightful owner or the sect it belongs to."

As Lee Yu spoke with Yu Yuan, the confrontation between Lee Yuchan and the Yin Acolyte was already underway, with the Yin Acolyte paying little heed to Yan Lu. Yan Lu's facial wounds had not worsened; he now sat bloodied, awkwardly applying a healing salve, and remarked, "The Soulsever Staff, referred to as the Soul Splitting Staff by the Moonfiend, must truly belong to this individual! The Yan family once sought the expertise of a sage who confirmed that the intricate carvings and arrays on the staff could not be replicated by any nation in Aetherius."

"Perhaps not even the sects or forces of the Land of Quiescence and Euwrea possess a similar formation."

"It seems to be a formation capable of integrating the aura of the soul. That's why I've renamed it the Soulsever Staff. After years of contemplation, I've discovered its profound ability to sever the soul."

Having reached this point, he no longer concealed anything from the Yin Acolyte.

He shared everything about the golden and silver short staff, hoping to assist Yu Yuan and provide Lee Yuchan with some insights.

"Crack!"

Golden and silver lightning burst forth from the pattern on the Soul Splitting Staff in the Yin Acolyte's grasp. The golden lightning continued to dance around the base of the staff.

The silver lightning, on the other hand, detached from the staff with lethal precision.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

One by one, the droplets of black blood released by Lee Yuchan were penetrated by the silver lightning.

The Yin Acolyte, still holding the Soul Splitting Staff, smiled.

He found amusement in Lee Yuchan's overestimation of her abilities.

Lee Yuchan, having recently achieved the Lunar Spirit state, clearly lacked sufficient Soul Power. Following the attack, as the black blood droplets were struck, she appeared somewhat deflated.

The black blood droplets coalesced once more, reforming into an iron ball that clamped around her arm.

"Lend me the Gutrender."

A torrent of blood scent burst from her elixir field within her chest. As she extended her hand to Lee Yu, all the acupoints in her body seemed to roar like malevolent demons.

The sword light etched into Yu Yuan's arm bone began to heat up quietly.

"No!"

He froze for an instant, then panic set in. He stared at Lee Yuchan and exclaimed, "Don't be reckless!"

He was unaware of any other malevolent spells Lee Yuchan might have practiced in addition to the Shadow Curse.

But as soon as Lee Yuchan activated the spell, the sword spirit instinctively reacted, and he realized that this spell was far from ordinary.

It was highly likely that the spell originated from the forbidden area, perhaps from a vanquished or still-suppressed alien soul or Sky Fiend.

Otherwise, the sword spirit wouldn't have been so acutely responsive.

Lee Yu, who had already called forth the Gutrender, hesitated after his urgent cry.

The Yin Acolyte, previously smirking beside Lee Yuchan, now wore a look of gravity.

It seemed he had detected the potent aura within Lee Yuchan's acupoints and the chilling, blood-soaked scent emanating from the Profound Gate.

This indicated that Lee Yuchan, ready to unveil her ultimate technique, was about to cast a spell with the Gutrender—a move that promised to be of significant origin and power.

"Wait! Just wait!"

Yu Yuan cried out once more, his eyes suddenly bulging as he stared at the White Paper Fan in his hands.

On the fan's surface, four ancient black characters emerged like wells, spewing forth billowing white smoke.

Four slender streams of smoke, no thicker than a toddler's fist, converged a meter in the air, swirling and morphing incessantly.

They transformed into the Yang Acolyte.

He was the spitting image of the Yin Acolyte, who was now cautiously observing Lee Yuchan.

The Yin Acolyte and Yang Acolyte were polar opposites: one was as cold as ice, the other as warm as fire; one embodied malice, the other benevolence; one robed in white, the other in black.

They were like the dual facets of the human heart.

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