C745 Treating the Water
Rahu, who had silently emerged in Yu Yuan's Mindscape, was merely a fragment of her spirit.
This manifestation of Rahu possessed only a fraction of her true strength—perhaps as little as one percent. Yet, she was the Ghost King!
In the Land of Terror, even a peak Ghost King wielding a mere one percent of her Soul Power could effortlessly annihilate a Lunar Spirit cultivator who dared to enter her realm.
This was because the Ghost King held the advantages of time, location, and harmony of people, and her level of cultivation towered far above that of a Lunar Spirit!
Moreover, this incarnation of Rahu, formed from a wisp of her spirit, was still within Yu Yuan's Mindscape!
With a chilling gaze, the Rahu Ghost King watched as a brilliantly gleaming, sharp awl sped towards Yu Yuan's soul, where the layers of heaven, earth, and man converged.
"Let's see how you handle this!" she taunted.
Yu Yuan had arrived in his real body, wielding the infamous Crucible of Evil from the Everlands, and had mastered the arcane arts of the Boulderdawn Sect. Rahu had to regard him with a heightened sense of respect.
She maintained a cautious stance towards the Boulderdawn Sect, not daring to act too recklessly.
Indeed, the Spirit Magic of the Boulderdawn Sect was so formidable that even the Sky Fiend and the Otherkin from the far reaches of the Star River trembled at its mention!
Rahu had been covertly observing Yu Yuan's practice of the Boulderdawn's Spirit Magic. Whether or not Yu Yuan acknowledged it, she considered him one of their own.
Even as the newly risen Ghost King of the Land of Terror, she knew to approach a member of the Boulderdawn Sect with due caution.
"Ugh!" Yu Yuan suddenly felt an excruciating pain at his brow, making him let out an involuntary scream.
In that moment, it seemed as though millions of foreign entities were flooding into his Mindscape!
The following instant made it clear that it was no illusion.
Whoosh!
Out of nowhere, hundreds, if not thousands, of "Bane" materialized from every direction within Yu Yuan's Mindscape!
Before his soul, the swarming "Bane" swiftly arranged themselves into a mystical formation, almost instantly creating a "well"-shaped Soul Nexus.
A thunderous roar from the cauldron spirit burst forth in Yu Yuan's Mindscape.
"Soul Prison!"
The peculiar "well"-shaped rune circle engulfed the sharp awl hurled by Rahu, the Ghost King. Within the "well," numerous "Banes" writhed like a millstone grinding soybeans, methodically pulverizing the sharp awl.
Hiss, hiss!
Throughout this process, "Banes" were continuously reduced to ash, while new ones swooped in to patch the breaches in the Soul Prison, ensuring the rune circle's uninterrupted operation.
Simultaneously, Yu Yuan realized that his Mindscape was accessible to the "Banes."
The Frost Queen and the Second Bane, not being of pure soul spirit form, could not penetrate his Mindscape to join the battle as they were now.
However, newly formed "Banes," entirely ethereal spirited bodies, could directly enter his Mindscape and serve his purposes!
"Crucible of Evil!"
Rahu's expression grew even colder. Seeing her initial strike thwarted, she prepared to strike once more.
Swoosh!
The Soul Prison's configuration abruptly shifted, morphing into the vortex of Soul Shatter, lunging at the spirit of Rahu's ghost.
Crackling sounds filled the air!
At that very moment, Yu Yuan, standing within the cauldron in his real body, witnessed hundreds of "Banes" obliterated by the biting cold wind.
Rahu's manifested form, a deity-like colossal figure, with a hand that could obscure the sky, was poised to strike down upon the Crucible of Evil.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Behind him, the babbling brook at the base of the iridescent Shadow Mountain underwent a miraculous transformation.
The sound of flowing water vanished without a trace.
The stream, linked to the Root of the Lunar Meridian, was the wellspring of Rahu's Spirit Magic. It was the cornerstone of her mastery of numerous arcane techniques and the source of power for the phantoms of the Spectres in the flower basket!
The cessation of the river's flow signified that Rahu could now only depend on the power she had painstakingly cultivated over the years to battle against White Bone and Yu Yuan.
"Who's there?"
Rahu, suspended in the sky, keenly detected the anomaly and her face took on a tinge of concern.
She was well aware that the streams and rivers formed by condensed Yin Qi were the greatest distinction between the Ghost King and the Spectres!
The Yin Qi at the base of Shadow Mountain wasn't refined enough; it could only be gradually collected and refined during cultivation to enhance one's strength.
Spectres couldn't directly seize Yin Qi from within Shadow Mountain to boost their combat power in the heat of battle.
This was precisely why White Bone had the audacity to leave his domain and challenge three other Spectres of equal rank, easily securing victory.
Regardless of its elevation, Shadow Mountain provided only a gradual enhancement to a Spectre's power.
However, when Yin Qi was refined to its purest form, condensing into droplets within a stream, it could be directly harnessed without further purification, transforming into the Ghost King's power.
As long as the river, which connected to the Root of the Lunar Meridian, continued to flow, Rahu wouldn't even need to tap into her own strength. She could draw Yin Qi from the river to sustain her in battle indefinitely.
This was one of the fundamental differences between the Ghost King and the Spectres.
But now, in the midst of battle, Rahu was suddenly filled with dread as she discovered that the river beneath her Shadow Mountain had ceased to flow, and she had no idea why.
Her anxiety only grew until she saw Jiang Xingwen emerge...
Jiang Xingwen, her slender waist encircled by the jade belt known as the "River of Souls," had left her followers behind, appearing alone with an ethereal presence.
"Greetings, Ghost King Rahu." She offered a respectful bow from a distance, her smile serene and apologetic.
The "River of Souls" was a legacy of Dhoreus, originating from the Land of Terror and rumored to be intimately connected to the Root of the Lunar Meridian. With it, Jiang Xingwen could traverse the spatial distances of the Land of Terror in an instant.
Especially when it came to a Shadow Mountain where Yin Qi had condensed into droplets and formed a river.
She could even use the "River of Souls" to pinpoint the river and reach it in a single breath.
"Did the river at the base of my mountain stop flowing because of you? Because of that object at your waist?" Rahu, the Ghost King, was visibly displeased.
Jiang Xingwen's sudden arrival had gone unnoticed by Rahu, which defied all logic.
Even as she had to contend with White Bone and divert her attention to Yu Yuan's real body and the souls within the Mindscape, she should have been able to detect any unusual soul ripples within a thousand miles.
Jiang Xingwen would only fail to notice if someone used Spatial Shift to appear abruptly.
Ironically, that's exactly how Jiang Xingwen had arrived.
"Lord Rahu, your time as a Ghost King has been brief, leaving you with an inadequate understanding of this realm," Jiang Xingwen said with a light laugh, gesturing to the green jade belt at her waist. "This may be the only object in the entire Land of Terror capable of restraining the Shadow Stream."
"River of Souls!" Rahu, the Ghost King, scoffed.
She was aware of the item's legendary properties and its connection to the Root of the Lunar Meridian, but she hadn't anticipated the River of Souls possessing such astounding power!
Sizzle sizzle!
Just then, White Bone, trapped in the flower basket and being dragged down by the Spectres' phantoms, suddenly burst into terrifying white flames.
The phantoms, engulfed by the white fire, disintegrated into nothingness.
This occurred because the pure Yin Qi fueling the phantoms ceased as the stream stopped flowing.
The cessation of the stream indicated that no Shadow Water was spilling out, preventing the phantoms within the flower basket from being replenished, allowing White Bone to break free.
With a swift whoosh, the gleaming white skeleton emerged from the flower basket and stood outside.
Simultaneously, the fierce cold wind calmed. The wall safeguarding Yu Yuan quickly solidified, no longer needing to burn the "Bane" to power it.
Even in Yu Yuan's Mindscape, Rahu's spirit vanished without a trace.
The towering figure of Rahu, the Ghost King, rapidly diminished in the sky above, and in a brief moment, she reverted to her slender and fragile form.
She once again held the flower basket in her hands.
