Chapter 352: Chapter 137: Can the Demon Suppression Guard Slay Zhang Yunpeng? If Not, Then I Quit This Useless Guard

At the same time, his spectral form swelled once more, transforming into a towering, colossal deity.

He extended his right hand. Countless complex and profound golden Runes swirled and shone in his palm like living things, carrying a brilliant divine might that could purify and suppress all as he reached for the Resentful Spirit!

The Resentful Spirit sensed the mortal threat and flew into a complete frenzy. It let out a deafening roar and struggled with all its might.

The jet-black chains were pulled taut, rattling violently. The immense force tore deep, bottomless ravines into the surrounding ground in an Earth-Shaking display!

But Yue Mankong’s giant, Rune-covered hand seemed to ignore the distance between them, clamping down precisely on the Resentful Spirit’s ever-shifting form!

HUMMMMM—!

The golden light and the black qi violently collided, corroding one another and emitting an unsettling sizzling sound.

Suppressed by that vast, purifying power, the Resentful Spirit’s shrieks grew more wretched and piercing. Its massive body visibly shrank, and the vicious aura surrounding it was forcibly quelled.

By the time its body had shrunk to just over ten feet tall, the light from Yue Mankong’s giant, Rune-covered hand had dimmed noticeably, and had even begun to tremble faintly...

Clearly, suppressing this vile creature—an amalgamation of countless Resentful Souls—was no easy task, not even for the spiritual projection of a powerhouse like him.

All the while, Chu Fan kept a hawkish gaze fixed on Zhang Yunpeng, who stood not far away.

Zhang Yunpeng seemed to be watching nervously, but in reality, his body was slightly hunched, his aura faintly stirring.

Chu Fan silently tightened his grip on the hilt of his Thunder Blade, his muscles coiling like a leopard poised to strike. If Zhang Yunpeng dared to make the slightest move, he would be met with a heaven-shattering blow!

Suddenly, Yue Mankong’s spectral form spoke again, his voice carrying a strange, penetrating quality directed at something on Chu Fan’s person. "Demon Sealing Guide, if not now, then when?! Come!"

Chu Fan felt the Finger Bone, which he kept close to his chest, suddenly grow hot.

The Finger Bone, which contained the sealed Resentful Shadow Avatar, burst through his clothes of its own accord. It transformed into a streak of black light and, as if sentient, shot with a speed the naked eye could barely follow, embedding itself precisely into the body of the Resentful Spirit pinned by the giant hand!

"This is..."

Chu Fan was slightly stunned.

He had long known that the Finger Bone sealed a Resentful Shadow Avatar.

He knew that back then, the main Resentful Spirit had sent him a dream while he and Zhao Tianxing were at White Tiger Mountain, luring him to the Soul Refining Array to help it escape. The only reason it had contacted him was because Nuannuan’s Resentful Spirit, sealed within the Finger Bone, recognized him.

Later, the Resentful Spirit inside the Finger Bone was sealed by Yue Mankong’s Paperman avatar.

Chu Fan didn’t understand. ’Why would the Demon Suppression Envoy force the Resentful Shadow Avatar into its main body now? What is he trying to do?’

’Isn’t he just making the Resentful Spirit stronger?’

’Or... did Yue Mankong tamper with the Finger Bone long ago?’

"AAAAARGH—!!!"

As Chu Fan’s thoughts raced, the instant the Finger Bone entered its body, the Resentful Spirit let out a wretched howl more piercing than any before, as if its very essence was under assault.

Chains shot out from the Finger Bone, piercing through its body and locking down the countless Resentful Souls within the Resentful Spirit!

Its ever-shifting form suddenly dissolved into chaos. At one moment it would reveal a ferocious man’s face, the next it would become the Ghost Shadow of a venomous woman. Finally, after a violent contortion, its form was forced to settle into the appearance of the little girl originally sealed in the Finger Bone—Nuannuan! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

But this "Nuannuan" had eyes as red as blood and was wreathed in a monstrous, resentful aura.

She strained with both hands against the pressure of Yue Mankong’s giant hand. Suddenly, she whipped her head around and looked at the vigilant Chu Fan with tear-filled eyes. Her voice, sorrowful and mournful, pierced straight to his Divine Soul. "Big Brother... save me... It hurts so much..."

The voice seemed to possess a strange, demonic power. It amplified all the negative emotions deep within Chu Fan’s heart—his reluctance, his guilt, his regret over his own powerlessness, and his pity for a life lost. These feelings grew like wild weeds, causing his spirit to waver and his eyes to redden involuntarily.

"Halt!"

Just as Chu Fan’s will was about to break, Yue Mankong’s voice boomed like a great temple bell, detonating in his Sea of Consciousness and scattering the chaotic, negative emotions.

"Chu Fan, guard your mind! Wake up!"

"She is not Nuannuan! It’s the Resentful Main Soul mimicking Nuannuan’s form to bewitch you!"

"Nuannuan’s Resentful Soul and her brother’s remnant soul are being suppressed deep within by the Resentful Main Soul! Quick, use your voice and call to them! Use your faint connection to the Finger Bone to awaken them!"

"Only by letting Nuannuan’s relatively pure Resentful Soul take command and temporarily replace the chaotic, frenzied Resentful Main Soul can I seal the entire entity within the Finger Bone! This will not only resolve the immediate crisis, but if you slowly purify its resentful energy in the future, this ’tamed’ Resentful Spirit could become a powerful asset to you! Hurry!"

Yue Mankong’s voice was urgent and clear. At the same time, the giant hand suppressing the Resentful Spirit trembled more violently, its golden light flickering—he was clearly reaching his limit!

Though Zhang Yunpeng, standing not far behind Chu Fan, couldn’t hear Yue Mankong’s Divine Thought transmission, he acutely sensed that the light of the spectral form was dimming and wavering. It seemed Yue Mankong was about to lose his grip on the shrunken Resentful Spirit, and he couldn’t conceal the ecstatic glint in his eyes.

The hand hidden within his sleeve lifted slightly as a wisp of subtle energy gathered at his fingertips.

But a single cold glance from Chu Fan sent a chill down his spine, and he didn’t dare make a rash move.

’This kid killed an expert at the Fourth Heaven of the Divine Power Realm in just a few moves!’

’And I, the County Magistrate, am only at the First Heaven of the Divine Power Realm!’

’If I want to kill him, I’ll have to use that Exotic Treasure... ’

’But that Exotic Treasure is meant for sealing the Resentful Spirit.’

"Nuannuan! Wake up! See who I am!"

While Zhang Yunpeng hesitated, Chu Fan shook his head sharply to clear away his distracting thoughts. He stepped forward as instructed and, mustering all his strength, shouted at the "Nuannuan" with blood-red eyes.

The "Nuannuan" formed from the Resentful Spirit heard his voice, and her body shuddered violently!

For an instant, as those blood-red eyes filled with violent, destructive desire looked at Chu Fan, they flickered with genuine confusion and struggle.

The blood-red color receded slightly, revealing a trace of the clarity and fear that belonged to the little girl, Nuannuan.

"Now!"

How could Yue Mankong, who was already prepared, possibly miss such a fleeting, golden opportunity?