Chapter Ninety: Mistening

“Is it... over?”

The instant the mass of vital force struck him, Xiao Xiao had thought he was surely done for. A blast that large had to be terrifying in its power.

Yet as the light faded, he found himself utterly unharmed. He instinctively touched his body, and just as his senses had told him, he was unscathed.

“What is going on?”

Xiao Xiao stared in astonishment, thinking at first that this blast of vital force was not famed for its destructive power, but for some other effect.

He pondered it for a long while, but could not figure out where the problem lay, until he heard Feng Baobao say, “Looks like it only knocks over a can.”

Xiao Xiao: “?”

Are you kidding me? That grand, overwhelming momentum, and in the end it only topples a can... this is absurd.

For a moment, Xiao Xiao felt thoroughly mocked, and irritation rose in his heart. He used his breath-blowing technique again, and this time its power was far greater than before.

Feng Baobao had no choice but to abandon long-range attacks.

But this time, she seemed to have found a way to counter it. Rather than keeping her distance from the flying strikes, she circled around them and closed in on Xiao Xiao to within three steps.

...

...

“Interesting.”

Below the stage, Ye Yan watched with keen interest.

By contrast, Zhang Churan beside him had begun to grow anxious. “Brother Yan, do you think Sister Bao’er can beat Xiao Xiao in this fight?”

“No problem.”

Ye Yan’s reply was certain.

Having already witnessed the breath-blowing technique, he had naturally discerned its pattern: once one got within three steps, there was a chance to counter it.

And Feng Baobao had clearly figured that out as well, carrying the torrent of breath-blown force with her as she weaved in circles.

As the wielder of the technique, Xiao Xiao could control its direction, but not with perfect precision.

The tiny instant between breaths was his greatest flaw; if that moment could be seized, then there was a chance to win this match.

And indeed,

Not long after Ye Yan finished speaking, Xiao Xiao below had already taken a palm strike from Feng Baobao.

“Damn it.”

Xiao Xiao only felt the pressure mounting. He could do nothing but launch a fiercer assault, never imagining that all of this lay within Feng Baobao’s calculations, and that what she was waiting for was the next moment of inhalation.

At the very instant the breath-blowing technique was about to end, Feng Baobao suddenly shifted course, using Xiao Xiao’s knee as a stepping stone to leap high into the air.

Just as the technique was about to fire, Feng Baobao covered Xiao Xiao’s mouth with both hands, layered in vital force.

In an instant,

The force of the technique exploded within Xiao Xiao’s body.

Struck by his own move, Xiao Xiao’s soul also shattered at once, scattering wildly in all directions.

“Not good...”

Ye Yan suddenly cried out.

“What is it, Brother Yan?”

Zhang Churan, who had only moments ago been rejoicing in victory, was startled by those words.

He had no idea what was happening.

“That guy’s soul has dispersed.” Ye Yan slowly rose, intending to summon the demon banner.

But just as he was about to act, to use the banner spirit’s power to gather the spirit and stabilize Xiao Xiao’s soul, Feng Baobao on the stage suddenly moved.

She inhaled sharply, and with a force as though to swallow mountains and rivers, drew all the surrounding air into her mouth.

“What is Sister Bao’er doing?”

For Zhang Churan, matters of the soul were an unknown and mysterious realm; he looked down below in confusion, not understanding what was happening.

“Baobao is gathering his scattered soul for him.”

Since Feng Baobao had already moved, there was little point in Ye Yan using the demon banner now. He simply watched to see what she would do.

From Ye Yan’s perspective, the soul fragments scattered around Xiao Xiao were rapidly being drawn into Feng Baobao’s body.

But the venue was too vast; she could not take in all the flowing energy in the arena. Part of Xiao Xiao’s soul still remained exposed in the air, drifting farther and farther away at a steady pace.

Seeing this, Ye Yan knew that if he did not act, Xiao Xiao’s fate would likely be grim. Even if the soul fragments Feng Baobao had gathered were pushed back into his body, he would still become a senseless fool because of the missing pieces of his soul.

So he simply summoned his unused demon banner. The banner flew from his sleeve, and a dark green radiance instantly enveloped the entire arena.

Within that dark green glow, the soul fragments that had been drifting away were seized by an unseen force and slowly drawn back.

“Baobao, spit it out.”

Once the scattered soul had gathered together, Ye Yan spoke again to Feng Baobao on the stage.

Hearing him, Feng Baobao, who had been holding her breath all this time, finally opened her mouth and expelled the soul she had inhaled into her belly.

With a burst of air, the dispersed soul, under the pull of that dark green power, gathered once more into Xiao Xiao’s original form, only now wrapped in a veil of deep green light.

“What is that?”

Ye Yan’s sudden intervention drew cries of surprise from the stands, and many people turned to look.

But when they saw that it was Ye Liangchen, their expressions quickly settled.

Ye Yan was Ye Liangchen.

This had already become the audience’s shared understanding.

In the distance, the Celestial Master, who had also intended to act, stopped at once and watched with great interest.

There had been many rumors about Ye Yan, but for someone like the Celestial Master, who had spent years in seclusion, he was still relatively unfamiliar.

All his information had come from news reports, gossip, and various insider tidbits.

The last time Ye Yan defeated Zhang Lingyu, it had happened in an instant. Though it was enough to tell that Ye Yan was strong, the exact extent of his strength remained unclear. This was the first time the Celestial Master had truly seen Ye Yan’s abilities.

“So this is the Demon Banner of Radiance?”

Not only the Celestial Master, but Lu Jin beside him also had a faint gleam in his eyes as he murmured to himself.

As the power of the demon banner continued to radiate, Xiao Xiao’s soul gradually became transparent, dissolving into mist.

After fully gathering the soul, Ye Yan leaped down from the stands with the banner in one hand, heading to where Xiao Xiao’s body lay.

Upon reaching him, he swept his sleeve. The already increasingly mistlike soul turned into a streak of blue light and was driven into Xiao Xiao’s body. With his soul restored, Xiao Xiao, who had seemed to be sunk in deathly stillness, came back to life once more.

“Done.”

Having gathered the soul, Ye Yan waved a hand and drew the unused demon banner back into his sleeve.

The Radiant Demon Banner, one of the three treasures of the Night Watchman, had two abilities: one was to house the banner spirits, and the other was mistlike transformation.

The ability Ye Yan had just used was the mistlike transformation, a form of soul-seizing technique.

Seeing Ye Yan’s fluid, effortless display, even the Celestial Master and Lu Jin on the stage could not help but marvel.

“The Night Watchman truly is no ordinary matter.”