Realm of the Night God

Tang Shi's speed was quite fast, and Yang Haoran had only glanced at a few collectibles when Tang Shi had already made arrangements for over a dozen ghosts and rushed to the collection room.

"Master!"

Tang Shi bowed respectfully towards Yang Haoran's back, and Yang Haoran first looked at the collectibles in his hand, then gently put them back in their original place before turning around with a smile on his face to look at Tang Shi.

"Sit down and let's chat slowly."

There was a stone table inside the collection room, with a stone chair on either side. Yang Haoran pointed to one of the stone chairs and smiled at Tang Shi.

"I'm fine standing."

Tang Shi didn't really sit down, but instead stood in place, respectfully responding to Yang Haoran.

"Hehe, there's only the two of us here, you don't need to be polite or reserved. You can sit down and feel at ease. Besides, this seat is yours by right."

Yang Haoran laughed and spoke, and Tang Shi saw that Yang Haoran had already said so much, so he didn't refuse again. According to Yang Haoran's intention, he sat down on the stone chair, but he didn't sit very casually, instead sitting up straight.

Tang Shi took the cigarette but didn't light it, and Yang Haoran didn't force the issue. Instead, he took a deep drag on his own cigarette before smiling at Tang Shi.

"Let's talk about those over a dozen malevolent spirits first."

The over a dozen ghosts Yang Haoran had seen in the training ground earlier were all malevolent spirit-level ghosts. Judging from the power fluctuations emanating from their bodies, they were only average among malevolent spirits.

Although they were only average malevolent spirits, and the gap between them and top-tier malevolent spirits was huge, over a dozen malevolent spirits were not a small number. For Yang Haoran at present, it was an absolute boost in power.

Suddenly having such a significant increase in power, Yang Haoran, as the master, was both shocked and delighted. However, he was very curious about how Tang Shi had achieved this, so he asked the question first.

Tang Shi heard this and nodded respectfully, then immediately explained.

"Master, the reason you didn't see any familiar faces this time is that the other ghosts were arranged by me to go on a mission shortly after you left last time. These over a dozen malevolent spirits are the harvest from their mission, but not all of it, just one part of it."

Yang Haoran listened very carefully, took a drag on his cigarette, and then looked at the collectibles in the collection room. The full series lives on My Virtual Library Empire (M|V|L0EMPYR).

"It seems that the additional collectibles in this collection room are also the harvest from their mission."

Yang Haoran smiled and spoke, and Tang Shi nodded in response.

"Master is correct, these additional collectibles are also one of their harvests, but their harvest is not limited to what Master has seen."

At this point, Tang Shi took out six black small bottles from his independent space and respectfully pushed them towards Yang Haoran.

Tang Shi had made rapid progress in his abilities since following Yang Haoran, and although he wasn't a top-tier existence among malevolent spirits, he was definitely able to rank among the upper echelons. His increased abilities had allowed him to successfully open up his own independent space.

Yang Haoran didn't find this strange or surprising, and at this time, all his attention was focused on the six black small bottles in front of him.

On these six black small bottles, he sensed the existence of Sealing Technique. He didn't immediately speak, but instead picked up one of the black small bottles and examined it carefully.

"This should be a soul-locking bottle."

Yang Haoran examined it carefully and confirmed that the small bottle in his hand was indeed a soul-locking bottle.

The other five black small bottles on the table were identical to the one in his hand, all of them soul-locking bottles.

The Underworld Envoy collects souls using soul gathering beads, but aside from soul gathering beads, there are many other methods and tools that can be used to collect souls. The soul-locking bottle is one of them. However, most of these tools are not as effective as soul gathering beads.

Although Yang Haoran had already determined that the six small black bottles were soul-locking bottles, he didn't say it with absolute certainty, instead asking Tang Shi in a somewhat uncertain tone.

"Are these small bottles indeed soul-locking bottles? I spent some effort to get them."

Tang Shi responded with respect, confirming Yang Haoran's guess.

"Since these small bottles are indeed soul-locking bottles, the things sealed inside with the Sealing Technique must be ghosts."

Each of the six small bottles had a Sealing Technique on them, and before the Sealing Technique was broken, it was impossible to sense what was inside the bottle. Yang Haoran was no exception.

However, since they were soul-locking bottles used to collect souls, Yang Haoran couldn't think of any other possibility besides ghosts being sealed inside with the Sealing Technique. He also believed that Tang Shi wouldn't be foolish enough to use soul-locking bottles to store other things and then seal them with a Sealing Technique.

"Master, your wisdom is like a torch. The six soul-locking bottles indeed have ghosts sealed inside with the Sealing Technique, and they are all malevolent spirits. Each bottle has one sealed inside. Due to the malevolent spirits' strong power, it's impossible to trap them with just the soul-locking bottle's power, so I sealed them with a Sealing Technique to prevent them from breaking out of the bottle."

When Yang Haoran heard that each of the six soul-locking bottles had a malevolent spirit sealed inside, his eyebrows slightly twitched, showing a mix of surprise and delight.

He didn't speak, instead slowly putting the soul-locking bottle back on the stone table. Tang Shi saw this and continued to explain.

"We've subdued a total of 23 malevolent spirits, with 17 willing to surrender. However, these six were extremely stubborn, and no matter what, I couldn't do any ideological work on them, so I sealed them in the soul-locking bottles, waiting for you to handle them."

It was impossible for Yang Haoran not to be pleased, as 23 malevolent spirits were no small number. Even for him, it was a staggering harvest, and he had no reason not to be happy.

His smile grew thicker as he looked at the six soul-locking bottles on the table, then shifted his gaze to Tang Shi.

"Heh, you've done a great job. Your achievements are even more surprising than I imagined. This team is more powerful under your management than when I managed it personally. I really didn't misjudge you. However, there's one thing I don't understand - with soul gathering beads available, why use these inferior soul-locking bottles?"

Yang Haoran asked with a smile, having already given Tang Shi a batch of soul gathering beads that he had modified.

The modification wasn't like a refiner's, directly changing the soul gathering bead's properties. Instead, he had added some restrictions and special methods to the soul gathering beads, making it easier for his ghosts to collect other ghosts.

Although it wasn't possible to control them like the Underworld Envoy, it was still possible to store ghosts that had lost their combat power in the soul gathering beads.

Soul gathering beads were just a common tool used by the Yin Division to collect souls, but their quality was much better than soul-locking bottles. Yang Haoran was puzzled as to why Tang Shi wouldn't use the soul gathering beads and instead used soul-locking bottles to seal souls.

Tang Shi immediately provided an explanation for Yang Haoran's puzzlement.

"Soul gathering beads are indeed better than soul-locking bottles, but if we use them too much, I'm worried it will bring trouble to you, Master. I can't guarantee that our people won't be discovered by a third party when using soul gathering beads."

Tang Shi's words made Yang Haoran's eyebrows slightly furrow. He thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Although soul gathering beads were common in the Yin Division, if a third party discovered them, they might not immediately think of Yang Haoran. However, if they found out that the ghosts under his command were all using soul gathering beads, it would definitely make people suspect that this mysterious organization was related to the Underworld Envoy, and they might even find his whereabouts, causing him a lot of trouble.

Not using soul gathering beads would reduce the risk, and no one would associate this mysterious organization with the Underworld Envoy, nor would they think of Yang Haoran.

"Heh, I'm usually cautious, but I still overlooked this point. You're more thorough than me."

Yang Haoran smiled and said, and Tang Shi hurriedly responded.

"Master, you're too kind. I dare not compare myself to you. Even the most cautious person can have oversights, and I just happened to think of this point."