174: The real assessment

When the whistling wind began to howl, Chu Shengfan knew that this "Safe Night" might not be very safe after all.

After about fifteen minutes, other noises seemed to mix into the wind, sounding like someone weeping or whispering.

When they had first arrived, the area was filled with dense, towering trees, but after a day of assessment, they had mostly been destroyed. Now, it had become a vast plain, offering a clear view from the flat ground.

So when phantoms gradually began to appear in the surroundings, Chu Shengfan and Ye Chunheng noticed them immediately.

Most of these phantoms were quite thin and hairless, with many protruding spikes on their heads. Eerie dark patterns were etched onto their blue faces, and their lower bodies were composed of pure mist.

Chu Shengfan's heart tightened; he had a very deep impression of this kind of Source Beast.

The "Heart-Bewitching Ghost." Aside from his grandfather's "Golden Jade Beast," this was the second Source Beast he had ever seen, and the memory was still fresh.

Most of these Heart-Bewitching Ghosts were at the Uncommon Rank, and Chu Shengfan also saw some double-horned "Mist-Resentment Ghosts" mixed among them.

A faint mist with a spirit-eroding effect slowly spread out under the cover of night.

Looking at the flickering figures, Chu Shengfan frowned and quickly had the "Myriad Flower Butterfly Spirit" scatter floral fragrance to block the encroaching mist.

Ye Chunheng looked at the Heart-Bewitching Ghosts and Mist-Resentment Ghosts with curiosity. "What kind of Source Beasts are these? I've never seen them before."

Chu Shengfan spoke softly, "Heart-Bewitching Ghosts and Mist-Resentment Ghosts. Legend has it that when human Contract Masters die Beyond the Border, their lingering spirits might transform from their bodies, forming these ghost-type Source Beasts."

Ye Chunheng carefully looked at the ugly ghosts around them, his expression full of disgust. "Then I definitely can't die Beyond the Border. If I turned into such an ugly thing, it would be worse than death."

People in this world had one virtue: they could quickly accept even the most absurd things.

"Do you know their weaknesses?" Ye Chunheng asked again.

"They excel at spiritual attacks and have the ability to possess others, but they seem very fragile themselves," Chu Shengfan explained, recalling his grandfather's description.

Ye Chunheng stood up by the campfire and clapped his hands. "Time to work, time to work."

The "Golden Orchid King Tiger" rose at his command, carrying a murderous aura as it leaped into the mist.

Under the casual attacks of its claws, those illusory figures shattered in the air like bubbles, but this action made the mist even thicker.

Seeing this, Chu Shengfan immediately stopped him. "Don't kill them yet. Don't you feel the mist getting thicker?"

The thick mist churned, bit by bit eroding the area the "Myriad Flower Butterfly Spirit" had cordoned off with its fragrance.

Ye Chunheng frowned and called back the "Golden Orchid King Tiger." "If we don't kill them, are we just supposed to sit here?"

That wasn't his style.

Chu Shengfan shook his head slightly. "This mist contains power that erodes the spirit. If we kill too many, I'm afraid that in the end, neither of us will be able to block the erosion and we'll just end up as their Puppets."

We can't just kill them; we need to find a way to obliterate them directly so no energy leaks out to nourish the mist."

Ye Chunheng wiped his palms. "Let me do it."

As he spoke, a furry, ball-like creature about the size of a human head appeared beside him. It had no wings, yet it could float quietly in the air.

Chu Shengfan looked closely before finally finding its mung-bean-sized eyes on the furry sphere.

After this little fellow appeared, it looked around curiously. Once it sensed the floral fragrance in the air, it began to suck it in frantically.

Visibly, a large gap appeared in the Domain created by the pink fragrance, and the surrounding mist rushed in to fill the void.

Seeing it wanted to keep inhaling, Ye Chunheng quickly stopped it, slapping it out of the pink fragrance Domain, where it crashed into several "Mist-Resentment Ghosts."

Seeing a Source Beast approach, the Mist-Resentment Ghosts immediately attacked. Greenish-blue mist, sharp claws, and ubiquitous whispering all converged on the ball-like Source Beast at once.

When the claws poked the Source Beast, its resilient body instantly caved in, but it returned to its original shape as soon as the claws left.

Faced with these attacks, the ball Source Beast seemed to grow annoyed. It let out a soft cry, and a rift suddenly opened in the sky above the area, followed by a terrifying suction force.

In an instant, everything in the surrounding area—the mist, as well as the Mist-Resentment Ghosts and Heart-Bewitching Ghosts surrounding the ball Source Beast—was sucked inside.

In just a short moment, another large area was cleared.

The ball Source Beast turned toward Ye Chunheng, floating in the air, clearly wanting to return to his side. Its tiny eyes shone with a strange light as it looked at the pink floral Domain.

However, through their mental link, Ye Chunheng sternly refused it and pointed at the still-increasing illusory figures, ordering it to continue dealing with those Source Beasts.

Chu Shengfan watched the ball Source Beast easily deal with the Mist-Resentment Ghosts. This second Source Beast of Ye Chunheng's seemed even more mysterious than the Wang Hu.

Except its trait seemed to be... gluttony.

The night deepened. At some point, the flickering figures stopped increasing. With the ball Source Beast guarding them, a large area around Ye Chunheng and Chu Shengfan remained clear.

The figures even seemed afraid, no longer approaching but simply standing far off.

Chu Shengfan frowned at this scene, feeling something was wrong. Even if the ball Source Beast countered these figures, this nighttime Source Beast assessment seemed far too peaceful compared to the day; the intensity wasn't even on the same level.

Was something big being saved for later?

The two waited like this until dawn, without seeing any other special changes.

When the rising sun cast its first rays of light, the white mist in the air began to sizzle and boil like oil in a hot pan, gradually dissipating.

Even the figures showed smiles of liberation. Chu Shengfan thought the night had successfully passed.

Suddenly, those illusory figures overlapped at a certain moment, as if being fused together by an unknown entity.

An aura of desolation and despair spread across the plain.

The fused figures slowly formed a figure about three meters tall, but with an incredibly solid body.

And there wasn't just one. Looking down from the sky, there was one every few kilometers, and their Realm had reached the terrifying Spirit Rank Upper Stage.

"The hunt officially begins."

As if on signal, these monsters—with double horns, iron armor, and dark red skin—opened their fierce eyes filled with infinite malice, casually condensing cleavers in their hands.

They then slashed toward the nearest Examinees.

The Safe Night was over; the real assessment had just begun.