214: The fisherman reaps the benefits

"Hah... hah..." Fannojia spoke first, his voice like a broken metal bellows, carrying a hoarseness and extreme weakness, but that mockery etched into his very bones had not diminished in the slightest. "Look... look at this... pathetic state of yours... You An... you burned yourself... and the result... is still just a puddle of mud..."

You An's shriveled chest heaved with difficulty a few times; it seemed even making a sound was extremely arduous.

In his only remaining eye that could still focus, bloodshot veins were dense, filled with crazed hatred.

"Fa... Fannojia... you... you damned... bug..." His voice was intermittent, like sandpaper rubbing against dry bones.

"You... aren't doing... any better... Ptooey! If not for... if not for that bullshit 'token of pioneering'... I would have long since... smashed you into... meat paste!"

"Heh heh... still... hard-mouthed..." Fannojia let out a low, ambiguous chuckle, which pulled at his wounds and made him twitch uncontrollably.

"Admit it... trash... you just... aren't as good as me... I have the token of pioneering... I recover faster than you... your 'Wind Seal'... will soon... be mine..."

"Yours...? Dream on!" You An seemed stimulated by these words; his voice suddenly rose a notch, carrying a desperate roar.

"Even if I... return the seal to the heavens and earth... I will not... let it benefit you, you... despicable bastard!"

"That... is not up to you..." Fannojia's voice turned cold again, a greedy light flickering deep within his dim eyes.

Just at this moment, as they cursed each other and vented their final resentment, the anomaly descended again, silently.

Wisps... like the finest ink lines, or perhaps some kind of living shadow... black mist, without any warning, seeped out from You An's charred and shriveled body surface!

The mist was extremely faint, at first like a stain, but soon, as if possessing life, it began to slowly flow, spread, and wrap around his broken skeleton.

"Hm?" You An felt something wrong first; he struggled to turn his eyeball to look at his own arm... that black mist, like a living viper, was crawling along his charred bones!

"What... is this?!" You An's consciousness was instantly filled with terror.

"Fannojia! You bastard! What did you do to me?! Is this your doing?!"

Almost at the same time, from the cracks in Fannojia's shattered carapace, wisps of black mist also... seeped out!

They seemed even more... active than those on You An, like tiny tentacles, wandering and exploring his remaining limbs and charred tissue.

"What is this thing?!" Fannojia shuddered violently; his weakness prevented him from making a larger reaction, but the horror in his eyes was beyond measure.

He immediately looked at You An opposite him, and seeing the black mist spreading on the other's body as well, a chill shot straight to his nearly stagnant core of thought.

"You An! You damned piece of fat! When did you... play this dirty trick?!" Fannojia screeched, his voice becoming abnormally sharp due to weakness and shock.

"What is this ghostly thing?! You want to use such dirty means... to kill me?!"

In extreme weakness and mutual suspicion, they unanimously pointed the source of this eerie black mist to their only enemy.

After all, besides the other, who else could it be?

But when they both saw the anomaly on each other, no matter how impossible it seemed, they knew their guess was wrong.

"Not you?!" You An's only remaining, bloodshot pupil suddenly contracted, staring fixedly at Fannojia, who was also wrapped in black mist.

The sound from his shriveled throat carried incredulous astonishment.

"Heh... you think... I would use... this kind of... low-class..." Fannojia's voice was also filled with horror and... a trace of realization.

He looked at the eerie black mist on You An that was exactly the same as his own, and a cold chill, deeper than his injuries, pierced into his consciousness.

It wasn't You An. Nor was it himself. Then...

"Who?!" You An suddenly raised his head, which was nothing but a skeleton, and let out a hoarse roar towards the empty Void Realm.

"Who is it?! Come out!!

"You coward... hiding your head and showing your tail!" Fannojia also screeched, his voice distorted by extreme weakness and anger.

"You think because we... are both heavily injured... you can... reap the benefits?!"

His consciousness turned frantically, trying to find clues of this mastermind, but the intense pain and the loss of power made his thinking like a rusted gear, difficult to operate.

"Come out and die!!" You An roared in fury, trying to struggle, but the black mist was like shackles with substance, firmly binding him in place, and he could only watch helplessly as his remaining vitality was continuously drained.

Anger, terror, unwillingness... all kinds of emotions churned in the hearts of the two dying arch-enemies.

The hatred between them seemed to be temporarily suppressed at this moment, jointly directed at that despicable third party hiding in the shadows!

Just amidst their futile curses.

The Void Realm in front of them... that area which had just experienced a baptism of destructive storms and was filled with energy turbulence... silently... darkened.

A figure, as if condensing and stepping out from the purest shadow, floated calmly between You An and Fannojia just like that.

There was no earth-shattering Aura, no violent energy fluctuations, and not even a sound was made.

He just stood there quietly, like the Void Realm itself, eternal and unchanging, deep, cold, and unfathomable.

Those wisps of black mist that were wrapping around and eroding You An and Fannojia were spreading from his body... or rather, from the "shadow" that constituted his body!

"Who are you?!" You An's pupil was about to burst out of his shriveled eye socket, because no matter how he racked his brains, he simply could not find any information about this guy in front of him.

"Is it you... playing tricks?!" Fannojia's voice was full of unwillingness.

Xiang Yan did not respond at all.

He just calmly "watched" these two prey who had no power to resist.

That gaze carried no emotion, like observing specimens.

The next moment.

He moved.

Without any extra movement, he simply extended a "hand"—a giant palm formed of denser black mist, grabbing them in one go.

Whoosh—!!

The black mist wrapped around You An and Fannojia suddenly became dense and violent!

Like living darkness, it instantly engulfed them completely!!

"No—!!

"Bastard! Let me go! My 'Wind Seal'!!

"token of pioneering... no... ahhh!!!"

The final roars and curses came to an abrupt end.

The black mist churned and writhed; faintly visible within were weak lights flickering a few times.

That was the final struggle of the "Wind Seal" and the "token of pioneering", but they were soon completely extinguished, assimilated, and absorbed by that deep darkness.

A moment later.

The black mist slowly rolled back, retreating into Xiang Yan's body like a receding tide.

In place, only Xiang Yan's lonely shadow remained.

You An and Fannojia, along with the "Wind Seal" and "token of pioneering" they cherished, had completely vanished, as if they had never existed in this Void Realm.

Xiang Yan floated quietly, the Aura around his body seeming... a bit more substantial.

In his core of consciousness, information regarding the "Wind Rule", "Wind Seal", and "token of pioneering" was being rapidly parsed, absorbed, and verified.

A moment later, Xiang Yan's form began to change, and then he sped off in one direction.