More than a dozen black shadows formed from resentment lunged at him from all directions with astonishing speed.
They had no physical bodies, yet they carried a chilling presence that could directly corrode the soul. Even the air seemed to freeze in their wake.
This was a purely spiritual attack, one of the hardest kinds for a Nen user to defend against.
Ordinary Ten or Ken offered little protection against such an attack. Once that resentment invaded the body, it could cause mental derangement at best, or send one's Nen aura berserk and kill them on the spot at worst.
At the foot of the mountain, the members of the Heretic Inquisition Squad watching the summit through binoculars all blanched at the sight.
"They're... they're the Sacred Vine's guardian spirits!"
"Heavens! He... he's angered the Sacred Relic!"
The man in the bird-beak mask clutched his binoculars, his palms slick with sweat.
He knew better than anyone how terrifying these guardian spirits were.
Once, an expert from the Elders' Council, confident in his own strength, had tried to forcibly take a branch from the Sacred Vine. The guardian spirits had suddenly appeared and torn his soul to pieces, leaving him a mindless husk.
After that, no one had dared venture within ten meters of the Sacred Vine.
This man in white was as powerful as a monster, but could he withstand an attack that acted directly upon the soul?
Just as everyone began to fear for Lin Yan...
Up on the summit, Lin Yan remained utterly unruffled as the dozen or so resentment-born spirits hurtled toward him.
He did not even strengthen the true qi protecting his body.
He simply stood there quietly, watching the approaching shadows with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"So that's it. They aren't actual