Walking along Ye Gui Feng careful observes the Celestial Spirit without them noticing his presence.
(Hmm...)
Pondering for a bit Ye Gui Feng notices that the face of the Celestial Spirit doesn't resemble that of Bai Yan'er at all.
(I would think that he would have a connection to big sis Yan'er but that doesn't seem to be the case. However this is in the past so maybe he would have a connection to her eventually as time drags on.)
As for the kind of impression that Ye Gui Feng has in mind for this Celestial Spirit on the personality side of things-
(I would say he's definitely the arrogant and bratty type.)
As 30 minutes go by silently the Celestial Spirit abruptly stops walking as they spread out their spirit senses to check their surroundings.
[...]
As this is happening Ye Gui Feng raises a finger and points to the distance while sending out a force of will.
This force of will manifests into the form of a rank ten ghost.
The ghost itself is dressed in a purple set of robes with an aura of malicious intent exuding from their somewhat transparent body.
In the ghost's right hand is a slightly damaged sword that is as wide as two fingers and measures at a length of 70 centimeters excluding the handle.
Within a split second this ghost is detected by the Celestial Spirit whose eyes let out a gleam of light.
Retracting their spirit senses the Celestial Spirit immediately breaks into a run to head towards the ghost.
Appearing in front of the rank ten ghost in almost an instant the Celestial Spirit maintains his speed and continues to charge towards it without stopping as he swings out a fist!
Looking in the direction of its attacker the ghost raises the damaged sword in its right hand.
*BOOM!!!!!!* the thick wall of fog around the Celestial Spirit and the ghost is blown apart by the shockwave of the collision.
The fragile looking blade surprisingly doesn't shatter from the force of the Celestial Spirit's punch.
As for the fist of the Celestial Spirit the sword didn't even managed to cut through it, much less make it bleed.
Withdrawing their fist the Celestial Spirit strikes out another punch.
*Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!! Klang!!!* repeatedly the punches of the Celestial Spirit are blocked off by the fragile looking sword of the ghost that holds it with both hands.
(...)
Ye Gui Feng looks on while manipulating the movements of the ghost to continue blocking the hits of the Celestial Spirit.
(With his current physical strength I would say that this Celestial Spirit will at most be capable of toppling a mountain.)
*Klang!!!* deflecting a hit the ghost goes onto the offensive as they take a step forward and cleaves down from above!
*Klang!!!* holding up their arm in the form of an X the Celestial Spirit puts up a guarding stance to block the falling sword but before the sword makes contact with their arm the ghost lifts up its right foot and kicks back the Celestial Spirit!
The force of the kick causes the Celestial Spirit's locked arms to be lifted upwards as they are knocked off to the side while the feet of the Celestial Spirit is lifted off of the ground.
Thrown back by the kick of the ghost the Celestial Spirit finds himself in a state of unbalance upon the tip of their feet touching the ground once more.
Taking this chance the ghost moves forward in a single step.
Appearing right in front of the Celestial Spirit that is in the midst of recovering from their state of unbalance the ghost cleaves the sword down mercilessly!
[...!]
A diagonal cut is made onto the chest of the Celestial Spirit as a dense mist of magic energy bursts out from the opened wound!
Without stopping the ghost continues to make a series of cuts causing more wounds to rapidly appear on the body of the Celestial Spirit.
(...)
Seeing the Celestial Spirit still not making a move to retaliate Ye Gui Feng constricts his eyes.
(Although his flesh and blood body is extremely powerful they do not have that much experience fighting someone on the same level. Any kind of unexpected surprises will probably throw them into a state of panic.)
At times one's cultivation base really isn't the deciding factor of who lives and who dies in a violent confrontation.
In a battle of two practitioners who have the same level of cultivation it is generally the one with more experience that comes out on top.
One can be a powerful fighter but if they do not have the experience to utilize their strength to the fullest in a battle then they can easily be taken out using some cheap tricks.
As this thought appears in Ye Gui Feng's head another thought follows after it. Something within this doesn't add to Ye Gui Feng's original theory.
If this Celestial Spirit had been the clone of another Celestial Spirit they shouldn't be lacking in combat experience. Unless...
[Hack!]
Spewing out a mist of magic energy the Celestial Spirit raises their head and looks towards the ghost in a fit of rage.
The wounds on the body of the Celestial Spirit refuses to close as there seems to be a strange power preventing them from healing.
Since the start of their cultivation this Celestial Spirit has never been wounded this greatly. To experience this much pain is a first for them.
[...Tch.]
With an expression of dissatisfaction in having been wounded so easily from making a simple mistake the Celestial Spirit glares at the ghost.
[Know that the world is big and that there is always a much more powerful existence above your head.]
The ghost moves their mouth but the voice itself had come from Ye Gui Feng.
Hearing what is assumed to be the voice of the ghost speaking the Celestial Spirit knits their eyes together.
Raising his finger and pointing to the rank ten ghost that he had created Ye Gui Feng transmits a force of will.
The damaged sword in the hands of the ghost turns into the form of pure magic energy that extends to create a giant sword beam that measures at a length of 2,000 meters.
At the same time the malicious aura of evil intent that exudes from the ghost intensifies.
Seeing this giant sword beam is similar to having a shadow of death casting over one's face causes the Celestial Spirit to widen their eyes as they quickly back away.
However it is also then that the ghost holding the sword beam decides to slash it down!
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!* upon the sword beam crashing down to earth the shockwave of it blasts apart the surrounding fog completely and the thunderous noise of destruction is transmitted into the ears of every single participant within this trial ground!
"Wh-What was that...?"
"..."
Cold sweat rolls down the face of these participants as a deep sense of fear causes their bodies to shiver. This is especially so for those who had been closer to the source of that explosion.
The moment that sword beam had landed the scoreboard in the outside world updates as the name Yin Paozi vanishes from the top causing many eyes to abruptly widen.
"Th-This... What happened to that Yin Paozi?"
"Did he maybe run into one of the higher ranked ghosts and got taken out?"
"If that's the case how powerful are those higher ranking ghosts?"
Recalling the scene in which the giant hand had tried to crush every single participant on its palm a few of the patriarch level figures paled.
Even if it was them they had no doubt that they would also be hard-pressed to smash open the gate on time.
If each rank ten ghost is something similar to that in terms of danger then running into those ghosts would mean instant death.