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Li Qingfeng downed three cups in a row before finally letting out a long breath of foul air.

Some color returned to his originally pale face.

Everything that had just happened lay far beyond his understanding.

Before this, he had only heard of ghosts and spirits.

He had felt afraid while reading storybooks and listening to storytellers, but that fear could not compare to the shock of seeing one for real.

He had nearly died, too.

He had truly walked once before the gates of hell.

Looking at the scroll hanging on the wall, he no longer felt the same fascination and obsession as before.

Though the painting had been made by Xu Ziming, a master of the previous dynasty, it was no more than an ordinary painting.

Then he looked at his four friends lying on the floor, and Li Qingfeng felt only relief.

Fortunately, he had become a Qi Refiner and possessed the divine artifact, the Soul Banner. Otherwise, he likely would not have made it through today's trial.

Fortunately, he had awakened in time as well, sparing his four friends from disaster.

Yet he did not know that if he had not become a Qi Refiner, with spiritual radiance dwelling within him, he would never have drawn the attention of the goblin ghost within the painting.

Every sip and every peck were fated.

Still, what concerned Li Qingfeng most was the Green-Faced Fiend that had leaped from the Soul Banner.

That fiend possessed a towering body and an imposing aura.

His vicious, baleful air rushed straight at them, while his terrifying gaze gleamed like lightning and blazing torches.

Li Qingfeng kept feeling that the fiend's glance at him had been fraught with deep meaning, but there had been too little time for them to communicate.

Frightened, he had thrown away the Soul Banner, but now he picked it back up.

He examined the little banner in his hand.

The Soul Banner's banner cloth had now fully unfurled, bearing the image of a hideous fiend.

At the same time, he felt somewhat worried.

The Blood Fiend Art stated that the fiends within the Soul Banner could devour their master in backlash.

If one's strength was insufficient, it was best not to use a Soul Banner stronger than oneself.

Thus, he worried whether he might suffer a fiend's backlash. What if that look had been a sign that it was about to devour him?

The fiend inside the Soul Banner had effortlessly seized that spirit creature. The monkey-like creature had not possessed the slightest chance to resist.

If it turned on him, could he withstand it?

No.

Li Qingfeng knew perfectly well how much he was worth.

Even facing that ghost-faced spirit creature had thrown him into complete disarray. He could only rely on the divine artifact to save his life.

If he encountered the fiend's backlash from within the artifact, he would certainly die.

Still, Li Qingfeng felt that the Soul Banner would not devour him.

At least, not yet.

Otherwise, the Soul Banner would not have warned him.

Moreover, given the fiend's clean and decisive way of doing things, he would not leave leftovers overnight. If he meant to devour Li Qingfeng, he would have acted long ago.

Li Qingfeng wrapped up the Soul Banner and tucked it into his robes. "When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road; when the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten. There is no use overthinking it. I still need to work hard and improve my strength."

There was no need to continue this literary gathering. Once the four awoke, he could simply have them leave.

The sun sank westward.

The four unconscious men finally woke up.

None of them suspected one another. It was common for people to drink themselves senseless at literary gatherings.

They simply felt that they had not enjoyed themselves enough, while their bodies were tired and uncomfortable.

Li Qingfeng could not say much. The truth was often cruel and unbelievable, so he might as well let them treat it as the discomfort after getting drunk.

Ordinary people would be affected after spending too long around ghosts, let alone after being bewitched unconscious by one.

Liu Chuang put away the painting, and none of the five had much heart left for anything.

Li Qingfeng had initially tried to persuade Liu Chuang to burn it, only to realize that he had no explanation to offer.

Since the fiend in the painting had been eliminated, the beauty scroll no longer possessed anything supernatural. It was better to let Liu Chuang take it home.

The group exchanged another round of pleasantries.

As dusk was already near, they hurriedly dispersed.

Two of them planned to stay overnight at Music Bureau Tower.

They even urged their other friends to remain.

Li Qingfeng had no such inclination. He still needed to return home and cultivate.

This battle had made him deeply understand that he was still far too weak.

At the very least, he could not remain so weak that a single shake of the Soul Banner left him collapsing from exhaustion, powerless to continue fighting.

Whenever he read the strange tales in those storybooks and records, he always felt that the people who obstructed the protagonists were both stupid and wicked, dragging everyone down.

He would always curse loudly, venting the depression in his chest.

He could not become the sort of person he hated most. One had to know that missing a good opportunity could cost one's life.

Tu Shan Jun did not know what Li Qingfeng was thinking.

He was delighted that he had finally found a bridge through which he could communicate with the banner's master.

The goblin ghost's ability was dreamwalking: creating dreams and infiltrating them.

Now that Tu Shan Jun had learned this skill, he could enter the banner master's dreams through the Soul Banner.

That way, he could communicate when the banner master was weak and lacked the mana to keep him manifested in the outside world for long.

Even if he could not pass on cultivation methods or martial arts, he still needed to tell the banner master what had to be done to advance and improve the Soul Banner.

Wubao did not know why his young master had become so preoccupied after leaving Music Bureau Tower. He could only follow silently at his side.

At a time like this, it was better not to disturb Li Qingfeng.

Upon returning home, he was told that the master and madam had long been waiting in the main hall.

Li Qingfeng had no time to think further and hurried to the main hall.

It seemed his parents had been waiting for quite some time.

"My son, you have finally returned."

"There is a great piece of joyous news to tell you." Father Li rose to his feet, his face piled with smiles. His somewhat bloated body made him look even more sleek and well-fed.

Li Qingfeng was immediately puzzled. "What matter is Father referring to?"

"Three days ago, the Prefect of Eight Directions City posted a notice. The local gentry of Eight Directions City and the four counties under its jurisdiction may send children between the ages of eight and twenty from their households to the Prefectural Governor's Mansion for examination."

"The immortal master guarding Eight Directions Prefecture has completed his term. When the handover takes place, he will take away children possessing spirit roots and have them enter an immortal sect."

"My son, you are the only one in our household who meets the requirements."

"Your father has already secured a testing slot for you."

These words fell upon Li Qingfeng's ears like muffled thunder exploding.

They left him utterly shocked.

He had never expected that the immortal masters, who had remained as elusive as divine dragons that showed only their heads and never their tails all these years, would openly test mortals on such a grand scale.

Only after asking in detail did he understand. Every immortal master guarded the region for many years, then selected a batch of children before leaving.

This term seemed to be ten years.

Yet he felt no joy at all. If he had not obtained the Blood Fiend Sect's secret manual and the Soul Banner, he surely would have gone in high spirits.

Now, however, he had already cultivated to the Qi Refining First Layer, and what he cultivated was a demonic path technique.

There was no guarantee those righteous immortal masters would not cut him down under the pretext of slaying demons and eliminating evil.

Sometimes, explanations were pale and powerless.

In the end, strength was what spoke.

Tu Shan Jun listened seriously as well, pondering without being able to make up his mind.

Judging by Hou Boxu's attitude toward evil demons and Outer Dao practitioners, he would rather kill by mistake than let a single one go.

He was extraordinarily fierce and unyielding.

When fighting, every move he made was meant to kill, and he would not hesitate to perish together with his enemy.

He considered it shameful to enter the Soul Banner and preserve his life in disgrace. He would rather have his soul scatter and spirit disperse than fall into the demonic path.

What a ruthless man!

Tu Shan Jun could not do that.

If all Righteous Cultivators were like this, Li Qingfeng might well be cut down by a single sword stroke if he went rashly.

Tu Shan Jun was a transmigrator. He did not place much importance on righteousness or demonic paths, nor was he particularly hostile toward ghosts, specters, and bizarre monsters.

He only wanted to survive.

But there was no guarantee that Righteous Cultivators thought as he did.

Li Qingfeng was weighing the matter as well.

Righteous zealots were all madmen. What was more, righteous and demonic paths were natural opposites. In the best-case scenario, his cultivation would be crippled and he would have to cultivate anew.

But with his Five Spirit Root, would he have any chance of entering an immortal sect?

Li Qingfeng felt that there was a high chance he would not.

Five Spirit Roots were an exceptionally poor kind of spirit root.

Taking three months merely to sense qi was already the limit.

He had managed to refine qi in one month only because he had meat at every meal, and because the Qi Refining First Layer was comparatively easy, allowing him to barely enter the gate.

"Father, I... need to think about it."