22, Advancement

The first thing upon returning to the Soul Banner was to find Zhang Gui's living soul.

"Question the soul."

[Extract:]

[Spirit Demon Foundation Fusion Art]

[Five Spirit Art (First Part)]

There were only two skill seeds as well, one technique and one cultivation method.

The Spirit Demon Foundation Fusion Art was extremely domineering.

Even without a spirit root, as long as one used this demonic art to fuse another's foundation, they could obtain a spirit root.

It wasn't simply a matter of more people being better.

The text recorded two methods. One involved five Heavenly Spirit Roots, forming a cycle of endless generation.

Fusing these five spirit roots would grant the Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root on the spot, with absolutely no bottlenecks.

The other was a simplified version: casually find three Qi Refiners with spirit roots and use the Three Talents Formation to fuse their foundations and spirit roots.

Such a foundation was very inferior, and the integration of spiritual energy was also poor, with a bottleneck at every step.

Although this demonic art seemed powerful, it had a fatal flaw.

Because it fused the foundations and spirit roots of others, the body's bone structure became impure, so one could only remain at the Qi Refining stage for their entire life.

Once this method was used, even immortals could not save them.

What Zhang Gui used was the simplified version of the Spirit Demon Foundation Fusion Art.

There was no other choice. He was already severely injured, his foundation damaged, so he no longer cared.

Besides, although the Prefect was a high official in the eyes of mortals, he was no different from an ant in the eyes of cultivators. Finding a Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator was simply a pipe dream.

Even if they found a Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator at the early Qi Refining stage, would they dare to cut open their belly and fuse their foundation?

So in reality, this was the only option.

The Five Spirit Art was the basic Qi Refining technique of the Five Spirit Sect.

Tu Shan Jun could only see these things from the Five Spirit Art.

Although extracting the technique seed was powerful, there was no other memory from the living soul.

It could only be based on the technique seed.

The technique seed stored more experience. If Tu Shan Jun gained more knowledge, the introduction was detailed; if less, the introduction was sparse.

How much there was depended on how much the host who provided the technique seed had learned.

Take Zhao Shixian, for example. He had learned a lot, so the seed contained more information.

It was a pity that Tu Shan Jun did not know soul-searching.

Thinking it over, he still had to find time to practice soul-searching, so he could directly search the memories of the yin souls.

However, looking at these yin souls and ghostly beings, devoid of intelligence and left with only instinct, Tu Shan Jun was puzzled.

Did they still have memories, or had they been directly wiped clean by the banner?

Because he had died and merged into the banner, that half-finished editor system had also fused in. What kind of changes it would cause was truly unclear.

Tu Shan Jun decided not to think too much about it. He still had to improve his strength.

If he were powerful, he could have driven away that young Immortal Master back then.

That person had the same cultivation as him, but after all, he was a proper orthodox Qi Refiner, and the Ebony Dharma Sword restrained ghostly beings.

Even with the same cultivation, having met face to face, Tu Shan Jun was still completely defeated.

Judging by his appearance, he wasn't a hired retainer of Zhang Wanlong.

That meant he was the town's guardian Immortal Master from the Prefecture City.

Two months ago, he had heard that the previous guardian Immortal Master's ten-year term was up and he was returning to his sect, and he had also taken away Li Qingfeng's friend.

So this one was probably the replacement.

Tu Shan Jun was actually grateful that the timing had worked out this way. The person who came to replace him was young and had low cultivation.

If it had been the previous Immortal Master, he would have been at least at the sixth or seventh layer of Qi Refining.

Dealing with him would have been like child's play.

On another note.

While Tu Shan Jun was recovering from his injuries, Li Qingfeng toyed with the sword hairpin and flipped through the beast hide.

The unknown beast hide recorded the stances and mental methods of the Demon Ape Three Moves.

They were no different from what he had cultivated.

This also proved that the main soul evil ghost was sincerely teaching him things.

He used this Mind-Settling Fist to wear away the accumulated malice from the Blood Fiend Art.

"What material is this?"

Li Qingfeng murmured, bringing it to his nose and sniffing. A heavy, bloody odor hit him.

A glint of spiritual light flashed in his eyes as the Spirit Official Dharma Eye stirred.

The unknown beast hide remained unchanged, showing no reaction at all.

He poked it with his sword hairpin, but it left no mark.

Boiling water couldn't soften it, fire couldn't burn it.

Even with all his current strength, Li Qingfeng couldn't tear it apart.

Li Qingfeng couldn't help but sigh: "If only this could be used for the banner face of the Soul Banner."

With that thought, he quickly grabbed the Soul Banner.

Holding the banner in his left hand and the unknown beast hide in his right, he brought them together.

Still, no reaction occurred.

"Could I be thinking about this wrong, or do I need to..." Li Qingfeng persisted, fiddling with it.

Inside the banner, Tu Shan Jun couldn't help but smirk. This fool, what was he thinking? Without knowing how to refine artifacts, how could he replace it?

But what happened next made Tu Shan Jun's eyes go wide.

The lofty, unfathomable image he'd painstakingly maintained instantly crumbled.

Fortunately, he was inside the Soul Banner and Li Qingfeng couldn't see him.

As Li Qingfeng's spiritual power surged into the beast hide.

A phantom of a Blood Ape emerged on the hide.

It beat its chest and roared up at the sky.

A fierce, baleful Sha aura leaked out, absorbed by the Soul Banner.

The Blood Ape turned into a flash of blood light and drilled into the Soul Banner.

After the red light persisted for a quarter of an hour, the tough beast hide in Li Qingfeng's hand crumbled into dust like weathered stone.

The main pole of the Soul Banner, having absorbed the unknown beast hide, grew deeper and darker.

Its icy touch was reassuring.

The banner face, woven with the blood-red Sha threads from the hide, now bore many scarlet streaks.

Crimson hair surged like a tide, and the blood-red ghost eyes were eerily lively.

Black base with red edges, the evil spirits in the banner grew more animated.

Those eyeballs seemed to roll around unnaturally.

The banner face was tougher than before.

Impurities had been expelled, giving it an overall refined feel.

It no longer looked like it had been haphazardly slapped together, nor did it swing awkwardly.

[Soul Banner Advanced]

[Current Grade: High-Grade Artifact]

[Skill Acquired: Soul Gathering Pill]

Tu Shan Jun quickly pulled up the crimson panel.

Banner Name: Soul Banner

Banner Master: Li Qingfeng

Grade: High-Grade Artifact

Banner-Body Unity (Passive, Fixed): Absorbing Sha and Living Souls can enhance the Soul Banner's abilities and grade.

Backlash (Passive, Fixed): When the Banner Master's strength and divine sense are insufficient to suppress the banner's Main Soul, the Main Soul can actively rebel against the Banner Master, refining them into a Banner Slave.

Soul Harvest: Extract Living Souls from dead bodies; absorb Living Souls and Yin Ghosts weaker than the Main Soul. (Current Main Soul Strength: Qi Refining Fourth Layer).

Soul Storage: The banner can store Yin Souls and ghostly entities. Current Storage: (52/1000).

Repair: Consume a certain amount of Sha and Living Souls to repair the banner and Main Soul.

Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts: Release all thousand ghosts from the banner, converging into a Night Parade soul technique to strike.

Soul Gathering Pill: The banner absorbs wandering Yin Souls and Sha to condense Yin Soul Pills. Yin Soul Pills can assist the Banner Master in cultivation (One Pill/Twelve Hours). Devouring Sha and Yin Ghosts can accelerate the process of condensing Yin Soul Pills.

Tu Shan Jun spat out an egg-sized, perfectly round black bead into his palm.

This was the ability gained from the Soul Banner's grade advancement.

He had yet to see how much it could help the Banner Master improve.

A High-Grade Artifact Soul Banner.

Of course, it could also be called a Thousand Soul Banner.

Even counting himself, there were only fifty-three yin spirits and ghostly beings within the soul banner.

Not even a full hundred ghosts could be gathered.

But a High-Grade Artifact was still a High-Grade Artifact.

Not to mention ordinary people, even among high-level Qi Refining cultivators, such treasures were rare and precious.

And now, Li Qingfeng had stumbled into refining it by sheer luck.

It seemed that beast hide had an extraordinary origin.

Tu Shan Jun didn't dwell on it.

He had already swallowed it; whatever other origins it had were useless now.

Only the fortune you've eaten is true fortune.

If you haven't eaten it, who knows when it might become someone else's opportunity.

For now, the priority was to improve his strength, then return to Eight Directions Prefecture City and kill Zhang Wanlong.

Leaving that hidden danger unsettled, Tu Shan Jun felt deeply uneasy.