Swallowing Baleful Intent

A barren wasteland, withered graves—ruined and desolate.

The crooked white soul-guiding banners had long since rotted and faded with age. The few remaining poles were nothing more than dead branches and withered leaves stuck atop the graves.

Torn mats, broken coffins.

Corpses dragged out by starving wild dogs lay piled haphazardly in the ditch.

Zhao Shixian gazed at the Chaos Burial Mound with delight in his eyes. He could sense the aura of yin-sha.

Naturally formed ghostly entities and yin souls were surely hidden here.

Perhaps he could add another Living Soul at the early Qi Refinement stage to his Soul Banner.

"If I can catch another yin soul or ghostly entity, I'll be confident in dealing with the pursuers," Zhao Shixian murmured softly.

He had come here wounded because he was being hunted. Otherwise, he would never have risked everything to set up a blood sacrifice array and refine the old and young villagers into blood qi for replenishment.

He had originally hoped to refine a Mid-grade Artifact, yet who would have thought it would only turn out to be a low-grade artifact.

Hidden within the Soul Banner, Tu Shan Jun's eyes brightened slightly.

Those words confirmed his suspicions.

No wonder Zhao Shixian had looked so grim when he arrived, his clothes torn and stained with blood. Clearly, he had ended up like this only after fighting someone.

Judging by his hurried manner, he likely had not shaken off his pursuers by much.

After some consideration, Zhao Shixian took several small Formation Stones from his worn Storage Talisman.

Formation Stones tempered with spiritual power formed the foundation of an array.

No great mastery of arrays was needed; one only had to follow the diagram to set up a small Sha-Gathering Array.

Once the Formation Stones were set, Zhao Shixian brought out the Soul Banner.

The soul banner spun and expanded into a great banner over a zhang tall, black with red trim. A blue-faced, fang-baring Red-Haired Fiend was painted across its surface, clawing and snarling.

Though the image was blurry, it seemed as if it could crawl out of the banner at any moment.

Zhao Shixian fixed the soul banner at the array's core.

"Gather sha, draw in yin—the array rises!"

Zhao Shixian chanted under his breath, the words obscure and difficult to understand. As his hands formed seals, they stirred his spiritual power, which gathered into threads and anchored itself to the Formation Stones.

The array diagram took effect.

A wall of air formed around the area, while the Soul Banner at the array's core became like a pump, madly drawing in the wandering yin-sha aura.

Tu Shan Jun felt the sha aura surge into him.

His semi-illusory body solidified beneath the tempering of the sha aura. The Soul Banner itself also seemed to be evolving, the blurred image upon its surface growing clearer.

Fine black gravel squeezed out from the black main pole, and even its aura grew considerably stronger.

Zhao Shixian's surprise was mixed with astonishment.

He had set up only a minor array to gather sha, using small Formation Stones exchanged from the sect. This was not an array for refining artifacts.

Without spirit fire, he could not temper an artifact. Why, then, was the Soul Banner undergoing such changes?

It was as though it was... advancing.

"Can a low-grade Soul Banner undergo such changes?"

Puzzled, Zhao Shixian walked over to the zhang-tall Soul Banner.

Looking at the Soul Banner in the array's core, he reached out and picked up a black pebble that the Soul Banner had expelled.

Cold, hard, and rough—it was not material, but impurities.

Zhao Shixian became even more puzzled. Casually crushing the impurities, he looked again at the Soul Banner in the center of the array. Even as an immortal cultivator, he could not understand what exactly had happened.

He did not understand it, yet it seemed impressive.

He only felt that some genuine treasure must have appeared.

"Since it can absorb so much, let's see whether it has a limit."

Zhao Shixian took the yin-sha stones from his Storage Talisman. These stones were Sha Stones that had been buried for more than ten years in lands of threefold yin, and they gathered yin-sha aura in extreme abundance.

Even in his usual cultivation, he did not dare directly absorb yin-sha stones. He could only grind away at them bit by bit over time.

Since the Soul Banner could absorb so much, he might as well take them out and see where its limit lay.

Tu Shan Jun merely sneered in silence.

A limit?

When it came to sha aura, he could never have enough.

Zhao Shixian had not realized at all that everything he was doing now was merely hastening death—his own death.

"No rush. It isn't enough yet. I need to wait a little longer."

Tu Shan Jun examined the abundant power, suppressing the hatred and impulse in his heart.

It was still too early. Making a move now would only startle the snake in the grass.

A sinister smile spread across the face that had taken on the aspect of death as it continued to lie low, waiting for its chance.

A chill wind rose abruptly, accompanied by wails and howls.

The wandering yin souls finally emerged after sensing that the baleful yin qi had greatly diminished.

The eerie ghost stood before the tattered Soul Banner, its pitch-black eyes fixed on Zhao Shixian.

As a departed soul, its sense of danger was instead even sharper, and it watched Zhao Shixian warily.

It felt an immense pressure emanating from this man in black robes.

Zhao Shixian remained composed, his eyes carrying the unique contempt and disdain of an immortal cultivator as his Spirit Official Dharma Eye flickered.

He muttered to himself, "A ghost at the Qi Refining First Layer. To have spontaneously gathered baleful yin qi and cultivated to this stage, it seems it has been around for quite some years. It can barely qualify to enter the Soul Banner and become one soul."

The ghost let out a piercing shriek, but instead of attacking, it fled. It knew full well that it was no match for the black-robed man.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Zhao Shixian channeled his mana into the Soul Banner, only to be greatly alarmed as more than half of his Qi Refining Third Layer mana vanished in an instant.

The Soul Banner unleashed an enormous suction force. The lines of the fiend on its surface became clearer, while the ghost eye imprinted upon the banner seemed to turn.

As mana poured in, Tu Shan Jun felt that he could move again—at the very least, he could leave the Soul Banner.

"So that's how it is." Tu Shan Jun understood.

The Main Soul and the soul banner were one entity. If he wished to act, he needed mana to support him.

Otherwise, he could only remain inside the soul banner, unable to move. Even if he possessed abilities reaching the heavens, he would find them difficult to use.

With mana supporting him, he could also release the Living Souls within the soul banner to assist him. This was likewise an inherent ability of the Soul Banner itself.

Tu Shan Jun did not go out.

Though he dearly wished to take a walk outside, he was currently stationed at the heart of the formation. The baleful qi entering the soul banner was not only raising the banner's grade—it was also increasing his strength.

To keep Zhao Shixian from noticing anything, Tu Shan Jun had all the more reason to conceal himself.

"Soul Bind."

Zhao Shixian sprang forward in an Eagle Leap, landing before the yin soul in an instant as he raised a spirit talisman in his hand.

The incantation stirred, and the seal art was activated.

The yin soul immediately turned into a wisp of black mist and was drawn into the spirit talisman.

Zhao Shixian did not summon the Living Souls or Main Soul within the banner to fight. It was merely a ghost that had just entered the Qi Refining First Layer; he could deal with it casually, with no need for the Main Soul or the Living Souls to help.

Especially since the soul banner was currently at the heart of the Minor Baleful Gathering Formation. Rashly activating it might provoke some unforeseen change.

The baleful qi absorbed by the Minor Baleful Gathering Formation grew scarcer and scarcer, and in less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, the formation had completely ceased to function.

The round-eyed, chisel-toothed Red-Haired Fiend on the soul banner became lifelike, its lines more intricate and its red edging strikingly vivid.

Though the black main shaft still contained impurities, it no longer seemed as cold, stiff, and raw as before. Gritty impurities squeezed out from it littered the surrounding ground.

The Sha Stone had turned to powder. Even that Qi Refining First Layer ghost had been thrown into the soul banner by Zhao Shixian as nourishment, while the yin baleful qi accumulated in the graveyard over who knew how many years had been scoured clean.

The moment the soul banner entered his hand and his mana probed inside, Zhao Shixian's pupils contracted. He began trembling unconsciously, and even his voice shook. "A Mid-grade Artifact?!"

Zhao Shixian's eyes reddened, his breathing grew heavy, and his mouth fell open.

Wearing an expression of utter disbelief, he stared blankly at the soul banner in his hand.

Even so, he clutched the soul banner tightly, terrified that it might fly away.

A treasure?

No, a supreme treasure!

It could raise its grade simply by absorbing baleful qi. There was no need to add new materials, no need to refine it anew, not even any need to nourish it with mana.

If this was not a supreme treasure, then what was?

He could even save a great portion of the Spirit Stones he would otherwise need to replace his artifacts. So long as he focused on raising the Soul Banner before him, his remaining resources could wholly support his cultivation.

As his mana reached inward, Zhao Shixian could sense that the Main Soul's strength had also increased, reaching at least the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Zhao Shixian wanted to throw back his head and laugh, but he did not dare.

Shock, delight, and disbelief mingled across his face.

With such a supreme treasure in hand, even though he had only stepped onto the immortal path a short while ago, he would have a chance to glimpse the Great Dao.

Zhao Shixian furtively scanned his surroundings, then returned to the small village to clean up, leaving behind not the slightest trace of evidence.

Like a thief who had stolen something, he dared neither laugh nor refrain from laughing, much less encounter anyone he knew.

His heart was unsettled; he was both nervous and afraid. Forcing himself to remain calm, he warned himself, "I have to keep steady."

Tu Shan Jun watched everything clearly from within the banner and sneered again and again.