Soul Banner

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Venerable Soul Banner (尊魂幡)
Alias(es)	Soul Banner; Soul Reverence Banner; Ghost Face Divine Banner; Ten Thousand Soul Banner 4 47 207
Type	Soul-banner artifact; a peerless Sacred Weapon after its great tribulation 897 898
Master Soul	Tu Shan Jun, whose consciousness became one with the banner after his death 2
Status	Active 1026
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Low-Grade Artifact	2	Created through a blood array using hundreds of deaths and Tu Shan Jun as its Main Soul. Its initial storage capacity was 100 souls.
Mid-Grade Artifact	3 4	Absorbed graveyard yin-sha aura and a Qi Refining First Layer ghost; gained Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts.
High-Grade Artifact	22	Absorbed a Blood Ape beast hide and gained Soul Gathering into Pills; storage expanded to 1,000 souls.
High-Grade Magic Tool	33 47	Recorded as the Venerable Soul Banner, later renamed the Ghost Face Divine Banner by Xiang Hu.
Peak-Grade Magic Tool	132	Consumed vast Sha Qi while shielding Copper Pass; gained Ghost King Reborn, while Yin Soul Pill production improved to one pill per six hours.
Low-Grade Magic Treasure	207	Completed its transformation in a Blood Pool; storage expanded to 10,000 souls and it gained control over the quality of condensed Yin Soul Pills.
Mid-Grade Magic Treasure	296	Its sturdy material and Sha Qi-based self-repair allowed it to contend with other magic treasures.
Low-Grade Spirit Treasure	448 512	Survived nine thunder tribulations, gained the Heavenly Fiend True Spirit Bodyguard Aura, and could contain tens of millions of souls.
Mid-Grade Spirit Treasure	512	Advanced by absorbing Sha Qi and multiple illusory banners; Tu Shan Jun simultaneously reached the Mid Nascent Soul stage.
Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure	559	Refined by True Monarch Taiyi with melted Spirit Treasures; gained Boundless Return to the Void.
Dao Soldier	677	Successfully refined using the Nether Soul Sea’s Sha Qi; the advancement gave Tu Shan Jun a deeper connection to heaven and earth.
Sacred Weapon	897 898	Completed a great tribulation and became a peerless Sacred Weapon with the Undying Scripture Divine Ability manifestation.

Background / History

Zhao Shixian created the Soul Banner through a blood-refining grand array after murdering Tu Shan Jun and sacrificing an entire village. The artifact was initially crude and low-grade, but Tu Shan Jun retained his consciousness within it as its Main Soul. The two became inseparable: damage to the banner harmed Tu Shan Jun, while Sha Qi and captured souls could restore and strengthen them both 2 559.

Zhao Shixian could wield the newly made banner but could not fully refine it, as his cultivation and divine sense were insufficient to leave a true imprint on it. While Zhao fed it yin-sha aura, ghosts, killing intent, and the souls of further victims, the banner advanced from a low-grade artifact into a mid-grade one and awakened Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts 2 3 4.

Its built-in Backlash ultimately allowed Tu Shan Jun to turn Zhao Shixian into a Banner Slave. The victory exposed a critical limitation: Banner Slaves were dead bodies incapable of cultivation or replenishing magic power, forcing Tu Shan Jun to seek living Banner Masters instead 6.

The banner changed hands repeatedly, acquiring names, souls, techniques, and increasingly powerful masters. It became a Peak-Grade Magic Tool under Wen Yue, a Magic Treasure under Ding Xie, and later a Spirit Treasure after surviving nine thunder tribulations at the cost of Chi Xuan’s life 132 207 448.

True Monarch Taiyi later helped refine the banner with the Man-Slaying Axe and White Bone Dragon Binding Spear. This process promoted it to a Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure and granted the spatial Divine Ability Boundless Return to the Void 558 559. It subsequently became a Dao Soldier at the Nether Soul Sea and, after another great tribulation, a Sacred Weapon 677 897.

Appearance

The Soul Banner’s form changes dramatically with every advancement, progressing from a crude black pole and ragged banner cloth into an ornate black-gold Sacred Weapon covered in seals, ghost imagery, and auxiliary banners.

• Its original form was more than a zhang long; after refinement, it could shrink to a one-foot banner 2.
• Its early banner surface was black with red trim and bore a blue-faced, fang-baring Red-Haired Fiend—Tu Shan Jun’s image 3.
• At the Magic Treasure stage, the main pole gained an evil-ghost skull finial, two hanging ribbons, and a Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts design 207.
• At Peak-Grade Magic Tool stage, its pole became seamless black jade and its face depicted Tu Shan Jun surrounded by a procession of Evil Ghosts 132.
• Its Spirit Treasure form bore a skeletal Evil Ghost gripping the auxiliary-banner tassels, golden patterns on its black-and-red pole, and shifting Evil Ghost depictions on both sides of the banner surface 317.
• As a Sacred Weapon, its upper Evil Ghost gained a three-sided face and two hands holding three sub-banners each; sacred seal talismans formed along its black-gold pole 897.

Abilities & Skills

Soul-Banner Unity

The Soul Banner and its Master Soul are one existence. It grows and repairs itself by absorbing Sha Qi, killing intent, Living Souls, Yin Souls, and ghostly entities 2 4 22.

• Consumed Sha Qi and souls repair both the banner and Tu Shan Jun’s ghost body 2 448.
• The artifact can advance without being ritual-refined again, making it an object of immense interest to cultivators 154.
• Refining the banner is physically agonizing for Tu Shan Jun because its body is effectively his own 559.
• Its growth can attract thunder tribulations and the attention of powerful cultivators seeking to seize it 448 889.

Soul Absorption and Spirit Storage

The banner extracts Living Souls from corpses and stores Yin Souls, ghosts, and other spirit entities. Early versions could only absorb targets weaker than the Main Soul; at higher stages, it could easily seize slightly weaker or comparable divine souls 2 22 935.

Recorded form	Documented capacity / contents
Low-Grade Artifact	100 souls; 13 stored at creation 2
High-Grade Artifact	1,000 souls; 52 stored 22
Low-Grade Magic Treasure	10,000 souls 207
Spirit Treasure	Tens of millions of souls 448
Dao Soldier era	More than 2.6 million Yin Spirits, including one Soul Transformation soul and thirteen Nascent Soul souls 762

• Stored souls can be summoned as combatants, used to power formations, or refined into Sha Qi 465 500.
• Ding Xie was unable to remove Li Qingfeng and other souls through ordinary control methods; the system presented no option for releasing them 153.
• The banner cannot safely bear a Yin Spirit whose cultivation exceeds its own; such a spirit must be sealed separately or risks damaging the artifact 907.

Banner Master Binding and Backlash

The Soul Banner can bind a new Banner Master when someone takes hold of it. A sufficiently weak master can be attacked by the Main Soul and refined into a Banner Slave 2 154.

• Tu Shan Jun repeatedly used Backlash to assault Ding Xie’s Sea of Consciousness when Ding threatened to destroy the banner 153 154.
• A Banner Slave cannot cultivate, replenish magic power, or preserve its body indefinitely 6.
• The banner does not indiscriminately backlash against every master; Tu Shan Jun can choose whether to invoke it 166.
• Wielding the banner carries a curse: unless the bearer attains immortality, death causes both Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit to enter the banner as subordinate souls 840 876.

Mana Dependence

The Main Soul requires a living Banner Master’s magic power to act outside the banner. Without such support, Tu Shan Jun can observe and act within the banner but cannot move freely in the outside world 3 207 969.

• A stronger master can sustain Tu Shan Jun’s manifested body for longer and activate greater techniques 47 64.
• The banner itself cannot store usable magic power for independent activation; nonliving sources of magic power are absorbed as Sha Qi instead 207 582.
• Maintaining the enlarged banner form after its Magic Treasure advancement required more than ten times its previous mana expenditure 207.

Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts

This offensive Soul Technique releases the banner’s stored ghosts as a unified assault 4.

• It was acquired upon the banner’s advancement to Mid-Grade Artifact 4.
• At High-Grade Artifact stage, it could coordinate up to 1,000 ghosts 22.
• Tu Shan Jun used it to create a Ghost Domain and tear apart a Great Array in less than half a breath 465.

Soul Gathering into Pills

The banner condenses wandering Yin Souls and Sha Qi into Yin Soul Pills that aid a Banner Master’s cultivation 22 47.

• Its initial documented production rate was one pill every twelve hours 22.
• Peak-Grade Magic Tool advancement improved this to one pill every six hours 132.
• After becoming a Magic Treasure, it could adjust a pill’s quality to suit Yin Spirits below Tu Shan Jun’s cultivation level 207.

Ghost King Reborn

Ghost King Reborn temporarily merges the power of every Yin Soul and Evil Ghost in the banner into the Master Soul’s body 132.

• It is a burst-strengthening technique gained at Peak-Grade Magic Tool stage 132.
• Its duration depends on the Banner Master’s available magic power 132.

Formations and Mass Warfare

The Soul Banner can serve as the core of large-scale formations, particularly formations using Ghost Kings and its stored Yin Spirits 500 610.

• The Ten Directions Ghost King Killing Array can function as a killing, defensive, suppressing, alchemy, or artifact-refining formation 500.
• True Monarch Taiyi used the Ghost King Great Array, millions of ghost soldiers, Rampant Generals, and ten Ghost Kings to suppress the Flood Dragon Old Ancestor 610.
• The banner’s combat strength scales with both the number and quality of souls within it 448 758.

Heavenly Fiend True Spirit Bodyguard Aura

After surviving nine thunder tribulations, the banner gained a defensive Divine Ability that creates a protective aura around its wielder 448.

• Its defensive strength increases with the quantity and cultivation of Yin Spirits stored in the banner 448.
• Tu Shan Jun considered it comparable to an ordinary defensive Spirit Treasure 448.

Boundless Return to the Void

This Divine Ability allows the banner to store living things within an internal space 559.

• The internal space lacks earth, fire, water, wind, earth veins, and sustainable spiritual energy 560.
• Living beings cannot remain inside for long; the banner gradually wears them down into nourishment 560.
• Tu Shan Jun can use the space with a killing formation to trap cultivators temporarily 560.

Weapon Manifestation

The banner can assume the basic form of a weapon envisioned by its Banner Master 858.

• Meng Zhi used it as the Black Gold Blood Saber and fought beyond his realm without Tu Shan Jun acting directly 858.
• The transformations possess only basic weapon forms, but remain exceptional compared with ordinary Dao Soldiers 858.

Undying Scripture

The Sacred Weapon’s documented Divine Ability manifestation is the Undying Scripture 898.

• Its specific effects have not been detailed in the available record.

Relationships

• Tu Shan Jun — The banner’s Master Soul; his consciousness and the banner became one after Zhao Shixian refined him into it 2.
• Zhao Shixian — Creator and first Banner Master. Tu Shan Jun later backlashed against him and made him a Banner Slave 2 6.
• Li Qingfeng — Banner Master during its High-Grade Artifact stage; his Living Soul was later absorbed into the banner 22 47.
• Xiang Hu — Banner Master who renamed it the Ghost Face Divine Banner 47.
• Wen Yue — Banner Master who supplied enough magic power for prolonged manifestation and oversaw its promotion to Peak-Grade Magic Tool; he entered the banner after his death 64 132 153.
• Ding Xie — Banner Master after Wen Yue’s death. He initially fought Tu Shan Jun over control of the artifact, then swore a Heavenly Dao truce with him 154 207.
• Jue Fa — Monk who took the banner despite its danger, delivered wandering souls, and ultimately entered it to help Tu Shan Jun overcome the Great Black Mountain Ghost King 256 298.
• Chi Xuan — Former Banner Master who used the banner against the Tiger Demon; he died when the banner was promoted to a Spirit Treasure 362 448.
• True Monarch Taiyi — Wielder and Artifact Refining Grandmaster who helped promote the banner to Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure and later used it in the Ghost King Great Array 558 559 610.
• Meng Zhi — Banner Master who accepted its curse in exchange for help refining the Tiger Demon Sacred Heart Soul and pursuing his Dao 840 876.
• Shou He — Banner Master who handed the banner to Tu Shan Jun during the latter’s Dao Tribulation and activated its ghost army formation 1022.
• Wu Rong — Wielded the banner to dispel a Saint Thunder Tribulation and enter the Dao 1026.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Creation and Revenge — Created from village deaths as Zhao Shixian’s low-grade artifact, then secretly becomes the vessel through which Tu Shan Jun pursues revenge 2 6.
• Rise in Small Lingzhou — Grows through Sha Qi, Living Souls, and successive Banner Masters, becoming a Peak-Grade Magic Tool during the defense of Copper Pass 22 47 132.
• Ding Xie Conflict — Becomes the source of a battle of wills after Ding Xie attempts to control it and threatens its destruction; the pair eventually negotiate a truce 153 154.
• Magic Treasure and Spirit Treasure Era — Advances through the Blood Pool, later surviving nine thunder tribulations and becoming powerful enough to rival the Spirit Treasures of Nascent Soul True Monarchs 207 448.
• Taiyi Sect Era — Is reforged by True Monarch Taiyi, becomes a Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure and Dao Soldier, and serves as the foundation of Ghost King formations capable of challenging Soul Transformation opponents 559 610 677.
• Sacred Weapon Era — Its Sacred Weapon advancement draws widespread contention from Saints, Dao Lords, and major factions seeking to control its potential 889 897 898.