Li Chengjie did not linger. He swiftly left Profound Truth Hall, his figure flashing several times before blending into the streams of people moving through the camp. He deliberately circled around a few times, and only after confirming that no one was following him did he quietly return to that secluded corner piled with discarded pill dregs.
Finding the even more concealed hiding place, Li Chengjie eagerly took out the Jade Box containing the Soul Shock Banner.
Upon opening the lid, the bone-white little banner lay silently within, its twisted runes emanating an unsettling aura.
Following the cultivation technique recorded in the Jade Slip, Li Chengjie cautiously began to channel his divine sense and spiritual power, winding them around the demonic banner as he carried out the initial refinement.
As his divine sense slowly seeped into the banner, a cold, chaotic will immediately surged back along it in retaliation. Like countless tiny ice needles, it tried to pierce his Sea of Consciousness.
Li Chengjie had been prepared. He immediately circulated the Mysterious Flame Art, using its scorching pure-yang spiritual power to shield his mind. At the same time, with a will far tougher than that of cultivators at his level, he firmly blocked the encroaching force.
"Hmph. Mere residual Malevolent Qi from an ownerless Dharma Artifact dares act so brazenly?" Li Chengjie snorted inwardly. He increased the output of his divine sense, branding the icy banner bit by bit with his own mark like a red-hot iron.
The process was far from easy. It demanded extraordinarily precise control: he had to suppress the Dharma Artifact's backlash while ensuring the refinement proceeded smoothly.
It took a full hour. Sweat beaded on Li Chengjie's forehead before he barely completed the initial refinement and established a faint connection with the Soul Shock Banner.