Soul Pill

'Thud!'

After a dull thump outside, everything fell silent.

Qin Sang hurriedly covered the things on the bed with a blanket and rushed out the door. He saw Old Wu collapsed at the base of the wall, completely motionless.

Black qi surged from Old Wu's body. Then the evil ghost emerged from within him, Old Wu's soul clenched between its teeth. Upon seeing Qin Sang, it immediately spat out Old Wu's soul and hid in the corner.

Qin Sang froze where he stood, somewhat at a loss.

Old Wu's soul stood motionless. It was as illusory as a cloud of grayish-white smoke, expressionless, its eyes utterly devoid of spirit as they stared straight ahead. The sight was rather chilling.

It seemed different from my soul. Old Wu's soul was as tall and broad as he had been in life. Was it because I cultivated the Netherworld Scripture?

Qin Sang cursed himself for still having the mind to think such nonsense. He hurriedly crouched down and placed his fingers beneath Old Wu's nose. He could not feel any breath, and when he checked, his heartbeat had stopped as well.

He was dead.

Qin Sang raised his head, his expression complicated, and softly called, "Old Wu, do you still recognize me?"

Old Wu's eyes shifted to Qin Sang. After a pause, he said in a completely flat voice, "I do."

Qin Sang was stunned. He had only asked casually and had never expected Old Wu's soul to answer him. Wasn't Old Wu mute? Yet his soul could speak.

Looking closely now, Old Wu's soul appeared much younger than he had in life, and his back was no longer bent.

Qin Sang secretly guessed that his muteness, age, and hunchback had merely been conditions of the flesh, caused by illness and life's hardships. Would they not affect the soul?

Old Wu was only forty, after all. It was normal for his soul to look young.

In Qin Sang's previous life, a forty-year-old could still be called young.

With Old Wu's soul staring at him unblinkingly and an evil ghost crouching nearby, Qin Sang's scalp prickled. More than that, he felt guilty. He had no real friendship with Old Wu, but they had lived under the same roof for half a year, and Old Wu had died because of his recklessness.

"Old Wu, every grievance has its debtor, every debt has its creditor. That thing is the one who killed you, so see it clearly. If you prosper in the underworld someday and want to come back for revenge, remember to find it."

Qin Sang pointed at the evil ghost in the corner and earnestly tried to persuade him. Yet he found it difficult to deceive himself. "Old Wu, do you have any unfulfilled wishes? Right, family... are any of your family members still alive? Is there any chance your two sons survived?"

Old Wu replied evenly, "I have no family."

Qin Sang found himself in a bind, not knowing what else to say. Old Wu's stare made him uncomfortable. He wanted to tell Old Wu to let it go—since he was already dead, he should hurry off to reincarnate. What was the point of standing there without moving?

Deep down, Qin Sang felt that death might not have been a bad thing for Old Wu. Reuniting with his family underground was better than living like a walking corpse.

But he also felt that thinking so was too shameless, and he truly could not bring himself to say it.

The room fell into a deathly silence. Before long, Old Wu's soul swayed a few times, melted into a wisp of soul mist, and drifted toward the evil ghost.

The evil ghost glanced at Qin Sang, cautiously raised its head, and took a breath, swallowing all the soul mist into its mouth before shrinking back again.

Qin Sang did not know how to stop it. He glared at the evil ghost and watched helplessly as it devoured Old Wu, realizing that this thing was absolutely a calamity.

If he could not make the evil ghost obey his every command and instead let it run wild, who knew how many innocent people would be harmed in the future? Enemies would be one thing, but what if they were family or friends?

Qin Sang could only be grateful that the one who had knocked on the door earlier had not been the old Daoist or Mingyue.

He sought immortality for longevity, not to become a murderous Demon Lord. If he could not control the evil ghost, he would rather lock the Yanluo Banner away and never use it.

Qin Sang stood up and took a step, then stopped. He turned to look at Old Wu's corpse in thought. Old Wu had died outside his door, and he needed to clean up the aftermath properly, or there would be trouble.

Before Old Wu's body stiffened, Qin Sang picked him up, kicked open the door to his room, laid him flat on the bed, and tucked the blanket around him.

Old Wu's soul had been directly hooked away, and there were no external wounds on his body. Even the government coroner would not be able to find anything.

After cleaning up every last detail, Qin Sang backed out of the room, shut the door, and leaned against the wall with a long exhale. His heart still felt heavy.

After glancing at the evil ghost, Qin Sang strode back into his room, picked up the Yanluo Banner from the floor, and recalled the contents of the scripture, yet he had no idea how to take the evil ghost back in.

After frowning in thought for a while, Qin Sang had no choice but to use the same trick again, driving the wisp of qi that had just recovered in his body into the Yanluo Banner.

The section on the Yanluo Banner described how to wield the Yanluo Banner.

This time, the evil ghost did not lunge at him. Qin Sang silently recited the scripture. When he finished, the Yanluo Banner moved without wind. A deep, ghostly radiance suddenly lit up on its black flagpole, and the three words "Yanluo Banner" shone especially brightly. The light gradually gathered toward Qin Sang's palm before finally sinking into his body.

Immediately afterward, a great many words suddenly appeared in Qin Sang's mind.

Qin Sang was secretly astonished. After reading through the passage, he discovered that it not only explained the Yanluo Banner and the evil ghost within it, but also contained a spell for refining the Yanluo Banner.

So the Yanluo Banner was not some immortal weapon as Qin Sang had guessed, but an artifact meant to assist in cultivating the Netherworld Scripture.

However, the evil ghost raised within the Yanluo Banner was called Yanwang. Its abilities were somewhat weak, but after being refined with the spell, it could still be commanded against enemies. Thus, the Yanluo Banner could barely count as a weapon for subduing foes.

Yet the Yanluo Banner's greatest use was still assisting the cultivation of the Netherworld Scripture.

Even with only the first level of the Netherworld Scripture, along with medicinal baths to aid him, Qin Sang had still spent more than half a year. One could imagine that reaching higher levels in the future would only become more difficult. Who knew how many years it would take to cultivate to the highest, sixth level?

With the Yanluo Banner's help, however, things would be different.

After Yanwang within the banner devoured human souls or Yin Sha Qi, it would nurture soul pills. A cultivator could take a soul pill and hold it in their palm while cultivating, borrowing its power to greatly increase their cultivation speed.

Of course, the Yanluo Banner was not without hidden dangers. The text warned cultivators never to be too greedy. They must use the Yanluo Banner with utmost care, lest Yanwang devour its master.

Seeing this, Qin Sang felt a wave of lingering fear.

This Yanluo Banner had been left behind by the man in black. The man in black had been powerful enough to suppress Yanwang. But Qin Sang had only cultivated the Netherworld Scripture to its second level. No wonder Yanwang within the banner had backlashed against him.

If not for the Jade Buddha's protection, he might already have drunk Meng Po's Soup.

This incident also served as a warning to Qin Sang. This world contained far too many strange and sinister things. From now on, he had to be careful in everything.

Thinking of the Jade Buddha, Qin Sang became thoughtful.

Yanwang feared the Jade Buddha. Did that mean he no longer needed to worry about backlash?

But when he recalled the terrifying scene of the evil ghost lunging at him, Qin Sang decided he still needed to remain cautious. After all, he did not know just how powerful the Jade Buddha truly was, or whether it could suppress Yanwang forever.

After memorizing the spell, Qin Sang began refining the Yanluo Banner.

Once the refinement was complete, Qin Sang had a strange feeling. The Yanluo Banner seemed connected to him by blood, as though it had become a part of his body.