Refining the Soul Banner

"Y-you... who are you?"

Gongyang Xuanming's voice stammered, his face filled with terror.

Though he was ruthless and regarded human lives as less than grass, that was only among ordinary mortals. When had he ever seen anything as horrifying as this?

The common sense he had built over more than twenty years made him instinctively believe the sight before him was fake, yet the corpses on the floor and the sinister ghostly aura all reminded him of the truth.

Gongyang Xuanming could only force down the terror in his heart and plead with the three ghostly figures before him:

"If you want money, don't hurt me. I have lots and lots of money.

"My father holds power and influence in Myanmar. As long as you name it, no matter what it is, I can get it for you!"

The three ghostly figures said nothing. They merely slowly approached Gongyang Xuanming.

"Oh? Can you really give me anything?"

A teasing voice slowly echoed through the room.

Gongyang Xuanming instinctively looked toward the source of the voice, only to find nothing there. Not a single figure was in sight.

"As long as you say the word, anything is possible!"

"Very good."

It was as though an invisible ghost drifted through the room, its voice entering Gongyang Xuanming's heart one word at a time.

"I want... your life!"

Terror instantly flooded Gongyang Xuanming's mind. He instinctively tried to cry for help, only to discover that no matter how he opened his mouth, his throat could not make the slightest sound.

A dagger on the ground flew into the air and plunged into Gongyang Xuanming's heart.

The corpse fell to the floor. Pungent blood continuously poured from Gongyang Xuanming's body, yet guided by some mysterious force, it slowly spread outward and transformed into intricate patterns.

Before Gongyang Xuanming's corpse, Lu Yan stood quietly. His left hand held a copy of the "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records," while his right guided his magic power to control the blood's flow.

At his side floated a faintly glowing spirit talisman.

First-rank low-grade spirit talisman: Invisibility Talisman!

As early as when the three Vengeful Souls had begun slaughtering, Lu Yan had used the Invisibility Talisman to secretly enter the presidential suite on the hotel's top floor and cut off the suite's power and all surveillance equipment.

In truth, if he had merely wanted to kill Gongyang Xuanming, Lu Yan had not needed to come in person.

But after discovering that Gongyang Xuanming had so many bodyguards under him, another thought had surfaced in Lu Yan's mind.

That was to use the souls of Gongyang Xuanming and his men to complete the unfinished Demonic Soul Banner.

The Demonic Soul Banner's refinement still lacked one cultivator, and Lu Yan was the final cultivator chosen by Gongyang Xuanming and Steward Chu.

However, Lu Yan had successfully turned the tables and killed them, then brought the Soul Banner into the Urban Version, disrupting the original refinement process. To make up for this final flaw, he either had to find another cultivator to sacrifice, or use a vast number of souls to make up for the lack of quality with quantity.

It just so happened that Lu Yan had killed Gongyang Xuanming and his subordinates. The materials were already at hand, and since he had also obtained the "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records" from Steward Chu, Lu Yan naturally would not waste them.

Beyond that, Lu Yan also harbored a few thoughts of experimentation.

Gongyang Xuanming and the middle-aged man who looked like a butler would undoubtedly have been powerful cultivators with profound cultivation in the Xianxia Version.

After becoming ordinary people in the Urban Version, would their souls remain ordinary after death as well? If their souls were sacrificed and refined into the Soul Banner, would they add some of their power to it after a Version Update?

These seemingly insignificant pieces of information would all determine how Lu Yan could better use Version Updates to seek benefits for himself.

As his thoughts turned, Lu Yan followed the formation recorded in the "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records," using magic power to guide the blood into slowly condensing into an array.

However, since Gongyang Xuanming's body was not that of a cultivator and his blood contained no spiritual power, Lu Yan could only take a Spirit Stone from his Storage Bag, crush it, and mix it into the blood array, adding a trace of spirituality to the blood.

After a while, the Soul Sacrifice Array took shape, and the Soul Banner fell into the array.

Lu Yan formed an incantation seal with his fingers and drew with his right hand. Gongyang Xuanming's soul was stripped from his body.

The spiritual energy in the Urban Version was far too thin to support a soul's long-term existence, much less allow it to become something like a vicious ghost.

His soul was pulled out, and Gongyang Xuanming's face still bore the shock and terror from the moment of his death. Only when the three Vengeful Souls came before him did he snap out of the terror of dying.

Lu Yan glanced at Gongyang Xuanming's soul, disappointment in his eyes.

As expected, Gongyang Xuanming's soul was only at the level of an ordinary person. It was insufficient to bring any growth to the Soul Banner.

If he had not confirmed that Gongyang Xuanming was the man behind Steward Chu, neither Gongyang Xuanming's behavior nor this ordinary soul would have allowed Lu Yan to connect him with that lofty Demonic Path Cultivator.

Still, where there was loss, there was gain. Through Gongyang Xuanming, Lu Yan had also confirmed one thing: different versions were indeed completely independent.

That was good news for Lu Yan. At the very least, he would not have to worry about killing some powerful old monster in the future, only to be counter-killed by a soul far stronger than its physical body.

The awakened Gongyang Xuanming watched the three Vengeful Souls close in around him. Their pale, ferocious faces bore bizarre, twisted distortions, as though they had been stitched together.

Without the protection of his body, Gongyang Xuanming could feel the terror of Vengeful Souls comparable to the early Qi Refining Stage even more keenly. His soul seemed to gradually freeze beneath that chilling aura.

The corpse on the floor and the strange blood array made Gongyang Xuanming's soul tremble. He hurriedly looked around and shouted:

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Lu Yan ignored him completely. Though he had personally come here to repair the Soul Banner, he could not leave behind any information in order to avoid the effects of Information Mapping.

Within the room, only that ghostlike voice rang out once more.

"Look closely. He is the true culprit behind your deaths.

"The so-called Steward Chu was merely a tool under his control."

As soon as those words fell, tiny faces suddenly emerged across the three Vengeful Souls' faces. The twisted souls that had been absorbed into the Vengeful Souls after sacrifice continuously struggled and howled, trying to break free from the restraints of the Vengeful Souls' bodies.

Vengeful spirits were ghostly creatures formed from resentment. Even if they had long lost their minds, the resentment in their hearts would not change in the slightest.

Gongyang Xuanming's pupils shook violently, because he had recognized the faces on the Vengeful Souls. They belonged to the expendable victims chosen by Chu Hao.

Ghosts really existed in this world?

Yet no one answered his doubts.

"Eat him."

The lightly spoken words delivered the final judgment.

The Vengeful Souls, who had long craved this, seized Gongyang Xuanming's soul and tore it away. Six Ghost Claws ripped that fragile soul into pieces.

Tiny faces chewed Gongyang Xuanming's soul in great mouthfuls, as though venting the resentment that had accumulated in their hearts for so long.

A faint light rose from the blood array on the floor. Blood-red radiance spread in all directions, quickly enveloping the entire floor of presidential suites.

From the fallen corpses, souls slowly separated from their bodies and appeared within the array, gathering toward the Soul Banner at the center of the Array Patterns.