Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra and Growth-Capable Magical Artifact

He took out the things he had kept close against his body, one by one.

Thirteen Spirit Stones, eight Rankless Spirit Talismans, five First Grade Lower-Rank Spirit Talismans, and a Storage Bag.

Lu Yan picked up the Storage Bag and a Spirit Stone, then followed the method circulating through Bamboo Forest Market to try opening the bag.

He guided a wisp of faint spiritual energy into the Storage Bag. Suddenly, Lu Yan felt the gold-thread-woven pouch in his hand loosen, and its tightly drawn opening could actually be opened with ease.

Lu Yan hurriedly dumped everything from the Storage Bag out in one go. When the pile of items spread out before him, only one thought remained in his mind.

I'm rich!

Over a hundred Spirit Stones were piled into a small hill. There were also dozens of neatly drawn First Grade Lower-Rank Spirit Talismans, five First Grade Mid-Rank talismans, and even one First Grade Upper-Rank talisman.

The value of those items alone exceeded three hundred Spirit Stones.

Beyond that, Lu Yan found a palm-length jade sword, two books, and a bottle of pills in the Storage Bag.

Lu Yan took one look at the jade sword and confirmed that it was a genuine flying sword magical item. As for whether it was lower-rank or mid-rank, he could not yet tell.

But magical items worthy of being called flying swords cost far more than other magical items. Even a lower-rank one required at least nearly a hundred Spirit Stones.

There was no writing on the pills inside the porcelain bottle. Lu Yan had never come into contact with spirit pills, so naturally, he had no way of knowing their origin.

But none of that was the key point. What truly delighted Lu Yan were the two books in the Storage Bag.

Their titles were "Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra" and "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records."

After flipping through it roughly, he found that the "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records" contained methods for refining artifacts such as Soul Banners, White Bone Bells, and Profound Yin Coffins. It clearly recorded the formations and materials needed for their refinement.

Such Demonic Path Magical Artifacts usually required the sacrifice of vast numbers of living beings to forge. Even though Lu Yan had no particular moral scruples, the contents still made him frown deeply.

This "Demonic Path Magical Artifact Secret Records" should have come from the Demonic Path Cultivator behind Steward Chu.

As for the other book, the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra," it was the Cultivation Technique Lu Yan needed most right now!

Moreover, this Cultivation Technique was of no low grade. It was a high-grade Demonic Path cultivation method: slaughter all things and transform one's own karma into Red Lotus Karma Fire. Its offensive power was peerless, vastly surpassing the commonplace "Evergreen Art."

The only pity was that the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra" contained only the Qi Refining Stage portion, with no subsequent methods.

But to Lu Yan, whether it was Demonic Path or whether it only covered the Qi Refining Stage was irrelevant. What mattered most was that this Cultivation Technique could help him step through the gates of the Cultivation World.

Even the First Level of Qi Refining was an entirely different world.

The vast majority of items in the Storage Bag required him to advance into the Qi Refining Stage and condense magical power before they could be used.

Suppressing the urge to begin cultivating here, Lu Yan stuffed most of the items back into the Storage Bag, leaving only the Rankless Spirit Talismans for protection and several Spirit Stones.

"These things definitely came from shady sources!"

After putting everything away, Lu Yan gave that assessment.

As a clerk at the Spirit Talisman Shop, Lu Yan alone handled the daily sorting of goods, sales, and bookkeeping. He knew Steward Chu's financial situation very well.

Though the Spirit Talisman Shop occupied a storefront in Bamboo Forest Market, its actual income was not high. The biggest problem was that Steward Chu, this talisman maker, was a complete fraud.

Steward Chu's success rate in drawing First Grade Lower-Rank Spirit Talismans was barely below ten percent. The talisman paper and spirit-mineral cinnabar required for drawing talismans all had to be bought with Spirit Stones, and selling ten First Grade Lower-Rank Spirit Talismans only brought a profit of one Spirit Stone.

On top of that, market shops had to hand over a portion of Spirit Stones every month. After the losses and expenses of running the shop, as well as his daily cultivation needs, only a dozen or so Spirit Stones remained each month.

Saving up the Spirit Stones in this Storage Bag, much less buying a flying sword magical item, was nothing but a fool's dream.

And if the flying sword magical item had truly been bought by Steward Chu, he could have simply kept it in the Storage Bag he carried with him. There was no need to hide it in the basement.

Putting all that information together, Lu Yan boldly deduced that the items in this Storage Bag had most likely been obtained by Steward Chu after murdering someone.

The cultivator he had murdered must have possessed some background or status, leaving Steward Chu too afraid to reveal these things openly. He could only hide them in the basement.

If Steward Chu had carried them on him, they would have vanished along with the Version Update long ago. How could Lu Yan have gotten such a bargain?

After organizing the Storage Bag, Lu Yan's gaze fell upon the icy floor.

Not far away, the Soul Banner that Lu Yan had forcibly brought into the Urban Version lay quietly there.

Having left that blood-soaked sacrificial refinement formation and the Xianxia Version, Lu Yan could sense that the Soul Banner's threatening aura seemed much weaker.

Those mindless Vengeful Souls appeared ill-suited to the outside environment, and most had fallen into slumber.

Lu Yan walked over to the Soul Banner, crouched down, and carefully examined this Demonic Path Magical Artifact before him.

The Soul Banner was pitch-black throughout. Its pole seemed carved from some kind of black jade, giving off a chilling aura.

Black-gold threads on the banner depicted vengeful ghosts devouring souls. Faintly, it seemed as though the wails of vicious ghosts echoed out, like the grim hell of Senluo.

When he reached out and touched the Soul Banner, with the Vengeful Souls asleep, Lu Yan felt only a trace of coldness. Other than that, there was nothing unusual.

"After all, it's only an unfinished lower-rank magical item. Even a famous Soul Banner is no exception. A Soul Banner's greatest strength ultimately lies in its potential for growth."

The reason Demonic Soul Banners were so famous was not merely their powerful offensive ability among treasures of the same rank. The crucial point was that Soul Banners could sustain themselves through battle.

Slaughter vast numbers of living beings to refine a Soul Banner, then nurture over a hundred yin souls to create a Hundred Soul Banner—a renowned Top Grade Magic Tool of the Demonic Path. Once fully refined, it could sweep through Foundation Establishment.

Nurture over a thousand yin soldiers, with a Ghost General stationed within, and it could be called a Thousand Soul Banner. Its rank would rival a Golden Core treasure; once the banner emerged, it could turn an entire city into a Specter Ghost Domain.

If it nurtured over ten thousand yin soldiers and Ghost Generals, with the Netherworld Ghost King stationed within, it would become the legendary Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

Legend had it that the Nine Nether Demon Sect had attempted to refine a Ten Thousand Soul Banner, only to bring down heavenly retribution that destroyed everything.

Lu Yan naturally did not hope for some Thousand Soul Banner or Ten Thousand Soul Banner. Being able to claim this lower-rank Soul Banner magical item for his own use would already be enough for him.

A Soul Banner could command Vengeful Souls. With the supernatural hidden in the Urban Version, Vengeful Souls were more valuable than the vast majority of spells.

After exploring the Underground Factory, Lu Yan found several clean sets of clothes. Once he had changed out of his ancient-style coarse cloth garments, he tore open a Rankless Spirit Talisman.

Spirit Fire Talisman!

A spark of spirit fire fell onto Steward Chu's corpse and began spreading rapidly, devouring the body almost in an instant.

This flame, imbued with spiritual energy, burned at such a high temperature that ordinary water could not extinguish it. It was enough to consume every trace Lu Yan had left in the Underground Factory.

After doing all that, Lu Yan left the Underground Factory.