Spirit Gathering Peak!

["Is that all? It doesn't feel like my cultivation has improved at all!"]

["How could it be that fast, buddy? Refinement takes time, and there are too few of them! Look at those villagers outside—they're ignorant to the extreme. Living only wastes grain. Kill them! Kill them all!"]

["Stop trying to lead me into a pit. Dagan really is rotten, but it hasn't fallen to the point where it ignores everything."]

[The Myriad Souls Banner began tempting you again.]

[Unfortunately, it was utterly useless before the Golden Entry.]

[You could even hear a trace of helplessness in the Myriad Souls Banner's tone, as if it were complaining about how you simply would not yield to either soft or hard tactics.]

["Speaking of which, Demon Souls really are stronger than ordinary human souls, and the refinement effect is much better. Damn it! Why did my previous masters only know how to kill ordinary people? What a bunch of pig brains!"]

["Isn't it because ordinary people are easy to bully?"]

[Yet with you, because of the Alien Father Entry, the Demon Race became the easier ones to bully instead.]

[Year eighteen, age thirty-five.]

[You carried the Myriad Souls Banner, tracked demonic aura, and traveled everywhere slaying demons and eliminating evil.]

[Because demonic aura could distinguish a demon's strength, you would basically never suffer an upset.]

[As the Demon Souls within the Myriad Souls Banner grew more numerous, its efficiency in feeding cultivation back to you increased ever faster.]

[Year nineteen, age thirty-six.]

[Your Martial Dao realm rose to the Ninth Layer of Spirit Gathering.]

[The horns, scales, claws, and other parts on some demons could fetch a considerable price in the Martial Artist Market.]

[The Martial Artist Market settled transactions in crystal stones, not silver.]

[By selling Demon Race materials, you earned quite a few crystal stones and maintained your daily cultivation needs.]

[You used the surplus crystal stones to buy supplementary pills, accelerating the growth of your cultivation.]

[Among rogue Martial Artists, you were living an exceptionally comfortable life.]

[Year twenty, age thirty-seven.]

[Your Martial Dao realm rose to the Tenth Layer of Spirit Gathering.]

[You considered whether to cooperate with the Monster Slaying Division and hunt some stronger demons.]

[After all, what you wanted were Demon Souls. It did not matter if they took the materials from the demons.]

[But after thinking it over carefully, it did not seem very safe.]

[If someone discovered that you possessed the Myriad Souls Banner, at best it would be taken from you; at worst, it would draw pursuit and assassination.]

[You decided to drop the matter.]

[Year twenty-one, age thirty-eight.]

[Your Martial Dao realm rose to the Eleventh Layer of Spirit Gathering.]

[Year twenty-two, age thirty-nine.]

[Your Martial Dao realm rose to the Twelfth Layer of Spirit Gathering.]

[The Spiritual Qi in the Twelve Meridians had already been fully cultivated.]

[You were about to launch an assault on the Soul Tempering Realm.]

[The further one advanced in the Martial Dao, the harder it became to improve. Yet the Demon Souls you gathered also grew more numerous, balancing out the speed of your advancement instead.]

[After roaming the martial world for five years and eliminating demons everywhere, you had gained some fame in Dagan's southern region.]

[Because you cultivated the Heart Flame Mysterious Technique, more and more of your hair had turned red, making your features highly distinctive.]

[Some troublemaking rogue Martial Artists gave you a nickname—Red-Haired Demon Slayer!]

[Sometimes, people simply called you Red Hair!]

["That sounds terrible..."]

[Whenever people discovered you killing demons somewhere, the common folk would see that distinctive lock of red hair on your head and shout in unison, "Red Hair! Red Hair!"]

[Embarrassed, you gave them three bedrooms and a living room, then swiftly slipped away.]

["The great hero Red Hair not only upholds justice and fears neither demons nor monsters! After eliminating harm for us, he does not ask for any reward—not even a single word!"]

[These past few years, you had traveled east and west, fighting the Demon Race in battles of courage and wits.]

[Yet sometimes, people were more dangerous than demons.]

[You often sold Demon Race materials in the Martial Artist Market. Though you had taken precautions and only visited each market once, you were still targeted by some people with evil intentions.]

[On an official road in the dead of night, you rode toward Shenbing Commandery in Ling Prefecture, where many people were skilled at forging Spiritual Artifacts.]

[Over the past few years, you had saved up some crystal stones, intending to forge a more useful body for the Myriad Souls Banner so it could unleash even greater power.]

["Red Hair? Please wait!"]

[Five Martial Artists blocked your path along the way.]

[You had Eidetic Memory, so you remembered these people.]

[When you sold Demon Race materials in the Martial Artist Market, these people had been beside you.]

["Gentlemen, what can I do for you?"]

[The five of them got straight to the point.]

["Crystal stones aren't easy to earn. We'd like to borrow some from you, brother. You just made quite a bit, didn't you? A single Golden Bull Horn sold for five hundred Low-grade crystal stones."]

["We're all rogue Martial Artists, so we won't make things difficult for you. Eight or nine hundred will do."]

["You sold so many crystal stones, yet we didn't see you carrying much of a bundle. Could it be that you have a Storage Spirit Artifact? Hand that over too!"]

[You sat astride your horse with your arms folded across your chest, unable to stop yourself from laughing.]

["So, it's robbery?"]

[They were utterly shameless.]

["Robbery sounds so unpleasant. It's borrowing. We'll return it to you after you die."]

[You smiled.]

["Fine, I'll lend it to you. After you die, I'll lend it to you."]

[The five of them looked grim.]

["You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Three of the five of us are in the Soul Tempering Realm. Let's see how you'll resist!"]

[For rogue Martial Artists to reach the Soul Tempering Realm was indeed quite impressive.]

[They dared make their move because they knew your realm could not exceed the Soul Tempering Realm.]

[Unfortunately, you did not take these people seriously at all.]

[Opponents who did not even trigger Spider Senses—what threat could they possibly pose?]

[You looked around and, after confirming there was no one nearby, flipped your palm. The Myriad Souls Banner appeared in your hand.]

[The banner's surface was pitch-black, black mist churned, and gusts of sinister wind rose from level ground.]

["What is that?"]

[The five men had seen little of the world and did not recognize the Myriad Souls Banner, but they instinctively sensed the danger.]

["All demons, heed my command! Take them down!"]

[At your command, dozens of Demon Souls swarmed out from the Myriad Souls Banner, wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves, their faces savage!]

["My goodness!!"]

[The five men were terrified on the spot.]

[Two of them might have been especially afraid of ghosts. They even pissed themselves.]

[These Demon Souls could attack people, but people without specific means for dealing with Soul Bodies could not strike them.]

[It was outrageously unfair.]

[Moreover, the Demon Souls did not merely use ordinary attacks. They could still use the demon arts they possessed in life.]

[When the Myriad Souls Banner refined Soul Bodies, "refining" and "transforming" were actually two different things.]

["Transforming" meant slowly melting a Soul Body into soul power for the purpose of feeding it back.]

["Refining," on the other hand, was similar to a summoner training Soul Bodies into Soul Servants that could be commanded, allowing them to leave the banner and fight.]

[For some demons with fiercer combat strength, you had the Myriad Souls Banner "refine" them. The weaker ones, you had it "transform."]

[Now, whenever you made a move, it was a righteous group beating.]

[Let alone three Soul Tempering cultivators—even five or ten Soul Tempering Realm cultivators would be crushed beneath the multitude of Demon Souls.]

[Thus, the Myriad Souls Banner's combat power snowballed.]

[The more Soul Bodies it contained, and the stronger they were, the more powerful it became!]

[That was also why demonic cultivators like Old Liu, once they possessed a Myriad Souls Banner, would slaughter villages and cities at the drop of a hat.]