Yin Five Thunder?

Before Qi Family Patriarch Qi Yuanzong and the others could react, Zheng Yi seized the initiative, forming hand seals.

The dense black mist released by the Soul Devouring Banner transformed like a massive octopus. Countless huge, thick tentacles emerged one after another, smashing viciously toward the Qi Family members.

The three Qi brothers were formidable after all. Unlike rogue cultivators, cultivators from established families possessed inherited legacies.

Though faced with Zheng Yi's ferocious assault, they were not without means. Each formed hand seals and directed their Flying Swords to slash at those tentacles.

At once, enormous roars erupted. Ghostly qi surged, cold winds howled, and amid them rang shrill sword cries and sounds like clashing metal.

"Not good!"

Sensing the shocking power of the manifested tentacles, Qi Family Patriarch Qi Yuanzong's expression darkened as he warned them.

"This brat came prepared..."

"The Soul Devouring Banner in his hand is far from ordinary. It is absolutely no common auxiliary artifact!"

At the same time, he shouted, his hands shifting through seals as he chanted an incantation. The Flying Sword that had been streaking forward at tremendous speed halted before him.

As Qi Yuanzong murmured his spell, arcs of lightning actually began to flash across that razor-sharp Flying Sword.

Seeing this, Zheng Yi revealed a wary expression.

He had not expected that Qi Family Patriarch Qi Yuanzong was clearly a demonic cultivator, yet had also cultivated a spell similar to the Five Thunder Technique?

Thunder techniques broke evil. Whether Yin Five Thunder or Yang Five Thunder, they inflicted tremendous damage upon ghost-path arts like the Soul Devouring Banner.

Yet the countless flashing arcs upon Qi Yuanzong's Flying Sword glimmered in azure radiance while carrying faint, eerie streaks of blood. At a glance, it was clear their origins were improper; this was not pure thunder magic.

But even impure thunder magic posed a massive threat to Zheng Yi's Soul Devouring Banner.

Still, not the slightest panic arose in his heart.

He had long anticipated this very scene.

That was why, after luckily purchasing the rare Earth Soul Silver in the Sect Marketplace, he had spared no expense, consuming half his essence blood to inscribe the Nine Soul-Binding Ghost-Commanding Yin-Demon Grand Seals in succession. He had refined the Earth Soul Silver, along with numerous other materials, into the demonic banner precisely to guard against this moment.

Earth Soul Silver was an object where yin and yang converged, an extremely yin substance born from the endless resentful baleful aura of the dead. Though struck by lightning, it remained undamaged. Yin and yang coexisted within it, granting it exceptional resistance.

So long as there was sufficient yin qi, it could withstand even supremely yang lightning.

After all, in the so-called generation and restraint of the Five Elements, nothing in heaven and earth could absolutely suppress another thing. Everything generated and restrained one another.

Water could extinguish flames, yet it could also be burned away by a raging inferno.

"Go!"

Qi Yuanzong's gaze was icy as he controlled his Flying Sword and sent it slashing toward Zheng Yi.

Sword qi crisscrossed its path, interwoven with the power of lightning. Even the dense yin qi could not stop it, torn apart to open a path ahead.

Seeing this, Qi Yuanshang and Qi Yuanming, being brothers who had lived together in the family for decades, understood one another perfectly.

They simultaneously extended their palms behind Qi Family Patriarch Qi Yuanzong, pressing them against his back.

The spiritual qi within them shared the same origin, pouring ceaselessly into Qi Yuanzong's body. They intended to borrow the strength of all three and slay Zheng Yi on the spot.

Borrowing the strength of his two brothers, a deep, shadowy gleam bloomed in Qi Yuanzong's eyes. The Flying Sword he drove forward accelerated another thirty percent, and endless lightning nearly cleaved apart the dark yin qi.

Yet just as the thunder-wreathed Flying Sword was about to strike him, Zheng Yi remained expressionless. He reached out, gripped the Banner Pole of the Soul Devouring Banner, and gave it a gentle wave.

A great number of Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirits appeared before him. As he waved the banner, those Malevolent Ghosts let out piercing Ghost Howls. Their illusory ghostly bodies were controlled by some invisible force and twisted directly, forming an enormous black funnel behind Zheng Yi.

The black funnel spun, firing an arrow from the string that burned with jet-black flames.

That was Netherworld Ghost Fire, a special ghost flame formed when extremely compressed ghost qi burned.

Yet no one saw the blue-green glimmer flickering within the core of that Netherworld Ghost Fire.

The third-layer fiend fire of the Black Fiend Technique—Azure Profound Fiend, Demonic Flame.

It abruptly elevated the entire Netherworld Ghost Fire to another level.

Demonic Flame against lightning.

Who would win and who would lose was not yet certain!

This sudden instant was terrifyingly swift, faster than thought itself could react.

The arrow blazing with Netherworld Demonic Flame collided with the lightning Flying Sword that carried the combined power of all three Qi brothers.

This was no longer an ordinary clash between Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivators.

The three Qi brothers had been born of the same root, cultivating techniques that shared the same source. Working together, they were naturally unstoppable.

But Zheng Yi was no pushover either. Though he had no blood brothers, the space inside the Soul Devouring Banner was a world unto itself, and the many Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirits refined within were all his support.

"Boom!"

Terrifying power erupted. The arrow from the string crumbled inch by inch, and the lightning Flying Sword appeared to have gained the upper hand.

But the Demonic Flame, black and streaked with azure Sha Qi, clung to the Flying Sword like maggots gnawing at bone. It made the sword emit a mournful cry, completely locking down its attacking momentum.

Qi Yuanzong, whose essence blood had refined the lightning Flying Sword and whose consciousness was linked to it, suddenly turned deathly pale. He gave a muffled groan.

A thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Both sides had brought out every means at their disposal. It had already become a fight to the death.

Seeing Qi Yuanzong suffer a setback, Qi Yuanming and Qi Yuanshang cried out in alarm together, simultaneously controlling their Flying Swords as they slashed toward Zheng Yi.

Qi Yuanzong, meanwhile, did his utmost to settle his surging blood and qi. Controlling the flashing lightning arcs around his Flying Sword, he extinguished the Demonic Flame attached to its surface inch by inch.

The three joined forces, their Flying Swords weaving and crossing to form a massive sword formation. It descended from the sky, splitting into a Three Talents formation and suppressing Zheng Yi at its center.

Endless sword qi burst forth like a metal storm, a tidal frenzy of blades, crazily slashing toward Zheng Yi.

"Sure enough, rogue cultivators, cultivation families, and true disciples of great sects are three entirely different tiers."

"Every old cultivation family, no matter how declined, still has trump cards tucked away at the bottom of the chest."

After comparing the combat strength and treacherous, ever-changing methods of the three Qi brothers with the rogue cultivators he had encountered before, Zheng Yi realized that the two sides were simply not on the same level.

Even at the same realm, unless one was a seasoned Highway Robber Cultivator tempered through countless battles, they would likely be easily slain by the three Qi brothers.

But strong as they were, Zheng Yi had not become an Inner Sect Disciple for nothing.

His true trump card was the Lifebound Artifact in his hand: the Soul Devouring Banner, which had already refined forty-nine Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirits and fused with Earth Soul Silver, producing the momentum of yin and yang complementing each other.

It allowed him to wield power far beyond his own realm through methods that were practically cheating.

Though the Soul Devouring Banner was difficult to advance, came with countless restrictions, and could easily leave one entangled in resentment, there was no denying that once it reached a certain level, its power was nearly monstrous.

The performance of Withered Soul Old Ancestor during the Righteous-Demonic War two hundred years ago had already proven that.

And Zheng Yi was highly confident that, in a battle against cultivators of the same level, the Soul Devouring Banner in his hand was absolutely no weaker than Withered Soul Old Ancestor's.

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