Soul-Binding and Ghost-Enslaving, Commanding Yin and Yang

One step, two steps, three steps...

The baby lying beside the crib grinned and laughed. Desire and evil glinted in eyes that should have been innocent, and at some point, sharp fangs had grown from its slightly parted mouth, making it look utterly bizarre.

Yet Zheng Yi seemed not to have noticed the baby's changes. His entire body was like a puppet on strings, controlled by an invisible force as he walked toward the baby and stretched out his arms. In the next moment, he would have been able to gather it into his embrace.

But in the next second, Zheng Yi halted mid-step.

The baby's wicked smile froze on its face. It anxiously called out, strange ripples flashing in its scarlet eyes as invisible spiritual power surged toward Zheng Yi.

"Are you out of tricks?"

"Seeing you in person truly surpasses hearing of you. The Blood Fetus Ghost Infant really was worthy of being a secret art that flowed out from the Nether Path centuries ago—a forbidden technique of the demonic path..."

"I never expected that you, a Ghost Infant not yet born, would already possess such methods. You even know the Bewitching Art. Even with my Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivation, I nearly fell for your trick."

"Fortunately, I had the protection of my Lifebound Artifact, the Soul Devouring Banner, along with the backlash of the Azure Profound Fiend from the Black Fiend Technique. Otherwise, anyone else might have been bewitched by you, sacrificed themselves, and released you."

Zheng Yi spoke slowly. Where was there any trace of dullness or confusion left in his eyes?

They were exceptionally clear. There was not the slightest sign that he had been bewitched or influenced.

His clear eyes watched the Ghost Infant within arm's reach, killing intent spreading through Zheng Yi's heart.

As expected of a Ghost Infant said to meet the bare minimum threshold of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator the moment it was born. Before even being born, it already possessed such soul-bewitching methods. It truly was an incomparably cunning ghostly creature.

The Qi Family had spent a hundred years laying their plans in secret, constructing a Flesh and Blood Demon Pool and using the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array to nurture the Blood Fetus Ghost Infant. They had blood-sacrificed countless humans and beasts, along with the flesh, blood, souls, and spirits of numerous miners and cultivators, bringing this Ghost Infant close to birth.

Yet despite being only one step away, it could not break through the Blood Egg. Therefore, when Zheng Yi appeared, the Ghost Infant had used the Soul Bewitching Technique, hoping to control him into blood-sacrificing himself. It wanted to devour the flesh, blood, soul, and spirit of Zheng Yi, a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator, to take itself one step closer to being born.

Still, the Qi Family had truly been ruthless. No wonder Zheng Yi had sensed something abnormal about the spiritual energy of heaven and earth the moment he arrived.

The location of this Black Iron Essence Mine was exceptionally unusual. Beneath it, another subsidiary vein was hidden.

There had to be at least one complete spirit vein present. Otherwise, it could not possibly support the operation of the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array.

Now, it seemed his earlier guess had been correct.

A century ago, the Qi Family had concealed the existence of this subsidiary spirit vein. When they secretly arranged the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array, they drained every last trace of spiritual energy from the vein, turning this region into an utterly desolate land.

The Qi Family had spent a hundred years plotting for the sake of this Ghost Infant's birth. Once they refined it, it would be tantamount to having a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator guarding their family.

Although the quality of this Blood Fetus Ghost Infant meant it could only match the combat strength of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator at the lowest threshold.

But the Foundation Establishment Realm was still the Foundation Establishment Realm.

By then, the Qi Family's strength would inevitably soar, giving them far more room to choose.

Even if the Soul Devouring Sect discovered their arrangement and turned hostile, the Qi Family would still have plenty of room to maneuver.

In the Demon Domain, competition among demonic cultivators was cruel. What mattered had never been the mercy of others, but the strong devouring the weak, the fittest surviving, strength reigning supreme, and the strong being honored.

As long as the Qi Family possessed a Ghost Infant comparable to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator—and even stranger and more terrifying—they could expect the Soul Devouring Sect to handle the matter lightly even if it learned the truth.

It was no exaggeration to say that the Qi Family had endured humiliation and borne heavy burdens for this Ghost Infant comparable to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

They had paid nearly a century of effort from two or three generations of the entire family, countless resources, a spirit vein, and the price of their family ancestor suffering the backlash of Karmic Force and having his soul scattered to the winds. Even the family's last three high-level Qi Refining Stage cultivators had unexpectedly been thrown into the bargain. Success was permitted; failure was not.

But man proposed and heaven disposed. Zheng Yi alone, a fierce dragon crossing the river, along with Qi Lin's unexpected betrayal, had ruined the Qi Family's century of efforts.

If the Qi Family ancestor had learned of it, he would probably have come after Zheng Yi's life even as a ghost.

Of course, he had no chance of doing so.

As the bloodline ancestor and the chief culprit who had begun planning all of this, he had long since suffered the backlash of such immense Blood Sin and Karmic Force. His soul had already scattered to the winds, unable even to enter reincarnation.

A century of planning had come to nothing.

"You truly are a monster. You're this ferocious before you've even been born—if you were truly born, wouldn't that be unbearable?!"

"Even before being born, ordinary Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivators would probably have no way to deal with you..."

"Consider yourself unlucky to have encountered me. Do you think you can still escape from my palm?"

Zheng Yi's face was as still as water, his expression grave. Azure ghostfire churned atop the Soul Devouring Banner in his hand.

Boundless Yin Fiend Qi blotted out the sky and covered the earth. At this moment, he had activated the full might of this Lifebound Artifact.

The spiritual energy within Zheng Yi's body poured in wildly without restraint. Strange crimson bloodlines appeared across the surface of the Soul Devouring Banner, crisscrossing into ninety-nine Great Yin-Demon Scripts of Soul-Binding and Ghost-Enslaving. Amid gusts of yin wind, one ferocious Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirit after another emerged.

"Eek!"

As expected of a forbidden ghostly creature intolerable to heaven and earth, this Blood Fetus Ghost Infant was still a long way from being born, yet it already possessed a measure of intelligence even within the womb.

Sensing the deadly danger emanating from the Soul Devouring Banner in Zheng Yi's palm, the Blood Fetus Ghost Infant curled itself into a ball in fright.

It desperately put on a harmless expression, urgently letting out infantile cries. Its sharp teeth and claws had already been drawn back, and it displayed the adorable appearance of an ordinary baby.

Bind souls and enslave ghosts, command yin and yang!

Those not of our kind are sure to harbor different hearts.

Remember! Remember!

Zheng Yi clearly remembered that before the inner sect of the Soul Devouring Sect stood a stone stele bearing words that had remained deeply etched in his memory to this day.

The Soul Devouring Sect dealt with ghostly creatures extremely often, and the ghosts they encountered came in every strange and varied form. Some had suffered tragic lives, some had been driven to death, and some had been dismembered and slaughtered. Their experiences before death were all exceedingly miserable.

But so long as it was a ghostly creature, nothing it said could be trusted.

This had become the Soul Devouring Sect's first ironclad rule.

When facing ghostly creatures, no matter how tragic their fate had been in life, one had to show no mercy when acting against them.

For once a person's resentment transformed them into a ghost, yin energy arose within them. They were no longer the person they had been in life, but had become a race in another form.

Those not of our kind are sure to harbor different hearts.

This was a truth distilled from the personal experiences of countless cultivators over generation after generation.