Five Flesh and Blood Demon Pools

Zheng Yi ignored her pleas for mercy and directly put away the Red-Clothed Female Ghost along with the other Yin Soldiers and Malevolent Ghosts.

In the apocalyptic world of strange horrors, there was no shortage of all kinds of ghostly beings. A Malevolent Ghost of Blood Fiend quality might be rare, but Zheng Yi did not begrudge it in the slightest.

If the Red-Clothed Female Ghost dared resist again, he would simply replace her with another primary soul.

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

Once one entered the Ghost Path, one was no longer human.

Even if the Vengeful Spirits and Malevolent Ghosts within the Soul Devouring Banner had been refined into Yin Soldiers, they were still underworld ghostly beings, long stripped of human emotions and restraints.

Without an anchor, they had always been ungrateful wolves that could never be tamed. Once given the chance, they would inevitably devour their master.

That was determined by the nature of ghostly beings. It was not as though treating them well would bring good recompense.

Thus, Zheng Yi showed no mercy whatsoever when dealing ruthlessly with the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost.

At the first sign of resistance, he gave one warning. The second time, he dealt with her directly.

Zheng Yi was not merely talking. He could not possibly feel even the slightest sympathy for these ghostly beings, which had nothing left but resentment and hatred.

A woman's softheartedness would only bring harm upon himself.

After Zheng Yi used the Soul Devouring Banner to collect the Blood Egg of the Blood Fetus Ghost Infant, he did not stop exploring.

On the contrary, he had the Soul Devouring Banner carefully memorize the Ghost Infant's aura and headed deeper into the bone-strewn depths.

What he found left even Zheng Yi, a cultivator who had seen much of the world, somewhat shocked.

"No wonder the Qi Family spent a hundred years on this, laying the groundwork from the moment they were established, with high-level Qi Refining Cultivators willing to have their souls scattered and spirits dispersed..."

"So what they sought was not merely one Ghost Infant, but five. Where did they find so many women with Extreme Yin Physiques..."

"But refining these five Flesh and Blood Demon Pools must have nearly dragged half the Qi Family into it..."

"They were wildly ambitious and plotted something immense. The Qi Family did not merely want independence—they clearly wanted to establish a cultivation clan that would endure for a thousand years, perhaps even go further and replace the Soul Devouring Sect."

Along the way, Zheng Yi discovered four formation cores.

In other words, over the course of a hundred years and several generations, the Qi Family had continuously constructed five formations to hatch five Blood Fetus Ghost Infants together.

Even Zheng Yi could not help but admire such methods. It was like shoving all their chips into a single hand at the gambling table, wagering their entire family. Their ambition was truly enormous.

Because of this, Zheng Yi became even more certain of one thing.

The Qi Family must have possessed some unknown secret technique capable of locating women with Extreme Yin Physiques.

Otherwise, they could not possibly have made such arrangements.

Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice. Extreme Yin Women were no different from ordinary people, scattered among the common folk, and they also had to be virgins. Finding them was like searching for a needle in the sea.

Even with a secret technique, the Qi Family had gathered only five Extreme Yin Women who met the requirements over all these years.

One could imagine just how difficult that had been.

Once these five Blood Fetus Ghost Infants hatched and were refined by the Qi Family, the family would instantly possess five Foundation Establishment Realm combatants.

Faced with such temptation, it was no wonder generation after generation of the Qi Family had gone mad.

Even the Soul Devouring Sect, which had been passed down for several hundred years, had only three Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouses openly known within the sect.

Of course, after traveling this far,

Zheng Yi was certain that the Soul Devouring Sect was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

There had to be hidden forces concealed in the shadows.

Yet the Qi Family secretly nurturing five Blood Fetus Ghost Infants at the Foundation Establishment Realm was still a terrifying and shocking matter, enough to send chills down one's spine.

By sheer coincidence, Zheng Yi had inadvertently destroyed the Qi Family's century-long scheme.

After finding a way to deal with the first Blood Fetus Ghost Infant, Zheng Yi suppressed and controlled the other four using the same method, then collected them with the Soul Devouring Banner.

After being upgraded with Earth Soul Silver, the Soul Devouring Banner seemed to have reached its limit again after bearing five unborn Blood Fetus Ghost Infants at once.

Zheng Yi had no choice but to accelerate his efforts to gather the remaining materials needed to upgrade the Soul Devouring Banner, intending to first raise it into a more powerful Top-Grade Magic Tool.

Otherwise, the vast majority of Zheng Yi's current combat strength came from the Soul Devouring Banner.

If this Lifebound Artifact was limited by its quality and unable to unleash greater power, then he would be unable to refine and assimilate more Yin Soldiers and Malevolent Ghosts. That was no good thing for Zheng Yi and might even affect the speed of his cultivation.

Qi Refining Stage cultivators generally used ordinary low- and mid-grade magic tools. Only high-level Qi Refining Cultivators possessed the qualifications and strength to wield high-grade magic tools.

As for Top-Grade Magic Tools, even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators possessed only a few, and they were often their primary combat magic tools.

Beyond the Foundation Establishment Realm, powerful great cultivators of the Purple Mansion Stage used Spirit Tools. As for the names of even more powerful magic tools beyond that, Zheng Yi did not know much.

There were five cave Secret chambers in total. Within each one stood a massive Bronze Coffin, and inside each Bronze Coffin was a small Flesh and Blood Demon Pool.

Within every cave Secret chamber, the location of the Skeleton Altar was one of the five formation cores of the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array. They continuously devoured the spiritual energy of the Earth Vein, condensed Sha Qi and resentful power, and laid the foundation for the birth of the Blood Fetus Ghost Infants.

Standing at the final formation core, Zheng Yi gazed at the underground pit before him, like a forest of bones. Even his indifferent face revealed a trace of shock.

The Qi Family's upper echelon was already dead. If he had not known there were hidden secrets below, discovered the Skeleton Altars, and successfully destroyed them,

then in just a few years, once these Blood Fetus Ghost Infants truly entered the world, not only the entire region of Ba Dong Town but likely everything within a hundred li would have faced the most horrifying slaughter and become a Ghost Domain.

When that time came, even the Soul Devouring Sect would find the situation troublesome.

Of course, there was another possibility.

The Soul Devouring Sect might possess other methods capable of subduing and taking in these five Blood Fetus Ghost Infants.

If that happened, the Soul Devouring Sect would gain an enormous advantage, and its strength would soar by leaps and bounds.

Destroying the Hundred Beasts Sect, which was currently at war with it, would probably not be difficult either.

Of course, those were merely thoughts.

With the five Ghost Infants in Zheng Yi's hands, it was like throwing meat buns at a dog. Trying to make him hand them over again was out of the question.

What the hell did the Soul Devouring Sect growing stronger have to do with him?

Recklessly revealing clues about the five Blood Fetus Ghost Infants would likely bring only a fatal disaster upon him.

It was better to make himself stronger.

That was the proper course of action.

Thus, Zheng Yi decided to conceal the deepest secret here and destroy all traces of it.

He only needed to muddle through somehow.

Further inside, Zheng Yi discovered a hollowed-out hall. There was no one within, only all kinds of Demonic Path Secret Techniques arranged in neat rows.

"Blood Fiend Soul Refining Art," "Blood Sucking Body Forging Art," "White Bone Body Casting Art"... "Essentials of the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array," "Ghost Infant Cultivation Guide"...

A rough count showed that there were dozens of different Demonic Path secret techniques in this hall, already amounting to a considerable fortune.