Main Soul Within the Banner, Refining Ghosts

Only then did Zheng Yi notice that the red clothes on the Red-Clothed Female Ghost had not originally been red. From their style, he could vaguely make out that they were a school uniform.

Yet their color had been dyed red with blood. It was hard to imagine just how many people she had killed to stain them that crimson.

Rip! Rip...

The Red-Clothed Female Ghost frantically tore at the Black Fiend Qi surging over the Soul Devouring Banner. She seemed to understand as well that once she ripped apart the Black Fiend Qi's defenses, the mastermind hiding within would have nowhere left to hide.

Watching the ferocious Red-Clothed Female Ghost, Zheng Yi was not surprised in the slightest. With a backhanded wave of the Soul Devouring Banner, powerful, burly Malevolent Ghosts emerged from the surging fiendish aura—eighteen or nineteen of them in all, all harvests from the past few days.

At a point of the Soul Devouring Banner, they immediately roared and pounced on the Red-Clothed Female Ghost.

One against nineteen, she was at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, yet the Red-Clothed Female Ghost fought the Malevolent Ghosts to a standstill.

One had to know that the Malevolent Ghosts within the Soul Devouring Banner had all been carefully selected. After devouring one another, those that remained were individually extremely powerful, clearly more than a notch stronger than the ordinary Malevolent Ghosts that had appeared in the school.

Yet against the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, even working together, they remained at an absolute disadvantage. Whenever she erupted with force, she would heavily wound the fierce souls within the Soul Devouring Banner.

At this, Zheng Yi could not help but wave the Soul Devouring Banner. A stream of Black Fiend Qi landed precisely upon an injured Malevolent Ghost, restoring its shattered body directly to its original state.

Then it rejoined the battle to surround and attack the Red-Clothed Female Ghost.

This was practically cheating. One side was constantly recovering and replenishing its health; there was no way the Red-Clothed Female Ghost could defeat these Malevolent Ghosts.

"Still thinking of running? Unfortunately, you no longer have the chance."

After fighting for a full hour, the Red-Clothed Female Ghost finally ran out of strength. She blasted away the Malevolent Ghost before her with one strike, let out a piercing Ghost Howl, and prepared to flee.

But with a sweep of Zheng Yi's Soul Devouring Banner, several Malevolent Ghosts that had been behind her vanished instantly. When they reappeared, they were already blocking her path.

This was the trap he had prepared for the King of Hundred Ghosts of this Ghost School, the Red-Clothed Female Ghost. Once she entered the range covered by the Soul Devouring Banner, she could forget about leaving.

Under the siege of over a dozen Malevolent Ghosts, the Red-Clothed Female Ghost was eventually exhausted, subdued by the ghosts, and thrown into the Soul Devouring Banner.

Zheng Yi knew full well that he was weak right now. He would never personally take risks and act himself; he was deeply versed in the path of lying low.

The Soul Devouring Banner itself could control Malevolent Ghosts and Vengeful Spirits to attack. Why bother acting personally?

To devil cultivators, this Apocalyptic World was a treasure land with inexhaustible resources.

He did not care about temporary gains and losses, either.

Fortunately, after careful planning, everything had gone exactly as he wished.

The moment he subdued the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, the King of Hundred Ghosts, Zheng Yi immediately felt a surging fiendish aura pour from the Soul Devouring Banner and merge into his body.

The aura of the Black Fiend Technique within him rose sharply by a small degree, bringing him considerable benefits.

After refining the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, there no longer seemed to be any stronger ghosts in the school. Zheng Yi continued refining the Soul Devouring Banner for around ten days.

In the end, after refining forty-nine Malevolent Ghosts into the Soul Devouring Banner, Zheng Yi abandoned this place.

"Ten days to refine forty-nine Malevolent Ghosts, and that's already the Soul Devouring Banner's limit."

Zheng Yi thought bitterly.

Having refined forty-nine Malevolent Ghosts in one go, the Soul Devouring Banner had reached its limit. It had truly taken very little time—even less than Zheng Yi had imagined before.

This showed just how abundant cultivation resources for devil cultivators were in this Apocalyptic World.

Even so, once the Soul Devouring Banner was deployed, even an immortal cultivator at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer might not be able to withstand the siege of the Red-Clothed Female Ghost leading forty-eight Malevolent Ghosts.

Of course, this limit was only the limit of the Soul Devouring Banner in Zheng Yi's hands.

Above it were magical artifacts known as Hundred Soul Banners, capable of refining one hundred Malevolent Ghosts.

According to the Soul Devouring Sect's cultivation technique, if seven Hundred Soul Banners formed an array, their power would even rival that of a great cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Zheng Yi waved the Soul Devouring Banner in his hand.

Amid a shrill chorus of ghostly wails and howls, gusts of cold wind blew as the spiritual power in his body poured into it wildly. Black mist churned over the Soul Devouring Banner, directly shrouding an area of more than ten square meters around him.

Within the black mist, waves of eerie, terrifying roars rang out, and one could vaguely see hideous demonic creatures flickering into view.

When the black mist thinned, Zheng Yi stood holding an enormous Black Banner. Its bronze Banner Pole rested in his palm, while the huge black banner fluttered in the wind, bearing the images of forty-nine skulls.

At the same time, mist swirled around him as the figures of forty-nine hideous Malevolent Ghosts appeared on all sides of Zheng Yi.

These Malevolent Ghosts were all the final victors after countless Vengeful Spirits within the Soul Devouring Banner had devoured one another. Ghostly qi thickly emanated from them, and a layer of black, oil-like substance flowed over the surfaces of their forms.

That was the sensation produced when fiendish aura had become so dense it seemed almost tangible.

As a Devil Dao Sect that controlled souls and toyed with ghosts, the Soul Devouring Sect naturally possessed its own secret arts and unique strengths to establish itself firmly in the Demon Domain.

In particular, its refinement of Malevolent Ghosts and Vengeful Spirits had reached an unfathomable level. Even many sects ranked above the Soul Devouring Sect fell far short of them when it came to the arts of binding souls and commanding ghosts.

That was also one of the reasons Zheng Yi had chosen to join the Soul Devouring Sect after weighing every consideration.

He possessed only Qi Refining Stage Three cultivation. Aside from the Fine Steel Flying Sword in his hand, he had few means to fight enemies.

If a zombie horde contained Red-Eyed Zombies, they posed a great threat to him.

But ghost-commanding arts did not have so many problems.

The Soul Devouring Sect's Soul Devouring Banner was the Heavenly Restraint of Vengeful Spirits and Malevolent Ghosts.

Even if he encountered ancient ghosts with a century of cultivation, Zheng Yi could rely on the Soul Devouring Banner's suppressive power over soul bodies.

Even if he could not win, he could still escape, advancing or retreating as the situation demanded.

What he held now was merely the lowest-grade Soul Devouring Banner, a mass-produced standard item used by the Soul Devouring Sect to recruit Outer Sect Disciples. Its design was crude, but it was simple to use.

It was perfectly suited to him at the moment.

After all, unlike ordinary magic artifacts, combination-type artifacts like the Soul Devouring Banner could be upgraded and iterated upon.

The Soul Devouring Banner as a whole consisted of two parts.

The Soul Devouring Rod that formed the Banner Pole, and the Soul Refining Cloth that made up the banner itself.

Once he had money, or once his cultivation rose further.

The bronze Soul Devouring Rod could be replaced with a White Bone Rod, while the ordinary Soul Refining Cloth could be upgraded to Five Yin Cloth woven from Soul Spider Silk, or Thousand Segment Brocade braided from Ice Silkworm Silk.

Better still, if he could obtain the forging method for the Soul Devouring Banner or an upgrading refinement art, he could forge, upgrade, and iterate it himself.

Inside the entire Soul Devouring Banner lay a vast space for yin souls, like the gu vessel the Five Venoms Sect used to raise venomous insects.

It was not enough merely to collect Vengeful Spirits and ghostly creatures within. They had to slaughter and devour one another, growing ever fiercer until stronger Malevolent Ghosts emerged victorious.

That was the true core of the Soul Devouring Banner.