Black Fiend Technique, the Method of Refining Baleful Qi

The reason a composite magical artifact like the Soul Devouring Banner could be upgraded so easily was that its core lay in the ghostly Spirit Bodies refined within the banner.

As for the banner pole and banner cloth, they were merely physical vessels that carried the ghosts.

Over the past several days, Zheng Yi had used the Soul Devouring Banner in Luo City to subdue no fewer than eight hundred, if not a thousand, vengeful spirits.

These ghosts slaughtered one another within the Spirit Body space on the banner cloth, and in the end, only forty-nine Vengeful Spirits remained.

Yet these forty-nine Vengeful Spirits were truly the finest products of a thousand ghosts battling to the death—Vengeful Spirits among Vengeful Spirits.

Each ghostly silhouette overlapped the next, the baleful qi around them nearly tangible as it flowed like black grease.

Their entire bodies were shrouded in thick black mist, revealing only sinister, withered claws and pairs of scarlet eyes brimming with the desire to kill.

Leading them was a Red-Clothed Vengeful Spirit. Her entire body was covered in blood-red robes, and her aura was even stronger than that of the other Vengeful Spirits.

Surging Blood Fiend aura formed something like a cloak behind her, wrapping around her body. The skin exposed beyond the dense blood qi was also unlike that of the other Vengeful Spirits.

Fair and delicate, with slender fingers.

Only, her nails were exceptionally long, sharp as hooks and crimson as blood, as though painted with the reddest nail polish.

At this moment, the Red-Clothed Vengeful Spirit stood before Zheng Yi like a queen, protected at the center by the many other Vengeful Spirits.

That was right!

These were Zheng Yi's gains from the past few days. He had refined a full seven times seven—forty-nine—Vengeful Spirits, with the Red-Clothed Female Ghost as the leader and the remaining forty-eight as support.

With so many Vengeful Spirits inside the Soul Devouring Banner, linked together into a formation, its power had reached its peak.

All Zheng Yi needed to do was activate the Soul Devouring Banner, and with yin winds howling and a Hundred Ghosts Night Parade, he could command all forty-nine Vengeful Spirits to form an array.

He was only at the middle to late phase of Qi Refining Stage Three, yet even against a cultivator at Qi Refining Stage Five or Six, he had nothing to fear.

The reason Zheng Yi stopped refining after the Soul Devouring Banner reached such a formation was simply because he had no choice.

Zheng Yi had bribed the Outer Sect Elder of the Soul Devouring Sect to obtain the cultivation methods for the Soul Devouring Banner and the Black Fiend Technique, but that did not mean he had truly joined the Soul Devouring Sect.

At most, he could be considered to have joined the sect's outer branch—a dispensable Outer Sect Disciple of a peripheral division who had never even visited the sect's grounds.

Thus, the Soul Devouring Banner in his hand was only the lowest-grade magical artifact, something every Outer Sect Disciple received upon joining the Soul Devouring Sect. It was not particularly precious.

Because of this, the basic Soul Devouring Banner was limited by its inferior materials, and its limit was not very high.

That said, the quality of this Soul Devouring Banner was already sufficient for Outer Sect Disciples just beginning to learn this art.

Who could have imagined that a tiny demonic cultivator at Qi Refining Stage Three would stuff a Soul Devouring Banner full of Vengeful Spirits in barely over ten days?

If word got out about such cultivation speed, it would certainly draw attention. People would think Zheng Yi had found some place of extreme yin, some baleful qi-gathering land.

Otherwise, even if evil demonic cultivators blood-sacrificed mortal villages and refined souls village after village, they could not possibly achieve such speed and efficiency.

After all, ordinary people's souls were not resilient enough.

To refine a single Vengeful Spirit suitable for the Soul Devouring Banner would likely consume the Living Souls of over a hundred people.

Zheng Yi had fused forty-nine Vengeful Spirits at once. The Soul Devouring Banner could no longer be refined further; otherwise, the only outcome would be its destruction.

Once the Soul Devouring Banner was destroyed, those refined Vengeful Spirits would inevitably backlash against him. With Zheng Yi's third-stage cultivation, he might not be able to withstand it.

Still, Zheng Yi was in no hurry to leave.

The vengeful souls and Vengeful Spirits in this Apocalyptic World were all excellent cultivation resources. Not only was their Soul Power level far from poor, its quality was quite high as well.

The souls of ordinary living people were called Living Souls.

The souls of cultivators were called Divine Souls.

Correspondingly, what people became after dying and mutating were Specters.

Soul power itself was a special cultivation resource needed by immortal cultivators.

In particular, many demonic cultivators required vast quantities of soul resources, whether for cultivating techniques, refining immortal arts, or crafting Demonic Artifacts.

Thus, Soul Power resources were highly precious throughout the Da Yi Immortal Domain.

But in the Apocalyptic World, there was nothing to worry about. Specters covered the land, vengeful spirits ran rampant, and zombies roamed freely. Slaughtering them was purely a matter of slaying demons and exterminating evil, cutting away this world's scab-like affliction.

After obtaining the Black Fiend Technique and the Soul Devouring Banner, Zheng Yi had not left Demon City.

At his Qi Refining Stage Three cultivation, once he left Blood Mist Abyss City, he might not even know how he had died.

Only once he possessed a certain ability to preserve his life would Zheng Yi consider leaving Demon City.

Now that the Soul Devouring Banner had been refined, the next step was to cultivate the Black Fiend Technique.

Unlike the Morning Origin Art he had cultivated before, which slowly raised one's realm by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth or consuming Spiritual Herbs and Pills, the Black Fiend Technique, aside from the normal practice of breathing and drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, required the refinement of a kind of black fiend qi in order to increase the technique's power and accelerate cultivation.

The method was to find a place where baleful qi gathered. Using all kinds of yin baleful qi as a catalyst, one could increase the power of the Black Fiend Technique and improve cultivation efficiency.

The second method was faster and more powerful: absorbing Soul Power. Vengeful souls and Vengeful Spirits, mortal Living Souls, and cultivators' Divine Souls could all be used.

Thus, this was a cultivation technique with an exceptionally high ceiling, but it had to be piled up with vast quantities of cultivation resources, making it somewhat of a white elephant.

Still, it was quite good for helping ordinary Outer Sect Disciples lay a solid foundation.

And most importantly, the Black Fiend Technique granted by the Soul Devouring Sect contained only the first five levels of the method.

Once he had achieved success in cultivation, if he wanted to obtain higher-tier cultivation methods, he would still have to obediently return to the Soul Devouring Sect.

This was also one reason why those demonic sects in the Demon Domain were unafraid of their cultivation methods being leaked and taught everyone without discrimination.

As long as the subsequent methods were not leaked, disciples would keep returning in an endless stream, invisibly allowing the sect to sift out its talents.

Like washing sand in great waves, those who remained were all elites—disciples of decent aptitude and excellent temperament.

Cultivation methods in the Da Yi Immortal Domain were generally divided according to realm, chiefly based on what level they could lead directly to—for instance, Foundation Establishment Realm methods, Purple Mansion Stage methods, and Golden Core Stage methods.

Each grade was further divided into four ranks, arranged from strongest to weakest.

The Black Fiend Technique actually had tremendous potential to be unearthed, but its cultivation requirements were harsh. One had to pile up the lives and souls of cultivators to advance it step by step and draw out that potential.

Of course, for ordinary Rogue Cultivators, it was already considered a fairly good cultivation method.

After all, even in Profound Sky City, the great city of Rogue Cultivators, many of them still cultivated only the lowest-grade Breathing Technique.

The Morning Origin Art Zheng Yi cultivated was an inheritance left behind by his parents. It was said to have been found in a Rogue Cultivator's cave abode.

Otherwise, even now, he might have been cultivating nothing more than the most ordinary Breathing Technique.

In fact, within the Soul Devouring Sect, Outer Sect Disciples with some backing would not choose this cultivation method. They would rather select other methods that were easier to convert to.

But for Zheng Yi, it suited him perfectly.

In truth, Zheng Yi's choice of the Soul Devouring Sect was inseparable from the Black Fiend Technique.

In the Apocalyptic World, slaughtering all kinds of zombies and vicious ghosts—these monsters born from the Blood Moon mutation—was itself akin to exterminating demons and banishing evil, acting on Heaven's behalf. There would be no Karmic Force produced at all.

He was the only unexpected visitor in this world. No matter how wantonly he slaughtered, it was impossible for some Righteous Path immortal cultivator to suddenly jump out and fight him to the death under the banner of acting on Heaven's behalf.

The Black Fiend Technique could be used to lay one's foundation, but its drawback was slow cultivation. Unless one absorbed soul resources, which could rapidly increase both its power and cultivation speed.

The more Vengeful Spirits one refined, the stronger the Black Fiend became.

Moreover, Black Fiend Qi would undergo qualitative change through quantitative accumulation, advancing continuously. Its cultivation speed would grow faster and faster, and it was divided into Black Fiend, Profound Yin Fiend, Azure Profound Fiend, Ink Spirit Fiend, Purple Demon Fiend, and Nine Nether Soul Slaughtering Fiend.

This cultivation method had initially been nothing more than an ordinary Qi Refining Stage method, but as it continuously advanced, its grade rose as well.

If one could cultivate the final Nine Nether Soul Slaughtering Fiend, it would definitely count as one of the methods closest to the threshold of the Golden Core Stage. Its power would surely leave people agape.

This was also why Zheng Yi had chosen this cultivation method.

To refine the initial Black Fiend Qi into Profound Yin Fiend Qi required ninety-nine Living Souls of ordinary mortals, or the souls of nine Qi Refining Stage immortal cultivators or vicious ghosts.

To refine it into Azure Profound Fiend required the refinement of nine hundred and ninety-nine Living Souls, or the souls or vicious ghosts of ninety-nine immortal cultivators of the same realm.

With every step upward, the number of vicious ghosts required increased tenfold.