Lifebound Artifact, Soul Devouring Banner

Back when he was in the library, Zheng Yi had interrogated that father and son, and they had mentioned it.

After the zombie catastrophe erupted in this world, countless Vengeful Spirits had suddenly appeared in different places, as though they had sprung out of thin air.

At the Soul Devouring Sect, a single Hundred-Year Azure Ghost could sell for two to three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The main reason was that a Hundred-Year Azure Ghost could be refined into something called Blue Essence Soul, which was immensely beneficial to Qi Refining Cultivators.

It was also an important supplementary material for refining high-grade soul-path artifacts, with enormous demand—a highly valuable hard currency.

More importantly, a Hundred-Year Azure Ghost was nearly as powerful as a fifth- or sixth-layer cultivator. Unless one used an artifact, an ordinary Rogue Cultivator might not necessarily be able to overpower such a ghost.

Having encountered three Hundred-Year Azure Ghosts at once, how could Zheng Yi dare delay?

Any one of them was stronger than the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, the main soul of the Soul Devouring Banner.

Zheng Yi acted with extreme decisiveness. He controlled the Soul Devouring Banner and directly commanded the vicious ghosts within it to swarm forward, using them to block the attacks of the three Hundred-Year Azure Ghosts.

Zheng Yi himself retreated at speed. Finding a gap in the battlefield, he hurriedly fled the parking lot.

After finding a safe spot, he immediately returned to the inn in Blood Mist Abyss City.

"That was close!"

Once safe, Zheng Yi could not help letting out a breath. He then got up, paid another sum of money, and extended his room rental.

He also ordered the inn attendant to activate the Room Defense Array and not disturb his cultivation.

After a simple meal, Zheng Yi returned to his room and began refining the Soul Devouring Banner.

Previously, in the Apocalyptic World, Zheng Yi had been busy refining Soul Power and using the Soul Guiding Array to sweep up countless vicious ghosts and resentful spirits in one net. He had only given the Soul Devouring Banner an initial refinement.

But now, his idea had been proven feasible in the Apocalyptic World. Moreover, his Black Fiend Technique was already close to reaching the Azure Profound Fiend stage, allowing him to deepen his refinement of the Soul Devouring Banner.

Zheng Yi decided to refine this Soul Devouring Banner into his Lifebound Artifact now.

Compared with ordinary artifacts, a Lifebound Artifact was linked to one's heart meridians, connected to one's mana, infused with one's soul, and fused with one's vital blood. Its power rose to another level.

If a cultivator could bring out eighty to ninety percent of an ordinary artifact's power after its initial refinement—

Then a refined Lifebound Artifact could unleash one hundred and twenty percent of its power.

Furthermore, as a Lifebound Artifact advanced in rank, one's own realm would receive a tremendous feedback of power, invisibly increasing the cultivator's cultivation speed.

Of course, its weakness was that once a Lifebound Artifact suffered a fatal blow, the cultivator would also be gravely injured.

As though the artifact were destroyed and its master perished with it!

Moreover, the same type of Lifebound Artifact could only be refined once per realm.

Zheng Yi had originally planned to put this off, but the situation was dire. Three Hundred-Year Azure Ghosts were not something he could handle at present.

The location where he crossed over each time was always his current location.

If those three Hundred-Year Azure Ghosts waited there like rabbits by a tree stump, or if that place was their nest—

Then the next time he crossed into the Apocalyptic World, there was still a strong chance that he would encounter them.

When that happened, he might not be so lucky as to escape unscathed.

Left with no choice, Zheng Yi had to begin the process of blood-sacrificing a Lifebound Artifact.

Of course, the more important reason was that an artifact like the Soul Devouring Banner was highly unusual.

It could be continuously upgraded and improved, and it could also be assembled into a set.

In other words, with the Lifebound Artifact Soul Devouring Banner as the core, it could control more subsidiary Soul Devouring Banners and form an array together. When the time came, its power would multiply.

Thus, the material of a Soul Devouring Banner was only one aspect. What truly mattered were the main soul and Spirit Bodies within it.

As long as he could obtain the Soul Devouring Sect's later upgrade secret arts for refining Soul Devouring Banners, all of this would be a small matter.

Of course, the main point was that the only artifact Zheng Yi had on hand that was worth showing off was this Soul Devouring Banner.

As for the Fine Steel Longsword, it was an artifact he had often used while he was a Rogue Cultivator. It was simply too embarrassing to bring out.

He bit through his fingertip, circulated his incantation, and forced out a drop of blood essence onto the Soul Devouring Banner.

At once, blood energy spread across it. Strands of bloodshot veins crawled like a chaotic spiderweb, extending along the bronze shaft of the Soul Devouring Rod all the way to the banner surface of the Soul Refining Cloth, gradually forming one strange pattern and talisman after another.

Finally, when all the blood essence had been completely absorbed by the Soul Devouring Banner, Zheng Yi hurriedly poured his spiritual sense into it.

Blood essence and spiritual sense intertwined. Then, the Azure Profound Fiend energy from the Black Fiend Technique within his body surged skyward, enveloping the entire Soul Devouring Banner.

Zheng Yi immediately began chanting under his breath, starting the rather mentally taxing process of refining a Lifebound Artifact.

After roughly half an hour, Zheng Yi refined the Soul Devouring Banner into his Lifebound Artifact.

This time, with a thought from Zheng Yi, the black mist on the Soul Devouring Banner showed faint signs of erupting, only for him to suppress it.

This was Blood Mist Abyss City, and he was staying at an inn. With so many people around, if its aura leaked out, it would definitely bring him tremendous trouble.

At the same time, the Soul Devouring Banner fed back an immensely powerful stream of energy through his palm.

While cultivating the Black Fiend Technique, Zheng Yi's realm had already been on the verge of a breakthrough after devouring so many Vengeful Spirits.

But the energy fed back from the Soul Devouring Banner this time far surpassed the energy Zheng Yi had previously seized.

It was like a sudden hot current surging forth inside his body, bursting through the barrier of his realm like a dam collapsing.

Zheng Yi's mind boomed, and brilliant light burst from his eyes. He directly broke through the peak of Qi Refining Stage Three and stepped into Qi Refining Stage Four.

"The Soul Devouring Banner absorbed so many Malevolent Ghosts, but limited by its material, much of the Soul Power couldn't be absorbed and settled within the artifact instead..."

"This time, after I refined it into a Lifebound Artifact, the effects inside and out worked together and actually allowed me to break through directly."

It had to be said that Zheng Yi had entered the path of demonic cultivation midway through life; he had not been a demonic cultivator for long, so he was still somewhat easily astonished.

He had no idea that if what he held in his hand right now were a successfully refined Hundred Ghost Banner, he might have surged straight to Qi Refining Stage Five—or perhaps even Qi Refining Stage Six.

After all, a Lifebound Artifact shared prosperity and hardship with its master; the two were bound together as closely as breath and pulse.

In a sense, it was an extension of a cultivator's body.

The greater the benefits obtained by a Lifebound Artifact, the greater the feedback and enhancement it brought its cultivator.

Jumping off the bed and lightly moving his body, Zheng Yi said with an amused expression, "This time, I should be able to deal with those three old ghosts, right?"

Having already been refined into a Lifebound Artifact, the Soul Devouring Banner in Zheng Yi's hand had risen to another level of power.

Nourished by Zheng Yi's essence blood and the spiritual power of the Black Fiend Technique, the Malevolent Ghosts inside gained clearer forms and gradually awakened a measure of intelligence, greatly increasing the Soul Devouring Banner's might.

Moreover, Zheng Yi's cultivation had advanced another step, reaching Qi Refining Stage Four. Naturally, the power of the artifact he unleashed would be even greater.

With improvements on both fronts working together, the power released far surpassed a simple addition.