Soul Devouring Banner

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Soul Devouring Banner
Original Name	噬魂幡
Type	Upgradable composite demonic artifact for binding souls and commanding ghosts 5 9.
Affiliation	Soul Devouring Sect; its basic model is mass-produced for Outer Sect disciples 5.
Owner / Refiner	Zheng Yi 2 9.
Occupation/Role	Protective weapon, soul-refining vessel, and housing for a controlled ghost army 2 5 12.
Documented Forms	Zheng Yi’s original banner develops into the White Bone Soul Devouring Banner, Thousand Soul Banner—also called Thousand Ghost Banner—and Nine-Tailed Ghost King Banner 101 146 194.
Later Acquired Banners	A separate collection of one hundred thousand Soul Devouring Banners is seized by Zheng Yi and subsequently transformed into the Hundred Thousand Evil Soul Banner and Hundred Thousand Star Soul Banners 610 611 614 632.
First Appearance	Received alongside the Black Fiend Technique upon Zheng Yi’s admission to the Soul Devouring Sect 2.

Power Progression

Zheng Yi’s Original Banner

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Basic Soul Devouring Banner	2	Claimed through blood refinement. Captures carrion-crow souls and converts them into Soul Power, helping Zheng Yi recover Qi Refining Stage Three.
Forty-nine-ghost capacity reached	5 6	Holds the Red-Clothed Female Ghost and forty-eight subordinate ghosts selected through mutual devouring. Further refinement would destroy the vessel and expose Zheng Yi to backlash.
Lifebound Artifact	9	Refined with essence blood, spiritual sense, and Azure Profound Fiend energy. Its stored Soul Power feeds back into Zheng Yi, triggering his breakthrough to Qi Refining Stage Four; its ghosts begin awakening intelligence.
Earth Soul Silver reinforcement	29 30 33	Ninety-nine Yin-Demon scripts are inscribed with Zheng Yi’s essence blood and integrated into the banner. Its foundation strengthens, and it gains improved combined attack-and-defense methods.
High-grade Qi Refining magic tool	55	Confirmed after incremental upgrades. The main soul has become a Hundred-Year Ghost, but its strength increasingly exceeds the incomplete vessel’s ability to restrain it.
Sha Qi absorption and purification	56	Absorbs a ghost den’s Source of Sha Qi. The Golden Seed’s light purifies the Yin Soldiers’ resentment and killing intent, improving their awareness and obedience.
Reinforced banner with eighth-layer main soul	71	Continued material investment supports a Qi Refining Eighth Layer main soul. At least one-tenth of the remaining spirits reach the seventh layer; the rest reach the sixth. The force can confront ninth-layer cultivators.
Second refinement completed	73 74	Lotus Silver Ore Matrix and other materials are fused into the damaged banner using Cyan-Black Demonic Flame. Ghosts are tempered alongside the vessel, producing a compact, palm-sized high-grade artifact.
Ghost Hospital battle gains	75	After devouring the hospital’s ghosts, the main soul reaches the high stage of Qi Refining Eighth Layer, while more than half the surviving Yin Soldiers advance to the seventh layer.
White Bone Soul Devouring Banner — Foundation Establishment artifact	100 101	Refined over two months with bone essence from thirteen factory warehouses and large quantities of zombie skin. Its power increases more than tenfold, and its stronger vessel can accommodate Foundation Establishment ghosts.
Multiple-main-soul development	126	Devouring Black God Corporation’s chairman, four board members, and their ghosts strengthens the original main soul and produces three additional main souls, beginning its transition toward a Thousand Soul Banner.
Thousand Soul Banner / Thousand Ghost Banner	146	Evolves during a month-long ghost-den campaign. Contains five Ghost Kings and over a thousand ghostly creatures; with the Ghost Raising Gourd’s enhancement and Zheng Yi wielding it, it can trouble Purple Mansion cultivators.
Nine-Tailed Ghost King Banner	194	Absorbs the origins of ten thousand ghosts while serving as a stabilizing treasure inside the Ghost Raising Gourd. Evolves beyond its original design into a soul artifact wielded by the Blood Robe Ghost King.

Later Acquired Hundred Thousand Banners

These banners originate from the tribes surrounding Soul Offering City, rather than being identified as a direct transformation of Zheng Yi’s original Lifebound Artifact 610 611.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Hundred Thousand Soul Devouring Banners subdued	610 611 612	Zheng Yi breaks their blood-red barrier with his three avatars, seizes the banners, and refines them into his body’s acupoints as a foundation of suppression.
Hundred Thousand Evil Soul Banner	614	Advancement knowledge from the Demon Temple reveals how to combine the banners with concentrated demonic energy and the temple’s core Evil Soul Banner, producing one gigantic composite banner.
Further Evil Soul Banner evolution	630	Through Divine Soul consumption and the Demon Summoning Scripture, its power rises more than tenfold beyond its initial acquired state. Its souls evolve toward Ancient Demon-like power, exceeding Zheng Yi’s control.
Hundred Thousand Star Soul Banners	632	Fusion with the Star Evolution Chart and absorption of stellar origin transform the evil souls into Star Soul Demons. Nuoshen Samo’s devoured phantom supplies further nourishment, and the banner becomes Zheng Yi’s primordial dharma manifestation.

Background / History

Sect Origins

The Soul Devouring Banner’s refining method was inherited from the Soul Devouring Sect’s founding patriarch. Although the standard banner is cheap, crude, and easy to use, its later development requires repeated sacrificial refinements, substantial material investment, and increasingly powerful souls. Few sect members choose it as a Lifebound Artifact because its inhabitants can outgrow their prison and attack their master 5 30.

Two hundred years earlier, Withered Soul Old Ancestor established the weapon type’s reputation with a Thousand Soul Banner refined using a Ten Thousand Year Godslaying Purple Essence Stone. During the third Righteous-Demonic War, he refined countless cultivators into it. Despite being only at the Purple Mansion Realm, he briefly contested a Golden Core sword cultivator from the Flying Sword Divine Sect before both he and his banner were destroyed 30.

Zheng Yi’s Acquisition and Early Use

Zheng Yi receives his first banner through a Soul Devouring Sect outpost; its purchase price is deducted from his tribute. He initially uses it against infected carrion crows in the Apocalyptic World, then pairs it with a purchased Soul Guiding Array to harvest the Ghost School’s spirits 2 4.

At the school, nineteen controlled ghosts wear down the Red-Clothed Female Ghost while the banner repairs their injuries. Zheng Yi captures her, makes her the main soul, and fills the vessel with forty-nine selected ghosts. After refining it into a Lifebound Artifact, he uses its coordinated forces to isolate and capture three Hundred-Year Azure Ghosts 5 9 11 12.

Instability and Reforging

The banner’s spirits grow faster than its physical materials can support. Devouring the Qi Family leadership’s souls brings the main soul close to another transformation; absorbing the Blood Egg’s essence subsequently provokes her into disobedience. Zheng Yi restrains her through the banner’s controls and punishes her with Azure Nether Flame 36 42.

The Golden Seed later supplies another means of suppression, terrifying the banner’s spirits and purifying their murderous impulses. Nevertheless, cracks appear after further ghost refinement, forcing Zheng Yi to suspend his cultivation and obtain materials through Qi Lin for the banner’s second refinement 55 56 72.

Soul Offering City and the Demon Temple

Much later, Zheng Yi encounters an enormous Soul Devouring Banner above Soul Offering City. It absorbs souls emerging through demonic energy and encloses the city beneath an oppressive barrier. Its expansion detonates the worshipping believers below, revealing that the realm has been raising them as sacrificial offerings 609 610.

One hundred thousand tribal banners rise and form a realm-spanning blood-red formation. Zheng Yi seizes this separate collection and incorporates it into his acupoints. Knowledge found in the Demon Temple enables its advancement into the Hundred Thousand Evil Soul Banner; its subsequent battle against Nuoshen Samo’s invading will leads to the Star Soul Banner transformation 610 611 614 630 631 632.

Appearance

• Original deployed form: An enormous black banner on a bronze pole, bearing forty-nine skull images and surrounded by cold wind, black mist, and manifested ghosts 5.
• After Yin-Demon script refinement: Blood-red patterns channel Zheng Yi’s spiritual power; the artifact can conceal its brilliance and return to a small, ordinary-looking black banner 30.
• After the second refinement: Palm-sized, with a vivid blood-red image of the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost at its center 74.
• White Bone form: A smooth, white-jade-like bone pole and a moist, flesh-lustred human-skin surface. Moving formation patterns, ghost claws, and ghost heads appear amid its dense fog 101.
• Nine-Tailed Ghost King form: Densely inscribed with ancient ghost-artifact runes. Nine long, white, jade-and-bone-like tails extend beneath the cloth, drifting like ribbons while retaining spear-like points 194.
• Soul Offering City banners: Vast scarlet surfaces covered in bizarre patterns and blood-like Ghost Talismans, spreading across the sky 610 611.
• Evil Soul form: A gigantic banner displaying grotesque demons and surrounded by boundless black mist 614.

Abilities & Skills

Soul Capture and Refinement

• Captures souls and converts them into refined Soul Power usable through the Black Fiend Technique; its first demonstrated targets are carrion crows 2.
• Refines incoming vengeful souls and malevolent ghosts into pure ghost qi 4.
• Maintains an internal yin-soul space where captured spirits fight and devour one another, leaving stronger survivors. The inhabitants, rather than the pole and cloth alone, constitute its core power 5 6.
• Artifact refinement also tempers the ghosts: impurities are burned away, while spirits unable to endure the process collapse into nourishment for the survivors 73.

Ghost Binding and Command

• Traps, suppresses, and enslaves ghost entities; Lifebound refinement strengthens this suppressive property 12.
• Uses its main soul as a central commander, allowing subordinate ghosts to form battle formations and separate enemy groups 11.
• Embeds restrictions deeply within its Yin Soldiers and Malevolent Ghosts, enabling Zheng Yi to discipline rebellious inhabitants 42.
• Can deploy a ghost army while Zheng Yi remains away from direct combat 5.

Restoration and Battlefield Support

• Repairs injured ghost bodies with Black Fiend Qi 5.
• Revives and controls a destroyed subordinate ghost during the Hundred-Year Azure Ghost battle 12.
• Continuously replenishes the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost and Yin Soldiers during their battle against the Black Armor Nether Ghost, allowing repeated recovery after defeat 101.
• Releases black mist to conceal Zheng Yi’s cultivation room from observation 25.

Formations and Direct Attacks

• Its Earth Soul Silver-enhanced form spreads black lines across the ground to create a large spell array, combining offensive and defensive functions 33.
• A Lifebound banner can serve as the core controlling subsidiary Soul Devouring Banners in a combined array 9.
• The White Bone form releases a gigantic skull, black light, gale, and killing intent; its test attack turns a lush valley into a scorched wasteland 101.
• The Nine-Tailed Ghost King Banner can help the Blood Robe Ghost King wound a Purple Mansion cultivator through a sneak attack 194.

Evil Soul and Stellar Evolution

• The Hundred Thousand Evil Soul Banner can split apart and reassemble while releasing successive tides of evil souls. These souls are derivatives of the banner and continue emerging while its main body remains undefeated 631.
• Its evil souls attack and devour invading wills within Zheng Yi’s Divine Soul Space, including Nuoshen Samo’s phantom 630 631.
• The Star Soul transformation combines stellar energy with demonic qi and devouring power, producing Star Soul Demons and a mind-linked primordial dharma manifestation 632.

Limitations and Backlash

• Vessel capacity: Overloading the basic banner beyond forty-nine refined ghosts risks destroying it and releasing hostile spirits against its owner 5 6.
• Material bottlenecks: Stronger inhabitants require a sturdier pole and cloth; otherwise, the banner becomes unstable and eventually cracks 30 72.
• Main-soul predation: The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost may devour subordinate ghosts, burst the vessel, or attempt to attack Zheng Yi if control fails 36 42 75.
• Refinement cost: Higher forms demand rare materials, essence blood, repeated sacrifices, and large quantities of souls 29 30.
• Karmic danger: Refining living people or cultivators on the required scale can provoke retaliation, Blood Sin, and Karmic Force backlash 30.
• Late-stage control: The Evil Soul Banner’s evolved power exceeds Zheng Yi’s control; after its Star Soul transformation, it pressures his mind, though he retains command 630 632.

Components & Refining Materials

• Soul Devouring Rod — The pole; originally bronze and later replaced by a reinforced white-bone structure 5 101.
• Soul Refining Cloth — The surface housing the internal spirit space. The White Bone upgrade incorporates zombie skin to increase toughness and carrying capacity 5 101.
• Earth Soul Silver — Reinforces the banner’s foundation and helps it withstand the main soul’s evolution 30 42.
• Ninety-nine Yin-Demon Scripts — Essence-blood inscriptions for soul binding and ghost enslavement, fully integrated during refinement 29 30.
• Lotus Silver Ore Matrix — Rare, expensive material used in the second refinement 73.
• Zombie bone essence — Extracted with Profound Ink Flame and accumulated in immense quantities to strengthen the pole 100 101.
• Alternative cloth upgrades — Five Yin Cloth woven from Soul Spider Silk and Thousand Segment Brocade braided from Ice Silkworm Silk are identified as possible replacements, not documented completed upgrades 5.

Relationships

• Zheng Yi — Owner, refiner, and original banner’s Lifebound master. Their blood-linked connection provides direct awareness of the artifact’s changes 9 128.
• Red-Clothed Female Ghost / Blood-Clothed Female Ghost / Blood Robe Ghost King — Main soul and battlefield commander of the original banner; later wields its Nine-Tailed Ghost King form 5 11 194.
• Yin Soldiers and Malevolent Ghosts — Resident combat forces, strengthened through mutual devouring, battle, and refinement; their growth repeatedly threatens the vessel’s capacity 6 71 72.
• Qi Lin — Procurement supporter who mobilizes the Qi Family’s commercial network to gather the materials required for the second refinement 72.
• Golden Seed — Suppresses the unstable original banner and purifies its spirits’ resentment and killing intent, improving obedience 55 56.
• Ghost Raising Gourd — Enhances the Thousand Soul Banner; later houses the original banner as a stabilizing treasure before its Nine-Tailed transformation 146 194.
• Nuoshen Samo — His invading phantom battles the Hundred Thousand Evil Soul Banner and is ultimately devoured, nourishing its Star Soul transformation 630 631 632.