Mercy Palm Perfected! Flying Dragon in the Sky!

This was a sinister and malevolent demonic banner.

Lu Li grabbed the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, immediately sensing the terrifying, ferocious aura hidden within.

Faintly, he could even hear the howling and roaring of thousands of vengeful spirits trapped inside the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner.

Clearly, this was a demonic evil artifact!

Lu Li frowned slightly.

He was not accustomed to using demonic artifacts.

Moreover, the army of fierce ghosts within this Ten Thousand Ghost Banner required the blood and vitality of living people to be raised, and needed human sacrifices to maintain their ferocity.

It went against the Heavenly Dao!

Sell it?

Lu Li toyed with the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, a thought emerging in his mind.

But on second thought, if this thing were sold, it would very likely end up back in Li Jing's hands.

If that happened, and Li Jing had someone use this demonic banner against him, that would be troublesome.

How should he dispose of it?

Lu Li fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, flashing with two beams of brilliance: "This thing cannot be sold. If it falls into the hands of demonic practitioners, it will only cause more innocent mortals to suffer. It would be better to directly send all the fierce ghosts inside to reincarnation, and while I'm at it, upgrade my Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm and Spirit Ghost Phantom Step."

That's it!

Lu Li made up his mind, and without another word, he directly channeled his magic power into the demonic banner.

Hum.

A soft chime rang out.

The purple-black light on the banner's surface flickered, and a ferocious ghost appeared in the center of the martial arts arena.

This was a Headless Ghost.

Its cultivation was at the tenth level of Qi Refining.

As soon as the Headless Ghost appeared, it let out a sharp shriek and lunged at Lu Li.

"You shouldn't be trapped in a demonic banner suffering such torment; it is better for you to go to reincarnation." Lu Li sighed softly and struck out with his palm.

Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm.

Bang.

The powerful palm strike directly blasted the fierce ghost apart, turning it into a mass of pitch-black ghost energy that scattered in all directions.

Before Lu Li could even circulate his cultivation technique, the Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art within his body stirred, and with a fierce suction, it swallowed all that pure ghost energy into his belly.

Ding, ding, ding.

Three system notifications rang out immediately:

"Your Spirit Ghost Phantom Step has absorbed pure ghost energy, its spirit is greatly boosted, and cultivation efficiency has increased by 50%."

"Your Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm has liberated a fierce ghost; it feels its merit is boundless, its mood is extremely joyful, and cultivation efficiency has increased by 500%."

"Your Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art has devoured pure ghost energy, its hunger is alleviated, and cultivation efficiency has increased by 100%."

Not bad.

Seeing this result, Lu Li nodded secretly, quite satisfied.

Thus, without the slightest pause, he channeled his magic power again and released another fierce ghost.

Bang.

A palm strike blasted out, sending it to reincarnation.

Then, he continued to channel his magic power to release more fierce ghosts.

This time, there were two.

Bang, bang.

Two explosive sounds.

The fierce ghosts exploded into pure ghost energy and were absorbed into his body.

Just like that, Lu Li continuously released fierce ghosts to liberate them, turning them into ghost energy to be absorbed.

While in a daze, he silently recited the Heart Sutra, increasing the progress of his Indestructible Vajra Divine Art.

Continuously... turning into ghost energy... dazed... silently reciting the Heart Sutra.

Receive... transform... release.

Receive-Transform-Release.

The set of operations was repeated over and over again.

The system began to flood the screen.

"Spirit Ghost Phantom Step progress +1%."

"Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm progress +1%."

"Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art progress +1%."

"Indestructible Vajra Divine Art progress +1%."

He only stopped once his mana was completely exhausted.

With his mana drained, Lu Li immediately returned to the underground cultivation chamber, activated the Spirit Gathering Array, and began to recover his mana by absorbing the spiritual energy from medium-grade spirit stones.

Soon, his mana was fully restored.

Lu Li went back up to the second-floor martial arts arena to continue exorcising the malicious ghosts, tireless and relentless.

He felt full of spirit and brimming with physical strength.

It felt as though he wouldn't need to sleep for three days and three nights!

This must be one of the benefits gained after the breakthrough of the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art!

Lu Li decided not to sleep at all, determined to exorcise every single malicious ghost within the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner.

And so, the sky turned dark.

The sky turned bright.

The sky turned dark again.

The sky turned bright again.

On the second floor, in the martial arts arena.

Lu Li struck out with his final palm, blasting the last malicious ghost into a puff of ghost energy.

Then, he opened his mouth and inhaled, drawing all the ghost energy into his body, splitting it into two parts: one part was absorbed by the Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, and the other was integrated into the Spirit Ghost Phantom Step.

The ten thousand malicious ghosts had finally been exorcised!

Lu Li let out a long sigh of relief and casually put away the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, its spiritual light now dim.

His expression was somewhat weary.

But he was filled with even more joy.

By exorcising these ten thousand malicious ghosts, the levels of his cultivation arts had all seen a tremendous increase.

However, before anything else, he needed to take a bath!

Lu Li stretched his body out fully, loosening his muscles and bones.

Immediately after, he leaped out of the window.

Thud.

He crashed into the pool, sending a spray of water several feet high.

Under the pounding of the waterfall, his mental exhaustion was swept away in an instant.

Lu Li walked onto the bank, a surge of blood energy circulating through his body to instantly dry his clothes and hair. With a flick of his finger, he shot a beam of blood-colored light, striking a branch of a tall fruit tree on the shore.

Snap.

Two spirit fruits fell down.

Lu Li channeled his mana and reached out, pulling the spirit fruits through the air and catching them in his palm.

Afterward, he leaped up, his toes tapping lightly a few times, and he arrived at the top floor of the Star Gazing Tower.

Lying on the jade bed, Lu Li bathed in the midday sun, eating the spirit fruits as he began to circulate the Purple Haze Sun-Refining Scripture.

At the same time, he whispered a command to bring up the system panel.

Host: Lu Li.

Realm: Fifth Level of Qi Refining.

Great Might Heavenly Dragon Dharma Incantation: Second Level (Progress 9%).

Great Strength Vajra Dharma Incantation: Second Level (Progress 12%).

Indestructible Vajra Divine Art: Fourth Level (Progress 20%).

Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art: Fifth Level (Progress 86%).

Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm: Tenth Level (Consummation).

Spirit Ghost Phantom Step: Tenth Level (Consummation).

This was the result of exorcising the army of ghosts from the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner!

It was incredibly gratifying!

The Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm and the Spirit Ghost Phantom Step had both been cultivated to the point of consummation!

Furthermore, the progress of the Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art had reached an astonishing eighty-six percent; he would soon break through to the sixth level.

This was all thanks to that mutated thousand-year Vermilion Fruit.

It provided at least 20% of the progress.

I have to say, Ghost Demon True Person was truly generous this time; not only did he not take back that low-grade Spirit Ghost and the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, but he even gave away a mutated Vermilion Fruit.

The only regret was that the full text of Zhuangzi's Carefree Excursion he had memorized had long since been mostly forgotten.

Otherwise, if he could recite it, this Kunpeng Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art could definitely evolve even further!

If he had also memorized the Tao Te Ching in its entirety, he would surely be soaring by now.

Thinking of this, Lu Li felt a twinge of regret and remorse.

Right!

That low-grade Spirit Ghost!

Lu Li suddenly remembered that he still had a low-grade Spirit Ghost.

After some thought, he decided to keep it in the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner for now, and sell it to Bai Jinfei later in exchange for a flying sword magic tool.

With his current abundant mana, he should be able to fly on a sword.

These past few days, watching others fly back and forth while he could only drift along the ground was truly a bit frustrating.

If he encountered enemies in the future, not being able to catch up would also be a problem.

"Besides, the Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm has reached perfection. Should I find a new Buddhist palm technique to fuse with it, or perhaps find another demonic palm technique and have the Great Might Heavenly Dragon Dharma Incantation beat it into a Buddhist one?"

Lu Li stared at the system panel, lost in thought once again.

His offensive methods were very simple.

Melee: Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm.

Ranged: Blood-Devouring Demon Light.

And that was it.

In a one-on-one fight, there shouldn't be any problems.

However, if he were to run into a group fight where the opponents kept their distance to kite him while protecting each other, he would likely be in grave danger.

"It would be great if I could learn a ranged palm technique—a palm strike from a distance to directly blow the enemy away. Hmm? A long-range palm technique? The Tathagata Divine Palm?"

A legendary technique popped into Lu Li's mind.

His eyes began to shine.

This palm technique that descended from the heavens was extremely sharp; a casual strike could punch through a tall wall, and it could leave a massive palm print a zhang deep in the earth. It was full of power.

If he could get his hands on such a ferocious palm technique, he wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded by enemies!

Lu Li felt a faint sense of excitement in his heart and decided to ask Ghost Demon True Person about it tomorrow.

Or, he could go directly to the Scripture Depository to take a look.

For now, sleep and rest!

Lu Li took a deep breath and closed his eyes; exhaustion immediately surged over him like a tide.

He sank directly into a deep sleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept.

On the system log, three entries suddenly refreshed:

"The Great Mercy and Great Compassion Palm has reached the perfection realm and cannot be promoted further, so it decided to go out and seek an opportunity for a breakthrough."

"Before leaving, the Great Might Heavenly Dragon Dharma Incantation taught it the move 'Flying Dragon in the Sky' for self-defense."

"You have learned Flying Dragon in the Sky."