Human Emperor Banner

Human Emperor Banner

Fire Fiend's Cave Mansion.

Half a year had passed since the Sacred Physique Grand Pill was refined.

"It's already been twenty days. Why hasn't Immortal Qin returned yet?" Ye Fan muttered.

At the moment, he was alone in the cave mansion because Qin Sheng had left again.

Ye Fan was terrified that another powerful figure would suddenly appear and abduct him.

"I feel... like Tang Sanzang waiting for Sun Wukong to come back from begging for alms."

Was this reasonable?

A thousand miles away, Qin Sheng was in secluded cultivation.

He had obtained the second portion of Douluo Qin Sheng's essence. Vast amounts of Source Stone wrapped around him as the demonic art circulated, devouring the world like a whale.

Within Qin Sheng's body, the five great divine treasures shone with different lights, resonating together. Among them, the fifth divine treasure was noticeably dimmer than the other four.

The heavenly sounds of the Great Dao rang without cease. His "Past Self" and "Dao Self" continuously chanted scriptures, wondrous beyond measure.

The black hole expanded, reducing the mountain rocks to useless dregs and absorbing the scant essence contained within.

At this point, the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art had become increasingly terrifying.

After a long while, Qin Sheng opened his eyes. Five-colored radiance revolved around him, and his aura carried a sense of flawless completion.

"Dao Palace Fifth Heaven." Qin Sheng smiled, delighted.

At that moment, he felt as though he stood taller than heaven and earth.

After half a year of bitter cultivation, he had nearly exhausted all the Source Stone on him. Together with the absorbed origin essence, it had finally pushed Qin Sheng's cultivation to the Dao Palace Fifth Heaven.

Such progress was astonishing. If he had broken through within the Shaking Light Holy Land, it would certainly have caused an enormous uproar.

Don't look at how quickly Ye Fan cultivated through the Dao Palace Secret Realm in the original story, able to break through as long as he had resources.

That was because Master Ye possessed the Sacred Physique and had no bottlenecks at all in the Dao Palace Secret Realm.

For an ordinary Mortal Body to cultivate to this point, every step would be an obstacle. Progress would be difficult and halting; breaking through one Heaven in several years would already be considered good.

For Qin Sheng to progress so quickly with a Mortal Body was nothing short of a miracle.

"To have achieved what I have today, I truly relied entirely on my own efforts," Qin Sheng sighed.

It really hadn't been easy for him!

With a thought, a faintly glowing soul banner appeared in Qin Sheng's hand.

"After the second fusion, I really did inherit the Spirit-Control Banner Martial Soul as well." A strange light flashed in Qin Sheng's eyes.

Qin Sheng carefully sensed the Spirit-Control Banner in its current state, then seemed to come to a realization.

"After being localized by the Shrouding the Heavens world, the Spirit-Control Banner has become something like a treasure born alongside my Primordial Spirit. It is an extension and a part of my Primordial Spirit."

"Its strength is closely tied to my Primordial Spirit. At the same time, if it improves, it will nourish my Primordial Spirit in return. It is not only a treasure to protect the Dao, but also a tool for cultivation."

Qin Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up. "In that case, if I refine the Spirit-Control Banner into a weapon, wouldn't that be equivalent to directly possessing a 'divinity'?"

"And there could be no other artifact more responsive to my will, more perfectly fused with me."

Qin Sheng grew interested. "This is an extension of my Primordial Spirit. I must find treasures good enough for it, preferably immortal materials, to bear it. Only then can it possess the greatest potential, make up for every innate deficiency, and nourish me in return."

"If it can transform into an Emperor Weapon or immortal artifact ahead of time, then my Primordial Spirit... damn."

"Spirit-Control isn't a very good name either. It needs a new name. From now on, it will be called..."

"Human Emperor Banner!"

The Human Emperor Banner, a treasure born alongside his Primordial Spirit!

It was worth mentioning that over the past half year, two new Qin Shengs had arrived in the Infinite Land. One came from the martial arts world of The Deer and the Cauldron, while the other came from an utterly ordinary historical world.

Qin Sheng had already fulfilled all the final wishes of those two Qin Shengs and fused with their complete essences.

Qin Sheng's fixed combat power boost had now reached ninefold.

"Yezi, why are you standing at the entrance?"

Seeing Ye Fan pacing around the cave mansion, Qin Sheng was somewhat puzzled.

"I was scared when you weren't here. Only when I'm with you do I feel at ease." Ye Fan let out a long breath.

Qin Sheng wore an indescribable expression. "Yezi, don't be like this. You're scaring me."

"Get lost, get lost."

Ye Fan asked, "Did you break through again?"

"Mm. Dao Palace Fifth Heaven."

Ye Fan began to doubt life itself. Was cultivating a Mortal Body really this easy? And Qin Sheng's combat strength was also so formidable.

Then what advantage did my Sacred Physique even have?

Wasn't it agreed that the future belonged to me?

"We've both broken through. Come on, I'll take you to pull off something big!"

Ye Fan rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

A moment later, after learning what Qin Sheng intended to take him to do, Ye Fan was stunned.

"What? Dig up the Sacred Land Ruins?"

This was indeed a huge job!

"Immortal Qin, can the two of us really excavate a Sacred Land?"

"Of course." Qin Sheng nodded.

"That Sacred Land was destroyed long ago and has been swept through many times by all kinds of experts. There's nothing dangerous there."

"If other experts have already turned it upside down, what's the point of us going?"

Ye Fan did not understand. "Those experts wouldn't leave good things behind for us, would they?"

"What we're looking for is something they failed to discover."

"Treasure that even the other Sacred Lands and aristocratic families couldn't find, and the two of us..." Ye Fan was speechless.

"Don't worry. Would I harm you?"

The Sacred Land Ruins Qin Sheng wanted to excavate belonged to the Ruthless Orthodoxy of old.

At the beginning, the Ruthless lineage had possessed its own Sacred Land.

Unfortunately, they had been far too arrogant. Using the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art, they turned Beidou upside down. At the time, disciples of nearly every orthodoxy had suffered at their hands.

In the end, the other Sacred Lands and aristocratic families could no longer tolerate them and joined forces to destroy the Sacred Land of the Ruthless lineage.

The Ruthless lineage then went from operating openly to hiding in the shadows, lying low and developing in secret.

There was certainly no treasure left on the surface of the Ruthless Holy Land, but based on certain details from the original work, Qin Sheng wanted to see whether taking Ye Fan there might yield something.

Leaving aside anything else, the whereabouts of the Swallowing Heaven Devil Canopy alone were suspicious.

This half Emperor Weapon was neither at Shaking Light nor in the Desolate Forbidden Land, so where could it be?

The Sacred Land Ruins were some distance from Yan Nation. Even at Qin Sheng's speed, the journey took a full ten days.

"What desolation."

Looking at the scene ahead, Ye Fan could not help but sigh.

Ahead of them, what should have been an unbroken mountain range had completely collapsed, smashed into fragments.

The ground was crisscrossed with ravines like bottomless abysses, their ends nowhere in sight. Ruined palace remains lay everywhere, rusting and covered in withered vines.

As far as the eye could see, there was not a hint of green. Not even the sounds of birds or beasts could be heard. It was like entering a dead domain of utter extinction.

When the wind blew, echoes rang continuously, like the wails of vicious ghosts.

Ye Fan shuddered. "Immortal Qin, this place doesn't seem very auspicious. Are we sure we should go in?"

Qin Sheng stared at the ruins and nodded heavily.

"Let's go!"

Qin Sheng patted Ye Fan on the shoulder and said,

"Yezi, don't be afraid. The Sacred Physique is the most upright and masculine body in the universe. A hundred evils cannot invade it, and yin spirits cannot harm it."

"It's just a pity you're no longer a virgin."

Ye Fan's face darkened. "As if you are."

"Whenever the sun rises, I become a brand-new me again." Qin Sheng looked utterly serious.

"By the way, which direction do you think we should go?"

Ye Fan pointed at himself. "Me? You're sure you want me to lead the way?"

"I trust your intuition."

Ye Fan was dumbfounded. "So you don't know this place either? You came here purely to try your luck?"

"It isn't trying our luck."

If Qin Sheng had come alone, then it would certainly have been trying his luck.

But he had brought Ye Fan with him.

Ye Fan had nothing to say. He carefully surveyed the ruins, then finally chose a direction and entered.

The two stepped into the ruins, and everything remained calm.

Although it grew increasingly gloomy as they went deeper, only the atmosphere changed. No real danger appeared, which put them both much more at ease.

To prevent the Ruthless lineage from rising again, even Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons had been used during the siege back then, sweeping through this place time and time again.

On the surface, there was no danger left here.

"There's nothing at all?"

Three days later, Ye Fan looked at Qin Sheng with suspicion.

There was no danger, but there was no treasure either.

Qin Sheng pondered, then looked toward the enormous fissures stretching for thousands of miles.

"What about below?"

"There probably won't be anything, right?" Ye Fan was uncertain, then said, "But we should still go down and take a look."

"After all, we're already here."

After Qin Sheng's grand promises, he was unwilling to return empty-handed as well.

"Fair point."

Qin Sheng nodded, and the two entered the depths beneath the earth, swallowed by the abyss.

Desolate Forbidden Land.

A karmic thread stirred, and Ruthless suddenly tilted her head slightly, looking toward the Sacred Land Ruins.

She was muddled and confused year-round, but that did not mean she was never lucid.

And during the period after Ye Fan first arrived in Beidou aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, she was at her clearest.

Though separated by an immense distance, the situation at the Sacred Land Ruins remained plainly visible to Ruthless.

Ye Fan was normal. This time, Ruthless's gaze lingered on Qin Sheng for quite a while.

"This is..."

Why has my scripture become like this?

The most perfect state Ruthless had dreamed of in her lifetime had truly appeared before her eyes.

(End of Chapter)