Human Emperor Banner

Fire Fiend's Cave Mansion.

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

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

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

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

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

Was this even reasonable?

A thousand miles away, Qin Sheng was in seclusion.

He had obtained the second portion of Douluo Qin Sheng's essence. Vast quantities of Source Stones surrounded him as the demonic art circulated, swallowing the world like a whale.

Within Qin Sheng's body, the five Divine Treasuries shone in different colors, resonating with one another. One of the five treasuries was dimmer than the other four.

The Great Dao Heavenly Sound continued without end. His Passing Self and Dao Self continuously chanted scriptures, their mystery extraordinary.

The black hole expanded, drawing in mountain rocks and reducing them to useless slag, while the scant essence within was absorbed.

At this stage, the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art became increasingly terrifying.

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

"Dao Palace Fifth Heaven." Qin Sheng smiled happily.

At that moment, he felt as though he were more majestic than heaven and earth themselves.

After half a year of arduous cultivation, he had nearly exhausted all the Source Stones on him and absorbed Origin as well. At last, he had pushed Qin Sheng's cultivation to Dao Palace Fifth Heaven.

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

Look at how quickly Ye Fan had cultivated through the Dao Palace Secret Realm in the original story, breaking through whenever he had sufficient 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 this far, every step would be a hurdle. Breakthroughs would be incomparably difficult. Breaking through one Heaven in several years was already 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, it really was all thanks to my own hard work." Qin Sheng sighed.

He truly had not had it easy!

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

"After the second fusion, I really inherited the Spirit-Control Banner Martial Soul as well." Qin Sheng's eyes flashed with surprise.

Qin Sheng carefully sensed the current Spirit-Control Banner. After a moment, he seemed to understand something.

"After being adapted to the Shrouding the Heavens World, the Spirit-Control Banner has become something like a treasure born alongside my Primordial Spirit. It is an extension, 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 for protecting the Dao, but also a tool for cultivation."

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

"And there will never be a weapon more responsive and inseparable from me than this."

Qin Sheng grew interested. "This is an extension of my Primordial Spirit. I must find a sufficiently good treasure, preferably immortal material, 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... hiss."

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

"Human Emperor Banner!"

A treasure born alongside his Primordial Spirit—the Human Emperor Banner!

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 ordinary historical world.

Qin Sheng had already fulfilled both of their final wishes and fused with their complete essences.

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

"Yezi, what are you doing standing at the entrance?"

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

"I'm scared when you're not here. I only feel at ease when I'm with you." Ye Fan let out a long breath.

Qin Sheng revealed an expression that was hard to describe. "Yezi, don't be like this. You're scaring me."

"Get lost."

Ye Fan asked, "You broke through again?"

"Mm, Dao Palace Fifth Heaven."

Ye Fan began to doubt his life. Was cultivating a mortal body really that easy? And Qin Sheng's combat power was so strong too.

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 expectantly.

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

"What? Dig up Sacred Land Ruins?"

This was indeed a huge job!

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

"Of course we can." Qin Sheng nodded.

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

"If it has already been turned upside down by other powerhouses, what is the point of us going?"

Ye Fan was confused. "Those experts wouldn't leave any good things for us, would they?"

"What we are looking for is what they failed to discover."

"Treasure that even the other Sacred Lands and aristocratic families failed to find, the two of us..." Ye Fan was speechless.

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

The Sacred Land Ruins Qin Sheng wanted to excavate were precisely the former Ruthless Orthodoxy.

In 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 had thrown Beidou into chaos. At that time, disciples from nearly every orthodoxy had suffered at their hands.

In the end, the other Sacred Lands and aristocratic families could no longer endure it. They joined forces and directly destroyed the Sacred Land of the Ruthless lineage.

The Ruthless lineage then went from operating openly to hiding in the shadows, lying low as it developed.

There definitely were no treasures left on the surface of the Ruthless Holy Land, but based on certain details from the original work, Qin Sheng wanted to see whether bringing Ye Fan there might yield something.

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

This half Emperor Weapon was neither in Shaking Light nor in the Desolate Forbidden Land. Where else 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.

"It's so desolate."

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

Ahead of them, what should have been a chain of rolling mountains had entirely collapsed, smashed into fragments.

The ground was crisscrossed by ravines like bottomless abysses, with no end in sight. Ruined palace remnants lay everywhere, rusted over and covered in withered vines.

As far as the eye could see, there was not a trace of green. Not even the sounds of birds or beasts could be heard. It was as though they had entered a silent domain of death.

When the wind blew, echoes continuously resounded, like the howls of vicious ghosts.

Ye Fan shuddered. "Qin Immortal, I don't think this place is very auspicious. Are we sure we want to go in?"

Qin Sheng stared at the ruins and nodded heavily.

"Go in!"

Qin Sheng patted Ye Fan's shoulder and said,

"Yezi, don't be afraid. The Sacred Physique is the most righteous 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 wore a completely serious expression.

"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 instincts."

Ye Fan was dumbfounded. "So you don't know anything about this place either, and you're just here to try your luck?"

"It isn't trying our luck."

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

But he had brought Ye Fan with him.

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

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

Although the atmosphere grew more sinister the deeper they went, it was merely the atmosphere changing. No actual danger appeared, which put both of them much more at ease.

To prevent the Ruthless lineage from rising again, Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons had even been used during the original siege. The place had been swept over again and again.

On the surface, there was no longer any danger here.

"There's nothing here?"

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

There was no danger, nor were there any treasures.

Qin Sheng pondered, then looked toward the vast chasms stretching for hundreds and thousands of miles.

"What about below?"

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

"After all, we're already here."

After Qin Sheng had painted such a grand picture for him, he was unwilling to return empty-handed as well.

"Reasonable."

Qin Sheng nodded. The two entered the depths underground and were swallowed by the abyss.

Desolate Forbidden Land.

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

She remained muddled for much of the year, 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, Ruthless was at her clearest.

Though separated by an immense distance, the situation at the Sacred Land Ruins still appeared clearly before Ruthless's eyes.

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

"This is..."

How had my scripture turned into this?

During Ruthless's lifetime, the most perfect state she had dreamed of had truly appeared before her eyes.