Ghost Qi Sect, Nine Springs Mountain

"Damn it, my Replica Clone, Tang Bing, died before he'd even lived half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

How could he die without making it count?!" Tang Yuan cursed, immediately gripped the Mystic Spoon and activated the Time Reversal divine art.

...A moment earlier, Tang Yuan had spent ten years of his lifespan in the water to create a Replica Clone with Qi Refinement Fifth Layer cultivation on the spot: Tang Bing.

Under cover of the exploding talisman's blast and the waves, Tang Bing had flown out of the water.

With Tang Yuan's battle against the white soul spirit drawing Su Wei's attention, and the smoke Tang Yuan had released for cover, Tang Bing had flown straight behind Su Wei and wrapped his arms around him. He activated the Blood Skeleton Technique Lightning Tang Yuan had given him, which he held in his mouth, intending to perish together with Su Wei.

Tang Bing himself had been blown to death. His soul had been only a tiny split-off fragment of Tang Yuan's, after all, so it had vanished like smoke...

...A dazzling light flashed before Tang Yuan's eyes. Within a three-li radius centered on him, time flowed backward for everything in that space for half the time it took to snap a finger.

Without hesitation, Tang Yuan, who was locked in a bitter fight with the white-robed soul spirit, feinted with his saber, summoned a soul-summoning banner and flew at full speed toward Su Wei's soul, which had just left his body.

Su Wei's soul had only just turned to look when Tang Yuan was already right in front of him.

Forming a hand seal, Tang Yuan immediately used the soul-summoning banner in his left hand to immobilize Su Wei's soul.

With another wave of his hand, the purple-lettered soul-summoning banner appeared in Tang Yuan's right hand.

The white-robed soul spirit flew over and looked at Su Wei, who was now a soul,

then at Tang Yuan, who held two soul-summoning banners. His lips twitched, and he cupped his hands in an exceedingly respectful salute.

"Soul spirit Zhao Xiaode pays his respects to master."

"There's no need for ceremony.

Let's find an island to land on first. Staying up in the air really uses up True Qi." Tang Yuan smiled, held both soul-summoning banners and flew west with Su Wei under his control...

"So you're saying you're a ghost cultivator, originally named Wuma Lin.

You took over Su Wei's body twenty years ago, and the original Su Wei's soul was destroyed long ago.

But this is still Su Wei's body, so in some unseen way, you still care a great deal about the original Su Wei's younger female cousin, Du Qing?" Tang Yuan glanced at the thoroughly humble-looking "Su Wei" while examining the purple-lettered soul-summoning banner.

A somewhat bewildered Wuma Lin nodded. He simply couldn't understand why Tang Yuan had two bodies,

or how Tang Yuan had appeared right in front of him the moment he turned around, leaving him no chance to escape.

*Could Tang Yuan also have the ability to foresee the future? Could he have calculated that I'd escape into the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner?

If I'd known, I should have waited until my cultivation surpassed Zhao Xiaode's and I'd learned a Divine Ability before settling accounts with Tang Yuan.* Wuma Lin's soul thought to himself, full of regret.

"Wuma Lin, right now I don't have the ability to refine you into a soul spirit and command and control you.

But I can easily use this ordinary soul-summoning banner to beat you until your soul is scattered.

You can take over another's body, and you have this precious spirit banner. You must have been somebody back in your day.

I suggest you be smart and tell me everything you know.

Maybe one day I'll let you go and allow you to enter the cycle of reincarnation." Tang Yuan smacked his lips and said coldly,

"First, what is this purple-lettered banner?

How do you use it?

And Zhao Xiaode-

you said he's a fellow disciple of my Holy Cardamom Sect. What's his story?

If you don't answer, I'll scatter your soul right now!"

The corners of Wuma Lin's soul's mouth twitched, and he began to explain with the utmost respect...

The black soul-summoning banner with purple characters was called the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, a high-grade spirit treasure.

It came from the Ghost Qi Sect, a sect of witch-ghost cultivators that had been destroyed a thousand years ago.

Two hundred years earlier, Wuma Lin, then a Rogue Cultivator, had chanced upon the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner in a cave on Nine Springs Mountain.

Besides the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, Wuma Lin had found a Witch Ghost Dao Book, a volume of the Ghost-Driving Technique, and a cultivation Jade Slip containing the Weaving Maiden Nether Fire Dao-Extinguishing True Method in the cave.

The Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner could store and control both soul spirits and ghosts.

Using the cultivation mnemonics in the Witch Ghost Dao Book and the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, one could transform soul spirits into ghost spirits.

A person had three souls and seven spirits. After death, the seven spirits dispersed, leaving only the three souls: taiguang, shuangling, and youjing.

Taiguang reincarnated, shuangling returned to heaven, and youjing entered the water.

But if the three souls did not go where they belonged and lingered in the world, they became a ghost.

A ghost that remained in the world for more than thirty-six days became a ghost spirit.

A ghost spirit had only two souls and no physical form.

A soul spirit, on the other hand, had three souls and at least three spirits.

Wuma Lin could cultivate the Witch Ghost Dao Book and the Ghost-Driving Technique, but a time restriction prevented him from opening the Weaving Maiden Nether Fire Dao Extinction True Method.

A hundred and fifty years earlier, Wuma Lin, who had already reached Qi Refinement Great Perfection, had been near the Starfall Sea

when he accidentally disrupted the ritual site where a Holy Cardamom Sect disciple at Foundation Establishment Peak was attempting to break through to the Purple Mansion. Wuma Lin himself had also been severely injured.

A wandering Buddhist cultivator saved the dying Wuma Lin, sparing him from death and the extinction of his Dao.

After recovering from his injuries, Wuma Lin, furious with humiliation, ambushed a Holy Cardamom Sect disciple sixty-seven years ago and obtained Zhao Xiaode's soul and some cultivation books.

Zhao Xiaode's soul had a restriction on it, and what Wuma Lin knew was the Ghost-Driving Technique, not the Soul-Driving Technique. Thus, Wuma Lin could only use the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner to control the soul spirit Zhao Xiaode in a basic manner, but could not examine his memories.

Twenty years earlier, following the guidance of the Buddhist cultivator who had saved his life, Wuma Lin took over Su Wei's body and came to the Holy Cardamom Sect to cultivate while keeping a low profile.

If Du Qing had not gone missing, Wuma Lin might have kept lying low until the Foundation Establishment opportunity at the Starfall Sea appeared.

After listening to Wuma Lin's explanation, Tang Yuan carefully went through his Storage Bag:

One copy of the Witch Ghost Dao Book, used to operate the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner and containing some basic ghost-cultivation formulas.

One volume of the Ghost-Driving Technique, containing the cultivation mnemonics for refining and controlling ghost spirits.

One cultivation Jade Slip containing the Purple Cloud One Qi Treatise, an advanced version of the Purple Cloud Nine Mysteries Scripture Tang Yuan cultivated, reaching all the way to the Purple Mansion.

The cultivation Jade Slip containing the Solar One Qi Divine Light appeared to hold a Divine Ability cultivation method.

The cultivation Jade Slip containing the Weaving Maiden Ghost Fire Dao Extinction True Method appeared to hold a ghost-cultivation Divine Ability method.

One hundred and eight spirit coins.

As for Zhao Xiaode, he was merely exceedingly respectful toward Tang Yuan and refused to say a word about his origins, claiming only that he was the son of a Foundation Establishment High Person of the Holy Cardamom Sect.

*The Purple Cloud One Qi Treatise and the Solar One Qi Divine Light probably belonged to Zhao Xiaode.

Although I'm now at Qi Refinement Fifth Layer, I don't know the Soul-Driving Technique and can't unlock the restrictions on the cultivation books, so I can't cultivate either method for now.

As for the Ghost-Driving Technique, I can start cultivating it now, though I don't know whether it'll be useful later.

I should also start cultivating the Soul-Driving Technique as soon as possible, but I don't know whether I can buy it at the Holy Cardamom Sect's scripture repository.

Even Wuma Lin, at Qi Refinement Third Layer, could ambush me whenever he wanted. It looks like I need to find myself a backer in the sect as soon as possible.

The time restriction on the Weaving Maiden Ghost Fire Dao Extinction True Method cultivation Jade Slip won't lift for another two years. It seems I can only wait.* After these reflections, Tang Yuan began studying the Witch Ghost Dao Book...

Tang Yuan spent ten whole days on the deserted island studying the Witch Soul Dao Book. Only after he could use and control the Mysterious Ghost Grotto Scenery Ten Thousand Soul Banner in a basic manner did he put away Wuma Lin's soul and the soul spirit Zhao Xiaode. Then he boarded his flying shuttle and headed west, back to the Holy Cardamom Sect...

As for the great Foundation Establishment opportunity near the Starfall Sea that Wuma Lin had been shouting about, Tang Yuan was no longer interested in investigating it.

For one thing, his cultivation was low; for another, who knew whether this "great Foundation Establishment opportunity" was a "hook" some Purple Mansion True Person had set for him? He might as well stay away.

After returning to the sect and agreeing on another delivery date for the array materials with Kou Cheng, Tang Yuan headed southwest to his private cave abode in the Outstanding Talent Southern Garden.

When he returned to the cave abode, Tang Yi, who was still at Qi Refining First Layer, had come back.

Although Tang Yi had not picked up any "leavings" on the northern battlefield, he had gathered some information: the Holy Cardamom Sect's northern campaign and its plundering of more than a dozen renowned orthodox sects had all revolved around one place: Nine Springs Mountain.

And Nine Springs Mountain was precisely where the Ghost Qi Sect, a sect of witch-ghost cultivators wiped out more than a thousand years ago, had made its headquarters.

The high-grade Law Artifact, the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, had come from Nine Springs Mountain.

Could there be some other treasure at Nine Springs Mountain that had drawn the Holy Cardamom Sect to investigate?

Under the pretext of giving the sect's disciples experience, it was actually clearing out outsiders around Nine Springs Mountain, so that when the treasure appeared, it would not fall into someone else's hands.

*If I get the chance, I'll go investigate Nine Springs Mountain too.

What if there are still treasures there as good as the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, or even better ones...?* Tang Yuan looked at the purple-lettered, black soul-summoning banner in his hand and made plans for the future...