The first thing he did upon returning to the Soul Banner was to extract Zhang Gui’s living soul.

"Soul Inquiry."

[Extracting.]

[Demonic Spirit Foundation Merging Technique]

[Five Spirits Art (First Volume)]

Just like before, only two skill seeds appeared, one technique and one cultivation method.

The Demonic Spirit Foundation Merging Technique was extremely domineering.

Even without a spiritual root, one could obtain one by fusing with someone else's foundation using this demonic art.

But it wasn’t a case of “the more, the better.”

Two methods were recorded.

One required five cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots, forming a cycle of endless regeneration.

By fusing these five roots, one would instantly gain the Five Elements Heavenly Root with no bottlenecks ever again.

The other was a simplified version: just find any three cultivators with spiritual roots, use a Three Essence Formation to forcibly fuse foundations and spiritual roots.

This version produced a weak foundation, and its spiritual energy integration was poor, progress would be full of bottlenecks at every step.

While powerful on the surface, this demonic art had a fatal flaw:

Because it fused with others' spiritual roots and foundations, the resulting body would become disordered and unstable, forever locked in the Qi Refining stage.

Once this method was used, not even gods could save you.

Zhang Gui had used this simplified version.

He had no choice, his body was already severely injured and his foundation crippled. He had nothing left to lose.

Besides, while a governor might seem like a big deal among mortals, to cultivators he was no more than an ant. Seeking out heavenly root cultivators was pure delusion.

Even if he did find a early Qi Refining rookie with heavenly roots, would they willingly offer up their organs for fusion?

So in truth, this was his only real option.

The Five Spirits Art was the foundational Qi Refining method of the Five Spirits Sect.

Tu Shanjun could only glimpse so much from the Five Spirits Art.

Although skill seeds were powerful, they didn’t include memories beyond the technique itself.

They only served as the base reference.

Some seeds contained more experience than others, if the original host had studied the art in depth, Tu Shanjun would receive more insight.

Take Zhao Shixian for example: he had studied deeply and so his seed contained far more knowledge.

Unfortunately, Tu Shanjun didn’t yet know how to search souls.

He really should make time to practice that, then he could directly read the memories of these ghosts.

But seeing the soulless, instinct-driven ghosts inside the banner, he was doubtful.

Did they even retain any memories? Or had the Soul Banner completely wiped them out?

Since his death, Tu Shanjun had merged with the Soul Banner. The half-finished system had merged with it as well. What sort of effects this would have was still unknown.

Tu Shanjun chose not to dwell on it. The priority was to increase his strength.

If he were stronger, he could’ve simply repelled that young cultivator.

That man had the same level of cultivation, but was a proper orthodox Qi cultivator, and his ebony sword countered ghosts.

Even with equal cultivation, Tu Shanjun had lost instantly in direct confrontation.

Judging by the man's demeanor, he didn’t look like one of Zhang Wanlong's hired protectors.

That meant he was likely the guardian immortal master of the County City.

Tu Shanjun had heard two months ago that the old immortal master's ten-year term had ended and he was returning to his sect, taking Li Qingfeng’s friend with him.

This new guy was probably his replacement.

Tu Shanjun was honestly glad they had struck at this timing, the new replacement was young and weak.

Had the original immortal master still been there, he’d likely have been at least sixth or seventh layer Qi Refining and could’ve crushed Tu Shanjun with ease.

Meanwhile, while Tu Shanjun was recovering, Li Qingfeng fiddled with the sword hairpin and flipped through the beast hide scroll.

It recorded the techniques and mental cultivation of the Three Forms of the Demon Ape.

Identical to what he’d already learned.

Which meant the main soul ghost had sincerely taught him.

The Mind-Ape Settles Will it taught him was used to wear down the malice accumulated from practicing the Blood Fiend Grand Method.

“What kind of material is this?”

Li Qingfeng murmured as he brought the hide to his nose. A strong, bloody stench wafted up.

His eyes flickered with spiritual light, activating his Spirit-Seer Eyes.

But the beast hide remained unchanged.

He poked it with the sword hairpin, no marks left.

It couldn’t be boiled or burned.

Even when he pulled with all his might, it wouldn’t tear.

Li Qingfeng couldn't help but sigh: “If only this thing could be used to as the banner cloth for the Revered Soul Banner.”

With that thought, he hurried to fetch the Soul Banner.

Left hand holding the banner, right hand holding the unknown hide, he brought them close together.

No reaction.

“Am I thinking about this wrong? Or maybe I need to…” he kept trying persistently.

Inside the banner, Tu Shanjun chuckled. This silly kid... Doesn’t he know you need artifact forging skills to replace materials?

But what happened next left Tu Shanjun wide-eyed.

The mysterious, all-knowing image he worked so hard to maintain instantly collapsed.

Good thing he was inside the Soul Banner, Li Qingfeng couldn’t see him.

As Li Qingfeng channeled his spiritual energy into the beast hide, a phantom of a blood ape emerged from the hide.

It pounded its chest and howled to the sky.

Its fiendish aura was drawn into the Soul Banner.

The blood-colored ape turned into a streak of blood and shot into the banner.

After glowing red for about a quarter of an hour, the tough beast hide in Li Qingfeng’s hand crumbled to dust, like a weathered stone.

The main shaft of the Soul Banner, having absorbed it, grew darker and more profound.

Its cold touch was calming to the hand.

The banner face, now woven with blood threads from the beast hide, gained vibrant crimson hues.

Scarlet hair surged and the crimson ghost eyes gleamed with eerie intelligence.

Black with red edges, the evil spirits inside now pulsed with life.

The eyes on the banner even seemed to move on their own.

The material felt far more durable than before.

It had purged impurities and now looked refined and elegant.

Unlike before when it looked haphazardly pieced together and felt unwieldy in motion, it waved more smoothly.

[Revered Soul Banner Advanced]

[Current Rank: Superior-Grade Magical Tool]

[New Skill Acquired: Soul Condensation Pill]

Tu Shanjun quickly brought up the crimson interface.

Banner Name: Soul Banner

Banner Master: Li Qingfeng

Rank: Superior-Grade Magical Tool

Abilities:

Banner-Soul Unity (Passive): Absorbing fiendish qi and living souls enhances the banner’s power and rank.

Backlash (Passive): If the banner master’s cultivation and spiritual sense cannot suppress the banner soul, the soul may devour the master and refine them into a Banner Slave.

Soul Harvest: Extracts souls from the dead and traps ghostly spirits below the banner soul’s strength. (Current primary soul: Qi Refining Fifth Layer)

Soul Storage: Stores ghostly souls within the banner (Current: 52/1000).

Repair: Consumes fiendish qi and souls to mend the banner or heal the soul.

Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts: Releases all stored ghosts within the banner to unleash a coordinated soul-art assault.

Soul Condensation Pill: Converts absorbed wandering yin souls and fiend energy into Yin Soul Pills. Each pill supports the banner master’s cultivation for 24 hours. Consuming more ghosts accelerates this process.

Tu Shanjun spat out a round, black bead the size of a chicken egg into his hand.

This was the power gained from the banner’s advancement.

It remained to be seen how much it would help the banner master.

A Superior-Grade Soul Banner.

You could even call it the Thousand-Soul Banner now.

Though counting himself, there were only 53 souls inside, still far from one hundred.

But a high-grade artifact was still a high-grade artifact.

Even to high level Qi Refining cultivators, it would be a rare treasure. And now, Li Qingfeng had stumbled into this by sheer accident.

Clearly, that beast hide had a remarkable origin. But Tu Shanjun didn’t think too much about it.

He’d already swallowed it. Whatever it was, it belonged to him now.

What’s eaten is a true opportunity. If you don’t eat it, it might one day become someone else’s.

The priority now was still to strengthen himself, then head back to Eight Directions City and kill Zhang Wanlong.

Leaving that threat alive made Tu Shanjun deeply uneasy.

(Chapter End)