45: Chapter 45 The Beginning of Blood Refinement

Hun Tiandi narrowed his eyes, recalling the information regarding the refinement of that treasure, which had been passed down by the heart of samsara.

"The ten thousand soul banner is the natal magic weapon of the Nether Demon Lord. Its demonic power is overwhelming, yet the requirements for its initial refinement are quite simple."

"It requires thunder-struck wood for the banner pole, a ten-year-old beast hide for the banner surface, and must be refined with essence blood for forty-nine days. This demonic banner devours the souls of living beings; for every person it devours, its power increases by one point..."

Hun Tiandi felt both nervous and excited; wasn't this a cheat device for cultivation?

Once he successfully refined the ten thousand soul banner, this weapon would collect souls, and he believed his Soul Weapon Art would progress rapidly.

This ten thousand soul banner sounded sinister, but it was effective!

As for the Soul Weapon Art, if he relied solely on his own cultivation, he didn't know how long it would take to reach perfection.

If he successfully refined the soul banner, the efficiency of soul collection would increase dozens of times over.

He would collect souls into the soul banner, unleash his Soul Weapon Art to slaughter countless souls, and then refine them into pure soul energy through the God Refining Art.

By letting his soul absorb and refine this, the cultivation speed of his Soul Weapon Art would increase several times over.

Hmm?

At the end of the information, Hun Tiandi saw a warning about the soul banner: This object is extremely fierce and easily backlashes against its master; it cannot be controlled without a resolute will.

May those who come after be cautious, and do not be greedy...

In the cave, Hun Tiandi suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of gravity flashing in the depths of his gaze.

"Refine it? Or not?"

After pondering for a moment and recalling the warning information, a bold idea gradually emerged in his mind.

What if... I secretly refine a small-scale ten thousand soul banner?

If I don't slaughter living beings, but only kill magical beasts, there should... probably... possibly not be any major problems, right?

That's what I'll do; I'll refine a small soul banner.

A hint of smugness appeared at the corners of Hun Tiandi's mouth. Unfortunately, what he did not know was that this small soul banner, once it grew in the future...

...would set off a bloody storm on the Fighting Qi Continent that was dozens of times larger in scale than the sacrifice of the living beings in the Central Plains to refine the Emperor Pill, nearly sweeping across the entire continent.

He stopped overthinking it, flipped his hand to take out a bottle of Qi Condensation Pills; it was time to break through.

Gulp!

Hun Tiandi swallowed a white Qi Condensation Pill. It dissolved in his abdomen, and waves of warm medicinal power dispersed as he closed his eyes.

He formed a seal and fell into cultivation. The powerful medicinal force flowed into his meridians, followed the circulation of his meridians, and finally, poured into the Qi cyclone located in his lower abdomen.

In the cave, the energy in the air whistled, following Hun Tiandi's breathing, and merged into his body.

The gentle and peaceful energy drilled in through countless pores, flowing along the meridians within his body. Wherever the energy passed, it tempered his meridians and flesh.

When the rotation of the Qi cyclone accelerated, the energy and medicinal power flowing in the meridians rushed toward the Qi cyclone all at once, as if a dam had burst.

After absorbing the medicinal power in the meridians, it still did not stop; the speed of devouring was very fast.

It was a greedy plunder, and therefore, simply absorbing external energy could not keep up with the speed of consumption.

Hun Tiandi swallowed another Qi Condensation Pill; the medicinal power dissolved, flowed, and poured into his meridians.

The rotation speed of the Qi cyclone became even more terrifying, erupting with an even more terrifying suction force to absorb the medicinal power and external energy.

More and more energy was injected, then refined through the meridians, and poured into the expanding Dou Qi cyclone.

Cultivation was an endless plunder.

"Let's go, enter the mountain range and search; maybe Yun Tian is hiding inside!"

Outside the mountain range, two youths from the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion looked at each other and decided to enter and search.

According to the directions from the guards at the city gate, this was the right direction.

However, this mountain range was full of dangers with magical beasts lurking about; entering the mountain range was not a wise choice.

But if they just went back like this, Senior Brother Lin Yunfeng would likely be furious.

"Let's go in!" They would search carefully, and once they confirmed Yun Tian's trail, they would immediately return to Tianbei City and report to Senior Brother Lin.

"If we catch Yun Tian, will Senior Brother Lin reward us with more treasures!"

Suddenly, one of them raised an eyebrow and said with a grin.

"According to Senior Brother Lin's intelligence, Yun Tian is a 5-star Dou Practitioner. You and I are both 9-star Dou Masters; surely we can take down a 5-star Dou Practitioner."

"That makes sense!" If they really caught Yun Tian, Senior Brother Lin would definitely not treat them poorly.

"Sigh, you have to say, Yun Tian is really bold, daring to provoke the woman Senior Brother Lin has his eyes on. In the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion, who doesn't know that Senior Sister Liu Hanbing is his woman!"

The two of them complained wildly while searching.

Five days later, Hun Tiandi continued his cultivation. The Dou Qi within his body became increasingly thick and incomparably pure. With a thought, soul power surged out from his sea of consciousness.

He scanned his body; his meridians were crystalline, thick, and tough, and his bones were hard and lustrous.

They emitted a glistening white light, just like fine mutton-fat jade.

Finally, his focus landed on the Qi cyclone in his lower abdomen; the pale red cyclone looked like a galaxy in the sky, rotating endlessly with brilliant and eye-catching specks of light.

Through focused cultivation, he broke through to an 8-star Dou Practitioner without any accidents; there was no resistance during this breakthrough.

Hun Tiandi was extremely happy about the improvement in his strength.

After breaking through to an 8-star Dou Practitioner, his cultivation speed gradually slowed down. The difficulty of breaking through the last three stars of each stage was immense.

It consumed a lot of resources, and the remaining one-star improvement required tempering through life and death.

Only by solidifying his foundation in life-and-death battles would subsequent breakthroughs not be affected.

Now that he had successfully advanced to an 8-star Dou Practitioner, it was time to begin!

He flipped his hand and took out a pitch-black, cracked piece of old locust wood. As his palm touched it, a tingling, stinging sensation came through.

It was as if he were being continuously shocked by tiny electric currents.

The old locust wood was extremely heavy to hold, and its surface was covered with peculiar patterns.

Under the illumination of the moonstone, it emitted wisps of eerie blue light.

"thunder-struck wood!"

When refining the ten thousand soul banner, thunder-struck wood was required—wood that had been struck by lightning without dying, containing a trace of heavenly thunder power after being struck.

"A beast hide more than ten years old?"

Hun Tiandi frowned tightly, recalling constantly; ordinary magical beast hide simply could not withstand the refinement of the ten thousand soul banner.

It required the hide of a magical beast with a certain level of cultivation. Previously, while training and killing in the Tianmu Mountain Range, he hadn't collected any beast hides.

"A hundred-year-old giant python, green snake skin, a Green-Scaled Python!"

He flipped his hand and took out a giant python skin nearly thirty meters long from his storage ring. Its entire body was covered in scales, which were not the common snake scales one usually saw.

They were a very large type, nearly like dragon scales, each piece like an iron-armored scale.

Visually, they were the size of an adult's palm. The layer upon layer of green snake scales gave one a suffocating feeling.

This was the snake skin he had collected at the Xueyue Medicine Pavilion; it was simply too perfect for refining the banner surface.

"Blood sacrifice? Refined with essence blood!"

Suddenly, Hun Tiandi recalled.

"When the ten thousand soul banner is initially refined, it requires a living creature to sacrifice to the banner in order to awaken its power."

"Remember, the stronger the creature sacrificed to the banner, the more... the demonic banner becomes."

He looked up at the moonstone on the stone wall, a coldness appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"A living creature to sacrifice to the banner? It seems that when the refinement is successful, I will need to capture a powerful magical beast."

He muttered to himself.

Tianbei City.

"It's been five days, and they still haven't returned!" In the inn, Senior Brother Lin Yunfeng was extremely impatient while waiting.

Every day he sent out disciples to inquire for information, but the result was nothing.

Even the two disciples who had gone together had not reported back.

"Could it be that they encountered Yun Tian and were killed?"

Senior Brother Lin Yunfeng raised an eyebrow and muttered softly.