492: Chapter 492 Stubborn

"Dad! Marry fewer concubines; you can't handle them."

On a martial arts stage in the Clan School, Liu Yifan, drenched in sweat after a hearty match with an opponent, sighed helplessly after hearing his father's intentions.

"You brat, how are you talking to your old man? Where are your manners!"

"Am I wrong?" Liu Yifan picked up a cup of cold water and drained it in one gulp. "If you have that energy, you'd be better off spending it on your cultivation. Don't end up regretting it when you can't even achieve Foundation Establishment in the future!"

Liu Yifan looked down on his father somewhat. He was clearly born in the best era of the Liu Family's rise, when competition wasn't high. With just a little effort, he could have gained his grandfather's favor, yet he chose to degenerate, staying in a small place like the Red Pine Sect to scrape by.

Grandfather Liu Xuan clearly didn't value their generation of grandchildren as much; for the same level of talent, they could only receive half the resources of their uncles and aunts.

Under such conditions, he still managed to enter the Clan School through hard cultivation. If he could swap roles with his father, it would be a completely different world!

The most hurtful words in the world are often the casual remarks made by those closest to you.

Dao Hong lowered his head gloomily, losing the strength to argue. The regrets accumulated over the years flooded his heart at this moment.

"It's one thing to be decadent and degenerate yourself, but to actually cause such an absurd mess!"

"I suggest you'd better not go see Grandmother, lest you drag the old lady into this."

"It looks like Grandfather doesn't intend to hold you accountable, so don't blow things out of proportion yourself. What you should do now is return to the Red Pine Sect early and deal with your messy Family affairs..."

After being lectured by his son, Dao Hong left the Clan School in a daze. He didn't have the face to see his mother either, so he sent a letter of confession and hurriedly led his people back to the Red Pine Sect.

...

Half a month later.

Beneath the Peach Blossom Palace.

Yin Qi churned. A palace complex stretching for miles, identical to the Earth Fiend yin fiend Hall in Bone Fiend City but ten times larger, unfolded.

Over the past few days, Liu Xuan had taken several trips, using the ten thousand soul banner to take all the underground yin fiend from Great Sun City, as well as the yin fiend from several large gathering spots within the Star Academy's territory.

The palace complex was built in a circular shape. The outermost perimeter was suitable for Martial Cultivators who had just entered the Blood Qi Realm to perform Body Tempering; the closer one moved to the center, the stronger the Body Tempering effect.

In the central hall, a Body Refining cultivation level at the Golden Core stage was required to remain immune to the Yin Qi erosion.

Liu Xuan stood at the top of the hall, watching several fierce ghosts below gulping down Yin Qi.

These were a few Wandering Souls Liu Xuan had casually detained during his travels. Under the nourishment of the dense Yin Qi in the ten thousand soul banner, they had promoted to fierce ghosts in just a few days.

Ghost Cultivators have Realm distinctions just like the Human Race and Yao Race. The most common are Wandering Souls, formed when a Mortal's obsession absorbs yin fiend after death. They have no wisdom, only simple instincts, fear Yang Qi and sunlight, can only move at night, and basically have no ability to harm people.

After being nourished by yin fiend, Wandering Souls develop some simple intelligence and master a few innate spells, promoting to fierce ghosts. They are equivalent to a weakened version of a Qi Refining Cultivator and are far from being a match for Cultivators of the same rank once removed from a yin fiend environment.

Through cultivation, fierce ghosts gradually gain intelligence and condense a substantial soul body, gaining deeper control over spells to advance to Baleful Ghosts. In a yin fiend environment, they are comparable to a Foundation Establishment Ancestor.

Baleful Ghosts go a step further, condensing a Soul Core to promote to Ghost Generals, possessing False Core combat power. In a yin fiend environment, they can rival a Golden Core True Person.

When a Ghost General's Soul Core transforms into a Nascent Soul, they become a Ghost Commander. If they control a region of yin fiend Ghost Realm, they do not fear a Nascent Soul True Lord.

Above Ghost Commanders are ghost kings. Because they have no Physical Body, the difficulty for a ghost Cultivator to break through to a Soul Transformation ghost king is more than ten times harder than for a Cultivator. There are very few ghost kings in the entire Cultivation World.

Precisely because the Breakthrough difficulty is so high, those who can achieve the position of ghost king are Heaven-Defying figures. Even with only a soul body, they possess the strength of a normal Spirit Transformation Dao Lord. Unless specifically targeted, they do not fear Dao Monarchs of the same rank.

Theoretically, a ghost king is the end of the road for a ghost Cultivator. Lacking the balance of Yin and Yang, they cannot achieve Immortal Ascension. In the long course of history, not a single ghost Cultivator has ever achieved Ascension.

"With the ten thousand soul banner in hand, while it's not easy to go catch Nascent Soul Ghost Commanders, slowly cultivating a few Golden Core Ghost Generals will suffice for now."

Liu Xuan didn't plan to use the ten thousand soul banner to fight others in magical combat, but rather intended to use it as a Family Formation.

By using the Formation to gather Yin Qi underground and ordering the Merchant Alliance to collect yin fiend items to place within it, he could provide Body Tempering cultivation for the Family disciples while also training Ghost Soldiers to guard the house.

In the center of the hall, a black figure sat cross-legged in meditation, breathing in and out yin fiend.

The Refined Corpse, Little Shadow. Due to Liu Xuan's rapid progress in cultivation, she had spent most of her time cultivating on her own over the years, with little opportunity to be of use.

Although Little Shadow had already promoted to the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, she was of almost no help to the current Liu Xuan.

As Liu Xuan was considering how to make the ten thousand soul banner and the entire yin fiend hall better fit with the Family Formation, a transmission token at his waist suddenly glowed with a faint light.

Sending his Divine Sense in to check, the sender was Su Wan. The matter regarding Dao Hong in the Red Pine Sect had been cleared up, and the person behind the scenes had been caught.

In the front courtyard of the Liu Residence.

When Liu Xuan saw the young man kneeling on the ground with his cultivation sealed, his expression showed a slight hint of surprise.

"Li Xuanxuan is a Golden Core Sword Cultivator. If not for Heavenly Sword True Monarch's intervention, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to capture him."

Su Wan recalled the scene when they captured Li Xuanxuan, still feeling incredibly shocked.

As the former wife of the Red Pine Sect Master and a member of the Su Family of the Heavenly Sword Sect, she had grown up hearing the name of the Genius Sword Cultivator Li Xuanxuan.

Because he wanted to fight for future control of the Red Pine Sect, Li Xuanxuan had always been at odds with True Person Xiao, and she had been caught in the crossfire as well.

Such a glorious Genius Golden Core Sword Cultivator of a hundred years was casually suppressed by Heavenly Sword True Monarch over a small matter and held in custody by her like a Mortal.

"Li Xuanxuan?"

This is an old friend!

Years ago, when intercepting and killing Yue Li, arranging spies to infiltrate the West Courtyard of the Red Pine Sect, and when True Person Fan Yang came to assassinate—his shadow was behind many of those events.

And that time in Bone Fiend City when the Late Golden Core Stage Rat Demon led an ambush, this old fellow was also involved.

"True Person Li, you're regressing as you get older!" Liu Xuan laughed. "A dignified Golden Core Immortal Master, performing such lowly deeds—you're simply unworthy of being a Sword Cultivator!"

"You don't need to humiliate me. If you want to kill or torture me, do as you please!" Li Xuanxuan's expression was calm, his gaze focused on the air, as if thinking of something unknown.

"Heaven has the virtue of loving life; I do not enjoy slaughter. I can give you a chance to turn over a new leaf."

Liu Xuan walked to his side and placed a hand on his head, and a translucent spider merged into it.

Boom—

A few breaths later, a wave of Divine Soul shock erupted from Li Xuanxuan's body, and the spiritual light in his eyes extinguished along with the explosion.

"Sigh! Yet another stubborn element who refuses to mend his ways."

Liu Xuan flicked his sleeve, and a dense cloud of Yin Qi transformed into a phantom hand, collecting Li Xuanxuan's remnant souls into his sleeve one by one.

The remnant soul of a Golden Core Immortal Master could be used to train Ghost Soldiers or be absorbed by Little Shadow to help her promote sooner.