518: Chapter 28 Soul Refining Banner

Following the Hehuan Secret Scripture were several Secret Manuals on the art of dual cultivation that benefited oneself at the expense of others: Harvesting Yin to Supplement Yang and Harvesting Yang to Supplement Yin. They were of varying levels, and their methods and effects differed.

These were truly proper evil arts.

Although they were evil arts, Meng Li still flipped through them seriously.

Since he had a better Hehuan Secret Scripture, he naturally didn't plan to learn them, but it didn't hurt to broaden his horizons.

Further back were the characteristic Spells of the Hehuan Sect, such as Mirror Flower Water Moon and Flying Flower Chasing Moon. Most were methods of charm and illusion, though there were also offensive and defensive means.

Some of these secret techniques required the hehuan bell to perform, such as the Infatuation Incantation.

Meng Li finished reading and continued downward.

Below were the Secret Manuals of the Wandu Sect, Ghost King Sect, and Changshang Hall respectively.

To his surprise, not only was the number of Secret Manuals from these three major sects much smaller, but the level of the contents recorded in them was also significantly lower.

This was very different from what Meng Li had previously understood.

In an instant, he slapped his head as he realized.

The Black-Hearted Old Man was a person from over eight hundred years ago. Now that eight hundred years had passed, the situation had long since changed.

The Blood Refining Hall had not produced any outstanding figures since the death of the Black-Hearted Old Man; it had gradually declined and was no longer at its peak prosperity.

The Hehuan Sect was much the same.

On the contrary, the Wandu Sect, Ghost King Sect, and Changshang Hall had later produced some powerful figures and were dominant for a time.

Among the five sects of the Demonic Path today, the Ghost King Sect was the most powerful.

Realizing this, Meng Li turned to look at the shelves holding the Magic Treasures, still starting from the level belonging to the Blood Refining Hall.

Unexpectedly, the first box did not contain a Magic Treasure, but a booklet recording the method for refining the blood-devouring pearl.

According to the records, one finds a Blood-Sucking Stone as a base, uses the blood-refining secret method to extract and feed it with the essence and blood of living beings to advance it into a Blood-Devouring Stone, and then uses evil arts to drive it to absorb a large amount of resentment, Evil Qi, Yin Qi, and many other evil energies for polishing, eventually refining it into a blood-devouring pearl.

This method was very Demonic Path.

Further back was a black-red long banner Magic Treasure, but it was completely devoid of power and spirituality.

A box was pressed on the banner; Meng Li opened it, took out the booklet inside, and only after reading it did he understand the reason.

This black-red long banner was named the "Poison Blood Banner." It was one of the Magic Treasures used by the Black-Hearted Old Man before he refined the blood-devouring pearl. Its power was inferior to the blood-devouring pearl, and coupled with the inconvenience of carrying it, it was set aside by him. The reason it currently lacked all power and spirituality was due to the lack of blood or magic power nourishment, a result of being worn down by the long passage of time.

This was also the normal outcome for most Magic Treasures after losing their masters.

Situations like the blood-devouring pearl and the hehuan bell, which remained extraordinarily powerful after hundreds of years without a master, were the minority.

That was why they were revered as supreme treasures.

The refining method for the Poison Blood Banner was also very Demonic Path: after finding suitable Materials, one would feed a person potent poison, and when their entire body's blood turned into poisonous blood, it would then be absorbed.

Meng Li shook his head and decisively moved to the next box.

The Crimson Demon Eye, a Magic Treasure that harmed others and oneself; it not only required absorbing essence and blood but also had to be refined using one's own eyes. Its effect was merely to fire red light to injure enemies.

Not only was Meng Li speechless, but even the Black-Hearted Old Man had annotated it as the worst choice, a method obtained by chance that he had never refined.

Further back were some ordinary Magic Treasures.

The last booklet, however, recorded some famous Magic Treasures.

For example, the Ancient Zhuxian Sword, Mystic Fire Mirror, Universe Clear Light Ring, fulong cauldron, Tianya Sword, etc.

Meng Li noted them down and put the booklet into his storage ring, then continued looking down, finding that the corresponding Magic Treasures and refining methods for the Hehuan Sect, Wandu Sect, Ghost King Sect, and Changshang Hall were few and far between.

No wonder the Black-Hearted Old Man could unify the Demonic Path back then; the gap was indeed quite large.

Among those few collections, the refining method for a Magic Treasure from the Ghost King Sect caught Meng Li's attention.

The Magic Treasure was named—Soul Refining Banner!

The reason he was drawn to this Magic Treasure was that it reminded him of some memes from the web novel world in his first life.

If you don't work hard at cultivation today, you'll be brothers in the Ten Thousand Soul Banner tomorrow!

What Ten Thousand Soul Banner? This is clearly my Human Emperor Flag!

Brother, what's the deal with your Human Emperor Flag billowing black smoke?

...

The Soul Refining Banner was the initial version of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and Human Emperor Flag in those memes.

True to its name, this Magic Treasure required the Souls of living beings as Materials to be refined. Its main function was to collect the Souls of living beings and refine them into Yin Spirits or ghostly creatures, restraining them within the banner for the wielder to command. If it became powerful enough, having a hundred ghosts follow or a literal Undead Calamity was not impossible to achieve.

However, reaching that level was extremely difficult.

First was the issue of Materials; Soul banners refined with ordinary Materials could not accommodate too many Yin Spirits or ghostly creatures.

Secondly, not all Souls of living beings could be transformed into Yin Spirits or ghostly creatures.

Without a certain level of cultivation or deep-seated obsession to support them, once a living being died, the Soul would automatically dissipate over time and return to heaven and earth.

Furthermore, although the Soul Refining Banner could collect Souls, using it still depended on one's strength.

One basically could not collect those stronger than the caster.

Therefore, the cost-performance ratio of the Soul Refining Banner was not high, and even in the Ghost King Sect, which specialized in ghost path Spells, few people refined or used it.

Meng Li had Restraining Spirits and Dispatching Generals, which allowed him to directly restrain spirits on his person without being affected, so he naturally had even less need for a Soul Refining Banner. However, if he had the chance, he could refine one for his Spirit Generals to play with; after all, the Dead Spirit Abyss was not lacking in Yin Spirits.

But before that, he had to see if there were other corresponding Materials.

Thinking this, Meng Li walked toward the pile of boxes containing Materials, gold, silver, and jewelry.

He opened them from a distance and saw that there were indeed many things.

Gold, silver, jewelry, rare wood, Spiritual Essences, strange stones...

Most importantly, they hadn't been eroded much by time, showing that these boxes were specially made and had special effects in preservation.

With a sweep of his Divine Thought, Meng Li put the gold, silver, and jewelry along with the boxes into his storage ring.

He carefully identified and pondered over those Materials, and as a result, he actually pieced together a set of Materials for refining a Soul Refining Banner, and it was even a high-end configuration of excellent quality.

After a brief thought, Meng Li stored this set of Materials separately and then took the rest of the Materials along with the boxes.

Next, he walked to the two shelves and destroyed the refining method for the blood-devouring pearl as well as all other Secret Manuals that could easily harm people.

Having done all this, Meng Li once again used his Divine Thought to conduct a penetrative search to ensure there were no omissions or other problems. Only then did he return to the Dripping Blood Cave above and followed the same pattern to inspect the entire cave.

Confirming there were no issues, he mischievously left a sentence on a stone pillar.

Zhang Chulan of Everywhere Connect was here!

With his tasks finished, Meng Li no longer lingered. He used Eight Doors Transportation to leave, then went upstream through the waterfall, returning all the way to the Dead Spirit Abyss.

Just as he entered the Dead Spirit Abyss, he saw a red-clothed Yin Spirit chasing and devouring other Yin Spirits.

Through his senses, he confirmed at a glance that the red-clothed Yin Spirit was the Spirit General seed he had previously left here to grow.

To be able to manifest a physical form so quickly, she truly is the one with the highest Aptitude here!

Meng Li sighed inwardly and was about to call her over, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt that red clothing looked a bit familiar.

At this moment, the red-clothed Yin Spirit discovered Meng Li and hastily abandoned those resources, flying toward him.

"Jin Ling pays respects to the Master."