135: The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls, ascend!

Inside the mine, dense Wandering Souls continuously emerged.

The Netherworld Ghost Hand, having absorbed a massive amount of Wandering Soul Power, suddenly solidified.

As the underground Wandering Souls were continuously devoured by the Netherworld Ghost Hand, the originally swirling black mist began to undergo a startling change.

The previously blurred outline of the ghost hand gradually became clear, and its zhang-long fingers became distinct with defined joints.

Pitch-black textures resembling bone began to appear within the black mist, and each finger bone was entwined with eerie blue soul fire, exuding a cold yet majestic aura.

“Hiss...”

The Spider Mother Demon Soul's shriek became increasingly shrill as it attempted to use its remaining Soul Power to strike the ghost hand.

However, it could not cause any damage to the Netherworld Ghost Hand; instead, even more soul energy was sucked away from it.

After the Netherworld Ghost Hand devoured thousands of Wandering Souls, the black mist completely dissipated, revealing a solid, pitch-black hand covered in eerie blue patterns.

Those patterns were identical to the ones on Su Ling's Golden Core.

Yet at this moment, Su Ling's control over the Soul Capturing Art had reached its limit.

He could no longer drive the Netherworld Ghost Hand to absorb any more Wandering Souls.

With a thought, he immediately lifted the Restrictions on the ten thousand souls banner.

Countless Wandering Souls lunging at him were instantly stirred by the suction of the ten thousand souls banner, plunging into it like swallows returning to their nest.

Su Ling felt a surge of joy; his fingers changed hand seals again, and the Netherworld Ghost Hand suddenly tightened.

The solid palm and fingers directly gripped the soul body of the Spider Mother Demon Soul.

The eerie blue patterns wriggled rapidly, entwining themselves directly around the Spider Mother Demon Soul.

The Spider Mother Demon Soul flickered violently, but even the magnitude of its struggle quickly diminished as its dark purple soul body gradually transitioned towards eerie blue.

“Collect!”

Once the Spider Mother Demon Soul had completely turned eerie blue, Su Ling gave a light shout and drove the Netherworld Ghost Hand to press the demon soul into the ten thousand souls banner.

Layers of soul-binding and soul-controlling Restrictions were rapidly branded onto the Spider Mother Demon Soul.

Even the Netherworld Ghost Hand, which had condensed a large amount of Wandering Soul Power, quickly merged into the ten thousand souls banner, strengthening the power of these Restrictions.

This continued until a trace of resentment, fear, and submission established a mental connection with Su Ling's mind.

“Phew...”

Only after confirming he had full control over the Spider Mother Demon Soul did Su Ling wipe away the rain-like sweat and breathe a great sigh of relief.

At that moment, the ten thousand souls banner, having refined the fourth-rank Spider Mother Demon Soul, suddenly released a massive amount of black mist.

It enveloped and absorbed the Wandering Souls emerging throughout the cave.

Then, an eerie light blossomed from its entire body, much to Su Ling's surprise and delight.

A pitch-black light suddenly flashed across the surface of the ten thousand souls banner, and its aura surged rapidly.

The Wandering Soul Power, concentrated to the extreme, actually condensed into a broad bean-sized soul crystal within the banner.

This was the 'Main Soul Crystal' of the ten thousand souls banner!

Su Ling was overjoyed and immediately manipulated the Spider Mother Demon Soul to swallow it in one gulp.

With the help of this massive Wandering Soul Power, the demon soul let out a shrill shriek, and its somewhat illusory soul body instantly solidified.

Dense, invisible soul silks shot out from its soul body, precisely piercing the foreheads of every Wandering Soul within the ten thousand souls banner.

In an instant, through the Spider Mother Demon Soul, Su Ling felt his control over the other Wandering Souls become increasingly effortless.

Only now, having the Main Soul Crystal condensed from Wandering Soul Power, could the Spider Mother Demon Soul be considered a true Main Soul.

With a fourth-rank demon soul as the Main Soul, the Wandering Souls within the banner were no longer scattered individuals but formed an orderly Soul Formation; the darkness of the banner surface gradually took on a hint of purple, exuding an even denser chilling aura.

Su Ling could clearly feel that the connection between the ten thousand souls banner and his Divine Soul had become much tighter.

The Qi required to activate it was reduced by more than half compared to before, while the suction emitted by the banner surface had doubled.

The so-called 'Main Soul' from before was merely picking the tallest among the short.

It played no role in commanding the other Wandering Souls at all.

Only now could the ten thousand souls banner be considered a true Sharp Weapon of slaughter.

Rather than a Low Grade Magic Treasure that could only be used for stalling and harassment.

With a thought, the ten thousand souls banner unfurled in the wind, once again absorbing the nearby Wandering Souls.

The tassels on the banner surface swayed gently, unexpectedly able to autonomously draw in the surrounding stray soul energy.

[ten thousand souls banner, Medium Grade Magic Treasure, capable of capturing, imprisoning, controlling, and nurturing Divine Souls; can perform Soul-Shaking Shriek, Soul-Binding Silk, and Soul-Devouring Illusion Array; can summon Wandering Souls for combat.]

“It has ascended to a Medium Grade Magic Treasure!”

Su Ling gripped the ten thousand souls banner, his heart filled with surprise and joy.

Now, with the Spider Mother Demon Soul as its Main Soul, the ten thousand souls banner could already perform its innate Spells.

More importantly, the Main Soul Crystal within the banner could also grow by autonomously devouring soul bodies.

Given time, it would surely be able to charge towards the high-grade magic treasure realm.

At the moment the ten thousand souls banner ascended, the aura of the Soul Tide coming from the depths of the mine seemed to become even denser.

Su Ling looked up towards the surface, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

With the ascended ten thousand souls banner and the fourth-rank Spider Mother Demon Soul, he felt more confident even facing hundreds of thousands in a Soul Tide... When the ten thousand souls banner had absorbed tens of thousands of Wandering Souls, reaching the capacity limit of the ten thousand year nether soul jade.

The entire banner surface had turned a blackish-purple; the Soul Power it leaked would likely cause even an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator to feel their Divine Soul tremble if they drew near.

Yet Wandering Souls continued to emerge from the surroundings, but due to the aura of the ten thousand souls banner, they didn't dare approach in the slightest.

Consequently, Su Ling had to refine some low-rank Wandering Souls into pure Wandering Soul Power to feed back into the ten thousand souls banner.

Meanwhile, he selected Wandering Souls of the third rank or higher to replace those low-rank ones.

Finally, after more than an hour, the number of Wandering Souls in the ten thousand souls banner had been reduced to just over ten thousand.

However, all of them were now Wandering Souls of the third rank Middle Stage or higher.

Su Ling faintly felt that if he could find better Artifact Refining Materials in the future to integrate into the ten thousand souls banner.

It would surely allow the ten thousand souls banner to leap into becoming a High Grade or even supreme grade Magic Treasure!

With a thought, the ten thousand souls banner suddenly shrank, turning into a streak of black light that flew back into his hand.

Su Ling glanced at the now-calm black pool, a trace of regret flashing in his eyes.

With his strength, even with the help of the formation eye compass, he wouldn't be able to break this Formation in a short time.

Having fought the Spider Mother for so long, Su Ling's Divine Soul and Qi were heavily depleted.

The underground chilling aura was growing denser; once it erupted, he would certainly be the first to be hit.

“I cannot stay here for long...”

Su Ling's body flickered with lightning as he shot away.

As for that fourth-rank corpse and the fourth-rank Magic Core contained within, he could only give them up for now.

If this battle went smoothly, he would definitely find an opportunity to come back and take the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother's corpse from the black pool... Outside, the Qingming Faction Cultivators were still unhurriedly bombarding the Formation.

Four Nascent Souls stood in mid-air, their expressions exceptionally calm.

In contrast, the Bitao Faction Cultivators inside the defensive Formation looked at the swaying light barrier with pale faces.

Maintaining the Formation for over two hours had already left them physically and mentally exhausted.

Most despairing of all was that no reinforcements had arrived despite the perilous situation.

Until a certain moment, someone suddenly pointed towards the Azure Wave Base city and cried out in a trembling voice, “Look! Is that our black armor mothership?!”

“It is... it is!”

Someone rubbed their eyes and shouted in ecstasy, “There are two of them! Our reinforcements have arrived!”

“Excellent!”

“We're saved! We're saved...”

One by one, the Bitao Faction Cultivators turned their heads, all of them looking overjoyed.

The hope of survival after a desperate situation filled everyone's hearts.