Once his excitement faded, Qin Sang calmed down and fell into deep thought.
The Ten Directions Yanluo Banners could not simply be forged on a whim—at least, not right now.
Crafting this treasure required three steps.
First was smelting the dark iron pillar into banner poles.
This process required the aid of an extraordinarily complex spirit array.
Qin Sang had learned how to lay out the spirit array from Yi Tiannie. Beyond various spiritual materials, it had one extremely demanding requirement: only a top-grade or supreme-grade spirit stone could activate the array.
He dared not dream of supreme-grade spirit stones, but top-grade spirit stones were also exceedingly rare. He possessed only two, which had to be reserved for operating the ancient teleportation array.
No matter what, he had to keep two top-grade spirit stones on his person at all times.
From Qin Sang's decades of experience wandering the world, top-grade spirit stones were even scarcer in the Canglang Sea than in the Lesser Cold Domain.
The higher the quality of a spirit stone, the greater its utility; major factions could never have enough.
In the Lesser Cold Domain, whenever an ancient cultivator's abandoned abode emerged in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, the first cultivators inside might find a few pieces if luck favored them. A small portion would trickle into circulation, meaning one still had a chance to purchase them if one searched diligently.
In the Canglang Sea, top-grade spirit stones were almost exclusively unearthed from spirit stone mines. The few existing mines had long since been seized by the major factions; as soon as a stone was unearthed, it was taken and locked away, making it virtually impossible for any to enter circulation.
Second was crafting the banner cloth.
Back then, Patriarch Kuiyin had searched far and wide for secret arts, ultimately devising a sinister scheme: imprison countless living souls, refine the purest soul qi into thread, and weave it into banner cloths!
To accomplish that, Patriarch Kuiyin had slaughtered an untold number of people.
The set of Ten Directions Yanluo Banners Qin Sang planned to forge was even larger than Patriarch Kuiyin's. If he imitated the patriarch, he would truly become a bloodthirsty monster in every sense of the word.
Slaughtering countless innocents without rhyme or reason—most of them mortals—was something he simply could not bring himself to do.
Only after the complete set of Ten Directions Yanluo Banners was crafted could he begin subduing the Nine Nether Demonic Fire and suppressing it within the magic treasures.
The process of forging the banner poles was exceedingly intricate and placed immense demands on the artificer. Even if he possessed all the required materials right now, it would be impossible to forge them here.
The Nine Nether Demonic Fire was right before his eyes.
Yet the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners remained flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water—visible, but out of reach.
Even if he managed to acquire top-grade spirit stones and refined soul silk to complete the magic treasures, he would still have to wait until the next opening of the Hall of Seven Kills to return and subdue the Nine Nether Demonic Fire.
Qin Sang gripped the dark iron pillar in his hand, stowed it into the Qianjun Ring, and let his gaze return to calm.
Though he could not immediately obtain this devastatingly powerful banner array, he had at least caught a glimpse of hope.
His cultivation was no longer considered weak in the cultivation world. Spending several decades searching for top-grade spirit stones, he refused to believe he would come up empty-handed. Refined soul silk was the trickiest part, but killing people was not necessarily the only solution.
Qin Sang pondered his future course of action. He still intended to seek out the ancient teleportation array and return to the Lesser Cold Domain, which did not conflict with crafting the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners.
With the ancient teleportation array, he would be able to travel freely between the two regions.
If he could return to the Lesser Cold Domain, gathering materials would actually be easier.
"This would be a supreme-grade magic treasure!"
Qin Sang could not help sighing softly.
In the decades since forming his Core, the strongest magic treasure he had ever seen was merely mid-grade; he had not even laid eyes on a high-grade magic treasure. It was said that even to Nascent Soul Patriarchs, a supreme-grade magic treasure was a treasured rarity.
It was difficult to imagine how terrifying the power of a supreme-grade magic treasure would be, or how massive a boost it would bring him.
No matter what, this banner array had to be forged!
At this moment, Qin Sang placed the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners on par with the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid as items he had to obtain at all costs.
Qin Sang examined the Nine Nether Demonic Fire.
He was curious about how such demonic fire had come into being, and why it lingered in such a narrow rocky fissure.
Qin Sang noticed that the Nine Nether Demonic Fire hovered within the canyon. The cliffs on both sides as well as the space above were layered with ancient restrictions that were clearly perilous at a glance. He wondered whether it was these ancient restrictions that kept the demonic fire trapped here.
Back then, when Patriarch Kuiyin encountered the Nine Nether Demonic Fire, he had also found the dark iron pillar snapped into two halves.
Qin Sang searched thoroughly, but found no similar treasures.
However, an anomaly caught Qin Sang's attention.
Pressing his body tightly against one of the cliffs, he discovered that there seemed to be a vast space behind the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. Strangely enough, what drifted within that space was not purple mist, but an ash-gray fog that felt exceedingly eerie.
"This mist..."
Qin Sang's eyes narrowed slightly, surprise flickering across his face.
Then, taking a tentative step forward, he actually attempted to pass through the Nine Nether Demonic Fire and enter the space beyond.
The Nine Nether Demonic Fire hovered there without occupying the entire canyon, seemingly leaving room to pass. However, these spaces were permeated with the demonic fire's aura and were fraught with extreme danger.
The Nine Nether Demonic Fire could batter the divine soul. If anyone else approached the fire, their origin soul would bear the brunt of the onslaught; not even a Nascent Soul Patriarch would dare charge in recklessly. If it triggered a riot within the flame, they would end up without so much as a corpse to bury.
Qin Sang stood before the Nine Nether Demonic Fire, studying it over and over.
He had the jade Buddha's protection, keeping his divine soul steadfast.
Most importantly, he had also mastered the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. Though he had only scratched the surface, it was of the same origin after all; he could conjure the demonic fire to envelop his body, shielding him while masking his presence.
After pondering for a long while, Qin Sang felt he had a good chance of making it across and that it was worth the risk.
The reason he was so determined to venture into the space behind was that the ash-gray mist felt familiar to him—it strongly resembled the ghost mist he had encountered when crossing the Immortal Tomb in Ziwei Palace years ago.
It was merely somewhat thinner than that in the Immortal Tomb.
Wherever ghost mist lingered, vengeful spirits, evil ghosts, and various ghostly creatures would spawn. Refining such creatures could yield refined soul silk just the same, solving his greatest obstacle in one stroke!
Trapped here for untold years, these ghostly creatures would be muddled and dim-witted, their spiritual awareness worn away long ago.
The Ten Directions Yanluo Banners required an immense amount of refined soul silk; in the outside world, it was virtually impossible to find a place where so many ghostly creatures congregated.
The formation of such a ghostly ground always had unique origins.
Pressing close to the stone wall, Qin Sang observed for a long time. He noted that the space behind the Nine Nether Demonic Fire was very tranquil, the ash-gray mist drifting sluggishly. Only by entering would he know whether any ghostly creatures lurked within.
He did not rush in recklessly, but first summoned the Flying Yaksha, intending to use it to scout the path ahead.
Though the Nine Nether Demonic Fire did not appear to be a seal, Qin Sang still deemed it wise to exercise caution, wary of whether an entity like a ghost king might exist in a place like this.
The Flying Yaksha was a refined corpse, of the same kindred nature as ghostly creatures, making it the ideal scout.
When taking the blow for Qin Sang, the Flying Yaksha had been pierced through by the Purple Nether Bead, leaving several gaping holes and severe injuries.
Qin Sang had ordered the Flying Yaksha to devour earth fiend qi and heal on its own; because unexpected events kept cropping up, he had lacked the time and energy to assist it.
After summoning the Flying Yaksha, Qin Sang sat down on the ground, took out the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottle, and channeled his true essence into the Flying Yaksha's body to help it mend quickly.
In such a short time, a full recovery was out of the question.
Once the Flying Yaksha's injuries had healed roughly sixty to seventy percent, Qin Sang stopped.
The wounds upon its physical form were now barely visible, and its corpse qi flowed smoothly once more, which would be sufficient to handle most situations.
Chapter 770