Freedom

Qin Sang still had three left. Though all were unripe, stacking their medicinal potency would still suffice for a breakthrough. Trading one Tyrant Blood Fruit for a spirit beast at the late Demon Core stage was a huge bargain. He was eighty percent certain he could subdue the two-headed hou. The Tyrant Blood Fruit lay right before its eyes, intensely tempting. An opportunity to break through was fleeting. If lost, who knew how long it would take before another came along? A chance like this did not come easily. Yet an unexpected turn of events occurred before Qin Sang's eyes. The two-headed hou made another attempt, but failed once more. It lay motionless on the ground and slowly closed its eyes. It simply allowed its demonic power to wane, never once swallowing the Tyrant Blood Fruit. It had actually resisted the temptation, choosing to forfeit the opportunity for a breakthrough rather than acknowledge a master. "Freedom, is it...?" Qin Sang murmured to himself, somewhat taken aback. As a cultivator, Qin Sang was accustomed to seeing demon beasts subdued by humans—especially those below the Transformation stage, whose intellect had yet to awaken, leaving no room to consider what a spirit beast might want. Most cultivators took in demon beast cubs to acknowledge them as master, nurturing them from a young age. Only those possessing extraordinary might or specialized secret arts of beast-taming could forcibly subdue an adult demon beast. Qin Sang lacked such an art, so he could only rely on the two-headed hou submitting willingly. After their years together, Qin Sang knew the two-headed hou was exceptionally gifted and far from dull-witted. Still, it had never consumed Emperor Flowing Dew, so he had not expected it would resist the temptation of pure instinct for the sake of 'freedom.' Or perhaps it believed it could achieve a breakthrough on its own. As the medicinal power of the Tyrant Blood Fruit gradually dispersed, the two-headed hou's breathing steadied. Looking utterly exhausted, it lay there lazily, unwilling to move. Evidently, it had failed. The swelling on its neck had not completely vanished. Although it had failed to break through, that momentary flash of comprehension had still brought it tremendous benefits, causing its strength to take a soaring leap compared to before. This included its innate talent. Sensing the two-headed hou's aura, Qin Sang reflected that a demon beast with such a powerful bloodline was inherently a cut above human cultivators of the same realm. As it was now, it would likely feel no fear at all even facing an ordinary late Core Formation cultivator alone. "Since you've made up your mind, I won't force you. I can keep this Tyrant Blood Fruit set aside for you for the time being. Whenever you agree to the condition, the fruit will still be yours." Qin Sang picked up the spirit fruit and spoke flatly. If the two-headed hou could break through on its own, there would be nothing left to say—forced fruit was never sweet. Since the breakthrough had failed, Qin Sang certainly would not let it go so easily. A demon beast with top-tier talent at the peak of the mid stage was the strongest kind the Primordial Concentric Rings could control. Such a creature was exceedingly rare to encounter, and even if found, hardly easy to subdue. *Could it still remember my previous promise to set it free once I broke through to the late Core Formation stage...? It must have been blinded by my cultivation speed and vastly overestimated my talent.* Qin Sang's expression turned somewhat peculiar. Without finding the Ten Great Divine Trees, his cultivation would soon grind to a halt. One could well imagine that, at least before the next opening of the Hall of Seven Kills and finding the ancient teleportation formation, the two-headed hou had little hope of breaking free. Hearing Qin Sang's words, the two-headed hou merely lifted an eyelid and snorted, showing utter disdain for the fruit's temptation. "Fine then. I wish you an early breakthrough..." Qin Sang paid the two-headed hou no further mind. Stowing the spirit fruit, he turned to attend to his own affairs. As it turned out, an opportunity for a breakthrough was indeed not so easily found. The two-headed hou paced restlessly around Qin Sang's cave dwelling day after day, even sneaking into his Spirit Gathering Array. In the blink of an eye, half a year slipped by without the slightest progress. It was driven practically mad, howling at the moon and the starry sky night after night as if interrogating the heavens. Thoroughly annoyed, Qin Sang recalled it into the Primordial Concentric Rings and let it sleep. Qin Sang's own life was full and bustling. Refining his external incarnation, cultivating, tempering his physical body, and feeding his spirit insects left him with virtually no idle moments. A month earlier, Xiang'an Auction House had delivered the spirit medicines Qin Sang had commissioned them to purchase, ingredients for a recipe meant to nurture the Heavenly Eye Butterfly. Several of the ingredients in the recipe were even rarer than the six-petaled butterfly violet, but through good fortune, every single one had been gathered. The price, naturally, was exorbitant. Earlier, gathering the materials to refine the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners had already eaten away nearly half of his savings. The Heavenly Eye Butterfly's tiny mouth was like a bottomless pit. With such a glutton around, Qin Sang felt the pinch of his finances all the more acutely. Fortunately, the fat silkworm could find its own food. It ate very slowly, sinking into a long slumber after nibbling just a tiny bite, so those purple crystals would easily last several decades. *If this continues, I'll have to take up my old craft and forge artifacts to earn money. Alchemist Yi keeps urging me to join the auction house, but I've never refined a magic treasure before, and crafting ordinary magic tools only brings in hard-earned pennies. Now that I have a top-grade spirit stone, I can try setting up a spirit array to refine a few Ten Directions Yanluo Banners. Once they're complete, my artifact-refining attainment will advance considerably...* With this thought, Qin Sang flipped his palm and brought out a top-grade spirit stone. After a moment of contemplation, Qin Sang cleared away the clutter in his cave dwelling and retrieved the spiritual materials needed to lay the array. *Clatter...* A heaped pile spilled across the ground. It held all manner of spiritual materials, every one of considerable value. Fortunately, a large portion consisted of various demon bones and beast hides. The requirements were stringent, demanding that they align with the mutual generation and restriction of the five elements, alongside demon beast souls. Sealing the demon beast souls into the banner poles was the crucial key to later condensing refined soul silk and weaving the soul banners. Gathering these items in the Xiaohan Realm would have been no easy feat; even Patriarch Kuiyin, a grand Nascent Soul patriarch, had expended tremendous effort back in the day. In the Canglang Sea, however, as long as one had enough spirit stones, they could simply be bought. The difficulty lay in the other spiritual materials, which was why it had taken Xiang'an Auction House so long to collect them all. Taking inventory of the materials and confirming nothing was missing, Qin Sang brought out the dark iron pillar and set it to one side. He then sorted the various materials into categories and set to work. The spirit array was exceptionally intricate—an ancient array Patriarch Kuiyin had uncovered after scouring ancient texts. Qin Sang first tempered and refined each of the spiritual materials before laying them into the array. After several hours of painstaking labor, the spirit array began to take an initial shape. By the time the array was fully arranged, three days had already passed. At this moment, his cave dwelling was dominated by a five-colored great array. Once completed, the surface of the spirit array appeared completely seamless, concealing the original nature of the materials. It looked as though it were fashioned from white jade, with hollow slots left along the perimeter to insert mid-grade spirit stones. At the very center, however, a top-grade spirit stone was an absolute necessity; otherwise, it could not be activated. Above the spirit array, five-colored light shifted and gleamed, representing the power of the five elements emanating from the spiritual materials. Once stimulated, these energies followed the rules of the great array and converged toward the center. All that remained was to place the dark iron pillar there. The number of Ten Directions Yanluo Banners he intended to refine would certainly exceed what Patriarch Kuiyin had made. The previous method of arranging a ten-banner array might not draw out the magic treasure's fullest potential. It would be best to seek out another suitable array, making corresponding alterations when refining the magic treasure. Ever since returning from the Hall of Seven Kills, Qin Sang had been pondering this matter, and an idea had faintly begun to take shape. Still, that was something to consider later when weaving the soul banners. For now, he needed only to focus his efforts on refining the banner poles.