Showing Itself

Whoosh! Qin Sang gestured with his palm, enveloping himself in the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. Pressing tightly against the canyon's stone wall, he squeezed in through the crevice. Upon entering the ghost land, a bone-chilling yin cold assailed him. Standing within the ghost mist, Qin Sang narrowed his eyes slightly. The last time he had come here, his vision and divine sense had been obstructed by the ghost mist, allowing him to see only a small area around himself. Taking advantage of its familiarity with the terrain, that ghost creature had stolen the Flying Yaksha and run rings around him, leaving him completely helpless. Now, things were different. The Heavenly Eye Butterfly's divine ability could easily penetrate the ghost mist, laying bare every minute detail of his surroundings. After a moment of contemplation, a flash of light flared between Qin Sang's brows. The ebony sword shot out, circled him briefly, and hovered motionless above his head. Then, the blade gave a slight shudder, splitting into four beams of sword light to stand guard. Qin Sang then activated his movement technique and ventured deep into the ghost land, intending to locate the ghost creature first. Throughout his search, he continued to act as though he could not see clearly. To his surprise, he found nothing at all. *Is it hiding? Could there be a concealed restriction in this ghost land that even the Heavenly Eye Butterfly cannot see through?* Qin Sang frowned inwardly. Not only had he failed to spot the ghost creature, but he had not found the Flying Yaksha either. The ghost land had finite boundaries, and on the surface, there were no obvious hiding places. *It seems I can only wait by the tree stump for the rabbit to run into it—draw it out to show itself,* Qin Sang thought to himself. Having turned up empty-handed in his search, Qin Sang kept his composure and lightly patted his waist. Several baleful corpses possessing the strength of the Foundation Establishment stage leaped out of his corpse puppet bag. These were fools who had blindly crossed him during his travels in the Liefeng Archipelago. Since Earth Fiend yin veins were also present there, he had casually refined a few baleful corpses. Qin Sang's lips moved faintly. The baleful corpses scattered in all directions, while he walked slowly forward. Before long, the area ahead was thrown into complete chaos. The baleful corpses wreaked havoc everywhere, crushing decayed magic treasures, toppling mounds of white bones, and disturbing all the vengeful spirits concealed within. For a time, howls of ghosts and wails of wolves filled the air, like a night parade of a hundred specters. Qin Sang's figure flashed repeatedly as he captured the vengeful spirits one by one. At the same time, true essence surged from his palm, refining them into refined soul threads. The vengeful spirits here were exceedingly numerous. In no time, a one-foot-long refined soul thread was completed. At this point, Qin Sang ordered the baleful corpses to halt, found a patch of open ground, and sat down cross-legged. He took out a Ten Directions Yanluo Banner and attempted to weave the soul banner. Over the years, Qin Sang had constantly pondered what kind of formation to deploy with the demonic banners in order to unleash the full might of all eighteen banners. To that end, he had frequently studied the Yuanshen Sect's *Incomplete Records of Taixuan Formations*. Later, he had discovered that the formations recorded in that book were extraordinarily profound, where pulling a single thread would affect the whole structure. Even if he could fully comprehend them, it would be difficult to adapt them for use with the demonic banners. Fortunately, this effort had not been in vain. The questions that had long perplexed Qin Sang were readily resolved, deepening his comprehension of the three demonic banners in his possession. He truly came to understand just how much painstaking effort Patriarch Kuiyin had poured into them. The grand formation of the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners created by Patriarch Kuiyin was not limited to ten banners. Even with a greater number, it could still function, and its power would rise accordingly. Evidently, Patriarch Kuiyin had harbored immense ambition, already considering how to obtain more Nine Nether Demonic Fire back when he first began refining the banners. Qin Sang only needed to follow Patriarch Kuiyin's method to refine eighteen demonic banners. However, his cultivation was still too low, and his divine sense and true essence were insufficient; how many banners he could manipulate at the same time remained an unknown. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he held the banner pole in one hand while his other hand loosely gripped the refined soul thread. The refined soul thread seemed weightless, drifting gently. Qin Sang stared intently at the two objects. A moment later, he guided the refined soul thread with his divine sense, causing it to drift slowly toward the banner pole. At the same time, the pole emitted a resonant clang, and the light of restrictions erupted, revealing countless runes. Qin Sang swiftly recited incantations, activating the runes on the pole to connect with the refined soul thread. He appeared entirely absorbed and utterly unguarded against the outside world, yet in truth, he was prepared to trigger the Heavenly Demon Transformation and open the Heavenly Corpse Coffin at any moment. He was confident that as long as the ghost creature was not at the Nascent Soul level, it could never escape his grasp. At first, the two items paid no heed to one another. As the light on the banner pole grew brighter and brighter, the refined soul thread suddenly trembled. One of its ends actively wound itself around the pole, merging seamlessly into the restrictions upon it! *It worked!* Qin Sang felt a surge of delight. Just as he was about to continue driving the restrictions to completely refine this thread, his heart stirred, and a cold sneer curled on his lips. *You finally dare to show yourself!* Qin Sang snapped his head up, his eyes flashing with brilliant, electric intensity that pierced through the thick ghost mist, pinning instantly onto a faint ghostly silhouette. This ghostly silhouette thought it had hidden itself well, peeping at Qin Sang from afar, but the moment it appeared, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly spotted it. The surrounding vengeful spirits had all been rounded up by Qin Sang, making the silhouette's identity obvious. The ghost creature had indeed been lured out by the disturbance, unable to resist drawing closer. Whoosh! Qin Sang swept up the banner pole in a swift motion. Azure light surged from his back as a pair of wings unfurled wide, and without the slightest hesitation, he activated the Heavenly Demon Transformation. Blue and red light flickered alternately across his body, erupting in an astonishing burst of speed as he pounced straight toward the ghostly silhouette. The ghostly silhouette was exceptionally alert. The very instant Qin Sang detected it, it sensed something amiss, leaped violently backward, and transformed into a stream of grayish-white vapor resembling the ghost mist, fleeing into the depths of the ghost land. Within the ghost mist, the ghostly silhouette moved like a fish in water, flying without the slightest ripple or sound, and moving with extreme swiftness. Last time, it had relied on this exact trick to snatch the Flying Yaksha, leaving Qin Sang completely helpless. Now, believing it could shake Qin Sang off in the same manner, it soon discovered it had miscalculated. *No wonder I couldn't find it anywhere last time. It wasn't that its concealment techniques were exceptionally brilliant, but that it can blend into the ghost mist itself. Unless a cultivator possesses an extraordinarily powerful divine sense, it's hard to notice its existence. Now that the Heavenly Eye Butterfly has locked onto you, let's see where you can run!* Qin Sang unleashed his movement technique with full force, pursuing the ghostly silhouette. Seeing his opponent's movement and concealment methods, he could not help feeling a trace of surprise. He wondered how a ghost land so cut off from the outside world could have birthed such a ghost creature. Blending into the ghost mist, the ghostly silhouette scurried about frantically like a headless fly. No matter how it changed directions, Qin Sang remained hot on its heels. Fast as the ghostly silhouette's flight was, it was only a notch above that of a peak Core Formation cultivator, far inferior to Qin Sang. The distance between them was rapidly closing. Finally, the ghostly silhouette realized what was wrong. Ceasing its erratic darting, it fled straight toward the deepest part of the ghost land. Whoosh! Qin Sang arrived in a flash. He swept his gaze around, and his eyes instantly locked onto a massive mountain of skeletal remains beneath him. The ghostly silhouette had suddenly vanished. Yet the Heavenly Eye Butterfly had been watching its movements closely; escaping would not be so easy. *No wonder I couldn't find it earlier. Is there something hidden inside the bones?* Qin Sang brought forth the ebony sword. Sword qi surged violently, slashing fiercely toward the mountain of bones. Crash! The bones had long decayed, and the sword qi tore through them like dead wood, slicing straight down from the summit and piercing through the entire mountain. Countless white bones dissolved into flying ash as the bone mountain collapsed. Amidst the chaos, a dark shadow suddenly burst through the mountain of bones and charged violently forward. Qin Sang's brows lifted. With no time to recall the ebony sword, he threw a punch to meet it head-on. Bang! The two figures collided and parted in an instant, appearing completely evenly matched!