Soul of the Revered Banner

Chapter 6: Summoning Soul

[Soul Inquiry: Extract the techniques and skills of yin ghosts and spectral entities to form seeds.]

After capturing Zhao Shixian into the Soul Banner, Tu Shanjun initially expected him to struggle and resist.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Shixian’s ghost inside the banner appeared dull and vacant, as if devoid of any consciousness.

Tu Shanjun was deeply suspicious.

Putting himself in another’s shoes, if he were weak, would he also feign weakness to bide his time?

Yes.

In fact, that was exactly what he had done.

So, faced with Zhao Shixian’s vacant ghost, Tu Shanjun remained highly vigilant and did not recklessly approach.

He had no intention of capsizing in a tiny ditch.

If Zhao Shixian wasn’t pretending, then the only ghost in the Soul Banner with consciousness was Tu Shanjun himself, the primary soul.

The other ghosts were equally vacant and mindless.

Previously, Tu Shanjun had assumed this was because they were ordinary people who had become ghosts after death. But now, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Zhao Shixian was a third-layer Qi Refining cultivator, an immortal practitioner.

Yet, even as a ghost, he was vacant and mindless.

Though Tu Shanjun didn’t think Zhao Shixian was faking, he remained wary.

Regardless, he decided to test his newly acquired ability.

"Soul Inquiry."

[Extracted:]

[Demon Ape Focus Fist]

[Blood Fiend Grand Method (Prequel Qi Refining Chapter)]

As the skill seeds entered Tu Shanjun’s mind, he instantly comprehended the Demon Ape Focus Fist.

The technique consisted of only three stances, yet it could strengthen the soul.

No wonder, during the soul confrontation in Zhao Shixian’s consciousness, Tu Shanjun had nearly been intimidated by the beastly shadow. Now he understood, it was due to this technique.

A technique that directly affected the soul was undoubtedly precious.

For Zhao Shixian to obtain such a method at the third layer of Qi Refining was remarkable.

"Zhao Shixian was quite lucky to get his hands on this."

Judging from the skill seed, Zhao Shixian’s understanding and practice of it were only rudimentary.

As for the Blood Fiend Grand Method (Prequel Qi Refining Chapter), it covered cultivation techniques up to the sixth layer of Qi Refining. Since it wasn’t restricted by spiritual root attributes, it could be used by anyone, regardless of their spiritual affinity.

Through extracting the skill seeds, Tu Shanjun also learned the written language of this world.

He even gained a rough understanding of the current cultivation system.

Now, he had a basic grasp of cultivation.

"It’s been over a dozen breaths, why hasn’t that righteous youth who won come to claim his spoils?"

Suppressing his excitement, Tu Shanjun looked in the direction where the young man had been.

"I wonder how he’s doing?"

"Let me see the companion I’ve chosen, the powerful new banner master who will walk the immortal path with me in the future…"

Before he could finish the word "master," the sight before him left Tu Shanjun stunned.

The young man had also collapsed.

Perhaps the prolonged battle had drained his mana and strength, leaving him exhausted.

It shouldn’t be anything too serious.

Controlling Zhao Shixian’s corpse, Tu Shanjun forced it to stand.

The body moved stiffly, as if weighed down.

Since Zhao Shixian was now a banner slave, his corpse was under Tu Shanjun’s control. As long as it could move, that was enough, no further demands could be made.

Tu Shanjun guided the corpse to the young man’s side. Up close, the youth indeed appeared young, likely only eighteen or nineteen.

His features were handsome, but his originally fair skin was now covered in black veins. His wide, lifeless eyes and twisted expression carried a faint sense of horror.

"Dead?!"

Tu Shanjun’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

He had already weakened the power of the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts.

The young man had fought Zhao Shixian evenly and even delivered the final blow, he should have been at least third or even fourth-layer Qi Refining.

How could he have died so abruptly?

Scanning the body, Tu Shanjun quickly searched for wounds.

When he lifted the young man’s clothes, his expression changed drastically.

There were three needle holes in the youth’s chest, oozing black blood.

Glancing at the dagger lying nearby, now devoid of mana, Tu Shanjun understood.

The dagger had been a decoy. The real killing move was the hidden poison needles.

The Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, which had transformed into the green-faced ghost, was just another distraction to divert the young man’s attention.

The dagger was meant to mislead him into thinking the ghost was the main threat.

The young man had carelessly deflected the daggers with his mana, unknowingly triggering the hidden mechanism.

With the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts distracting him, he hadn’t realized he had been poisoned.

Only after exhausting himself fighting the ghostly entity did he realize the truth but by then, the poison had reached his organs, and it was too late.

If not for Tu Shanjun’s betrayal at the critical moment, catching Zhao Shixian off guard, the demonic cultivator would have undoubtedly emerged victorious.

Tu Shanjun broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, his timing had been perfect otherwise, dealing with Zhao Shixian would have been far more difficult.

Unbeknownst to Tu Shanjun, Zhao Shixian had actually defeated a fourth-layer Qi Refining righteous cultivator while only at the third layer.

"The banner master I chose… is dead!"

Tu Shanjun looked around in despair, overcome with desolation.

Though he had successfully betrayed Zhao Shixian and turned him into a banner slave, Tu Shanjun had discovered a fatal flaw in the slave.

Banner slaves were inherently lifeless.

They couldn’t cultivate, couldn’t replenish mana, and their bodies would continue to rot. Soon, they would decay beyond usability.

Tu Shanjun’s plan of using the slave to cultivate had evaporated.

Staring at the pitiful remnants of mana in his dantian, he had no idea what to do next.

Still, he had to gather himself and move forward.

He had no choice but to press on.

First, he collected the spoils of battle.

Then, he would wait for the right opportunity to find a reliable new banner master.

"Summon Souls!"

Tu Shanjun willed the Soul Banner to rotate. A swirl of black mist yanked the young man’s soul from his poisoned corpse.

Still dazed, the youth saw Zhao Shixian’s corpse holding the Soul Banner approach him and immediately roared in fury:

"Demon! Face my sword!"

He formed a sword seal with his fingers, attempting to summon his flying sword.

But no matter how he channeled his technique, the sword did not return nor could he sense any mana within himself.

"Where is my mana?"

"Help me cut down this demon!"

"I…" The young man looked down and saw his own lifeless body. After a long moment of dizziness, he murmured, "I… am dead."

Seeing that the youth’s soul still retained consciousness, Tu Shanjun quickly emerged from Zhao Shixian’s corpse.

"Benefactor."

The youth turned toward the voice and was shocked to see the green-faced, fanged, crimson-haired demon emerge from Zhao Shixian’s body.

Was it going to devour him?

"Alas… I failed to slay the demon and lost my life. Now, I’m to become food for an evil spirit. Such is fate."

The youth resignedly lowered his hand.

A soul exposed to the world without the protection of a physical body was like a flickering flame in a storm ready to vanish at any moment.

He only regretted becoming sustenance for a demon.

Now, all he could do was lament his lack of skill.

Tu Shanjun quickly asked, "Benefactor, what is your name? Where is your home? Do you have family?"

The young man’s soul froze. The demon had approached him but instead of attacking, it was asking for his personal details?

Did it plan to wipe out his entire family?

But Zhao Shixian’s corpse showed no signs of life.

The youth was no ordinary person, he could distinguish between true and feigned death. Now that he was lucid, he remembered that he had struck the demonic cultivator before dying.

With such an injury, the demonic cultivator couldn’t have survived.

Tu Shanjun didn’t know how to earn his trust, so he could only explain.

"I was a villager from the last village, refined into the primary soul of this banner by the demonic cultivator. Benefactor, you killed him."

"Right now, I’ve temporarily left the banner by possessing this body to speak with you."

"If I ever escape, I will repay your family."

"If you have any last words for them, say them now, while you still can."

Tu Shanjun could already see it, the longer a soul remained in the world, the more it faded. Without becoming a ghost, it would vanish entirely.

In just this short time, the youth’s soul had already grown more transparent.

The youth suddenly understood. "So you’re the primary soul of a magical tool."

Time was short, and he had no chance to ponder why a magical tool’s primary soul would possess such clear reasoning.

"My name is Hou Boxu, eldest son of the Hou family in Yang City. I have a wife, a younger brother, but my parents have long passed."

"I seek no repayment, only that you deliver my storage talisman to my family. The hairpin spirit sword is yours to keep as payment."

"Now that I’m dead, I have no fear of you deceiving me."

Hou Boxu sighed deeply. He turned for one last look.

His eyes were full of longing, but there was nothing he could do.

Tu Shanjun gritted his teeth. "Actually… I have a method that can preserve your soul, even give you a chance at the Dao."

Hou Boxu looked at him.

Tu Shanjun hurriedly explained: "If you trust me, enter the Soul Banner and await the right opportunity."

Though the ghosts within the banner currently lacked consciousness, Tu Shanjun firmly believed that once the Soul Banner evolved to a high enough level, it could restore their minds and revive them.

Hou Boxu glanced at the Soul Banner in Tu Shanjun’s hand and shook his head.

He laughed heartily and declared:

"A true man fears neither life nor death."

"If I enter the banner to cling to existence, how am I any different from those demonic cultivators?"

"The longer one lives, the more one fears death. And fear of death leads to demonic ways."

"I refuse to walk that path."

"Brother, you do not seem like an evil spirit. I hope you hold fast to your heart and achieve the Great Dao."

"We shall meet again!"

"We shall meet again."

His final words scattered in the wind.

By the time Tu Shanjun regained his senses, Hou Boxu’s soul had already vanished.

"We shall… meet again."

(Chapter End)