Zheng Yi knew that the initial refinement was successful, and the Spiritual Power within his body rapidly circulated along the blood-red patterns on the surface of the Soul-Catching Banner, swiftly refining it and regaining control.
Immediately, the black banner face produced endless wailing and howling of ghosts.
Eventually, Zheng Yi's power fused completely with the Soul-Catching Banner, and he refined the entire banner face again.
Moreover, the ninety-nine Soul-Capturing Ghost-Controlling Yin Demon Grand Talismans were thoroughly refined by him, completely merging with the Soul-Catching Banner, dissolving within it.
Zheng Yi formed hand seals and chanted incantations, producing waves of peculiar fluctuations.
The treasure on the surface of the Soul-Catching Banner concealed itself, transforming back into an ordinary small black Demon Banner, quietly floating before Zheng Yi.
With a beckoning gesture, Zheng Yi summoned the Demon Banner into his palm, like a submissive little dog.
The Soul-Catching Banner required three cycles of sacrifice and refinement, upgrading iteratively, especially since he had already refined this small banner into a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.
Both parties shared joys and sorrows, concerning his path of cultivation, it required utmost caution.
"Not enough!"
"This Demon Artifact truly embodies the artifact refining technique handed down by the first Ancestral Master of the Soul Catching Sect. It appears simple and entry-level, but it is easy to learn and difficult to master."
"To refine it to the level of a Hundred Souls Banner or Thousand Souls Banner, it's impossible without fortunate coincidences. Otherwise, refining the Life Soul of a living person or a cultivator's Divine Soul is bound to provoke heavenly wrath and mortal resentment, resulting in being killed or entangled by Blood Fiends, and suffering from Karmic Force backlash."
"Moreover, it requires consuming numerous resources to forge a solid Artifact Embryo, otherwise, the numerous Yin Soldiers and Fierce Ghosts refined within will surely retaliate against the owner..."
"No wonder the power of this artifact is so great, yet within the Soul Catching Sect, it's merely an auxiliary artifact for ordinary disciples, and few have refined it into a Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, let alone anyone becoming famous through it."
"The last person to become famous through the Soul-Catching Banner was the Withered Soul Ancestor two hundred years ago, who was said to have been born with a Yin body and accidentally fell into the abyss of demonic evil, surviving by luck and obtaining a piece of the Godslaying Purple Essence Stone, later refining it into the Demon Banner, and in the third Righteous Demon War, he refined countless cultivators, achieving this treasure's infamous power!"
"Sadly, later, that Thousand Soul Banner encountered the Golden Core expert of the Righteous Flying Sword Divine Sect and was sliced in half, leading to the death of the Withered Soul Elder."
"Yet to counteract a Golden Core cultivator at the Purple Mansion Realm for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, especially against the Sword Cultivator renowned for attack power from the Flying Sword Divine Sect, the reputation of the Thousand Soul Banner is indeed well-deserved..."
Thinking of this, Zheng Yi was also very excited.
With the Doomsday World as his backup, he believed the day he would refine the Thousand Soul Banner would not be far off.
Though lacking the fortune of the Withered Soul Elder to use Godslaying Purple Essence Stone to refine the Demon Banner, he could enhance the power of his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, the Soul-Catching Banner, through stackable methods with countless resources.
Purple Smoked Mother Copper, Sandalwood Firm Wood, Black Essence Iron...
Reaching out to grip the banner rod of the Soul-Catching Banner, feeling the hidden power within, Zheng Yi gained more confidence in further upgrading this Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.
These were the materials Zheng Yi listed for the subsequent upgrade of the Soul-Catching Banner.
Today, he happened to buy the rare Earth Soul Silver at the Sect Market, merely a preliminary refinement to solidify the foundation of the Soul-Catching Banner.
After all, the original body of this Demon Banner was just a mass-produced product for Outer Disciples, with inferior materials, causing shivers.
If not for Zheng Yi refining hundreds of Resentful Ghosts in the Doomsday World, it wouldn't have been possible for this artifact to possess such power.
But to advance further, it requires multiple complex cycles of sacrifice and refinement, with roughly dozens of different materials.
Of course, these materials, precious or ordinary, are not solely for upgrading the Soul-Catching Banner to the peak of the Qi Cultivation Stage.
Zheng Yi's initial goal was to strive for a magical artifact at the Foundation Establishment Stage level.
Since the Soul-Catching Banner was his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact during the Qi Cultivation Stage.
With the Doomsday World as his backing, Zheng Yi lacked for cultivation resources, with a significant quantity of Resentful Ghosts everywhere enhancing his resources.
Like the Blood Evil Female Ghost encountered before or the Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Ghost, they are likely mere appetizers in that eerie Doomsday World.
As he continues to explore the Doomsday World, more terrifying ghostly and spiritual creatures will appear.
Once facing terrifying ghosts that cannot be opposed in strength, how could Zheng Yi possibly stop them?
In this regard, Zheng Yi never doubted.
During his last journey to the Doomsday World, Zheng Yi also interacted with some local indigenous residents and learned some terrifying rumors from them.
It is said that in a particular city, a complete Ghost Army roams, reportedly numbering over ten thousand, with rigorous discipline and outstanding strength, sweeping through a city in a single day, slaughtering all the population and zombies alike.
Bear in mind, among these million zombies, not only the ordinary ones reside but numerous mutated Red-eyed Zombies and even Zombie Kings, nearly an undisputed overlord of the local region.
Yet, even such formidable strength was swept and crushed by the Ghost Army.
Additionally, a gigantic ghost reportedly a hundred meters tall, where resistance becomes futile, enveloped by its fearsome Ghost Qi leads to direct erosion, transforming into fearsome ghosts.
In any case, impossible tales about the Doomsday World abound.
Various powerful Evil Ghosts, Zombie Kings, terrifying Mutant Beasts, etc., cooled Zheng Yi's originally excited heart.
This world remains too dangerous, not a place for a small Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator like him to play with. He had to persevere steadily, unveiling the true face of this eerie Doomsday World step by step.
Indeed!
What Zheng Yi lacks is time.
In the short term, utilizing the features of the Black Evil Technique, he can continue to refine Resentful Ghosts, upgrading Evil Qi, but the improvement brought by the cultivation technique's realm advancement cannot be too rapid.
Ultimately, he didn't want to fail the ascent to the Foundation Establishment Stage due to an unstable foundation.
Thus, Zheng Yi had to concentrate on the artifact.
As long as the Soul-Catching Banner becomes robust and powerful enough, it can imprison more formidable Fierce Ghosts and refine more Yin Soldiers.
His combat ability will grow significantly as well.
For instance, facing the three Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Ghosts previously, had the Soul-Catching Banner been able to withstand it, he would have already acted to let the banner devour them.
The Soul-Catching Banner in his hand had already reached its limit, and after obtaining the upgrade method of the Soul-Catching Banner from the Inner Sect's Dharma Transmission Hall, he diligently searched for various upgrade materials.
He almost circled the entire Sect Market, yet only found less than thirty percent of the materials, far from complete.
However, only a few materials remain for the Soul-Catching Banner's next tier upgrade, and Zheng Yi plans to seize this opportunity to guard the Black Essence Iron Ore and complete the collection.
Of course, searching for all those materials requires considerable expense.
After refining the Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Ghost and selling the obtained Cyan Essence, the earned Spirit Stones are down to mere hundreds.
This time heading to the ore field, half the reason is to seek materials, and the other half is to make some Spirit Stones.
…