Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 514 The Master of the Black Banner
Time flies, and years have passed in the blink of an eye.

In the dimly lit cultivation room, Song Xian sat upright with his eyes closed, practicing the divine sense technique, the Desolate Heaven Expansion Sense Technique.

A year ago, his cultivation had already reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. The reason he did not attempt to break through to the Golden Core stage was to cultivate this Divine Sense Technique to the Great Perfection before attempting it.

The stronger one's spiritual power, the stronger one's soul power, which is beneficial for breaking through realms.

The most direct manifestation of this is in the absorption of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

As is well known, cultivators need to absorb sufficient spiritual energy from heaven and earth when attempting to break through to the next major realm.

In a very short time, the immense spiritual energy of the surrounding world will be drawn into the cultivator's body.

Many cultivators die when trying to break through to a higher realm because their bodies cannot withstand the impact of such a massive amount of spiritual energy.

If it is not refined in time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth will rampage through the body, causing the cultivator's body to explode and die.

The stronger one's spiritual power, the more spiritual energy one can absorb from heaven and earth, and the stronger one's willpower, making it less likely to fall into a coma.

Those cultivators who died while attempting to break through to higher realms were actually those who had already fallen into a state of unconsciousness.

If one's spiritual power is strong enough, even if one fails to form a core, one will not end up with a tragic death.

Having learned from the example of Luo Huang, the former head of the Huayuan Sect, Song Xian became even more cautious.

Luo Huang, whose cultivation and spiritual root aptitude were no worse than his, had more time to prepare, and whose techniques must have been equally powerful, still died on the path to Core Formation.

Although Song Xian was confident that his skills and strength were superior to Song Xian's, he dared not say that he would definitely succeed.

Therefore, no matter how much one desires to form the core as soon as possible, one must insist on cultivating the technique to perfection before proceeding.

Just as he was concentrating on cultivating this skill, a violent fluctuation suddenly came from the storage bag at his waist, as if some giant beast was about to break out.

The tremor was so strong that even Song Xian's seated body shook.

He opened his eyes, his expression changing slightly. He sensed the strange movement coming from the mysterious black banner in his storage bag, so he immediately took it out.

The flag itself was shaking violently, and it was emitting a faint light.

Song Xian was startled. He had never seen anything like this before and didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. He quickly used his divine sense to investigate.

But to my surprise, I was kept outside.

At this moment, it seemed as if the flag was surrounded by an invisible barrier, and as soon as his divine sense touched the flag, it was bounced back.

As the flag's light grew brighter, its shaking decreased.

It looked as if the black flag had been attacked by some mysterious force, and the light it emitted was protecting itself and resisting the external attack.

In this situation, Song Xian was also at a loss and did not know what to do.

He tried to infuse his spiritual power into it, but the light emitted by the black banner was like a protective film, not only blocking his divine sense but also preventing his spiritual power from passing through.

Now he can only watch helplessly, unable to do anything about it.

As time went by, the light emitted by the black banner grew stronger and stronger, and its trembling gradually subsided.

It took about two or three hours before the black banner's light finally disappeared.

Everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. If it weren't for the fact that the black banner had been placed safely from the storage bag onto the table, Song Xian would have even doubted whether what he had just seen was an illusion.

At this moment, the black banner lay quietly on the table, but Song Xian was somewhat nervous.

He didn't know what would happen next; people are always afraid of the unknown.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and tried to enter the interior with his divine sense once again.

This time, there was no hindrance, and my divine sense entered the black banner smoothly as before.

But when Song Xian saw the scene inside, he was stunned.

The black banner originally contained layers of interconnected magical artifacts and restrictive spaces, much like rooms that stretched out one after another, each with an invisible barrier leading to the next room.

Previously, each layer of the restricted space contained a ghost, but now, at a glance, the restricted barriers have vanished without a trace. Moreover, the entire space has expanded many times over, stretching as far as the eye can see.

That would have been fine, but in the boundless space, not only were there no traces of ghosts, but as far as the eye could see, there was a surging sea of ​​blood.

Seeing this, Song Xian was both excited and nervous.

The excitement stemmed from the fact that the interior space of this black banner was on a scale typically found only in magical artifacts.

In other words, this black banner has been upgraded from a magical artifact to a magical treasure.

The recent incident must have been caused by this.

Upgrading the Black Banner to a magic weapon had always been his dream, and now it had come true.

If this were to be told, no one would believe it, as it completely defies the established understanding of the cultivation world.

How could a magical artifact possibly evolve into a magical treasure? It's like a table turning into a person.

Ritual implements are actually similar to tables; both are inanimate objects and are man-made items.

Not only has no one in the cultivation world ever seen it, but probably no one has even ever heard of it. For years, Song Xian has been feeding the black banner with the hundred-year-old spiritual milk of the ghosts within, which in turn nourishes the black banner.

I just wanted to take it a step further, and I never expected it to actually work.

Moreover, it is quite remarkable that with his current cultivation level, his divine sense can pass through the magical artifact's restrictions and freely enter the inner room.

However, compared to the Black Banner's advancement to a magic weapon, this matter is insignificant and pale in comparison.

On the other hand, he was also nervous about this change, because he had learned more than once from the ghosts inside the black banner that there was a master inside the black banner.

The reason those ghosts and monsters were able to improve their cultivation was not because they drank the hundred-year-old spiritual milk, but because of the existence of that master.

This suggests that the master of the black banner is an extremely powerful and terrifying being, and the recent changes in the black banner are likely related to that master.

His speculation is not without evidence; there are at least a few points that can prove it.

First, the black banner suddenly emitted light on its own, and a restriction was generated inside. Without external intervention, the black banner could not have been activated automatically, which means that there must be a force controlling it from within.

Secondly, the sudden transformation of the black banner from a magical artifact to a magical treasure indicates that some drastic change must have occurred internally.

Furthermore, all the ghosts within the black banner have vanished. These ghosts were originally under the command of their master, and their disappearance must be due to the master's will.

Based on these three points, Song Xian has reason to suspect that the master mentioned by the ghost inside the black banner may have already woken up, or that he has already appeared.

If the owner has ill intentions, then things will be bad.

.........

Song Xian's divine sense passed through the sea of ​​blood and continued forward, until he saw a magnificent and imposing altar in front of him.

It rises from the seabed, extending into the sea of ​​blood, all the way to the top of the magical artifact's internal space.

On the altar, a vague human figure silhouette appeared and disappeared.

The vanished ghosts all prostrated themselves at the foot of the altar steps, worshipping the faint human figure silhouette that appeared and disappeared on the steps.

Just as Song Xian slowly approached the altar, the silhouette of the figure suddenly moved slightly, as if looking at him.

In an instant, the hairs on Song Xian's body seemed to stand on end, as if they had exploded, and he felt a tremor in his soul.

"Who are you?" Facing the black banner, Song Xian couldn't help but ask.

There was no reply, and after a long silence, just when he thought the other party wouldn't respond, a deathly voice rang in his mind.

"Who am I?" The voice seemed to come from the distant horizon, ethereal yet tinged with confusion.

Clearly, this was the voice of the master within the black banner; it had indeed awakened.

But judging from its words, it seems that it is not clear about its own origins.

What's going on? Is it because it was originally created from the black banner, so it's confused, or is it because it's been dormant for too long and some unexpected situation has occurred, causing it to forget its past?

Moreover, only cultivators at the Nascent Soul level can use this method of transmitting sound through divine sense.

Its power is unfathomable.

Song Xian's mind raced. Regardless of the situation, the other party's current state was advantageous to him, at least for now.

After a brief moment of thought, Song Xian immediately continued to ask questions, being very cautious so as not to provoke the other party or make them feel disrespected.

"Where did those crawling ghosts around you come from?"

"They are my servants." After a while, the ethereal, deathly voice echoed in his mind again.

If it's a servant, then its identity must also be closely related to ghosts.

Song Xian cautiously pressed on, "Why did you make them obey my commands?"

"You can help me regain my strength."

It seems that it wasn't something that the black banner created on its own, but rather encountered some accident and hid inside the black banner.

"Now that you are awake, is there anything I can do to help you?"

“I need you to continue helping me recover until I am able to leave this place.”

"It's my pleasure to serve you. May I ask if you are satisfied with the spiritual milk I offered earlier?"

"Spiritual milk?" The master inside the black banner seemed to be pondering what this was. After a while, its voice came again.

"That thing is not bad, but the spiritual power contained in flesh, blood, and soul can help me recover my strength faster."

"I understand. I will do my best to help you recover your strength as soon as possible. But if you encounter any trouble, I wonder if you could lend a hand?"

"I am too weak to leave here. If you wish to help, you can use the power within."

"Then I won't bother you any longer."

Receiving no response, Song Xian immediately withdrew his consciousness from the black banner.

(End of this chapter)