Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 173 Refining the Soul-Summoning Banner. (Third update!)

Outside Taiping County, in the wilderness.

Inside the Dharma boat, Zheng Que opened his eyes and quickly looked around.

The curtains were half-rolled up, the bedding was in disarray, and in the incense burner not far away, the remaining incense had burned out, leaving a faint fragrance in the air. The room beside him was empty; the withered orchid had already left.

He lay alone on the bed, holding a soul-summoning banner in his left hand and a white jade plum vase in his right arm.

Seeing this, Zheng Que secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The soul-summoning banner and the white jade plum vase can be taken out of the underworld, and the ghost bride's dowry should be the same!
Thinking of this, he immediately sat up and stuck the soul-summoning banner into the ground.

Even though they had left the underworld, the banner for summoning souls still hung limply, showing no sign of moving without wind.

Zheng Que sat on the edge of the bed, staring quietly at the Soul-Summoning Banner in front of him. Perhaps it was because his cultivation had reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, or perhaps it was because the Soul-Summoning Banner was suppressed by the aura of the underworld, but he was now very close to the Soul-Summoning Banner, yet there was no sign that his soul would be drawn out.

After waiting a moment and confirming that he was alright, he took a deep breath and immediately placed the white jade plum vase on the six-legged incense table with lotus leaf-shaped openwork scroll pattern next to him, preparing to refine the soul-summoning banner first.

His cultivation level has now reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, and he can now practice the [Spiritual Pivot Banner Control Technique] that Shu Yunying passed on to him.

This [Spiritual Pivot Banner Control Technique] requires the cooperation of the main soul, so Zheng Que called out to the Soul Summoning Banner: "Qing Li, Qing Li..."

He called out several times, but Qingli did not respond.

Zheng Que immediately understood that Qing Li inside the soul-summoning banner was still asleep.

He frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then, regardless of when Qing Li woke up, immediately began to try cultivating the [Spirit Pivot Banner Control Technique].

According to the description in this manual, the Soul-Summoning Banner has a total of five types of soul winds: Soul-Summoning Wind, Soul-Capturing Wind, Soul-Eroding Wind, Illusionary Soul Wind, and Netherworld Soul Wind.

Among them, the Soul-Summoning Wind can forcibly summon ghosts with cultivation levels lower than the main soul to be used by the Soul-Summoning Banner, including most of the ghost servants who already have masters.

However, some ghost servants controlled by special spells, or those ghost servants themselves possessing some special characteristics, may be able to resist the summoning wind.

When Zheng Que first entered Shujiabao, he followed Fei Yuanhui into the living quarters. In the passageway, he experienced a gust of soul wind. The ghost servants of the other rogue cultivators who were with him immediately betrayed him. This was because those ghost servants were affected by the soul-summoning wind.

His ghost servant Niannu was completely unaffected at the time because he had been granted an imperial title.

The second Soul-Capturing Wind can extract the soul of a living being from its body.

If the target's cultivation level is lower than the Foundation Establishment stage or lower than the main soul, after their soul is captured, it will be suppressed within the Soul Summoning Banner, making it difficult for them to escape back to their physical body.

Previously, whenever he approached the Soul-Summoning Banner, his soul would enter the underworld because the area around the banner was affected by a soul-capturing wind.

However, for beings whose cultivation level is similar to that of the main soul and who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, the Soul-Absorbing Wind can only work if the target is in a relatively weak state.

However, if the target's cultivation level has not only reached the Foundation Establishment stage but is also higher than that of the main soul, then it may only have a certain effect when the target is extremely weak or even seriously injured and on the verge of death.

The third Soul-Eating Wind is a method that directly attacks the soul of living beings.

It can erode the soul and imprint of living beings, and sever the connection between certain objects and their owners.

Back in the Ghost Cellar, the Dream Weaver severed the Ghost Control Technique between him and the three-headed ghost servant using this Soul-Eating Wind.

The fourth Phantom Wind can create illusions in enemies, causing them to fight each other.

He has never seen this kind of soul wind before.

But the other cultivators who entered Shujiabao with him should have encountered... The final Netherworld Wind is a pure offensive method that integrates the ghosts controlled by the Soul-Summoning Banner into the soul wind for use against enemies.

Qing Li used this Netherworld Wind when she controlled the Soul Wind to break the Four Symbols Soul-Suppressing and Spirit-Locking Array that sealed the Soul-Summoning Banner.

The Soul-Summoning Banner is a magical artifact, and under normal circumstances, it requires a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage to truly refine it.

The [Spiritual Pivot Banner Control Technique] of Shujiabao is a technique that uses the main soul to control the soul-summoning banner. It can be used by cultivators at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Its core principle is to seal four of the five types of soul winds of the Soul-Summoning Banner, leaving only the Soul-Summoning Wind.

Then, the main soul commands all the ghosts in the banner.

In this way, the power of the Soul-Summoning Banner will definitely be greatly reduced, but cultivators in the Qi Refining stage will also have the possibility of refining it...

As Zheng Que pondered these things, his hands never stopped; he had already begun cultivating the [Spiritual Pivot Banner Control Technique].

He spread his palms, making hand seals while dipping them in spiritual blood, and sketched strange runes in the air above the soul-summoning banner.

Under the influence of the incantation, the spiritual blood lingered in mid-air, and the blood-red runes were continuously imprinted into the soul-summoning banner.

This scene is very similar to the "Ghost Control Technique," a method for sealing the four types of soul winds within the Soul Summoning Banner. It can only succeed if the main soul does not resist.

Originally, the main soul was required to cooperate, but now the main soul and other ghosts in the summoning banner are all asleep, so of course they can't put up any resistance.

As more and more runes were drawn with spiritual blood, a layer of blood-red patterns began to appear on the dark surface of the Soul-Summoning Banner, crisscrossing like shackles, locking it firmly and leaving only a few blank spaces.

At the same time, Zheng Que's spiritual energy was rapidly depleting.

This process lasted for several hours, until dawn broke and the east began to lighten, at which point he finally completed the seal!

At this moment, the spirit-summoning banner was filled with a great deal of yin energy, and it drooped weakly, making it difficult to even discern the shape of the ritual implement.

Immediately afterwards, Zheng Que began to refine it...

An hour later, it was already bright daylight, and sunlight shone through the treetops onto the Dharma boat.

Qingli, inside the summoning banner, had already awakened. She glanced outside and asked without hesitation, "Human child, what are you doing?"

Zheng Que sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, casting various complex spells as he replied, "I'm helping you get out."

"Don't resist, just cooperate with me!"

Upon hearing this, Qingli's satisfied voice once again emanated from the banner: "Not bad!"

"Human child, your great-aunt's painstaking training has not been in vain."

"You finally understand that you should take good care of your great-aunt!"

Zheng Que's face darkened, but he was at a critical moment in refining the Soul-Summoning Banner and could not afford to be distracted. He immediately ignored Qing Li and continued to use his full strength to perform the spell.

Another half hour passed before he finally cast the last spell. The aura of the Soul-Summoning Banner subtly changed, gradually filling it with an aura that shared the same source as his spiritual power.

The cultivation of the "Spiritual Pivot Banner Control Technique" is complete.

The Soul-Summoning Banner has been successfully refined!

(End of this chapter)