Tusha, Xue Yuanshao, and the Armored Lion King stayed on Xinzi's heels. Having been by his side the longest, the Infernal Nun felt a rattling ominous sensation worm into her chest. Putting this on account of the Klesha Avatar being a pureblooded Demon Noble, she suppressed her worries.
Ghost Alchemist, Infernal Nun, Demonic Beast and Monastic Demon Lord soon reached the next area. Noxious green fumes swept their faces, assaulting their nostrils—except for Xue Yuanshao, who had no physical senses to speak of. Xinzi stretched his right hand out, activating the Swallowing Skill. The fumes plunged towards his chest, vanishing in his Klesha Heart.
One enormous lake of bubbling green liquid came into view. Stretching as far as the eyes could see, this lake breathed out an amalgam of various toxins, one deadlier than the other. A legion of about 3,000 men and women of various ages stood within the lake, connected to one another through a spiritual formation.
Scant amounts of light passed through the dark cavernous walls' cracks but failed to provide any lighting to the scene. The 3,000 men and women though, all possessed flaming hair and eyes, by default acting as a cluster of torches that illuminated the cave. About 3,000 Burning Souls surrounded them, each with glassy eyes devoid of awareness, and above the 6,000 figures, roughly 1,600 Poisonfeather Birds of various sizes and ranks stayed trapped in a red energy orb.
One could expect that cultivator clans with thousands of years of history could fill entire cities with their descendants. However, the more powerful a clan, the longer the juniors took to sire legitimate children—making it so that even the most ancient of clans rarely exceeded the 10,000 scions mark.
"Hehehe, to think that even the overbearing Fire Spirits of the Fen and Yan Spirit clans would be reduced to this. And they say Karma doesn't exist." At the helm of the 1,600 bird regiment, one 30 meters-tall Poisonfeather Bird flapped his wings. Like the other birds, blood-colored chains tied his neck, and as soon as his wings brushed the red orb, searing pain raced through his organs.
"As if you are one to speak. Zhenniao, across these millennia, you have committed no end of atrocious deeds, relying on the Gorge of Thousand Vevoms to protect you from Yanzhou justice. And now you want to mention Karma? Don't your cheeks burn at the nonsense spewed by that odious beast beak of yours?"
"Hegemon, you can't say that. I have not done anything scandalous for at least five centuries. You, however, have let the Fen ruin the harmony between human and spirit. Don't you fear that at the first given opportunity, the human race will exterminate all Fire Spirits in Yanzhou? I sure hope they leave me some corpses to chew on."
"Destroying crops, scouting mortal villages for the Anyue state, and helping heretics capture and slaughter at will for petty benefit, that's not scandalous? Beasts will be beasts."
"Hahaha, as if…" Across the weeks they'd spent trapped together, the spirit and beast sides never lost an opportunity to throw insults at one another. But here, the bickering parties noticed the fumes' dispersion. Their eyes switched to the four newcomers, instantly going bloodshot.
"YOU! YOU!" Though they didn't recognize Xinzi, the captives had Tusha and the Armored Lion King's faces imprinted in their soul. Their arrival set their hearts ablaze, especially Yan Zhong, who'd been cheated so perfectly that he not only destroyed any hope of the Yan clan escaping the mantle of demonic collusion but also found himself at the mercy of these infernalists!
Yes. The Yan Spirit clan elders could give up on their juniors and try to fight their way out. But not only had they no guarantee of success, even if they did succeed the Yan Spirit clan would follow the Fen into extinction! The Demon Slaying Hall would take their willing delivery of Fen Souls and clansmen as a sacrifice to demonic powers, sentencing them all to gruesome deaths. So, if only for the tiniest chance that these demons didn't plan to slaughter them, they had to stay put.
Xinzi's eyes swept the scene. No words came from his lips, but seeing Tusha and the Armored Lion King adopt deferential stances at his back, Yan Zhong and Zhenniao both realized that the true master had made his entrance. Uncertain of what this meant for them, they held their breaths, and their heartbeats shot up. Not bothering to acknowledge them, Xinzi stretched his right hand out, activating the Swallowing Skill.
The 3,000 Burning Fen Spirit Souls flew towards him, vanishing in his Klesha Heart.
"Armored Lion King, summon the stored souls, heroic banners, and corpses. Tusha, give me the Devil Tome." To avoid the Celestial Rhythm getting noticed by the Hengye clan, Xinzi left the Devil Tome with Tusha. His voice made her snap out of her semi-trance, but even as she carried out the order, the Infernal Nun stayed timid—an unusual performance.
"Right on!"
"Yes, yes." One after the other, the Armored Lion King and Tusha waved their hands. The former summoned the thousands of souls collected in the Thousand Roads Mountain, Red-Tongued Devil, Corpse Demons, and Burning Spear Supercity's heroic banners. The latter released the Devil Tome.
Heart-stopping quantities of Evil Qi exploded all at once, overwhelming the Yan and Poisonfeather Birds, who trembled at the apparition of the Corpse Demons and Red-Tongue Devil corpse.
Banners and tome flew towards Xinzi. The Thousand Road Mountain's Wailing Souls, flew around him, forming spirals of grievances that added to the rising tide of malevolent energies.
After reaching the Foundation Building Realm, all cultivators could start refining their Life Treasure and nurture it in their Qi Pool. As the name implied, the Life Treasure lived and died with the cultivator. It wouldn't allow anyone besides its owner to use it and grew alongside said owner. Unfortunately, a Life Treasure's Potential depended on both the owner's Qi Ocean and the materials used to refine it. For this reason, most cultivators wouldn't attempt to refine one until the Golden Core or Nascent Soul Realms.
Xinzi was different. With the Five Elements Transmutative Technique, he could alter his Life Treasure whenever he felt like it—granted he had enough energy to back up the tweaking.
Thanks to the Immortal Rhythm, the White Immortal Sect had made massive breakthroughs and accumulated many resources. In the grand scheme of things, the likes of Hanxing and Zi Yao had little weight in his future plans, so at first, Xinzi didn't mind letting the sect benefit—his girls would benefit as well. But clearly, they didn't cherish their blessings. That being the case, he'd take it all away. But to achieve this on his own, he needed a weapon—a foul and dreadful weapon of such ferocious potency that even the Divine Transformation Lord Hanxing would grovel under its might.
Xinz's hands flashed in arcane gestures. The Klesha Heart channeled the Evil Qi. The Five Elements Transmutative Technique kicked in, shaping the 3,000 Fen Burning Souls into a gigantic orb of red fire. Cries of grief and agony echoed from this orb, twisted faces appeared and vanished across its surface. The Thousand Road Mountain's souls stayed in Xinzi's Klesha Heart—fueling it with Evil Qi and profane Soul Force while the Heroic Banners flashed around him.
Orbs and banners merged into one, becoming a single 2.5 m tall red flag embroidered with the miniature names of each Fen Spirit clansman. Xinzi clenched the flag's handle. An oni-shaped blood mask appeared on his face, blood flames oozed from the flag's every name, and an obscene pressure dropped on the scene, forcing Yan and Poisonfeather Birds to shiver uncontrollably. Our monk called this Life Treasure….the Thousand Soul Immolation Flag.