CHAPTER 281: CHAPTER 281 UPGRADED SOUL REFINING BANNER

Facing the curious and gossip-filled expression of the Venerable Family with glowing eyes, Bai Yunqi grinned, feeling a bit of a toothache.

"She’s a woman. But she has a connection with my true self, and I always believe that my true self and I are two separate entities. She clearly doesn’t think so, hence the slight disagreement." He sighed and said, "In other words, she wants me to bear a karma that has nothing to do with me. I’m unwilling yet unable to defeat her, so I can only hide and evade."

Did the true self do something wrong and let the clone bear the consequences? You can play it like this?

"Apart from slightly disadvantaging the clone, it seems..." Jiang Yuan briefly considered learning to create a clone, but then remembered his temperament wouldn’t lead to wrongdoing, not needing to find a scapegoat.

Moreover, Clone Technique, a sophisticated cultivation technique, isn’t something you can learn at will.

Bai Yunqi instantly flushed, "What’s wrong with the clone? I have dignity, you know? How can I recognize and bear all the mess caused by the true self?"

Indeed, this is the worst part about making a clone—the true self treats the clone as a tool, while the clone sees itself as an independent entity, easily creating rifts and causing a lot of trouble.

Furthermore, by the looks of it, creating a clone seems to have a different temperament than the true self. If you accidentally make a clone that runs around causing a bunch of trouble, the true self might have to take the blame for him.

"That’s true, so stay at home more and come here less, lest she suddenly comes over and you two meet awkwardly." Jiang Yuan consoled him a bit and let him keep busy while he took out the Soul Refining Banner, which hadn’t seen daylight for a long time.

Ever since last time at the Riverfront Village dungeon, when it absorbed and refined the chaotic ghosts fusion, taking so long, it had been temporarily shelved.

This time it finally completely refined the fierce energy within. As soon as it was opened, countless star-like spiritualities flew out, sparkling in soft blue light like fireflies or stars, hovering around Jiang Yuan briefly before being blown away into the sky.

"After refining the fierce energy, it’s really different. Feels very peaceful, serene, and tranquil." He closed his eyes and carefully felt the special sensation brought by those pure spiritualities surrounding him.

Faint traces of gratitude could still be heard, with voices from men and women, old and young, sounding ethereal as if coming from far away.

[Refined Fierce Energy Total Balance: 247,446 points, Soul Refining Banner can be upgraded]

Wow! Truly worthy of the dungeon boss, although it took a long time to refine, the rewards are abundant!

Jiang Yuan clicked the upgrade button for the Soul Refining Banner, watching the balance value rapidly decrease and the experience progress bar swiftly move forward. The Soul Refining Banner’s thumbnail changed one form after another, each level appearing more magnificent, until it reached level five where it displayed insufficient balance.

At this moment, the Soul Refining Banner shone with golden light, exuding a sinister aura.

He took it out from the Storage Bag—originally a simple and unpretentious growth-type weapon, now about two meters tall, entirely blue-black in color; with the pole being thicker and winding upwards with vine-shaped decorations, upon closer look they were grim little skulls;

The golden horizontal pole shaped like bones, with skulls embedded at each end, and at the center stood a giant golden skull with horns, holding a ring in its mouth, heavy in hand, rich in texture.

Jiang Yuan rode a paper crane, shook the upgraded Soul Refining Banner, and the ring in the golden skull’s mouth clashed and buzzed. Tsk-tsk, if he displayed another set of body equipment and donned the "Demon God" title while wielding the Soul Refining Banner, it would look quite ferocious!

"Xiao Bai, after setting up, back off a bit, I’ll clear out the ghosts in the mountain."

What’s most abundant in the Netherworld Great Yin Mountain? Of course, it’s the various strange ghostly creatures spawned by Yin Fiend energy.

Facing the upgraded Soul Refining Banner, isn’t this perfectly suited to the task?

Anyway, it was tested last time, this thing used in the real world is like a little handicraft, not useful for catching ghosts, so might as well silently devour, refine, and upgrade, until reaching a point where unleashing the Soul Refining Banner can swallow the Ghost King, making it quite a good backup plan.

"Is this... the Soul Refining Banner?" Bai Yunqi turned around to look, expressing surprise; he remembered clearly that during the battle in Riverfront Village with the Venerable Family, the Soul Refining Banner was used to absorb the ghosts.

Afterwards, he never saw it used again; today, unexpectedly, a noticeably higher level Soul Refining Banner was taken out specifically to clear Lotus Peak, breeding respect yet feeling quite perplexed.

How many treasures does Venerable Family have hidden away?

And his strength remains a mystery, there’s always this feeling...

After setting up the last array hub, Bai Yunqi’s mind sparked suddenly with understanding, could it be that the Venerable Family is a sealed big shot?

Thinking back to their first meeting, he most relied on the Paperman and Paper Horse Skill, with other techniques never witnessed yet suddenly mastered! And all the good stuff in his pocket, if he had such a powerful Soul Refining Banner back then, why didn’t he use it?

This thing definitely wasn’t conjured from thin air, there’s only one truth—the Venerable Family previously lacked the ability to wield it!

Hence, it’s ninety-nine percent a kind of seal!

He felt he finally grasped the core point, with scarlet eyes squinting slightly and the corners of his mouth subtly rising.

After being sealed and exiled, that’s why he lingered in a corner starting from scratch, as the seal loosened, the Venerable Family’s strength grew exponentially, acquiring more skills including Pill Formulae and Treasures, more diverse as time went by.

Thus, the mystery of being proficient in Paperman and Paper Horse Skill along with Fire and Earth Element Techniques gets resolved—numerous clones fused!

Although the principle is unclear, it’s possible this is the Venerable Family’s own path; essentially, a person’s energy and time are limited, can’t be all-encompassing, so his various clones cultivate individually and ultimately fuse.

Perhaps that’s why he starts again from zero through sealing or reincarnation!

In that case, Shuiyun Lake was probably a place chosen deliberately by the Venerable Family...

"Indeed, the Great Path is ethereal and shapeless, mysterious yet unimaginable." Bai Yunqi sighed lightly, feeling unsettled.

Unfortunately, even the true self has only cultivated to the Divine Travel Realm; failing to ascend to the Body Tempering Realm, there’s still the Void Cultivation and Mahayana before reaching true Tribulation Crossing Ascension, where touching his own Dao requires at least Void Cultivation Realm for any realization.

Such is the gap!

Jiang Yuan had no idea his contract pet suddenly auto-filled with so much conjecture, he was enjoying the Soul Refining Banner.

It works like a large vacuum cleaner, the "pocket" tied up by the banner was opened, drawing strong suction with a whoosh. Countless ghostly shadows within several meters around him, lacking even the ability to resist, were swiftly sucked in.

As he wielded the Soul Refining Banner, it was like a tornado passing through, only hearing ghostly wails echoing across the land, the harrowing sound sending chills down one’s spine.

"Stop crying, stop crying. You’re just wandering in the mountains as man nor ghost; be eaten by big ghosts or fight each other to become irrational Yin Fiends harming the area, better to enter here and purify the fierce energy, restore your original pure spirituality, then enter the cycle of reincarnation."

Jiang Yuan didn’t know any other method of release, so he could only mutter while collecting.

The numerous ghostly shadows scattered throughout the Great Yin Mountain had limited combat power, but the upgraded level five Soul Refining Banner had a large "appetite," taking nearly an hour to fill.

Jiang Yuan looked at the countdown for refining completion, planning to not upgrade further after this, keeping the fierce energy for conversion into attack power for contingencies during the Wo Hu Temple trip!