Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 351: Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions

The Black Dragon Stone and the Spirit-Binding Rope—both of these artifacts were of excellent quality, each possessing its own mysterious properties. They felt quite handy to use. Qin Sang played with them for a while before refining them one by one, making them his own.

Aside from these two top-grade artifacts, the rest of the artifacts in Liang Yan’s Mustard Seed Pouch were mediocre at best. Qin Sang picked out only one more item, leaving the rest for Shi Hong to use for self-defense.

After refining the artifacts, a stream of black qi surged from the Mustard Seed Pouch. As the mist dissipated, ten black banners appeared out of thin air, floating in Qin Sang’s palm.

Among the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions that Liang Yan possessed, there were precisely four. Three of them had been given to him by Yue Wu.

It was likely because Yue Wu had diligently carried out tasks for Sect Leader Yi that he was able to obtain these three Yan Luo Banners.

As for the Foundation Building demonic cultivator whom Liang Yan had ambushed, his status was far inferior to Yue Wu’s. The fact that he only had a single Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions had angered Liang Yan to no end.

Over the years, Liang Yan had exhausted every possible means to enhance these four banners to their advanced stage.

However, he had always been cautious, fearing discovery by the Yuanzhao Sect and avoiding contact with the remaining members of Kuiyin Sect. He spent decades living in hiding, not daring to act recklessly, lest he attract unwanted attention.

Moreover, refining the Yan Luo Banners was exceedingly difficult. Even with Kuiyin Sect’s deceptive tactics and control over the Yin Malevolent Abyss, the success rate remained abysmally low. They could not even provide six banners per Foundation Building disciple, let alone meet Liang Yan’s needs.

Thus, he had never been able to complete the full set of six Yan Luo Banners.

It was fortunate that Liang Yan only had four banners instead of five. Otherwise, he would never have had the patience to tolerate Shi Hong’s delays for so long.

These four Yan Luo Banners were Qin Sang’s greatest gain from this endeavor. With a complete set of ten fully enhanced banners, he could arrange the Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions in its full form.

Of course, the power of this array was far inferior to a true astra.

After all, even talisman astras could only seal about one-tenth of an astra’s power. At best, the Yan Luo Array could reach two to three times the strength of a talisman astra.

But for a Foundation Building cultivator, this was an absolute treasure.

Even Qin Sang could not suppress his joy. With this extraordinary artifact in hand, as long as he had the chance to set up the array in advance, he would have no fear of any late-stage Foundation Building cultivator. Even against a Fake Core Realm cultivator, he would have the power to put up a fight!

Unfortunately, there was no opponent here for him to test the full might of the Yan Luo Array.

Qin Sang shook his head with some regret.

He had not gained much useful information from Liang Yan. The method to release the gu that he most desperately sought remained a mystery. Liang Yan knew only how to control the gu to threaten others but had no knowledge of how to release them.

However, if he ever encountered another unfortunate soul afflicted by a similar gu, he might just have the chance to play the villain for once. Qin Sang chuckled self-deprecatingly. Fortunately, he had the Xuyuan Seal, which could suppress the fluctuations of the Heart-Devouring Insect to an extremely low level, so he was not in urgent danger.

That said, one piece of information caught Qin Sang’s attention, and gave him a glimmer of hope for releasing the gu.

Liang Yan, fully aware of the formidable power of the Yan Luo Banners, knew that he alone could never hope to assemble a complete set. Thus, while evading pursuit across the demonic sects' domain, he had also been deliberately gathering intelligence on the remaining members of Kuiyin Sect.

If he could track down these members, he planned to seek them out once he had sufficient cultivation in the future.

And indeed, he had uncovered some vague but intriguing leads.

These clues aligned with what Qin Sang had heard from Di Que, lending them some credibility.

According to Liang Yan’s findings, the last Golden Core cultivator of Kuiyin Sect had been relentlessly hunted by Yuanzhao Sect. At Tianyou Stronghold, he was nearly cornered and forced to flee while gravely injured. He ultimately disappeared into the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, where his fate remained unknown.

To this day, the Yuanzhao Sect had never officially announced his death, suggesting that this demonic cultivator might still be alive, barely clinging to life.

Several Foundation Building cultivators had escaped alongside him. These individuals were all key figures of Kuiyin Sect, some even direct disciples of Kuiyin Sect’s three Golden Core masters. They almost certainly knew the method to release the Heart-Devouring Insect.

These remaining members of Kuiyin Sect were undoubtedly living in constant fear, with nowhere to go except to gather under the protection of the gravely wounded Golden Core cultivator.

Based on his knowledge of Kuiyin Sect and the intelligence he had gathered, Liang Yan speculated that these members might be hiding under false identities somewhere near Qingyang City.

However, rooting them out would be difficult.

The Yuanzhao Sect was determined to eradicate evil to its core, and they had the backing of the Wuji Sect. Although the situation had calmed somewhat, those demonic cultivators had likely been terrified out of their wits long ago.

Even within the demonic sects’ territories, they would not dare expose their identities. After all, the Yuanzhao Sect was not the only group eager to crush fallen enemies. The demonic sects had no sense of camaraderie—anyone would seize the chance to strike down a weakened foe.

Qin Sang furrowed his brows in contemplation.

Once his cultivation improved, he could take a trip to Qingyang City and, just like this time, use the Heart-Devouring Insect as bait to lure out the members of Kuiyin Sect.

If successful, not only would he be able to release the gu, but he might even gain some unexpected benefits.

However, such a plan carried great risks.

First, there was the possibility that he would attract multiple demonic cultivators at once, leading to a siege.

The worst-case scenario would be if the surviving Golden Core master of Kuiyin Sect happened to be nearby. If things went wrong, he could end up being the one trapped instead.

He needed to plan meticulously.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Qin Sang unconsciously traversed one snow-covered mountain after another. The landscape before him was a vast expanse of white, utterly desolate, with barely any sign of life—not even birds or beasts.

Qin Sang suddenly descended from the sky, landing atop a snowy peak. He swept the surroundings with his spiritual consciousness, ensuring that no one was nearby. Then, he located the spot where spiritual qi was most concentrated within the mountain range, cleaved open a cave with his sword, and laid down multiple barriers.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Qin Sang retrieved Liang Yan from the Corpse Puppet Pouch. Since capturing him alive, Qin Sang had yet to refine him into a corpse. He intended to complete the process here before continuing on his journey.

Back in the Kuiyin Sect, Liang Yan had once tried to persuade Yue Wu to hand Qin Sang over as a sacrificial offering for the Yan Luo Banner.

Naturally, Qin Sang felt no pity for him.

The two Heavenly Corpse Talismans he had previously crafted had already been used. However, while keeping watch on Liang Yan at Fengcang Market, Qin Sang had taken the time to refine two more Heavenly Corpse Talismans using a stalk of Soul-Guiding Grass—perfect for use on Liang Yan.

Although he failed once during the process, he had grown increasingly proficient in refining Heavenly Corpse Talismans, and now, it took him less than two days to complete one.

Qin Sang reflected for a moment—he had no shortage of urgent matters to attend to.

For now, he set Liang Yan aside and took out a piece of spiritual wood, feeding it to his ebony sword.

Then, he retrieved his last stalk of Soul-Guiding Grass and began refining another Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

To his surprise and delight, this time, he did not fail even once. By the seventh day, he had successfully crafted all three Heavenly Corpse Talismans!

Now, he had five Heavenly Corpse Talismans at his disposal.

Qin Sang’s gaze shifted to Liang Yan. Preparing the five-elemental yin objects and Heavenly Corpse Talismans, he proceeded step by step, ensuring the process was executed flawlessly, until finally, he even erased Liang Yan’s consciousness.

Everything went smoothly, leaving only the final step—fusing the Earth Malevolent Qi. Once this was done, he would have another living corpse under his command.

However, the final step was also the most unpredictable. Whether these two living corpses could truly be successfully refined remained to be seen. freёwebnoѵel.com