Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 932: Emergence

Whoosh! Qin Sang guided his palm, and the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells spread over his body. Pressing close to the gorge wall, he squeezed through the narrow crack.

The instant he stepped into the ghostly land, a bone-chilling cold rushed to greet him. Standing within the ghostly mist, his eyes narrowed slightly.

During his last visit, both sight and spiritual consciousness had been blocked, allowing him to see only a small area around him. The ghostly creature that stole the flying yaksha had toyed with him, relying on its knowledge of the terrain, leaving him completely helpless.

This time was different. With the Sky-Eyed Butterfly’s supernatural eyes, he could easily pierce the ghostly mist and see his surroundings in fine detail.

He paused to consider, then let a glow flash from his brow. The ebony sword shot out, circled once around him, and came to hover above his head. The blade then trembled, splitting into four streaks of sword light to stand guard.

Afterward, Qin Sang moved deeper into the ghostly land, pretending as though he still could not see clearly, while secretly searching for the ghostly creature. Yet he found nothing.

"Hiding? Could there be barriers here that even the Sky-Eyed Butterfly cannot pierce?" Qin Sang frowned.

Not only did he fail to find the ghostly creature, but the flying yaksha was also nowhere to be seen. The ghostly land had boundaries, and there should have been no place to hide.

"It seems like I can only wait and let it show itself." With this thought, he quietly patted his waist, releasing several malevolent corpses with the strength of the Foundation Building Realm from his Corpse Puppet Pouch.

These were all cultivators, who had thought to profit off him, and had been slain by him during his discreet travels through Windy Archipelago. Since the archipelago had Earth Malevolent Yin Veins, he had taken the chance to refine them into corpses.

His lips moved slightly, and the malevolent corpses scattered, while he advanced slowly. Before long, chaos broke out ahead. The corpses smashed corroded astras, toppled heaps of white bones, and stirred up countless resentful spirits hidden within.

Suddenly, ghostly wails filled the air, as if a hundred ghosts roamed the night. Qin Sang’s figure flickered repeatedly, capturing each resentful spirit and refining them with true essence into Soul Threads.

There were far too many spirits here. Before long, he had already refined a Soul Thread a chi long. Then he ordered the corpses to stop and chose an open patch of ground to sit cross-legged.

He took out the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions and began attempting to weave a soul banner.

For years, Qin Sang had pondered what kind of array would best unleash the power of the eighteen banners. He had often studied Yuanshen Sect’s Fragmented Records of the Taixuan Array.

But he found the recorded arrays far too intricate. Every shift affected the whole. Even if he comprehended them, applying them to the banners was near impossible. Still, the effort had not been wasted.

Puzzles that had long troubled him unraveled, deepening his grasp over the three banners in his hand. At last, he truly understood how much labor the late Founder Kuiyin had poured into them.

The Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions Founder Kuiyin created had never been limited to just ten. Even more could be wielded together, and the greater the number, the greater the power.

It was clear Founder Kuiyin had harbored great ambition, planning from the very start how to obtain more Devilish Flames of Nine Hells.

As long as Qin Sang followed Kuiyin’s method, he could refine eighteen banners. But his cultivation remained too shallow, and whether his spiritual consciousness and true essence could command so many at once was uncertain.

Now he sat with one hand gripping the banner pole and the other grasping the Soul Thread.

The Soul Thread was weightless, drifting gently. Qin Sang fixed his focus upon it and the banner.

Moments later, his spiritual consciousness guided the thread toward the pole. The banner gave a resonant clang as light burst forth, inscriptions flaring to life. Qin Sang swiftly formed incantations, urging the runes to bind with the Soul Thread.

Though outwardly he appeared completely unguarded, he was inwardly ready to trigger the Heavenly Demon Transformation and open the Heavenly Corpse Coffin at a moment’s notice. Unless the ghostly creature was at the Spiritual Infant Realm, it could not escape his grasp.

At first, the two resisted one another. But as the banner pole's light grew brighter, the Soul Thread suddenly quivered. One end wound itself around the shaft, fusing seamlessly with the inscriptions.

"I did it!" Qin Sang’s heart leapt. He was about to continue refining the thread when a ripple passed through his mind. His lips curled into a cold smile.

"So you finally dare to come out!" He snapped his head up, eyes flashing with brilliance like lightning, piercing the thick ghostly mist to lock instantly upon a phantom.

The ghostly figure had thought itself well-hidden as it spied on him from afar. Yet the moment it appeared, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly caught it.

With all resentful spirits nearby already captured, the intruder’s identity was beyond doubt. The ghostly creature had indeed been disturbed and could not resist drawing closer.

Whoosh! Qin Sang swept the banner away, azure light flaring from his back as his wings spread wide. Without hesitation, he unleashed the Heavenly Demon Transformation. Azure and red lights flickered over his body, erupting into a speed that stunned the eye as he lunged straight at the figure.

The ghostly figure reacted with extreme vigilance. The moment Qin Sang discovered it, the creature also sensed danger. It leapt back sharply, then transformed into a stream of grayish-white qi that blended with the ghostly mist and darted deeper into the ghostly land.

Within the mist, the shadow moved as freely as a fish in water. Its flight created neither ripple nor sound, and its speed was astonishing. Last time, it had relied on this very ability to snatch away the flying yaksha, leaving Qin Sang helpless.

Now, thinking it could escape the same way again, it quickly realized its miscalculation.

"No wonder I couldn’t find it last time. It’s not that its concealment ability was particularly profound, but rather that it could merge seamlessly with the mist. Unless one’s spiritual thought is exceptionally strong, it’s nearly impossible to detect. But with the Sky-Eyed Butterfly locked onto you, let’s see where you can run to!"

Qin Sang unleashed his evasion technique at full power, chasing after the figure. As he watched the creature’s movement art and concealment, he couldn’t help but be surprised. How did this isolated ghostly land birth such a ghostly creature?

The phantom, now fused into the mist, darted about like a headless fly. No matter how it twisted and changed direction, Qin Sang relentlessly pursued it.

Though swift, the figure's speed was only a bit stronger than a peak Core Formation cultivator. Compared to Qin Sang, it was far inferior. The gap between them closed rapidly.

At last, the ghostly figure realized the flaw. It no longer fled blindly but instead shot straight toward the depths of the ghostly land.

Whoosh! Qin Sang flickered into place, his gaze sweeping the surroundings until it locked onto a towering mountain of bones beneath him.

The ghostly figure had suddenly vanished. But with the Sky-Eyed Butterfly tracking it all along, slipping away was not so easy.

"No wonder it disappeared earlier. Is there more than meets the eye hidden in these bones?" Qin Sang said.

Qin Sang summoned the ebony sword. Sword qi surged and slashed down fiercely at the bone mountain.

Crash! The decayed bones crumbled under the strike. The sword qi tore through from the peak to the base, splitting the entire mountain in half. Countless bones turned to ash as the heap collapsed.

Amidst the chaos, a black shadow suddenly burst out, lunging straight at him. Qin Sang raised his brow. With no time to recall the ebony sword, he thrust out a fist to meet it.

Bang! The two figures clashed and instantly parted, shockingly equal in strength!