Chapter 19: Soul Pill

Mortal Realm

"Thud!"

Outside, a dull thud was followed by complete silence.

Qin Sang hurriedly covered the items on his bed with a quilt, then rushed out the door to find Old Wu collapsed and motionless against the wall.

A black mist swirled around Old Wu. Then, a malevolent ghost emerged from his body, clutching Old Wu's soul in its mouth. Upon seeing Qin Sang, it immediately spat out Old Wu's soul and retreated to the corner.

Qin Sang froze in place, feeling somewhat helpless.

Old Wu's soul stood motionless, ethereal like a wisp of grayish-white smoke, expressionless, its eyes devoid of any life, staring blankly ahead. The scene was unsettling.

It seemed different from my own soul. Old Wu's soul was as tall as he had been in life. Could this be because of my cultivation of the *Netherworld Scripture*?

Qin Sang inwardly chided himself for having such distracting thoughts at a moment like this. He quickly knelt down, placed his fingers before Old Wu's nose, and felt no breath. His heartbeat had also stopped.

He was dead.

Qin Sang looked up, his expression complex, and softly called out, "Old Wu, do you still recognize me?"

Old Wu's eyes turned to Qin Sang, paused, and in a flat, unvarying voice, said, "I recognize you."

Qin Sang was stunned. He had asked on a whim, never expecting Old Wu's soul to answer him. Wasn't Old Wu a mute? Yet his soul could speak.

Looking closely now, Old Wu's soul appeared much younger than he had been in life, and his back was no longer stooped.

Qin Sang secretly wondered if his muteness, old age, and stooped back were merely physical manifestations, resulting from illness and the hardships of life, and if the soul remained unaffected.

After all, Old Wu was only forty years old, so for his soul to appear young was normal.

In his previous life, a forty-year-old was still considered a young person.

Being stared at by Old Wu's soul, with a malevolent ghost crouching nearby, made Qin Sang's skin crawl. But more than that, he felt immense guilt. Although he had no deep friendship with Old Wu, they had lived under the same roof for half a year, and Old Wu had died because of his recklessness.

"Old Wu, there's a clear culprit for this injustice. That thing killed you, look carefully. If you prosper in the Underworld and decide to seek revenge, remember to find it."

Qin Sang pointed at the malevolent ghost in the corner and advised earnestly, yet he found it hard to deceive himself. "Old Wu, do you have any unfulfilled wishes? Oh, and your family... Is anyone from your family still alive? Is there any chance your two sons survived?"

Old Wu replied flatly, "I have no family."

Qin Sang felt a wave of difficulty, unsure what else to say. Being stared at by Old Wu made him uncomfortable. He wanted to advise Old Wu to let go, to quickly reincarnate since he was already dead. What was the point of standing there motionless?

Deep down, Qin Sang felt that for Old Wu, death might not be a bad thing. Reuniting with his family in the afterlife would be better than living like a walking corpse.

But then he felt such a thought was too shameless, and he couldn't bring himself to say it.

A deathly silence filled the room. A moment later, Old Wu's soul trembled a few times, dissolved into a wisp of soul mist, and drifted towards the malevolent ghost.

The malevolent ghost glanced at Qin Sang, then cautiously stretched its head out and took a breath, sucking all the soul mist into its mouth before retracting.

Qin Sang didn't know how to stop it. He glared at the malevolent ghost, watching helplessly as it devoured Old Wu, realizing that this creature was absolutely a menace.

If he couldn't make the malevolent ghost obey his every command and let it run rampant, he wondered how many innocent people would be harmed in the future. Enemies were one thing, but what if it was his own family or friends?

Qin Sang could only feel fortunate that it hadn't been the old Daoist priest and Mingyue who had knocked on the door earlier.

His purpose in seeking immortality was longevity, not to become a mass murderer. If he couldn't control the malevolent ghost, he would rather put the Yama Banner away and never use it.

Qin Sang stood up, took a step, then stopped. He turned and looked at Old Wu's corpse, pondering. Old Wu had died in front of his door, and the aftermath needed to be handled cleanly. Otherwise, there would be trouble.

Before Old Wu's body stiffened, Qin Sang picked him up, kicked open his door, laid him flat on the bed, and covered him with a quilt.

Old Wu's soul had been directly taken, leaving no external injuries. Even the government's coroner wouldn't find anything amiss.

After tidying up all the minor details, Qin Sang backed out of the room, closed the door securely, and leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath. His mood remained heavy.

Glancing at the malevolent ghost, Qin Sang strode back into his room, picked up the Yama Banner from the floor, and recalled the scripture's contents, but he didn't know how to recall the malevolent ghost.

After frowning in thought for a moment, Qin Sang decided to try his old trick again, channeling a wisp of newly recovered energy into the Yama Banner.

The section on the Yama Banner detailed how to control it.

This time, no malevolent ghost lunged at him. Qin Sang silently recited the scripture. Once he finished, the Yama Banner began to move without any wind. A profound, eerie glow suddenly lit up its black flagpole, with the three characters 'Yama Banner' shining particularly brightly. This light gradually converged towards Qin Sang's palm and eventually disappeared into his body.

Immediately after, many characters suddenly flooded Qin Sang's mind.

Qin Sang was secretly astonished. After reading through the text, he found that it not only explained the Yama Banner and the malevolent ghost within it, but also included a ritual spell for refining the Yama Banner.

It turned out the Yama Banner was not an immortal weapon as Qin Sang had guessed, but an artifact that aided in the cultivation of the *Netherworld Scripture*.

However, the malevolent ghost housed within the Yama Banner, called 'Yama,' was somewhat weak in power. Yet, after being refined with the ritual spell, it could be controlled to fight enemies, making the Yama Banner marginally usable as a weapon against foes.

Still, the Yama Banner's greatest use remained in aiding the cultivation of the *Netherworld Scripture*.

Cultivating just the first layer of the *Netherworld Scripture*, even with the aid of medicinal baths, had still taken Qin Sang over half a year. One could imagine that reaching higher levels in the future would undoubtedly be even more difficult, and it was unknown how many years it would take to cultivate to the highest, sixth layer.

With the Yama Banner's help, things would be different.

After the Yama within the banner devoured human souls or malignant Yin energy, it would produce Soul Pills. A cultivator could take a Soul Pill, hold it in their palm during cultivation, and by borrowing the power of the Soul Pill, their cultivation speed could be greatly enhanced.

Of course, the Yama Banner was not without its dangers. The text warned cultivators not to be too greedy, and to use the Yama Banner for cultivation with utmost caution, to prevent the Yama from devouring its master.

Upon reading this, Qin Sang was filled with lingering fear.

This Yama Banner was an artifact left by the man in black. The man in black was powerful and could suppress the Yama. But Qin Sang had only cultivated to the second layer of the *Netherworld Scripture*, so no wonder the Yama in the banner had retaliated.

If not for the Jade Buddha's protection, he might have already drunk Meng Po's soup.

This incident also served as a warning to Qin Sang: there were too many strange and ominous things in this world, and he must be careful in everything he did from now on.

Thinking of the Jade Buddha, Qin Sang became thoughtful.

The Yama feared the Jade Buddha, so perhaps he didn't need to worry about retaliation?

However, remembering the terrifying moment when the malevolent ghost lunged at him, Qin Sang decided it was still best to be cautious. After all, he didn't know how strong the Jade Buddha truly was, or if it could continuously suppress the Yama.

After memorizing the spell, Qin Sang began the ritual of refining the Yama Banner.

Once the refinement was complete, Qin Sang felt a strange sensation. The Yama Banner seemed to be connected to his very blood, as if it had become a part of his body.