Chapter 770: Ghost Land

After the initial excitement, Qin Sang calmed down and fell into deep thought.

The Ten Directions Yama Banner wasn't something that could be refined simply by saying it, or at least, not yet.

Refining this treasure required three steps.

First, the Profound Iron Pillar needed to be melted down into the banner pole.

This process required the aid of an extremely complex spirit array.

Qin Sang learned how to set up the spirit array from Yi Tiannie. Besides various spirit materials, there was also a very strict condition: the array could only be activated with high-grade or top-grade spirit stones.

He didn't dare to dream of top-grade spirit stones, but even high-grade ones were extremely rare. He only had two, which he needed to save for using ancient teleportation arrays.

He always had to ensure he had two high-grade spirit stones on him.

Based on Qin Sang's decades of experience, high-grade spirit stones were even rarer in the Canglang Sea Region than in the Lesser Cold Domain.

The higher the quality of a spirit stone, the greater its utility. Major forces never had enough of them.

In the Lesser Cold Domain, when ancient cultivator ruins appeared in the ancient immortal battlefield, fortunate cultivators who entered first could find a few. A small portion of these would trickle out, and one might still be able to buy them with diligent searching.

In the Canglang Sea Region, high-grade spirit stones were mostly mined from spirit stone veins. The few existing veins had long been claimed by major forces, and any new discoveries were immediately taken and hoarded, making it almost impossible for them to circulate.

Second, the banner flag needed to be refined.

In the past, Patriarch Kuiyin searched for secret methods and eventually devised a sinister plan: imprisoning countless living souls, condensing their purest soul energy, refining it into threads, and weaving them into the banner flag!

To achieve this, Patriarch Kuiyin had harmed countless people.

Qin Sang intended to refine even more Ten Directions Yama Banners than Patriarch Kuiyin. If he were to imitate the patriarch, he would truly become a notorious mass murderer.

He couldn't bring himself to senselessly kill countless innocent people, especially since most were mortals.

Only after the complete Ten Directions Yama Banners were refined could he begin to subdue the Nine Nether Demonic Flame and seal it within the magical treasure.

The process of refining the banner pole was extremely complex and demanded a very high skill level from the refiner. Even if he had all the materials now, he couldn't perform the refinement here.

The Nine Nether Demonic Flame was right before him.

But the Ten Directions Yama Banner remained an elusive dream, like a flower in a mirror or the moon in the water.

Even if he found high-grade spirit stones and Soul Essence Threads and refined the magical treasure, he would still have to wait until the next opening of the Seven Kills Hall to enter and subdue the Nine Nether Demonic Flame.

Qin Sang gripped the Profound Iron Pillar in his hand, then put it into his Qianjun Ring, his eyes returning to a calm state.

Although he couldn't obtain this immensely powerful banner array right now, he at least saw a glimmer of hope.

His cultivation wasn't weak in the cultivation world. He believed that he could find high-grade spirit stones if he spent a few decades searching.

Soul Essence Threads were the most troublesome, but killing wasn't necessarily the only method to obtain them.

Qin Sang pondered his next steps. He would certainly still search for an ancient teleportation array to return to the Lesser Cold Domain; this didn't conflict with refining the Ten Directions Yama Banner.

With an ancient teleportation array, he could travel freely between the two regions.

If he could return to the Lesser Cold Domain, gathering materials would actually be easier.

"This is a top-grade magical treasure!" Qin Sang couldn't help but sigh softly.

Having been in the Core Formation stage for decades, the most powerful magical treasure he had ever seen was only mid-grade. He hadn't even seen a high-grade one. It was said that even to Nascent Soul Grandmasters, top-grade magical treasures were considered priceless treasures.

It was hard to imagine the terrifying power of a top-grade magical treasure and how much it would enhance him.

Regardless, this banner array had to be refined!

At this moment, Qin Sang had placed the Ten Directions Yama Banner on par with the Nine Illusory Heavenly Orchid as items he absolutely had to obtain.

Qin Sang examined the Nine Nether Demonic Flame.

He was curious how this demonic flame had come into existence and why it remained in such a confined crevice.

Qin Sang noticed that the Nine Nether Demonic Flame floated in the canyon, surrounded by numerous ancient restrictions on both sides of the cliff walls and above. It was clear these were not to be trifled with, and he wondered if they were what confined the demonic flame.

Back then, when Patriarch Kuiyin discovered the Nine Nether Demonic Flame, he also found the Profound Iron Pillar, broken into two pieces.

Qin Sang searched carefully but found no similar treasures.

However, one anomaly caught Qin Sang's attention.

Pressing his body against one of the cliff walls, he discovered that behind the Nine Nether Demonic Flame there seemed to be a vast space. Strangely, instead of purple mist, that space was filled with grayish-white mist, which appeared exceedingly eerie.

"This kind of mist..."

Qin Sang's gaze sharpened slightly, and an astonished expression appeared on his face.

Next, he cautiously took a step forward, attempting to pass through the Nine Nether Demonic Flame and enter the space behind it.

The Nine Nether Demonic Flame floated, its main body not completely filling the canyon, seemingly leaving space to pass through.

However, these spaces were permeated with the demonic flame's aura, making them extremely dangerous.

The Nine Nether Demonic Flame could impact the soul. If others approached it, their primordial spirits would directly face the assault, and even Nascent Soul Grandmasters wouldn't dare to trespass.

If the demonic flame were to go rampant, it would mean certain death with no burial ground.

Qin Sang stood before the Nine Nether Demonic Flame, observing it repeatedly.

With the protection of the Jade Buddha, his soul was stable.

Most importantly, he also possessed a superficial understanding of the Nine Nether Demonic Flame. Since it was of the same origin, he could activate a demonic flame shield around himself, providing protection and concealing his aura.

After pondering for a long time, Qin Sang felt there was a strong chance he could pass through and decided to risk it.

The reason he insisted on exploring the space behind was that Qin Sang found the grayish-white mist somewhat familiar, very similar to the ghost mist he had seen when passing through the immortal tomb in the Ziwei Palace back then.

However, the mist here was slightly thinner than in the immortal tomb.

Places filled with ghost mist were where vengeful spirits, malevolent ghosts, and other spectral entities resided. Refining these entities could also produce Soul Essence Threads, thus solving the biggest difficulty.

These spectral entities had been trapped here for countless years, existing in a muddled state, their sentience long since worn away.

The Ten Directions Yama Banner required an extremely large quantity of Soul Essence Threads, and it was almost impossible to find a gathering place for so many spectral entities in the outside world.

The formation of such ghostly places always had specific reasons.

Qin Sang pressed close to the stone wall, observing for a long time. He noticed that the space behind the Nine Nether Demonic Flame was very calm, with the grayish-white mist flowing slowly. He would have to enter to see if there were any spectral entities inside.

He didn't rush in recklessly but first summoned his Flying Yaksha, preparing to use it to scout the path.

The Nine Nether Demonic Flame didn't look like a seal, but Qin Sang still thought it best to be cautious, worrying whether there might be ghost kings or similar entities in such a place.

The Flying Yaksha was a refined corpse, belonging to the same category as spectral entities, making it perfectly suited for reconnaissance.

While shielding Qin Sang from harm, the Flying Yaksha had been pierced by the Purple Nether Pearl, leaving several large holes and sustaining serious injuries.

Qin Sang had ordered the Flying Yaksha to absorb Earth Fiend Qi to heal itself. Due to frequent unforeseen circumstances, he hadn't had the energy to assist it.

After summoning the Flying Yaksha, Qin Sang sat down on the ground, took out his Lesser Yin Magnetic Flask, and then channeled his True Essence into the Flying Yaksha's body to help it heal quickly.

It was impossible for it to recover completely in such a short time.

When the Flying Yaksha's injuries had healed about 60-70%, Qin Sang stopped.

The physical wounds were almost invisible, and its corpse qi could circulate freely, which was sufficient to handle most situations.