Chapter 828: Freedom

Qin Sang still had three Bloodfiend Fruits left. Although unripe, their combined potency would be enough for a breakthrough. Trading one Bloodfiend Fruit for a spirit beast at the late Demon Core stage was a worthwhile deal. He was eighty percent confident he could subdue the Two-Headed Hounds. The Bloodfiend Fruit was right in front of him, incredibly tempting. Opportunities for breakthroughs were fleeting; if one couldn't seize them, there was no telling how long it would be until the next. Such chances were hard to come by.

However, something unexpected happened. The Two-Headed Hounds tried again and failed once more. It lay motionless on the ground, slowly closing its eyes, allowing its demonic power to wane without ever swallowing the Bloodfiend Fruit. It had resisted the temptation, choosing to forgo the chance for a breakthrough rather than acknowledge a master.

"Freedom, huh..." Qin Sang murmured, somewhat taken aback. As a cultivator, he was accustomed to seeing spirit beasts subdued by others, especially those below the Transformation stage, whose undeveloped intelligence meant they couldn't consider their own thoughts. Most cultivators would have beast cubs acknowledge them as masters, nurturing them from a young age. Only those with immense power or secret beast-taming techniques could forcibly subdue adult spirit beasts. Qin Sang lacked such techniques, so he could only hope the Two-Headed Hounds would willingly acknowledge him. After years of coexistence, Qin Sang knew the Two-Headed Hounds had excellent innate talent and considerable intelligence, but since it had never consumed Imperial Nectar, he hadn't expected it to resist such an instinctive temptation for 'freedom.' Perhaps, it was confident it could achieve a breakthrough on its own.

The Bloodfiend Fruit's medicinal power gradually dissipated. The Two-Headed Hounds' breathing steadied, appearing utterly exhausted, lazily sprawled out and unwilling to move. Clearly, it had failed. The bulge on its neck hadn't completely vanished. Although it hadn't succeeded in breaking through, the momentary enlightenment had brought it many benefits, significantly enhancing its power and even its innate talent. Sensing the Two-Headed Hounds' aura, Qin Sang secretly thought that spirit beasts with powerful bloodlines, like the Two-Headed Hounds, were inherently stronger than cultivators at the same stage. Now, it probably wouldn't fear confronting an ordinary late Core Formation cultivator alone.

"Since you've made your decision, I won't force you," Qin Sang said plainly, picking up the spirit fruit. "This Bloodfiend Fruit can be kept for you temporarily. Whenever you agree to the conditions, it will still be yours." If the Two-Headed Hounds could break through on its own, there would be nothing more to say; forcing a bond wasn't ideal. However, with its breakthrough attempt failing, Qin Sang certainly wouldn't let it go easily. A spirit beast of such peak talent and at the peak of the mid-stage, the strongest one the Primordial Harmonizing Ring could control, was incredibly rare to encounter. Even if found, it wouldn't be easy to subdue.

"Could it be that it still remembers my previous promise to let it go once it reached the late Core Formation stage? It's been misled by my cultivation speed and has overestimated my talent," Qin Sang mused with a strange look in his eyes. Without finding the Ten Divine Woods, his cultivation would soon stagnate. It was clear that, at least until the next opening of the Seven Kills Hall and the discovery of the ancient teleportation array, the Two-Headed Hounds' chances of escape were slim.

Hearing Qin Sang's words, the Two-Headed Hounds merely raised an eyelid and snorted, dismissing the temptation of the spirit fruit.

"Fine then, may you achieve your breakthrough soon..." Qin Sang disregarded the Two-Headed Hounds, put away the spirit fruit, and went about his own affairs.

As it turned out, opportunities for breakthroughs were indeed not easily found. The Two-Headed Hounds roamed Qin Sang's cave dwelling daily, even secretly entering his spirit-gathering array. Six months passed in the blink of an eye, with no progress whatsoever. It was practically driven mad, howling furiously at the moon and stars every night as if questioning the heavens. Exasperated, Qin Sang finally put it back into the Primordial Harmonizing Ring, sending it to sleep.

Qin Sang's life was quite fulfilling. Between refining his external avatar, cultivating, body tempering, and feeding his spirit insects, he rarely had a moment's rest. A month prior, the Xiang'an Auction House had delivered the spiritual herbs Qin Sang requested, which were for the cultivation formula of the Heavenly Eye Butterfly. Some of the herbs in the formula were even rarer than the Six-Petal Butterfly Violet, but luckily, they had all been found. Naturally, the price was exorbitant. He had already spent a significant portion of his savings to gather the materials for refining the Ten Directions Yama Banner. With the Heavenly Eye Butterfly's small mouth acting like a bottomless pit, Qin Sang felt increasingly strained financially. Fortunately, the Fat Silkworm could find its own food; its eating speed was very slow, requiring a long period of slumber after just a small bite, so the existing purple crystals would last for decades without issue.

"If this continues, it seems I'll have to return to my old trade and make money through artifact refining," Qin Sang thought. "Master Yi Dan has been strongly inviting me to join the auction house, but I've never refined true magic treasures. Refining mere magical tools only brings in meager earnings. Now that I have a high-grade spirit stone, I could try setting up a spirit array to refine a few Ten Directions Yama Banners. Once completed, my artifact refining skills would also improve significantly." With this idea in mind, Qin Sang flipped his hand and took out a high-grade spirit stone.

After a brief deliberation, Qin Sang cleared the clutter from his cave dwelling and then took out the spirit materials for setting up the array. A heap of various materials lay spread across the floor, all quite valuable. Fortunately, a large portion of these materials consisted of various demonic bones and beast hides, which had very strict requirements, needing to conform to the elemental cycles of creation and destruction. There were also demonic beast vital essences. Sealing these vital essences into the banner poles was crucial for condensing soul threads and weaving the soul banners in the future. In the Minor Cold Domain, gathering these items would have been extremely difficult; even Patriarch Kuaiyin, a venerable Nascent Soul ancestor, had put in considerable effort back then. However, in the Vast Ocean, they could be purchased as long as one had enough spirit stones. The difficulty lay in acquiring other spirit materials, which Qin Sang had only managed to collect after entrusting the Xiang'an Auction House for a long time.

After counting the materials and confirming nothing was missing, Qin Sang took out the Dark Iron Pillars, set them aside, and then categorized the various spirit materials before getting busy. The spirit array was exceedingly complex, an ancient formation Patriarch Kuaiyin had discovered after extensively searching through ancient texts. Qin Sang first refined the various spirit materials and then began arranging them into the formation. After several hours of hard work, the spirit array began to take shape.

It was three days later when the spirit array was finally completed. By then, his entire cave dwelling was occupied by a grand five-colored array. Once the array was set up, its surface appeared seamless, indistinguishable from the original materials, seemingly composed of white jade. The outer perimeter had empty slots where mid-grade spirit stones could be inserted. However, the very center required a high-grade spirit stone; otherwise, the array could not be activated. Above the spirit array, five-colored lights alternated, emanating from the elemental powers of the various materials. Once activated, these energies would converge towards the center, following the array's rules. The Dark Iron Pillars simply needed to be placed there.

Qin Sang intended to refine more Ten Directions Yama Banners than Patriarch Kuaiyin had. The previous method of arranging ten banners in an array might not allow the magic treasures to exert their maximum potential. It would be better to find another suitable array formation and make corresponding changes during the refinement process. Since returning from the Seven Kills Hall, Qin Sang had been pondering this matter and was beginning to see a clearer path. However, that was something to consider later when weaving the soul banners; for now, he only needed to focus on refining the banner poles.