Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 277 - 277 266 Dark Flag and Lamp of Salvation

277: 266 Dark Flag and Lamp of Salvation 277: 266 Dark Flag and Lamp of Salvation That speck of brilliance was an Innate True Spirit, transformed from the Original Source of Heaven and Earth, the fundamental essence of every life form.

As karmic force dissipated and their souls shattered, everything in these evil spirits disappeared like smoke in thin air, not even leaving them a chance for reincarnation.

The remaining Innate True Spirit, during the chanting of the Sutra of Salvation, ascended to the heavens and vanished into the celestial void.

But these evil spirits were completely absolved by the Sutra of Salvation, and their Innate True Spirits returned to Heaven and Earth.

Whoooosh…

The moment when the spirits returned to Heaven and Earth, the Soul Subduing Banner suddenly emanated dazzling ghostly light, which spread in all directions and reflected in the void as slow-flowing Underworld Rivers.

At the same time, on the Soul Subduing Banner and even on Jiang Chen himself, the karmic force produced by the confinement of evil spirits began to gradually dissipate due to some inexplicable power.

At this moment, inside Jiang Chen’s Sea of Consciousness, the Dao Mirror suddenly trembled and emitted dazzling divine light, which captured the karmic force that was on the verge of dissipation.

The Dao Mirror has the ability to devour karmic force!

However, the more heaven-defying the ability, the greater its restrictions.

The Dao Mirror can indeed devour karmic force, but it can only devour karmic force without a host.

Karmic force with a host, it cannot devour.

Previously, when the karmic force was entwined with Jiang Chen and the Soul Subduing Banner, the Dao Mirror couldn’t devour it.

But as the evil spirits were absolved and the karmic force was about to dissipate, becoming hostless, the Dao Mirror was able to devour it.

After the Dao Mirror had devoured the karmic force, Jiang Chen thought for a moment and then reactivated the Dao Mirror to take the killing energy away from the Soul Subduing Banner and transfer it to himself.

Unlike karmic force, killing energy is precious.

If you use it well, it’s a top-tier Divine Ability.

Like the Chaos Demigods in legends, they were born with Chaos Killing Energy.

Even the Pangu Great God was born with Dutian Divine Killing Energy.

Jiang Chen was drawing killing energy into himself in order to derive a Divine Ability from it.

As for being misunderstood as the Demonic Way, haha, who would dare to call a disciple of the Mystic Sect a demon?

Are they tired of living?

Boom!

After the karmic force dissipated, the promotion of the Soul Subduing Banner finally started.

The Nine Abyss Underworld Waters that surrounded it suddenly started to churn, stirring up huge waves.

At the same time, the ghostly light on the Soul Subduing Banner began to flicker.

Finally, the surging Nine Abyss Underworld Waters gradually merged with the ghostly light on the Soul Subduing Banner.

In an instant, a mysterious and vast world slowly unfolded behind the Soul Subduing Banner, with endless ghostly energy filling the space.

That world was nothing but the Underworld!

The next moment, the projection of the Underworld closed and turned into a ghostly light, merging with the Soul Subduing Banner.

Boom!

The majestic force erupted, sweeping across heaven and earth.

The form of the Soul Subduing Banner, in a flash, transformed from illusion to reality, truly coming into existence.

Hummm…

Countless mysterious runes gushed out from the Soul Subduing Banner, forming forty-seven Order God Chains, and branded them onto the body of the Soul Subduing Banner.

They were the divine restrictions, the acquired divine restrictions.

Forty-seven acquired divine restrictions indicating that the Soul Subduing Banner is a mid-level acquired treasure.

Although the grade is not high, from the momentum revealed by it, Jiang Chen could feel that its power was in no way inferior to ordinary Innate Magic Treasures.

Boom!

It seemed to be shaken by the momentum of the Soul Subduing Banner, the vault of heaven suddenly vibrated, followed by the rolling dark clouds that covered the sky and sun, flashing terrifying lightning.

It’s a Heavenly Tribulation!

The Heavenly Tribulation of the Soul Subduing Banner’s advancement has arrived.

The transformation of Divine Ability into Magic Treasures naturally not accepted by Heaven and Earth, must go through the baptism of a Thunder Tribulation to gain the acknowledgement of Heaven and Earth and truly exist in the world.

Boom!

Atop the dome of heaven, thunder roared, echoing a terrifying Heavenly Might, pressing down from above.

The Heavenly Tribulation has not truly descended yet, but Jiang Chen could already sense the power of the impending Thunder Tribulation from this terrifying Heavenly Might.

Definitely capable of easily killing the current Great Luo Golden Immortals!

A very powerful tribulation, which also attests to the extraordinary nature of the Soul Subduing Banner.

The more powerful the treasure, the more terrifying the Thunder Tribulation it has to experience.

“The Human Path is faint, the Immortal Dao is vast, rejoice in the Ghost Dao!

When man is born, the Immortal Dao is valued, and the Ghost Dao is valued in the end…”

The ethereal sound of the Dao still echoed between Heaven and Earth.

The Heavenly Might may be terrifying, but the Sutra of Salvation possesses the effect of stabilizing the mind and spirits.

Under the protection of the Sutra, no matter how violent the Heavenly Might is, it can’t shake the hearts of the people.

The power of one person is nothing to be feared.

But when people unite, they can resist the heavens.

Heaven responds to people’s wishes, it’s not mere talk.

If the thoughts of all beings are strong enough, even the Heavenly Dao has to comply.

Boom!

The dark clouds were getting thicker, and the sky was darkening with terrifying lightning illuminating Heaven and Earth.

The atmosphere was growing more and more oppressive.

But just at the moment when the atmosphere was at its most tense, and the Thunder Tribulation was about to fall, the dark clouds suddenly dispersed.

A streak of golden light, like a sharp sword, pierced through the dark clouds, quietly appearing over the horizon.

Then, more golden light surged, dividing the dark clouds into pieces, and slowly dissipating.

Above the vault of heaven, the radiant golden light gathered, driving away the dark clouds, and brought light back to the earth once more.

The dark clouds shattered, and with them, the Heavenly Tribulation naturally dispersed.

What else could have dispersed the Heavenly Tribulation other than the golden light of merit?

Jiang Chen looked up and saw the golden light of merit spreading throughout the sky.

It was the merit reaped from redempting evil spirits.

Redemption itself is an act capable of generating merit.

However, Jiang Chen’s redemption was different from others.

The ordinary act of redemption simply ushers the ghosts into reincarnation, benefiting the soul but bringing no gain to Heaven and Earth.

However, Jiang Chen’s redemption returns the ghosts to Heaven and Earth, thereby strengthening their Original Source.

Therefore, the merit he gained was much greater.

Boom…

The heavenly merit descended, transforming into golden lotuses falling from the sky.

Half of it flew towards the Soul Subduing Banner, and the other half fell towards Jiang Chen.

After absorbing half of the merit, a hint of golden light started to appear amidst the dark glow of the Soul Subduing Banner.

Simultaneously, the edges of the banner seemed to be gilded with a layer of gold, making it look more resplendent.

Boom!

Amidst the swirling golden light, the power of the Soul Subduing Banner explosively surged, multiplying several times before finally stopping.

At this moment, the Soul Subduing Banner had been promoted once again, from a supreme mid-grade magic treasure to a mid-grade Merit Treasure.

Merit Treasures, free from disaster and Tribulation, don’t accumulate karmic influences when used to kill, truly possessing profound mystique.

Therefore, the anticipated Heavenly Tribulation suddenly dispersed into nothingness.

However, under the influence of the Merit Gold Light, there were some changes in the Soul Subduing Banner.

On the pole of the Soul Subduing Banner, two Heavenly Dao Divine Patterns quietly emerged, looking identical to the divine patterns on the monument of the Netherworld.

They were the two words “Netherworld”.

Netherworld Banner, the promoted Soul Subduing Banner was officially renamed as the Netherworld Banner at this moment.

As it fluttered, the Netherworld-divine light flickered, accompanied by the Nine Abysses weak water, making the sun and moon lose their light, thus eliminating the dark aura in tens of thousands of miles.

“What a treasure!”

After praising it, Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze from the Netherworld Banner and turned to the merit flowing towards him.

This merit wasn’t small in quantity, coupled with the merit Jiang Chen had accumulated earlier, he might be able to create a seventh merit gold wheel after refining it.

However, after some contemplation, Jiang Chen didn’t immediately set about refining this acquired merit.

Instead, he gathered it into a ball and suspended it in front of him.

Jiang Chen planned to use this merit to refine a Merit Treasure, specifically for the redemption of living beings.

Although this amount of merit wasn’t insignificant, it could hardly compare with the merit of resolving the entire ghost uprising in the Shu Region.

It wouldn’t matter if he used them now.

As long as Jiang Chen can quell the unrest in the Shu Region, the merit he could acquire would surely exceed the one he just spent.

…

…

Jiang Chen had prepared the materials necessary for refining the Merit Treasure.

Aside from the current merit, the Sutra of Salvation is also needed.

“The Human Path is trivial, the Immortal Dao is vast, the Ghost Dao is joyful!

When a human is born, the Immortal Dao values life, the Ghost Dao values the end;” Without realising, the Sutra of Salvation had echoed a thousand times between Heaven and Earth.

That inexplicable power had materialized into intricate runes, floating between Heaven and Earth.

“Combine!”

Jiang Chen pointed his hand, and a profound force erupted.

Immediately, the surrounding runes were drawn to his hand as if called upon, merging into a cluster.

“Refine!”

After integrating the runes with the Merit Gold Light, Jiang Chen promptly sat cross-legged and began chanting the Sutra of Salvation again.

As Jiang Chen joined in, the power of the Sutra of Salvation skyrocketed.

The golden light of merit started distorting and transformed into a dim lamp after a few moments.

As they say, the bright lamp hangs high, illuminating the path of life and death, and redeeming all ancient and modern evil spirits.

This is the supreme lower-grade Merit Treasure, the Lamp of Salvation, housing fortysix Afterlife Divine Bans.

This lower-grade treasure can grant humans eternal life, can help the dead transcend, and can also guide evil spirits back to Heaven and Earth.

At this point, Jiang Chen finished his teaching.

With a thought, he decided to stop chanting the Sutra of Salvation to announce the establishment of the Shangqing lineage to the Three Realms.

However, at this moment, a surge of ghostly energy suddenly came from ten thousand miles away.

Jiang Chen seemed to sense something, and on looking up, he saw one of the nine Great Luo Golden Immortals, who was rapidly approaching this place.

Rightfully so, this area was shrouded with dark clouds one moment, and golden light was sweeping across the sky the next, raising such a huge commotion.

Those Great Luo Golden Immortals were not blind; they would naturally detect unusual events here.

It was normal for them to come and check things out.

But, his timing was perfect.

Jiang Chen had just refined two powerful Merit Treasures and was worried about finding a place to test their power when this Great Luo Golden Immortal proactively headed his way.

Given this turn of events, it seemed that the Immortal was doomed, so Jiang Chen decided to use him to test the power of the Netherworld Banner and the Lamp of Salvation.

Upon thinking this, Jiang Chen continued chanting the Sutra of Salvation.

…

“Ha ha!”

“Little human, so this is where you’ve been hiding.

Hand over that prehistoric killing sword quickly.

I’m in a good mood, and I might even give you a chance to reincarnate.”

The Great Luo Golden Immortal hadn’t arrived yet, but his arrogant words could already be heard from afar.