Soul of the Revered Banner
Chapter 30: Breaking the Formation

Zhang Wanlong and Li Qingfeng exchanged a powerful palm strike.

This time, Zhang reacted in time.

And he managed to block Li Qingfeng’s full-force blow.

Though he was pushed back, he wasn’t instantly smashed in the head as one might have expected.

“You didn’t see that coming, did you?”

Zhang Wanlong sneered viciously, drawing his longsword and slashing at Li Qingfeng.

Clang!

The three-foot Soul Banner rose up, deflecting Zhang Wanlong’s two-handed sword strike.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Zhang muttered in a low voice, a flicker of madness in his eyes.

Within the banner, Tu Shanjun was slightly surprised.

The last time he’d seen Zhang Wanlong, the man was still a commoner, trained in internal martial arts but nothing remarkable.

Now, he had become a Qi Refining cultivator, and likely not just at the first layer of Qi Refining either.

His physical strength was far beyond what it once was.

That was the only reason he could block Li Qingfeng’s palm strike.

Each level of Qi Refining slightly increased the body’s resilience, but the real leap came from the transition from mortal to cultivator.

All subsequent progress was built on that qualitative transformation.

Without a body-tempering technique, active cultivation of the body wouldn’t bring much improvement.

“So… Zhang Wanlong must have used the Foundation-Merging technique as well. But how did he gather the materials?” Tu Shanjun wondered silently.

Yet now, it all made sense.

Just two months ago, Zhang had been a regular man. For him to become a cultivator now, he must have used that forbidden technique.

The simplified version of the Foundation-Merging technique required three individuals with spiritual roots who had also sensed spiritual energy to perform the ritual.

Even if one of the original four unqualified candidates survived, they still needed two more with spiritual roots and they had to have sensed Qi.

Zhang’s luck must have been outrageous to find two more such people.

Tu Shanjun remained outwardly calm.

Even if Zhang Wanlong had become a cultivator, it didn’t matter.

“You used human lives as ingredients too?!”

Li Qingfeng knocked Zhang Wanlong flying.

In that instant, he realized how Zhang had become a Qi Refining cultivator.

It was the same method Zhang Gui had used.

Li Qingfeng wasn’t shocked.

He had already guessed it when he failed to kill Zhang Wanlong with a single strike.

Guessing was one thing but his heart still burned with rage.

If he was considered a demonic cultivator, then what did that make Zhang Wanlong and his son?

They were eating people!

“I know you’re watching. Why won’t you open your eyes and see for yourself?” Li Qingfeng drew his sword and looked around, as if searching for someone, the resident Immortal master of Eight Directions City.

He just wanted to ask: What exactly makes someone a demonic cultivator?

Is it just holding a Soul Banner?

Then a man-eating governor isn’t?

The young immortal master lowered his gaze and sighed softly.

He stepped from the shadows to face Li Qingfeng directly.

Zhang Wanlong had been blasted three or four zhang away by the Soul Banner.

He barely stopped himself, but his two-handed sword had already been broken in half.

How could a regular forged weapon stand up to a magical artifact, especially one at the superior grade?

Seeing the immortal appear, Zhang Wanlong showed a hint of guilt.

But when he remembered his only son’s tragic death, that guilt turned into fury.

A hideous grimace twisted across his face as he roared, “This is all your fault!”

That’s right.

He was capable of anything.

The last unqualified person imprisoned…

The headless corpse of his only son…

And after Zhang Gui’s death, he instructed the steward to search for a third person with a spiritual root…

Zhang Wanlong had already gone all-in. He had planned to take advantage of the immortal’s injuries to kill him and seize his power.

He never imagined that after five months, he’d actually manage to find another candidate with spiritual roots.

With three people, he had the power to stand against Li Qingfeng.

“I don’t protect justice, I protect the peace of this county,” the young immortal master shook his head. He knew what justice was, but he also knew that wasn’t what he was here to protect.

The Five Spirits Sect was indeed a sect of immortals, but it still needed offerings.

In cultivation, the essentials were wealth, companions, techniques, and land. In that order, wealth came first.

Every year, the Great Liang paid tribute in spirit stones, so disciples of the Five Spirits Sect took on the duty of slaying demons and monsters within Liang’s borders, to protect the common folk.

If they encountered demonic cultivators, they were to be executed without question.

Because demonic cultivators posed a threat to civilians.

The youth didn’t know how to explain. He too was bound by circumstance, doing only what was required of him.

Inside the banner, Tu Shanjun observed coldly.

Not everyone in the righteous path was like Hou Boxu. People like him were rare.

Many were just like this county guardian, only concerned with performing their assigned duties.

Li Qingfeng asked no more.

He no longer needed anyone to enforce justice for him.

Because he now wielded power.

“In that case, let’s settle this with our fists.”

Li Qingfeng roared.

His aura surged, pouring wildly into the Soul Banner.

The ghost-faced banner swelled to over a zhang tall. The twisted visage on it came alive, the once-blind eye was now whole and both crimson eyes locked onto Zhang Wanlong.

Anyone else might survive today but Zhang Wanlong must die!

The towering figure landed on the ground and charged straight toward him.

Wen Lichun was utterly stunned.

With his Spirit-Seer Eyes, he could see Li Qingfeng was still only in the early Qi Refining stage. Even with a magical tool, he shouldn’t be too dangerous.

But what the hell was this thing that just emerged?

A monstrous ghost over seven feet tall, with wild crimson hair draped over its shoulders and arms thick enough for horses to gallop on.

Even worse, two fleshy horns jutted out just above its brow.

This was no ordinary ghost.

The moment it appeared, the temperature plummeted and an oppressive aura filled the air.

“Sweet mother heaven, what is that?!” cried a burly house priest, eyes bulging as he stared at Tu Shanjun’s hulking figure.

“You’ve grown stronger again.”

The county immortal master raised his sword horizontally to block Tu Shanjun, his expression serious.

Each time he saw this ghost, its power had increased.

Its eyes, too, held a cunning light no ordinary ghost possessed.

He’d seen many ghosts stronger than this one, but all lacked intelligence.

This one was different.

Cunning. Cautious. And ruthless when it mattered.

Truly terrifying.

Tu Shanjun didn’t know what the immortal master was thinking, his own crimson eyes were similarly fixed on the youth.

He was searching for an opening.

A single moment.

If he could just bypass the young immortal master for that one moment, he could crush Zhang Wanlong’s skull.

“Slay the demonic cultivator! Life or death doesn’t matter!” Wen Lichun’s shout snapped the stocky cultivator back to focus. The two of them moved to flank Li Qingfeng.

Li Qingfeng didn’t flinch.

With his Spirit-Seer Eyes, he could tell the grinning one was dangerous, but the other one’s spiritual aura was on par with his own.

Probably Qi Refining fourth and third layer, respectively.

Tu Shanjun might be massive but he was anything but slow, he moved like flickering shadows, vanishing and reappearing several zhang away in an instant.

“Five Spirits Sword Art!”

The county immortal master’s body was cloaked in golden talismans, radiant as his power surged into the ebony flying sword.

It expanded in the wind, transforming into a three-foot blade that blocked Tu Shanjun’s path.

Roar!

A piercing ghostly wail rang out, sending waves of black mist rolling in all directions.

Tu Shanjun submerged his entire body within the dark fog.

In a blink, he was upon Zhang Wanlong.

Seeing his strategy fail, the immortal formed a sword gesture with his middle and index fingers, drawing the ebony sword to hand and engaging Tu Shanjun in close combat.

Tu Shanjun’s current body was more than capable of brute-force fighting.

Combined with the flexible and unpredictable Demon Ape Fist, he moved like a monkey, nimble and explosive.

His long arms crashed down like battering rams.

Tiles shattered beneath his feet, debris flying in all directions.

As sword-light danced, Tu Shanjun was fearless, trading blow for blow.

Boom!

The Demon Ape’s fury coalesced into a punch of willpower directed straight at the opponent’s soul.

“Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts!”

Li Qingfeng shook the Soul Banner, the zhang tall banner spun like a polearm.

As it whistled through the air, over a hundred evil spirits crawled from its surface.

Yin energy churned. Black mist billowed.

The hundred ghosts fused into a monstrous entity upon emerging.

Their sudden explosion of force was unstoppable.

Tu Shanjun melded into the massive ghost body formed by the hundred ghosts and charged toward Zhang Wanlong.

(Chapter End)