Gateway of Immortality

"Founder Kuiyin's renowned astra was called the Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions. It was arranged using ten Yan Luo Banners, with an unpredictable and fearsome power. In the past, it caused righteous cultivators to tremble with fear, and even Spiritual Infant Realm cultivators dared not challenge him lightly."

"Later, when Founder Kuiyin was attempting to transcend his tribulation, five of the Yan Luo Banners were destroyed by minor heavenly tribulations[1]. Before his passing, he distributed the remaining five banners to his disciples and passed down a method for crafting artifacts similar to the Yan Luo Banner, which could be used even by cultivators at the Foundation Building Realm and below."

"To craft this artifact, one needed to select an immortal cultivator whose cultivation level didn’t exceed the sixth stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Before their primordial spirit and physical body underwent a second transformation, they would be tricked into switching to a specific cultivation method and cultivating with the Yan Luo Banner. The Soul Pill helped immortal cultivators quickly absorb spiritual power, making it easy to break through bottlenecks. However, few had the mental fortitude of Junior Brother Qin to resist such temptation."

"Due to the numerous rare spiritual materials required to craft the Yan Luo Banner and the extremely demanding techniques, the Kuiyin Sect had a limited number of Yan Luo Banners. Thus, they lured promising immortal cultivators to the Yin Malevolent Abyss under the guise of recruiting disciples, where they provided the necessary malevolent yin qi."

"These cultivators believed they would be taken in as disciples of the Kuiyin Sect, but in reality, they were destined to become sacrifices for crafting the artifacts."

"While cultivating with the Soul Pill, as their realm rapidly increased, their primordial spirit would unknowingly be slowly assimilated by both the Yan Luo Banner and King Yan. The higher their cultivation level rose, the fiercer the backlash from King Yan, for the deeper the connection between their primordial spirit and King Yan, the harder it became to resist. Only those with extraordinary talent and iron will could suppress King Yan."

"However, once they broke through to the tenth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, even the strongest of wills would be useless. They could no longer resist, and their primordial spirit would be fully assimilated by King Yan, merging into one, becoming the primary soul of the Yan Luo Banner."

"Once a Yan Luo Banner gained a primary soul, the artifact was complete. Very few people could continuously suppress King Yan without being devoured, so even now, there weren’t many Foundation Building cultivators in Kuiyin Sect who had managed to gather all ten Yan Luo Banners. Fortunately, with six banners, one could barely arrange the Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions."

"After that, as the Yan Luo Banners absorbed more living souls and blood sacrifices, their power would gradually increase until they became top-grade artifacts. By then, the Yan Luo Array would reach terrifying levels of power."

Qin Sang listened as Sun De explained the origins of the Yan Luo Banner, and he stood there, frozen in place. A chill ran from his chest all the way down to his feet.

He had once envied Senior Sister Shi Hong, who had been favored by Yue Wu and chosen as a disciple, thus avoiding the fate of becoming a spy.

Only now did he realize the reason Yue Wu favored Shi Hong was due to her exceptional talent, which greatly increased the likelihood that she would help him forge a Yan Luo Banner.

That day in Yue Wu’s cave dwelling, what those senior uncles were fighting over wasn’t disciples, but a Yan Luo Banner!

With Senior Sister Shi Hong’s talent, even as a rogue cultivator without a Foundation Building Pill, she had a good chance of breaking through to the Foundation Building Realm. Yet, she had unknowingly fallen into such a tragic fate.

Then there were the Tan brothers and those fellow disciples left behind in the Yin Malevolent Abyss. Even if they managed to escape the clutches of Kuiyin Sect during this upheaval, they would still not be able to avoid becoming sacrifices.

To become the primary soul of the demonic banner, never to reincarnate—it sent shivers down Qin Sang’s spine just thinking about it. He would rather be killed by King Yan’s backlash than face such a fate.

If it weren’t for the protection of the Jade Buddha, I would have already been turned into an artifact spirit by Sun De. No, I would have been devoured by King Yan back at Qingyang Temple long ago.

"Is there a way to cultivate with the Soul Pill and avoid being assimilated by King Yan?" Qin Sang asked Sun De.

Sun De replied, "As far as I know, no. Even the direct disciples of the Kuiyin Sect don’t dare to cultivate with the Yan Luo Banner. If they could, Founder Kuiyin would have already led the Kuiyin Sect to dominate the Small Cold Domain."

"What about those who have already started cultivating with the Yan Luo Banner? How can they avoid being assimilated by Yan Luo?"

Sun De thought for a moment and said, "Unless they abolish all their cultivation and start over."

Upon hearing this, Qin Sang couldn’t help but smile bitterly to himself. How laughable—he had still been thinking of using the mysterious orchid to earn merits upon his return, but now he realized how naive that was. Returning would just be walking into a trap.

He had once thought that Yuanzhao Sect's practice of luring rogue cultivators to maintain the barrier of the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Ground was the work of a demonic sect. But now he realized, compared to the true methods of a demonic sect, it was nothing but child's play.

The Kuiyin Sect had been established for hundreds of years, using its own disciples to forge demonic artifacts. How many souls had perished in the Yin Malevolent Abyss? How many souls had been imprisoned in the Yan Luo Banner, never to reincarnate?

It took Qin Sang a while to calm the storm in his heart before he spoke coolly, "Senior Brother Sun, you seem to know quite a few secrets. Your identity must be extraordinary, right? What’s your real purpose for infiltrating Shaohua Mountain?"

A trace of embarrassment appeared on the face of Sun De’s illusion, "Junior Brother Qin, don’t misunderstand. I’m just like you—looking for a place to settle down in Shaohua Mountain and cultivate in peace."

"My father’s master was Founder Kuiyin's youngest disciple, but he never broke through to the Golden Core Realm. My father was his only direct disciple, so his status in Kuiyin Sect wasn’t low." ṜáＮǒＢƐS

"Then, for some reason, Old Ghost Yi went mad and suddenly forbade anyone from vying for disciples in the Yin Malevolent Abyss, insisting on plotting against Yuanzhao Sect."

"At that time, my father sensed something was amiss. I was still young, and my father happened to acquire a sword will decree from Shaohua Mountain, so he secretly sent me there. Looking back, my father’s foresight was spot-on—the foundation of Kuiyin Sect has been completely destroyed by Old Demon Yi…"

Qin Sang stared at Sun De. "Cultivate in peace? I’m afraid Senior Brother Sun’s words contain more falsehoods than truths. Daoist Hong who died in the Sunken Cave three years ago—was he really only refining artifacts with malevolent yin qi?"

Sun De let out an awkward laugh. "Junior Brother Qin, you are sharp. Before my father sent me here, he left me with a few Yan Luo Banners. I did have some schemes, but unfortunately, these rogue cultivators were either of poor talent or too enamored with the mortal world, lacking the proper mindset. Under the watchful eyes of Shaohua Mountain, I couldn’t be too blatant, and to this day, I’ve only managed to lure a few. I haven’t even forged a single Yan Luo Array. As for Hong Shan last time, I had warned him to wait a few more years, until you left the Sunken Cave. But he dared to disobey my orders, so I had no choice…"

Qin Sang sneered. "Were you waiting for me to become the primary soul of the Yan Luo Banner? Sorry to disappoint you, Senior Brother Sun."

Sun De smiled sheepishly, not daring to respond.

Qin Sang’s gaze sharpened. "Senior Brother Sun still hasn’t told me how to remove the Heart-Devouring Insect."

Earlier, Qin Sang had carefully questioned Sun De, learning that anyone who had learned the Venomous Gu Art created by Founder Kuiyin would be able to sense anyone infected with the Heart-Devouring Insect as soon as they entered the range of their spiritual consciousness.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

At Qin Sang’s current realm, his spiritual consciousness could only detect a few zhang around him. However, for Foundation Building and even Core Formation Realm cultivators, their spiritual consciousness range was terrifyingly vast. If he were unfortunate enough to encounter leftover members of the Kuiyin Sect, there would be no escape. It would be a major hidden threat.

1. a term in Daoism; tribulations from heaven to punish one's wrongdoings. ☜