Chapter 155: Chapter 149: Enlightenment? The Buddhist Sect?

Having witnessed the terrifying power of the pitch-black banner, the remaining Three Sect Cultivators within the Yin Ruins would no longer stand by and watch!

The longer they waited, the greater the advantage the Holy Sect cultivator who had rushed into the Earth Temple first would gain!

"We can’t wait any longer! Let’s attack together and destroy this Evil Banner first!" a disciple from the Yellow Springs Netherworld roared.

Their Sect specialized in the Ghost Dao, giving them the deepest understanding of such Soul Banner Magical Artifacts. It was only natural that he took the lead.

In an instant, with the exception of the Cyan Sect disciple whose eyes flickered as he seemed to be weighing his options, all the other cultivators unleashed their power!

Yin Thunder rumbled, Ghost Fire burned grimly, phoenix shadows shrieked, and Sword Qi howled... A storm of light from all kinds of Magic and Magical Artifacts rained down from all directions, bombarding the Soul Refining Banner that stood alone before the fissure!

Faced with this overwhelming assault, the proud, solitary Soul Refining Banner seemed to erupt in fury!

"WRAAAAGH—!!!"

The face of the banner billowed wildly, and a column of black Evil Qi shot into the sky like a signal flare!

Within the churning Evil Qi, it was no longer just pale, ghostly hands that emerged. Instead, hundreds of twisted, tormented, and utterly venomous faces materialized in an instant.

These were the very Yin Souls and Resentful Souls Qi Yun had collected and refined over the past several days!

The hundred ghosts shrieked in unison, their cries shaking the land!

They coalesced into solid forms, whipping up gales of soul-corroding black wind and forming a chilling Ghost Realm around the Soul Refining Banner!

Within the Ghost Realm, a Yin Wind raged.

Countless ghostly figures flitted about, blocking, weakening, and even devouring the majority of the attacks.

The individual strength of these Resentful Souls might not be top-tier, but when gathered into an array and empowered by the Soul Refining Banner itself and the dense Earth Evil Qi of this place, they became extraordinarily difficult to deal with!

The Yin Thunder Talismans and Yellow Spring Evil Techniques unleashed by the Yellow Springs Netherworld disciples landed in the Ghost Realm, their power diminished with every layer they passed, until they could only dissipate a few wisps of black qi.

The Spiritual Bird phantoms summoned by the Fengduo cultivators charged in, only to be shredded by innumerable ghostly hands and corroded by the venomous aura, their Spiritual Light dimming rapidly.

The Magical Artifacts and Magic spells of the other cultivators fared no better; their attacks vanished into the Ghost Realm like stones tossed into the ocean, unable to shake its core!

With the power of the Hundred Ghosts Resentful Soul Formation, the Soul Refining Banner single-handedly stalled the furious assault of over a dozen Qi Refining Late Stage Cultivators.

Black qi churned and ghostly figures swarmed.

For now, it had achieved a stalemate!

"This Evil Banner is ridiculously tough!"

"The pole is its core! Attack the pole!"

The group quickly identified the key, and their attacks began to focus on the pole.

Just as the assault intensified, the Ghost Realm’s range shrank, and the phantoms of the Resentful Souls began to fade.

The Cyan Sect disciple, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines and waiting for an opportunity, finally made his move!

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He formed a sword-finger, and the unadorned Ancient Sword on his back shot out of its scabbard with a sharp SHING!

The blade did not gleam with any ornate light, but instead possessed an understated, primordial, cyan-gray luster.

But as he guided it with his Sword Formulas, a pure Sword Intent—condensed to its absolute limit, as if capable of sundering all illusion and shattering the Ten Thousand Laws—suddenly locked onto the core of the Soul Refining Banner!

"Break."

He uttered a single word, pointing his sword-finger forward with a light tap.

The cyan-gray Ancient Sword seemed to teleport, ignoring the churning black qi and the intercepting Resentful Souls as the very space around its tip seemed to warp.

Infused with an indomitable Sword Intent that could pierce through anything, it struck the pole of the Soul Refining Banner with absolute precision!

"CRACK—!!!"

A crisp, clear cracking sound echoed out, yet it was sharp enough to make one’s heart pound in terror!

It was not the banner’s pole that had broken.

Rather, it was the core Magic Patterns sustaining the Hundred Ghosts Resentful Soul Formation, which had been forcibly shattered by that single, hyper-condensed sword strike.

VMMMM—!

The chilling Ghost Realm surrounding the Soul Refining Banner popped like a balloon and instantly disintegrated.

The hundreds of Resentful Souls let out piercing, unwilling shrieks as they devolved into streaks of black qi, scrambling to retreat back into the banner.

The Dharma Light of the great pitch-black banner itself also dimmed by more than half.

Several fine cracks even appeared on the face of the banner!

But it was not destroyed, nor did it fall from the sky.

The instant the array was broken, the Soul Refining Banner, as if alive, abruptly shot up from the ground, transforming into an incredibly swift streak of dark light.

With a WHOOSH, it followed Qi Yun’s trail and shot directly into the deep fissure leading to the Earth Temple, vanishing from sight!

"Dammit! Don’t let it get away!"

The Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivator, who had long coveted the Soul Refining Banner, was now jumping up and down in frustration.

He wanted to stop it but was powerless to do so.

The Cyan Sect disciple recalled his Ancient Sword. His face remained calm, but a trace of solemnity flickered in the depths of his eyes.

He glanced at the deep fissure and, without further hesitation, his figure blurred as he became the first to charge in.

Seeing this, the others rushed toward the fissure as well, not even pausing to recover their energy.

...

After Qi Yun stepped through the fissure into the Earth Temple, the scene before him changed abruptly.

He was inside an ancient, sallow-yellow temple.

The surrounding walls, pillars, beams, and even the flagstones underfoot all shared the same uniform, heavy, and unblemished sallow-yellow hue.

The air was filled with a hazy yellow mist. It wasn’t dust, but Earth Evil Qi so dense it was almost tangible.

It even made the circulation of his True Essence feel sluggish.

The entire temple was unnaturally quiet. There was no sound of wind or insects. Even his own footsteps were absorbed by the sallow-yellow ground and walls, leaving only the faintest, almost nonexistent echo.

It was a dead silence.

Yet, beneath this absolute silence, he felt as if he were being watched by countless unseen eyes from the shadows.

After a look around, Qi Yun tried to deploy a Thousand Crane Talisman to scout out the Earth Temple’s layout.

But the instant the Talisman left his hand, before its Spiritual Light could fully unfurl, the surrounding yellow Evil Qi swarmed it like sharks that had scented blood.

With a few soft SIZZLES,

he watched as the Thousand Crane Talismans dimmed at a visible rate.

The Talisman Paper was rapidly corroded and weakened.

In the end, they dissolved into wisps of yellow smoke that merged with the surrounding Evil Qi, not a single Talisman Crane managing to form.

’Just as I thought...’ Qi Yun’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t surprised by the result.

The Evil Qi in this [Dao Soil] was so dense and unique that it had formed a powerful domain.

It had a powerful repelling and corrosive effect on any Magic or artifacts not aligned with the Earth Fiend attribute.

Composing his Heart and Spirit, Qi Yun strode deeper into the temple.

As he walked, the feeling of being watched grew stronger.

He kept catching blurry figures in his peripheral vision, flitting past pillars and around corners with an inhuman stiffness.

But whenever he whipped his head around or swept the area with his Divine Sense, he found nothing but sallow walls and a thick, unmoving silence.

Once, twice... After several more times, Qi Yun let out a soft scoff.

’So they like to play hide-and-seek...’

His expression remained neutral as he continued to explore at a steady, unhurried pace, feigning complete ignorance of the strange phenomena.

Yet, from within the sleeve hanging at his side, countless grains of dark Iron Sand, as fine as dust, silently scattered onto the ground with each step he took.

Just as he passed a seemingly ordinary corner—

CLICK.

A crisp sound, though faint, echoed with piercing clarity in the dead silence.

Qi Yun stopped dead in his tracks and spun around!

In the spot he had just passed, a figure was trapped, bound tightly by the life-like Iron Sand that had erupted from the floor!

The fine Iron Sand had instantly coalesced into dozens of black chains, wrapping around the figure’s ankles, calves, waist, and even its raised arm.

Freezing it in the middle of a struggling stride.

It was a figure that looked like a monk.

Its entire body was the same sallow-yellow color as the Earth Temple. Its texture was like fired clay—smooth, but with a cold quality to it.

The monk’s face was carved with an expression of extreme Compassion. Its gaze was lowered, and its lips were curled into the faintest of peaceful smiles.

Now, bound by the chains of Iron Sand, it stood frozen in place.

In the sallow light, that compassionate face held an indescribably eerie and sinister quality.

It had no breath, no heartbeat, not even a trace of life’s aura. It was like a meticulously crafted clay effigy. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But Qi Yun could clearly sense that within the clay shell, a pure and frigid stream of Earth Evil Power was flowing, fueling its earlier phantom-like movements.

’This... Is this a Daoist Soldier formed from condensed Earth Evil Qi?’

Qi Yun raised an eyebrow and was about to step forward to inspect the captured Clay Monk more closely.

But the Clay Monk, which had its head bowed, suddenly snapped its head up.

Its kind and compassionate face was unchanged, but its eyes were completely hollow.

Then, though its fired-clay lips remained still, a low, dense chanting—as if rising from the depths of the earth itself—rang out of nowhere, echoing throughout the sallow, silent temple.

"Na... Mu... Mo... Mi..."

The chant wasn’t loud, but it possessed a strange Penetration Power, bypassing all physical barriers to act directly upon Qi Yun’s body and Divine Soul.

The moment he heard it, Qi Yun’s brow furrowed!

He could clearly feel the fifty-three Earth Fiend acupoints he had already opened within his body begin to tremble uncontrollably in unison the instant the bizarre chanting began!

They began to spontaneously absorb the incredibly dense surrounding Earth Evil Qi.

WHOOSH—

The pure Earth Fiend energy, which he normally had to circulate his Cultivation Skill to slowly absorb, was now flooding into his acupoints like a torrent from a broken dam.

His acupoints bulged and swelled at a visible rate.

It was no longer the pleasant sensation of cultivation.

Instead, it was a bloating, tearing sensation.

As a massive amount of Earth Evil Qi poured in, his body grew incredibly heavy, his limbs feeling as if they were filled with lead.

Every slight movement became an immense struggle, as if he were trapped deep in a swamp.

At the same time, the all-pervasive chanting grew thunderous.

It was like a chorus of ten thousand monks engaged in Brahma Chanting right beside his ears, boring directly into his Sea of Consciousness.

A strange, inexplicable thought began to sprout uncontrollably in Qi Yun’s mind.

’Stop. Why bother struggling?’

’This place is overflowing with Evil Qi; it’s a perfect place for cultivation.’

’Why not sit down cross-legged, listen quietly to the scripture, and merge with this sallow eternity...’

The thought held a serene and peaceful temptation that was almost impossible to resist.

"Hm? An Enlightenment Skill?!

There’s a trace of the Buddhist Sect in this [Dao Soil]!"

Qi Yun’s gaze sharpened, a terrifying glint exploding from his eyes.

’This isn’t an ordinary Sound Attack or Illusion Technique.’

’It’s an Enlightenment Skill, a common method of the Buddhist Dao!’

’It doesn’t attack the Divine Soul directly. Instead, it incites your own aura, creating an attack from both within and without.’

’At the same time, it uses scripture to capture your mind, making you give up all resistance willingly.’

A chill went down Qi Yun’s spine. He tried to cast a spell to break free.

But the Earth Evil Qi was running amok inside him, making his body rigid and the mobilization of his True Essence incredibly difficult and sluggish.

Just then, a streak of black light shot over from the distance.

"WRAAAGH—!"

The Soul Refining Banner sensed its master’s danger, its surface billowing violently.

A monstrous wave of black qi erupted, and the wails of a hundred ghosts instantly drowned out the low chanting!

Seizing this brief respite, Qi Yun shattered the stagnant Earth Evil Qi within him, grabbed the approaching Soul Refining Banner, and instantly retreated to a safe distance!

...