Chapter 23: The Human Emperor Banner

The Fire Fiend Cave Dwelling.

Six months had passed since the refinement of the Sacred Body Great Pill.

"It's been twenty days already. Why hasn't Immortal Qin returned?" Ye Fan muttered.

At this moment, he was the only one in the cave dwelling because Qin Sheng had departed once again.

Ye Fan was terrified that another powerhouse might jump out at this moment and kidnap him.

"I feel... like I'm Tang Sanzang waiting for Sun Wukong to return from his pilgrimage."

Was this even reasonable?

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, Qin Sheng was in seclusion.

Qin Sheng had obtained the second part of his Douluo essence. A massive amount of Source Stones enveloped him as his Demonic Art circulated, devouring the world like a whale.

Within Qin Sheng's body, the five Great Divine Treasuries shone with different lights, resonating in unison. Among them, the brightness of the fifth treasury, the Earth Light, was slightly inferior to the other four.

The Heavenly Sounds of the Great Dao were incessant; the "Self of Passing" and the "Self of Dao" continuously chanted sutras, manifesting extraordinary mysteries.

A black hole expanded, crushing rocks into waste, absorbing the minute essence contained within.

At this stage, the performance of the *Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art* became increasingly terrifying.

After a long time, Qin Sheng opened his eyes. Five-colored radiance rotated around him, and his aura possessed a sense of flawless perfection.

"Fifth Heaven of the Dao Palace." A smile appeared on Qin Sheng's face; he was very pleased.

At this moment, he felt as if he were more majestic than heaven and earth itself.

Half a year of bitter cultivation had nearly exhausted the Source Stones on his person, but he had also absorbed the essence, finally pushing his cultivation to the Fifth Heaven of the Dao Palace.

Such a rate of progress was staggering. If this breakthrough had occurred within the Yaoguang Sacred Land, it would have undoubtedly triggered massive waves.

One shouldn't look at the original plot where Ye Fan cultivated rapidly in the Dao Palace Secret Realm and assume it was easy; he could break through as long as he had resources.

That was because Master Ye possessed the Sacred Body, which faced no bottlenecks in the Dao Palace Secret Realm.

For an ordinary mortal body to cultivate to this stage, it would be a journey of constant obstacles and stumbling; breaking through would be extremely difficult, and managing one level every few years would be considered good.

For Qin Sheng to progress so rapidly with a mortal body was, quite frankly, a miracle.

"My achievements today are truly all thanks to my own hard work," Qin Sheng lamented.

He really had it not easy!

With a thought, a shimmering Soul Banner appeared in his hand.

"After the second fusion, the Spirit-Controlling Banner martial soul has truly been inherited by me," Qin Sheng's eyes flashed with an unusual light.

Qin Sheng carefully felt the current Spirit-Controlling Banner and fell into thought for a moment.

"After being localized through the integration with the Shrouding the Heavens world, the Spirit-Controlling Banner has become something similar to a Primordial Spirit Companion Treasure. It is an extension and a part of my Primordial Spirit."

"Its strength is closely linked to my Primordial Spirit, and if it improves, it will also nourish my spirit in return. It is not just a treasure for protecting the Dao, but also a tool for cultivation."

Qin Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up. "In that case, once the Spirit-Controlling Banner is refined into a proper tool, wouldn't that be equivalent to directly possessing a 'Deity'?"

"And there could be no tool more perfectly integrated with me, acting as an extension of my own limbs, than this."

Qin Sheng grew excited. "Since this is an extension of my Primordial Spirit, I must find sufficiently good treasures—ideally Immortal materials—to host it. Only then can it possess maximum potential, allowing all innate deficiencies to be compensated for, which in turn will nourish me."

"If it can evolve into an Emperor Weapon or an Immortal Tool ahead of schedule, then my Primordial Spirit... *hiss*."

" 'Spirit-Controlling' isn't a very good name. I need to change it. From now on, it shall be called..."

"The Human Emperor Banner!"

A companion treasure to the Primordial Spirit: The Human Emperor Banner!

It is worth mentioning that during these six months, two new "Qin Shengs" had appeared in the Infinite Lands—one from the martial arts world of *The Deer and the Cauldron*, and another from an ordinary historical world.

Qin Sheng had fulfilled the final wishes of both and merged their complete essences.

Qin Sheng's fixed combat power multiplier had now reached nine times.

"Yezi, why are you standing at the door?"

Seeing Ye Fan pacing in the cave dwelling, Qin Sheng asked in confusion.

"I'm scared when you're not here. I only feel at peace when I'm with you," Ye Fan let out a long sigh of relief.

Qin Sheng wore an indescribable expression. "Yezi, don't be like this. You're making me scared."

"Go, go, go."

Ye Fan asked, "You broke through again?"

"Mhm, Fifth Heaven of the Dao Palace."

Ye Fan began to doubt his life. Was it really that easy for a mortal body to cultivate? And the combat power was so strong.

*Then what exactly is the advantage of my Sacred Body?*

*Didn't we agree that the future belongs to me?*

"We've both broken through. Come on, I'll take you to pull off a big job!"

Ye Fan rubbed his hands in anticipation.

A moment later, after learning what Qin Sheng intended to do, Ye Fan was shocked.

"What? Excavating a Sacred Land ruin?"

This was indeed a big job!

"Immortal Qin, can the two of us really excavate a Sacred Land?"

"Of course we can," Qin Sheng nodded.

"That Sacred Land was destroyed long ago and has been scavenged by various powerhouses many times. There's no danger."

"Since other experts have already turned it upside down, what's the point of us going?"

Ye Fan was puzzled. "Those experts wouldn't have left any good stuff for us, would they?"

"What we are looking for is something they failed to discover."

"Treasures that other Sacred Lands and great families couldn't find, the two of us..." Ye Fan was speechless.

"Don't worry, would I ever harm you?"

The Sacred Land ruin Qin Sheng wanted to excavate was precisely the former lineage of the Ruthless Era.

In the beginning, the Ruthless lineage had its own Sacred Land.

Unfortunately, they were too arrogant, using the *Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art* to throw the entire Beidou into chaos. At that time, disciples from almost every lineage had been victimized by them.

Ultimately, the other Sacred Lands and great families could no longer endure it and joined forces to annihilate the Ruthless lineage's Sacred Land.

The Ruthless lineage then went from being in the light to the shadows, lying low to develop.

On the surface, the Ruthless Sacred Land certainly had no treasures left, but considering certain circumstances in the original work, Qin Sheng wanted to see if taking Ye Fan there would yield any harvest.

Setting aside everything else, the whereabouts of the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Cover alone was a mystery.

If this half-piece of an Emperor Weapon was not in Yaoguang, nor in the Desolate Forbidden Land, then where could it be?

The Sacred Land ruin was a distance away from the Yan Kingdom; even with Qin Sheng's speed, it took a full ten days of travel.

"It's so desolate."

Looking at the scene ahead, Ye Fan couldn't help but sigh.

Ahead, where there should have been continuous mountain peaks, everything had collapsed and been smashed into fragments.

The earth was crisscrossed with gullies like bottomless abysses; ruins of palaces were everywhere, covered in rust and crawling with withered vines.

Looking as far as the eye could see, there was no greenery and no sound of birds or beasts, as if they had entered a realm of absolute extinction.

When the wind blew, it echoed continuously, sounding like the wailing of vengeful ghosts.

Ye Fan shuddered. "Immortal Qin, I feel this place is somewhat ominous. Are we sure we want to go in?"

Qin Sheng gazed at the ruins and nodded heavily.

"Enter!"

Qin Sheng patted Ye Fan on the shoulder and said

"Yezi, don't be afraid. The Sacred Body is the most masculine and righteous body in the universe; it is impervious to all evil and difficult for yin spirits to harm."

"It's just a pity you're no longer a virgin."

Ye Fan's face darkened. "You say that as if you are."

"Every time the sun rises, I am a brand new me," Qin Sheng said with a straight face.

"By the way, which direction do you think we should go?"

Ye Fan pointed to himself. "Me? You're sure you want me to lead the way?"

"I trust your intuition."

Ye Fan was stunned. "So you don't know anything about this place either, and we're just here to rely on luck?"

"It's not luck."

If Qin Sheng had come alone, it would certainly be luck.

But he had brought Ye Fan along.

Ye Fan had nothing left to say. He scanned the ruins carefully and finally chose a direction to enter.

As the two walked through the ruins, everything was very calm.

Although it grew more eerie the deeper they went, it was only a change in atmosphere; no real danger appeared, which put them both at ease.

To prevent the Ruthless lineage from rising again, the experts had even used Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons during the siege, scouring this place time and time again.

On the surface, there was no longer any danger here.

"There's nothing here?"

Three days later, Ye Fan looked at Qin Sheng with a skeptical gaze.

No danger, and no treasures.

Qin Sheng fell into thought, then looked toward the massive rift that stretched for thousands of miles.

"What about below?"

"There probably won't be anything, right?" Ye Fan wasn't sure either, but then added, "But we might as well go down and look."

"After all, we're already here."

After Qin Sheng's "pie in the sky" promises, he was unwilling to return empty-handed.

"Makes sense."

Qin Sheng nodded, and the two entered the underground, swallowed by the abyss.

***

The Desolate Forbidden Land.

Triggered by causality, the Ruthless One suddenly tilted her head slightly, looking toward the direction of the Sacred Land ruins.

She spent most of her time in a daze, but that didn't mean she never had moments of clarity.

And the period during which Ye Fan arrived at Beidou on the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin could be described as the most lucid days for the Ruthless One.

Despite the vast distance, the situation at the Sacred Land ruins was still within her sight.

Ye Fan's reaction was normal, but this time, the Ruthless One's gaze lingered on Qin Sheng for a long time.

"This is..."

*How did my sutras turn into this?*

In the Ruthless One's past life, the most perfect state she had ever dreamed of was vividly appearing before her eyes.

(End of Chapter)