Chapter 628: Chapter 628

When has the gray qi invaded my body? I had not sensed it at all.

A chill ran down his spine.

Could it have happened when I was just teleported here, during the time I lay unconscious?

He couldn't recall how long he had been unconscious.

Perhaps during that period, he had unknowingly encountered something strange? He had not appeared at the other end of the teleportation array but instead drifted atop the river. Could that have been caused by this gray qi?

There was also the possibility that the gray qi had entered his body while he was fully awake, and he simply hadn’t noticed.

The two most suspicious places were the bronze hall in Ziwei Palace and the ancient teleportation array.

Both had been constructed by cultivators of old and possessed their own mysteries.

Back in the bronze hall, his life had been in another’s hands. All he had been thinking about was how to escape, and he had no time to closely examine the arrangement within the hall.

Even so, Qin Sang still remembered the sacrificial altar, the devilish hole, and the blood pearl in Chenyan’s hand.

One glance and it was clear those were not righteous things.

As for the ancient teleportation array, even cultivators of today still could not decipher its secrets, let alone this particular array that required two high-grade spirit stones and enabled transmission across great distances.

During the transmission, Qin Sang had sensed a terrifying force enveloping him, almost tearing him apart. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI~Fire.net

Either place could have been the source of the gray qi.

But no matter how hard he thought, Qin Sang could not figure out what this gray qi was, or why it had chosen him.

He attempted to direct a trace of true essence toward the gray qi, but whether it came from the corpse core or the Golden Core, it was instantly swallowed the moment it touched the gray qi. It was like a stone sinking into the sea, without a trace of response.

The same happened with his spiritual consciousness. The moment it entered, the connection was cut off entirely. Qin Sang couldn’t sense a thing inside the gray qi.

He then summoned more true essence and spiritual consciousness to attack it, but the result remained unchanged.

It was as if the gray qi had taken his Qihai as its home. It was even more stubborn than the seal fragments!

The only good news was that the gray qi had been resting quietly inside his dantian, right beside his Golden Core, without moving in the slightest. It hadn’t interfered at all with his cultivation or his ability to fight.

Though it unsettled him, there was nothing he could do about it.

Left with no other choice, Qin Sang could only allow the gray qi to remain in his dantian for the time being.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be harming him for now. Once his cultivation grew stronger, he would find a way to deal with it.

Out of sight, out of mind. Qin Sang shifted his "gaze" away from his dantian and turned his attention to his physical body and primordial spirit.

Forming the Golden Core had brought an all-around transformation. The corpse qi that had clung stubbornly to him for so long had been completely purged the moment the spiritual qi flooded his body.

He no longer needed to worry about corpse transformation.

Thinking back to the moment he was rescued by Mute Girl at Qingyi River, Qin Sang let out a bitter smile.

Back then, he had been floating among broken wood and dead branches, missing an arm. His body had been overwhelmed by corpse qi. It was not only bloodless, but tinged with a ghastly bluish-black hue, nearly indistinguishable from a savage, cyan-faced evil spirit.

Mute Girl had been doing laundry by the riverside when she saw the one-armed corpse and was so frightened she nearly kicked him back into the river. Thankfully, he regained consciousness just in time and cried out for help, prompting her to bring him home.

Otherwise, who knew how much longer he would have drifted, and if he had ended up in the wilderness, the danger would have only grown.

"I’ll return to Thousand-Household Village first and settle the karma with Mute Girl, then go search for spiritual insects and the forbidden grounds," Qin Sang murmured inwardly.

The Five-Insect Sect’s geomantic map lacked detail regarding the outside world, especially the wilderness. It only marked the habitats of fewer than twenty types of spiritual insects, none of which were what Qin Sang sought.

He could wait until the sect gathered more information before searching for his life-bound insect gu. There was no rush.

As for the ancient teleportation array, he would just have to search slowly. Qin Sang planned to retrace the river along which he had drifted to see if he could find any clues.

With that thought, Qin Sang opened the Thousand-Jin Ring and retrieved the three Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions.

One remained intact, the other two bore damage, but it was only the banner surfaces that were torn.

According to Founder Kuiyin’s refining method, as long as one could condense the purest essence of the soul into threads, it would be enough to restore those two astras.

The three Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions could be arranged into a simple array, yet their power rivaled that of a middle-grade astra. For now, they would be Qin Sang’s strongest treasures.

His ebony sword and Primordial Unity Ring were both only low-grade astras.

Now that Qin Sang had entered the Core Formation Realm, he could begin the restoration process.

He placed the two damaged astras on his lap and took out all of the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions he possessed.

Besides the ten he used himself, he had seized fourteen more from the remaining members of Kuiyin Sect. Together, he had more than two full sets.

These two sets of banners surpassed talisman astras in power and could be considered the strongest among non-astra-grade items.

Now that Qin Sang had formed his Golden Core, he no longer needed them. But if auctioned, they would surely stir up a storm. Countless Foundation Building cultivators would fight over them, and they could fetch an excellent price.

However, restoring an astra required a vast amount of pure souls, and even these twenty-four banners might not be enough.

Qin Sang could not leave Xijiang for the time being. The region was barren, and soul-refining tools were rare. There was no way to gather enough pure souls. He had no choice but to extract the soul essence directly from the banners to restore his astras.

Whether seeking spiritual insects or hidden realms and forbidden grounds, he would have to venture deep into the wilderness. Qin Sang had to strengthen himself as swiftly as possible. There was no more time to delay.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

Twenty-four miniature banners flew from Qin Sang’s hand and planted themselves in three neat rows on the ground.

Qin Sang mentally reviewed the refining method several times before picking up the least-damaged astra, then summoned one banner from the ground.

A sudden blast of yin wind howled through the cave dwelling. The air grew icy and eerie. Shadowy forms began to emerge. Countless ghostly silhouettes flickered in and out of view.

The banner abruptly shattered.

Qin Sang paid it no mind, casually discarding the broken banner. With a sharp clench of his hand, his dense true essence wrapped around the yin wind, compressing it into a mass that floated over to him.

Shrill, hair-raising wails echoed without pause.

Unmoved, Qin Sang formed hand seals in quick succession. From his fingertips flew strands of complex barriers that embedded themselves into the yin wind.

Moments later, a wisp of gray-white smoke drifted out of the yin wind. It was unimaginably fine, like a silk thread. This was Soul Thread, pure souls condensed into a usable form, suitable for weaving the banner surface of the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions.

As the Soul Thread was drawn out, the yin wind began to subside.

Before long, the thread broke. What he had obtained was less than half a chi in length.

Destroying a banner had only yielded such a short segment of Soul Thread. It was hard to imagine how Founder Kuiyin had managed to gather enough to forge ten full astras.

Qin Sang flicked his finger, drawing the Soul Thread to his fingertip. It seemed to possess a faint vitality, winding itself around his finger and radiating a cold aura.

He did not rush to repair the astra but instead turned his gaze back to the yin wind.

The ghostly wails had ceased, yet some spirits had not dispersed. Within the yin wind floated scattered green glimmers. There were the last traces of the ghosts’ spiritual essence.

Qin Sang ultimately chose to end the Soul Thread extraction himself.

In the cultivation world, it was said that if one’s spirit remained unclouded, reincarnation would still be possible.

The Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions, as astras, were not as sinister as their artifact counterparts passed down within a single lineage.

Restoring an astra required only the purest souls. There was no need to imprison the souls further.

"Does reincarnation truly exist in this world?" Qin Sang murmured to himself, then finally waved his hand, releasing the yin wind.

The green glimmers floated freely, dispersing before his eyes.