"Boom!!"
Old Liu's father's grave exploded. Clusters of black mist, shaped like auspicious clouds, billowed out from the burial mound.
Old Liu was stunned, plopping down on his backside, muttering incoherently.
"A-Ancestors... ancestors... the ancestral grave is smoking?!"
However, what flew out of the grave wasn't his old man, but a white banner propped up on a bamboo pole.
Old Liu's face was a canvas of confusion.
What was even more bizarre was that this white banner actually spoke!
"Oh~ sorrowful son of Liu Laojiu, Liu Gousheng, do you yearn for power?"
Old Liu's brain was practically crashing at this moment.
It wasn't until the white banner asked him again that he snapped back to reality.
A glimmer of joy gradually surfaced in his eyes.
That's right! This was the legendary opportunity!
To think that at my age, Old Liu, I could still encounter such fortune??
Heaven wills my rise!
"Yes! I want power! I want to shatter the injustice and darkness of this world! I want to make all those who bullied me tremble in fear!!"
"Oh~ my friend, you are a true warrior! Then come! Seize this power from the abyss and nightmares! Although... it may require you to pay a small price, but what does that matter?"
Old Liu, in his twilight years, suddenly found himself holding the script of a hot-blooded youth. His long-dead heart began to beat once more.
However, just as his rough, aged hand reached for this white banner, another strong, youthful hand grabbed Old Liu's wrist, snuffing out his hot-blooded script.
"Friend, this opportunity is too great. You can't handle it."
Old Liu turned his head to look at you.
"Who are you? Stop meddling in other people's business, get lost!!"
The simplicity was gone from Old Liu's eyes, replaced by a layer of madness.
The Ten Thousand Souls Banner's power of temptation was simply too strong.
You punched Old Liu unconscious with one blow, then kicked him aside.
Old Liu was only at the Ninth Stage of Body Refining at this point, no match for you at the eighth layer of Spirit Gathering.
Seeing Old Liu was now useless, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner turned its attention to you.
"Oh~ valiant warrior! Do you yearn for power?"
You felt a wave of discomfort;
the Ten Thousand Souls Banner seemed to be trying to bewitch you.
But your trait, "The Most Severe Father to Non-Humans," included an effect that granted immunity to bewitchment from non-human races.
The Ten Thousand Souls Banner wasn't human, so it counted as a non-human.
No flaw in that logic.
The Ten Thousand Souls Banner sensed something was wrong. You weren't showing the uncontrollable desire in your eyes like Old Liu had.
Time to ramp up the intensity.
"Oh~ friend, do you yearn to shatter the darkness and injustice of this world? Do you wish to make those who bully you..."
You yanked the Ten Thousand Souls Banner out of the grave.
"So you're the one called the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, huh?"
You ignored all its nonsense and proceeded to pummel the banner with a flurry of old-fashioned punches.
Want to bewitch me?
Want to control me?
Want to use me?
Dream on!
First, I'll beat you into submission, then you'll obediently serve me!
"Huh? Warrior? Hero! Handsome guy! I say, why are you taking this so seriously? Let's be friends??"
As the beating continued, a loud *CRACK* was heard. The Ten Thousand Souls Banner snapped in two!
"Damn! What kind of counterfeit, shoddy product is this??"
Although the banner was broken, the black mist did not dissipate. A sphere emitting a dark glow flew out from within the torn banner.
"You bastard! That was a perfectly clean white banner I managed to scavenge! Ugh, now where am I supposed to find such a well-fitting vessel!"
"I say... what's your deal? Aren't you the Ten Thousand Souls Banner? Why can you talk? Why don't you have a physical body?"
"Nonsense! I'm an immortal artifact's artifact spirit! I can exist just fine without a physical body! I just get weaker and weaker over time, so I need to quickly find a sucker... I mean, a destined person for mutual help and cooperation!"
You looked at it with a skeptical gaze.
"Please don't insult my noble artifact integrity with your doubting eyes!"
After a round of friendly communication, you gained a basic understanding of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's situation.
This guy really was just an artifact spirit;
its physical body had been lost at some unknown point in time.
Its memory of that aspect was fuzzy because it was getting weaker, and many memories couldn't be retained.
However, it wasn't surprising this thing had been destroyed. It was outright evil. Any righteous person who discovered it would want to destroy it.
But that didn't mean the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was useless.
It could attach itself to any object and continue to function, though not being its original body meant its power would be greatly diminished.
The closer the object it attached to was in form and quality to its original body, the more power it could unleash.
The Spirit Artifacts used by martial artists were divided into different quality tiers, similar to cultivation techniques.
There were Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, High-Grade, Earth-Grade, and Heaven-Grade. The Ten Thousand Souls Banner was an Immortal Artifact, a tier even higher than Heaven-Grade!
Currently, it was constantly weakening and needed to pledge allegiance to a master as soon as possible, using the master's body to nourish it.
"Young man, you've come at just the right time today!
Although you destroyed the body I meticulously selected, you and I are fated!
As long as you let me pledge allegiance to you, I will definitely help you marry a lady from a great family, become a noble or general, and reach the peak of the martial path!"
"Pledging allegiance is fine, but let's be clear upfront. You can't backfire on me, like shortening my lifespan or weakening me."
"Nonsense! Where did such rumors come from! How could I, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, treat my master like that? If this got out, what would other Immortal Artifacts think of me? Do I not need face anymore? Huh? Answer me!"
You recounted Old Liu's situation from the previous simulation, of course not using Old Liu's story directly, but adapting it as something you'd heard.
"So that's what you're worried about.
Although I don't know which of my previous masters you're talking about, one thing is for sure.
He must have been desperate to become stronger, so he had me refine a portion of his origin soul, providing him with a massive surge of cultivation in a short period.
While this method offers rapid improvement, it severely shortens lifespan, drains vitality energy, and one doesn't live long."
"Besides what you mentioned, refining the origin soul, are there other ways to help me gain extra cultivation?"
"Simple! Kill people! Kill lots and lots of people!
Right when those fresh lives have just ended, before their souls have dissipated, hand those delicious souls over to me! *Slurp, gasp!*
Afterwards, I'll slowly refine these souls, extracting their soul power. We'll split it seventy-thirty. You get cultivation, I repair my spirit body, we both grow stronger!"
"It doesn't seem right for me to take seventy percent."
"Heh, you're the thirty, I'm the seventy."
"Fifty-fifty."
"Seventy-thirty!"
"Fifty-fifty."
"Seventy-thirty!!"
"Seventy-thirty."
"Fifty-fifty!!!"
"Deal."
"?"
"By the way, does killing demons work?"
"Killing demons is such a hassle! Those mortals are like paper tigers. You're a proper martial artist, isn't it as easy as pie?"
"So that means it works. Alright then, starting today, join me in subduing demons, exorcising evil spirits, and capturing all the fierce ghosts and malicious spirits in the world!"
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