After a simple yet not simplistic master recognition ceremony, you became the new master of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
You feel this treacherous thing isn't being completely honest with you, full of wicked schemes.
But it doesn't matter. Use it for this lifetime and see whether it ultimately becomes a positive aid or a negative influence for you.
For you, improving your cultivation is important, but drawing traits is even more crucial.
In the last simulation, Old Liu went from the Ninth Stage of Body Refining to the Soul Tempering Realm in six years, but judging by his condition, he wouldn't live much longer.
Improving cultivation like that, only advancing one realm in a whole lifetime, isn't cost-effective.
For you, the optimal solution is to maximize cultivation speed while ensuring you live long enough.
This area was a mass burial ground, with many banners, spirit money, and similar items scattered about.
You casually picked up a tattered black soul-summoning banner and let the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's artifact spirit temporarily inhabit it.
"Hey! Bro! This thing is way too shabby!"
"Make do for now. I'll find an artifact smith later to forge you a Spirit Artifact body."
"Bro, you're the best!"
"But my resources are limited. I might only be able to forge a Low-Grade or Mid-Grade one at most."
"How are your resources limited? Go rob someone!"
"Your methods really are wild..."
As an Immortal Artifact, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner had countless marvelous uses. Changing size, integrating into the body—these were all basic operations.
"Will others detect you with their spiritual sense?"
"No way! I'm an Immortal Artifact. If just anyone could casually detect my presence, would I even deserve to be called an Immortal Artifact? Wouldn't I lose all face? Unless you take me out right in front of someone, then forget I said anything."
"Bro, I hope you understand. In the eyes of the world, you are the definitive number one evil artifact, the kind everyone wants to destroy. So you absolutely cannot be exposed."
"Prejudice! That's pure prejudice! The evil ones were my previous masters who didn't walk the righteous path. What does that have to do with me? If a butcher uses a kitchen knife to kill someone, does that make the kitchen knife evil? Huh? Answer me!"
"Did you forget you just told me to go kill people, to go rob someone?"
"Did I say that? Fine, I've turned over a new leaf now."
After obtaining the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, you chose Hongtong County as the location for your first battle to subdue demons and vanquish monsters.
With the "Monster Aura" trait, you could judge a monster's strength by the depth of its demonic aura.
Start by picking the soft targets.
Inside a mountain god temple in Laogou Village, Hongtong County.
A group of villagers were here praying to the mountain god.
Some prayed for children, some for marriage prospects, some for favorable weather and bountiful harvests.
Finally, they placed a child still in swaddling clothes beneath the deity statue.
The child, losing its mother's warm embrace or perhaps sensing some danger, began to wail loudly.
The villagers present listened to the cries unmoved.
Suddenly, the statue's eyes lit up. The infant slowly rose into the air and landed in the crook of the statue's arm.
"Oh! Fellow villagers, the mountain god has accepted our offering! Our prayers will be answered!"
"Hahaha, wonderful, wonderful..."
"Next year will definitely be another bumper year!"
Just as the villagers were celebrating joyfully, you walked in from outside the temple.
"Monster! Let that child go!!"
You held a spear in one hand, carried a long sword on your back, your jet-black hair fluttering in the wind, your fitted clothes rustling sharply.
Without another word, you thrust your spear, your figure flashing, and with one stab, you shattered the so-called mountain god stone statue.
The infant fell into the crook of your arm. You looked at her gently.
The child stopped crying and smiled.
Seeing this, the villagers were furious.
"Where did this madman come from! How dare he offend the mountain god!!"
"Drive him out!"
"Give our offering back to us!"
Your fierce gaze swept over these ignorant villagers as you sternly rebuked them.
"Fools! There has never been any savior, nor do we rely on gods or emperors! To create a happy life, you can only rely on yourselves!"
You almost sang it.
Suddenly, a chilling wind blew into the temple.
A blurry figure, seated within a cloud of white mist emitting a holy light, appeared on the shattered base of the stone statue.
"Audacious ruffian! You destroyed my incense-receiving divine statue. Do you know your crime??"
Seeing this spectacle, all the villagers immediately knelt.
"The mountain god has manifested!"
"Mountain god, spare us! It was this despicable outsider who destroyed your statue! We of Laogou Village have always revered you!"
"Mountain god! Please calm your anger!"
You glanced sideways at this so-called mountain god.
"Putting on a supernatural act!"
In your eyes, this guy was just a source of demonic aura, monstrous to the core, yet impersonating a god to deceive the villagers.
Deserves execution!!
Fighting spirit soared, the "Alien's Biological Father" trait intensity maxed out!
Holding the infant in one arm, you thrust your spear with the other!
This mountain god probably didn't expect you to start fighting without another word and instinctively retreated.
After a brief exchange, you used your martial arts to disperse the holy light and white mist shrouding this creature.
When the one-eyed wolf head, the filthy, emaciated, grey-furred wolf body was exposed before everyone, the villagers' faces filled with terror.
"This... this is the mountain god?"
You declared loudly.
"Nonsense! What mountain god? This is just a wolf demon!"
The wolf demon, furious and humiliated, charged at you with blood-red eyes.
The wolf demon opened its bloody maw, biting at you repeatedly, and swung its sharp claws, scratching at you in every way.
You stood firm and unmoving, focused only on protecting the infant in your arms, even finding a moment to gently touch the baby's cute little nose.
A hundredfold increase in Vitality Energy, plus a hundredfold weakening when attacked by non-humans, resulted in this.
"Waste! Besides getting me covered in drool, what else can you do?"
The wolf demon was stunned.
After all its efforts, besides tearing your clothes a bit, it couldn't even break your skin!
"Die!"
With an angry shout, your spear pierced through the wolf demon's abdomen, lifting it into the air!
This scene was immensely shocking to the villagers.
The being they had worshipped as a deity was actually skewered on your spear!
And you were simultaneously protecting a fragile infant, without suffering the slightest harm!
After the wolf demon died, the villagers knelt towards you.
"A god has descended to the mortal realm!!"
You were speechless at these ignorant villagers. Did their brains contain nothing but gods?
You returned the infant to the villagers and warned them not to perform human sacrifices again, or you would flood their cropland!
The villagers were terrified and repeatedly promised they wouldn't dare.
You chased the villagers out of the temple, closed the temple doors, took out the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, and captured your first monster soul!
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