Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 455 Sacrifice! The Black Soul Banner!

After sending Tianxiangzi back to the alchemy room, Chen Fan chatted with Gu Daozi and Old Man Long for a few more minutes by the medicinal field!

The group was simply discussing the situation in the sealed land and the extent of Tianxiangzi's injuries.

After a pleasant conversation, Chen Fan bowed and took his leave, turning to walk towards the cave dwelling where he was temporarily residing in the Grass Valley.

The stone benches and tables in front of the cave remain unchanged, and the spiritual herb that Tianxiangzi touched in front of the door sways gently in the evening breeze.

Chen Fan pushed open the stone door. The interior was simply furnished, just as it had been when he left, except for a thin layer of dust.

He flicked his sleeves, and a gentle breeze swept through, making the room spotless again. He didn't light a lamp, but sat cross-legged on the stone bed, letting in the last bit of daylight from the window.

The cave was quiet and still, seemingly a different world from the vibrant grass and valley outside.

Chen Fan closed his eyes to regulate his breathing for a moment, then opened them again, his eyes calm and serene. He reached out and touched the storage pouch at his waist, and a dark light fell into his palm.

It was a small black banner, about a foot long, its surface neither cloth nor silk, icy to the touch, and exuding a chilling aura that seemed to draw the mind in. It was the Black Soul Banner.

Chen Fan laid it flat on his lap, his fingertips brushing against the cold flagpole.

Since being trapped in the Qingyun Sect, he has rarely used the Black Soul Banner.

Later, when Tianxiangzi was injured, he had to find the Soul-Nourishing Wood and the Vitality Elixir, which was a thorny matter. He was so focused on this that he had no time to think about these things.

It has been a year since he last performed the ritual.

As his thoughts churned, Chen Fan's consciousness slowly sank into the Black Soul Banner.

Upon entering, he felt as if he had stepped into an endless dark void, with howling winds and faint ghostly wails.

Compared to when he first obtained this banner and it contained only a few fragments of his soul, it was a world of difference.

This change is largely thanks to Ji Daozi and his Yin Corpse Sect.

Before Chen Fan left the Great Abyss, he entrusted the task of assisting the Great Abyss in its conquests and collecting souls and corpses to Ji Daozi.

Although Ji Daozi is a man full of bad intentions, a master of flattery, and sometimes acts in ways that are troublesome, he does have a knack for crooked schemes and drive when it comes to business expansion, especially in the business of "collecting corpses, souls, and lives."

He led the disciples of the Yin Corpse Sect, following the army of Emperor Dayuan in battles across the country over the years. Wherever they went, the souls of cultivators who died in battle were mostly collected by his secondary banner, and eventually gathered into the main banner in Chen Fan's hand.

As his thoughts wandered, Chen Fan's divine sense extended within this Soul Banner space.

The black mist churned like a sea, within which were countless, indistinct, souls. Souls at the Qi Refining stage were as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and there were also many at the Foundation Establishment stage. Several exceptionally powerful souls, comparable to those of Core Formation cultivators, could even be sensed lurking deep within!

"Over a million..." Chen Fan thought to himself.

Even he himself was somewhat surprised by this number. Back when the Soul Refining Sect was at its peak, the Soul Sail was divided into primary and secondary sails, with the secondary sails passing on the souls layer by layer. All the souls collected were integrated into the primary sail, which was said to be inexhaustible, and its power was unimaginable.

Now, under Ji Daozi's tireless "management," his Black Soul Banner has begun to resemble that kind of aura.

He calmed his mind, formed hand seals, and began the refining process according to the secret methods of the Soul Refining Sect.

As he chanted incantations, the pure mana of his Nascent Soul stage cultivation slowly flowed into the Black Soul Banner. The banner trembled slightly, emitting a low hum, and the black color on its surface seemed to come alive, beginning to circulate autonomously and radiating an even richer, dark light.

The process of refining was also a process of reorganizing and taking control of these millions of souls. Countless chaotic, fierce, and resentful fluctuations of soul power attempted to impact his divine consciousness, but under Chen Fan's current Nascent Soul stage cultivation, these resistances were like ants trying to shake a tree, and were quickly calmed and straightened out.

The structure of the souls within the banner began to change. The weaker souls were not simply piled up, but under the effect of the secret technique, they subtly formed a kind of formation, with their soul power intertwined, so that the overall power was not simply added together, but qualitatively improved.

Time passed quietly in the silent cave.

Outside the window, the sky was already completely dark, with stars dotting the night. The unique, refreshing medicinal fragrance of the valley at night seeped in through the cracks in the stone door, creating a subtle contrast with the cold, eerie spiritual energy gradually rising within the cave.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Fan changed his hand seals and uttered a low shout: "Condense!"

The black soul banner on his knees moved without wind, suddenly levitating and hovering about a foot in front of him.

The banner fluttered in the wind, billowing on its own even though there was no wind indoors. Originally only a foot long, the banner now slowly expanded to over ten feet as the black light flowed, and a far more powerful, solid, and terrifying pressure spread out, instantly filling the entire cave.

Dust fell from the stone wall, and the indoor temperature plummeted, as if even the air was about to freeze.

Chen Fan opened his eyes, his gaze gleaming as he carefully examined the brand-new Black Soul Banner before him.

On the banner, the black mist was as solid as ink. As it rolled, it was no longer just ghostly shadows, but vaguely revealed all kinds of hideous ghost heads and skeletal demons, emitting silent roars.

On the banner pole, the previously somewhat blurry patterns were now crystal clear. They were runes unique to the Soul Refining Sect, flickering with the flow of soul power.

He had a slight thought, but did not actually activate it; he merely drew upon a trace of the power within the banner.

Suddenly, a flash of black light appeared inside the cave, and three souls with auras comparable to the late-stage Great Perfection of Core Formation materialized. Their faces were clear, their soul bodies were solid, and their eyes revealed a fierce light. However, under Chen Fan's control, they simply floated quietly, emitting a chilling aura that made people's hearts tremble.

In the past, to condense a soul avatar of such strength, it would have required specially mobilizing the stronger individual souls, and it would have been extremely difficult to solidify and tame it so effectively.

"The power has increased more than tenfold..." Chen Fan muttered to himself, a satisfied look on his face.

He carefully sensed that the Black Soul Banner, which had been reforged and contained over a million souls, had already firmly entered the level of a Nascent Soul stage magic weapon when fully activated. Moreover, it was by no means in the early stage; it was at least comparable to the natal magic weapon of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator!

What's even more remarkable is that this banner has extremely high growth potential. As long as the quantity and quality of souls continue to improve, its power can be enhanced almost without limit. This perfectly matches the Soul Refining Sect's record that "the more souls a banner has, the stronger its power."

"A million souls... then I shall call you the 'Million Black Soul Banner'."

Chen Fan reached out, and the ten-foot-long black banner shrank rapidly as if it had a mind of its own, returning to a foot-long length and falling into his palm. The overwhelming pressure also subsided!

He held the million Black Soul Banners in his palm, his fingertips tracing the cool banner poles, but his thoughts drifted away.

I recall that when I first obtained this banner, I had to snatch it from the hands of the Ghost Monk, the old man in the Taoist robe, and others!

Now, time flies, and there are now millions of Black Soul Banners!