Chapter 941: The Grand Devilish Barrier Array

"Daoist, can you not see? With each additional banner, the demands on the wielder grow harsher."

Qin Sang did not let the success of refining such a treasure make him arrogant. He said calmly, "Limited by my cultivation and spiritual consciousness, even if you were to give me a true top-grade astra, I could not bring out more than a fraction of its power. For banner-array treasures like this, it is even more so. At my realm, being able to wield six or seven banners at once is about my limit. That strength is still not enough to contend against a Spiritual Infant grandmaster. To fully unleash the power of all eighteen banners will take a long while yet."

He had long since calculated carefully. The number of banners was not a matter of simply having more. One had to act within their ability. Only when they could maneuver them smoothly in battle would the banners display their true might.

Of course, even if he could command only six banners at once, their combined strength was terrifying. It was comparable to a high-grade astra, a dream treasure for any Core Formation cultivator.

Bai did not comment further. After a short rest, he returned again into the ghostly mist to lure more spirits.

One after another, the banners took form. Grinding his teeth through the labor, Bai finally helped Qin Sang refine all fifteen banners.

Swish!

The last banner quivered under Qin Sang’s infusion of true essence, the fabric trembling and emitting a hunting sound.

Then, with a flick of his finger, the three original Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions flew out from his sleeve. The fifteen new banners rose as well, circling around them. The embryonic form of a grand array woven from devilish banners began to emerge.

Even Qin Sang, with his composure, felt a surge of excitement. This would likely be his strongest astra for a very long time. Once he entered the Spiritual Infant Realm, this treasure would allow him to suppress cultivators of the same realm.

After all, among the grandmasters of the Spiritual Infant Realm, only a very few were fortunate enough to obtain a true top-grade astra.

"Congratulations on forging such a mighty treasure," Bai clasped his hands in salute. His eyes betrayed delight, for the cage and obsession that had bound him for countless years could finally be resolved.

Qin Sang smiled faintly. "Daoist, you may now lead me to harvest the devilish flame. I hope the flaw in the devilish barrier you spoke of can be used, and no accidents arise."

Bai replied with great confidence, "Rest assured, I have pondered escape with every breath for unending years. How could there be an oversight at such a time? Follow me..."

Before his words had finished, Bai dispersed the bound spirits and flickered away into the ghostly mist.

Qin Sang recalled his incarnation and phoenix wings, leaving only the Two-Headed Hou at his side, and sped after Bai deeper into the ghostly land. Soon he saw Bai halt ahead.

This was precisely the place where Bai had once hidden the flying yaksha.

The area had just suffered a battle. Nearby bone mountains lay half-collapsed, ravines cut across the land, shattered bones littered the ground, and spirits floated aimlessly in chaos.

Only now did Qin Sang get the chance to study the place carefully.

His gaze swept back and forth, finding nothing unusual, until his eyes fell on the bone mountain Bai had split apart. He thought to himself that surely there was something hidden beneath it.

Even the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had failed to perceive this secret. It must be because of the devilish barrier and the spirit-delivering grand array.

"Scatter!" Bai barked. Corpse qi erupted from his body, releasing a strange fluctuation.

The surrounding spirits, touched by the aura, screamed in terror as if encountering their nemesis, fleeing in all directions. In a breath, the area around them became completely empty.

Then Bai flashed down to the devastated bone mountain, flinging out beams of spiritual light that opened a passage directly into the mass of bones.

Qin Sang appeared at the entrance, extending his spiritual consciousness inside. After confirming no danger, he stepped in.

Walking along the tunnel of pale bones, Qin Sang felt his heart shudder. Staring at Bai’s back, he sank into thought.

What had Bai and his companions endured back then, to meet such a tragic end?

In this vast ghostly land, bones tower like mountains, spirits drift beyond counting. If they had all once been cultivators, what an immense battle must have taken place?

The sealing of Seven-Kill Hall. The present cultivation world is in shambles, with storms raging everywhere. What connection is there between those events? Regrettably, Bai has lost his memories. Otherwise, I might have glimpsed a fragment of ancient secrets.

He sighed quietly, following Bai down to the base of the bone mountain. There the ground appeared pitch-black, eerie in its hue, the dried color of once-soaked blood, stark against the pale bones above.

The ground seemed empty, but as Bai waved his hand, light flashed, revealing a stairway descending into a spacious cavern below.

Following him inside, Qin Sang’s eyes flickered with surprise at the sight. The cavern was broad but low, leaving him barely able to stand upright.

At its center stood an ancient altar. The stone pillars upon it bore the marks of countless years, long since silent and decayed like the bones outside.

Beside the altar lay a stone coffin, its lid pushed aside, the interior empty. The altar and the coffin were the only things within. Qin Sang studied the altar.

Despite his mastery over arrays and barriers, he could not discern its function. He could only guess it was the Array Eye of the grand array for delivering spirits.

When his gaze shifted to the coffin, Bai gave a bitter smile. "This is where I slept. Had you not stumbled upon me, this would have been my eternal resting place. Back then, when my true body left this coffin behind, perhaps it foresaw that the day of seeing the sun again would never come."

"Daoist, to endure such endless loneliness, bound here... that is beyond the strength of ordinary men," Qin Sang said with genuine feeling.

"When even time itself is forgotten, one grows used to it." Bai laughed freely, then pointed at the altar. "Your first task is to harvest the devilish flame sealed within the devilish barrier around the altar. This is the most crucial point, and also the easiest to handle. Once this section of the barrier is broken, tackling the others will be far easier. So long as all these key nodes are destroyed, I can stir the ghostly mist and the grand array to shatter the devilish barrier entirely—"

"Wait." Qin Sang raised his voice to interrupt. "The instant the barrier breaks, the uproar will surely be enormous. We have nowhere to hide in the ghostly land. We too will be caught in the shock. Where should we conceal ourselves? How can we avoid the perception of the one outside?"

Bai answered with confidence, "You don't need to worry. Before the barrier breaks, I will guide its force to blast directly toward the entrance. Also, within here there are places where the aftermath will not reach us. We only need to wait until the turbulence subsides, then depart at once. I will control the remaining ghostly mist to hide us. That man, struck suddenly by the blast, even if not gravely wounded, will be distracted, and that will be our chance to escape."

"Your plan is thorough! In that case, I too have a treasure that may aid us. Since that man is a top expert, we must prepare more concealments before we can be at ease."

After pondering a while, Qin Sang took out a piece of red gauze from his Thousand-Jin Ring. It was the ancient treasure, the Red Origin Gauze, obtained from the Fang-surnamed youth.