PFC Chapter 482 - 263: A Surge in Souls and a Breakthrough in Skills
Chapter 482 - 263: A Surge in Souls and a Breakthrough in Skills
The Soul Banner already contained over five hundred thousand souls, resembling a Purgatory.
Today, a new soul arrived.
"Who’s here now?"
The Five Poison Wanderer looked up, thinking it would be some Tribulation Cultivator.
But the next instant, he saw an incredibly familiar figure.
"Great Saint Child?"
The Five Poison Wanderer was deeply shaken, hardly daring to believe his eyes.
He had been waiting for the Great Saint Child to kill Li Fan and release him from the Venerable Soul Banner.
But what arrived was the Great Saint Child’s soul!
"How could you have been killed by Li Fan?"
"You old bastard, it’s all your fault!"
The Great Saint Child’s face was contorted with fury as he cursed loudly.
If it weren’t for the Five Poison Wanderer, he would never have provoked a powerful enemy like Li Chang’an.
All he had to do was cultivate peacefully, and he could have taken over the Yin Soul Sect from the old Sect Leader, becoming a regional master in his own right.
But now, everything had come to nothing!
Resentment swelled in the Great Saint Child’s heart, and he roared at the sky, "Li Fan, the Yin Soul Sect will hunt you to the ends of the earth! The old Sect Leader already has a Late Stage Golden Core Cultivation. You will surely die by his hand!"
"JIE JIE JIE, still so arrogant even as a soul. It seems you’re in need of some discipline!"
The Evil Soul’s face was savage as it lunged forward with a cruel grin.
The surrounding souls revealed looks of fear and scattered, for all of them had been "disciplined" by the Evil Soul before.
This Evil Soul possessed the memories of countless remnant souls and had an endless arsenal of torture methods. Nearly everyone he tormented was left with deep psychological trauma.
Before long, Li Chang’an heard the Great Saint Child’s blood-curdling screams coming from the Venerable Soul Banner.
’This Evil Soul is quite useful.’
He could tell the Evil Soul was demonstrating its value to secure its position as the Main Soul.
Li Chang’an didn’t interrupt, allowing it to do as it pleased.
Afterward, he quickly cleaned up the traces of battle, erasing both his and Ye Hao’s auras from the area.
Once he had done all this, he transformed into a streak of Spiritual Light and used an Escape Technique to flee at high speed.
After getting far away from the area, Li Chang’an released Ye Hao from his Spirit Beast Bag.
"Daoist Ye, the Great Saint Child is dead."
"Daoist Li, your skills are extraordinary. I am truly impressed!"
Although he had anticipated this outcome, Ye Hao was still shocked.
He knew Li Chang’an would win, but he never expected it to be so fast.
When Cultivators engaged in Magical Combat, if their strengths were comparable, a fight could last for several hours or even days.
Clearly, Li Chang’an’s strength far surpassed the Great Saint Child’s.
The battle was practically a one-sided slaughter.
Li Chang’an said, "Daoist Ye, the Great Saint Child left a Soul Lamp in the Yin Soul Sect. They must already know he’s dead. The Yin Soul Sect might continue to target the Huanghe Alliance, or they might just target me."
He said this as a warning to Ye Hao.
Ye Hao replied, "Don’t worry, Daoist Li. After today, I will lead the Huanghe Alliance into complete hiding. We won’t re-emerge until I successfully achieve Core Formation."
"Core Formation?"
Li Chang’an sized up Ye Hao.
Ye Hao’s aura had already reached Foundation Establishment Peak; he wasn’t far from Core Formation.
’A mere Low Grade Spirit Root, yet he cultivates even faster than I do with my Earth Spirit Root. It’s completely illogical.’
"Daoist Ye, what are your chances of success?"
"Seventy percent!"
Ye Hao stated a very high success rate.
Li Chang’an cupped his fists. "In that case, I wish you a smooth Core Formation, Daoist Ye!"
"Thank you, Daoist Li."
A moment later, the two parted ways.
Ye Hao returned to the Huanghe Alliance.
Li Chang’an, meanwhile, proceeded as usual toward Soul-breaking Cliff in the Blood Stone Secret Realm.
On the way, he began to take stock of his gains from the battle.
The Tier Three Refined Corpse the Great Saint Child had controlled, along with that Venerable Soul Banner, had now become his spoils.
’The quality of this Tier Three Refined Corpse is slightly higher than the one I obtained before.’
Li Chang’an took out the Tier Three Refined Corpse, erased all the imprints within it, and re-refined it for himself.
It contained over three hundred thousand souls. While the quantity was immense, their quality was inferior to the souls in Li Chang’an’s own Venerable Soul Banner.
Li Chang’an fed it to his own Venerable Soul Banner, letting it be devoured.
With this, the number of souls in his Soul Banner now exceeded eight hundred and fifty thousand!
Originally, the Artifact Spirit had estimated that he would need about nine hundred thousand souls to match the power of a Middle Stage of Golden Core cultivator.
However, due to the drop in the quality of the souls, it recalculated its estimate.
"Master, you’ll probably need a million souls."
"Fine."
Li Chang’an nodded slightly.
A million souls was not a large number for him at his current stage.
He could gather the rest just by killing another Saint Child.
Of course, having just killed the Great Saint Child, he needed to keep a low profile for a while.
He could slowly acquire the remaining hundred thousand or so souls from Demonic Cultivators, just as he had done before.
Li Chang’an put away the Refined Corpse and the Soul Banner, then took out the Great Saint Child’s Storage Pouch. He wiped away the restriction left on it and opened it for a look.
’These are all Demonic Treasures, useless to me. I should be able to trade them for quite a few souls.’
A moment later, with a flash of Spiritual Light in his hand, a Jade Scroll appeared.
Within this Jade Scroll was the Tier Three Top Grade Skin Painting Technique inheritance mentioned in the Divination!
’The Skin Painting Technique isn’t that difficult to cultivate. As long as I practice diligently, I should be able to break through to Tier Three soon.’
This skill wasn’t as difficult as Puppetry, Alchemy, or Talisman Painting; among the Hundred Skills of Cultivation Immortality, it was considered one of the simpler ones.
Li Chang’an’s mastery of the Skin Painting Technique had been stuck at Tier Two Top Grade for a long time. With his exquisite skill, breaking through shouldn’t be difficult.
Before long, he arrived at the edge of Soul-breaking Cliff and tossed all the suspicious items from the Storage Pouch over the side.
’This trip went smoothly. Time to head back.’
Li Chang’an didn’t linger. He transformed into a streak of Spiritual Light and returned to Changqing Mountain.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Ye Hao had also returned to the Huanghe Alliance’s hiding place.
Just as he entered the hideout, he heard Ou Qingyan’s voice.
"Everyone, Alliance Leader Ye Hao is too impulsive! By blindly trusting that Li Fan, he has very likely brought a disaster of annihilation upon our Huanghe Alliance!"