Chapter 76: Protective Item

"Sorry, I was working out and didn't answer your call."

Ruan Hongzhuang's message came back quickly.

"I see."

"Aren't you angry?"

"Why would I be angry?"

It was followed by a confused emoji.

Shen Siyuan found her adorable.

"If I don't contact you for a day, aren't you upset?"

"You must be busy with something."

Ruan Hongzhuang's thinking surprised Shen Siyuan.

"You really think that?"

"I'm busy too. I actually planned to contact you this morning and afternoon, but feared disturbing your work; I also thought about reaching out at noon, but worried about interrupting your rest..."

Shen Siyuan stared at the few short lines on his phone, frozen in thought for a long while.

He wasn't inexperienced in romance—he'd dated in college—but in that relationship, he was almost always the one giving.

Even when they finally got together, Shen Siyuan gave more, often sacrificing himself to accommodate his girlfriend's feelings.

Though Ruan Hongzhuang's behavior made Shen Siyuan find it slightly amusing, it was the first time he had so directly felt a woman's kindness toward him.

After thinking it over, Shen Siyuan composed another message and sent it.

"I wasn't actually busy today—I just forgot. I've been single so long that suddenly having someone made me unaccustomed. That's my fault..."

"Then I'll help you adjust quickly. (Smile.jpg)"

"Great. Are you free this Saturday? Let's go hiking, shopping, watch a movie, eat together... get to know each other."

Since he'd decided to date her, Shen Siyuan resolved to take the initiative.

But after sending the message, he suddenly remembered—he had plans with Hong Wenqing this Saturday.

But the message was already sent; he couldn't recall it. Hong Wenqing would understand him, right?

Hong Wenqing: ...

The two didn't chat long; after setting a time, they ended the conversation.

Jiang Tao, who had been leaning over beside her watching Ruan Hongzhuang's phone, said: "I now think you two are actually quite compatible."

"Oh, really? Why do you think that?" Ruan Hongzhuang replied, delighted.

"Because you're both just as strange," Jiang Tao said.

"Hmph, Jiang Tao, it seems I've been too nice to you..."

"No, please..."

Shen Siyuan put away his phone, focused his mind, and summoned the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner] again.

After Lu Guanchang's wish vanished, his soul transformed into the purest soul energy, feeding back into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Combined with the previous two strands of merit, though still negligible for repairing the banner, it had some effect.

Shen Siyuan's spiritual sense, like a wisp of blue smoke, curled around the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner], and in a daze, he arrived in a chaotic space.

The space wasn't large—roughly the size of a seventy- to eighty-square-meter room—surrounded entirely by gray mist.

Inside, cluttered piles of objects lay scattered: swords, spears, halberds, jars, bottles, gold, silver, jewels, brocade garments...

This was one of the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner]’s built-in storage spaces.

As an ancient treasure of the Yinming Sect, the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner] had an extraordinary origin, containing nine layers of seals, each layer composed of countless hive-like spaces stacked upon one another, with higher layers being larger and containing more individual cells.

As the owner of the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner], Shen Siyuan could now perceive its full form: the entire banner was a giant inverted beehive suspended in the void.

But now the beehive was severely damaged, with higher layers more broken than lower ones.

Most of the cells served as dwellings for spirits, filled with the Youmingguiyu , abundant Mingqi , and captured souls, where they could cultivate, sleep, or even train armies.

For example, when Dou Dou and Yin Xingyue were absorbed into the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner], they were placed in a different space from Du Xiuzhi and Lu Guanchang.

After the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner] was damaged, many "cells" were destroyed, causing previously separate cells to merge. Since different cells had different—or even opposing—rules,

this caused many cells to lose their original order, becoming chaotic and dangerous; some cells vanished entirely, turning into nothingness.

Each layer had one entrance, and once inside, the cells followed a spatial sequence.

Only by entering one cell could you reach the next; if any cell was missing or damaged, it was like a broken bridge—nearly impossible to reach the next cell.

This was why Shen Siyuan wanted to repair the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner]: unless repaired, some cells were completely inaccessible; he needed to restore them properly, not just accept the damage as final.

Fortunately, the first-layer storage cell had remained intact; after repairing the surrounding cells, he finally gained entry.

But the first-layer storage space contained only miscellaneous items from when the Nine Yin Demon Lord first began his cultivation.

Though the swords, spears, gold, and jewels seemed valuable, in the cultivation world of the Great Wasteland, they were utterly useless—mere mundane objects used by ordinary people.

What was most useful to Shen Siyuan were the jars and bottles.

Since Shen Siyuan possessed only fragmented memories of the Nine Yin Demon Lord, he didn’t know what was inside these jars and bottles, so he rummaged through them thoroughly.

He soon realized: there’s no such thing as a misnamed nickname—the Nine Yin Demon Lord earned his title for a reason; these jars and bottles contained nothing but dark, poisonous substances meant for use against enemies.

Shen Siyuan dared not remove them from the space; one misstep could cause a catastrophe.

Shen Siyuan felt disappointed. After finally repairing part of the beehive and entering the first-layer storage space, he found not a single spiritual item beneficial to his cultivation.

But he understood why: the first-layer storage space was where the Nine Yin Demon Lord kept things when he was still weak. If he’d had any celestial or terrestrial spiritual items back then, he would have consumed them long ago—why leave them now?

Undeterred, Shen Siyuan rummaged through the clutter, sorting everything while mentally complaining: the Nine Yin Demon Lord was useless—definitely messy, never organized anything.

After sorting everything, Shen Siyuan finally spotted, in a corner, a spherical object glowing red and blue. Upon closer inspection, it was a cluster of long worms coiled together—he was overjoyed.

This was an unexpected find.

It was called the Iron-Eating Firefly, a creature living in metal veins, feeding on iron and metal, shaped like a blade, body like refined iron, glowing like fireflies.

When gathered in large numbers, they flew into the air during battle like countless flying swords, a spectacular sight—hence also called the Flying Sword Firefly.

Clearly, these Iron-Eating Fireflies were captured by the Nine Yin Demon Lord in his early cultivation days as a protective item.

He absorbed them into the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner], cultivated them, and granted them new abilities.

Originally, they could only pierce flesh and devour blood; now they could unleash Ming fire to burn souls.

So calling them Ming Fireflies was more appropriate.

Unfortunately, their number was small.

Shen Siyuan's spiritual sense swept up, and the cluster of Ming Fireflies landed in his palm.

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