Chapter 756: Qi Merging

Over the next several days, Li Luo lived day and night at the Qingming Training Ground, partly to bitterly cultivate the Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art, and partly to reduce the sense of distance between himself and the banner members under his command, because next he needed to carry out the most important "Qi Merging," and so this was the moment when he most needed the banner members under him to lessen their resistance toward him.

As for that "Dragon-Returning Art," it actually wasn't difficult to cultivate, because this was merely a primer; what was truly important was actually the Banner Head Silver Seal.

This silver seal contained a special Mi Fa, and one had to hold this object while circulating the "Dragon-Returning Art" in order to mobilize the power of the banner members.

This was somewhat similar to the military tally in the Wang Chao Empire.

Without this object, any banner head was just one person, and could absolutely not borrow the power of the banner members to do anything.

This was normal, after all. The Twenty Banners counted as the young reserve army of the Li Li Tianwang lineage; this force belonged to each branch, and whether banner head or great banner head, they were all just helping out.

Banner heads flow like water, the banner stands like iron.

Even the banner members were like flowing water, because every few years, all the banner members of the Twenty Banners would disperse along with them. The elites among them might enter the Five Heavenly Dragon Guards, or might be assigned to the territories and cities under each branch's jurisdiction to take up some minor official post. Only those truly outstanding among them would succeed in being ennobled as marquises, and in the future become high-ranking figures within each branch, wielding overwhelming power.

Moreover, if some monstrous talent were to appear and step into that supreme King Grade realm, they might well be able to open up the first foreign-surnamed branch head of the Li Li Tianwang lineage. After all, the old ancestor had once said that even a person of foreign surname, if they could advance into the King Grade, would still possess the qualification and opportunity to open a new branch.

And at that time, the Li Li Tianwang lineage might change from the Five Heavenly Dragon Branches into the Six Heavenly Dragon Branches.

But regrettably, since the founding of the Li Li Tianwang lineage, no foreign-surnamed branch head had yet appeared.

Qingming Training Ground, the area where the Fifth Division was located.

This was a spacious plaza built against the mountains, quite unique, because within it were over a thousand stone platforms. These stone platforms were roughly a zhang or so high, with coiling dragon patterns carved upon them.

These were called Coiling Dragon Stone Platforms.

They were where the banner members cultivated.

And at this moment, on each of these Coiling Dragon Stone Platforms, a human figure sat cross-legged.

The Fifth Division's fifteen hundred members were all gathered here.

Zhao Zhao Yanzhi, Li Shi, and Mu Bi were positioned at the front. At this moment, the gazes of all of them were focused on a silver Coiling Dragon Platform atop the stone steps.

Li Luo sat cross-legged upon it.

Everyone's expression was somewhat solemn, because today Li Luo was beginning to attempt "Qi Merging." Only after a successful Qi Merging would he truly be the Fifth Division's banner head in name and in fact.

At that point, he would be able to rely on the Banner Head Silver Seal to control the power of fifteen hundred banner members.

Under the gaze of those many eyes, Li Luo's Expression Turns Solemn was actually quite calm, with little sign of tension. Although he came from Outer Shenzhou, the many deadly dangers he had experienced were not necessarily matched by those present.

"Everyone, let's begin."

As Li Luo's voice rang out, the expressions of the more than fifteen hundred people present turned solemn, and then they skillfully circulated the Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art they cultivated. In an instant, faint, indistinct dragon shadows emerged within the phase force light radiating from their bodies, appearing and disappearing.

Numerous faint dragon roars echoed throughout the field, rising and falling.

However, these dragon roars appeared quite chaotic, as if a herd of dragons without a head, each wandering aimlessly, unable to form any momentum.

Li Luo saw this scene, took a deep breath, clenched his palm, and the silver Shi Yin representing the banner head's status appeared in his hand. He then immediately circulated the Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art.

As his Evil Refinement Art circulated, dark golden light immediately radiated from within his body. Within the light, there seemed to be a coiling dragon shadow exuding a powerful, majestic aura, and the dragon shadow let out a low, rumbling dragon roar.

The moment this dragon roar spread out, the blurry dragon shadows wandering around all the banner members in the field violently trembled, and faintly began to quiver, as if sensing some form of powerful suppression.

The Evil Refinement Arts cultivated by everyone present all originated from the same lineage, and Li Luo's Nine-Turn Evil Refinement Art was the highest grade among them. The dragon breath it refined was naturally also the most pure, so when his breath of dragon Qi was revealed, it naturally effortlessly overwhelmed all the dragon-breath manifestations in the field.

Even Zhao Zhao Yanzhi, Li Shi, and Mu Bi clearly felt a sense of oppression from the dragon shadow evolved from Li Luo's breath of dark-gold dragon Qi.

This made their hearts tremble with both awe and envy. Was this the legendary Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art? Truly extraordinary.

Li Luo was clearly weaker than them in strength, yet this breath of dragon Qi was far purer than theirs. One could imagine that using this breath of dragon Qi to refine Earth Evil Mysterious Light—what efficiency that would be, enough to make anyone's eyes green with envy.

As for the envy of the three, Li Luo was unaware. At this moment, he had already begun to fully concentrate on activating the "Dragon-Returning Art."

And as the "Dragon-Returning Art" was activated, one saw the dark-gold dragon shadow around Li Luo seem to become filled with spirituality at this moment, its dragon eyes also becoming lively and bright.

Then one saw this dragon shadow slowly wander out, and then merge into the fifteen hundred dragon shadows in the field.

The dark-gold light poured out like liquid silver, covering the numerous dragon shadows.

Some dragon shadows initially showed a bit of resistance and struggled, but very quickly, as the majesty contained within the golden light spread forth, they swiftly became docile.

And more dragon shadows still maintained a high degree of cooperation, one after another continuously merging into the golden light.

Zhao Zhao Yanzhi sensed this scene, and her curvaceous, alluring figure quietly relaxed a little. Li Luo's "Qi Merging" was smoother than imagined.

This step was the most important step in ascending to banner head.

Only after successfully "Qi Merging" with the fifteen hundred members would Li Luo truly be considered the real banner head.

However, this kind of smoothness was indeed as it should be. Although Li Luo had just arrived at the Qingming Banner, and on the surface his strength seemed somewhat unable to command universal respect, with this Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art, actually everything was no longer a problem.

To put it bluntly, Li Luo, who possessed the Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art, had plenty of banner members from other divisions holding a welcoming attitude toward him.

Now that their Fifth Division had climbed up to a banner head who mastered the Nine-Turn Evil Refinement Art, this was something they had never dared to imagine before.

After all, looking across all the divisions of the four banners of the Dragon Fang Branch, apart from that Deng Deng Fengxian of the Jin Guang Banner, who else had obtained the Nine-Turn Dragon Breath Evil Refinement Art?

As more and more dragon shadows merged into the golden light, the dark-gold dragon shadow at the source of the golden light was also growing at a startling speed.

After roughly ten-odd minutes like this.

Li Luo's expression suddenly tightened. He gazed at the area above the fifteen hundred banner members before him, where the golden light seemed to have transformed into an ocean, and within the ocean, a golden dragon shadow roughly a thousand zhang in size slowly swam.

Upon the golden dragon shadow, the dragon scales flickered with dazzling luster, vivid and lifelike, as if a living thing.

At the same time, an extremely powerful energy fluctuation was surging outward wave after wave like a tide, causing the air to erupt with rumbling sounds.

A strange emotion rose in Li Luo's heart.

The dragon shadow before him possessed extremely powerful force. Although this force was not on par with a marquis-tier expert, it was more than enough to contend with a Da Tian Xiang Jing expert.

And most importantly, he could clearly feel that this force... was completely under his command.

"So this is Qi Merging..."

Li Luo's heart surged with emotion. He was currently only at the strength of the Small Evil Palace realm, but after commanding the fifteen hundred members under him, killing enemies across ranks was no longer any difficulty for him.

"I really wonder, when commanding all eight thousand members of the Qingming Banner, what kind of magnificent power would that be?" Li Luo thought expectantly.

And while Li Luo was feeling expectant, Zhao Zhao Yanzhi, Mu Bi, Li Shi, and the others also sensed this fusion of power. Their expressions immediately sharpened, and they solemnly bowed to Li Luo.

"Congratulations, Banner Head, on the successful Qi Merging!"

The fifteen hundred members behind likewise cast reverent gazes toward Li Luo, their voices surging like a tide.

"Congratulations, Banner Head, on your successful Qi Fusion!"

Li Luo smiled warmly and cupped his hands in greeting to the crowd. Everything had gone according to plan, and now that the Qi Fusion was successful, he commanded the strength of fifteen hundred men. From here on out, he had the qualification to open that "Seventy-Two Layer Baleful Demon Cave."