Chapter 438: Verification

Wang Yu rose from the metal chair, pondering as he walked toward the black mist region shrouded by the white curtain.

He stepped forward and formed a hand seal with one hand.

The white curtain parted automatically; he stepped onto the ground littered with shattered bones and entered the swirling black mist.

Wherever he passed, the black mist parted, quickly revealing the white bone altar at the center, and the white bone banner planted upon it.

The banner's shaft was translucent as jade, its surface pitch-black and glossy, inscribed with a pair of eerie white bone gates, within which countless grotesque skeletons clad in thick bone armor brandished various bone weapons, struggling desperately to claw their way out.

This was precisely the second-rank White Bone Yin Demon Banner that had been nurtured on the login interface.

Wang Yu waved his hand; with a "whoosh," the bone banner shot straight up from the altar and landed firmly in his grasp.

He shook the banner.

Twenty-five gray-white inscription shadows simultaneously appeared, converging toward the bone gate on the banner's surface.

In an instant, a chilling wind howled.

A massive bone gate, wreathed in black mist, materialized from the banner's surface, and from within it leapt forth a host of white bone skeletons clad in thick bone armor.

There were twelve such bone armored warriors, each standing two zhang tall—slightly taller than the real-world bone demon men, their bone armor thicker, whiter, and more crystalline.

In their hands they bore either bone shields and giant blades, or bone bows and crossbows as ranged weapons.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes at this sight.

These bone demon men, now fused with the banner, seemed to have undergone subtle changes since his last observation.

Though still at the peak of Artisan Cultivation, their aura had clearly strengthened slightly—evidently, they had devoured numerous yin spirits and ghostly entities during this time.

Wang Yu shifted his gaze to the faint black shadows visible within the surrounding mist; after a brief pause, he plunged the banner vertically into the empty air before him and tapped his forehead.

A flash of silver light appeared, and suddenly a black metallic block materialized in his hand; he shook it and hurled it onto the nearby ground, then formed a seal and pointed at the metal block.

A spell flickered and vanished into the metal.

A "sizzle" rang out.

Several spiritual rune shadows surfaced on the black metal's surface, then vanished instantly—as if some seal had been broken.

The next moment, a chorus of "hmmh" sounds erupted from the metal block; under swirling black mist, dozens of pig spirit shadows glowing with bloodlight flew out—varying in size, densely packed, nearly a hundred in total.

Without Wang Yu activating the banner, the twelve bone armored warriors immediately flared crimson flames in their eye sockets, charging toward the pig spirit shadows, swinging their bone weapons to shatter them and devouring them greedily.

Not only that—numerous shadowy yin spirits surged from the surrounding mist, competing with the bone warriors for the spirit fragments.

The bone warriors swung their weapons again, dragging in these yin spirits, shredding them, and swallowing them whole.

Yet more pig spirit shadows continuously emerged from the metal block, spewing bloodlight and engaging the bone warriors in renewed combat.

Before the twelve peak-Artisan bone warriors, the crimson pig spirit shadows offered no resistance—but they came in endless waves, and from time to time, fresh groups of yin spirits burst from the mist to join the fray.

For a time, the area echoed with ceaseless battles and devouring sounds.

Wang Yu ignored the struggle before him; after a moment's thought, he extended one palm, fingers upward, and flipped it over.

Tiny crystalline lights flickered in his palm as another black metallic block began to coalesce—yet when it formed halfway, it "popped" and dissolved into scattered light.

Indeed, it won't work!

Wang Yu felt no surprise, only furrowed his brows, confirming once more that any artifact or material directly tied to yin energy or ghostly entities could not be freely replicated within the interface space.

Yet spiritual bones capable of being transformed into yin energy within talismanic arrays faced no such restrictions.

Still, he had one more matter to verify.

He tapped his forehead again; silver light flashed repeatedly, and a large pile of black metallic blocks suddenly appeared on the ground around him—varying in size, piled together.

Then Wang Yu spoke: "Taiyuan, log out of the interface."

A flash of white light enveloped him.

When he closed and reopened his eyes, he stood once more in his small room in the real world.

Without hesitation, Wang Yu sent a thread of spiritual awareness into the mysterious talisman—inside its storage space, the pile of black metallic soul-iron remained exactly where he had left it.

Wang Yu silently murmured, "Log in to the interface," his expression unreadable.

The next instant, he reappeared in the center of the silver hall, bathed in white light.

Wang Yu glanced at the black mist region under the white curtain, tapped his forehead, and released a burst of silver light that swept across the ground nearby.

When the light faded, the ground was empty—nothing remained.

His expression unchanged, he sent another thread of spiritual awareness into the talisman's storage space.

The pile of black metal blocks still sat undisturbed in the corner, unchanged in quantity.

Wang Yu exhaled softly, unsurprised by this outcome.

When he first obtained the mysterious talisman and discovered that yin-related artifacts like the Yin Demon Banner and bone demon men could not be replicated within the login space, he had repeatedly attempted to carry them in and out using the talisman, then extract them—yet all such efforts had failed in the same manner.

These artifacts, puppets, and even materials, no matter how many times they passed in and out of the interface space, could only be replicated once as projections; if brought back into the interface space via the talisman a second time, they could no longer be extracted.

Now, these soul-iron materials infused with countless souls proved no different.

Wang Yu pondered as he stepped into the white curtain.

The black mist parted, and the White Bone Yin Demon Banner still stood upright in midair.

On the ground before the banner, the pile of soul-iron remained exactly where it had been.

The twelve bone armored warriors continued their battle and devouring of the pig spirit shadows.

"Even if infinite replication is impossible, this much soul-iron should be sufficient to push these bone demon men to the second-rank 'Yin Bone Demon.'"

Wang Yu murmured, seized the banner before him, and channeled a torrent of yin energy directly into his body, instantly transforming it into pure cultivation power.

He activated the power and shook the banner once more.

A "puff" sounded.

The black banner surface rolled, transforming into a black ribbon that shot out and then snapped back.

The pile of soul-iron on the ground vanished instantly, absorbed into the banner.

Wang Yu formed a hand seal, murmured incantations, and sent a thread of spiritual awareness into the yin energy space within the White Bone Yin Demon Banner, beginning to reinforce or weaken the sealing spells upon the pile of soul-iron.

His goal: to prevent all the souls within the soul-iron from erupting at once, but instead to unseal them gradually as the spells failed one by one.

Thus, even if he did not enter the login interface frequently, the twelve bone demon men would have a steady supply of souls to devour.

Wang Yu glanced once more at the bone warriors still battling the pig spirit shadows, flicked his wrist, and the banner became a streak of black light, plunging back into the white bone altar.

He softly murmured, "Log out of the interface," and vanished in a flash of white light.