Chapter 470: Second-Rank Yin Soul Banner

The next morning, Shi Qiuping led seven or eight disciples of Mi Mountain Sect, boarding two spirit boats, heading straight for the Hanlan River marketplace.

This marketplace sat atop a second-rank small spiritual vein deep in the upper reaches of the Hanlan River, no more than a day or two’s journey from Mi Mountain Sect’s current base.

If Shi Qiuping’s group encountered no delays on the road, they should return within three or four days.

At this moment, Wang Yu had quietly arrived before a highly concealed hall, ten or more zhang beneath the ground.

The hall’s surrounding walls were built of thick blue stone; its massive door, black and glossy, was forged from refined iron, and sealed with several suppression talismans, as if to prevent something inside from escaping.

More strikingly, on either side of the iron door crouched a metal lion statue, each shimmering with blue light, seemingly cast from bronze.

As Wang Yu drew near, the two lion statues, each over a zhang long, flashed red light in their eyes and slowly rose from the ground, emitting low roars like real lions, while their front paws hissed as they extended razor-sharp claws, their bodies radiating the spiritual energy of late Foundation Establishment.

Wang Yu, as if prepared, raised one hand and produced a bronze token of identical material, waving it once toward the two bronze lions.

“Puh.” “Puh.”

A spell flew out from each token, vanishing instantly into the bodies of the two bronze lions; their red eyes dimmed, and they sank back into their original positions, reverting to statue form.

Wang Yu clicked his tongue—his current vision could clearly see two silver characters, no larger than soybeans, stamped on the necks of the two bronze golems: “Ling Lei Sect.”

These two golems were among the spoils he acquired from Heisha Sect.

They had originally guarded the entrance to Heisha Sect’s treasure vault; perhaps in their haste to flee, Heisha’s people had focused solely on removing the vault’s contents and abandoned these two golems—luckily for him.

Now, Wang Yu had enlisted several members of his sect with basic knowledge of golem mechanics to reconfigure them, crafting new control tokens, and repositioned them here.

Wang Yu stepped before the door, flicked his sleeve, and several spells shot forth.

The talismans stuck to the iron door fluttered down, and the door slowly opened.

He slipped inside, and the door shut behind him; the talismans that had fallen to the ground flashed once and reattached themselves.

Wang Yu now stood at the entrance of this mysterious hall.

Before him rolled thick black mist, icy winds howled, and from deep within the hall came the wails of ghosts and the howls of wolves; within the black mist, shadowy figures flickered in and out—clearly newly born yin spirits.

The floor was carpeted with a dense layer of animal bones, stretching straight to the hall’s center.

Wang Yu’s expression remained unchanged as he stepped across the white bone path toward the hall’s center.

Wherever he passed, the surrounding black mist retreated, faintly clearing a path, yet ahead came a chilling cold that struck his face.

From the animal bones beneath his feet, thin tendrils of black mist occasionally rose—slowly, but undeniably continuing to seep out.

Wang Yu ignored it all, narrowed his eyes, and infused a bit of spiritual energy into his pupils, clearly seeing more black mist rising from towering piles of bones in the hall’s corners.

Looking up, he saw a faint white light curtain hovering above the hall’s ceiling, enveloping the entire structure.

This setup was identical to the system’s login interface—he had forcibly transformed it into a yin energy zone using simple feng shui suppressions and the animal bones on the ground.

This was not like the spiritless world of Blue Star: with spiritual energy and animal bones on the ground, vast quantities of yin energy could be continuously generated, spawning yin spirits endlessly.

Wang Yu paid no further attention to it; after walking another dozen steps, he saw a white bone altar ahead.

This altar, in both design and size, matched exactly the one in the system interface.

The only difference was the bone banner planted atop the altar.

Though the lower half of the banner’s shaft was as translucent as jade, the upper black banner surface bore no patterns; instead, it fluttered without wind, continuously drawing in nearby black mist, making its surface gleam with oily luster.

A bit farther from the altar, thirteen massive white skeletons sat cross-legged, each clad in thick bone armor, with giant bone bows, swords, and blades placed before them.

Several of these skeletons bore fine cracks on their armor and weapons; some limbs were partially missing, yet thin tendrils of black mist constantly wound around them, slowly seeping into the bone armor.

Nearby, on the ground, occasional bones would leap up spontaneously, exploding into bone dust midair, then either drifting onto the giant skeletons or being absorbed by the bone weapons below, repairing the cracks.

Among these thirteen white skeletons, two were noticeably smaller in size, their bone armor pristine and new.

“Looks like repairs are nearly complete. Then I can proceed to the next step.”

Wang Yu murmured, watching it all.

This bone banner was, of course, the Yin Soul Banner he had brought to Blue Star; but after exhausting too much yin energy there, as soon as he set up the small spirit gathering array here, he immediately replicated the system interface’s yin zone, converting the former Heisha Sect underground vault into this.

Though rushed, he was fortunate: this was the Eastern Wastelands, where demonic beast bones were most abundant—even Heisha Sect’s vault had left behind a large pile of below-first-rank bones.

Wang Yu unhesitatingly dumped them all into this newly created yin zone.

Though these unranked and first-rank bones offered little enhancement to the current Yin Soul Banner, they were more than sufficient to replenish yin energy.

As for the twelve white bone demon skeletons before him, two were newly selected replacements he had drawn from his storage pouch.

After all, two of the original white bone demon skeletons intended for synthesizing the White Bone Yin Demon Banner had been lost in the hands of the British Commonwealth on Blue Star.

Later, as China and the British Commonwealth reconciled, and the Opening Heaven Project opened to outsiders, the “Helena” clone joined the base; both sides silently agreed not to inquire into the true cause of the original Helena’s death, nor to press for the whereabouts of the two white bone demon skeletons taken by the British Commonwealth.

After all, white bone demon skeletons were merely golems—once their internal yin energy was spent, they became inert objects, and Wang Yu did not care much.

Yet in the days following his interactions with the clone “Helena,” he always felt her gaze upon him was strange, and he vaguely sensed she knew the original Helena had not truly died—that was why she joined the base, deliberately drawing near to him.

Wang Yu shook his head, swiftly suppressing these thoughts, and his gaze returned to the bone banner on the altar.

He raised one hand, and the banner transformed into a swirl of black light, rising into the air, spinning once before landing steadily in his grasp.

He gripped the translucent banner shaft, infused a touch of spiritual energy—and instantly, the banner hummed, its twelve gray-white inscription shadows flickering faintly into view.

Wang Yu’s eyes widened sharply!

This Yin Soul Banner, originally a first-rank artifact on Blue Star, had now become a second-rank low-grade artifact; though twelve-inscription artifacts were among the weakest in the second-rank category, it was undeniably a second-rank artifact.

Yet when he first brought it to Blue Star, it had only condensed eight inscriptions, and even the ninth was only half-formed.

How, after merely replenishing yin energy in this yin zone, had it suddenly gained several more inscriptions and advanced on its own?