466: Chapter 481 Soul-Devouring Demon Lord!

Lu Ming immediately scolded sternly, stopping the human emperor banner from further action.

However, the human emperor banner, which had always been docile and obedient, seemed not to hear him this time.

The yellow light all over the banner not only did not recede but became even more intense, and the speed of devouring suddenly accelerated a bit, having a sense of ravenous hunger.

Seeing this, Lu Ming's face suddenly turned gloomy.

This was the first time since he possessed the human emperor banner that such a situation of disobeying orders had occurred.

Lu Ming, this person, hated things that were not under his control the most!

Regardless of his own severely injured body, Lu Ming forcefully pinched a formula and recited a spell, using the banner master's authority to forcefully suppress it.

His Divine Thought turned into invisible chains, wrapping around the human emperor banner layer by layer, tightly restricting its next move.

Feeling the resistance, the human emperor banner trembled violently, as if struggling and resisting.

At the same time, a vague intention was transmitted from the banner, without words, only a kind of desire that was pure to the point of instinct.

It felt to Lu Ming very much like a young beast protecting its food, baring its teeth and guarding the prey in its mouth, refusing to let go no matter how the master scolded it.

Lu Ming suddenly felt both angry and amused, but the movements of his hands did not relax in the slightest because of this.

Instead, he increased the speed of the tightening of the Divine Thought chains, and the suppressive power on the human emperor banner became stronger and stronger.

Finally, the human emperor banner could not withstand the banner master's mark.

The banner face suddenly expanded, spitting out the soul devouring banner wrapped in that group of yellow light.

The soul devouring banner fell to the ground and bounced twice, rolling several feet away, and the phantom of the dead souls on the banner face also let out uneasy wails.

The human emperor banner returned to its original state, quietly floating in mid-air, motionless.

Only the slightly trembling banner face and the flickering ghostly light seemed to be feeding back its extremely reluctant emotions.

Lu Ming tentatively communicated with the human emperor banner with his Divine Thought, wanting to see what was going on, but received no feedback.

Well, appraisal complete, it was sulking.

Regarding this, Lu Ming was somewhat dumbfounded.

But this was not the time to care about these things.

He raised his hand and cast a mysterious light, suppressing the soul devouring banner, which was about to take the opportunity to escape, to the ground.

He also forcefully erased the last trace of Bone Underworld's spiritual mark on it with his Divine Thought, sealed it layer by layer, and finally put it into his storage ring.

After doing all this, he re-examined the human emperor banner.

At this look, his brows wrinkled.

On the banner face, that layer of spiritual light was clearly deeper and more agile than before.

It seemed to have life, slowly flowing on the banner face, like breathing, like a pulse beating!

Lu Ming felt a trace of surprise in his heart, and without caring about the resistance of the human emperor banner, he forcibly took over its control as the banner master and carefully investigated it.

Looking at it, he immediately discovered many changes in the human emperor banner.

The most obvious one was that the spirituality in the banner was several times more active than before.

Looking closely, one could find that at the core of the banner, a somewhat hazy newborn consciousness had already existed!

"Is this... the transformation of spirituality?"

Lu Ming's heart moved, and he suddenly thought of a possibility.

The so-called Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure lies in this word "spirit," it is a spiritual Magic Treasure, and also a psychic treasure!

Only by giving birth to spirituality can it be considered qualified to advance to a Fourth Tier Spirit Treasure!

No matter how powerful the human emperor banner was before, it only belonged to the category of Peak Third Tier.

It could increase its potential infinitely by devouring souls, but it could never touch that layer of Bottleneck.

But clearly, the current human emperor banner already had it!

"Why would spirituality be born suddenly?"

Lu Ming felt a little strange.

Logically speaking, the human emperor banner still needed some time to conceive spirituality.

But now it suddenly had it!

"No, it is impossible for spirituality to be born without reason, there must be some opportunity that I have ignored."

Lu Ming muttered to himself, and then began to carefully recall every detail that had happened since using the human emperor banner this time.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, and he vaguely guessed the reason.

"Could it be because of the Law of Reincarnation?"

In fact, when this guess popped up in Lu Ming's mind, he was already extremely certain.

There was no other reason; the Law of Reincarnation was too mysterious, and its status was unimaginably high.

Before, he forcefully condensed the Law of Reincarnation, although it was only a prototype and a flash in the pan, the human emperor banner that was stained with the aura of the Law of Reincarnation during this process must have benefited infinitely.

It even changed its essence in a short period of time, allowing this Peak Third Tier Magic Treasure to touch the threshold of a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure in advance.

This could explain why it took the initiative to devour souls just now, and why it wanted to devour the soul devouring banner.

Because that was the instinct after the Awakening of spirituality: to eat, to grow, to evolve!

This was an instinct inherent in a living being!

It was just that because the spirituality of the human emperor banner had only just awakened, it was still somewhat muddled, and instinct was more than rationality, which led to the short period of being out of the control of the Banner Spirit, and the birth of that "sulking" anthropomorphic emotion.

Lu Ming could not tell what his mood was now.

Surprise?

Of course!

The human emperor banner could almost be said to be the Magic Treasure that had accompanied him the longest besides the karma golden book, and it had provided him with a lot of help on his path of Cultivation.

In this process, Lu Ming had also invested a lot of effort and many precious resources.

Not to mention anything else, the high-quality Banner Spirits in the Netherworld Space were not something ordinary Cultivators could achieve.

Now that the human emperor banner had finally reached this step, as long as it was given enough time, breaking through to a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure was almost a certainty.

Looking at this human emperor banner that had accompanied him since he was relatively weak and was now moving step by step towards a higher level, Lu Ming was naturally happy for it.

But vigilance was also real.

The Awakening of spirituality meant that it had self-consciousness.

With self-consciousness, there would be self-will.

With self-will, there would be the possibility of rebellion.

Today it could resist the banner master's order to devour the soul devouring banner, would it resist again for other things tomorrow?

He remembered the rumors of masters dying because of the backlash of Magic Treasures.

Those were still just in the category of Magic Treasures!

Lu Ming could now pat his chest and guarantee that with his current strength, he could forcibly suppress any Golden Core Magic Treasure.

But a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure was different; it was an existence that truly had "self."

If you couldn't control it, it would control you.

Lu Ming took a deep breath and suppressed the complex emotions in his heart.

He squatted down, picked up the human emperor banner, and gently stroked the banner face, as if to soothe its restless emotions.

The human emperor banner also trembled slightly, as if expressing dissatisfaction.

Lu Ming was silent; he knew that the human emperor banner really wanted to devour the soul devouring banner now.

It was also very likely that it could directly cross the final Bottleneck after devouring it.

But, not now, at least not now!

Lu Ming had a scale in his heart, clearly knowing what could be done and what could not be done now.

Certainly, letting the human emperor banner advance to a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure now could provide him with an extremely terrifying boost in combat power.

It could even be said that with this reliance, he could walk sideways in the Xuanling Secret Realm.

Even after leaving the Secret Realm, he had the confidence to face a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

But if he let the human emperor banner devour the soul devouring banner now, and waited for it to break through to a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure, what would Lu Ming use to suppress it?

If it went out of control, how would he handle himself?

Therefore, only when he first broke through to Nascent Soul and had enough power to control it, would he not stop it no matter what the human emperor banner wanted to eat.

However, these words could not be spoken directly to the human emperor banner, of course.

Lu Ming could only use euphemistic words to soothe the emotions of the human emperor banner, and regardless of whether it could understand, he just kept painting big cakes for it.

He promised that after he broke through to Nascent Soul True Monarch, he would look for better objects for it to devour, helping it break through the shackles of a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure as soon as possible.

Perhaps it was because Lu Ming's cake was fragrant and big, or perhaps it felt the firm attitude of the banner master, the human emperor banner gradually calmed down and was no longer restless.

The layer of mysterious light on its body also became soft and stable.

Lu Ming knew that the soothing was successful, at least temporarily stabilized!

He didn't say anything more and directly put away the human emperor banner.

Then he stood up and looked at the dim sky in the distance.

Bone Underworld was dead, the soul devouring banner was sealed, and the spirituality of the human emperor banner had awakened in advance.

All this was telling him that he did not have much time left.

He must get the xuan yin jade marrow as soon as possible and break through to Nascent Soul.

Only then would he have enough power to control the human emperor banner that had transformed into a Nascent Soul Spirit Treasure, and have enough confidence to face those hidden threats.

"But the most important thing now is to leave this damn place!"

...

In the far west of the Inner Domain, there was an abyss forgotten by the world.

There were no sun, moon, stars, no mountains and rivers, only endless gloom and dead silence, and the air was filled with rich yin nether qi all year round.

Countless jet-black mists surged from the depths of the earth, twisting and entwining in the Void Realm, like evil spirits imprisoned for thousands of years struggling and roaring in despair.

This was one of the seven great cave heavens of the Profound Spirit Domain, the location of the Sect of the leader of the Demonic Path, the Soul Devouring Demonic Sect — the Soul Devouring Cave Heaven.

Unlike the dead silence of the outside world, there was another world in the depths of the cave heaven.

Passing through the blockade of layers of yin nether qi, the scene suddenly opened up.

A vast primeval mountain range spread out, in which stood countless towering buildings.

There were bone towers reaching into the clouds, the tower bodies built entirely of countless Yao Beast skeletons, exuding heart-palpitating coercion.

There were also bottomless demonic abysses, in which pitch-black Devilish Qi surged, and countless twisted figures could be vaguely seen floating in them.

In the sky, countless escape lights shuttled back and forth.

Amidst the surging blood light in the clouds, there were Cultivators driving the sea of blood, emitting a pungent fishy smell wherever they passed.

There were also Disciples stepping on skull chariots, leaving scorched tracks as the wheels rolled over the Void Realm.

Foundation Establishment Cultivators were just at the bottom here, Golden Core True Persons were countless, and occasionally one or two more terrifying auras swept by, those were the powerhouses who had reached Golden Core Perfection.

The cultivation method of Demonic Path Cultivators was vividly displayed here.

The Law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, there was no so-called fellowship among fellow Disciples, only eternal interests!

And in the deepest part of this mountain range, there was a palace that towered over all buildings.

The Soul Hall.

That was the place where the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord went into seclusion, the core of the entire Soul Devouring Cave Heaven, and a Forbidden Ground that even Golden Core Perfection could not easily approach.

The Soul Hall was cast from an unknown jet-black divine metal, and deep patterns flowed on the surface, like the blood vessels of a living creature, beating slowly.

The hall was a thousand feet high and covered several miles, like a small mountain standing on the ridge.

The hall gate was two huge skull doors, inlaid with countless fist-sized gems, each gem was the soul crystal of a Golden Core Cultivator, emitting a faint light.

On the roof of the hall, a huge bone dragon coiled, its dragon head hanging down, and ghostly green flames burning in its eye sockets.

Judging by the coercion around its body, this was actually a Peak Third Tier exotic beast!

At this moment, deep in the Soul Hall.

On a throne cast from countless skeletons, a majestic figure sat.

The man was dressed in a mysterious black robe, embroidered with countless twisted runes, each of which was slowly flowing, exuding heart-palpitating coercion.

His figure was tall and burly, like a mountain standing between heaven and earth, eternal and unchanging.

But his face was always blurry, as if shrouded in a piece of Chaos all year round, devouring all prying eyes.

Anyone who tried to see his face clearly would have their Divine Soul dragged into the endless abyss by him unknowingly, and devoured completely!

This was the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord of the Soul Devouring Demonic Sect, a Late Stage Nascent Soul True Monarch, and one of the top existences in the Profound Spirit Domain.

Just at this moment, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord on the bone throne suddenly opened his eyes.

A trace of doubt flashed across the face shrouded in the chaotic fog, and then he saw him raise his hand and grab five fingers into the Void Realm.

In the Void Realm, a faint wisp of aura was captured by him out of thin air.

But perhaps this wisp of aura was too weak, just like quicksand, flowing away quickly through the fingers of the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord, until it finally disappeared.

Seeing this scene, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord was silent for a moment before muttering to himself in a low voice.

"Bone Underworld... is dead."

His tone did not change at all.

There was no anger, and no sadness, as if he were just narrating an irrelevant matter.

The fact was indeed so; the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord did not care about Bone Underworld's life or death at all, even if this was his nominal Personal Disciple!

In the final analysis, Bone Underworld was just a Golden Core Cultivator, no matter how high his talent was, in front of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, he was just a consumable.

What he cared about was whether Bone Underworld died with value, and whether he had completed the task he had entrusted to him.

"I hope you are not that useless!"

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's words were cold and indifferent, then he raised his hand and re-condensed the wisp of aura that was about to dissipate.

Then a mysterious fluctuation began to permeate around him, and countless visions began to emerge, with phantoms rising and falling.

From the crying of a newborn baby to the youthful spirit of a young man, from the frustration of middle age, and finally to the sigh of a dying old man...

The life of a living being passed by quickly in this period of time, Life and Death, death and life, cycling back and forth, endless.

This was Reincarnation!

It was the supreme Law that the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord had spent countless resources and energy to comprehend for thousands of years.

And this time he used the Law of Reincarnation, intending to intercept the last trace of Karma of Bone Underworld before his death directly from the Reincarnation.

This was the mystery of the Law of Reincarnation.

Everything has Reincarnation; as long as it has existed, it will leave traces in Reincarnation.

Even if the body dies and the Dao disappears, even if the Divine Soul is destroyed, those traces will not disappear completely.

They will integrate into Reincarnation and become a part of the operation of heaven and earth, lasting forever.

And the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord could extract these traces from Reincarnation.