Chapter 1229: Inheritance
Chapter 1229: Inheritance
Qin Sang arrived at an open area.
He pushed his spiritual consciousness to its limit and carefully sensed the changes within it.
During the process of subduing spiritual flames, he had felt that each strand of flame fused with a strand of his spiritual consciousness, as if every one of them had become a tiny flame clone of himself, tempering and strengthening each strand of consciousness.
He had never fought another Spiritual Infant cultivator in a contest of pure spiritual consciousness, so he could not determine the exact strength of his spiritual consciousness now, but he was certain it surpassed that of cultivators at the same level.
This one year plus of bitter cultivation was not wasted. My spiritual consciousness improved greatly. Once the fire lotus seed sprouts and truly enters the second stage, my spiritual consciousness will undergo another leap.
Old Devil Mou probably could not bear to refine the Dongming Cold Flame and instead absorbed it whole. That should have helped him break through to the second stage. His spiritual consciousness was probably no weaker than the Devil Lord’s and the others’, and might even have surpassed theirs. Only then could he escape under the joint siege of the righteous and devilish factions, and later fake his death at Yitian Peak and deceive everyone’s senses. Qin Sang pondered for a moment, then withdrew his spiritual consciousness and spread out his hand, summoning the eighteen devilish banners.
This was the true priority.
Whoosh, whoosh... Twelve devilish banners shot straight into the air, arranged themselves into an array, and released devilish fire.
Qin Sang had long since learned to control twelve devilish banners. Without pausing, he sent the fire lotus seed flashing out from his brow and into the center of the banner array, where it fused with the devilish fire. Then he raised his hand and sent up another three banners.
The three devilish banners entered the array, swayed slightly, then stabilized. Devilish Flames of Nine Hells flew out of them and circled tightly around the fire lotus seed, unusually docile.
Qin Sang felt delighted at the sight. Controlling fifteen devilish banners at once still did not make him feel beyond his limits, so without hesitation, he threw up the remaining three.
As for the final banner, Qin Sang had already refined part of the devilish fire within it, so it no longer matched the banner array. Forcing it in would only throw the array off balance and do more harm than good.
The other devilish banners opened a gap and let the three join.
Unexpectedly, the moment the array took shape, a sudden change erupted. All eighteen devilish banners began to tremble.
The banner cloths whipped wildly in the air with sharp flapping sounds. The banner poles shook, and some even began to tilt.
The Devilish Flames of Nine Hells surged even more violently, throwing the surrounding elemental qi into complete disorder. Strands of devilish fire collided with one another, and it looked as though they were about to break out of the array and escape control.
Qin Sang’s expression changed slightly. He activated his art with all his strength, his fingers moving like wheels as countless barriers poured into the array like falling blossoms. Gritting his teeth, he forced the devilish banners to stabilize and barely suppressed the chaos. Even so, he would still need to refine them for some time after returning before he could use them freely.
The devilish banners and devilish fire both stabilized again. The eighteen devilish banners stood in the void, forming a circle above Qin Sang’s head.
At the center of the array, with the fire lotus seed as the core, the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells formed a black flame dragon, majestic and imposing!
With a pull of his spiritual consciousness, Qin Sang directed the devilish fire toward the mountain peak on the left.
Boom! The thick white snow melted away in an instant.
Dust and smoke burst outward, the earth shook, and the mountain peak collapsed.
Seeing this, Qin Sang’s eyes shone with brilliance. He praised it again and again, laughed several times, then withdrew the devilish banners and returned to Sandi’e Stronghold to continue his seclusion.
***
Sandi’e Stronghold became a training ground for the demons of Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea and for Li Yufu and the others.
Qin Sang had already revealed his identity, and long ago he had brought Mei Gu and the other disciples of Devilish Flame Sect over from Shiqu Mountain.
When Mei Gu learned that her master was actually a demon king, she stood stunned for quite some time.
However, Small Cold Domain had always been a place where humans and demons coexisted, and there was even an ancient alliance between the two. The hatred and estrangement between them had never been as deep as in Canglang Sea, so this was not too hard for her to accept.
At first, Mei Gu felt very uneasy. Later, when she saw that under her master’s command she was not the only human disciple, that he treated both races equally, gave guidance without reservation, and possessed profound understanding of human cultivation, she gradually relaxed.
Still, Mei Gu felt puzzled. Back when Master first appeared, he had clearly been in human form. Could it be that he had already been a Transformation Realm demon king at that time? Or did he possess a special bloodline and not need to wait until the Transformation Realm?
These were questions she was destined never to understand.
As for the other disciples of Devilish Flame Sect, they had been suppressed by greater factions for too long. Now that they had such a powerful backer and could finally hold their heads high, all of them felt ecstatic. They did not care whether he was a Spiritual Infant cultivator or a demon king.
In this way, the forces under Qin Sang’s command had basically merged into one. From then on, as long as he found a blessed land, he could establish a sect and set down the Dao Lineage of Qingyang Temple!
The first branch was the Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea branch. In the future, he would choose a few demon cultivators and pass down the Heavenly Demon Body Refinement, so they and the younger human disciples could support one another.
The second branch was Wandering Man’s inheritance, including his cultivation art and alchemy, which Li Yufu would carry forward.
The third branch was the Devilish Flame Sect branch, led by Mei Gu. The Seven Yang Art had been carefully selected by Daoist Jiupao and was a solid inheritance.
As for Qin Sang himself, most of the arts and secret techniques he cultivated did not suit others. At most, he could leave behind some of his cultivation insights and a few arts he had acquired in the past, such as the Dutian Devilish Sound and the like.
In addition, Qin Sang had always held another idea. Within Qingyang Temple, he wanted to develop a branch of sword cultivators to inherit the Qingzhu Sword Scripture, which would count as Senior Qingzhu’s inheritance.
Senior Qingzhu had devoted himself wholly to the Sword Dao and poured his life’s effort into creating the Qingzhu Sword Scripture. One did not have to cultivate the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment specifically. As long as a sword cultivator possessed sufficient talent, they could still comprehend it.
Qin Sang had only used it as reference. In his hands, it was being wasted.
He had asked his senior sister for her opinion. His senior sister had not cared, and had said, "You are the one he chose as his successor. There is no need to ask me. You may decide everything yourself."
Bai Hanqiu was not suitable, and her talent was not enough either. He would have to find someone else.
Small Cold Domain was not like Canglang Sea. The finest mountains and great rivers already had owners, so he would need to plan carefully when the time came. But the world was in chaos now. Destruction always came before renewal. With his strength, opportunities would certainly not be lacking.
Once Qingyang Temple was established, he would have fulfilled half of Wandering Man’s final wish.
"With things arranged this way, are you satisfied, Senior?" Qin Sang held the charred piece of wood left behind by Wandering Man in his palm and murmured softly.
After reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm, he could vaguely sense the faint true spirit within the charred wood. It would not fade away in the short term.
The situation was still unclear, so he did not dare refine the charred wood yet. Otherwise, if he lost the use of the ebony sword and some accident occurred, the consequences would be hard to bear. He also needed to examine every step of the process carefully before daring to act.
This matter involved Wandering Man’s final trace of true spirit. The refining process definitely could not be as crude as before. There was no room for the slightest mistake, and no amount of caution would be excessive.
Qin Sang thought of Bing Han’s invitation. Right now, he still needed to continue refining devilish fire and familiarize himself with the eighteen devilish banners to prepare for entering Blood Lake. After he returned from Blood Lake, he would go to Xuling Sect, borrow some ancient texts, and decide what to do next.
The charred wood remained lifeless and could not answer his question.
Qin Sang let out a soft sigh. A trace of melancholy flashed through his eyes, and he put the charred wood away.
News kept arriving from Endless Valley. But still no one knew when Blood Lake would open.
The war on Tianxing Highland had never stopped, but the momentum of Sin Abyss had clearly weakened. It no longer pressed forward as fiercely as before. This was probably related to Old Devil Ye’s scheme involving Blood Lake.
On this day, while Qin Sang remained immersed in cultivation, he received a message from his senior sister.
After hearing the news, Qin Sang felt delighted. His senior sister had actually deciphered the array diagram of the Devil-Binding Chain and asked him to come to Shiqu Mountain and see whether he had any suggestions.