After hearing what the Peng King had to say about the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits, Fang Xing believed this flag was a cruel torture. He never expected this old guy to suddenly change the topic and actively request entering the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits as well!

　　The Peng King seemed to be a little embarrassed and explained, “In fact, moving into the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits is also a good method for me to form in the outside realm. The reason we beast clans hated that Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits is because of the human cultivator; he massacred the powerhouses of our beast clans and crafted it through such forceful methods, enslaving and imprisoning the souls and spirits to torture them…. Since I am willing to enter the flag willingly, there is no need for shackles of any sort. Not only would I be able to help you fend off enemies, but I would also be able to return to your Sea of Consciousness, all at your command!”

　　After hearing this, Fang Xing understood the deeper purpose behind all of this and looked to the Peng King with a sneer. “I was wondering why you’d make it sound all mysterious or something like this. You simply want to help yourself find another chance at Spirit Possession, right?”

　　The Peng King showed a shy smile when Fang Xing revealed exactly what he’d been thinking. “You can’t really have me stay inside your Sea of Consciousness forever, right?” he began, nearly begging. “I can promise you that for three years—uh, no—for ten years, I’ll focus on being the main spirit of your Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits and won’t casually possess anyone. Even if there is a good target, and even if I do decide to possess them, I will only do so after consulting with you. What do you say?”

　　“You old turtle egg of a bastard, you’re sly as hell. To prevent you from leaving me in times of danger, let us sign a contract first!”

　　The Peng King was slightly surprised by the suggestion, but he quickly agreed. “No problem!”

　　The Peng King wasn’t concerned with something like having a contract or not. Inside Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness, the boy had the power to beat or scold him whenever he felt like it, and something like pride wasn’t a factor anymore. If the boy wanted to force him into signing a contract, it was as simple as a mere command—if he wanted to live, he’d have to sign. The fact the boy was willing to accept his requests was already a surprise on its own.

　　The boy and the Peng bird soon completed their contract, and the Peng King—in high spirits—began teaching Fang Xing how to craft the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits. Just as they were discussing with hushed tones, however, the soft sound of plucked strings could be heard from afar. The musical notes were incredibly peculiar while containing a great luring power, and whenever somebody heard it, it was as though the notes were being aimed right at the listener’s heart. It caused the listener to fall into the music and nearly lose their own consciousness while compelling them to make their way to the music’s source….

　　“Boy, what happened to you?” The Peng King yelled into Fang Xing’s ears with surprise.

　　Fang Xing was perplexed at first, but alarm soon returned and he gave a deep scowl. “That harlot has quite some methods….”

　　It was obvious that Ye Gu’yin was the source of the music. It seemed to be some manner of spell trying to control Fang Xing from afar, and as the music drew closer, its powers over the mind became ever stronger, like a giant hand trying to tug someone down into a deep sweet dream.

　　Aware of its dangers, Fang Xing shielded his own heart and mind to defend against the musical notes. His foundation was incredibly solid and he’d gone through plenty of fights both open and in secret while growing up in a bandit’s nest—his will was incredibly strong. Aside from the first moment where he’d been caught off guard, it would be difficult for these notes to control him.

　　The music didn’t last for long, and it soon slowly faded away in the distance. Ye Gu’yin didn’t know where Fang Xing was, she had simply been playing her zither while walking, hoping to catch him unaware and control him along the way. By the looks of it, this woman had been left with no other choice and had settled on a last resort.

　　“Using music to control the soul, that’s not easy at all. Kid, you’ve got an enemy here?” The Peng King wasn’t affected at all. As a True Spirit of a former Golden Core Stage beast, his cultivation level was considerably higher than Ye Gu’yin’s.

　　“It’s a woman without shame. Her own battle prowess is nothing to be scared of, she just has a high-quality Ancient weapon that she uses. See all of these? They were all caused by her!” Fang Xing showed the Peng King all of the teeth marks on his chest and arms before angrily continuing, “She is just a crazy bi*ch. Us being in this damned place is also because of her; don’t you think she’s hateful?” As he spoke, it was as though he’d forgotten he was the one who’d taken the first bite.

　　“Damn, damn, that sort of harlot is indeed hateful,” the Peng King—a Golden Core Stage beast king—loudly cursed, following along with Fang Xing’s words like a top-class boot-licker.

　　“Once this Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits is finished, do you think it’ll be enough to fight against her high-quality Ancient weapon?”

　　The Peng King’s brows creased at this. “The Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits has a total of ten thousand beast spirit seals, and that’s when it’s considered a high-quality Divine weapon. Three thousand beast spirits makes it a low-quality Divine weapon. Right now, we’ve only got three hundred or so here, so it’d be considered a mid-quality Ancient weapon at most….”

　　“Sh*t, that’s not even as strong as that woman’s instrument?” Fang Xing was a bit disappointed. The reason he’d been so proactive in crafting this flag was because he wanted to use it against Ye Gu’yin’s Phoenix-Fear Zither.

　　“How would a Divine weapon be so easy to craft? Collecting materials alone would take who knows how many years. Take this Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits for example, if it wasn’t because I gathered so many seals for you, you wouldn’t be able to make anything. You go and count this, this is a total of two hundred Foundation Stage seals plus a further hundred Golden Core Stage seals. If you tried to collect them yourself, how long would it take for you to achieve this amount?”

　　Fang Xing sighed. “Fine, I guess you’re right. It should still be enough to just get by….”

　　The Peng King was left speechless at just how greedy this boy was. By now, however, it wasn’t really Fang Xing who wanted to craft the flag, but the Peng King himself. He’d finally managed to move the boy, after all, and this might be the only chance he had—not only to live, but to regain his freedom.

　　“Kid, do you have any good tool embryos?”

　　In response to the question, Fang Xing took out all seven or eight storage sacks and poured them out on the ground at once. This actually left the Peng King rather astonished; he was a Golden Core Stage beast king and didn’t even flinch at the quality of the trash in front of him, but how was this mere Spirit Stage boy able to get so many spirit tools? It was even enough to open up a shop. Regardless, he just shook his head, stopped trying to figure out how this had happened, and began to pick through the pile.

　　As the Peng King was rooting through his stuff, Fang Xing suddenly remembered the storage bag he’d stolen from Ye Gu’yin, and he couldn’t help but to giggle when he thought of how she had to be looking all over this place for him while naked. He took out Ye Gu’yin’s storage sack and opened it to see if there was anything good inside, only to be left dumbstruck with a bit of drool beginning to drip down….

　　“That bi*ch is f*cking rich….”

　　Although Ye Gu’yin had only a single storage sack—not even comparable in quantity to his over half a dozen—Fang Xing found that the wealth she had was perhaps not any lower than his. First, the space of her storage sack was large to begin with at about three times the area his contained, showing it was obviously a high-quality one. The treasures inside weren’t bad, either; there was plenty of good stuff with an extraordinary number of high-quality Spirit Stones—nearly a hundred pieces—as well as two Flying Swords of supreme quality. There were also some medicinal and rejuvenation pellets, and as for what was in that purple bottle….

　　Fang Xing unplugged the bottle’s lid and took a sniff. He immediately jumped up in surprise before looking inside, his voice shaking as he said, “Foundation Pellet?”

　　The Peng King who’d been immersed in trying to find a suitable tool embryo jumped as well before he turned and asked, “What Foundation Pellet?”

　　Fang Xing pointed at the purple bottle in his hand and stuttered, “This… this woman actually… has a Foundation Pellet….”

　　“Just a Foundation Pellet; there’s no need to be that excited, right?” the Peng King muttered before turning back to continue his search for a tool embryo.

　　It had been several hundreds of years since The Peng King had broken into the Foundation Stage; something like a Foundation Pellet just didn’t interest him anymore. For Fang Xing, however, it was not so simple. It left him so excited he was having difficulties just controlling himself. He would have never imagined—ever—that there would be a Foundation Pellet inside this woman’s storage sack!

　　‘F*ck, this harlot is so rich she just carries her Foundation Pellet around while casually strolling all over the world? What a profit; this is a f*ckton of profit!’

　　He was originally worried that he wouldn’t be able to find himself a Foundation Pellet even after reaching full mastery of Spirit Stage. He hadn’t expected someone to just drop it in his hands.

　　Of course, what he didn’t know was that while he was in a state of excitement, Ye Gu’yin was currently in a state of panic while frantically searching for him. When she thought of how her storage sack had fallen into her hands, Ye Gu’yin felt only regret. By now, she was even beginning to regret so casually chasing after and trying to kill this little demon in the first place.

　　When the Fuyao Palace arrived in the Chufung Kingdom, they first went to the Melodic Ice Palace. There, they gifted a Foundation Pellet with a seventy percent success rate, which later led to the events at the Qing-Yun Sect when they were given the same opportunity. The first Foundation Pellet that had started it all had landed in Ye Gu’yin’s hands, and the only reason she hadn’t used it was because of the words of her shifu.

　　Ye Gu’yin’s shifu had told her that due to a slight instability in her current base, even if she were to break into the Foundation Stage, it would still be difficult for her to form the golden foundation. Ye Gu’yin was a very prideful person; she was determined to form the legendary golden foundation to be more powerful than anyone on the same level, and her esteemed shifu’s words caused her to hesitate.

　　She hadn’t used the Foundation Pellet immediately and instead brought it with her during her journey away from the Melodic Ice Palace to pick up her little shimei from the Myriad Beasts Sect. She’d hoped to come across an opportunity to bring her Qi into a purer form along the way, and the reason she’d so desperately wanted to capture Fang Xing was also because she felt he had some sort of secrets on him—secrets she’d be able to find out once he’d been captured.

　　Ye Gu’yin hadn’t anticipated that in a huge turn of events, she and this brat would both fall into this strange and indescribable place where not even the light of day would shine. From there, her storage sack was also taken by the brat, including the Foundation Pellet she’d kept with her. Anxious and regretful, she didn’t hold back any Qi while trying to use her zither to lure the brat out, yet even after wandering this prison for so long while playing, he still hadn’t appeared….

　　“Bastard…. I… I will definitely kill you….” After walking for such a long time, Ye Gu’yin could only clench her teeth and curse while tears drew down her cheeks.

　　Within a hidden stone cell, Fang Xing was laughing so much his mouth couldn’t even close. “I’m going to break into Foundation Stage!” he excitedly declared to the Peng King. Finding this Foundation Pellet was truly an unexpected surprise. Just as he was worrying about how he had no way to win against that crazy woman, the opportunity presented itself right in front of him! If he was successful in breaking through, he was certain he could suppress that woman even if she had a high-quality Ancient weapon in her hands.