The ghost spirits that had been circling before did not dare to show even a hint of courage in front of the awe-inspiring Peng King, but their simple minds still did not want to part with such a concentrated amount of blood essence. As if the Peng King’s suggestion seemed fair, a peacock-looking ghost spirit hesitantly came forward, cautiously left a complicated seal in front of Fang Xing’s body, and then began to impatiently indulge in the nearby blood essence. From there, a countless number of spirits came rushing forward, all leaving behind complicated seals before fighting to devour the blood essence.

　　The Peng King was incredibly proud of himself and let out a sly laugh. “Hehe, if this plan works, my future days will be so much more comfortable!”

　　After quite some time had passed, the mist of blood essence surrounding Fang Xing finally began to clear up. When the spirits noticed the excess blood essence was no longer enough for them, they all floated away and completely disappeared, as though they’d never been there in the first place. Only the strange-looking seals densely packed on the ground—and even along the wall—marked their passage.

　　After sitting in silence for a long time, Fang Xing finally let out a long sigh and opened his eyes. “Haaaa… it’s all finally converted!” Both of his eyes were filled with a shimmer like two shining gemstones, and an indescribable feeling of change rolled off of his body. Due to the increase in his cultivation level, he was being changed on a fundamental level inside and out

　　The Blood Lotus Seed had finally been completely absorbed. As the final string of Qi was converted and entered his meridians, Fang Xing did not stand up but instead showed a peculiar expression while feeling the changes every inch of his body had undergone. His Qi was abundant, and it flowed through his body like a fiery stream to all of the meridians inside his body. His limbs, his bones, every single inch of his meridians had been filled up with such a large amount of pure Qi, filling him to maximum capacity….

　　Spirit Stage tier nine!

　　Peak!

　　One Blood Lotus Seed had been able to push Fang Xing’s cultivation to the absolute peak of Spirit Stage. The path of Spirit Stage had already been completed—the only thing he could do now was to climb even higher and enter the Foundation Stage.

　　” Aiii , using the Blood Lotus Seed was wasteful…” Fang Xing sighed with his head held low, feeling it wasn’t worth it. In truth, he was confident he could’ve raised his level to the peak of Spirit Stage tier nine using the twelve Spirit Growth Pellets and didn’t need to waste the Blood Lotus Seed at all. This was such a rare healing medicine that could save his life, yet it had been wasted to increase his cultivation level while leaving behind ten or so unused Spirit Growth Pellets.

　　“Spirit Stage tier nine! Kid, you can raise your levels pretty fast, ay !” a voice suddenly rang in his ears.

　　Fang Xing immediately released a loud scream and leapt to his feet, the giant saber appearing in his hand as he prepared to strike down.

　　“Oi, oi, don’t get so excited; it’s just me….” The Peng King was startled as well and quickly waved his hands in an attempt to keep Fang Xing from striking him down.

　　Fang Xing was somewhat surprised when he realized the voice had come from the Peng King. “Old bastard, why did you come out?” The Peng King had been hiding inside Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness ever since he’d been reduced to a single strand of True Spirit. He hadn’t dared to touch the outside realm at all in the fear his soul would be dispersed and destroyed.

　　The Peng King showed a sly smirk. “I actually want to ask you, this place is so strange that it can actually allow True Spirits to show themselves. What exactly is this place?”

　　“This is the Yin Prison Abyss. Haven’t you heard of this place, Old Peng?”

　　“Yin Prison Abyss? You actually came to this godforsaken place….” The Peng King smacked his mouth in surprise and began to survey his surroundings once more.

　　“You know about it?” Fang Xing’s eyes lit up. When the golden crow had spoken of it, he only mentioned it was somewhere rather dark and dangerous with lots of traps and restrictions that made it easy to enter but difficult to leave. It was because of this that they’d decided to borrow the remaining formations to trap Ye Gu’yin inside, but as for what exactly this “Yin Prison Abyss” had been used for or what dangers it had specifically, the golden crow had been unclear.

　　“Of course I know. Heh, this was the largest prison of the former beast kingdom. All beasts who committed a crime—or even those who offended the human cultivators of the master beasts—would all be sent here to be tortured, never to see the light of day again…. No wonder my True Spirit can directly form here, apparently this Yin Prison Abyss was built using the Nine Yin Imprisonment Stones, making it similar to the netherworld. The former beast master created this place in a way so that even if the beasts locked in here die, their spirits will still be stuck here to continue suffering for all eternity!”

　　Such cruelty caused Fang Xing to shiver. “That’s quite serious. We’re not going to be stuck here, are we?”

　　“Not exactly, but we’ll need to check around first!”

　　Fang Xing yawned and nodded before he suddenly froze, his gaze pointed towards the ground. He clearly remembered that the ground had been empty before he started absorbing the Blood Lotus Seed, yet now even the wall in front of him was densely packed with seals. There were several hundred at least, and this left him terribly confused. “Old Peng, what’s this?” he asked while kneeling down to look at one of them. The seal was the size of a palm, with lines that seemed simple yet mysteriously sent out an aura of chilling darkness.

　　Fang Xing immediately activated the Book of Revelation as he kneeled down, and he soon knew what it was: a spirit seal belonging to a beast spirit. It was similar to the spirit sense of a human cultivator, and was about the same as the Soul Lantern Fang Xing had left behind before.

　　The Peng King didn’t know that Fang Xing had already realized the answer himself by now, so he showed a proud expression before explaining, “Heh, this is a gift I am planning to give to you, kid. There’s no fewer than three hundred beast spirit seals here, some strong, some weak. The stronger ones were left behind by Golden Core Stage beast kings, and even the weaker ones are from those who had reached at least Foundation Stage and are very rare….”

　　Fang Xing stared for a moment. “I can’t study them and I can’t use them to increase my cultivation level. What use is there to me?”

　　The Peng King actually choked upon hearing Fang Xing’s words. “Rubbish! These seals naturally have their use!” he replied after a brief pause. Fang Xing turned to look at him, and the Peng King began to whisper in a secretive manner, “Kid, have you ever heard of the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits?”

　　“What the hell is that?” Fang Xing blankly asked.

　　The Peng King released a sigh. “This is rather shameful, actually. This Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits was first crafted three thousand years ago, at the time the three continents began their beast purges. It was a master cultivator of your human race who created such an evil weapon. He was vicious and cruel, and by murdering ten thousand beasts, drawing out their living souls, and refining them, he was able to make such an evil tool of the Divine rank. Exactly ten thousand beast spirit seals were engraved on it, and when it was activated, it could control ten thousand beast spirits at once with a strong and mysterious power….”

　　Fang Xing’s eyes instantly lit up. “Divine tool? You’re not lying to me, are you?”

　　The Peng King showed a bitter smile. “Why would I lie about something involving the great disaster that befell our beast clans? That Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits is the eternal shame of all beast clans. Even within the beast clans, legend has it that whoever is able to destroy that evil Divine tool, all nine mountains and eighteen caves of beast clans and tribes would forever remember their kindness and treat them as an utmost important guest!”

　　“Who cares about some legend? Hurry and tell me the crafting method of this Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits! Do you know it?”

　　Seeing that he’d captured Fang Xing’s interest, the Peng King purposefully pretended to be troubled. “I am still from the beast clans, after all. Why would I teach a human how to craft such a wicked thing?”

　　Fang Xing could tell this old guy knew how to make it as soon as he heard such words. Gathering so many seals was probably done to persuade Fang Xing to make this ten-thousand-or-something-beast flag, and judging from how the Peng King also seemed to be rather worried about something, it was likely he merely wanted to negotiate some conditions. Thus, Fang Xing answered straightforwardly, “Stop pretending in front of your grandpa; you really think you can fool me with all those little schemes you have in your head? Let’s open it all up and speak it out: if you can help me create this Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits and your grandpa’s mood isn’t too bad, I can fulfill one request!”

　　The Peng King’s eyes became shifty for a moment before he let out a dry cough. “How about three?”

　　Fang Xing stared at him. “Are you trying to change my mood into a bad one?”

　　Speechless, the Peng King eventually released a sigh. “Even with age alone, I could be considered your senior….” Feeling as though he didn’t have any other option, the former Golden Core Stage beast king had already tried to use his age as leverage.

　　Fang Xing didn’t even want to listen to such a thing and waved his hand. “Whatever. Two, at most. If you continue to speak rubbish, you won’t even get one!”

　　Fang Xing was certain the Peng King would accept. Although the Peng King was able to come to the outside realm here, it’s not like it made a difference—he’d still have to return to Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness when Fang Xing decided to leave this place, and things would return to how they were. That was, of course, unless the Peng King wanted to become one of the ghost spirits and roam around forever, but even “roaming around forever” was likely impossible. As time passed, he’d lose himself until eventually becoming just another ghost spirit that acted solely on instinct.

　　The Peng King nodded with satisfaction. “Nn, fine. The first request is that after I help you craft the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits, no matter how powerful it is, you shouldn’t desire the forbidden fruit of casually killing those of our beast clans to help you strengthen it….” He gave another dry cough after that, then continued, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m certainly not a righteous person, but this is something I have to do out of consideration for my clansmen….”

　　Fang Xing nodded. “Not a problem. Tell me the next one!”

　　Seeing Fang Xing agree so quickly, the Peng King wasn’t entirely sure the boy had actually paid it any attention. Regardless, it wasn’t as though he could force the boy to make a vow of death; trying to do so would certainly worsen Fang Xing’s mood and he’d simply put himself in a bad spot. “The second request is that once this Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits is completed, I want to be placed inside the flag to become the main spirit….”

　　“What? You want to relocate to the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits?” Fang Xing asked, completely astonished.