Chapter 1345: Soul-Gathering Funnel

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... The Blood Infants were tiny in size, and their evasion lights were as thin as strands of hair.

Qin Sang naturally refused to let them escape so easily. Without the slightest hesitation, he formed a sword seal.

The ebony sword flashed and appeared above the Blood Infants as countless strands of sword light rained downward.

The sword array was just about to take shape.

The Blood Infants’ shrieks suddenly became even more piercing. They raised their heads and stared fixedly at the ebony sword, the blood color within their tiny eyes growing dense to the extreme as powerful auras erupted from their bodies.

The Blood Infants’ auras were linked together. And it was not merely a connection among themselves. Within the entire Soul Infant Grand Array, every Blood Infant was interconnected.

Part of the Blood Infants had been dispatched by Old Devil Ye and the jade skeleton to control the blood clouds and ghostly creatures, intercepting intruders and preventing them from approaching the blood-colored altar and ruining their grand scheme.

The remaining Blood Infants stayed beside them, helping break the altar’s seal. The force of the Blood Infants’ resistance exceeded Qin Sang’s expectations.

Bloody light shot out from the crowns of the Blood Infants’ heads and converged in the void.

In the blink of an eye, the ebony sword suffered a violent impact. A crisp ringing sound echoed out as the ebony sword was blasted away, the sword lights shattered one after another, and the sword array collapsed along with them.

However, Qin Sang’s true killing move had never been the sword array! The ebony sword had merely been a feint.

At the very moment the Blood Infants focused their attention on the sword array, eighteen devilish banners silently emerged from Qin Sang’s sleeves. The Devilish Flames of Nine Hells surged violently outward with thunderous momentum!

The devilish flames shook the heavens as the ghostly mist retreated before them. Killing intent spread like an ocean. It was as though a flaming dragon had roared to life, opening its enormous bloody maw as it lunged toward one of the Blood Infants!

Qin Sang knew very well it was impossible to keep all the Blood Infants behind. To be safe, he targeted only one.

The devilish flames caused the Blood Infant’s expression to change drastically. It became incomparably terrified, and fear clearly seeped into its shrill screams.

The Blood Infants retaliated once more with bloody light, but in their haste, the bloody light was far weaker than before. The devilish flames barely slowed at all as they crushed through the bloody light in an unstoppable wave of destruction!

The Blood Infant locked onto by the devilish flames let out a scream filled with despair before being swallowed whole. The remaining Blood Infants scattered and fled in all directions.

Whoosh! The devilish flames did not continue the pursuit. Instead, they gathered into a single mass and floated quietly in mid-air.

Yet the flames within were far from calm. The Blood Infant still struggled desperately inside, frantically crashing outward. It remained connected to the Soul Infant Grand Array and could still borrow power from it, meaning it had not entirely lost the ability to resist.

Nevertheless, surrounded by the devilish flames, its resistance was destined to be futile.

Qin Sang wanted to capture it alive and had no intention of killing it. Otherwise, one sweep of the devilish flames would already have reduced it to ashes.

Whoosh! Qin Sang recalled the ebony sword and inspected the blade. As expected of a flying sword forged from one of the Ten Divine Woods, not even the slightest mark had been left behind.

He flew beside the devilish flames and formed seals to sever the Blood Infant’s connection with the outside world before completely imprisoning it.

Soon after, Zhenyi and the others also arrived one after another.

While Qin Sang had been attacking the Blood Infant, the Blood Infants had lost control over the blood clouds and the ghostly creatures. The pressure on the group greatly diminished, allowing them to escape while personally witnessing the might of the devilish flames.

Daoist Guan had long heard rumors about Qin Sang’s devilish flames, but this was his first time witnessing them in person, and he could not help glancing at them repeatedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet standing silently behind Qin Sang.

Recalling all the various rumors surrounding Qin Sang, Daoist Guan inwardly sighed. It will likely not take long before this man replaces Old Devil Ye as the number one figure of Beichen Realm...

"Daoist Yu Zhen!" A tall, thin cultivator suddenly cried out in alarm and rushed toward the Blood Infant.

Qin Sang was about to stop him, but after seeing the grief etched across the man’s face, he paused slightly. Remembering that this person came from Sin Abyss, Qin Sang vaguely guessed the truth and allowed him to pass.

Qin Sang glanced at the Blood Infant. Judging from its features, it had clearly once been a female cultivator.

Yu Zhen had not been a newly advanced Spiritual Infant cultivator, yet like Old Freak Feng, she had failed to resist the temptation. Unfortunately, she had not been as lucky as Old Freak Feng. She had fallen victim to Old Devil Ye’s schemes, her Spiritual Infant torn out and transformed into something neither human nor ghost.

The tall, thin cultivator’s fingers trembled as he attempted to touch the Blood Infant’s cheek.

Though restrained, the Blood Infant remained savage and immediately bit toward him the moment it opened its mouth.

"Be careful, Daoist!" Qin Sang warned him.

Zhenyi also flew over. He exchanged a glance with Qin Sang before carefully examining the Blood Infant. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "It is no longer Daoist Yu Zhen. Old Devil Ye’s secret technique is too vicious. There is no saving her. Daoist, my condolences."

The tall, thin cultivator immediately understood the hidden meaning behind those words.

After finally capturing a Blood Infant, Qin Sang and the others would undoubtedly use it to analyze the evil array.

As a Spiritual Infant cultivator himself, he did not attempt to obstruct either Zhenyi or Qin Sang. Expressionless, he silently retreated to the rear and sat cross-legged in the void. Unable to bear watching any longer, he tightly shut his eyes and softly recited the Rebirth Mantra.[1]

The others also restrained their earlier joy and quietly cooperated.

At that very moment, the blood clouds and ghostly creatures surged back once more.

The escaped Blood Infants still refused to settle down and resumed stirring chaos everywhere. However, after suffering this lesson, they concealed themselves far more carefully this time. Even the Sky-Eyed Butterfly struggled to capture their traces.

***

"No! That’s not the sacred fire!" The jade skeleton stared fixedly in Qin Sang’s direction, the delight in his tone fading somewhat. "So it’s merely a devilish fire cultivated through studying the sacred fire by the Nine Hells lineage. I knew the sacred fire could never possibly fall into a place like this!"

Old Devil Ye’s control over the Soul Infant Grand Array was inferior to the jade skeleton's.

He split off part of his attention and sensed things for a moment before finally discovering Qin Sang’s location, realizing that the life-bound devilish flames the jade skeleton mentioned were precisely the flames within Qin Sang’s devilish banners.

So there is such a background behind them. No wonder their power is so astonishing. I heard those devilish banners once belonged to Old Devil Kuiyin. I wonder where that old devil obtained them...

Just as this thought crossed Old Devil Ye’s mind, the jade skeleton continued speaking. "Though it isn’t the sacred fire, its power is still quite impressive. Excellent! Excellent! Once I take these devilish flames for myself, things afterward will become much safer. I will no longer need to rack my brains searching for other protective methods and can focus entirely on restoring my cultivation."

The jade skeleton burst into laughter, rubbing his hands eagerly as the soul fire within his eye sockets flickered intensely. Hearing this, Old Devil Ye frowned deeply.

"You want to seize his devilish banners? Do you know that my blood devil incarnation died at this man’s hands? And now he has gained another Spiritual Infant puppet at his side. Who knows what other hidden methods he has? Besides, he is surrounded by Spiritual Infant cultivators. He is not someone easily manipulated. The altar is about to be unsealed, and you have yet to recover. I advise you not to create unnecessary complications and jeopardize the greater plan—"

Before he could finish speaking, the jade skeleton waved dismissively. "Who said I intended to seize his devilish banners? I only need to take the devilish flames directly! Although I am not a descendant of the Nine Hells lineage and cannot forcibly seize them outright, a mere early-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator could never truly refine such flames. He only controls them indirectly through the banners’ power. With a few simple methods, I can make them mine!"

The jade skeleton’s tone overflowed with confidence, completely disregarding Qin Sang.

His gaze shifted toward the souls and ghostly creatures. After pondering briefly, he stretched out a massive hand and grabbed fiercely.

Several hundred souls were immediately dragged out. Ghost qi swirled within his palm as the souls rose and sank, refined into soul qi before merging into the vortex.

The jade skeleton tossed the vortex upward. It spun rapidly, continuously condensing more souls and devouring countless of them in the blink of an eye.

Gradually, a funnel the size of a palm appeared in the void. Its surface was smooth and pitch-black, as dark as ink.

1. The Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī, sometimes called the Rebirth Mantra for short, is an important dhāraṇī in East Asian Buddhism, especially for Pure Land practice. .The title itself encapsulates the dual function of the incantation: the "uprooting of the roots of all karmic obstacles" and "attaining rebirth in the Pure Land". This dhāraṇī is often associated with the Amitābhā sūtra and with Nagarjuna. In East Asian Buddhism, reciting this dhāraṇī is believed to grant the reciter a peaceful and joyful life, and allow them to be reborn into the Buddha Amitabha's buddha-field of Ultimate Bliss, as well as to have a vision of Buddha Amitabha. It can also be recited to help the spirits of the animals that a person has killed in the past, including poultry, game, aquatic creatures, insects, etc. to ascend to a higher spiritual realm. ☜