I Can Merge Techniques

Chapter 376: Chapter 140: Night Prowl in Cloud Dragon, Soul Banner Devours Bandits, Yue Mankong’s True Purpose

The hum of the bowstring became the forest’s final dirge.

Not a single arrow missed its mark. One by one, departing souls were annihilated by the Purple Bamboo Arrows.

In a matter of moments, every last bandit who tried to flee was executed.

Chu Fan walked over to the corpse of the black-robed woman. After a moment of searching, he found a few trinkets and a small coin purse.

He stored the items in his Sumeru Ring, then raised his saber and walked toward the silent mountain stronghold.

Inside the stronghold, some of the bandits’ wives and family members rushed out, their eyes red. Wielding kitchen cleavers and wood-chopping knives, they shrieked about avenging their men.

Chu Fan’s gaze was cold.

He felt not a shred of pity for these women who had aided the wicked, whose own hands were likely stained with blood.

He couldn’t even be bothered to waste a single word on them.

The Thunder Blade swung, and its light flashed.

A chorus of wretched screams, a river of blood...

After clearing out the outer resistance, Chu Fan didn’t immediately venture deeper into the stronghold.

He stood his ground, his gaze sweeping over the corpses littering the area. His eyes were as cold as ice.

With a thought, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, shrouded in an ominous aura, materialized in his palm and hovered in mid-air.

The moment it appeared, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was like a shark that had scented blood.

Without Chu Fan needing to channel a single shred of Primordial Qi, the banner’s surface began to unfurl violently on its own.

The bright midday sun seemed to be rapidly devoured by an invisible force, with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner at its center.

The sky for dozens of yards around suddenly darkened, as if dusk had fallen prematurely. It carried the grim chill of the netherworld.

"WHOOOOSH—"

"AWOOOO!"

A sinister wind suddenly kicked up, howling and whistling as it swirled erratically.

It kicked up fallen leaves and dust, and the wind seemed to carry the wails and shrieks of countless vengeful souls.

A bone-chilling Cold Qi seeped in, making one feel as if they’d been plunged into an icy cavern. fгeewebnovёl.com

Then, a terrifying and bizarre scene unfolded—

One after another, blurry, twisted, translucent phantoms were forcibly ripped from the void, struggling and wailing as the Ten Thousand Souls Banner’s power tore them out!

These were the souls of the bandits.

Their faces were still frozen with the terror, pain, and stunned disbelief they felt in their final moments.

They tried to flee, but were held fast by the powerful suction emanating from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Like drowning victims caught in an invisible whirlpool, they were helplessly pulled toward the fluttering Black Banner!

"No! Spare me!"

"What the hell is this thing?!"

"My lord, have mercy! I’ll never do it again!"

"I regret it all! I never should have followed Heaven-Flipping Saber and done such evil!"

Mixed in with the souls’ shrieks were hysterical pleas for mercy, desperate cries, and resentful, venomous curses.

This symphony of death was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

In life, they had rampaged through these mountains, treating human lives like weeds. Who among them could have imagined that even in death their souls would find no peace, instead suffering a fate of torturous damnation?

Chu Fan watched it all, his expression blank.

He had assimilated the memories from the Lingkong Jade, so he knew that if he could use the Netherworld Soul Refining Technique right now, the speed and power of Gathering Soul and Soul Refining would be several times faster.

But his Primordial Qi was still weak, and he hadn’t cultivated those Demon Techniques. He didn’t dare rashly activate this sinister Ancient Treasure, so he could only let the Ten Thousand Souls Banner "feed" on its own.

Even so, the scene before him was still terrifying enough.

Like a bottomless black hole, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner greedily devoured the despairing souls.

More pained, twisted faces faintly emerged on the banner’s surface, and the Evil Qi emanating from the Black Banner grew several shades denser.

Amidst the howling of the sinister wind and the wailing of the souls, the crying and screaming of the women from deep within the stronghold sounded all the more tragic and pitiful.

Chu Fan had sensed their presence for some time, but for now, his attention was focused on the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

About the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, the last soul was dragged into the banner.

The sinister wind abated, and the dim sky slowly brightened.

Seemingly "full," the Ten Thousand Souls Banner flashed with black light and obediently flew back into Chu Fan’s hand.

Chu Fan squinted, peering into the gray, hazy space within the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Inside, the dozens of newly devoured souls, along with the skeletal Deceitful Object he had suppressed earlier, were ramming against the walls and roaring like headless flies, filled with endless terror and madness.

They sought to escape this eternal prison, searching for an exit that didn’t exist.

Yet, without any prompting from Chu Fan, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner’s own power began to activate.

Black chains, condensed from pure Yin Fiend, shot out from the void like venomous snakes. They precisely pierced each soul’s Spirit Body, pinning them in place, unable to move an inch.

An ethereal light flickered along the chains, slowly grinding down and refining their consciousness and Soul Power. It converted them into the most fundamental Soul Energy, which nourished the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

If Chu Fan didn’t interfere, this process would be exceptionally long.

But he didn’t care.

’These bandits deserved death a thousand times over. Having their souls utterly destroyed is the fate they’ve earned.’

’It’s for the best that they slowly atone for their sins in endless terror and agony.’

Stowing away the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, its Evil Qi now contained but appearing even more profound, Chu Fan finally began walking toward the source of the crying deep within the stronghold.

After clearing out the last pockets of resistance, he found a crude, open-air prison at the rear of the stronghold.

Dozens of young women were bound with thick ropes and huddled together, their eyes filled with fear, numbness, and despair.

"Who is Liu Lingling?"

Chu Fan’s voice shattered the dead silence of the prison.

The women stared at him in terror, their eyes fixed on the blood dripping from his saber. No one dared to respond.

"I am from the Demon Suppression Bureau, here on orders to eliminate the bandits. I met Liu Lingling’s sister and father on my way here."

Chu Fan added.

At these words, a light of incredible hope burst forth in the women’s eyes.

"I... I’m Liu Lingling!"

A young woman with a haggard face, though her delicate features were still visible, shakily raised her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Without another word, Chu Fan swung his saber and severed their ropes.

As the women staggered out of the prison and saw the ground littered with the bandits’ corpses, they trembled with a mixture of fear and the ecstatic joy of survival.

Cries and laughter mingled in a chaotic scene.

They had thought themselves cast into an Eternal Hell, never imagining they would see the light of day again.

And to think that Heaven-Flipping Saber’s gang—a group that had been entrenched in the Yunlong Mountain Range for years, a group that even the Government Office was helpless against—had been wiped out completely by this one man and his saber!

Chu Fan led the group of still-shaken women back to where Liu Lingling’s sister and father were hiding.

"Sister!"

"Lingling!"

The family reunion was a truly moving sight, as they embraced and wept. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

The other rescued women supported one another, sobbing uncontrollably.

Chu Fan handed the broken silver he’d taken from the bandits to the old Hunter and said in a low voice, "Take them back to the village. Quickly."

At this, he suddenly recalled something and asked, "Sir, you’ve all lived in the Yunlong Mountain Range for many years, haven’t you?"

"That’s right. Our ancestors have been rooted here for generations," the old Hunter nodded, his tone conveying a deep familiarity with the forest.

Chu Fan asked again, "Then do you know if there is a ’Gangfeng Forbidden Land’ in these Yunlong Mountain Range, or perhaps somewhere else?"

"Gangfeng Forbidden Land?" The old Hunter paused, a look of complete confusion on his face. "What’s that?"

Chu Fan paused for a moment before explaining slowly, "The ’wind’ there isn’t ordinary. It’s an accumulation of the purest and most violent energy in the world. It’s as sharp as the blade of a Divine Weapon, which is why it’s called ’Gangfeng’."

"This Gangfeng can rip through flesh and blood, scraping meat from bone. It can even blow right through a Cultivator’s Protective Gang Qi or the Spiritual Light of a Magical Treasure."

"It can even erode one’s Divine Soul, causing a Cultivator’s soul to be utterly destroyed."

"Furthermore, Gangfeng isn’t a hurricane that howls all day. It’s completely unpredictable. Sometimes it’s like a gentle stream hiding a deadly current. Other times it’s like a tidal wave, sweeping everything away."

"Worse still, it can burst from cracks in the void without warning, making it impossible to defend against..."

After he finished, he pressed, "Have you ever heard of a place like that?"

The old Hunter pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "There really is a desolate land like that in the Yunlong Mountain Range!"

"There is?" Chu Fan’s heart leaped with joy.

He had only asked on a whim, never expecting to actually find a lead.

The old Hunter nodded, pointing northwest. "I’ve never dared go there myself, but I’ve heard the older hunters talk about it. Head northwest for over three hundred li, and you’ll find it."

"It’s a sinister place. Ordinary folk don’t dare go near it. Sounds exactly like what you described!"

"Over three hundred li..." Chu Fan smiled and nodded. With a few leaps, his figure vanished into the vast sea of trees.

Behind him, the group of people, led by the old Hunter and Liu Lingling, didn’t snap out of their daze until long after he had gone.

The group knelt, facing the direction he had disappeared, and kowtowed in pious gratitude, their foreheads pressed deep into the cold earth.

Ahead, Chu Fan’s speed increased, carrying him ever faster toward the northwest...