Chapter 409: Competing

The Vermilion Bird True Flame was growing stronger.

It wasn't because the Vermilion Bird had revived and enhanced it, but because the Vermilion Bird actively strengthened Lu Ye's Vermilion Bird True Flame.

In other words, the Vermilion Bird was helping Lu Ye!

She was extending an olive branch toward him.

After becoming a cycle of karmic attachment, had the Vermilion Bird truly realized her mistakes and repented sincerely?

This couldn’t be determined by just this one action.

Lu Ye began refining the Human Emperor Banner and the stone sword. In truth, both the stone sword and the Soul Banner grew strongest through natural evolution.

Lu Ye assisting them was actually inferior to letting them grow independently.

But who could blame these two for being so lacking in drive?

The pair seemed perpetually overstuffed to the point of rupture.

In his previous life, Lu Ye had never possessed a Human Emperor Banner, though he had heard of others' Soul Banners—how they would emit ceaseless wails every day, the souls within keening piteously, urging their masters to seek more souls.

But his Human Emperor Banner was different.

It had never urged him.

Instead, it was always saturated beyond capacity.

Had he refined his Human Emperor Banner incorrectly?

He had wrested this artifact from the Celestial Demon Emperor. By all reasoning, the demon race's Celestial Demon Emperor should have possessed the complete refinement methodology for a Soul Banner.

There shouldn’t have been any mistakes.

So, in short, the Human Emperor Banner in his hands was truly utterly defective!

Under the Vermilion Bird True Flame, copious quantities of materials liquefied under the flame's power, then stretched into threads, beginning the upgrade of the Human Emperor Banner.

At the same time, the stone sword rapidly devoured Crimson Phoenix Divine Gold and Void Immortal Gold.

With Lu Ye’s assistance, countless souls were refined into pure soul essence—those souls that appeared neither fierce nor diligent were the ones condensed into essence.

"Maximum refinement, now!"

Once all the threads had merged into the Human Emperor Banner, Lu Ye issued the command.

The Human Emperor Banner naturally obeyed.

In an instant, a chorus of tormented shrieks arose from within the banner.

The sound of tearing fabric rang out.

The Human Emperor Banner teetered on the brink of disintegration, but the golden threads already woven into its fabric triggered Fa Hui's latent function, forcibly keeping it intact!

Both the sword and the banner quickened their assimilation.

Thus, a full lunar cycle elapsed.

The Human Emperor Banner emitted a pure untainted amethyst luminescence, as pristine as the legendary Primordial Purple Qi, of such sublime majesty that it invoked instinctive worship at first glance.

The stone sword now took on a pale reddish tint.

This crimson tint stemmed both from blood saturation and the infusion of Crimson Phoenix Divine Metal.

The sword exuded overpowering bloodlust; merely hovering quietly in place, it made bystanders feel their lives were already forfeit.

Both treasures underwent massive power boosts.

Lu Ye couldn't help but smile.

Watching his treasures grow was like watching his children grow—Lu Ye felt a genuine sense of fulfillment.

Grasping the stone sword, Lu Ye gave it an idle swing.

The space itself split apart, leaving behind a clear sword rift.

And this was the result without even trying.

Then, with a gentle wave of the Human Emperor Banner—

In an instant, three colossal figures emerged, their appearances restored to their original nation-toppling beauty, their long skirts fluttering like startled phoenixes.

Except for one thing—their size!

Though their figures were graceful,

their stature was truly immense, as vast as star-sized.

Confronted with these terrifying prime souls,

Lu Ye fell silent for a moment, pondering if anything in the Fifth Heaven could withstand a single strike from these three main souls.

In the end, he concluded—

No one could!

With just one move, these three main souls could claim souls of anyone in the Fifth Heaven.

And they wouldn’t even need to pick them off individually.

If he were to face the Demon Tide again now, Lu Ye wouldn't break a sweat as he had last time.

A mere wave of the Human Emperor Banner would cause the Demon Tide to be decimated en masse.

However, the three main souls still wore pained expressions, for the soul-forging torment they had just endured lingered deep within their spirits—a pain that was long-lasting.

It might take a very, very long time to fade.

Satisfied,

Lu Ye considered his next move.

Soon, he had his answer.

First, collect the artifacts required to forge his seventh life.

Currently, he possessed only one of them—still lacked the Stellar Soul Stone and the Nine-Hearted Glaze Pearl.

The Stellar Soul Stone...

This item was likely taken by An Li.

But it’s no big deal.

Because the later sections of the *Nine-Lives Immortality Scripture* were all derived by Lu Ye himself.

With his past-life wisdom as the Celestial Lord and his understanding of the *Nine-Lives Immortality Scripture*, the Star Soul Stone didn’t have to be the only material.

He just needed to swap the material.

"Did the deduction work?" Lu Ye asked.

"Ding. Calculating now."

"Run another deduction—find a replacement for the Star Soul Stone to forge the seventh life!" Lu Ye commanded.

"Ding. Calculating now!"

Lu Ye vanished, heading off to find the Glazed Nine-Hearts Pearl.

Meanwhile, An Li was thrown back into the cycle of reincarnation.

Her eyes blazed with endless rage.

She was reborn anew.

The newborn An Li didn’t cry or fuss, just stared blankly at the ceiling.

The midwife, unnerved by her unnatural calm, frantically slapped her to make her cry, but An Li remained unresponsive.

"She’s alive—why isn’t she crying?" the midwife muttered in confusion.

"Hit her harder. Something’s off about this kid..."

"Shh, keep quiet!"

"Who cares? The mother’s out cold, and the baby isn’t crying. Her husband won’t hear a thing we say."

"Seriously, this kid gives me the creeps."

"Who knows? She might turn into a real monster."

"Hurry, she’s not breathing!"

The midwife panicked, scrambling to revive her. She couldn’t fathom it—the baby wasn’t cute, but she seemed normal otherwise.

Most babies scream the second they’re born, so why was this one silent, not even breathing?

An Li was unharmed.

But right now, she was actively trying to choke herself to death.

The True Spirit slowly reforged into a soul across lifetimes.

But if she died immediately after birth, without any process of strengthening the True Spirit, it would never evolve into a soul.

She was hellbent on strangling the life out of herself!

Unfortunately, it didn't succeed, because with air present, it's impossible for a person to suffocate themselves through self-control alone.

But An Li had a backup plan.

Her next move? Starvation!

She simply refused to eat or drink anything.

Unsurprisingly, An Li starved to death.

Starving to death right after being born, her True Spirit only accumulated a tiny bit of energy. Under such conditions, attempting to transform the True Spirit into a soul was pure fantasy!

One cycle of reincarnation, one death.

An Li was now dead set on defeating the Dark Origin.

She was determined to make the Dark Origin submit—or else face the unthinkable.

So, Dark Origin, you WILL bow to me!