At the mention of this request, a trace of hesitation flickered across Dashan's face.
The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner was no ordinary item.
This banner had a long history among the Southern Barbarians, rumored to be a demonic banner handed down from ancient times, possessing immeasurable, supreme magical power. As the chief disciple of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect of the Southern Barbarians, Dashan was only entrusted with its temporary safekeeping, not having absolute authority over its disposal. Though his master's safety weighed heavily on his mind, involving a matter of this magnitude caused him to waver.
Feng Zikang’s face darkened, and he swept his sleeves and turned to leave!
“I offered you my good counsel. If you harbor doubts, suspecting I mean to seize your treasure, then forget it!”
Dashan panicked, scrambling and crawling to Feng Zikang, repeatedly kowtowing. He still dared not speak, only whimpering sounds escaping him, his face a mask of pitiful despair.
“Alas…”
Feng Zikang let out a deliberately mysterious, drawn-out sigh.
“This is truly unavoidable. This treasure has accumulated malevolent sha energy for over a thousand years; it is utterly vicious. If you cannot bear to part with it, you will ultimately fail to escape the mortal realm’s tribulations of slaughter. I have said all I will say. Believe me or not, it is up to you…”
He put on a convincing show, but secretly, his hand was already clutching the Star River Shuttle, while his other reached into his storage pouch, gripping the Soul Bone Sword. If this fellow proved too obtuse, he would have no choice but to resort to force!
Dashan, the burly, rough man, was almost driven to tears.
On one side, his master’s safety; on the other, the sect’s supreme treasure. How could he possibly choose? His mind, simple and direct, offered no solution. He only wished his master were present to offer guidance.
“Hand the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner over to me. I will use pure Heaven and Earth vital energy to suppress it for three years, allowing it to revert to its original state and cleanse the vicious aura. Returning it to you then will not be too late…”
Seeing the loosening in Dashan’s heart, Feng Zikang deliberately dangled another lure, persuading him gently, promising the banner’s return after three years. But in reality, who would care about Dashan’s fate three years hence?
Dashan indeed took the bait. Having placed his trust in Feng Zikang, he committed to believing him entirely. Since the elder claimed he could return it in three years, meaning he wasn't intending to keep the sect’s treasure forever—compared to his master's safety, the temporary loss of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner suddenly seemed insignificant!
He gritted his teeth, gripped the flagpole on his back with both hands, and pulled hard!
“Pfft!”
A column of crimson blood shot skyward. It turned out he had driven the banner’s pole directly into his flesh, connecting it to his spine! This violent tearing of flesh and straining of sinews would cause an ordinary person to faint on the spot, if not die outright.
Dashan’s expression remained unchanged, letting the blood stream down. A bowl-sized hole gaped frighteningly on the back of his neck. He made no move to dress the wound, instead crawling on his knees before Feng Zikang, respectfully offering the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner with both hands.
Feng Zikang was somewhat impressed by his sheer brutality. It seemed that since the barbarians did not cultivate Daoist methods, they struggled to wield such magical artifacts, resorting only to crooked ways—feeding the banner with flesh and blood to achieve sentience. Pulling the banner out now would cost him several years of cultivation!
But Dashan’s lips were tightly sealed, his gaze firm; it seemed he truly disregarded everything for his master’s sake.
“Brave man!”
Feng Zikang clapped him on the shoulder and offered praise. He retrieved some common pills for treating external injuries from his storage pouch and applied them to the wound. Dashan felt a cool sensation spread over the injury, and the agonizing pain actually began to recede. His trust in the Immortal Elder deepened, his eyes filled with reverence.
“Worry not! This banner will be perfectly safe in my hands. I will return to Penglai Island immediately to refine it. You must absolutely not involve yourself in battle formations again, or all this suffering will be in vain. You will have endured this hardship for nothing.”
Feng Zikang paused, then smiled again. “In three years, I will personally come to find you and hand the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner back. Wait patiently at home. You may leave now! But do not speak a single word within seven days!”
Dashan nodded desperately, kowtowed once more, then led his tiger away. He had arrived with imposing majesty, but departed in frantic disarray, frequently looking back with reluctance. Feng Zikang smiled and waved him off. Once the disciple was far out of sight, he finally sat down calmly to explore the peculiar nature of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner.
The instant Feng Zikang made contact with the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner, a sudden realization struck him.
It felt as if a special message was attempting to transmit itself to him from some unseen dimension. He channeled his internal energy to sense it, yet found nothing distinct.
“Could it be…”
He suddenly recalled the unknown black banner he had acquired after slaying Liang Si’an. When he first held it, he had felt a similar vague sensation, which was why he hadn't sold it off in the Flying Cloud Mirage Tower. Recalling that now, the feeling was quite similar to what he felt today.
He retrieved that black banner from his storage pouch. As the two banners touched, a resonance sparked between them, and the unseen induction grew stronger, as if both banners concealed some profound secret.
He frowned slightly, tracing the surface of the banners meticulously. He found the fabric smooth as silk, yet there were several protuberances within, almost like core structures. When his fingers brushed against them, he could faintly detect a subtle throbbing.
“Strange!”
Both artifacts were merely low-grade Yellow-tier magical implements, their functions and divine abilities rather ordinary. Although the barbarians treated the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner as an exotic treasure, in the eyes of the widely experienced Feng Zikang, it was nothing special—perhaps only the avatar manifestation ability associated with the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King was somewhat miraculous, useful in actual combat.
But unlike other magical implements he had encountered, these two banners faintly suggested to him that they were far from simple.
Feng Zikang pondered for a long moment before finally tucking both banners into his pouch.
To uncover the secrets hidden within these two banners, the best method was to re-forge them with True Fire, burning away the impurities to reveal only the core. That would make everything clear.
He had never studied artifact refinement, but refining impurities using his heart’s True Fire was not difficult.
The cores of these two banners were deeply interconnected, and Feng Zikang was certain that the value of these two cores far surpassed that of the banners themselves. The divine powers the banners could unleash were but a drop in the ocean.
If not for the immediate, crucial use of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner, he would have been eager to refine it right then to uncover the truth.
However, at this moment, slaying Wuduya and completing this merit-earning mission took precedence.
Wuduya’s senior brother, Dashan, though powerful in magic, was simple-minded and easily deceived. Feng Zikang hadn't expected his ambush midway to be so successful in tricking him into turning back and, in the process, swindling the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner away.
With this object in hand, instigating Wuduya to leave his camp and then slaying him would become infinitely easier.
He chuckled softly and flew back to the Tang camp using artifact control.
Luo Kedi had been waiting in his tent. Seeing Feng Zikang return, he was overjoyed, bombarding him with eager questions.
Feng Zikang laughed. “Wuduya’s reinforcements are neutralized; he is no longer a threat. Tomorrow will be the day to slay that barbarian scoundrel!”