I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The night wind was like a knife, and the moon was as cold as frost.

Ji Tian stepped out of the inn and instantly teleported to the top of a main peak in the Western Mountains. The Emperor Banner fluttered at his waist without wind, its surface rustling like a lone wolf that had been starving for three days smelling blood.

Below me was a bottomless abyss, and above me were countless stars.

Ji Tian's divine sense spread out completely, like an invisible net, pouring down from the mountain peak, sweeping over ravines, dense forests, caves, and underground rivers.

Within a radius of fifty miles, the location, strength, and aura of every demon appeared in his mind.

1, 2, 3... There are too many to count, but Ji Tian figured it would definitely be enough.

"It seems that fate is on my side." Ji Tian's lips curled into a smirk, and he decided to use his great supernatural powers to help them reach heights they could not achieve in their previous lives. So he laughed loudly, "If Heaven had not given birth to me, Ji Tian, ​​the Dao of Sacrifice would have been shrouded in eternal darkness! It is time to release you into my Emperor's Banner to improve your aptitude."

He stretched out his hand, fingers spread, palm facing down.

The spiritual energy (magic element) between heaven and earth gathered wildly in his palm, compressed and compressed again, as if he had squeezed it into an invisible black hole.

Then he let go.

Invisible ripples emanated from the palm of the hand, silent and swift as lightning.

It swept over the first mountain peak, and wherever it passed, the rotting spiders fell off their webs, their eight legs twitching twice before becoming still.

The kobold was still warming himself by the fire when he suddenly plunged headfirst into the flames without even letting out a cry.

The rock spider emerged from the ground, rolled over, its belly up, and green fluid seeped from the cracks in its shell.

The goblin gripped its rusty dagger, remaining in a running posture, its pupils unfocused, like a sculpture frozen in time.

Death is spreading through this mountain range.

Quiet, efficient, and unstoppable.

Ji Tian stood atop the mountain, his robes fluttering in the wind, his eyes shining.

"Come." He shouted in a low voice, grasped the Emperor's Banner with his right hand, and slammed it into the ground.

The banner exploded.

The black fabric surged like dark clouds, instantly expanding to about ten feet in size. The runes on the banner pulsed wildly, like countless red-hot iron chains dancing madly in the night sky.

Souls surged in from all directions like a river bursting its banks.

Pale green, dark green, dark purple... tens of thousands of souls rose from the valley, from the dense forest, from the depths of the earth, converging into a luminous torrent that poured mightily into the banner.

The spirit of the Emperor's Banner was overjoyed and hummed continuously.

The soul imprint on the banner deepened rapidly, transforming from a fingernail into a copper coin, then into a walnut, and finally into a black full moon, branded in the very center of the banner.

The number of souls.

Become!

The Emperor's Banner was planted on the mountaintop, its surface fluttering in the wind, with wisps of purple mist rising from it. From time to time, the echoes of the Great Dao could be heard, and a spirit with extraordinary talent was about to be born within the banner.

Ji Tian gazed at the constantly buzzing banner, asking with a mixture of doubt and curiosity, "You also want to form your Nascent Soul? You also want to undergo the tribulation of lightning?"

Even a mere spirit of an artifact possesses a heart yearning for the Dao!

He really needs to cherish this.

So Ji Tianyi grabbed the flagpole.

The moment his palm touched it, a chilling aura surged from the banner, flowing upwards along his arm and attempting to invade his meridians.

The Emperor's Banner is "protesting".

The spirits of the artifact had just entered, and the spirits of the artifact had not yet fully tamed these new souls. They were still restless and turbulent in the banner, trying to break free of their restraints.

Ji Tian did not let go. He circulated the spiritual energy in his body for a cycle, and his golden core trembled slightly. A warm current of energy surged out from his dantian and flowed into his palm along the meridians.

The icy sensation receded abruptly, as if it had been scalded.

The purple aura on the banner had faded somewhat.

Ji Tian chuckled softly, "Look at you, so impatient. I'll use you as a tool to draw in the heavenly lightning during the tribulation. After I form my Nascent Soul, I'll leave the rest of the tribulations to you."

As mentioned before, the Heavenly Dao of this world is flawed, and there is no natural tribulation of lightning for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

But the element of lightning exists, and he can "create" lightning himself—gathering lightning with arrays, drawing lightning with the Emperor's Banner, and crossing lightning with his own body.

The purpose of the tribulation lightning is not only to "test" but also to "temper".

A nascent soul that hasn't undergone tribulation is like an unfired porcelain piece—it looks formed, but it shatters at the slightest touch.

He must summon powerful enough lightning to cleave the golden core and allow the nascent soul to emerge.

The Emperor's Banner was the "lightning rod" he had chosen.

The gathering of countless souls creates an atmosphere of overwhelming Yin energy. This Yin energy attracts lightning—this is the most fundamental principle of the Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint in the cultivation world.

Thunder belongs to Yang, which is extremely strong and fierce; the soul belongs to Yin, which is extremely soft and turbid.

Yin and Yang attract each other, so lightning will naturally strike the place with the heaviest Yin energy.

The Emperor's Banner contains ten thousand souls, and its yin energy is so heavy that it can attract all the lightning within a radius of dozens of miles.

What he had to do was find a safe place to set up a grand formation, insert the Emperor's Banner into the center of the formation, and then sit cross-legged under the banner.

The lightning struck first, striking the Emperor's Banner, and then transmitting the energy to his body through the soul imprint on the banner.

The myriad souls shielded him from the first wave of heavenly lightning, and he then used his physical body to withstand the remaining thunderous power.

He not only forged his weapon and tempered his body, but also survived the tribulation.

Three birds with one stone.

With such tempering, the Emperor's Banner may well advance even further.

The buzzing of the Emperor's Banner intensified, as if it was eager to welcome the heavenly thunder.

"Haha, what ambition! As expected of a device forged by me, Ji Tian. Rest assured, once I've made all the necessary preparations, you'll be sure to face the tribulation! It's a pity you haven't been born yet, so you can't comprehend the mysteries of the inner demon tribulation."

Ji Tian sat cross-legged on the mountaintop, planted the Emperor's Banner beside him, and began to set up the formation by making hand seals.

Spiritual energy surged from his fingertips, transforming into beams of golden light that outlined intricate patterns on the ground.

The array patterns spread outwards from the Emperor's Banner, like the roots of a fallen giant tree, deeply embedded in the rocks of the mountain peak.

The array patterns lit up, then went out, disappearing into the stone.

This invisible giant net, covering an area of ​​hundreds of feet in radius, could only be sensed by Ji Tian's divine sense.

"That's about it."

He withdrew his hand, without activating the array patterns.

Tonight is merely the "setup of the formation"; the real "trial by fire" will take place tomorrow at noon.

At noon, the yang energy is at its peak, and the lightning element is most active. At that time, the power of the lightning is greatest, and the effect of tempering the body is also the best.

Moreover—

He glanced at the Emperor's Banner.

The purple mist on the banner was still rising, but gray fog occasionally drifted out, which was the residual resentment among the myriad souls that had not yet been refined.

These resentments need time to dissipate; otherwise, the yin energy will be too turbid, and the lightning it attracts will also be "impure."

One night was enough time for him to refine it.

Ji Tian stood up, pulled the Emperor Banner from the rock, and held it horizontally in front of him.

The black soul imprint on the banner had completely solidified, with fine golden patterns wrapped around its edges, like a black sun stitched together with golden thread.

A faint glow flowed in the center of the Soul Imprint; that was the primordial power condensed after all the souls had been refined.

"Tomorrow at noon, I will shatter the core and form the nascent soul," he whispered, storing the Human Emperor Banner into his Purple Mansion space.

The array patterns have been etched into the mountain rocks and will not dissipate overnight.

Tomorrow, he only needs to sit cross-legged and activate the formation, and the Emperor's Banner will automatically draw in the heavenly lightning.

It can be said that:

Thousands of souls gather together to attract thunder, and the flags are robbed of ashes, which is a pity.

Nine-times golden elixir splits through crimson snow, three lifetimes of mysterious female give birth to spiritual embryo.

Thunder startles heaven and earth, dragons and snakes stir; frost falls on rivers and lakes, wild geese arrive.

Who recognizes the immortal guest who gazes upon the long life, sitting alone in the empty mountains, observing the spiritual platform?

Having figured out which poem to recite tomorrow to showcase his talent, Ji Tian felt much more at ease, as the probability of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage increased from 90% to 99%.

One last look at the night sky.

The stars remained, and the sky was cloudless, as if nothing had ever happened.

He took a step forward and disappeared into the night.