"Hmm…" The man halted for a moment, then suddenly seemed to have noticed something. His gaze fell toward the underground chasm, and his divine sense swept through it. After a long pause, he burst into hearty laughter. "So there's actually something like this here. I don't know what exactly you are, but you'll be useful to this old man. Fine — I'll collect you first."
With that said, he leapt directly into the underground chasm.
The moment he landed, countless small black shadows burst forth from the cracks in the ground on all sides, lunging at him with bared fangs and brandished claws.
The man showed not the slightest fear. On the contrary, he let out an excited roar: "Ha ha ha! Good, good — come at me!"
As he spoke, he suddenly produced a massive black banner. An instant later, the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves erupted from it, the sound so shrill that it drowned out the screeching of the underground shadows. And upon that black banner, there were numerous struggling human faces — contorted in agony, mouths open, screaming.
The man formed a series of hand seals, pouring his Saint Yuan into the black banner as he uttered a soft command: "Go!"
The next instant, the black banner expanded into a vast curtain of darkness that descended below. Every small shadow that rushed toward it seemed to have met its nemesis — one after another, they were devoured by the banner.
And as the devouring continued, the aura radiating from the black banner grew ever stronger, its color ever darker.
It seemed capable of swallowing everything — even light itself.
The terrifying devouring power of the black banner clearly threw the shadows into a panic. Before long, they began to merge and grow larger, just as they had when
Upon seeing this, the Void King Realm expert shrouded in black qi showed not alarm but elation. He murmured under his breath: "So you have this ability as well. Good, good, good — my Myriad Soul Banner is about to feast wonderfully. Ha ha ha ha!"
Laughing, he pointed downward, and the descending curtain of darkness began to twist and writhe. Then, astonishingly, it transformed into a colossal and terrifying human face. The face was grotesque beyond measure, covered with countless eyes, each one reflecting a dazzling spiritual radiance. Within that radiance lurked inconceivable power.
Moreover, there was an enormous maw on this face — from within it came violent and eerie howling. The mouth opened wide, splitting open even larger than the face itself, and bit savagely toward the massive shadow figure that had formed below.
The colossal shadow, merged together from countless smaller ones, would hardly surrender without a fight. Its two pitch-black, whip-like arms lashed out, attempting to block the Myriad Soul Banner's attack.
In an instant, the underground chaos became a maelstrom of flying sand and rolling stones.
But it was all in vain.
The Myriad Soul Banner did not fear the giant shadow's assault in the least. It plunged straight through the attacks, clamping the massive shadow in its jaws. Then it tilted its head back — like a bird swallowing a worm — and devoured the giant shadow whole.
From within the face, faint sounds of mournful wailing could be heard.
The terrifying face that the Myriad Soul Banner had transformed into now bore an expression of satisfaction. Every last one of its countless eyes sparkled with an excited gleam.
*Burp…* It even let out a remarkably vivid belch.
The instant the giant shadow was swallowed, the remaining stragglers fled into the surrounding cracks in the earth and dared not show themselves again. They seemed to have realized that this Myriad Soul Banner was nothing short of their mortal enemy — utterly beyond their ability to resist!
Seeing this, the Void King Realm expert shrouded in black qi waved his hand with a look of mild reluctance, as though still unsatisfied. The Myriad Soul Banner reverted to its original form and flew back to his grasp.
On the surface, the Myriad Soul Banner did not appear greatly changed from before, but the sinister aura it radiated was clearly a shade more wicked.
"Heh heh heh heh…" A chilling chuckle rumbled from the expert's throat. He fondled his Artifact, nodding repeatedly. "Not bad, not bad. To have gained this much already upon just entering — worthy indeed of the Lost Lands. This old man's expectations have only risen!"
He rambled on like a lunatic for a while, then laughed boisterously and stowed away the Myriad Soul Banner. Shrouded in a ball of black qi, he shot out of the underground chasm and set off in precise pursuit of the direction
At another location within the Lost Lands,