Chapter 870: The Celestial Luck Banner

Almost immediately, the saber light spilled over like a storm, intensely focused on the bony bandit. A saber materialized out of thin air, almost invisible due to its speed, as it shot straight for the fatal spot between the fat bandit's brows.

For the first time, the saber truth, Destiny Blade, greeted the Bound of Universe!

Merciless Blade, Merciless Dao - the styles were directed at different targets but they had been executed concurrently.

A splatter of blood gleamed following the form as the bandits drew back almost simultaneously with loud cries. The fat one hurriedly cried out, "Who are you? This is a misunderstanding, have mercy...."

Yun Yang remained stoic but his saber light exploded with sheer intensity.

Saber Laic - another realm seemed to emerge right before the two bandits.

The bandits' upper bodies, their shoulders, and their chests, were littered with wounds. They staggered as they withdrew, bleeding heavily. Both of them were terrified and agitated; wielding their weapons fervently, they attempted to put up a defense, but there was no stopping the absorbing laic attacks.

Ultimately, they managed to parry the saber form based on their proficient cultivation base and self-defending mystical Qi; they remained alive but injured. However, what caused their despair to grow even more debilitating came at the very next moment.

Black and white, Yin and Yang, two beams of opposite yet complementing saber light flashed into existence in the sky. The Destiny Blade's saber forms presented themselves consecutively, continuing their saber legend in the Bound of Universe.

"Life and Death in a Thought!" Yun Yang's icy voice rang out.

"Stop! We're -"

Gripped in the horrible feeling of death, both bandits shouted in hopes of salvaging the situation. It was too late. Before they finished their words, their heads were already soaring through the air as blood spurted from the gaping cuts, putting an end to the battle.

A blink of violet and Yun Yang stood tall thirty feet away, staring into the distance as the beheaded corpses that had yet to collapse jetted blood from their necks. After a while, two soft thuds could be heard; the corpses had succumbed and fallen to the earth.

Almost at once, two mystical auras slipped into Yun Yang's deific consciousness. The youth's brow arched.

This was most probably the karmic force of this realm, existing much stronger in this present form than in the Tianxuan Continent. The karmic force of killing two people like this was much more than that when he killed hundreds of wrongdoers in Tianxuan Continent. It was a considerable harvest.

The outcome delighted Yun Yang, but he still experienced conflicting emotions...

The little fatty Qian Duoduo stared at Yun Yang in a stupor before his frozen gaze shifted to the two corpses. He screamed with all his might, "Ah! Ahh! Ahh! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh, my land! Oh my heaven!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Yun Yang asked with a frown.

'I've helped him kill his enemy, but here he is, shrieking like a lunatic without any sense of joy... What is he up to? Has he gotten inebriated from excessive acting?'

Yun Yang was already annoyed with him, but his irritation grew even further. Yet, as he turned to look, he could not help widening his eyes too.

Ghostly images of two banners popped out above the two corpses laid on the ground. They hovered in the air, fluttering softly. It was a sight never before seen. Despite the flags being only a shadow, it was obvious that they were glimmering. If it were not for their ephemeral appearance, it was like the banners were real! It was remarkably strange.

After proficient cultivators died, their spiritual essence would show due to their significant cultivation base. They could even enter the cycle of reincarnation consciously. Such occurrences were not rare. It was unusual, however, to have two banners jump out of the dead bodies like this. What did it mean?

This situation was completely beyond Yun Yang's experience and knowledge! Despite his wisdom and calm, he was still bewildered, asking with a frown, "What is this?"

The question was, of course, posed to Qian Duoduo, a local of the Bound of Universe.

Surprisingly, just as Yun Yang finished his question, the two banners were already rising into the air and vanishing quickly as they drifted up. All traces of their existence quickly disappeared.

Little fatty shrieked with all his might, "The Celestial Luck Banner! It's the green Celestial Luck Banner! Ah, it's the Celestial Luck Banner! We're doomed! We're doomed!"

"Doomed? What are you shrieking at? Summoning spirits?" Yun Yang scolded as he slapped the agitated culprit straight across his face.

Qian Duoduo was in total despair.

"Boss, we're in deep sh*t..."

"Deep sh*t?"

Yun Yang frowned.

"What sh*t?"

Grief and anguish were clearly written across the fatty's face.

"This is the freaking Celestial Luck Banner... Oh my god..."

"This isn't a good place to talk. Let's go," Yun Yang said as he dragged the dumbfounded fatty and rapidly took care of the corpses, leaving the place swiftly.

He knew that the matter was grave just by looking at the fatty's reaction, but the bandits were already killed. It was no use crying over spilled milk, thus it was more important to understand the cause and effect of the situation. The fatty seemed to want to make things clear on the spot but the case was not something easily spelled out in a moment or two. Still, Yun Yang needed to understand the scenario promptly, so it was better to find a spot and shed light on this.

A long time later, in a secluded cave, the color had yet to return to Qian Duoduo's face. His gaze was still slightly dazed.

"The Celestial Luck Banner... ah, you won't know about it since you just ascended. Let me tell you... The Celestial Luck Banner is a gem second to none in this world."

"Only when you form a school or clan and it has grown to a level substantial enough to obtain the recognition of the god that the Celestial Luck Banner will appear. In other words, the Celestial Luck Banner is basically a sect's most treasured and representative treasure!"

"The Celestial Luck Banner gathers the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to hold the sect's providence. It's a destiny gem, a heaven's providence treasure!"

"The Celestial Luck Banner is classified into six classes. The lower class flag is black. Any sector school that reaches a certain scale and a certain capability will qualify to have it. Once the school or sect has the Celestial Luck Banner, its influence will shoot up because its members will enjoy additional benefits when they cultivate."

"A lower class black Celestial Luck Banner allows the spiritual Qi of where the sect is located to increase its richness by two. Due to the attached providence of the sect, its disciples' speed of absorbing spiritual Qi in cultivation will be several times more than ordinary rogue cultivators. Do you understand, now that I've put it this way? The spiritual Qi intensity increases by two times and the cultivation speed increases by two times from providence. By my calculation, a lower class school's disciple is four times quicker in cultivation speed than rogue cultivators who are independent of schools and sects."

"Do you understand now?" the fatty asked rather mournfully as he looked at Yun Yang.

Yun Yang breathed in deeply and answered, "A little. Then? Do higher class Celestial Luck Banners have stronger effects?"

He thought, 'If this is the case, aren't the rogue cultivators destined to be doomed in this realm? No matter how gifted and intelligent above the rest they are, how could they compare to those who are assisted by the sects they're in?'

'Besides, which disciple's talent will be lacking when they can be absorbed into notable sects?'

"What's above the lower class black Celestial Luck Banner is the middle-class green flag," said the fatty, "The Green Celestial Luck Banner can quadruple the spiritual Qi potency around the sect location while the providence addition to the sect is still two times more. However, combining them makes grow six times."

Qian Duoduo blinked and exclaimed, "Attached providence sounds mystical, but it's merely a fixed variable. No matter what class the Celestial Luck Banner is, the attached providence only doubles. Let's illustrate this with a Black Celestial Luck Banner sect - if the spiritual Qi a rogue cultivator absorbs during cultivation is one, the lower class sect's two times of spiritual Qi is four, and adding the two times from the providence, it's actually six times more than a rogue cultivator. If they cultivate like this for a year, it will be equaled to six years of cultivation by a rogue cultivator."

"The middle-class sect that possesses four times the spiritual Qi will be sixteen times faster compared to the independent cultivators. Adding the two times from the attached providence, makes it eighteen times more. This means that the middle-class sect is three times faster in cultivation speed compared to a lower class sect, and eighteen times quicker than a rogue cultivator!"

As the fatty elaborated, Yun Yang understood it all; terror and shock quickly engulfed him.

"Don't be so surprised yet. A higher class sect that has the Silver Celestial Luck Banner will possess spiritual Qi ten times more potent and of course, double the attached providence. Ten times of spiritual Qi means a thousand and twenty-four times more, added to the two times of providence, totals to one thousand and twenty-six times more. In other words, cultivating for a day in an upper-class sect will equal to a rogue cultivator cultivating three years and more. That's seven times faster than a middle-class sect and over two hundred times faster than a lower class sect!"

Yun Yang's eyes were dilated at this point.

How could there be such a thing in this world? Did this not mean that cultivating in an upper-class sect would make one spring right into heaven?

Could rogue cultivators even survive in the Bound of Universe?

The fatty continued his explanation, "These are only the lower, middle, and upper-class sect, three of the many classes in the Celestial Luck Banner. Going up further the ladder, you have the Gold Celestial Luck Banner, the Amethyst Celestial Luck Banner... The Gold Celestial Luck Banner has sixteen times the spiritual Qi while the Amethyst flag has sixty times that. As for that particular bit of information, well, you can count it yourself."

"It has been said that the cultivation base achieved in one day of cultivation by a disciple in the sect that possesses the Amethyst banner, purely by using multiplication, is equivalent to a century of cultivation by beginner sect's disciples!"

"These differ from person to person and talent to talent, and prodigious disciples are extremely rare in any of the schools as well, but... due to such multiplied aid, even the most appalling disciple in a higher class sect will be better and more capable than the most prodigious disciple of a lower class school!"

"In contrast to sects and schools, families and clans that could possess the Celestial Luck Banner are relatively limited. Of course, there are super clans that were established since ages ago that have the flags - these are not low class either. However, most of these so-called noble families or clans are only tethered to certain sects, becoming their bonded helpers and cultivating by borrowing the force of the sect's Celestial Luck Banner..."

Qian Duoduo sighed and said, "This is also the main reason why poor families can hardly produce rich children in the Bound of Universe now. This is why the general rule in the martial world is all about sect against sect, clan against clan... The so-called lone wolf bandits, the rogue martial practitioners... they have become increasingly rare and hard to find!"