Hearing Xue Ling call him the Crow Spirit again, Ji Zhongming's face contorted with anger.
"Dead bald donkey, try calling me the Crow Spirit one more time. When I get back into my own body, I'll kill you first!"
But Xue Ling just scoffed at Ji Zhongming's threat and instead increased the speed of transmitting his spiritual power.
"Shen Qing, listen to me. Concentrate your mind. As long as you suppress that demonic qi, the Soul - Locking Banner will be yours!"
Hearing this, Shen Qing quickly steadied her spirit. With Xue Ling's help, that sense of despair and cold was somewhat suppressed, and the faces of those who had hurt her were no longer so terrifying to her.
Seeing that the state of the Soul - Locking Banner seemed to be changing, Ji Zhongming finally got anxious.
"Shen Qing! How dare you really make the Soul - Locking Banner recognize you as its master?!"
Shen Qing stretched out her other hand and continued to tightly grasp the Soul - Locking Banner. The bone - chilling cold spread up her forearm and then quickly receded.
A hint of pleasure appeared on Shen Qing's face. She shouted at Ji Zhongming, "Just watch and see if I dare!"
Seeing that the Soul - Locking Banner was starting to recognize Shen Qing, Ji Zhongming was truly panicked.
He rushed around wildly, trying to knock Shen Qing away, but since he was a spiritual body, he couldn't even touch her.
He fixed his gaze on his physical body and quickly flew over, trying to return to it, but was blocked outside by Li Xian's spell - talisman.
To maintain the effectiveness of the spell - talisman, Li Xian dared not move from his position. Sweat had oozed out on his forehead, his hands began to tremble, and his spiritual power was gradually depleting.
But in order to make the plan go smoothly, he didn't dare to let go. He just closed his eyes and continuously absorbed the surrounding spiritual power, even though this would over - operate his meridians and cause a tingling pain.
The Soul - Locking Banner seemed to want to make a final struggle and conjured up a terrifying appearance in Shen Qing's spiritual consciousness.
It had a green face and sharp fangs, with bloodstained white clothes, and its lower limbs were presented in an extremely distorted and disgusting state.
As it got closer, Shen Qing seemed to be able to smell the stench of decay on it.
However, its face was Shen Qing's.
"Aren't you afraid of me? I am you, and you are me. I am your dark side."
Shen Qing looked around and found that she had been forcibly pulled by the Soul - Locking Banner into a void space surrounded by endless darkness. She had lost all senses except for vision.
"Ah..."
Shen Qing opened her mouth to speak but found that her throat seemed to be blocked, and she could only make grunting sounds.
The figure seemed to have seen something interesting. It circled around Shen Qing twice and then suddenly leaned in close in an extremely distorted state.
"Shen Qing, have you ever thought that your inner self is actually so twisted and ugly? You always think that Lin Yibai has done evil things and hate Pei Xuanjing and all those who are not good to you. But have you ever thought that all this is because of yourself?"
"If you weren't so cowardly and incompetent, how could they have all been attracted to Lin Yibai?"
"Your master doesn't care about you, your senior brothers dislike you, your friends around you hate you, and even your parents and younger brother think you're a good - for - nothing who wastes money."
"No one likes you. Isn't it because of yourself?"
After saying all this, it had completely belittled Shen Qing's self - worth. After that, it looked at Shen Qing expectantly, waiting for her reaction.
But Shen Qing's face was calm. There was no fear or sadness in her eyes when she looked at it. Instead, she was looking at it as if it were a naive child.
"Why are you looking at me like this?!"
"What kind of look is that? Pity? Compassion?!"
The figure was extremely agitated. With a wave of its hand, Shen Qing felt her throat loosen, and she could speak again.
"You said you're my dark side?"
"Yes! I am your ugly dark side. All your resentment, unwillingness, and negative emotions are me!"
Its sinister laughter lingered around Shen Qing.
"So this is why Ji Zhongming can't let you recognize him as your master. I'm afraid he'd be scared stiff as soon as he saw himself like this."
The figure was stunned for a moment and then nodded stupidly, agreeing with Shen Qing's words.
"How do you know? That fool was so scared that he was ejected from his spiritual consciousness when he saw himself in this form. That's why he failed to make you recognize him as your master."
Then, it stamped its foot angrily and pointed at Shen Qing, scolding, "You're so sly! How dare you question me? I was actually led around by you. I'm an ancient divine artifact. Can't you show me some respect?"
A smile curled up on Shen Qing's lips. She followed the Soul - Locking Banner's words and asked, "Yes, yes, yes. My respected ancient divine artifact, may I ask what you brought me here for?"
The Soul - Locking Banner was caught off guard by Shen Qing's question and didn't know how to answer.
It had brought Shen Qing here to test whether she could face her inner dark side. But why wasn't Shen Qing the least bit scared? Instead, she was talking to it so calmly.
Was the appearance it conjured not terrifying enough, or were the words it said not hurtful enough?
For tens of thousands of years, the Soul - Locking Banner was feeling so incompetent for the first time.
Previously, those who wanted it to recognize them as masters, including all previous Demon Lords, would turn pale with fear at its appearance. Who could accept the sight of themselves degenerating into a ghost?
"What's wrong? Why are you sighing?"
Shen Qing tilted her head in confusion, not knowing what the Soul - Locking Banner was up to.
The Soul - Locking Banner was deflated by Shen Qing's innocent look.
It knew that anyone who could come up with a way to make the supreme treasure of the Demon Realm recognize them as master must be a bit crazy.
It could command evil ghosts and was tainted with demonic qi. Which righteous cultivator would want to get close to it?
Only this little girl in front of it.
Thinking like this, the Soul - Locking Banner snorted and transformed back into a black dot.
Since this appearance couldn't scare Shen Qing, there was no point in maintaining it.
"Little girl, I'm a magical tool in the hands of all previous Demon Lords. I suppress resentful spirits and am tainted with demonic qi. I'm different from the magical tools in the hands of your so - called righteous cultivators."
"I'm dark and only want to stay in the corner. I want to kill and take pleasure in torturing living souls. Such a me, why do you want me to recognize you as my master?"
As the Soul - Locking Banner spoke, it looked at Shen Qing expectantly, as if it wanted to hear a different answer from Shen Qing, a righteous cultivator.
But Shen Qing didn't notice the Soul - Locking Banner's look at all. She just answered honestly, "Because if I don't make you recognize me as your master, I won't be able to deal with Ji Zhongming. So that's why I want you to recognize me as your master."
The flickering of the Soul - Locking Banner's dot paused for a moment and then flashed violently, seemingly extremely angry.
"You just blatantly tell me your purpose like this? You won't even try to coax me?"
"Can't you learn from other righteous cultivators and say that you're here to redeem me, rescue me, and warm me?"
Shen Qing pouted and reluctantly said, "Why do you like to hear lies? But if you want to hear them, I can say them too."
"I'm here to redeem you, rescue you, and warm you. If you think you're still too dark, I'll accompany you to soak up more sunlight."
"Is that okay?"