The Ten Thousand Souls Banner

The stench of blood here was so strong that even Vice Master Shi was alarmed, worried that there might be more than one ancient Body Integration Realm here.

If he's even less lucky and encounters the Tribulation Transcendence stage, then it'll be his turn to be unlucky.

He felt a sense of relief; thankfully, he had brought Lu Yang along. Even if he were to suffer misfortune, would the Heavenly Court Sect allow their young leader to perish here?

"I know very little about the demonic blood sacrifice, so I'll have to trouble Sect Leader Shi with the situation in this small village," Lu Yang said earnestly, and this was the truth.

Vice Leader Shi did not refuse. He walked to the door of the outermost outhouse, pushed it open, and found it empty. The bowls and chopsticks were on the table, as if the owner of the house was about to eat, but suddenly something happened and he disappeared without even a sign of struggling or resisting.

Vice Leader Shi pushed open several doors in succession, and they were all in roughly the same state. There were still traces of life, clearly indicating that someone had lived there, but later, for some unknown reason, everyone disappeared.

It's as if someone stopped time, moved people away one by one, and then time began to flow again.

Tao Yaoye felt a chill run down her spine at the sight; it was just like the ghost stories she used to read wrapped in a blanket when she was a child.

She carefully tugged at Lu Yang's sleeve, immediately feeling much more at ease.

"Does Master Shi realize what happened here?"

Vice Master Shi analyzed, "As far as I know, there are two ways to do this: spatial confinement and time stop."

"If it's spatial confinement, that's manageable; a Nascent Integrated Body Realm Cultivator in spatial Law Technique could do that. But if it's time stopping, that would be terrible. To stop time, one would conservatively need to be at the Tribulation Transcendence stage!"

"In my memory, no one has ever been able to stop time; even those at the Tribulation Transcendence stage can only do it in theory!"

Lu Yang nodded. "The Time Immortal can do that."

"The Immortal of Time?" Vice Sect Leader Shi exclaimed in surprise; he had never heard of this immortal.

Lu Yang nodded. "The Immortal of Time has mastered the Dao Fruit of Time, and in his understanding of time, he is unparalleled in High Antiquity times."

"Is this really true?!" Vice Master Shi exclaimed in disbelief. The Dao of Time is obscure and difficult to understand; even entering the realm of it is challenging.

He never imagined that in High Antiquity there were immortals who used time as the Dao Fruit, and how terrifying such a Dao Fruit would be once unleashed!

Even Tao Yaoye was moved. How could Senior Brother Lu so readily refer to someone as an immortal?

Judging from Vice Leader Shi's strong reaction, it must be something that even the Vice Leader of the Nine Nether Sect didn't know.

How did Senior Brother Lu find out?

Has the gap between me and Senior Brother Lu already become that large?

The shock on Vice Leader Shi's face gradually faded. He blinked, turned to Lu Yang, and asked, "By the way, I was a little confused just now. What did you say?"

"It's nothing." Lu Yang thought that those in the Body Integration Realm were immune to the forgetting characteristics of immortals, but he didn't expect that even a powerful figure like Vice Sect Leader Shi in the Integrated Body Late Stage couldn't resist the characteristics of immortals.

"It's unlikely that the opponent is a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator who can control the Dao of Time; I'm more inclined to believe they're Body Integration Realm who can use spatial confinement."

From the moment he stepped into the small village, Lu Yang's brow remained furrowed. So many people had died, and in such bizarre ways; the murderer must be incredibly terrifying.

He killed someone right under the nose of the imperial court, and no one noticed.

This is the situation in Huai'an Village; what about the other villages? How many people did the murderer actually kill?

Vice Leader Shi squatted down, grabbed a handful of mud from the ground, and gently rubbed the originally dark brown soil to reveal a dark red color.

He noticed Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye's confusion and explained, "Too many people have died here, so the soil is tainted with the stench of blood! But because of this, I'm certain of one thing!"

"What?"

"The stench of blood is overwhelming here. There shouldn't be so little blood in the smell; someone must have moved the blood to another location!"

"I remember that the stench of blood can be used to forge the Myriad Soul Banner, a powerful weapon of the demonic path?" Lu Yang recalled knowledge related to the demonic path.

"Yes, the crafting of Soul-Summoning Banners, Soul-Guiding Banners, and Ten Thousand Soul Banners all require the stench of blood and resentment."

With an air of confidence, Vice Master Shi crushed the soil into powder, tossed it into the air, and swiftly formed a hand seal, creating a black mark.

The soil powder, concentrated by the black markings, floated in the air like silk, drifting into the distance.

"Let's go, follow along. If we refine the bloody aura on the spot, it will be troublesome to find the source. But since the other party moved the bloody aura away first and then refined it, I can find the real refining location based on the remaining bloody aura!"

Vice Leader Shi grabbed Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye and flew away, covering hundreds of miles in one breath, before landing in a mountain.

"The breath stopped there!"

Vice Leader Shi pointed to a spot not far away. The three exchanged a glance, nodded, and walked over, holding their breath.

Suddenly, Vice Sect Leader Shi and Lu Yang stopped in their tracks at the same time, and Lu Yang grabbed Tao Yaoye, who was about to walk forward.

Tao Yaoye looked ahead; the trees were lush and green, and the birds sang and flowers bloomed. She couldn't see anything different from other places.

Vice Master Shi looked at Lu Yang in surprise, not expecting Lu Yang to react as quickly as he did.

"You've seen it too, one more step forward and we're at the barrier!"

Lu Yang nodded. "In High Antiquity times, this was called the 'Ghost Wall Formation.' Anyone who stepped into this formation would lose their way, become confused within it, and eventually be trapped and die here!"

"It's now also called a 'ghost wall formation'."

"The fact that they've set up this maze-like formation here, and don't want anyone to enter, means there must be a secret!"

"Not only that, the Ghost Wall Formation also hides multiple other formations that can isolate all external detection, while those inside cannot detect those outside!"

"Someone must be cultivating within the formation and doesn't want to be disturbed by the outside world!"

"I smell a faint scent of blood; it's leaking from the formation!"

"Judging from the arrangement of the formation, it wasn't done by someone at the Tribulation Transcendence stage."

"It's easier to say if it's not the Tribulation Transcendence stage."

The two analyzed the formation, deducing what had happened inside: someone at the Body Integration Realm had set up the formation in the mountains to refine the bloody aura, preventing anyone from disturbing them, and was cultivating within the formation, which was related to the Huai'an Village massacre.

Tao Yaoye followed silently behind, struggling to keep up with Lu Yang's pace.

Why is Senior Brother Lu able to communicate so smoothly with someone at the Body Integration Realm in such a situation?

When Tao Yaoye was doing missions, she encountered some outstanding Foundation Establishment Realm and Golden Core stage cultivators in the outside world. Those people could talk fluently in front of her, as if they knew everything. But when faced with a Nascent Spirit Transformation, they would stammer and appear very timid. If they encountered Void Refinement stage cultivator or Body Integration Realm cultivator, they couldn't even speak properly. Compared to Senior Brother Lu, they were far inferior.

Vice Master Shi chuckled. He loved disturbing others' cultivation, especially causing the ancient Nascent Body Integration Realm inside to Qi Deviation!

He took out an octagonal hammer from his storage ring, tossed it into the air, and the hammer grew to the size of a small mountain as if inflated, with every edge gleaming with a cold light.

The octagonal hammer fell downwards like a meteorite, its momentum overwhelming.

Click--

The massive octagonal hammer made a cracking sound, as if it had struck something.

Vice Master Shi rubbed his hands together and pressed down again, giving the octagonal hammer new power, which shattered the invisible barrier.

Click--click--splash--

The barrier shattered, and the stench of blood filled the air.

Tao Yaoye stared wide-eyed at the scene before her in disbelief; the idyllic scene of birdsong and fragrant flowers was nowhere to be seen.

Trees withered, blood flowed like rivers, the earth was stained red, ghostly shadows loomed, and a cold wind howled. A withered old man sat cross-legged in the center, with a tattered blood-red banner standing beside him.

"Who are you!" The old man suddenly opened his eyes, ignoring Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye, staring intently at Vice Sect Leader Shi, gritting his teeth.

The formation he set up shouldn't have been discovered; the only flaw was the leaking bloody scent, something only an old Old Devil could detect.

The old Old Devil had no grudge against him, so why would he want to disrupt his formation?!

"I am your grandfather!" Vice Master Shi laughed loudly, waved his hand to retrieve the octagonal hammer, and then raised the hammer to smash it down.

The withered old man grabbed the tattered banner and dodged, muttering incantations as he did so.

Vice Master Shi didn't take it seriously. With his other hand, he held a bone scythe and began smashing and hacking at the withered old man. He realized that his broken formation had caused a backlash from the old man, and the old man was in very bad shape.

Beat a dog when it's down!

"Is this all the skill you've got? You're a disgrace to ancient cultivators!"

"Why bother refining the Myriad Soul Banner? That's something I've already mastered!"

"Die, Grandpa!"

Vice Master Shi displayed his divine power, and the withered old man was forced to retreat steadily, unable to even launch a decent attack.

Boom--

The octagonal hammer and the bone sickle fell simultaneously, smashing the withered old man into the mountain.

"Very well, very well, the younger generation is truly formidable!" The old man laughed in anger as he walked out of the cave, the tattered banner in his hand gleaming.

Vice Leader Shi clicked his tongue. "We were careless."

"What did you carelessly do?" Tao Yaoye asked.

Vice Sect Leader Shi pointed at the withered old man and spat, "We were so engrossed in the fight that we didn't notice he was refining the Myriad Soul Banner while he was being attacked. Now that the Myriad Soul Banner is finished, he's not easy to deal with."

The withered old man's face was so gloomy it seemed to drip water, and his words were forced out from between his teeth, giving one an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

"I happened to obtain a massive amount of bloody energy, which I will use to refine the Myriad Soul Banner. Today, I will show you, this junior from a later generation, my power!"

"The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls, rise!"

A chilling wind howled, its coldness biting to the bone. The surrounding winds converged on the withered old man, and countless ghostly phantoms appeared behind him, their forms enormous and their numbers numbering in the tens of thousands.

As the old man laughed, the Myriad Soul Banner was completely refined, and the outlines of the ghosts became increasingly clear.

Lu Yang recognized the ghosts' appearances: pigs, cows, sheep...

"Um?"

The four people present were stunned.