The Devil at Your Side—Old Liu Dropped the Act!

Old Liu's body began to seep strange black mist.

With a raise of his hand, a banner billowing with black smoke flew out of his body. It swelled in the wind, growing several yards tall!

You saw many faces on the banner. They desperately tried to burst free, baring their fangs and contorting their hideous features as they let out terrifying wails like ghosts crying and wolves howling!

"Myriad Souls Banner?!"

You recognized it at once.

Because in your first simulation, during this very same year, when you were forty, a demonic Martial Artist wielding a Myriad Souls Banner had gone on a massacre in White Cloud County, even causing your daughter's death.

"Oh? Boss Chen knows this treasure too? It really is a treasure—its reputation is enormous."

Old Liu gently stroked the Myriad Souls Banner, looking utterly reluctant to part with it.

The murderous fiend who had been trailing you all this way was none other than Old Liu!

No wonder he often disappeared for stretches of time.

It was not as if you had never suspected him.

But Old Liu had only ever shown the strength of the Body Refining Realm before you, and he had never revealed the Myriad Souls Banner. You truly had no way to connect him with the evil man capable of slaughtering entire villages.

You carefully recalled the memories of your first simulation and realized that you had never seen that demonic Martial Artist's face clearly.

Perhaps they really were the same person.

But perhaps someone else had found the Myriad Souls Banner.

"Cough, cough! Those villagers... they welcomed us so warmly, and those children... how could you bring yourself to do it?!"

Old Liu did not care in the slightest.

"As long as I feed the Myriad Souls Banner, it will nourish my cultivation in return. With talent as poor as mine, I reached the Soul Tempering Realm in just six years! How could that be possible through normal cultivation? This truly is... a fine treasure..."

His eyes were already filled with a strange obsession.

"Don't be stupid! Look at your hair! Look at your sunken cheeks! It isn't nourishing you—it's using you! This is an evil thing! Throw it away, now!"

Old Liu had aged rapidly over the past six years.

Before, you had thought it was an old ailment from his time in the army flaring up. Now it seemed that the Myriad Souls Banner had been draining away his life force.

Old Liu's face suddenly twisted into a ferocious expression, and his voice became piercing, as though hundreds upon thousands of living beings were stuck in his throat.

"So what if it is?! Doesn't becoming stronger require a price?!"

"Old Liu... are you still Old Liu? You're terrifying!"

"That's right! Only by making others fear you can you avoid being bullied!!

What kind of rotten world is this?! Rotten world! Rotten world!

I obeyed the law, yet those officials used me as a scapegoat and sent me off to military exile!

My family was kind and honest, yet those vile peasants wiped out our entire line!!

And what of the General Sun Cheng'en you admired so much?! Wasn't he driven to death too?!

Why do you care whether those villagers live or die?

Living for yourself! Becoming stronger! That is the way of heaven and earth, the one and only kingly path!!"

At this moment, Old Liu seemed like a completely different person.

As he spoke, he slowly stepped closer to you.

Though you had just broken through to the Spirit Gathering Realm, Old Liu was now in the Soul Tempering Realm and held the devastating Myriad Souls Banner. Killing you would be as easy as turning over his hand.

"Come, Chen Yi! I won't hurt you. Whether in the military camp or when we escaped Yan Pass, you helped me many times! I'm a man who repays kindness. We can share this great treasure, you and I. How about it?"

Demonic Qi swirled around Old Liu, and even his eyes gleamed green.

He was more terrifying than the ghostly faces flickering in and out across the banner.

Your Spider Senses went wild. You knew he was lying. Most likely, Old Liu was close to dying of old age, and the Myriad Souls Banner wanted to find its next sucker.

By now, Old Liu was highly likely to have been completely controlled by the evil artifact.

"Old Liu, go mad at your leisure. I still want to live a few more years!"

Your hand slipped into your sleeve pouch and drew out a red iron pellet.

It was one of the many Spiritual Artifacts Sun Cheng'en had given you, called a Smoke Escape Bead.

You smashed the Smoke Escape Bead hard against the ground. Thick smoke swiftly spread throughout Lingfeng Pavilion. At the same time, a gentle breeze flew from the bead and lifted your feet, greatly increasing your running speed.

Using the smoke to block Old Liu's vision, you sprinted away at full speed.

"Hahaha! You think you can escape?!"

Old Liu no longer bothered pretending. He waved the Myriad Souls Banner and commanded the undead within to track you through the smoke.

Those incorporeal monsters wrapped around you, and your entire body immediately became incomparably heavy. Even your eyelids were difficult to lift.

"Zhengyang Art, Three Suns Opening Prosperity!"

The Shen Family's Zhengyang Art was an extremely yang External Cultivation technique. Once activated, it could disperse sinister undead spirits to a certain extent.

Still, you could not escape this calamity.

The instant the Myriad Souls Banner opened, all the smoke around you was sucked away clean in the blink of an eye.

"Chen Yi! You can't run!"

Old Liu, with his astonishingly grotesque expression, stuck out his tongue, bulged his eyes, and lunged at you with a savage face.

Before the man arrived, the evil ghosts did.

You were drowned beneath countless evil ghosts. Agonizing pain tore through your entire body, and your life force rapidly drained away!

Looks like this is as far as I can go this time...

Suddenly, shadows of people appeared all around Lingfeng Pavilion!

Streams of sword light slashed through the air, forcing Old Liu back and incidentally dispelling the evil ghosts clinging to you.

"Bold demon! Do not harm another person!"

"The eighteen sects of Sanjiang Commandery have gathered today to uphold justice and slay you, demon!"

"Fellow Daoists, we must destroy the Myriad Souls Banner! We cannot allow it to plague the mortal world again!"

Old Liu must have slipped up while slaughtering Lingfeng Pavilion.

The people of Lingfeng Pavilion had sent out a distress signal.

The eighteen sects of Sanjiang Commandery had gathered together, intending to join forces and kill Old Liu, who possessed the Myriad Souls Banner.

That was the fate of those who practiced the demonic path—everyone had the right to kill them.

Old Liu gave a cold snort.

"With this great treasure in my hands, you mere chickens and dogs think you can take me down?!"

The first wave of Martial Artists arrived. There were thirty to fifty of them, and they launched a merciless attack on Old Liu.

Old Liu completely transformed into a demon, a Demonic Seal appearing on his face.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!"

The undead poured out of the Myriad Souls Banner. They wailed and howled as they unleashed spiritual assaults, wrapped around people to weaken them, and some undead could even directly attack physical bodies!

Demonic Qi surged like rolling waves!

Under the siege of dozens of people, Old Liu still managed to resist.

It was not until three Martial Artists glowing with golden light joined the battle that Old Liu fled without looking back!

Those three were in the Golden Body Realm.

The gap between Golden Body Realm Martial Artists and Soul Tempering Realm Martial Artists was far greater than the gap between the Soul Tempering Realm and the Spirit Gathering Realm. Old Liu knew his own limits, so he ran like the wind.

"Chase him! We must not let him escape!"

You had picked up your life.

But Old Liu's attack had gravely damaged your Origin Qi. Even breathing felt exhausting now.

In your dazed state, you heard people talking around you.

"There's another survivor here."

"He was directly drained of Origin Qi by the Myriad Souls Banner. He won't live. Let's hurry and chase the demon!"

"Ah! It's Benefactor! Master, let me take care of him..."

"Do as you please!"

In your haze, you saw a large round face, and then you lost consciousness...