The cultivation plane.
Immortal-Seeking Province, the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the First Saint Demon Sect.
Amid vast seas of clouds and tier upon tier of mountains, a main peak rose from the earth and pierced the heavens.
Pitch-black from top to bottom, it was no natural formation. It was a soul bone left behind by an ancient primordial beast after its death, driven into the earth by the sect master's supreme power.
Inside the Main Hall atop that peak stood a man.
He was the master of the First Saint Sect, the foremost demonic sect of the age—a man at the pinnacle of the Mahayana stage, just one step from ascending to the Immortal Realm: the First Saint Demon Venerable!
Rumor painted him as a blue-faced, fanged monster with three heads and six arms. In reality, he was merely a middle-aged man dressed in ancient robes.
At that moment, the First Saint Demon Venerable was staring blankly at a flagpole.
Its black banner snapped in the wind. The demonic aura coiling around it would shatter an ordinary cultivator's mind merely upon approach, reducing them to a mindless husk.
This was the treasure every member of the demonic sect owned: a Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
The one in the First Saint Demon Venerable's hands was made of thousand-year-old dark yin wood, mountain spider silk, and a saint's skin.
"My wood isn't as old, my thread isn't as good, and my skin isn't as badass."
"I'm a mighty Demon Venerable, yet my artifact is inferior to some colleague's in a horror world. If word gets out, won't I become a laughingstock?"
The more the First Saint Demon Venerable thought about it, the angrier he grew.
Just then, his confidant, Elder Xuanming, arrived on a flying sword and greeted him respectfully. "Greetings, Sect Master."