"Shisan, what's going on? Why are all these countless dead souls bowing to you?"
"I don't know either. Maybe... maybe..."
The Demon Venerable's Dao Seed in Lin Shisan's chest was growing hotter and hotter.
He understood in an instant. These countless dead souls were not kneeling to him, but to the Demon Venerable Gai Jiuyou within him.
The Myriad Souls Banner had originally been Gai Jiuyou's Spirit Artifact. Its Artifact Spirit must have sensed Gai Jiuyou's presence, which was why they were bowing.
"Trying to run?"
Zi Yuner vanished from where she stood.
A deep-purple afterimage swept past his side, as fast as a sword stretched long by sunlight.
The next moment, Zi Yuner had brought the old woman back, holding her by the back of her collar with one hand.
"L-let me go..."
The old woman's voice had changed pitch.
All the wrinkles on her face scrunched together, her cloudy old eyes bulged wide, and the walking stick in her hand swung back and forth.
Zi Yuner threw her onto the blue-gray stone floor. She landed hard, her walking stick rolling far out of reach, and lay sprawled in a pile of rubble.
She struggled
twice without managing to get up, then simply stopped struggling and buried her head in the crook of her arm, refusing to look up.
Lin Shisan walked over and crouched before her. He extended his right hand, and the Myriad Souls Banner flew over on its own, slowly unfurling one corner.
The ink-black fabric billowed out from that corner, its dark-gold patterns silently lighting up in the gloom.
An icy aura was already seeping from the banner, creeping up the back of the old woman's neck.
The old woman's body suddenly went rigid.
She felt something crawling up her back inch by inch, cold