Chapter 107: Entering the Banner

Although he had tricked the Witch-Ghost Patriarch into handing over the earth veins, Lu Yang had no intention of stopping, after all, the other party still held a batch of his witch-ghosts.

Coincidentally, the Myriad Souls Banner was recently short on manpower.

"During this period, I restarted the talisman industrial assembly line for the Myriad Souls Banner; some banner spirits exhausted their spirituality and self-destructed, so it is about time to recruit the next batch."

In essence, they are all the same batch of witch-ghosts anyway.

Rather than wasting time letting those witch-ghosts, whose spirituality was too depleted to work, rest, it is better to directly replace them with new witch-ghosts.

Moreover, the replaced witch-ghosts can be directly fed to the new ones, completing waste utilization and resource recycling, allowing the new witch-ghosts to engage in work in better condition, improving talisman production efficiency, achieving industrial scale upgrades, and realizing sustainable exhaustive fishing.

The subsequent development was basically the same as in Lu Yang's previous-but-one life.

Without him, Daoist Yinshan indeed selected Zhao Xuhe; after a fierce battle, the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm was successfully triggered by Daoist Yinshan and chose to emerge.

Then the Golden Core sword qi dissipated, and the 【Heavenly Corpse Fiend】 was taken away by Daoist Yinshan.

As compensation, Zhao Xuhe received an Ascension Token bestowed by Daoist Yinshan, becoming increasingly proud and complacent, as if he could already see the day he would reach Foundation Establishment.

However, Lu Yang paid no attention to any of this.

In this life, he had always remained hidden in the shadows; only after Daoist Yinshan left did he venture deep into Skeleton Mountain and release the aura of the 【Yanmo Hall】.

Moments later, a black shadow quietly materialized.

"Greetings, Patriarch!"

While showing an excited expression and performing a full prostration to pay respects, Lu Yang silently sensed the aura of the Witch-Ghost Patriarch, poised to strike and ready to turn hostile at any moment.

"Rise."

After possessing a new body, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch appeared at first glance to be merely a handsome youth with red lips and white teeth; although his tone was mature, his voice was extremely childish.

He looked at Lu Yang with a solemn expression, seemingly pondering something.

After a long while, he let out a faint sigh: "Call out your Dharma Protector."

Hearing this, Lu Yang paused briefly but did not hesitate; he immediately took out the Myriad Souls Banner, summoned Su Nu, and prepared to act the moment anything went wrong.

"Hmm?"

The Witch-Ghost Patriarch seemed not to notice Lu Yang's abnormality; his gaze immediately fell upon Lu Yang's Myriad Souls Banner, and after examining it for a moment, he could not help but exclaim in admiration: "What a rare treasure! Not quite a spirit treasure, yet superior to one; it matches perfectly with our Witch-Ghost Path's lineage, truly like adding wings to a tiger!"

"The Patriarch makes me laugh; this item is called the Myriad Souls Banner."

Lu Yang smiled slightly upon hearing this: "I obtained it through a stroke of luck; thanks to this rare treasure, I was able to preserve our sect's lineage."

Hearing this, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch nodded:

"That is good; I was originally worried about how you would accommodate the myriad witch-ghosts of our sect and was thinking of lending a hand, but it seems I need not trouble myself."

Then he looked at Su Nu again, frowning slightly: "Also, this Dharma Protector of yours is refined quite well, but unfortunately, it possesses only craftsmanship without flexibility; in the past, the 【Yanmo Hall】 was custom-built for myself, and since you rely primarily on this Dharma Protector, you must learn to adapt to local conditions."

Having said that, he raised his right hand, formed a hand seal, and silently calculated for a moment.

Soon after, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch reopened his eyes, extended his hand, and shot out a technique seal that landed directly on Su Nu and her 【Yanmo Hall】.

Boom!

The next second, divine light rose from beneath Su Nu's feet; within the light, seven seal scripts of 【Yanmo Tian Xuanming She You Fujun】 emerged one after another.

However, as the Witch-Ghost Patriarch altered his technique seal, the appearance of these seal scripts gradually changed:

【Imperial Decree: Nine Nether Su Yin Yuan Nu Niang Niang】!

Once the seal script changed, the divine ability was complete; Su Nu's aura surged violently, actually recovering to fifty percent of her previous life's level even without the enhancement of the earth veins!

If she had the enhancement of the earth veins, she might even surpass her previous life!

"Now it is settled."

Seeing this, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch finally smiled with satisfaction: "With such a Foundation Establishment Dharma Protector, you have greater hope of advancing to Foundation Establishment in the future and reopening our sect's gates."

Having said that, he took out a transparent black sphere, inside of which were clearly the myriad witch-ghosts from the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm; Lu Yang even saw a slowly flowing turbid small river within it, and as the master of Skeleton Mountain in his previous life, he immediately recognized what this was.

"【Heavenly Corpse Fiend】?!"

Daoist Yinshan did not take it away—no, that is incorrect, he took one strand, but within the earth veins of Skeleton Mountain, there was more than just one strand of Heavenly Corpse Fiend!

"This fiend is a substance of yin earth; the Earth Fiend position belongs to 【Zhi Xu】, capable of concealing fire and moistening metal; if you are inclined, you can borrow this strand of Earth Fiend in the future to break through to the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment, and if a powerful enemy attacks, you can detonate it to destroy the eight hundred li of earth veins in Skeleton Mountain and perish together with the invader."

Lu Yang already knew all of this.

It was just that in the previous life, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch had only left these words within his soul thoughts, whereas in this life, he explained them to him in detail verbally.

'Is he... entrusting an orphan?'

Lu Yang felt somewhat puzzled; to be honest, he had originally thought the Witch-Ghost Patriarch would not treat him, this so-called "successor" who suddenly appeared, very well.

After all, he was the Sect Master of the Witch-Ghost Path.

Now reborn for his fifth life with a high hope of returning to Foundation Establishment, he should have been ambitious and unwilling to see anything escape his control.

But now it seemed that was not the case.

Just then, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch suddenly stopped speaking, glanced at Lu Yang, and then smiled: "Say whatever you wish to say."

Lu Yang hurriedly denied: "The Patriarch misunderstands."

The Witch-Ghost Patriarch waved his hand: "You managed to make a name for yourself in the Holy Sect; do you think I cannot guess what you are thinking? It would be strange indeed if I truly believed you!"

Having said that, he shook his head again with a bitter expression:

"My lifespan in this life is not long; my original intention was to escape the Secret Realm and then head overseas, find a solitary island, and pass down the lineage of our Witch-Ghost Path."

"If there could be another Foundation Establishment expert to guard it, that would be even better."

"Now that I have you, it saves me much effort; since you could cultivate to this stage in the Holy Sect without dying, I am reassured about your abilities."

"After all, the only thing I seek in the latter half of my life is the inheritance of the sect."

As his voice fell, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch's expression gradually returned to calm; looking at Lu Yang, he said indifferently: "Enough, send me into your Myriad Souls Banner."

Hearing this, Lu Yang immediately paused: "... atriarch, you want to enter the banner?"

"I am a sinner of the sect; if I had not been stubborn back then, the sect would not have suffered such a great calamity."

"My entire remaining life has essentially been about making up for the mistakes I committed in the past; since that is so, I should also contribute the final effort for the sect."

Having said that, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch smiled again: "Besides, this will make you feel more at ease, won't it?"

"... hen this junior shall respectfully comply with your command."

Lu Yang did not refute; he immediately activated the Myriad Souls Banner, opening a chaotic void; seeing this, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch nodded and stepped in without hesitation.

Whoosh—!

The next second, Lu Yang lifted the banner pole and slammed it heavily onto the ground; a dull, massive roar expanded rapidly in all directions along with the shadow.

"Thud!"

Wherever the shadow passed, the 【Yanmo Hall】 opened again, and countless yin soldiers and ghost generals clad in armor and holding weapons marched out, surrounding Lu Yang like stars arching around the moon.

The witch-ghosts varied in strength, ranging clearly from the Early Stage of Qi Condensation, to the Mid Stage, to the Late Stage, and even to the Great Perfection layer, standing in orderly ranks like a true army; not to mention there were also the cloned consciousness of the Senior Butian Peak Master, the Witch-Ghost Patriarch, and the super-specification banner spirit, the Dharma Protector Su Nu.

Undoubtedly, this spirit treasure had become even more terrifying!

Even better, after being whitewashed by the 【Book of Hundred Lives】, Lu Yang did not need to worry about any troublesome karmic entanglements attached to it and could use it boldly and freely!

"... t is time."

The next second, Lu Yang stopped concealing himself; his fiendish qi shot straight into the clouds, instantly alarming the entire Skeleton Mountain!

Almost simultaneously, Daoist Yinshan, who had just taken the 【Heavenly Corpse Fiend】 and was preparing to leave, turned his head in shock, looking toward the direction where the fiendish qi pierced the sky.

However, at this moment, he could not see a single figure.

All that met the eye was a 【Yanmo Hall】 as towering as a mountain, sitting amidst the dome of heaven, inhaling and exhaling Earth Fiends, and in the center of the myriad witch-ghosts, banners fluttered wildly!

(End of Chapter)