Chapter 107: Entering the Banner

Although he had tricked the Ge Mai from Master Tingyou, Lu Yang had no intention of stopping, for the other still held a batch of his witch ghosts.

Fortunately, the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner recently lacked manpower.

"Lately, I've restarted the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner's talisman production line; some banner spirits have exhausted their spiritual essence and perished. It's about time to recruit the next batch."

After all, they're fundamentally the same batch of witch ghosts.

Rather than waste time letting witch ghosts with excessive spiritual depletion rest, it's better to directly replace them with new ones.

Moreover, the replaced witch ghosts can be directly fed to the new ones, achieving waste utilization and resource recycling, allowing the new witch ghosts to enter service in better condition, boosting talisman production efficiency, upgrading industrial scale, and achieving sustainable overexploitation.

The subsequent developments also matched Lu Yang's previous life almost exactly.

Without him, True Person Yinshan indeed chose Zhao Xuhe; after a chaotic battle, the Witch Ghost Realm was successfully stirred by True Person Yinshan and chose to emerge.

Then the Jin Dan sword qi dissipated, and the 【Heavenly Corpse Miasma】 was taken by True Person Yinshan.

In return, Zhao Xuhe received the Ascension Token granted by True Person Yinshan, becoming even more self-satisfied, as if he had already glimpsed the day he would reach Foundation Establishment.

But Lu Yang paid no attention to any of this.

In this life, he had always remained hidden, only arriving deep within Skull Mountain after True Person Yinshan departed, then releasing the aura of the 【Yanmo Palace】.

After a moment, a dark shadow quietly surfaced.

"I pay homage to the Ancestor!"

Lu Yang, his face filled with excitement, bowed deeply in reverence, while silently sensing Master Tingyou's aura, ready to strike at any sign of treachery.

"Rise."

The possessed Master Tingyou appeared at first glance to be a youthful boy with red lips and white teeth, handsome in appearance; though his tone was mature, his voice was extremely childish.

He regarded Lu Yang solemnly, as if pondering something.

After a long while, he sighed softly: "Bring out your guardian spirit."

Lu Yang, startled, did not hesitate—he immediately drew forth the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner and summoned Su Nü, while preparing to strike if anything went wrong.

"Hmm?"

Master Tingyou seemed not to notice Lu Yang's unease; his gaze immediately fell upon the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner. After a brief inspection, he couldn't help but praise: "What a remarkable treasure! Not a Spirit Treasure, yet better than one—perfectly suited to our Witch Ghost Dao lineage, like adding wings to a tiger!"

"Your Ancestor flatters me. This artifact is called the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner."

Lu Yang smiled slightly: "I acquired it through a stroke of fortune; it was thanks to this marvel that I preserved the sect's legacy."

Master Tingyou nodded in response:

"Good. I was originally worried how you'd house the ten thousand witch ghosts of our sect, even considering helping you—but now it seems I needn't trouble myself."

He then turned to Su Nü, frowning slightly: "Your guardian spirit is well-crafted, yet lacks adaptability—only craftsmanship, no flexibility. In the past, the 【Yanmo Palace】 was custom-made for me. Since you now rely on this guardian spirit, you must learn to adapt to circumstances."

As he spoke, he formed a hand seal with his right hand and silently calculated for a moment.

Soon after, Master Tingyou reopened his eyes and extended his hand, launching a spell directly onto Su Nü and her 【Yanmo Palace】.

Boom—

The next instant, divine light erupted beneath Su Nü's feet; within the light, seven seal characters slowly surfaced: 【Yanmo Tianxuan Ming She You Fu Jun】.

Yet as Master Tingyou's spell shifted, the appearance of these seal characters gradually changed:

【Edict of the Nine Heavens' Su Yin Yuan Nü Niang】!

As the seal transformed, the divine power activated—Su Nü's aura surged violently, restoring her to fifty percent of her former life's level, even without Ge Mai enhancement!

With Ge Mai added, she could even surpass her former self!

"Now it's done."

Master Tingyou smiled in satisfaction: "With a Foundation Establishment guardian spirit like this, your future ascent to Foundation Establishment and the reopening of your sect's gates become far more likely."

Then he produced a transparent black sphere, inside which lay the ten thousand witch ghosts of the Witch Ghost Realm—Lu Yang even spotted a slow-flowing, murky little river within, and as the former lord of Skull Mountain in his past life, he instantly recognized what it was.

"The 【Heavenly Corpse Miasma】!?"

True Person Yinshan didn't take it away—no, that's not right; he took one of them, yet Skull Mountain's Ge Mai contained more than one 【Heavenly Corpse Miasma】!

"This miasma is an Earth Yin substance, its Earthly Sha position belonging to 【Zhi Xu】. It can suppress fire and moisten metal. If you're serious, you may use this Earth Sha to break through to mid-Foundation Establishment. If a powerful enemy attacks, you may detonate it to destroy Skull Mountain's eight-hundred-li Ge Mai and perish alongside the invader."

Lu Yang knew all this.

But in his past life, Master Tingyou had merely left these words in his soul's thoughts; in this life, he explained them in detail, face to face.

'Is he… entrusting me with his legacy?'

Lu Yang was puzzled. Honestly, he had expected Master Tingyou to treat this sudden "heir" with indifference.

After all, he was the head of the Witch Ghost Dao.

Now reborn for the fifth time, with a strong chance of returning to Foundation Establishment, he should be ambitious, determined to control every detail.

Yet now it seemed otherwise.

At that moment, Master Tingyou suddenly fell silent, turned to Lu Yang, and smiled: "Say what's on your mind."

Lu Yang quickly denied: "Ancestor, you misunderstand."

Master Tingyou waved his hand: "You've risen in the Holy Sect—what could you possibly be thinking that I can't guess? If you truly believed me, that'd be strange indeed!"

Then he shook his head, his expression bitter:

"My lifespan in this life is short. I originally intended to flee the realm and sail overseas, find a lonely island, and preserve the Witch Ghost Dao lineage."

"If I could have one more Foundation Establishment cultivator to guard it, that would be even better."

"Now that you're here, you've spared me much effort. Since you've survived this far in the Holy Sect, I trust your ability."

"After all, my only goal in this life is the sect's legacy."

As he finished speaking, Master Tingyou's expression grew calm. He looked at Lu Yang and said softly: "Enough. Send me to your Ten Thousand Spirits Banner."

Lu Yang froze: ". Ancestor, you're entering the banner?"

"I am a sinner of the sect. Had I not stubbornly insisted on my own path, the sect would not have suffered such disaster."

"All my remaining life has been an attempt to atone for my past mistakes. If so, I ought to give my final strength to the sect."

Having said that, Patriarch Tingyou smiled again: "Besides, this way you can rest a little easier, right?"

"Then this junior shall respectfully obey."

Lu Yang did not argue. He immediately activated the Myriad Spirits Banner, propped open a Chaos Cave, and seeing this, Patriarch Tingyou nodded as well, stepping inside without the slightest hesitation.

Whoosh whoosh—!

The next instant, Lu Yang raised the banner-pole and brought it down heavily against the ground. A muffled, tremendous boom rang out, and the shadow spread rapidly in all directions along with it.

"Thud!"

Wherever the shadow passed, 【Yama Temple】 opened once more. From within it marched countless armored ghost soldiers and fiend generals, clustering around Lu Yang like stars circling the moon.

The ghost-soldiers had their strong and their weak, and from early-stage Qi Refining, to mid-stage Qi Refining, to late-stage Qi Refining, and all the way to Great Perfection—the ranks were clearly delineated and arrayed in order, like a true legion. Not to mention there were also super-grade banner-spirits like the Patchwork Peak Master's divine fragment, Patriarch Tingyou, and the guardian goddess Sunü.

Without a doubt, this spirit treasure had grown even more terrifying!

Moreover, thanks to the laundering by 【Hundred Worlds Tome】, Lu Yang need not worry about any troublesome karmic entanglements on it, and could use it boldly and without concern!

"It's time."

The next instant, Lu Yang stopped concealing himself. His baleful qi shot straight up into the clouds, instantly alarming the entire Skeleton Mountain!

Almost at the same moment, Yinshan True Person, who had just collected the 【Heavenly Corpse Baleful Aura】 and was about to depart, turned his head in astonishment, looking toward the direction where the baleful qi pierced the heavens.

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

All that met his eyes was a towering, Rushan-like 【Yama Temple】 sitting atop the vault of heaven, breathing in and out the earth's baleful qi, and at the center of those myriad ghost-soldiers, banners flying!

(End of this chapter)