Chapter 23: Primordial One Qi Myriad Souls Banner

Above the sea of clouds, Liu Xin took the initiative to soften his stance: "If my two junior brothers can turn hostility into friendship, I, Liu, am willing to gift you a superior Daoist scripture."

"At this stage? Are you not joking?"

Hearing this, Lu Yang laughed instead: "Senior Brother Liu, we are all disciples of the Holy Sect; why pretend? By now, you are already locked in a life-and-death struggle with us."

"."

Liu Xin did not answer, only his face suddenly darkened.

Because Lu Yang spoke the truth; at this moment, the ones truly unwilling to reconcile were no longer Lu Yang and Xiao Shiye, but Liu Xin and Fairy Qingchen.

The reason was simple: the rules of the Holy Sect.

"Although the sect rules are mere formalities as long as one is not discovered, conversely, once discovered, those rules become all too real."

Lu Yang sneered: "You people have certainly ambushed and plundered fellow disciples privately before; it's just that no one discovered it until now. However, once I leave and file a complaint with the Law Enforcement Hall, the truth will come to light, and Senior Brother Liu, you will almost certainly die."

"Junior brother jokes."

Liu Xin's facial skin twitched slightly: "We can simply sign a Dharma contract, agreeing that today's events shall not pass beyond our ears; in that case, I, your senior brother, will naturally be at ease."

"Really?" Lu Yang countered.

Of course it was false.

Only the dead are truly reassuring!

"Qingchen!"

At Liu Xin's low shout, Fairy Qingchen, who had remained silent beside him, finally spoke; her vermilion lips parted slightly as she slowly uttered a single syllable:

"Open!"

Before her voice faded, the surrounding sea of clouds shifted again, instantly manifesting into towering, majestic peaks that trapped Lu Yang and Xiao Shiye right in the center.

Clearly, this was another formation!

"Do you truly think I fear your Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light?" Liu Xin actually recognized Lu Yang's divine ability; he sneered, then a fluttering banner appeared in his hand: "It just so happens that my 'Primordial One Qi Myriad Souls Banner' lacks a main soul to preside over it; today, I shall use you to consecrate this flag."

"Go!"

Before Liu Xin finished speaking, Lu Yang had already merged with his sword pellet and slashed over; the overwhelming stench of blood instantly forced Liu Xin to swallow back his unfinished mockery.

"Souls, return!"

Seeing Liu Xin form hand seals and shake the Myriad Souls Banner vigorously, two strands of misty white qi erupted, steaming and gradually taking the form of human figures.

Lu Yang did not stop his movements, slashing down with his sword.

Under Liu Xin's command, the two human figures likewise circulated their true qi and fiercely met the attack; then, with a loud boom, both were shattered by the sword energy.

Liu Xin had just intended to rush out and join hands with the two banner spirits he had summoned to fight the enemy, but seeing this, he immediately shrank back.

"Qingchen, strike quickly!"

Hearing this, Fairy Qingchen's delicate face grew grave; she plucked a phoenix-tail hairpin from her beautiful hair and threw it, whereupon the hairpin instantly transformed into a streak of golden light stabbing toward Lu Yang's brow.

However, before that phoenix-tail hairpin could reach Lu Yang, another radiance of treasure appeared out of thin air and blocked it; it was none other than Xiao Shiye, the Boy of Many Treasures.

Not only that, but Xiao Shiye now swept his sleeve, flinging out more than ten magic treasures in one breath; although their quality varied, some good and some bad, without exception they all emitted intense treasure light, yet strangely, once he sacrificed these treasures, they exploded mid-air with a thunderous crash!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The exploding treasure light resembled miniature suns, directly blocking the killing formation laid by Fairy Qingchen, and nearly blasting the formation apart from within!

Such an extravagant scene made the corners of the other three people's eyes twitch.

Although Xiao Shiye was different from Lu Yang and possessed no powerful spells or divine abilities, when fighting others, he clearly had no use for those flashy tricks either.

Simply flinging out magic treasures and then self-detonating them was sufficient.

This tactic made Liu Xin's already gloomy face look even uglier; he simply waved the Myriad Souls Banner in his hand, instantly summoning dozens of banner spirits.

These were all gains Liu Xin had acquired from ambushing fellow disciples during this period.

"All of you, go reinforce the formation."

Upon receiving Liu Xin's order, the crowd of banner spirits immediately responded and moved, landing at various points around Fairy Qingchen's formation to bolster and enhance its power for her.

Seeing this, Fairy Qingchen felt greatly reassured; a small flag appeared in her hand, which she shook forcefully, causing the majestic peaks manifested by the formation to move in response, locking heaven and earth, sealing off all directions, while firmly protecting both her and Liu Xin, blocking Lu Yang's sword light.

Only then did Liu Xin smile with satisfaction, before shaking the Myriad Souls Banner once more.

This strange treasure was something he had obtained alongside the "Primordial Dao Scripture" during a fortuitous encounter years ago; it remained his greatest reliance in battles to this day.

The banner followed the principle of one main soul, two Dharma protectors, and three corpse gods.

As the saying goes, the Dao births the One, the One births the Two, the Two births the Three, and the Three births all things; only when these six positions are filled, paired with ten thousand souls, would this treasure be considered complete.

It sounded simple, yet Liu Xin had painstakingly refined it for over a decade without success. Obtaining ten thousand souls was easy enough; he could simply slaughter a city in the mortal realm in his spare time to solve that, but the six most crucial positions had never been filled; let alone two Dharma protectors, he hadn't even managed to gather the three corpse gods.

Nevertheless, even so, the power of this treasure remained formidable.

"Kill them!"

Liu Xin shook the banner, and ten thousand souls flew out one after another; unlike those banner spirits with cultivation bases, these souls were vengeful ghosts formed from mortals who had died with grievances.

Although their quality was poor, their numbers were vast.

Now summoned by Liu Xin, they truly resembled a towering tidal wave, a black mass sweeping down that instantly submerged Lu Yang's figure.

More importantly, these were vengeful ghosts without flesh and blood, utterly fearless of Lu Yang's Blood-Transforming Divine Light!

However, seeing this, Lu Yang remained completely unafraid.

The Blood-Transforming Divine Light was his most powerful means, but not his only one; after refining his sword pellet, his Divine Thunder Sword-Control True Art also possessed formidable power!

With a mere thought, Lu Yang caused his sword pellet to rapidly split into dozens or even hundreds of sword lights, whereupon his figure began to teleport and shift among them; avoiding direct confrontation with those vengeful ghosts and banner spirits, he retreated when the enemy advanced and struck when they tired, actually engaging the host of banner spirits in guerrilla warfare.

This was the true advantage of a sword cultivator.

Slash out with one sword and flee a thousand li, then continue attacking from another direction, forcing the opponent to exhaust themselves dealing with it until they revealed a flaw, finally beheading them with a single strike.

Before long, the ten thousand vengeful ghosts were slaughtered by Lu Yang into a scattered, broken mess, their ranks completely collapsed.

On the other side, Xiao Shiye also turned ruthless, throwing out several superior magic treasures to self-detonate fiercely, once again shaking the great formation that had just been stabilized.

Seeing the situation gradually turn unfavorable, Fairy Qingchen couldn't help but look toward Liu Xin: "Senior Brother..."

"Do not rush; since I am not anxious, why are you?"

Liu Xin remained calm; as for Xiao Shiye, he could be ignored, but he did not believe that Lu Yang could unleash his sword escape technique to kill recklessly without any loss of true qi or magic power.

This was also his battle tactic.

First, release those unimportant banner spirits to exhaust the opponent; once the opponent's true qi was nearly depleted, then bring out the trump card to settle the victory in one stroke.

Actually, unless absolutely necessary, he did not wish to use his trump card, after all, that banner spirit was far too precious, and its identity in life was extremely sensitive. Once seen, no living witnesses could be left; otherwise, even a tiny fragment of information leaking out would condemn him to eternal damnation.

"Very well; one cannot catch a wolf without sacrificing a child."

After deliberating for a moment, Liu Xin finally raised the banner flag in his hand and bowed respectfully: "A powerful enemy has attacked; to resolve this predicament, I beg Senior Brother to act."

(End of Chapter)