Chapter 73: Ten Thousand Souls Banner—Out!

On the stormy seaside, Ye Chen stood alone.

Waves crashed against the beach, intertwining with the roars of tens of thousands of demonic beasts.

They bared fangs and claws, surging toward Ye Chen like a tide, the fishy wind carrying a strong beastly stench that assailed his face.

Ye Chen gazed placidly at the sea, at those beasts; his spiritual power surged all around him, rolling and churning like the sea before him.

Those demonic beasts raised by the West seemed to sense the threat Ye Chen posed, charging at him like madmen.

Seeing this, Ye Chen flew into the air, slowly raised his hand, and a blade of spiritual power, wrapped in a howling wind, slashed out, instantly tearing a bloody gap in the beast horde.

The front-line beasts were sliced at the waist by Ye Chen's sword light; warm entrails and scalding blood spurted out, scattering in the sea breeze and merging with the spray kicked up by the waves.

Ye Chen's figure moved like lightning, weaving freely through the dense throng of beasts.

His expression was stern; each swing of his sword felled a beast, taking its life with a single strike—those beasts had no power to resist before Ye Chen.

Yet those beasts feared no death, instead surging toward Ye Chen like a tide.

The beasts frenziedly attacked Ye Chen; their sharp claws waved before him but could not even reach his hem, their pointed fangs snapped at air repeatedly, leaving only futile howls.

Ye Chen's figure seemed like a death god from the Nine Underworlds; wherever he went, there was only endless slaughter and death.

As Ye Chen slaughtered, the beasts' corpses piled up in layers before him.

Even in the seawater, a hill of flesh and blood rose; blood merged with the sea, turning that stretch of azure water into a shocking crimson. The pungent smell of blood mixed with the salty, damp sea breeze, permeating the entire coastline.

Ye Chen stood atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, yet not a single drop of blood stained his clothes.

And the souls of those beasts, in his slaughter, flowed into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner; at this moment, his banner already held over twenty‑plus thousand souls, and even a wisp of black qi drifted from it.

However, Ye Chen paid no heed to that; instead he cared more about upgrading the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, for he faintly felt that the banner contained too many souls, some of which were slipping out of control.

At this moment his robes fluttered, his gaze fixed on the distance: 'I… have held the line.'

The instant Ye Chen's words fell, his form vanished atop the beasts' corpses.

He slaughtered those beasts, taking nearly an hour and a half; when he came, although he hadn't used a full hour, it was not much different.

'Less than an hour remains; we must go even faster.'

Having said that, Ye Chen increased his speed again.

As he headed toward Bai Yuan, a question arose in his mind.

'The West's outbreak this time is too sudden—did they just obtain some secret art? But if so, they shouldn't have trained first and then attacked China.'

'Moreover, from Bai Yuan's words and the data he gave, it shows that after obtaining the secret art, the West launched nonstop attacks on China, as if someone deliberately targeted China.'

'All of this happened far too suddenly.'

Ye Chen thought to himself, his brows gradually furrowing.

Regarding this situation, Ye Chen had a vague suspicion; if it were as he thought, a great upheaval would likely begin soon.

'I hope it's not those people from Xingkong.'

Ye Chen said, and his pace quickened a bit more.

Meanwhile, on Bai Yuan's side, he looked worriedly at the beasts before him.

He didn't worry about Ye Chen's side; he worried about this place.

He trusted Ye Chen's strength, but here the force was simply too weak.

Moreover, he had not told Ye Chen one thing: their cultivation method is not strong, and the realm he has attained is rather insubstantial.

Of course, he didn't know that Ye Chen had already known these things the moment he first saw him.

He bore no grudge against Ye Chen for wiping out the Southeastern, Northwestern sects and the upper clans; after witnessing Ye Chen's growth potential, the value of those sects and clans paled in comparison to him.

Furthermore, the Southeastern, Northwestern sects and the upper clans brought this upon themselves.

'They come with mighty force.'

Bai Yuan looked at the beasts before him and said.

The instant his words fell, he walked up to face the crowd.

His gaze was firm, yet his heart also faintly ached.

Here over a hundred people—how many are sons and daughters of parents, how many are husbands of wives, how many are fathers of children?

He felt anguish, yet could do nothing.

If they do not hold this place, once the beasts breach it, the countless families behind them will suffer the beasts' trampling—something none of them wish to see.

'Friends, behind us are myriad lights, our families, us. We are the last line of defense; without exaggeration, this battle is a life‑or‑death struggle for China. We will forge a Great Wall with our flesh and blood, guarding China's final……line of defense!'

As Bai Yuan's words ended, the morale of the surrounding cultivators surged instantly.

But in fact, their strongest is only at the 12th layer of Qi Refining, and their realm is extremely unstable, as if it might collapse at any moment, while their weakest is only at the 3rd layer.

They also number only about a hundred; facing tens of thousands of beasts, it is almost a certain death.

They had not considered using nuclear bombs, but that would provoke the West's high‑level experts to act, at which point they would truly have no chance of victory.

The West, for unknown reasons, did not let those high‑level experts act; but whatever the reason, as long as they refrain, China… still has a sliver of hope.

At this moment, the beasts were less than a thousand meters away; among them there was fear, timidity, anxiety—all sorts of emotions—but not a single retreat.

'Everyone, follow me and fight!'

Bai Yuan roared loudly; with his shout he led the charge, and those behind him followed suit, rushing out together.

A fearless, death‑defying expression spread across every face.

China's cultivators and the West's reared demonic beasts were now within a hundred meters of each other.

Before the horde of beasts, China's cultivators were like a few lone ants, so weak as to invite laughter.

Just as China's cultivators and the West's reared beasts were about to clash, a terrifying sword light suddenly descended from the heavens; upon contact, the West's beasts instantly turned to dust.

'What's going on?!'

'What has happened?!'

'Is it China's ancestral forefather who has acted?!'

The cultivators of China were shocked and bewildered, watching this scene.

And those demon beasts were also struck by this fierce sword light, not daring to step forward.

Quick, look, there's someone over there!

Everyone was drawn to this voice, and they also saw a figure emanating black aura from head to toe rapidly approaching.

And the one who arrived was none other than Ye Chen!

Ten Thousand Souls Banner, appear!

At the moment Ye Chen's words fell, twenty thousand souls were simultaneously released, filling the sky above the sea with drifting souls, a black mass, as if thunder had descended to destroy the world.