Chapter 52: An Unexpected Crisis Arises

The wooden arch bridge crumbled inch by inch under Chen Ye's palm; as the last carved pillar, inscribed with runes, crashed down, the green-faced evil ghost suddenly let out a ear-splitting shriek, its knotted muscles surfacing with thousands of distorted human faces before swiftly vanishing into smoke.

To condense this green-faced evil ghost again, one would need to find another place corrupted by lust, greed, and wrath; otherwise, reproducing its current power would be impossible.

Chen Ye felt no regret, for he had at least uncovered the truth behind the Four Gates Secret Art: it was merely the technique of underworld ghost officers, dragging deeply sinful individuals over to punish them severely.

It did not cost one's life, but the pain was excruciating.

It acted directly upon the soul, impossible to block directly, testing nothing but one's moral character.

For someone of solid moral fiber like Chen Ye, it amounted to a punch in the chest; but for those of poor character, a single hook strike would reduce them to writhing on the ground in agony, too painful to bear.

Yet if merely a phantom of a ghost officer possessed such power, what would a true underworld ghost officer be capable of?

With the Book of Changes and the Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva's Vows present, this world must be intricately linked to the myths he had heard of in his previous life.

Could it be that cultivators ascending in this world truly join the Heavenly Court as one of the hundred thousand celestial soldiers?

"Heh, I've really read too many novels, only dreaming of good things."

Chen Ye laughed self-mockingly and dismissed the thought.

One must keep one's feet on the ground and indulge less in pipe dreams.

Now that Wei Wei Changsheng had fled, the priority was to track him down and shake him down... no, to find him and discuss matters properly; that was the true urgent task.

After dismantling the formation, Chen Ye let the two awakened martial artists clean up the mess, collect the corpses, and report to the authorities; let mortals handle mortal affairs themselves.

Then Chen Ye rode Su Su Chunyi's sword light into the sky, chasing in the direction Wei Wei Changsheng had fled.

Chen Ye could barely count how many times he had ridden Su Su Chunyi's sword light, yet each time filled him with envy; after cultivating for so long, he still could not fly—what kind of immortality was this?

Chen Ye had originally intended to simply extract some benefits from Wei Wei Changsheng and be done with it, never expecting the Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva's Vows he obtained to be so crucial.

Celestial Book Secret Art—the name alone suggested there was more than one.

"I wonder how many types of Celestial Book Secret Arts the Fenxiang Sect has collected. Miss Su, might I ask for some details?"

Su Su Chunyi naturally did not refuse, though she knew little of the Fenxiang Sect's secrets herself.

"According to rumors, the Fenxiang Sect has collected over ten types of Celestial Book Secret Arts, each with different content. Precisely because of this, Fenxiang Sect disciples learn an incredibly diverse array of skills. While other sects value quality over quantity, the Fenxiang Sect advocates broad learning. The most famous is the Supreme Elixir Classic; the Fenxiang Sect's alchemy skills are unquestionably the finest under heaven."

"The Supreme Elixir Classic? Miss Su, do you know the contents of this scripture, even just a few words or phrases?"

In his previous life, Chen Ye seemed to have vaguely heard a similar name, though the original title should have been the Inner Elixir Classic of Supreme Lord Lao; the content was not extensive, and Chen Ye could even recite it from memory.

Su Su Chunyi shook her head.

"The Supreme Elixir Classic is the foundational pillar of the Fenxiang Sect; even few sect disciples receive its transmission, so outsiders naturally cannot know it."

Chen Ye wondered if the Fenxiang Sect would be willing to trade for the Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva's Vows.

Chen Ye was also very interested in alchemy, after all, cultivation could never be separated from elixirs; the higher one's cultivation base, the greater the demand for elixirs.

No wonder Wei Wei Changsheng's cultivation base was unimpressive yet his possessions were so abundant; those who practice alchemy are dripping with wealth.

But if it truly was the Inner Elixir Classic of Supreme Lord Lao, he would have suffered a huge loss, since he already knew it by heart; moreover, that scripture only expounded the most basic principles of alchemy, with most of its content unrelated to alchemy, making it hard for Chen Ye to judge.

Forget it, better not take the risk.

This was a one-time deal, and Chen Ye felt he should choose some tangible benefits.

For instance, secret techniques and elixirs to strengthen the Qi Sea, allowing him to rapidly improve his cultivation base; some powerful Gangsha to help him pass through the Gangsha Realm; some secret techniques related to the Tongxuan Realm to comprehend a powerful miraculous ability; and some more...

In just this short while, Chen Ye was already planning to empty the entire treasury of the Fenxiang Sect.

Although he no longer planned to trade for any secret techniques, Chen Ye continued to inquire.

"Besides the Supreme Elixir Classic, what other Celestial Books does the Fenxiang Sect possess?"

Su Su Chunyi recalled carefully for a moment, then said, "I do not know much, but the more famous ones include the Spiritual Pivot Needle Art, the Eight Gates Shield Formation, and the Lu Ban Book, covering healing arts, feng shui formations, and mechanical talismans respectively. Besides daily cultivation, Fenxiang Sect disciples must study more than three miscellaneous arts, mostly these. As for other secret techniques, opinions vary, and outsiders can only guess wildly."

Chen Ye listened with surging excitement; compared to the Qinghejian Sect, he felt he was better suited for the Fenxiang Sect, as he loved delving into various miscellaneous studies.

However, the conduct of Fenxiang Sect disciples was far worse than that of the Qinghejian Sect; if every disciple of that sect was like Wei Wei Changsheng, Chen Ye would have no choice but to keep his distance.

Much thinking now was useless; it was better to first secure those tangible benefits.

Chen Ye was pondering how to shake down the Fenxiang Sect, yet after flying for a long time, neither he nor Su Su Chunyi had managed to catch the fleeing Wei Wei Changsheng.

Su Su Chunyi also felt puzzled; her sword light should have been much faster than Wei Wei Changsheng's. Even carrying an extra person, they should have caught up by now, having already left the borders of Cui Xian.

Noticing the unusual expression on Su Su Chunyi's face, Chen Ye hurriedly asked, "Miss Su, is something wrong?"

Su Su Chunyi explained, "Wei Wei Changsheng should not have run this far; unless he is intentionally hiding, we should have caught up long ago."

Chen Ye asked again, "Can we use that Divination Sword Art to locate him?"

Su Su Chunyi had exactly that intention.

The two hovered in mid-air as their sword lights dispersed and interwove, transforming into complex hexagram symbols.

This was the third time Chen Ye had witnessed this move, and having heard Su Su Chunyi explain its principles before, he understood much more of it now; yet when he tried mimicking it with his fingers, he found he simply could not learn it.

Because he did not understand the Qinghe Sword Seal at all.

Those rune structures clearly followed their own operational logic, based fundamentally on the Qinghe Sect's sword arts; if Chen Ye wished to learn them, he feared he would have to start from the most basic sword techniques.

"Indeed worthy of being a closely guarded secret; for an outsider to think they could learn it just by watching a few times is pure delusion."

Chen Ye abandoned the idea of secretly learning it and focused on admiring Su Su Chunyi's spell-casting posture; this girl in the goose-yellow long robe looked beautiful no matter how one viewed her.

In an instant, the sword light converged; just as before, it would point in a clear direction and roughly estimate the distance.

But this time was different; Chen Ye saw the condensed sword light flickering and shaking continuously, pointing southwest one moment and then northeast the next, shifting repeatedly.

"Careful!"

Su Su Chunyi had barely uttered these two words when she instinctively shielded Chen Ye behind her.

The moment her voice fell, the extremely refined sword light suddenly exploded.

Chen Ye felt a deafening roar in his ears, nearly losing consciousness.

By the time he regained his senses, Chen Ye realized he was plummeting rapidly, his robes whipping loudly in the wind.

Su Su Chunyi was in the same situation, falling at the same speed within Chen Ye's reach; blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, her face pale as gold paper, completely unconscious.

The layered mountain ranges below were approaching at a terrifying speed; Chen Ye struggled to move his arms against the fierce wind, pulling Su Su Chunyi into his embrace.

Her dancing hair strands tangled across Chen Ye's face, while blood droplets spilling from the young girl's lips were swept up by the airflow, splashing and staining Chen Ye's shoulder red.

Yet even holding each other could not halt their falling momentum, so Chen Ye pulled the Ten Thousand Souls Banner from his storage bag and waved it forcefully.

Countless resentful souls flew out, pulling the Ten Thousand Souls Banner upward, finally arresting their descent speed.

Although the wind still roared in their ears, landing at this speed should not cause injury.

Chen Ye sighed with emotion, "This Ten Thousand Souls Banner is truly the most useful treasure."

It was no wonder every demon cultivator carried a Ten Thousand Souls Banner; this magic treasure was truly all-purpose, its usage limited only by one's imagination.

Just as he thought they had temporarily escaped danger, Mo Ci's voice arrived: "Do not be careless; you have provoked a massive trouble."