Chapter 385: Ten Thousand Soul Banner

The scent of blood here was so thick that even Vice Sect Master Shi felt uneasy, worried that there was more than one ancient Integration stage cultivator here.

If his luck were any worse and he ran into a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator, then it would be his turn to be unlucky.

He felt a sliver of relief; fortunately, he had dragged Lu Yang along. Even if he were unlucky, could the Heavenly Court Sect really let their own Young Sect Master perish here?

"I know very little about demonic blood sacrifices. I will have to trouble Sect Master Shi with the situation in this small village," Lu Yang said earnestly. This was the truth.

Vice Sect Master Shi did not decline. He walked to the outhouse at the very edge and pushed the door open. It was empty. Bowls and chopsticks were left on the table, as if the owner of the house had been about to eat when an accident suddenly occurred, causing them to vanish without a trace, not even leaving signs of a struggle or resistance.

Vice Sect Master Shi pushed open several house doors in succession; the scenes were largely the same. Traces of life remained, clearly showing that people had lived here, but later, for some unknown reason, everyone had disappeared.

It was as if someone had stopped time, moved the people away one by one, and then time began to flow again.

Seeing this scene, Tao Yaoye felt her hair stand on end. This scene was extremely similar to the content of the ghost stories she had watched wrapped in a quilt at night when she was a child.

She cautiously grabbed the corner of Lu Yang's clothes, feeling much more at ease.

"Sect Master Shi, can you tell what happened here?"

Vice Sect Master Shi analyzed, "As far as I know, there are two methods to achieve this: space confinement and time stoppage. If it were space confinement, it would be easier to explain; an Integration stage cultivator proficient in spatial arts could do this. Time stoppage would be terrible. To be able to stop time, a conservative estimate would be the Tribulation Transcendence stage!"

"In my memory, no one has been able to stop time. Even the Tribulation Transcendence stage can only theoretically do it!"

Lu Yang nodded, "The Time Immortal can do this."

"The Time Immortal?" Vice Sect Master Shi was surprised; he had never heard of this immortal.

Lu Yang nodded, "The Time Immortal mastered the Dao Fruit of Time. In terms of understanding time, she was the best in the ancient era, unmatched by anyone."

"There is actually such a thing?!" Vice Sect Master Shi exclaimed. The Dao of Time is obscure and difficult to understand; even entering it is difficult.

He did not expect that there was an immortal in the ancient era who used time as a Dao Fruit. Once such a Dao Fruit was unleashed, how terrifying it must be!

Tao Yaoye was also moved. How could Senior Brother Lu mention an immortal the moment he opened his mouth?

Seeing Vice Sect Master Shi's reaction, what was said must be something even the Vice Sect Master of the Nine Nether Sect did not know.

Where did Senior Brother Lu learn this?

Is the gap between me and Senior Brother Lu already this big?

Vice Sect Master Shi's shocked expression gradually disappeared. He blinked and turned to ask Lu Yang, "By the way, I was in a trance just now. What did you say?"

"Nothing." Lu Yang thought that the Integration stage could be immune to the immortal's forgetting characteristic, but he didn't expect that even a late-stage Integration powerhouse like Vice Sect Master Shi couldn't resist the immortal's characteristic.

"The probability that the opponent is a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator who can master the Dao of Time is not high. I am more inclined to believe it is an Integration stage cultivator who can use space confinement."

From the moment he stepped into the small village, Lu Yang's brow had never relaxed. So many people died, and the method of death was so strange; how terrifying must the murderer be?

Killing people under the nose of the imperial court, and no one noticed.

Huai'an Village is like this; what about other villages? How many people did the murderer kill?

Vice Sect Master Shi squatted down and grabbed a handful of mud from the ground. The originally dark brown soil was gently twisted by him, revealing a dark red color.

Seeing Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye's confusion, he took the initiative to explain, "Too many people died here, causing the soil to be stained with the bloody scent of the dead! But because of this, I have confirmed one point!"

"What?"

"The bloody scent here is soaring to the sky. The smell of blood shouldn't be so little. Someone must have transferred the bloody scent to another place!"

"I remember that the bloody scent can be used to refine a Ten Thousand Soul Banner, which is a major weapon of the demonic path?" Lu Yang recalled the knowledge related to the demonic path.

"Yes, refining a Soul-Summoning Banner, Soul-Guiding Banner, or Ten Thousand Soul Banner, all cannot do without the bloody scent and resentment."

Vice Sect Master Shi looked confident. He twisted the soil into powder, threw it into the air, and quickly formed seals with one hand, striking out a black mark.

The soil powder was concentrated by the black mark, floating in the air like silk, drifting toward the distance.

"Let's go, follow it. If the bloody scent were refined on the spot, it would be troublesome to find, but since the opponent moved the bloody scent away before refining it, I can find the real refining location based on the residual bloody scent!"

Vice Sect Master Shi dragged Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye and flew, flying hundreds of miles in one breath, landing in a mountain.

"The aura stops there!"

Vice Sect Master Shi pointed to a location not far away. The three looked at each other, nodded, held their breath, and walked over.

Suddenly, Vice Sect Master Shi and Lu Yang stopped at the same time. Lu Yang grabbed Tao Yaoye, who was about to walk forward.

Tao Yaoye looked ahead. The trees were lush, and birds were singing and flowers were fragrant. She didn't see anything different from other places.

Vice Sect Master Shi looked at Lu Yang in surprise, not expecting Lu Yang to react as quickly as he did.

"You saw it too. One more step forward and it's a barrier!"

Lu Yang nodded, "In the ancient era, this was called the Ghost-Hitting-Wall Array. Anyone who stepped into this array would lose their direction, become confused in the array, and eventually be trapped to death here!"

"It's still called the Ghost-Hitting-Wall Array now."

Setting up a Ghost-Hitting-Wall Array here and not wanting people to enter, there must be a secret!

"Not only that, there are many types of arrays hidden in the Ghost-Hitting-Wall Array, which can isolate all exploration from the outside world, and at the same time, people inside cannot explore the outside!"

"It should be that someone is cultivating in the array and doesn't want to be disturbed by the outside world!"

"I smell a hint of blood; it's leaking from the array!"

"Judging from the layout of the array, it was not done by a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator."

"It's easy to talk if it's not the Tribulation Transcendence stage."

The two analyzed the array one by one, thereby deducing what happened in the array: an Integration stage cultivator set up an array in the mountain to refine the bloody scent, not wanting people to disturb, and cultivating in the array related to the Huai'an Village tragedy.

Tao Yaoye followed silently behind, a bit unable to keep up with Lu Yang's rhythm.

Why can Senior Brother Lu communicate so smoothly with the Integration stage on such matters?

When Tao Yaoye was on a mission, she had met excellent Qi Refining and Golden Core stage cultivators in the outside world. Those people talked freely in front of her, as if they knew everything, but they stuttered when facing the Spirit Transformation stage, appearing very timid. If they met the Void Refinement or Integration stage, they couldn't even speak clearly. Compared with Senior Brother Lu, they were far behind.

Vice Sect Master Shi smiled. He liked to disturb others' cultivation the most, preferably making the ancient Integration stage inside go into qi deviation!

He took out an octagonal sledgehammer from his storage ring and threw it upward. The sledgehammer became as big as a small mountain, and every corner flashed with cold light.

The octagonal sledgehammer fell downward like a meteorite, with an imposing momentum.

Crack—

The huge octagonal sledgehammer seemed to hit something, making a cracking sound.

Vice Sect Master Shi rubbed his hands and pressed down hard again. The octagonal sledgehammer gained new power and smashed the invisible barrier.

Crack—crack—clatter—

The barrier shattered, and the smell of blood rushed toward them.

Tao Yaoye widened her beautiful eyes, looking at the scene in front of her in disbelief. Where was the scene of birds singing and flowers fragrant?

The trees withered, blood flowed like a river, the earth was stained red, ghost shadows were flickering, the yin wind was howling, and a withered old man sat cross-legged in the center, with a blood-red broken banner stuck beside him.

"Who are you!" The old man opened his eyes suddenly, automatically ignoring Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye, staring fixedly at Vice Sect Master Shi, gnashing his teeth.

The array he set up shouldn't have been discovered. The only loophole was the leaking bloody scent, which only an old demon of many years could discover.

The old demon of many years had no grudge against him; why destroy his array!

"I am your grandfather!" Vice Sect Master Shi laughed loudly, beckoned to take back the octagonal sledgehammer, and raised the sledgehammer to smash it over.

The withered old man grabbed the broken banner and dodged, chanting words while dodging.

Vice Sect Master Shi didn't care. He held a bone sickle in his other hand, smashing and hacking at the withered old man. He could see that his array-breaking caused the old man to suffer backlash, and the old man's state was very bad.

Beat the drowning dog!

"Just this level? You really lose face for ancient cultivators!"

"Still refining what Ten Thousand Soul Banner, it's all stuff I played with!"

"Die for grandfather!"

Vice Sect Master Shi showed great power, and the withered old man retreated steadily, without even a decent attack.

Boom—

The octagonal sledgehammer and the bone sickle fell at the same time, smashing the withered old man into the mountain.

"Good, good, good, the younger generation is formidable!" The old man was furious and laughed, walking out of the cave, the broken banner in his hand flashing with light.

Vice Sect Master Shi clicked his tongue, "Careless."

"What is careless?" Tao Yaoye asked.

Vice Sect Master Shi pointed to the withered old man and spat, "I was fighting vigorously just now and didn't notice that this old man had been refining the Ten Thousand Soul Banner while being beaten. Now the Ten Thousand Soul Banner has been refined, it's not easy to deal with."

The withered old man's face was so gloomy that water could drip out, and his words crawled out from between his teeth, giving people an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

"This seat accidentally obtained a huge bloody scent, which is just right for refining the Ten Thousand Soul Banner. Today, I will let you juniors of later generations know the power of this seat!"

"Ten Thousand Soul Banner, rise!"

The yin wind howled, cold and bone-chilling. The surrounding yin wind gathered toward the withered old man. Countless ghost shadows appeared behind the old man, huge in size, and the number was more than tens of thousands.

As the old man laughed, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner was completely refined, and the outlines of the ghosts became clearer.

Lu Yang recognized the appearance of these ghosts: pigs, cows, sheep...

"Huh?"

The four people present were all stunned. ===== CHAPTER 386 =====