Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 286 A Flawless Lie
The cleaning work outside Fengdu City is progressing quickly.

After all, there are hundreds of thousands of ghosts in Fengdu City, and most of these ghosts just lie down after eating their fill of incense offerings, with the rotation of ghost soldiers being more than three years away.

You can't play mahjong in the underworld every day. There are more and more cheaters playing mahjong these days, and the game is getting less and less fun.

So when Chen Ye gave the order, he sent the spirits to collect the dragon corpses outside the city. Everyone was very enthusiastic and eager to do it.

On the city wall, one could see a vast, surging torrent of ghostly spirits turning into a gray-white flood, rushing toward the corpse of the dragon, then carefully separating and collecting the remaining flesh and bones, and meticulously digging out the soil soaked in poisonous water and placing it in special containers.

The Azure Dragon Lord's poisonous water can corrode almost everything, but the speed of its effect varies.

Materials like bone, jade, and porcelain corrode very slowly, so bottles and jars made from these materials can last for months without leaking.

Moreover, Fengdu City doesn't need to be sealed for so long. Once collected, it will be sent to Qingguan Mountain to neutralize the corrupting poison of Wujiu Demon Lord.

The Blood Bodhi Tree has been planted and is absorbing these two deadly poisons as it grows.

However, the amount of poison water obtained so far is still too small, a drop in the ocean compared to the entire Green Coffin Mountain.

Chen Ye was a man of his word, so after promising Pang Duoduo that he would solve the problem of the poison in Qingguan Mountain, he immediately contacted Youluozi, hoping to obtain the method of refining the poison from her.

Chen Ye originally thought that Youluozi would propose a lot of conditions again, and as long as they weren't too outrageous, Chen Ye was prepared to accept them.

But he didn't expect Youluozi's request to be: "You want the Azure Dragon Lord's secret technique? Simple, just kill him for me, and then search his soul."

Chen Ye would naturally not deal with such a major event alone, especially since he was facing Youluozi, the successor of the Bewitching Demon Lord.

Chen Ye directly invited Qu Heng, Pang Duoduo, and Mo Suixin to his presence and contacted You Luozi in front of them.

When Youluozi, inside the conch shell, asked Chen Ye for help in hunting down the Azure Dragon Lord, the Huangquan Sect members who were listening all showed expressions that said, "There's a conspiracy here."

Youluozi continued, "Don't worry, you still need to help me explore the Ruins of Return. Before that, I won't kill you. Besides, you've already thoroughly offended this Lord Qingzun, don't you want to eliminate him completely?"

That's the logic, but who knows if Youluozi had discussed other plans with the Azure Dragon Lord, and then killed Chen Ye after luring him underground?
The Demonic Sect's habits can't be described as merely indecisive; they're practically schizophrenic, and they could turn against you at any moment.

Youluozi said, "Sect Leader Chen, I'm going to eliminate all traces of this scourge anyway. Whether you come or not is up to you. If you don't come, then I have no reason to teach you this secret technique, right?"

Qu Heng gave Chen Ye a look, and Chen Ye immediately understood. He said to You Luozi, "The sect is busy with affairs and I cannot spare the time. I will send someone else to help."

Youluozi resolutely refused, saying, "No, you can bring as many people as you want, but you must come."

"Why?"

Youluozi laughed, "Because I want to introduce you to the other Venerable Lords, so that all fellow cultivators will know that you are my puppet, and that the Yellow Springs Sect is a puppet sect that I have been preparing on earth for a thousand years. Sect Master Chen, are you satisfied with this identity?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye became even more puzzled.

Last time, Chen Ye claimed to be Youluozi's disciple, but it was only to negotiate with the Azure Dragon Lord. However, his plan backfired, and he was instead enraged by the Azure Dragon Lord, who swallowed him whole.

If it weren't for good luck, Chen Ye would have been absorbed long ago.

Now, Youluozi wants to solidify this identity, clearly intending to drag Chen Ye into the mess, almost as if he's about to inscribe the words "conspiracy" on the conch shell.

Chen Ye refused, saying, "If I accept this identity, I'm afraid I won't be able to stand on the righteous path. Senior, are you planning to let me be hunted down to death by the Qinghe Sword Sect?" You Luozi immediately retorted, "How could that be? The Qinghe Sword Sect is the hardest to fool. If framing someone were that simple, would any other sect survive under Zhang Qi's sword? Don't use your family as an excuse. Everyone knows you have a close relationship with the Qinghe Sword Sect. If you explain, they can't possibly refuse to listen."

Chen Ye, however, remained unfazed by You Luozi's provocations and calmly replied, "That's my own business. Just because I have credibility doesn't mean I can squander it. Besides, it's just about hunting down the Azure Dragon Lord. Why do you insist on making me your puppet?"

Youluozi also understood that Chen Ye was not someone to be fooled. Back in Guixu, she had already planned to lure the Azure Dragon Lord to trick Chen Ye and force him into the depths of Guixu.

As a result, when faced with a room full of treasures, Chen Ye actually took a few items and ran away without any hesitation.

Youluozi had never seen anyone so able to control their desires. Those were treasures of Guixu, and there was no danger at all at the time. Chen Ye could have opened each treasure box one by one and taken all the treasures.

But this guy just gave up like that, without even looking back.

Just a fraction of a second too late, and the Azure Dragon Lord missed his target, causing everything that followed to deviate from Youluozi's plan.

When dealing with someone like Chen Ye, neither bribery nor coercion will be very effective, so Youluozi could only offer a brief explanation to Chen Ye.

"Sect Leader Chen, I want you to acknowledge me as my puppet, naturally to gain some benefits for myself. After so much time, even the most cautious demon will think that Zhang Qi is really gone. Soon, the demonic sect will launch a full-scale counterattack, but I don't want to fight alongside them. I have no enmity with the righteous path; all I want is to return to the void."

"But if I do nothing, the first person the Demonic Sect will target is me. Soul Venerable and Azure Venerable, both Venerable Lords, suffered severe injuries because of me, and the remaining ones have long suspected that I am cooperating with the righteous path. I don't want to fight with them, so I can only use you as an excuse."

"The reputation of the five major sects has been damaged, and half of the reason is your fault. The destruction of the Incense Burning Sect is also closely related to you. I will say that the Yellow Springs Sect is my contribution to the Demonic Sect, and that I ordered the Yellow Springs Sect to destroy the Incense Burning Sect. I will also say that the Yellow Springs Sect robbed the sect's treasure trove and disciples. Anyway, it's all made up. As long as it can be barely made up, that's fine."

"What do you mean? I'm just a weak woman who doesn't care about worldly affairs. Sect Leader Chen, you have the world in your heart. With just a word, you can save the righteous path from an enemy of a demonic sect leader. Why not do it? You wouldn't really want me to be forced to be an enemy of the righteous path, would you?"

Chen Ye was completely bewildered. How could it sound like he really was a heinous criminal?

These words stunned everyone. Pang Duoduo couldn't help but use her spiritual energy to write a sentence: "This demon is simply the same as the Bewitching Demon Lord from back then."

If one didn't know the details of so many things, it would seem like a real story.

Moreover, Chen Ye was from the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect. Once this got out, the Demon Sect would have no choice but to acknowledge this "one of their own."

Youluozi had a history of controlling other demonic sect disciples. Coupled with Chen Ye's incredible cultivation speed over the past year and the Huangquan Sect's rapid rise to dominance in the northern frontier, how could things have gone so smoothly without Youluozi's help?

It all seemed so logical, a perfect lie.

Chen Ye began to feel uneasy. Was he really being controlled by Youluozi? Had he been working for her all this time?

But Chen Ye quickly realized that the demon was using bewitching magic again, so he quickly rang the bronze bell dozens of times to clear his mind of those complicated thoughts.

This move is truly impossible to defend against; Youluozi is indeed much more terrifying than the Azure Dragon Lord.

Regardless of her motives, if agreeing to this matter could prevent Youluozi from becoming an enemy of the righteous path, it would indeed be a blessing for the world.

Cultivators might be able to resist Youluozi's allure, but if this demon were to lower himself to bewitch mortals, countless people would die.

Chen Ye said to You Luozi, "Alright, I agree, senior. I will play the role of your puppet. However, since I'm already an undercover agent, I also want to take this opportunity to investigate the true strength of the Demonic Sect. I suppose you will introduce me to the other Venerable Lords, right?"

(End of this chapter)