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

Chapter 294 Turns out he is one of our own
The underground is deep and dark. Last time Chen Ye came here, he was so frightened by a demon that he ran back and set up various traps.

This time, Chen Ye swaggered down from the sky.

Upon landing back on the icy pool, they discovered that the aura of death here was actually fainter than in the underground palace.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there were many more corpses at the bottom of the cold pool, all dressed as palace people. However, these corpses had not been refined into zombies as before, but had become food for a bunch of Gu worms.

At the bottom of the icy pool, countless black worms swam, gnawing away at the corpses until only bare white bones remained.

As expected, different demonic cultivators have different needs. This place used to be the territory of the Soulfire Little Man, who needed flesh and blood to refine pills. But now that it has become Youluozi's territory, he uses corpses to feed insects.

It's hard to say which is more cruel, and Chen Ye didn't bother to distinguish between them.

Walking along the crevice from the cold pool, you soon see a figure waiting ahead.

Chen Ye frowned; the man looked familiar.

The newcomer emerged from the shadows, and tiny specks of fluorescent light lit up the space in front of them.

It was many glowing fireflies providing illumination, which also allowed Chen Ye to see the appearance of the person in front of him clearly.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Ye exclaimed in surprise, "Are you the Taoist Hansha?"

Isn't this a demon under the command of the Azure Dragon Lord? Why is he waiting here?

Chen Ye's first reaction was that Youluozi was lying to him, that she had sold him to the Azure Dragon Lord.

Therefore, in the instant he realized what was happening, Chen Ye had already grabbed the treasure gourd with his right hand, while holding the Ruyi Divine Weapon in his left.

Just as Hansha Daoist was about to speak, Chen Ye's halberd grew thicker and longer, and he thrust it towards Hansha Daoist.

The narrow passage could not contain the raging Ruyi Divine Weapon at all. In the blink of an eye, the halberd had grown so large that it could not even be blocked by the passage. The rock walls on both sides were crushed, but the speed of the divine weapon's thrust did not slow down at all. It crashed into Hansha Daoist with the force of an overwhelming wave.

"Do not……"

The man only managed to utter a single word before his body was pierced. The flesh and blood of the Taoist Hansha transformed into Gu worms, trying to scatter and escape, but the underground passages were blocked by the Ruyi Divine Weapon, leaving no gap for the worms to fly through; they were simply crushed and burst into pieces.

The halberd rumbled forward, trapping the Taoist priest in the gap and grinding him relentlessly until half of his body was completely rotten.

Just as he was about to be killed by Chen Ye's halberd, You Luozi's voice came quickly: "We're on the same side, don't do it!"

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment, but he did not stop. Instead, he increased his strength until most of Hansha Daoist's body was crushed before he withdrew his Ruyi Divine Weapon.

Chen Ye looked at the pitiful Han Sha Dao Ren and quickly went over to help him up, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was a misunderstanding."

The half of the Taoist's body kept writhing, and the remaining Gu worms began to split wildly, reassembling the half of the body, which looked no different from before.

After recovering, Daoist Hansha simply looked at Chen Ye coldly, without anger or panic, and calmly said, "Sect Master Chen, please take back your Crimson Serpent first."

Chen Ye chuckled and put away the Crimson Fire Serpent hidden in his sleeve. This demon is quite cautious and difficult to kill.

Chen Ye, without changing his expression, said, "It really is just a misunderstanding. This is my first time here, so I'm a little nervous. But isn't Daoist Hansha a subordinate of Lord Qingjiao? How did he become Lord Youluo's man?"

Han Sha Dao Ren replied, "I was originally that person, but I was just lying low to the Azure Dragon Lord."

Truly worthy of being the successor of the Bewitching Demon Lord, Qingjiao probably knew nothing about this all along. He even brought Hansha Daoist with him when he went to the Yellow Springs Sect, showing how much he trusted Hansha Daoist. And then…

No wonder Youluozi was so sure he could kill the Greatly Crippled Azure Dragon. It seems that Hansha Daoren had already dug out the Azure Dragon's hiding place. If he doesn't die, who will?

What a powerful witch! No wonder she's "one of our own" that even the demon lord fears.

"So we were already on the same side all along. No wonder the Daoist sent me to the Azure Dragon Lord back then. The cooperation was truly seamless."

Chen Ye's words made Han Sha Dao Ren tremble. He couldn't tell if Chen Ye was being sarcastic or not. Chen Ye's impression of him was that he was too ruthless and decisive. Just now, he attacked without letting him say a word and almost crippled this clone.

Despite possessing the most effective life-saving magic, making him virtually untouchable, he still suffered greatly every time he encountered Chen Ye, losing several of his clones in the process.

If someone like that really holds a grudge, it's not a good thing for him.

Han Sha Daoist quickly said, "At that time, we were each serving our own masters, and I did not know that Sect Leader Chen was actually one of our own. From now on, we will look after each other."

"That's good. I was just looking forward to getting closer to you, fellow Daoist."

As Chen Ye spoke, he tried to take Han Sha Dao Ren's hand again, but Han Sha Dao Ren was so frightened that he took several steps back.

Chen Ye wasn't embarrassed and immediately changed the subject, saying, "Since you're waiting for me here, I suppose I'll need your help to lead the way. Please, I don't want to keep the Venerable One waiting too long."

The Taoist priest dared not say another word and quickly led the way.

Chen Ye followed this person and walked along several forks in the road. Chen Ye originally wanted to carefully memorize this underground route, but after walking for a while, he realized something was wrong. It seemed that there was an array protecting this underground place, constantly disrupting Chen Ye's senses and memory, making him unable to distinguish directions or remember whether to turn left or right.

Even though Chen Ye struck the bronze bell in his soul in an attempt to dispel the fog, it didn't have much effect.

Chen Ye suddenly realized: "No wonder the righteous path has been unable to dig out these demons for so many years. They have long used the earth's veins to create a huge maze, so that even those in the Tongxuan Realm cannot find their way. How many cultivators in the righteous path can find their way underground?"

The world is too vast, and there are too few righteous cultivators. Perhaps some people can resist the effects of the maze, but the demonic sect will not stay in the same place forever. They will definitely keep moving and creating more mazes.

This underground world is even larger than the surface world. Relying on a few high-level cultivators or diviners to find people is like finding a needle in a haystack.

You might be able to capture a few demons, but you definitely won't be able to capture those lords.

After all, it was a demonic sect that almost won, so it had no shortage of all kinds of supernatural powers and secret techniques, and its foundation might even be deeper than that of the Qinghe Sword Sect.

Chen Ye gave up on finding the way and instead carefully observed the Taoist Hansha who was leading the way, quickly understanding his method. Several fireflies, responsible for providing light, always flew in front of the two, and when they encountered forks in the road, the fireflies went first.

Either there's something wrong with these insects, or something is attracting them so the two of them won't get lost underground.

After walking for about half an hour, we finally came to a huge bronze door instead of a narrow underground passage.

Although the bronze door was tightly closed, a large group of eerie cultivators were waiting in front of it, as if they had come specifically for Chen Ye.

Chen Ye asked Han Sha Dao Ren, "Are these also our own people?"

Han Sha Daoist shook his head and said, "Look at the animal patterns on their sleeves. This group of people are all disciples of the Tiger-like Lord."

Chen Ye sensed the malicious gazes of the group of demons and immediately understood that Han Sha Dao Ren was there to guide them, while the demons were there to intimidate him.

(End of this chapter)