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

Chapter 298 Numerous Demon Lords

He led a large group of demons into the main hall.

Chen Ye felt like he was some kind of gang leader, so he thought he could get himself a fake identity called Hao Nan.

Upon entering the main hall, the sense of luxury became even more pronounced.

If the exterior of the main hall is dominated by images of colorful clouds and starlight, then the interior is a magnificent and resplendent scene, less dreamlike but more solemn and dignified.

The four walls are inlaid with intricate gold reliefs, with dragons and phoenixes gleaming brightly.

The massive gilded pillars supported the dome, their shafts wrapped in secret runes. Chen Ye glanced at them a few times and figured they were probably some kind of protective effect; even the Ruyi Divine Weapon might not be able to cut them in half.

There should have been a throne in the center, but now only a broken crimson gold staircase remains, and it's unclear who destroyed it. Surrounding this central position are eighteen high platforms, but they are clearly added later, and their materials and designs seem out of place.

Chen Ye said to Han Sha Dao Ren, "So these eighteen positions correspond to the eighteen successors of the original Demon Lord? How come there are only five Lords left now?"

The Taoist Hansha laughed and said, "Cultivation is not that simple. Even with a complete inheritance, it is still too difficult to cultivate to the Void Returning Realm. Of the thousands of cultivators, even if they are not killed, most of them will just die of old age in their caves. In the past thousand years, countless generations of other Demon Lords' inheritors have died. It is already considered a lot that five have survived."

That's not wrong. Look, the righteous path has occupied the earth for thousands of years. Some of the seniors who had reached the Dao level ascended, and some died. It seems that there are less than ten righteous people left who have reached the Void Returning Realm.

It seems that their overall strength is still greater than that of the Demonic Sect, but that's not how it works in a real battle.

There are also differences between different Returning to the Void Realm.

Back then, the Azure Dragon Lord fought against three opponents single-handedly, and in the end, he only suffered minor injuries.

If it really comes down to a life-or-death struggle, how many people in the righteous path who have enjoyed peace for thousands of years would risk their lives?
Chen Ye and his group were not among the first to arrive. They had assumed that Youluozi's group already had a considerable number of people, but when they saw the large, dark crowd in the main hall, Chen Ye felt a chill run down his spine.

A quick glance reveals at least five or six thousand people.

Those who can come to the main hall to participate in this meeting are certainly not all of them; in other words, the number of demonic cultivators is definitely in the tens of thousands.

Are there really that many demonic cultivators, so that blood pills are practically free, and they're mass-producing Qi Sea Realm cultivators?
But those at the Qi Sea Realm don't live long. Over the past thousand years, countless batches of these low-level demonic cultivators have come and gone, and countless people have been killed.

When Chen Ye wanted to break through to the Qi Sea Realm, he would need to kill four or five thousand cattle and horses, or even more than a thousand people.

If there were tens of thousands of demonic cultivators, even if they were only at the Qi Sea Realm, wouldn't that mean tens of millions of people would be slaughtered?

This number doesn't look right at all. The Nirvana Sect prepared for so many years, and only a few hundred thousand people were sacrificed in one blood sacrifice. It was discovered immediately.

If the demonic sect wants to maintain such a large number of low-level cultivators, it must continue to slaughter a large number of mortals. However, in doing so, the righteous path will not be able to miss it, nor will it sit idly by.

The regular massacre of millions of people could not possibly be concealed.

In other words, the Demonic Sect has a method to cultivate a large number of low-level cultivators instead of killing them.

As for the solution... Chen Ye didn't need to think about it himself; he could just ask Hansha Daoren.

Chen Ye asked, "How do low-level demonic cultivators cultivate to the Qi Sea Realm?"

The Taoist priest said, "Blood pill, of course it's blood pill."

Chen Ye asked, "Killing so many people? How could the righteous sects not find out?" Han Sha Dao Ren explained, "It wasn't killing people, but using livestock, insects, or other things. Sect Master Chen, you may not know, but after we were forced underground, we never saw the light of day, making it extremely difficult to kill people to practice our skills. So some people began to think about other ways to refine blood pills."

"First, an alchemist under the Soul Lord improved the pill formula, which could be used to refine blood pills with beast blood, but the effect was much worse. Later, alchemists under other Venerable Lords successively developed new techniques, which could be used to refine blood pills with Gu worms and fish, and the effect was also much worse, but it was finally usable."

Chen Ye suddenly realized that he had thought about this before.

The Blood Pill cultivation method is extremely cruel. The Demonic Sect does have alternative methods, but killing is more convenient. Killing one person does not require killing several cattle and horses, and the refining process is also easier.

Therefore, the Demonic Sect simply chose a simpler and more convenient method because they held an absolute advantage at the time, and raising mortals was even simpler than raising cattle and horses.

When they reached a dead end, they were forced to change their methods and alter the elixir formula.

Chen Ye wasn't the only clever person in the world. He thought that someone might have already developed a new method of alchemy, but simply didn't want to pass it on to others, or perhaps they were too lazy to do something thankless and didn't pass it on to rogue cultivators.

Qu Heng was quite surprised when he learned that Chen Ye had improved the pill formula, probably because he had never been involved in the underground demonic sect, so he had not committed any heinous crimes during the thorough investigation of the sins.

After receiving the inheritance of the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect, Qu Heng probably did not flee underground, but chose to hide in various places. Therefore, he ended up associating with the Nirvana Sect.

It's no wonder he didn't know much about the underground demonic sect, because he wasn't in the same circle at all.

Chen Ye muttered to himself, "So that's how it is. Everything makes sense now."

Han Sha Daoist sneered, "Don't be fooled by their numbers. The blood pills they use are all inferior, mixed with countless impurities. With this to condense their Qi Sea, they'll probably never reach the Gang Sha Realm in their entire lives. Everyone knows these ants are just here to make a show of themselves."

Chen Ye asked, "Impurities? You don't know how to refine blood pills yourself?"

The Taoist Hansha said, "The pill formulas are all in the hands of the venerable masters, who keep them tightly under their control. They use them to manipulate these underlings. How could they possibly let them refine them themselves? In this dark underground place, not just anyone knows how to refine pills."

Chen Ye shook his head and said, "The Blood Pill is not difficult to refine; it's not like no one has figured it out."

Although the art of alchemy is vast and profound, much like biology in a previous life, and can be divided into hundreds of different sub-categories, as long as the number is large enough, there will always be geniuses who can figure it out.

Master Hansha laughed and retorted, "To first learn how to refine blood pills and then figure out an improvement method is one in ten thousand. Most of these people were kidnapped, and most of them don't even know a few words. They can only recite from the book, and it's impossible for them to comprehend it on their own. Even if there are truly gifted ones, do you think they would tell others? If the Venerable Lords discovered this, they would either take them into their inner sect for training or kill them directly. It would never spread."

Chen Ye pondered for a long time, then nodded and said, "That makes sense."

That's certainly true. As long as the five Venerable Lords work together on this issue, it would be too easy to monopolize the Blood Pill underground.

The two walked and talked, and soon came to a seat.

Chen Ye looked up at the stone chair on the high platform. This should be You Luozi's location. Would she show up later? Given You Luozi's habits, she would definitely not be there in her true form; she would most likely be a clone she conjured.

Although Chen Ye came prepared, he ultimately could not contend with several Demonic Sect Masters on his own. If Youluozi were not there, the pressure on Chen Ye would be immense.

Demons are not righteous; they can be killed without a second thought, without any regard for reason.

Just as Chen Ye was wondering what trouble he would encounter, a cold wind suddenly swept through the main hall.

Han Sha Daoist hurriedly said to Chen Ye, "They've arrived, the Venerable Ones have come."

(End of this chapter)