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

Chapter 389 The Demonic Sect's Counterattack

Deep within the Yellow Springs Palace, Chen Ye slowly opened his tightly closed eyes.

He had just exhausted a lot of spiritual energy, and through the fake Fengdu Emperor, he had unleashed a divine punishment upon the Feilian Venerable Lord, who was thousands of miles away.

To be honest, after doing this kind of thing so many times, Chen Ye also found it rather boring.

He was not a naturally violent person, nor did he enjoy tormenting others.

If it weren't for the fact that Lord Feilian was already standing on the threshold of the Dao Integration Realm and could break through at any time, Chen Ye would never have used such a painful yet harmless method to torment him day and night.

However, this method of divine retribution is difficult to sustain.

The divine power of Heavenly Punishment Hell is based on cause and effect and uses sin as its fuse. It has both, which is why it can accurately bring down the thunder of judgment on Lord Feilian.

But each divine judgment consumes the karma and sins between the caster and the victim.

Lord Feilian was naturally a ruthless killer with countless sins. The sins he carried could not be exhausted even if he were to behead people for thousands of years. However, the karma between him and Chen Ye was not too heavy.

Ultimately, it was just that when Chen Ye infiltrated the Demonic Sect and fought against others, Lord Feilian took sides.

This grudge might seem like a "righteous death" to outsiders, but no matter how much Chen Ye magnified this hatred, it couldn't change the fact that under the repeated bombardment of heavenly lightning, the bond between the two became increasingly weak and fragile.

This cause and effect is not related to personal emotions. Even though Chen Ye wished he could kill Fei Lian, and Fei Lian probably wanted to tear Chen Ye to pieces, the causal connection between the two was getting weaker and weaker.

Chen Ye was also surprised; it turns out that just because you hate someone doesn't mean you'll have any karmic entanglements with them.

The laws of Heaven are not so idealistic.

But this was not a good thing. With each strike of heavenly lightning, Chen Ye's perception of Lord Feilian became increasingly inaccurate.

At first, he could clearly sense Fei Lian's emotions, his every move, and even hear a few words from his conversations.

But today, half a month later, he can only vaguely sense Fei Lian's presence, and he can no longer even sense how Fei Lian reacted after being struck by lightning.

If this continues, it won't be long before the karmic ties between the two will "end," and Chen Ye will completely lose his ability to lock onto Fei Lian.

This was the fundamental reason why Chen Ye insisted on making this matter public and seeking help from others. Once his karmic connection was severed, he could only hope that other righteous cultivators still had a sufficiently deep karmic entanglement with Fei Lian.

For example, Sheng Huai'an.

Sheng Huai'an's sword annihilated Fei Lian's physical body, and this karmic connection should be much stronger, so it won't be completely erased in a short time.

In order to prevent this last thread of connection from being completely lost, Chen Ye had no choice but to temporarily stop and cease personally unleashing the Heavenly Punishment, entrusting the entire matter to others.

Fortunately, he had already entrusted all his supernatural powers to the Emperor of Fengdu, and now this deity could do it for him; otherwise, he would have been exhausted from using his supernatural powers continuously for the past two weeks.

Of course, the righteous sects have not only been struck by lightning by Fei Lian in the past half month.

Emergency meetings were held repeatedly among the various sects. At the heart of all the topics was only one: how to deal with a demonic figure at the Dao Integration Realm.

I didn't feel anything when Zhang Qizhen was around.

Now that Zhang Qi and Lu Xingzhou, these two pillars of strength, are gone, the remaining people are shocked to discover that they don't even know how powerful the Dao Integration Realm really is.

There were indeed veterans who survived the last great war between good and evil, but their understanding of the Dao Integration Realm was extremely vague. In summary, they could be roughly divided into two categories: those whom Zhang Qi could kill with a single sword strike and those whom Zhang Qi could not kill with a single sword strike.

Those Zhang Qi could kill, they didn't need to care about. Those Zhang Qi couldn't kill, they couldn't care about either.

What's even more outrageous is that this "words become law" supernatural power doesn't belong to the eighteen kinds of demonic sect inheritances from back then. It should be a powerful ability that Lord Feilian figured out on his own, which makes the experience of those senior predecessors even more worthless.

However, the Righteous Alliance was not a bunch of incompetent fools. After confirming Fei Lian's troubles, the various sects began to devise their own countermeasures.

Improving the mountain-protecting formation is only one aspect; more importantly, it is about establishing communication and teleportation formations between the major sects.

It was only then that Chen Ye learned that there really was such a thing as a "teleportation array" in the cultivation world.

The problem is that no one can manufacture this anymore. All existing teleportation arrays are antiques unearthed from ancient immortal abodes. This is because their core material is a precious treasure called "Void Stone," which was completely mined out by the immortals in ancient times.

The teleportation arrays in the world today were all unearthed from ancient ruins. However, these teleportation arrays are all different in design, and modifying them to be compatible with each other would require a huge amount of manpower and resources.

In the past, when the world was at peace, it was better to leave these things in the warehouse to gather dust than to risk damage by taking them out and messing with them.

But now the battle between good and evil has begun, and all the major sects have spared no expense, bringing out their most treasured possessions to build this teleportation and communication network that is a matter of life and death.

The Yellow Springs Sect did not originally possess such a valuable item.

After the Burning Incense Sect was destroyed, such large treasures had long since turned to dust, and the Yellow Spring Sect did not gain any advantage.

To Chen Ye's surprise, Qu Heng had secretly kept a teleportation array.

Having an elder in the family is truly like having a treasure!
Chen Ye excitedly ran to ask his grandmaster why he hadn't dug it up and returned it to the Yellow Springs Sect earlier. Qu Heng retorted with a string of curses, "Back then, I was being hunted down by the entire righteous path, with nowhere to run! Where could this teleportation array take me? To send me to their mountain gate and walk right into their trap?! Now we have the Yellow Springs Sect, but what use is just one teleportation array? You need a second one, one that works in conjunction with it!"

Chen Ye then realized that he had been naive. This thing was a point-to-point teleportation, and it required the cooperation of other sects. Otherwise, a single teleportation array would be nothing more than a useless decoration.

"Grandmaster, from which ancient ruins did you find this treasure?"

When Chen Ye asked this question, Qu Heng simply gave a vague and perfunctory answer: "You wouldn't know even if I told you."

Seeing this, Chen Ye didn't press the matter further. Qu Heng's experiences back then must have been unbearable to recall, and it would be impolite to keep asking him about it.

Chen Ye didn't need to worry about setting up the teleportation array. With the knowledgeable ancestor Qu Heng and the exceptionally talented array master Pang Duoduo in the Yellow Springs Sect, it shouldn't be a problem.

Chen Ye then began to concentrate on practicing the swordsmanship that Sheng Huai'an had taught him.

This nameless sword technique is not for fighting enemies, but it is the best technique for training the soul. It can not only help Chen Ye move towards the Nascent Soul realm, but also help him to consolidate his foundation and make his Eight-Nine Arcane Arts transformation techniques more and more proficient.

Chen Ye lived a leisurely life, but the world was already engulfed in war.

Now that the Yunlu Immortal Sect has officially declared war on the Demonic Sect, there is no room for maneuver whatsoever.

Although the "Great Five Elements Heavenly Punishment Formation" swept through the acupoints with lightning speed, wiping out most of the demons in the Western Region, many still escaped. In recent days, disciples of the Yunlu Immortal Sect have been dispatched everywhere to eliminate demons and uphold justice, and battles large and small have never ceased. Yu Shenxing ultimately failed to persuade his elders not to go to the Huangquan Sect to study the system of humans and ghosts living together. He channeled his grief and anger into strength, spending his days, apart from unleashing heavenly punishment upon Lord Feilian, dedicated to eliminating demons and upholding justice.

He has killed more than a dozen demons, which makes Chen Ye somewhat worried, fearing that he might become addicted to killing and unable to extricate himself.

Other righteous sects also responded one after another. The Mirage Sect's subordinates used illusion arrays to transform into millions of ordinary people to lure the demons who hunted mortals. This trap was also very successful, with hundreds of demons dying in the "human sacrifice" incident.

The illusions were so realistic that many demonic cultivators dared not slaughter mortals indiscriminately, lest they fall into the trap of the Mirage Sect.

Tianxin Island, on the other hand, is far overseas and temporarily occupies a secluded corner.

Those demons who had just emerged from the ground, ready to have a good "feast," crashed headlong into the iron wall of the righteous path and suffered annihilation.

Among them, the Qinghe Sword Sect's achievements are the most dazzling.

In the past, due to the scarcity of disciples, the Qinghe Sword Sect could only barely protect the safety of the people on both sides of the Qinghe River. They were often powerless to help those in dire straits further away.

But ever since that Jade Daoist took over as sect leader, there has been one more Void Returning Realm cultivator wandering around the world.

The newly appointed leader of the Qinghe Sect acts as if he is playing a game in the mortal world. He doesn't care about cultivation level or whether it is considered bullying the weak. As long as he sees demonic cultivators harming the people, he will take decisive action.

Master Yuji only needs to extend three fingers and gently pinch them in the air. No matter what earth-shattering cultivation level you have, no matter what world-destroying secret treasures and spells you have practiced, in an instant you will be captured like fish and shrimp caught in a net, with no power to resist whatsoever.

In just half a month, this Daoist Yuji had already captured three Nascent Soul Realm and eighteen Profound Realm demons alive.

Chen Ye knew this so clearly because Master Yuji would send the demons to the Yellow Springs Sect every time he captured them alive.

This Void Returning Realm cultivator tore through the void several times, throwing these bound demons at the entrance of the Yellow Springs Sect as "gifts".

Out of curiosity, Chen Ye asked Master Yuji why he didn't deal with these demons himself, but he got a reason that made him both laugh and cry.

According to the rules of the Qinghe Sword Sect, there are many regulations for eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path. First, there must be solid evidence; second, the other party must be given the opportunity to defend themselves; and finally, the case must be carefully analyzed to determine the sentence and conviction.

You can't just behead a cultivator the moment you see him unleash the Myriad Soul Banner. You need to carefully verify that he is truly guilty of unforgivable crimes before you can draw your sword and kill him.

Generally speaking, as long as innocent lives have not been harmed, or if the killing is done for revenge like Mo Ci, the Qinghe Sword Sect considers it a crime that does not warrant death.

However, Master Yuji frankly told Chen Ye, "Now that the war between good and evil has begun, I really don't have the time to distinguish them one by one. I've heard that the Yellow Springs Sect has a Netherworld Hell where one can discern good from evil and right from wrong, so I simply captured them all and sent them here. The decision on right and wrong is up to your sect."

"If I have indeed arrested the wrong person, please convey my apologies to the Yellow Spring Sect. In the future, I will personally visit them to apologize."

Since Master Yuji had put it this way, Chen Ye naturally couldn't refuse.

As a result, the Qinghe Sect Leader sent over dozens of people. These demons, both big and small, were all unforgivable villains after being sent to hell. Chen Ye had no choice but to build new prisons in the newly excavated second level of the underworld, specifically to imprison these highly skilled demons.

Chen Ye couldn't help but sigh, wondering just how many places this newly appointed leader of the Qinghe Sword Sect had traveled to.
Isn't this efficiency in eliminating demons and protecting the righteous a bit too high?
In short, everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction. The demonic sect had been in decline for a thousand years, living cautiously and barely surviving, so its overall strength was naturally inferior to that of the righteous sects. Moreover, the demonic sect was difficult to unite, and under normal circumstances, it was defeated one by one.

Previously, the villains hid deep underground, making it difficult for the righteous path to hunt them down, lest they suffer heavy losses in an ambush.

Now that the demon has come out on his own, dealing with him is much simpler.

As long as Lord Feilian does not break through his cultivation level, eliminating all the demonic cultivators is a common occurrence.

Chen Ye wasn't the only one thinking this way; all the righteous sects shared the same plan.

The law of cause and effect is now influencing the world. Although the mortal realm is vast, as long as one does evil, there will always be a time when one will suffer retribution.

Chen Ye originally thought that everything would develop in a positive direction, with the only variable being the Flying Lord.

Before they could enjoy a few months of peace, unsettling news spread throughout the land.

Yu Xing, a disciple of the Mirage Sect... died and his cultivation vanished.

When Chen Ye received the news, he was taken aback. He didn't have a good impression of this rude and irrational fool. So what if Yu Xing died? Chen Ye didn't care much.

But Yu Xing did not die from his sharp tongue, nor from internal strife within the sect, but from the hands of a demon.

Moreover, he died in a fair and square duel.

The two words, "demonic cultivator" and "upright and honorable," seem completely incompatible.

Even if Yu Xing really did go out to exorcise demons and encountered a demon to fight with, how could such a large sect as the Mirage Sect just stand by and watch Yu Xing die at the hands of a demon?

But Chen Ye heard more than that. After Yu Xing died at the hands of this demon, the man did not flee but remained outside the Mirage Sect's gate, saying he would wait for the Mirage Sect to send someone to fight again.

Chen Ye was even more confused. Even if Yu Xing had no emotional intelligence, even if he offended people with every word he spoke, even if his fellow disciples hated him... after all, the Mirage Sect was one of the five major sects. They couldn't possibly stand idly by and watch their own disciples be killed by a demon, could they?

Shouldn't Yin Xiaoshuang have taken action and burned this devil to ashes?

Chen Ye put down the letter in his hand and said to Mo Ci beside him, "Master, what exactly is going on?"

This message was brought back by Mo Ci from the Mirage Sect. As a wandering god, Mo Ci is now traveling around. Exorcising demons and protecting the righteous is just a side job, but his main task is to transmit messages before the communication array is set up.

Currently, the Yellow Springs Sect relies entirely on Mo Ci and Black Whirlwind, a divine pet and a messenger, for delivering messages, and their efficiency is not bad.

Upon hearing Chen Ye's question, Mo Ci replied, "This demon used a trick, threatening the lives of mortals to force the Mirage Sect to send disciples at the Tongxuan Realm to fight him. Regardless of the outcome, as long as the Mirage Sect participates, he will release a thousand human sacrifices. However, if the Mirage Sect dares not participate, or if they bully the weak or outnumber the weak, then ten thousand mortals will die as a result."

Chen Ye frowned and said, "Putting the Mirage Sect on the hot seat? Do you think the Mirage Sect is so easy to talk to?"

Mo Ci shook his head and said, "I don't know either, but Zhou Lang, the deputy leader of the Mirage Sect, agreed to the competition and sent Yu Xing, who had just broken through to a higher realm. The two fought in public, and Yu Xing lost and was taken into the Myriad Soul Banner by that demon."

Chen Ye found it unbelievable; in his memory, the deputy sect leader Zhou Lang was not a reasonable person. The Qinghe Sword Sect might accept the challenge, but the Mirage Sect should not accept such a threat.

Mo Ci added, "Even after winning a match, this demon isn't running away; he's preparing to continue provoking us. From what he's saying, he wants to challenge all the Tongxuan Realm cultivators of the righteous path and compete for the title of the number one Tongxuan Realm cultivator."

After saying that, Mo Ci looked at Chen Ye.

Chen Ye is widely recognized as the number one person in the Profound Realm today.

(End of this chapter)