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

Chapter 411: Elimination and Attack
Inside the Yellow Springs Palace, the "Soul Venerable," who had just been beaming with pride, now had a face so gloomy it could drip water.

It was simply because Chen Ye on the other side was too calm.

Although what came out of his mouth was a momentous event—four Void Returning Realm cultivators joining forces to besiege that Supreme Elder—his tone was light and casual, as if he were just talking about four petty thieves attacking the Yellow Springs Sect's mountain gate.

Soul Master frowned: "It seems you have a lot of confidence in your Supreme Elder. But he's just a junior who recently broke through to the Void Returning Realm. He has absolutely no chance of winning against three opponents."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye laughed instead: "Three against one? It seems Youluozi is still the same as ever, preferring to watch the show from the shadows rather than personally participate. As for winning or losing, it's not really important. You demons have plenty of ways to save your lives and be reborn. Even if my grandmaster wins, that Lord Feilian will always manage to escape in the end."

Chen Ye already knew quite a bit about these demonic sect leaders.

One or two victories or defeats are meaningless to them. Destroying one of their clones or breaking one of their rebirth methods will only weaken them and have little impact.

The only ones who can truly kill a Demonic Sect Master are always their own people.

Like Youluozi, who used an insider to destroy all of Qingjiao's rebirth methods in advance, and finally had to go to Guixu to completely kill this demon.

Tiger's accomplice was also betrayed and killed by his own people. Even if you tried to kill him seventeen or eighteen times using righteous methods, you might not be able to get rid of him completely.

Therefore, the outcome on Qu Heng's side is not important.

What truly matters is whether the Mirage Faction betrayed their cause, and whether we can find evidence of their betrayal.

As for Qu Heng's safety... Chen Ye was truly not worried at all.

It wasn't because he was blessed with good fortune, but because Qu Heng's abilities and methods were far superior to Chen Ye's.

If Ye Chen, whom the Demonic Sect painstakingly cultivated, was merely a weakened imitation of Chen Ye, then Qu Heng was an ultimate, enhanced version, countless times more terrifying than Chen Ye.

After Qu Heng's death, there was no master willing to sacrifice himself for the Ten Thousand Souls Banner; no "grandmaster" who could provide a constant stream of magical treasures like a treasure chest; and no major sect like the Qinghe Sword Sect to fully support him.

Chen Ye's journey, though seemingly fraught with hardship, was in fact aided by countless people. Qu Heng, on the other hand, truly relied on his own efforts to reach his current position.

Qu Heng was the first to scheme against the five major sects, and he was also the first to utterly destroy the Nirvana Sect.

Even the building materials for Fengdu City were accumulated by Qu Heng over countless years.

Chen Ye was only the sect leader in name; the one who truly contributed eight-tenths of the effort to the Yellow Springs Sect was actually this Supreme Elder.

Such a ruthless character wouldn't fall for such an obvious trick.

unless……

Before Chen Ye could finish his thought, a spatial rift suddenly opened. Qu Heng, clutching a tattered Myriad Soul Banner, stepped out from within.

He looked quite disheveled, with his hair down, his clothes torn, and the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in his hand damaged in many ways, making him look like a fortune teller on the roadside whose business was failing.

Apart from that, there was not a single scratch on his body, his complexion was rosy and normal, and his breathing was steady and long, showing no signs of weakness.

Seeing Qu Heng appear before him safe and sound, the "Soul Master's" face was filled with shock.

He really came back? He returned unharmed after being besieged by three Void Returning Realm cultivators? And judging from his appearance, he only had a torn piece of clothing?
As soon as Qu Heng appeared, without even glancing at the Soul Master, he cursed, "To hell with the Mirage Sect! That bastard Zhou Lang actually dared to betray the Demonic Sect. I knew he wasn't a good person, but he's even more shameless than I imagined!"

Chen Ye hurriedly asked, "Has Zhou Lang really openly sided with the Demonic Sect? I thought he was just putting on an act."

In Chen Ye's speculation, a villain like Zhou Lang would not openly pledge allegiance to the Demonic Sect. Instead, he would go through the motions but secretly sabotage Qu Heng's fight, causing him to fight Fei Lian to the death.

Judging from Qu Heng's tone, Zhou Lang seemed to have launched a sneak attack directly.

Qu Heng explained, "It wasn't just acting. Zhou Lang sacrificed Yin Xiaoshuang to kill me. He was ruthless. The blood and tears you saw at the beginning were actually arranged by Zhou Lang."

"what?!"

Chen Ye was taken aback; he truly hadn't expected this.

Was Yin Xiaoshuang's blood and tears fake?

“Yin Xiaoshuang has long been completely turned into a puppet by Zhou Lang, and has no independent consciousness whatsoever,” Qu Heng explained. “That line of bloody tears was deliberately made for you to see. It was to make you think that she still had a sliver of consciousness and was calling for help, to make you mistakenly believe that she could still be saved.”

“I almost fell for it too. That guy first pretended to die with me, and then manipulated Yin Xiaoshuang to rush out and block that so-called 'self-sacrificing blow'.”

"When I heard you recount your story of blood and tears, I thought that Yin Xiaoshuang had regained consciousness at the last moment, so I thought I would try to save her. Who would have thought that the seriously injured and dying Yin Xiaoshuang was the real killer move. When I removed my protective spell and prepared to save her, she detonated her physical body and soul in my arms."

Qu Heng looked down at his tattered clothes and couldn't help but curse. Then, a flash of light appeared on his body, and his tattered robe was instantly restored to its original state.

Hearing this conversation between the two, the Soul Master, disregarding his own perilous situation, couldn't help but interject loudly, "Then why are you completely unharmed?!"

That was a self-destruction by a cultivator at the Returning Void Realm, and it happened so close, catching him completely off guard. Even if Qu Heng had made thorough preparations beforehand, it was impossible for him to escape without a single injury.

Qu Heng turned to look at Soul Master, a mocking smile on his face: "Speaking of which, we have to thank 'Master' for this."

Hearing that "Master" made the Soul Venerable grit his teeth.

It was because of that one word, "Master," that he was tricked and nearly killed, ending up in such a miserable state today.

Qu Heng, however, seemed to be deliberately trying to provoke him, and raised his right hand.

Under his control, the hand rapidly transformed, turning into a lifelike little squirrel in the blink of an eye. It then detached from his wrist and crawled around on the ground.

Upon seeing this, the Soul Master's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in disbelief, "The Eight-Nine Arcane Technique! You've also mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique?!"

"I'm just starting out. I'm not like that kid Chen Ye, who can cultivate so quickly." Qu Heng's tone was tinged with sarcasm as he said this.

Qu Heng's cultivation level was already too high, and his cultivation method had long been established. Re-cultivating the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts was like starting from scratch. He really put a lot of effort into integrating the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts with his own cultivation method, but he could only barely get to the basics.

Chen Ye had no other skills, but his cultivation was truly fast and smooth.

Besides Chen Ye often acting recklessly, it was also because he never followed the instructions verbatim. Every time he cultivated, he first understood the principles recorded in the manual before he began to practice.

Different people have different constitutions and will encounter different bottlenecks on their spiritual path. Those who only follow the steps will often get stuck at those hurdles not recorded in the manuals, and will not make any progress for years.

But Chen Ye's approach of understanding first and then practicing is completely different. When he encounters a bottleneck, he clearly understands its root cause and can then specifically devise solutions. This is the fundamental reason why his cultivation speed far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Chen Ye's understanding of spiritual energy and magic surpasses that of his grandmaster Qu Heng; this is true talent, something Qu Heng greatly admires.

The Soul Venerable, however, didn't see it that way. He misunderstood something else entirely, roaring, "Impossible! Your Yellow Springs Sect actually possesses two innate artifacts?!"

The initial training of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts is extremely difficult. It is not enough to just have talent; one must also transform the physical body into an innate form. This is the most basic requirement for cultivating the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts.

To transform the physical body, one needs to consume an innate item.

The Demon Lord Wujiu was like this, and so was the Soul Lord.

However, the innate treasure that Wujiu Demon Lord obtained back then was more powerful and the transformation was more thorough, so he did not encounter any bottlenecks in his cultivation later on.

The Soul Master was different. The innate items he used to transform his physical body were of inferior quality, so he was stuck in the Void Returning Realm for many years and could not break through. In the end, he had to figure out another way and began to study the path of mutual transformation between the physical body and the soul. He even had to take a risk and break through by splitting his soul and devouring each other.

When Soul Venerable learned that Chen Ye had mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique, he lamented that Chen Ye had used yet another innate treasure. If he had known this earlier, he would not have needed to covet the body of Demon Lord Wujiu; he could have simply gone to the Yellow Springs Sect to steal it.

At that time, Soul Master also sighed, saying that Qu Heng had given up such a precious opportunity to master the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts to Chen Ye. He truly loved this grand-disciple from the bottom of his heart.

But now...

Soul Master never expected that the Yellow Springs Sect had so many innate treasures.

All I can say is that the ginseng fruit is far beyond imagination. The Soul Master was poor his whole life and had never seen or imagined that there was such a treasure in the world that could transform a person's physical body into a pre-natal state just by smelling it.

Once you master the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, you can transform into countless beings, and even if your physical body is shattered, it can reassemble itself.

Although he hadn't reached the level of immortality of the Demon Lord Wujiu, with Qu Heng's cultivation, dodging the self-destruction of a Void Returning Realm cultivator wasn't difficult.

Even if Yin Xiaoshuang exploded in front of him, Qu Heng could still survive by paying a small price. At most, he would only lose some vital energy, which he could recover by inhaling the aura of ginseng fruit in the underground palace.

Seeing that Soul Master was so angry that his face turned blue and he was trembling all over, Chen Ye was too lazy to waste any more words on him and said directly to Qu Heng, "Grandmaster, seal him up first, and deal with him slowly later."

Qu Heng nodded and casually unleashed a golden light.

The golden light transformed into dozens of golden shackles resembling serpents in the air, instantly binding the Soul Venerable tightly, completely imprisoning his magical power and divine soul.

Next, Qu Heng took out an exquisite wooden box and skillfully put the Soul Venerable inside.

Chen Ye looked at the wooden box with some surprise: "Grandmaster, isn't this the one I brought out from the Ruins of Return? It can even hold people?"

Qu Heng closed the box and casually said, "You have too many good things in your hands, so you look down on these ordinary treasures. This box has many uses. I've slightly refining it, and it's perfect for holding people now."

After carefully storing the Soul Master away, he said to Chen Ye, "I dodged Yin Xiaoshuang's self-destruction, and then used the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique to conjure a charred corpse, which should be able to deceive Zhou Lang and Fei Lian for the time being. However, given those two's caution, they will not be so easily fooled. They will definitely take the 'corpse' away for careful study, and it won't be long before they discover that I faked my death. Before that, we don't have much time, so we must make plans as soon as possible."

Chen Ye pondered for a moment, then looked up and said, "Since Zhou Lang dares to make a move openly, he either has already come up with an excuse to escape punishment, or he is prepared to completely join the Demonic Sect. In any case, we must immediately report this matter to the other sects."

"The communication array connecting the major sects has been completed," Qu Heng said. "Communication is very convenient now, and I will send the message over immediately. However, I have an unexpected gain this time."

He handed the tattered Ten Thousand Souls Banner to Chen Ye and said mysteriously, "That Yin Xiaoshuang isn't quite dead yet."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye was immediately taken aback.

"Grandmaster, you've collected Sect Leader Yin's soul into the Myriad Soul Banner?!"

Qu Heng nodded, his face showing an expression of matter-of-fact: "That's right. I saw that she still had a wisp of her remnant soul that hadn't dissipated. It's probably because the heavens wanted to spare her life, so they took it away. Since the remnant soul of that Soul Venerable can be restored, I think Yin Xiaoshuang should be able to as well. Even if it really doesn't work, using it as a main soul refining banner would be much stronger than the soul of an ordinary cultivator."

Chen Ye listened in silence for a while.

Compared to Qu Heng, he felt as upright as a novice disciple of Qinghe. At most, he could only refine his master's soul into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, while his grandmaster had casually absorbed the leader of the Mirage Sect into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

This is the true style of the Demonic Sect.

Chen Ye dared not delay and quickly infused a wisp of spiritual energy into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

This banner was clearly a new product casually crafted by Qu Huan, perfectly inheriting the practical style of the Yellow Spring Sect. It contained no vicious restrictions that tormented the soul, only a few basic magic arrays used to seal the soul and prevent its escape.

The huge banner was empty inside, with only a tattered wisp of divine soul hanging inside, vaguely showing what Yin Xiaoshuang looked like in life.

Chen Ye tried to communicate with it, but found that the remnant soul was almost entirely driven by instinct and could not respond to Chen Ye in any way.

First, he was controlled by Zhou Lang, and then his soul was detonated. It was lucky that he was able to leave behind a trace of his soul.

Chen Ye was still thinking of asking Yin Xiaoshuang to help resolve Zhou Lang's problem, but now it seems that whether she can survive is still unknown.

Chen Ye could only temporarily put away the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and then tell Qu Heng about his biggest problem at the moment.

Chen Ye raised his arm and said to Qu Heng, "Grandmaster, I was caught off guard and ambushed by that Soul Venerable. He planted the Soul Cleansing Flower in my body, and now it has taken root and sprouted, directly breaking my Eight-Nine Arcane Technique."

Blue veins spread across Chen Ye's arm, seemingly penetrating deep into his bones.

Although Chen Ye had experienced the pain of high-level body tempering, the Soul Cleansing Flower rooted in his flesh and blood still made him extremely uncomfortable. It was hard to imagine that the Demon Lord Wujiu had been tormented by this thing for a thousand years; no wonder he was so grumpy when he woke up. If it were Chen Ye, he would also want to destroy the world.

Qu Heng, who remained unfazed even when facing three cultivators at the Void Returning Realm, changed his expression drastically upon seeing the veins of these Soul Cleansing Flowers.

"This is a huge problem. Even the Demon Lord Wujiu can suppress the Soul Cleansing Flower, and I have no way to deal with it."

Chen Ye sighed, "After that, I asked Elder Pang. Maybe she can help."

Only the Incense Burning Sect truly understands the Soul Cleansing Flower, and this is the only solution Chen Ye can think of. However, the chances are slim. As the Soul Venerable said, the Incense Burning Sect never intended to resurrect the Demon Venerable Wujiu, so there is probably no easy way to remove the Soul Cleansing Flower.

What worries Chen Ye even more is that since Soul Master launched a sneak attack, it means that the Demonic Sect has a backup plan.

The sneak attack on Qu Heng was just one of the tactics; there should be more to come, a combination of offense and defense to catch Chen Ye off guard.

Just as Chen Ye was about to remind Qu Heng to recover from his injuries as soon as possible, he heard a proclamation coming from outside the Yellow Springs Palace: "Cultivator Ye Chen has come to seek guidance from the Yellow Springs Sect Master! Today, we will determine who is superior and who will live or die!"

(End of this chapter)