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

Chapter 460 Taking from the surplus to give to the deficiency
There are many stories about the eighteen demon lords, and the versions that have been passed down vary.

Aside from a few particularly famous ones, even the one from the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect had several different names.

This Black Moon Demon Lord is one of those figures with many legends, but the details are very vague.

This black moon is invisible to the naked eye at night, but it has the power to distort the laws of heaven and earth and can silently affect the tides of spiritual energy throughout the world.

Legend has it that countless evil creatures, hybrids of monsters and humans, dwell atop that black moon.

Whenever the dark moon travels to a specific trajectory and obscures the true bright moon in the sky, those evil creatures will descend from the sky like locusts, preying on mortals and even other cultivators.

As the saying goes, "The furnace of blood and fire tempers the demon's form, and the black moon veils the toad, devouring all living beings."

This poem was used to describe the cruelty and ruthlessness of the Black Moon Demon Lord back then.

Chen Ye was initially skeptical of this exaggerated legend.

But at this moment, looking at those fleshy blobs covered in eyeballs and women with scorpion tails rushing out of Zhulu City, he suddenly felt that those seemingly absurd legends might have some truth to them.

Chen Ye and Fei Lian Demon Lord both looked at the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones.

The fat, disgusting face twitched with fear, all traces of its previous arrogance gone. Its voice trembled as it said, "What...what do you two lords want to know? I...I will tell you everything I know!"

Chen Ye released his foot, squatted down, pointed to the corpses of the demons he and Fei Lian had dealt with, and asked, "These inhuman and beastly things, are they the products of the so-called Furnace Body Refining Technique?"

“Indeed, this method was passed down by the Black Moon Demon Lord. It can graft the limbs of demon beasts onto humans, allowing mortals without spiritual roots to sense spiritual energy and thus embark on the path of cultivation.” Ancestor Wan Hai dared not conceal anything.

Neither human nor ghost—this is an extremely cruel method.

Chen Ye continued, "Tell me in detail."

The Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones thought for a moment, then said cautiously, "This...this secret technique was actually obtained by a villain through murder, and recorded in a tattered ancient book. It is likely not the true teaching of the Black Moon Demon Lord, but rather a compilation by later generations. The main content recorded therein is how to obtain limbs and how to forcibly fuse two different bloodlines."

"This requires the use of a special kind of flame. After sewing the human and the demon beast together, they are placed in a furnace to refine them, forcing their bloodlines to merge. Hence, it is called the Furnace Body Refining Technique..."

Ancestor Wanhai secretly glanced at Chen Ye's expression and continued to explain.

"These... these demons were originally just mortals with no spiritual roots whatsoever. They couldn't even do the most basic meditation, let alone sense the location of spiritual energy."

"But I have cultivated many spirit beasts underground, mostly venomous insects such as spiders and snakes. After all, these five poisonous creatures reproduce very quickly, and as long as their numbers are large enough, some special individuals that can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth will eventually appear."

"However, most demonic beasts have low intelligence, and even if they do awaken their intelligence, their cultivation through instinct alone is extremely slow. So I came up with this method: to fuse those poisonous insects that have awakened their intelligence with these mortals. In this way, the monsters created will possess both the wisdom of mortals and the talent for cultivation and the powerful physique of spirit beasts."

As Chen Ye listened to the narration of the Myriad Bones Ancestor, his brows furrowed more and more tightly.

No wonder these demons have scorpion tails or spider legs; it turns out this underground is the perfect place to cultivate these poisonous insects.

To allow a group of ordinary people without talent to gain the ability to cultivate, they were fused with poisonous insects to create monsters. This method is far too cruel and vicious.

However, the Demon Lord Feilian, who was standing to the side, showed great interest in this.

He stepped forward and inquired carefully about the specific details of the "Furnace Body Refining Technique," such as how to select mortals and spirit beasts, the methods to be aware of during the smelting process, and how to control the intelligence of the finished product, etc.

At first, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones wanted to keep things to himself, speaking evasively and trying to conceal the most crucial part.

But the Demon Lord Feilian merely glanced at him coldly and uttered four words: "Tell the truth."

The supernatural power of making one's words law is incredibly effective against cultivators of such low cultivation levels. Under the influence of this supernatural power...

All his lies and concealments became meaningless. His mind seemed to be out of his control, and he could only tell the whole secret of the "Furnace Body Refining Technique" word for word.

Chen Ye had been listening quietly to the side, but as he listened, his expression grew increasingly surprised.

This secret technique... seems to be another method originating from a celestial book!

Some of the fragments about flesh-and-blood fusion and spiritual grafting seemed to remind him of similar accounts he had seen in some ancient book he had once read.

When the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones finished recounting all the secrets and collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, Chen Ye let out a long sigh.

He looked at the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones, shook his head, and spoke with a complex emotion in his voice.

"How did such a wonderful and supreme magic that could save the world and benefit the people become such a cruel and torturous method in the hands of you evil demons and crooked paths?"

Ancestor Wanhai was stunned, not understanding what Chen Ye meant by those words.

Chen Ye slowly explained, "The true essence of this 'Furnace Body Refining Technique' is not to fuse mortals and spirit beasts into monsters."

"Its true use is like the legendary goddess Nuwa creating humans from clay and mending the sky with stones. It can use the essence of mountains, rivers, plants, or the flesh and blood of other living beings to repair injuries and defects in the human body."

"A severed arm can be rebuilt with plant branches; a failing heart can be replaced with spirit stones; even a congenitally disabled body can be repaired with spiritual treasures of heaven and earth. This is a compassionate art that defies fate and saves lives!"

Chen Ye was not exaggerating at all. The most important method of this Furnace Body Refining Technique is the furnace fire that can fuse different bloodlines, but the more he listened to the refining method of the furnace fire, the more something seemed wrong.

Combining the ancient secrets Chen Ye gleaned from the books stored in the Incense Burning Sect with the various secret techniques he himself had cultivated, Chen Ye was able to deduce the full picture of this Heavenly Book Secret Technique.

The fusion of humans and monsters is clearly the "Tao Te Ching's" saying: "The way of Heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who have too little."

All magical effects revolve around this.

To make up for the missing item by borrowing something else.

Its profoundness is no less than that of the soul-binding secret technique that Chen Ye learned, and in some aspects it is even better.

But just like how the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect transformed the perfectly good art of refining the Five Poisons into an evil art of cultivating Crimson Serpents and Blood Bodhi Trees.

The Black Moon Demon Lord had clearly transformed this compassionate art, which was originally meant to heal the sick and save lives, into an evil technique for refining flesh and blood and creating monsters.

They have no one to blame but themselves; they plunged headlong into the evil path and went further and further astray.

After listening to Chen Ye's explanation, Demon Lord Feilian asked in confusion, "The goddess Nuwa created humans from clay... what is that story?"

Chen Ye: ...

He forgot that the world's mythology had been severed, and even the name of Buddha had not been passed down, let alone the more ancient myths and legends.

Chen Ye could only reply, "It's just a myth I read in a book; I don't know if it's true or not."

Feilian Demon Lord glanced at Chen Ye and let out a cold laugh.

In Fei Lian Demon Lord's view, Chen Ye and the Great Sage Overturning the Sea were both "external beings" from the same place. He assumed that this so-called myth was related to the Immortal Realm. Since the two had cooperated for so long, Chen Ye was still hiding things from him, which naturally displeased Fei Lian Demon Lord. However, since their positions were completely opposite and they were only forced to cooperate, it was understandable that Chen Ye would conceal some things.

Fei Lian didn't want to argue further, and simply told the Old Ancestor Wan Hai, "Clean up this mess."

According to the original plan, Chen Ye and Fei Lian were to lie in wait here for the girl Qinglan to arrive.

Now the ground is littered with severed limbs and even the gatehouse is mostly destroyed. This won't do; anyone who sees this will know something is wrong.

"Yes, yes! I understand!"

As if granted a pardon, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones scrambled to his feet and began directing his remaining demons, who were not quite dead, to clean up the mess.

One group went to repair the city gate tower that Chen Ye had smashed with his tail, while another group dragged together the seriously wounded who were still groaning on the ground, preparing to send them to the huge furnace in the city center.

Chen Ye and Fei Lian Demon Lord followed behind, watching as the Myriad Bones Ancestor prepared to throw these wounded subordinates back into the black furnace.

The furnace was ten zhang tall, cast entirely from an unknown black metal, its surface covered with twisted runes, and emanated a bloody and scorching aura.

Just as the Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones was about to instruct his subordinates to stuff a demon with half its body missing into the furnace, Chen Ye stopped with great interest and carefully examined the furnace.

Seeing that Ancestor Wanhai hesitated, Chen Ye said, "Continue, let me see this 'Furnace Body Refining Technique'."

The Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones stiffened. He knew he had no room to resist and could only grit his teeth and step forward to operate it himself.

He chanted incomprehensible incantations, his hands forming strange hand seals as he channeled streams of spiritual energy into the furnace.

Inside the furnace, dark red blood flames roared to life.

Several chosen demons, who were originally inhuman monsters, were thrown into the blood flames and let out shrill screams.

Under the control of the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones, their flesh and blood were melted, twisted, and recombined, eventually turning into even more bloated and ugly figures. Their injuries were healed, but the aura of madness and chaos became even stronger.

The scene was extremely cruel, but the demon inside seemed to have been controlled by the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones, so it did not resist at all. It dragged its twisted body out of the furnace and stood there numbly.

After watching for a while, Chen Ye suddenly said, "Let me try."

Ancestor Wanhai was extremely unwilling, but he dared not show it on his face. He could only respectfully step aside and hand over control of the furnace.

Chen Ye stepped forward, casually pointed to a demon whose spider legs had been mostly shattered and whose spine had been broken by his dragon claw hand, and threw it into the furnace.

The demon was left with only half a breath left, and the moment it was thrown into the furnace, it was enveloped in blood flames.

Chen Ye did not rush to start the furnace fire. Instead, he closed his eyes and recalled the operation of the Ten Thousand Bones Ancestor and the complete "Furnace Body Refining Technique" that he had heard.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and began chanting incantations, pouring his spiritual power into the furnace.

Unlike the operation of the Myriad Bones Ancestor, Chen Ye modified several incantations and transformed the blood flame in different ways after injecting spiritual energy.

As his spiritual power was injected, the dark red blood flames began to change, gradually fading in color from blood red to orange-yellow, and finally transforming into a ball of golden flames.

The demon inside the furnace was still screaming, but its cries contained less pain and more relief.

Under Chen Ye's control, his damaged body began to slowly repair itself. The wounds healed rapidly, and the broken parts were filled with new flesh and blood.

In no time, it seemed to have recovered most of its strength.

But Chen Ye did not stop. Instead, he continued to inject spiritual energy, making the golden flames in the furnace burn even more fiercely.

Then, to the astonishment of the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones, the demon's physical body began to undergo another transformation.

The eight menacing spider legs, under the scorching golden flames, melted and decomposed little by little, eventually transforming into the purest spiritual energy, which in turn nourished his body. The spider's carapace and tissues on his body were also completely refined away.

The ugly half-human, half-spider creature was slowly returning to a complete human form in the furnace fire.

When the fire died down, a naked man staggered out of the furnace. He no longer possessed any demonic features; apart from being somewhat weak, he was now a completely normal mortal.

"This this……"

The Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones was utterly shocked.

Chen Ye just said that this was a compassionate and merciful technique to save people and help the world. The Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones thought that Chen Ye was exaggerating. After all, people who follow the righteous path like to talk about grand principles and always want to occupy the moral high ground.

But seeing this scene before him, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones realized that Chen Ye's words were true. This could actually repair the wounds of mortals... no, this was completely refining flesh and blood, and making people anew.

The Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones hurriedly grabbed the man's arm, carefully sensed him, and then wailed, "It's over! Your Qi Sea is gone! How did you become a true mortal again?!"

The heart of the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones was bleeding.

Don't be fooled by the cruelty of this Furnace Body Refining Technique; it's incredibly resource-intensive. Those sentient poisonous insects aren't easy to cultivate. After the bloodlines are fused, making them cultivate takes another significant amount of resources, costing an unknown number of Blood Pills.

Now, Chen Ye has burned the demon into a mortal with a single fire, a mortal with absolutely no cultivation. This whole refining process has made all the previous investment go down the drain.

This is an absolutely disastrous business deal.

But under Chen Ye's gaze, the Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones could only turn his bitter expression into a wry smile, and respectfully said to Chen Ye, "Sect Master Chen's magic is unparalleled, and he truly has the ability to bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. I admire him to the extreme, I admire him to the extreme!"

Chen Ye ignored the man's flattery. He carefully examined the "demon" who had just regained his human form, confirming that his soul and bloodline had returned to normal and there were no hidden dangers. Only then did he nod in satisfaction. He then tossed the still-dazed mortal aside and continued refining the second demon.

One by one, bizarre demons were thrown into the furnace, and then they all emerged as mortals.

These mortals who regained their human forms, though they lost their cultivation, also regained their clear minds.

Looking at their no longer ugly bodies, and then at Chen Ye standing to the side, they instantly understood everything. They were all moved to tears of gratitude and bowed deeply to Chen Ye.

Chen Ye didn't have time to distinguish whether these people were innocent victims or voluntarily fell into depravity. He simply waved his hand, instructing the Old Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones to take these people away and keep them under close watch.

After the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Bones led these people away, Chen Ye's gaze once again fell upon the enormous furnace.

He was preparing to do something truly significant.

He walked to the side, casually broke off a few unknown animal bones from the pile of bones on the city wall, weighed them in his hand, and then went back to the furnace and threw all the bones into the furnace.

He intends to use this celestial scripture, which he has already modified, to create a person out of thin air.

If possible... then the hundreds of thousands of souls in Fengdu City might have a chance to be reincarnated.

(End of this chapter)