This humble Taoist priest, Qianhe, begins his quest for immortality by slaying demons and monsters.

Chapter 197 The Spiritual Treasure Soul-Devouring Banner, the True Demonic Cultivator

The idea of ​​thinking things through before acting is something Zhong Bai simply cannot resist.

Perhaps Zhong Bai was sent by heaven to destroy Japan.

However, Zhong Bai needs to make thorough preparations before heading to Japan!

It is thousands of miles away from Maoshan.

Zhong Bai stood on the spirit sword, surrounded by the vast sea. Zhong Bai's arrival seemed insignificant to this sea area. However, in Zhong Bai's hand was a canvas that exuded a chilling ghostly aura. This was the Soul Devouring Banner, a spiritual treasure of the Tongyou Palace, which Xuan Mingzi had mentioned.

This banner was not crafted by the founder of Maoshan, but was the natal spiritual treasure of a demonic cultivator who reached the Nascent Soul stage a thousand years ago. With the Soul Devouring Banner, this demonic cultivator only spent twenty years going from Golden Core to Nascent Soul. In the end, he still offended Maoshan and was killed by a founder of Tongyou Hall.

Because of its special nature, the natal spirit treasure was left behind by Maoshan because killing someone would not incur any karmic consequences.

The power of a Nascent Soul Spiritual Treasure is something that ordinary cultivators would never be able to utilize, but for Zhong Bai, it is just the beginning. At this moment, he intends to use the Soul Devouring Banner to test whether it is truly possible to avoid being entangled in karma.

Ahem, of course, it needs to be refined before use.

The reason Zhong Bai came to the sea, thousands of miles away from Maoshan, was because he was not entirely sure of the situation. The Soul Devouring Banner contained tens of thousands of soul-devouring beings, which were essentially dead souls, but without intelligence, only retaining their soul-devouring nature. If the soul-devouring beings in the banner were to leave human habitation during Zhong Bai's refining process and be placed in a populated area, someone would surely suffer. That is why Zhong Bai came to the sea.

"Imprint your divine sense, refine!"

Zhong Bai sat cross-legged in the void. As his divine sense landed on the Soul Devouring Banner, the space around him began to become strange.

Streams of black smoke billowed out, accompanied by shrill screams, as a wave of negative emotions surged into Zhong Bai's soul.

After a thousand years of silence, the Soul Devouring Banner wished it could devour the souls of all living beings before it, but of course, Zhong Bai could not do as it wished.

"The Mysterious Sect of Heaven and Earth..."

As soon as the Golden Light Divine Mantra was unleashed, the negative emotions in Zhong Bai's soul vanished instantly, and Zhong Bai began to focus on the divine imprint.

Time passed slowly, and for three whole days, Zhong Bai refined the Soul-Devouring Banner on the sea.

His entire body exuded a sinister aura. Such a scene could hardly be called that of a righteous sect leader. However... wasn't it also the intention of the Maoshan Patriarch that Zhong Bai was able to obtain this Soul-Devouring Banner?
......................................................

Hell.

In the palace of the Tenth Patriarch, the Tenth Patriarch, who was quietly sipping tea, suddenly paused, then smiled.

"Zhong Bai is indeed an interesting kid. He wants to destroy Japan. His idea is not bad. However, after refining the Soul Devouring Banner, he is no longer suitable to continue serving as the leader of Maoshan Sect."

Just then, a phantom figure appeared at the table in front of the Ten Ancestors.

The Tenth Patriarch immediately stood up.

"The Fourth Ancestor!"

"Sit down. I heard what you just said clearly. I think it's good. The righteous path and the demonic path are both paths. If the heart is righteous, then the path is righteous."

Moreover, there's no underworld or netherworld in this new world, so you can imagine how much evil spirits are causing chaos. Forcing Zhong Bai to follow the orthodox rules of Maoshan and rise quickly is no easy feat. Now's the perfect opportunity—kill gods and Buddhas alike! Only with a murderous heart can you suppress a world!

The Tenth Patriarch listened, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

"Ahem, Fourth Ancestor, why don't you just say you like Zhong Bai's personality? Everyone knows you were a killing machine back in the day..."

"Ok?"

The Fourth Patriarch's expression hardened slightly, and the Tenth Patriarch wisely refrained from continuing.

"What do you know, kid? Aren't the righteous and demonic paths all defined by you younger generations?"

Cultivators are inherently ruthless; as long as they don't harm ordinary people, it doesn't matter!

"Um, but isn't Zhong Bai planning to take over the entire East Japan..."

"Are the Japanese even human? They're just a bunch of beasts. Kill them if you want. Apart from the people of Kyushu, everyone else is a barbarian beast."

"Yes, yes, yes, what the Fourth Patriarch said makes sense."

The Tenth Patriarch didn't want to dwell on these things. Just like the Fourth Patriarch said, if Zhong Bai didn't harm the people of the Nine Provinces, then let him be.

"By the way, that Yamata no Orochi in Japan is at the Nascent Soul stage. Zhong Bai probably doesn't know that. Remember to go there and kill it. Zhong Bai needs the essence blood of a demon beast to make him as strong as possible before heading to the new world."

“Um… Fourth Ancestor, it’s just a matter of you stretching out a finger, why make me…”

Before the Tenth Patriarch could finish speaking, the Fourth Patriarch's illusory figure vanished before him. The Tenth Patriarch immediately abandoned the idea of ​​having the Fourth Patriarch take action. Well, having the Fourth Patriarch take action was indeed like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

"Yamata no Orochi... it's not the real ancient Yamata no Orochi beast, just a descendant. Let it go!"

The Tenth Patriarch shook his head, no longer dwelling on it.

On the vast ocean, Zhong Bai was refining the Soul-Devouring Banner. At this moment, a bloodthirsty impulse made him frown.

"Tsk, as expected of a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator's natal spiritual treasure, it really does have a bewitching quality."

"What a pity! My will is unwavering; how could I be controlled by a mere magical artifact like you?"

Shaking his head, Zhong Bai retrieved the Soul-Devouring Banner into his body and nurtured it in his dantian.

A few more days passed.

Zhong Bai exuded a terrifying aura, his essence, energy, and spirit cultivated to their peak. "Now, it's time to test the power of this Soul-Devouring Banner..."

Looking towards the distant East Japan, Zhong Bai smiled faintly and then flew there on his sword.

The four islands of Japan.

On Shikoku Island, it was dusk when Zhong Bai arrived. Although Shikoku Island is small, it has more than a million inhabitants.
Zhong Bai detected a dense array of living beings with his divine sense simply by arriving above a town.

"This is it! Soul-Devouring Banner, Imperial Decree!"

Within Zhong Bai's dantian, the Soul-Devouring Banner instantly appeared in his hand. As Zhong Bai swayed it left and right in the void, billowing black smoke surged out from the banner—it was the Soul-Devouring Banner!
After emerging from the Soul Devouring Banner, the Soul Devourers sensed the presence of living beings in the air and became extremely excited. They swooped down in all directions, with tens of thousands of Soul Devourers emerging. Some of these Soul Devourers even maintained the strength of the Foundation Establishment stage, having been sealed away for thousands of years!
Without the replenishment of living souls, one's strength will gradually weaken. One can imagine how much that Nascent Soul demon cultivator treasured the Soul Devouring Banner back then.

After each soul-devouring creature descended, screams of agony rose and fell...

How can a living person survive when faced with a malevolent spirit like the Soul Eater?

In the blink of an eye, ordinary people are devoured and die before the Soul Devourer.

Zhong Bai stood in the void, watching the scene before him without any ripples. In his eyes, these Japanese people, like the Fourth Ancestor, could not be called human beings at all!

The wailing continued...

Zhong Bai quickly discovered a rather interesting location.

Soul Devourers surrounded a mansion, but no matter what they did, they couldn't break through the light barrier in the void.

Zhong Bai fell from the void.

Looking at the manor in front of him, he smiled faintly, and a bolt of lightning gathered in his hand, striking the light barrier below with a whoosh. With a crack, the light barrier shattered, and a swarm of Soul Devourers immediately rushed forward.

Soon, screams rang out.

However, Zhong Bai did not leave. The fact that he had a protective shield around the manor meant that he had some methods. He understood the common sense that if you don't nip the problem in the bud, it will grow back in the spring.

Inside the manor.

The head of the Hua Teng family had a solemn expression on his face. He truly never imagined that one day his family would be besieged by evil spirits.

"Damn it, what kind of demons are these? Even the family formation left by the shikigami can't stop them. I can't die! Shu'er disappeared in Kyushu, and I haven't found her yet!"

While shouting, the head of the Hua Teng family grabbed the servant beside him and blocked him in front of him.

"Great shikigami, please descend and save your loyal servant!"

As the Flower Vine Clan Head summoned, a chilling ghostly aura surged out from the void and transformed into a black-robed figure over ten meters tall.

"My shikigami, save me!"

Upon hearing this, the shikigami looked at the densely packed soul devourers in the void, somewhat shocked.

"Hua Teng Bai Qing, where did you provoke these evil spirits from!"

This shikigami was clearly angry, mainly because the soul-devouring creatures in the void gave him a particularly dangerous feeling, even though their auras were not as strong as his.

"My shikigami, I, Hyakusei, am unaware!"

Hua Teng Baiqing really knew nothing about it; it was an unexpected disaster, and he wanted to know as well.

"Tsk, the Hundred Green Vine..."

"That's a good name. I recall killing a Japanese man named Hanafō Senju back in the day. What's your connection to him?"

Just then, Zhong Bai slowly walked over from a distance, his aura not revealing itself at all. However, the shikigami that Hua Teng Baiqing had invited trembled involuntarily the moment it saw Zhong Bai.

"People from Kyushu!"

Hua Teng Baiqing spoke Kyushu dialect, and quite fluently at that. Zhong Bai was quite surprised to hear this, since his ability to understand Japanese was a result of his soul-searching of Hua Teng Qianshu.

However, Zhong Bai was pleased that the other party could speak the language of Kyushu.

"As you can see, people of Kyushu."

"I'm very curious, what is your relationship with that Flower Vine Thousand Trees..."

He is my son!
Do you know Qian Shu?

"Tsk, more than just acquaintances? I personally pulled out the tendons and bones of your son back then, refined his soul to serve as nourishment, and turned his physical body into a zombie."

"idiot!"

Upon hearing Zhong Bai's words, Hua Teng Baiqing was furious. Although he knew that his son, whom he had been searching for for twenty years, was likely to be in grave danger, he still could not bear to hear Zhong Bai recount his ordeal.

However, before Hanafuji Hyakusho could even draw his sword, he was slapped dozens of meters away by the shikigami he summoned, crashing heavily to the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and his breath became weak.

"Master Shikigami, you...?"

"Shut up!
"Honorable Immortal of the Nine Provinces, please forgive my ignorance. This Flower Vine family has no relation to me whatsoever. Please spare my life!"

First, she scolded Hanafuji Baiqing, and then she fawned over Zhong Bai. The shikigami's actions made Hanafuji Baiqing so angry that she almost died on her own.

(End of this chapter)