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

Chapter 142 Turning into a Snake
In the deep underground palace, Chen Ye sat cross-legged in front of the ginseng fruit.

The malevolent energy that should have been separated by the magnetic field was instead directly absorbed into Chen Ye's body.

In an instant, excruciating pain emanated from the depths of his flesh, as if countless steel needles were piercing him simultaneously, and the agony of his flesh disintegrating overwhelmed him, but Chen Ye gritted his teeth and endured it.

His entire body was invaded by the malevolent energy, like a red-hot iron being branded into his spine, making Chen Ye feel as if he were in hell.

If this kind of intense training method had been done elsewhere, Chen Ye would have been covered in pus long ago.

But when faced with the ginseng fruit, as long as Chen Ye takes a deep breath of its refreshing aroma, his broken body will be stabilized, and his bone marrow will regenerate, becoming closer to his innate form.

The ginseng fruit is too peculiar; it is a true innate spiritual root, perhaps the most precious essence of green wood at the beginning of time. Cultivating near this treasure is as if one can glimpse a corner of the beginning of time.

This kind of training is much more painful than before, but it is also much more convenient.

The ginseng fruit has a peculiar effect; it seems that as long as it stays nearby, it can continuously repair damage to the body.

Chen Ye had considered inviting Zhang Qi to smell the ginseng fruit, hoping it might extend Zhang Zhenren's lifespan by a few more years. However, the Qinghe Sword Sect refused.

According to Su Chunyi's explanation, Zhang Qi had already transcended the mortal body and was no longer an ordinary cultivator, nor did he need to rely on external objects to prolong his life. He was only relying on his strong will to forcibly suppress his cultivation and allow himself to remain in the mortal realm.

Whether he draws his sword or cultivates, as long as the spiritual energy within his body fluctuates violently, he will be forcibly pushed to the realm of ascension.

This ginseng fruit is a highly nourishing substance; even a single whiff of it could potentially overwhelm Zhang Qi's cultivation. Therefore, the only thing Zhang Qi can do now is to do nothing and wait quietly, hoping to prolong his time in the mortal world.

Su Chunyi, on the other hand, after only a few days of cultivation in this underground palace, happily expressed that her cultivation had made significant progress.

The ginseng fruit is now a symbol of friendship between the Yellow Springs Sect and the Qinghe Sword Sect. The two sides have agreed that the Qinghe Sword Sect will send its disciples here from time to time to use the magical effects of the ginseng fruit for cultivation.

In return, the Qinghe Sword Sect will help cover up the news of the Ginseng Fruit and vouch for Chen Ye's Yellow Spring Sect to prevent the four major sects from mistakenly destroying the Yellow Spring Sect as a demonic sect.

The Yellow Springs Sect has only just erected its mountain gate, and the entire Fengdu City is still just a city wall, shrouded in dark clouds every day.

Those 100,000 spirits didn't need to be paid wages, and since this was their future home, there was no need for Chen Ye to urge them.

As long as Chen Ye clearly defines the location for construction, these spirits will spontaneously devote themselves to the busy construction.

Taking advantage of this rare moment of peace, Chen Ye hurriedly went to the underground palace to cultivate diligently.

In his heart, all things in the world are illusions, and only one's own cultivation is the foundation that can be relied upon.

He had finally obtained a superior-grade Qi Refining Body Technique, but as soon as he began cultivating it, he was busy with the complex affairs of the Northern Frontier for more than half a month. This ordeal not only confirmed his identity as a direct descendant of the Demonic Sect, but also nearly cost him his life.

Now that he can finally enjoy a few days of peace, Chen Ye only wants to make up for the time he missed in his cultivation.

Anyway, with the Lord keeping an eye on things from the outside, I don't think anything too serious will happen.

Chen Ye took the opportunity to hide in the underground palace to cultivate, and first passed the hurdle of tempering his body with fierce energy.

Body tempering is no ordinary practice, especially high-grade body tempering methods, which require a complete rebirth from the inside out. Chen Ye was now gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, which was accompanied by the pleasure of flesh and blood regeneration, making him feel uncomfortable but unable to stop.

The bone marrow was replaced and flowed back to the limbs and bones.

Chen Ye felt his strength increasing exponentially, his bones becoming more solid, and even his fingernails seemed to have turned into iron plates, able to scrape sparks from stones.

According to the Venerable One, ordinary body tempering only toughens the skin and flesh, while superior body tempering unifies the inside and outside, making the entire body like refined steel. That realm is truly indestructible, and ordinary spells and magical treasures can hardly harm it in the slightest.

Especially those clumsy magical artifacts that rely entirely on brute force, once Chen Ye's body tempering was complete, he could smash them with his fists.

Changes in the physical body also directly affect the dantian and qi sea. Originally, Chen Ye's eighteen qi seas were already overflowing and could no longer absorb more spiritual energy, so meditation and cultivation were no longer useful.

But after his flesh and blood transformed, his internal energy sea seemed to be freed from its restraints and began to grow larger, enough to absorb more spiritual energy.

Chen Ye's cultivation speed was much faster than that of ordinary people, so this feeling was particularly obvious.

When Chen Ye first started cultivating, he had to chant incantations and perform hand gestures to activate his spiritual eyes and draw upon external spiritual energy. Once his Qi Sea was established, the process became much faster.

Now he can also activate his spiritual eyes just like Su Chunyi, simply by blinking.

In the past, it would take half an hour to condense a single sword aura using the sword box. The spiritual energy within his body was like a trickle, but now it has become a mighty river, allowing the sword box to be filled with thirty-six sword auras at all times, replenishing as needed.

Now, the expansion of the eighteen Qi Seas is not merely a quantitative change.

The malevolent energy that Chen Ye absorbed seemed to have been partially absorbed into his dantian. In Chen Ye's perception, his dantian should have been as brilliant as a galaxy, but although it was constantly rotating, it was also as lifeless as a galaxy.

But Chen Ye discovered that the Qi Sea within was beginning to change color, as if something was drilling into it. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was countless tiny "eggs." These eggs were mixed in with the starry river and were not usually noticeable, but today, the excessive amount of Qi absorbed had stained them with a different color, making them particularly noticeable within the Qi Sea and starry river.

Chen Ye frowned deeply. What kind of mess had he just created this time?
Eighteen Qi Seas were already unprecedented, but now the Qi Seas were starting to transform into something else. Chen Ye was afraid that he would suffer a qi deviation and die from vomiting blood at any moment.

Calm down and carefully sensed the surroundings, Chen Ye discovered that each of these eggs contained a fiery red snake. As Chen Ye touched them with his mind, the snake eggs seemed to be activated and all began to hatch.

Chen Ye didn't know how to describe the feeling. A bunch of snakes were hatching inside his body. He should feel disgusted, but Chen Ye only felt that his consciousness seemed to return to the ancient times, to the moment when the world was created, when he transformed into a primordial god and used his divine power to create a brand new race.

Chen Ye was instantly captivated by it.

Chen Ye should have stopped when problems arose during his cultivation, but he was so engrossed in it that he forgot even the pain of refining his body with the Qi-based techniques.

One after another, crimson snakes coiled around flames hatched in his Qi Sea, turning the originally brilliant Star River Qi Sea into a dance of flaming snakes. This chaotic appearance did not affect the operation of the other seventeen Qi Seas at all.

The swarm of snakes hatching in the Qi Sea began to chase and devour the stars formed from spiritual energy. With each star they swallowed, the swarm grew stronger.

New snake eggs are constantly being produced, and red-banded snakes are constantly hatching.

His physical body was undergoing a transformation, his cultivation was improving, and his Qi Sea was constantly growing. Everything was developing in a positive direction, but Chen Ye did not sense any changes outside his body.

In the empty underground palace, only Chen Ye was meditating in front of the ginseng fruit when suddenly a ball of flame rose up, and a red snake with exposed bones emerged from the fire.

Compared to what I had seen before, this red-banded snake was much smaller, about the thickness of a finger. Although the appearance was similar, its body was engulfed in crimson flames, which obscured the original color of its scales.

This red-banded snake should perhaps be called the red-flame snake.

One or two at a time, dozens of crimson flame snakes appeared beside Chen Ye in no time. The temperature in the underground palace suddenly rose, and countless crimson flame snakes flicked their tongues, as if they wanted to crawl toward the ginseng fruit in the palm of the jade Buddha.

Ginseng fruit will burn when exposed to fire, and it is absolutely forbidden to touch anything that is considered an element of the Five Elements.

Just as the fire snakes were about to climb onto the jade Buddha, Chen Ye finally sensed something and opened his eyes again.

In an instant, the fire snakes vanished completely, as if they had never existed.

But Chen Ye knew this was not an illusion, because his dantian and qi sea had completely changed. The galaxy of the first qi sea had been replaced by a swarm of snakes, and the rotating galaxy had become billions of red snakes swimming around.

Chen Ye then felt a bit nauseous, wondering what kind of thing he had actually developed.
"It must be because I was bitten by a red-banded snake that I had problems with my cultivation."

Chen Ye gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to settle scores with the Lord.

If your Qi Sea has turned into a snake sea, how can you dare to continue cultivating? What if you turn into a snake yourself?

Chen Ye quickly left the underground palace and returned to the surface along the excavated passage.

Fengdu City is still under construction. The city, which is laid out according to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), has already taken shape, but it is shrouded in mist and cannot be seen clearly.

This is the unique Dew of Grace of Fengdu City. The spiritual energy gathers under the effect of the array and is transformed by the Ten Thousand Soul Banner into dewdrops that nourish the souls of the dead, appearing throughout the city.

As long as one is bathed in the rising dew, the spirit can move freely and will not dissipate on its own.

Chen Ye, however, had no time to appreciate the spectacle. He immediately went to the Venerable Master who was supervising the construction and exclaimed excitedly, "My ancestor, you have really ruined your grand-disciple!"

The Venerable One laughed, "When there's nothing to do, you call me 'Venerable One Senior,' but when there's trouble, you call me 'Grandmaster.' You really are a direct descendant of my demonic path, have you no shame at all?"

Chen Ye exclaimed excitedly, "I'm about to die, what do I care about saving face? The snake venom you left in my body is about to kill me!"

Chen Ye quickly described his situation as fast as he could. With a thought, countless crimson flame snakes appeared around him, flicking their tongues at the Venerable Lord.

Chen Ye asked anxiously, "What exactly went wrong with me? Grandmaster, you can't just leave me to die!"

When the Lord saw the Crimson Flame Serpent that appeared out of nowhere, his face showed a shocked expression. He grabbed one at random and felt a sharp pain in his palm.

"That's strange. This thing carries the effects of your soul-soul secret technique, but it doesn't look like something evolved from magic. Besides, the snake venom on your body should have been cleared away long ago, so this definitely isn't due to the snake venom... Wait, what did you just say? You have eighteen Qi Seas, one of which has already transformed into the shape of a swarm of snakes?"

Chen Ye spoke too hastily just now, and the Venerable One didn't hear him clearly. Now, upon reflection, he seems to have discovered the most amiss.

How can one person possibly have eighteen Qi Seas?

Chen Ye could only tell the Lord about how he had managed to cultivate eighteen Qi Seas by chance, which made the current Demon Lord's eyes widen in surprise.

"Are you crazy?! How dare you cultivate like this?! With such recklessness, who else but you will die?!" The Venerable Lord couldn't help but curse, then grabbed a Crimson Flame Serpent to examine it closely. Finally, he frowned and said, "But this doesn't seem like a problem with your cultivation. It looks like you've opened the gates of heaven and earth and comprehended some divine power?"

(End of this chapter)