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

Chapter 160 Why Hell Is Not Empty
After the White Bone Ancestral Spirit submitted to Chen Ye, the trip was considered complete, and it was expected that everything needed in Fengdu City would be replenished soon.

Chen Ye was eager to return home and did not want to stay in this holy city for long.

After storing the bronze mirror of the nine-colored deer in his storage bag, Chen Ye rode the Black Whirlwind back to Fengdu.

As for the gift lists sent by the leaders of various tribes, Chen Ye didn't even glance at them, and simply asked Toya Lier to handle them.

After the White Bone Ancestral Spirit submitted to Chen Ye, the High Priest's lineage was considered to have joined the Yellow Springs Sect.

This goes against tradition and is against the rules, and no one has expressed any objection.

After all, their most revered ancestral spirits have already submitted, so what can mortals do if they oppose them?

Although Toya Lier's so-called wisdom was a play that had been playing out for years, this woman was indeed more meticulous in her work than Qiqigesang; at least she could do math and handle many miscellaneous tasks for Chen Ye.

Winning people's hearts and integrating resources will be left to her. Once she is ready, she should bring the livestock and people that Chen Ye needs to Fengdu City.

When they returned to Fengdu, the city, which resembled a Bagua (eight trigrams) shape, was no longer in its embryonic form.

Looking down from the sky, Fengdu City was shrouded in dark clouds, and countless rays of spiritual light, invisible to mortals, flowed above the city.

This is the mountain-protecting formation in full effect, tightly connected to the earth's veins. Any invading enemy must first break through this formation.

There is the innate wood spirit energy of the ginseng fruit underground, the red snake Buddha in the center gathering the wishes of all living beings, and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner where 100,000 Yin souls gather... The Venerable said that he had never seen such a luxurious mountain-protecting formation in a thousand years, and even Zhang Qi would have to cut it twice.

Chen Ye landed in the city and quickly found the Venerable Lord who was overseeing the construction.

Judging from his appearance, he seems to have been busy without sleep these past few days. Since ghosts don't need to sleep, neither does he. It's a waste of his talent that he's not a feudal landlord.

Chen Ye took out the Nine-Colored Deer Bronze Mirror and threw it to the Venerable Lord.

"This is the magic weapon left behind by the Nirvana Sect back then."

The Lord glanced at it only once and said to Chen Ye, "We'll deal with it when we have time. Fengdu City will be completed in a few days. I suppose your trip has been successful."

Chen Ye nodded and said, "In the entire Northern Frontier, no one should cause any more trouble. If you need people or goods, just buy them."

The lord scoffed, "You still want to buy it?"

Chen Ye laughed and said, "Using robbery makes you a demon."

Cultivators are not short of money. If they want to get a lot of gold and silver, they only need to take a trip to a mortal city. The pills they can easily refine can be exchanged for tens of thousands of taels of gold.

It's just that many people find it troublesome.

Chen Ye recounted the events of the Deer Hunting Gathering, and then said to the Venerable Master, "The ancestral spirits of the Northern Frontier will all submit, so this place will become the foundation of my Yellow Springs Sect. It's strange, really, that no one has paid any attention to this land for thousands of years?"

The Venerable One asked with a smile, "Besides the Buddhist sects that need incense offerings, what use is this Northern Frontier? Can it grant you immortality or produce some rare and precious materials?"

After thinking about it carefully, Chen Ye realized that it made sense.

The Northern Frontier doesn't even have Xuanji Dew, so it's really of little use to most cultivators.

As for the so-called ancestral spirits, if they do not understand the art of becoming gods through incense offerings, they are no different from wandering ghosts, and ordinary cultivators cannot use them.

"Why doesn't Cixin Temple come here to preach?" Chen Ye asked curiously.

The Venerable Lord explained, “Firstly, this is Nirvana Sect’s territory. If they hadn’t been outmaneuvered by me and suffered a sword strike from Zhang Qi, they would have sent assassins to kill you long ago if you dared to unify the Northern Frontier. Secondly, Cixin Temple has its own missionary grounds. The world is so vast, with the Northern Frontier, the Central Plains, and the overseas islands, the population is unknown, numbering in the hundreds of millions.”

"You kid, you really got a bargain. But a mere mortal with a bunch of wandering ancestral spirits isn't much of a use. Integrating so many ancestral spirits would take a lot of effort. It's only because I have some free time now that I'm taking the time to help you sort them out. For ordinary cultivators, being this busy would only delay their own cultivation."

Chen Ye said, "Thank you for your guidance, Your Excellency. But from what you've said, it seems that acquiring this vast northern frontier is of little use?"

The Venerable One laughed and said, "Only the cultivation methods of the Demonic Sect require a large number of mortals, but they are not entirely useless. I have already studied your method of refining Beast Blood Pills, and it is indeed quite ingenious. It can be used to verify my Crimson Serpent Holy Sect's Blood Bodhi Sutra. Once those livestock arrive, I plan to plant a Blood Bodhi tree in Fengdu City."

Previously, the Venerable One passed on to Chen Ye a secret technique from a heavenly book, which could resolve the five poisons of greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt, helping people to purify their souls and attain great liberation. Back then, the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect completely altered this secret technique, turning it into a method for planting and cultivating Blood Bodhi Trees, and then used the Blood Bodhi Trees to feed the spirit snakes, thus cultivating the species of Crimson Serpent.

The cultivation of the Blood Bodhi Tree is inseparable from Blood Elixir, but in the past, snake blood was used instead.

The Crimson Serpent Demon Sect killed a valley of people to feed snakes, then used the snakes to refine blood pills, cultivate blood bodhi trees, and then used the blood bodhi trees to cultivate Crimson Serpents.

Previously in Hundred Seas Valley, the Venerable Lord had brought out the entire sect's resources, only to lose them all in one fell swoop.

To cultivate a second Blood Bodhi Tree, the only option now is to refine Blood Elixir again.

Moreover, Chen Ye's Beast Blood Pill had no side effects, so the Blood Bodhi produced could be eaten not only by Crimson Serpents but also by humans. However, the Venerable One hadn't tested it on humans, so there was no guarantee that it wouldn't produce some kind of monster. Chen Ye also felt something was wrong and quickly said, "Venerable One, what use is this Blood Bodhi Tree? My Yellow Springs Sect doesn't need Crimson Serpents."

The Venerable One comforted me, saying, "Don't worry, given the current favorable situation, I wouldn't risk the Qinghe Sword Sect's trouble for a mere Blood Bodhi. But this Blood Bodhi isn't just for raising Crimson Serpents; it has many other uses. Once you cultivate to the Nascent Soul realm, this tree will be of great use to you."

Hearing what the Lord said, Chen Ye felt relieved.

"In that case, I will leave the construction of Fengdu City to you, Your Excellency. I will continue my seclusion and cultivation."

"You've started cultivating again? Have you resolved the problem with your Qi Sea?"

Chen Ye shook his head and said, "The transformation of the Qi Sea is irreversible, but I haven't suffered any harm from using this Fire Serpent Divine Power these past few days. Since my eighteen Qi Seas are unprecedented, it's unlikely that I can find a solution in ancient books. Rather than looking back and forth, I might as well continue cultivating and at least complete the Gang Sha Body Refinement."

After pondering for a moment, the Venerable One nodded and said, "That's not wrong. Among all the cultivators in the world, there are always a few who are unconventional. Perhaps you will become an immortal even earlier than me."

"Then I will accept your kind words."

Without further delay, Chen Ye returned to the underground palace and began cultivating anew, drawing upon the aura of the ginseng fruit.

Chen Ye had completed a significant portion of his Qi Refining Body, his bone marrow had been thoroughly cleansed, and his body was constantly regenerating and replenishing blood. Therefore, Chen Ye gave off an almost innate sense of closeness, like an ancient being created by the gods.

Now, continuing cultivation leads to the cleansing of the internal organs, a pain that is indescribable. Fresh blood seeps out little by little from every pore of the body, as if Chen Ye is rotting from the inside out.

However, with the scent of ginseng fruit, these damaged internal organs will be quickly repaired until Chen Ye grows more perfect flesh and blood.

When Chen Ye was cultivating, he first absorbed the Qi of Gang Sha into his Qi Sea, and then transferred it to various parts of his body for cultivation. As a result, his first Qi Sea transformed into the shape of a fire snake.

This time, Chen Ye was more cautious.

As the malevolent energy circulated within Chen Ye's dantian, Chen Ye consciously sensed the changes within it.

The Qi Sea, which had already transformed into fire serpents, seemed to be stimulated by the Qi of the Gang Sha, and its circulation speed increased significantly. The illusory fire serpents, as if they had smelled the bait, chased after the Qi of the Gang Sha and swallowed it whole.

"It seems that the fierce energy is indeed one of the reasons for the transformation of the Qi Sea. But why did it turn into a fire snake? Is it just because I was bitten by a red snake?"

Chen Ye felt that this was only one of the reasons.

To trace the origins, we must begin our research with these eighteen Qi Seas.

How did I manage to cultivate eighteen Qi Seas in the first place?
Chen Ye recalled carefully that he seemed to have been in a daze at the time, his Qi Sea in a chaotic mess, and he should have failed. Later, he seemed to subconsciously use divination to calculate a strange set of directions, which allowed the eighteen Qi Seas to take shape.

However, Chen Ye's spiritual energy at that time was probably insufficient to support a divination, so something must have happened during the process to cause the mutation of his Qi Sea.

After eliminating these possibilities, Chen Ye quickly thought of a treasure.

Chen Ye took out the book "Ksitigarbha Sutra" from his storage bag.

This scripture from the monk Ku'e has always been peculiar; even now, Chen Ye cannot leave a single scratch on its pages.

After learning that it contained secret techniques from a celestial book, Chen Ye was very curious about who created this treasure.

However, he was busy with other things later and did not investigate further.

Now it seems that my ability to cultivate these eighteen Qi Seas must be related to this scripture.

Strangely enough, while many people are interested in the secret techniques of the Heavenly Book, no one seems to care about the scripture that records them. This is something that Chen Ye finds very odd when he thinks about it.

The Incense Burning Sect only wants the secret technique, without mentioning the book that records it. Don't they think it's a treasure?
Chen Ye tried to infuse it with spiritual energy, and the text of the Ksitigarbha Sutra reappeared, seemingly no different from what he had seen before.

This time, Chen Ye carefully observed these gold characters, studying them meticulously from various angles and in various ways.

Whether it was the scriptures at the beginning or the secret techniques at the end, the more Chen Ye looked at them, the more he felt something was wrong. The golden characters in front of him seemed to be changing all the time.

Just as Chen Ye felt his mind being drawn to these golden characters, he seemed to hear a sigh.

"If hell is not empty, I will never become a Buddha."

Chen Ye felt his head buzzing. Wasn't this the great vow of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?

But upon closer listening, it seemed there were other sounds as well.

"Why can't hell be empty? Why do those who are forever condemned to hell curse all the gods and Buddhas?"

(End of this chapter)