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

Chapter 173 The Array of Chaos and Order
Chen Ye had prepared himself for the possibility that the solution would be impossible to crack. Losing face was not important; what mattered was that Chen Ye really wanted to try.

Although his main purpose in cultivating was to achieve immortality, Chen Ye was also very interested in the combinations of divination symbols and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.

I often take it out to study when I have nothing to do, just as a daily pastime.

With such a large maze set up here by the Yunlu Immortal Sect, how could Chen Ye possibly resist?

Chen Ye originally thought that once he fell into that colorful maze, he would be surrounded by countless illusions and there would be no one to help him.

Finally trapped inside, he had to shout for help from the Yunlu Immortal Sect in order to get out.

Unexpectedly, after falling into the whirlwind along with the black whirlwind, they appeared in the clouds.

Surrounded by ethereal, colorful clouds, with nothing beneath my feet, I could levitate freely, as if gravity had vanished.

Chen Ye had a hard time adapting; he would spin around aimlessly if he made even the slightest movement.

Black Whirlwind was even more unable to adapt; as soon as its wings flapped, its body began to spin wildly, squawking frantically.

A roar came from the side: "Hey, newbie, tell your bird to stay still! I finally managed to turn back!"

Chen Ye turned his head and saw a cultivator carrying a heavy sword, standing diagonally with his back to Chen Ye, waving his hands uncontrollably.

Upon seeing the heavy sword, Chen Ye felt a sense of familiarity and blurted out, "Mountain-Breaking Sword Li Minglu? Is that you, Fellow Daoist Li?!"

Upon hearing this, the man immediately said smugly, "You have good eyesight, you actually recognized me. Who are you?"

As he spoke, he shook his arm vigorously, trying to turn his body around. He had only turned halfway when Chen Ye smiled and said, "It's me, Chen Ye. Don't you remember when we fought in the arena?"

The person had already turned halfway around when he heard the name and immediately began to frantically swim outwards as if drowning.

But this excitement caused him to spin even faster, and he suddenly found himself face to face with Chen Ye.

Li Minglu smiled awkwardly and said to Chen Ye, "Sorry, I didn't recognize you just now."

Chen Ye was surprised to run into an acquaintance here and asked curiously, "Fellow Daoist Li, how long have you been trapped in this maze? Can you tell me about your discoveries?"

The surrounding area was filled with colorful auspicious clouds, upside down, and Chen Ye couldn't find any direction to break the formation for a while.

Li Minglu was filled with embarrassment. How could he have encountered this person when he was at his most vulnerable? Back then, he had been smugly provoking Chen Ye on the stage, only to be defeated in one move. Just thinking about that scene still made him feel ashamed.

And then I encountered it again today, still in this state where I can't even move.

Fortunately, Chen Ye didn't mean to mock him, so Li Minglu had no choice but to say shamelessly, "I just arrived too. I can't even tell which way is up in this mess, I don't even have a sense of direction, and I have absolutely no clues."

Chen Ye asked, "Can't we fly on a sword here? I remember Brother Li, your sword can carry people."

"I'd like to, but... you decide for yourself."

Li Minglu recited the incantation, and the heavy sword behind him began to tremble, as if it wanted to take its master flying with it.

But after flying for a short distance, it started spinning wildly, and it was spinning randomly in no particular direction.

Chen Ye exclaimed in surprise, "How could this be? This place can interfere with magical artifacts?"

Upon closer inspection, Chen Ye immediately realized something was amiss. The principle behind the flight of magical artifacts is actually closely related to the five senses of a person. Most flying magical artifacts rely on a person's will to lock onto their direction.

The so-called natal magic weapon is connected with one's mind, and only in this way can it be controlled conveniently and quickly. However, since there is no distinction between up, down, left, and right in this world, people's senses are affected.

Not only is there no gravity pointing the way, but there is also no wind, and the ground is invisible. There are no reference points, and colorful clouds are everywhere. This will cause people's sense of direction to become disordered, and they will naturally spin around when controlling the flying sword.

"As expected of the Yunlu Immortal Sect, this maze is indeed powerful, but there must be a way to break it."

Chen Ye blinked, his eyes turning golden. His spiritual eyes surveyed the surroundings, the auspicious clouds remained unchanged, and there seemed to be no flaws.

The world was in chaos, and even the flow of spiritual energy was chaotic and without any discernible pattern.

But this is precisely the biggest problem. The flow of spiritual energy cannot be without rules. The five elements generate and restrain each other, and no natural place is completely chaotic.

These auspicious clouds are the tools used by the Yunlu Immortal Sect to disrupt the flow of spiritual energy.

However, it is impossible to determine the operating rules of something without any reference points.

Chen Ye thought for a moment, looked at Li Minglu who had flown to an unknown distance, and then smiled slightly and said, "Fellow Daoist Li, may I borrow your flying sword for a moment?"

Before Li Minglu could understand Chen Ye's meaning, a thick snake tail appeared around his waist, and he was pulled back by an immense force.

On Chen Ye's side, the red snake's neck was wrapped around Chen Ye's hand, while its tail was tightly coiled around Li Minglu's waist.

The two are connected by a red snake, forming a line.

But that wasn't enough. Another red snake flew out, bit Li Minglu's flying sword, and threw it away forcefully.

As the flying sword moved forward, several more crimson snakes, head to tail, formed ropes that bound the heavy flying sword.

The two men and their sword formed the Three Powers Formation.

The spiritual energy circulated among the three, forming a vortex. Within this triangular area, the spiritual energy was suppressed by Chen Ye and began to become orderly.

Chen Ye once again used his spiritual eyes to look around. The chaotic spiritual energy could not accept the appearance of order and began to spread towards the Three Talents Formation, trying to spread chaos into the formation.

"Haha, that's it."

The chaotic and unclear spiritual energy will gradually become orderly according to the mutual restraint of the five elements. Only the invisible hand constantly stirring it up will keep the spiritual energy in chaos.

When everything is in chaos, it's difficult to find this invisible hand. But when order emerges, this invisible hand can't help but reach out.

Chen Ye ignored Li Minglu's shouting and used his spiritual energy to condense runes, which he then imprinted into the auspicious clouds around him.

The restless auspicious clouds seemed to freeze, first remaining still, then making cracking sounds, and soon shattering like ceramic.

A portal appeared in the void, sucking Chen Ye and Li Minglu inside.

As the two passed through the gate, the colorful auspicious clouds disappeared, and their feet finally touched solid ground.

Chen Ye thought the maze had been broken, but when the two stood up, they found that they were not in front of the Dharma Assembly, but on a desolate platform, and in front of them was a huge maze.

The high walls, seemingly made of white jade, had more than a dozen entrances of different shapes, with runes constantly appearing and disappearing at each entrance.

Before Chen Ye could take a closer look, he heard someone next to him say, "Another person has broken through the first level? The methods of the Yunlu Immortal Sect don't seem very effective."

Chen Ye looked around and saw that a dozen cultivators had already gathered in front of the maze, and the one who had spoken earlier was dressed in the attire of the Mirage Sect.

Unexpectedly, all five major sects sent representatives to participate in this Dharma assembly.

Chen Ye was about to greet this disciple of the Mirage Sect when, unexpectedly, the other party recognized him first.

The young Mirage Sect cultivator pointed at Chen Ye's face and exclaimed excitedly, "You...you are Chen Ye?!"

Chen Ye cupped his hands and said, "I am Chen Ye of the Yellow Springs Sect. May I ask who you are...?"

The man angrily retorted, "You are not worthy to know my name!"

Chen Ye was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Are you out of your mind?"

After saying this, Chen Ye ignored the man and turned to look at the towering maze.

Unexpectedly, the disciple of the Mirage Sect was still relentless. He came up to Chen Ye and said loudly, "You used underhanded means to defeat my senior brother Qin Ze back then, but then you became a coward. Why don't you dare to accept my challenge?!"

challenge?

Chen Ye recalled that the nameplate he received from the arena had indeed vibrated, but he was busy with the construction of Fengdu City at the time and had no time to pay attention to it. A few days later, the nameplate shattered on its own.

This means that failing to respond after the time limit is considered an automatic surrender.

Chen Ye didn't take it to heart. He hadn't challenged Qin Ze for the sake of rankings, but only to accumulate some experience in fighting against others.

Unexpectedly, the incident escalated and caused the Mirage Faction to lose face.

It seems that the person in front of him wanted to save face for the Mirage Sect, but Chen Ye completely ignored him.

Seeing the young man's excited expression, Chen Ye smiled and asked, "You said I used underhanded means to win against Qin Ze? How was I underhanded?"

The disciple of the Mirage Sect shouted, "You still won't admit it? You set up the arena as a formation beforehand! You set a trap, causing Senior Brother Qin Ze to fall victim to your scheme."

Chen Ye laughed and said, "So setting up a trap in advance and waiting for people to walk right into it is considered a cunning tactic?"

Before the Mirage Sect disciple could react, he shouted, "Not only insidious, but utterly despicable and shameless!"

Chen Ye smiled and looked at the maze made of white jade.

At that moment, a warning sounded from the sky.

"Yu Xing of the Mirage Sect, if you continue to spout nonsense and harass others in breaking the formation, then my Yunlu Immortal Sect will have to ask you to leave!"

Chen Ye thought to himself, "As expected, the disciples of Yunlu Immortal Sect must be monitoring all those who break the formation. Otherwise, how could they quickly send the cultivators out after they admit defeat?"

Yu Xing of the Mirage Sect spoke rudely to the Yunlu Immortal Sect after Chen Ye broke through the first barrier. He was so arrogant even in someone else's formation. This person clearly has no emotional intelligence.

Sure enough, a little guidance was all it took to make him suffer.

Although Yu Xing was unwilling, he could only shut up after being warned. The reputation of the Mirage Sect was not worth it with the Cloud Peak Immortal Sect, and if he continued to argue, he would really be kicked out.

Yu Xing said to Chen Ye, "Alright, since you avoided fighting before, let's use this maze to test our skills. I won't take advantage of you; I've already calculated here for half an hour and have a way to break the formation. I'll give you an hour. If you can get through this maze, you win. Our Mirage Sect wins honorably... Hey, did you even hear me?!"

Chen Ye wasn't angry; he just found the Mirage Sect quite interesting. Qin Ze had said the same thing back then: "I won't take advantage of you," and then he lost and developed inner demons.

Is it because the Mirage Sect frequently uses illusions that they are often criticized for not being aboveboard? They themselves are particularly sensitive to the words "aboveboard" and often bring them up.

If that's the case, then the Mirage Sect is probably even more problematic than the Incense Burning Sect. The more extreme and sensitive they are, the easier it is for them to fall into demonic possession.

However, Chen Ye only thought about it casually and didn't take it to heart at all. The maze in front of him was what he cared about most.

The upside-down auspicious cloud area was just an appetizer, so as soon as Chen Ye found the flaw, the formation automatically opened and sent him into the second level.

The Yunlu Immortal Sect isn't interested in a magical contest or a competition of who has the stronger spiritual energy; they seem to value human wisdom more. As long as you find a solution, the Yunlu Immortal Sect will grant you passage without you having to exert any effort yourself.

The maze before you should be the same; you don't need to use brute force. As long as you understand the riddle, any cultivator can easily pass through it.

Before reaching the maze, Chen Ye carefully observed each entrance.

This time, it was no longer chaotic and unclear spiritual energy; the runes flashing at each entrance seemed to have their own patterns.

Chen Ye did a quick calculation, then chose one of the entrances and strode inside.

But just as he stepped into the entrance that was shimmering with runic light, Chen Ye emerged from another entrance the next second.

(End of this chapter)