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

Chapter 190 The Yellow Springs Sect is short of people.
The Blood Bodhi Tree is a crooked method that the Crimson Serpent Demon Sect devised from the secret techniques of the Heavenly Book.

The perfectly good righteous Dharma of "slaying the five poisons and attaining great liberation" has been twisted by them into the evil art of "transforming the five poisons and condensing the red snake," creating the terrifying red snake that makes people tremble at the mere mention of it.

I wonder what the new Blood Bodhi Tree will look like after the Lord's improvements?
Chen Ye pulled himself out of his thoughts and said to Li Fan, who was slightly reserved, "I'll leave the matter of the formation here to you. After it's set up, go and take a look at the Blood Bodhi Tree."

"Yes! Thank you, Sect Master!" A hint of joy flashed in Li Fan's eyes as he quickly replied.

Chen Ye nodded, then his gaze fell on the mountain of insect corpses, and he asked, "Besides their hard shells, do these strange insects have any other uses?"

Li Fan pondered for a moment and honestly replied, "Reporting to the sect leader, apart from its unusually sturdy shell, no other wonders have been discovered. Perhaps it would be of some value to cultivators skilled in Gu techniques, but unfortunately, I know nothing about this art."

Chen Ye pondered for a moment and said, "In that case, let's store these insect corpses properly for now. They might come in handy in the future."

Chen Ye sighed inwardly. The Yellow Springs Sect was now sparsely populated and was in dire need of specialized talents in almost every field.

After bidding farewell to Li Fan, Chen Ye strolled to a newly built workshop not far from the bamboo forest.

This is where Hou Lu and Lü Fusheng studied the art of mechanical puppets. Even before getting close, one could hear the constant clanging and banging of hammering and the scraping of mechanisms coming from inside, clearly indicating that the two were working diligently.

However, when Chen Ye stepped into the workshop, the scene before him made him frown slightly.

The workshop was in a mess, with broken and incomplete mechanical puppet parts scattered everywhere. Most of them were made of tough golden bamboo, but none of them were intact.

Severed arms, broken legs, twisted torsos, scattered gears... piled up here and there. If it weren't for the fact that the material was bamboo and wood instead of flesh and blood, this scene would be no different from the massacre sites recorded in some demonic sects.

Chen Ye continued walking inside and finally saw Hou Lu carefully manipulating a golden bamboo puppet, roughly half a person's height, with his hands forming hand seals. Lü Fusheng, on the other hand, was slumped to the side, covered in sweat, clearly exhausted.

The puppet took shaky, unsteady steps, each step feeling like it was walking on cotton.

Under Chen Ye's watchful gaze, the humanoid puppet struggled to take a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a "thud," its limbs beginning to twitch uncontrollably, as if it were having an epileptic seizure.

"Ahem." Chen Ye then walked up to the two of them and asked with a hint of curiosity, "It seems that this art of mechanisms is not easy to learn."

Upon seeing their sect leader's sudden appearance, Hou Lu and Lü Fusheng were both embarrassed and quickly stood up to pay their respects. Lü Fusheng, in particular, hurriedly wiped his sweat and forced a smile, saying, "Sect Leader, you've emerged from seclusion! You look radiant; your cultivation must have greatly improved. Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Alright, Lao Lü, stop with the pleasantries." Chen Ye waved his hand with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the still twitching puppet on the ground. "What kind of problem have you encountered in your research on this mechanical art?"

Since they were all old friends, Lü Fusheng couldn't keep up appearances any longer and told the truth: "Sect Master, the runes and arrays recorded in the mechanical arts manual are simple and clear. But the design of the puppet's specific structure is too simplistic. We've been working on it for days, and we can only barely make something that can move a few steps; it can't even walk steadily."

Chen Ye picked up the blueprints scattered on the workbench and examined them carefully. After listening to the two people explain in detail, he gradually understood the problem.

Indeed, as Lü Fusheng stated, the core of the diagram lies in the inscription of rune arrays and the guidance of spiritual energy, which enables the puppet to receive commands and drive its joints. However, the details regarding how to precisely design and assemble the puppet's structure, especially ensuring perfect coordination between the various components, are recorded rather vaguely.

Since both of them were beginners, some minor errors in their skills were inevitable.

If the runes on the left and right legs are slightly inaccurate, the flow of spiritual energy and the change in power will be different, and the puppet will naturally be unsteady when walking and will fall down easily.

It's not that the author of this mechanical art was hiding anything, but rather that the two people's skills were not up to par. Their left and right legs could not be perfectly aligned, and their control over spiritual energy was also poor, so it was naturally difficult for them to walk steadily.

It can't even walk steadily, let alone have any other effects.

Chen Ye remarked with admiration, "The art of mechanisms is indeed a profound and complex field."

To solve this problem, one must practice for many years and be absolutely precise when inscribing the formation to make the humanoid puppet both agile and stable.

The problem is, the Yellow Springs Sect is currently short of time. The official founding ceremony is just a few months away, and guests from all sides will gather. It's impossible for Chen Ye to personally serve tea and water, is it?
Seeing the sect leader hesitate, Hou Lu quickly bowed and apologized: "Sect leader, it is our incompetence and lack of skill that has caused us to delay important sect affairs. Please forgive us!"

Chen Ye shook his head and said, "This is not your fault. Even if I were to do it myself, I couldn't become a master of mechanical arts out of thin air in a short time. This kind of thing really requires slow and meticulous work."

The deviation of a single rune may be insignificant, but when dozens or hundreds of runes accumulate, a single step can cause a deviation of half an inch, which would be difficult for even a deity to fix immediately.

Chen Shu pondered for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the scattered parts and blueprints in the workshop.

Suddenly, Chen Ye took a blank sheet of paper and bent down to sketch quickly on it. Before long, a rather strangely shaped "puppet" sketch appeared on the paper.

He handed the blueprints to the two of them and said, "Try this."

Lu Fusheng took the blueprints with a puzzled look. After just one glance, he exclaimed in surprise, "Sect Master, this doesn't look like a puppet. It looks more like... a four-wheeled cart?"

"Pretty much." Chen Ye pointed to the blueprints and explained, "If walking on two legs is unstable, then let's switch to four legs. Four wheels are much more stable than two legs, right? Don't worry about whether it looks good or not, let's try to make it move stably first."

Although Lü Fusheng and Hou Lu did not understand why, they still rebuilt the structure according to the blueprints drawn by Chen Ye.

The "puppet" in the new drawings has an extremely simple design. The main body is like a table with legs, and the ends of the four "legs" have been replaced with wheels. The core technical challenge has been simplified from complex overall coordination to simply ensuring that the four wheels rotate smoothly. Other parts can even be directly fixed with mortise and tenon joints or nails.

Those who cultivate themselves are generally quite skilled with their hands, so making such a simple object was a piece of cake for them. Soon, the main frame was complete, but they spent a little more time making and installing the four identical wheels.

When the strangely shaped four-wheeled "chassis vehicle" was placed on the ground, Hou Lu once again performed a magic incantation.

The little car hummed and began to move on the ground. At first, it was slightly unbalanced and started spinning in place. But with such a simple structure, Hou Lu immediately identified which wheel was malfunctioning and quickly removed it to re-grind and adjust it. After some adjustments, the four-wheeled car was finally able to move smoothly forward, backward, left, and right, and turn. Although the movements were a bit stiff, at least it no longer "twitched" on the ground like the previous humanoid puppet.

However, looking at the bare four-wheeled vehicle, Lü Fusheng couldn't help but ask, "Sect Master, although this thing won't fall over, what use is it?"

Chen Ye smiled slightly, walked to the side, picked up the humanoid puppet that had been smashed to pieces, and neatly disassembled its lower body. Then he placed the remaining upper body steadily on the four-wheeled cart.

"Who says puppets have to walk on two legs?"

Chen Ye patted the half-human, half-carriage hybrid and explained, "The roads in our Fengdu City are flat, and the founding ceremony is held in the first hall of the Yellow Springs Palace, so they don't need to climb stairs. In that case, why be so fixated on two legs?"

Hou Lu and Lü Fusheng suddenly realized! That's right! Using wheels instead of legs instantly solves the problems of stability and manufacturing difficulty, reducing the workload by at least 90%!
"But it really looks a bit ugly." Lü Fusheng still had some concerns.

Chen Ye didn't care at all, and even bolder, he reached out and removed the puppet's upper body arms as well.

"The humanoid structure is too complex. Every joint can produce errors, and the cumulative effect makes it difficult to maintain balance. The function of the hands is simply to serve tea and water and pick up items. Why do we need to simulate five fingers with such precision? Why not just replace them with a pair of simple and practical clips? The fewer joints, the smaller the error, and the easier it will be for you to make."

Hou Lu and Lü Fusheng looked at each other, their ingrained belief being that puppets should imitate human figures and strive for realism.

I never imagined that I would make such a drastic "modification" for the sake of practicality. Although the puppet will be much clumsy, the manufacturing efficiency and stability will undoubtedly be greatly improved.

Lu Fusheng still hesitated: "Sect Master, the founding ceremony is a major event, and all five major sects will send representatives to attend. If we bring out such a clumsy puppet, won't others look down on our Yellow Springs Sect?"

"It's just a tool; as long as it works, that's fine."

Chen Ye, however, was completely unconcerned.

"If you really find it unsightly, then I have another suggestion." Chen Ye looked at the two of them and asked with a smile, "Can you refine the Myriad Soul Banner?"

Lu Fusheng and Hou Lu both shook their heads blankly. Although the Myriad Soul Banner was common, it was, after all, a demonic magic weapon. To dare use it so openly as Chen Ye, and even have the Qinghe Sword Sect vouch for it, was probably a unique case. Ordinary cultivators would never learn it, nor dare to study it privately.

Chen Ye didn't hold back and immediately taught the two the basic runes and techniques for refining the Myriad Soul Banner. Then he said, "Who says the Myriad Soul Banner has to look like a flag? Its essence is just a magical artifact that contains and nourishes Yin souls."

“You can try to refine the core runes of the Myriad Souls Banner into a human form, and then make a long banner-shaped ‘outer garment’ out of cloth to wear. Then find a yin spirit to attach to it, and let the yin spirit control the ‘human banner’ to move. Simple tasks such as serving tea and water will naturally be no problem.”

"what?!"

Lu Fusheng and Hou Lu were completely stunned. This Ten Thousand Souls Banner could be made into human form? And it could even allow wandering spirits to "wear" it and move around?!
This line of thinking is unheard of, but upon closer examination, it doesn't seem wrong.

The core of the Myriad Souls Banner lies in the runic array that contains the spirits of the dead; its physical appearance is unimportant. Furthermore, the Myriad Souls Banner crafted by Chen Ye has no restrictions, allowing the spirits of the dead to completely control the banner itself.

In this way, wouldn't we have a "humanoid puppet" that can move freely and looks normal?
If it weren't for the grandeur of the founding ceremony, Chen Ye would have preferred to directly manifest those spirits and use them as servants, making the "Humanoid Ten Thousand Soul Banner" unnecessary.

Whether to prioritize practicality with the "wheelchair clamp man" or to directly use the "human-shaped Ten Thousand Soul Banner," Chen Ye left it to the two of them to decide, not paying any attention to these details.

After leaving the workshop, Chen Ye strolled around Fengdu City a few more times to make sure everything was in order before returning to the Yellow Springs Palace. With some rare free time, Chen Ye took out some ancient books to pass the time, and when he had a spare moment, he pondered the principles of formations.

After a few days of carefree living, a guest arrived in Fengdu City.

Chen Ye received the guest personally, because this guest was a friend who had shared life and death with Chen Ye, namely the monk Bu Mei from Cixin Temple.

After not seeing him for many days, Monk Bumei did not appear to have changed much.

After exchanging a few polite words, Chen Ye got straight to the point and asked the monk Bu Mei why he had come. The monk didn't stand on ceremony with Chen Ye either and asked directly, "Benefactor Chen, do you still remember the demon who escaped from Luoyan Town that day?"

Chen Ye naturally remembered and asked, "Is there any news about Qiu Shuixian?"

Monk Bumei nodded and said, "This humble monk suspects that Qiu Shuixian has returned to Luoyan Town to hide."

Of the three villains in Luoyan Town, two were dealt with, but the remaining one escaped when he sensed danger, rendering Chen Ye's traps useless. However, the situation was too critical at the time, and the two had no time to pursue him.

Chen Ye thought that Qiu Shuixian had already died under Zhang Qi's Heaven-Splitting Sword.

Chen Ye laughed and said, "Does she still dare to go back to Luoyan Town? Is she playing the 'the safest place is the most dangerous place' game?"

The monk Bu Mei clasped his hands together and said, “Amitabha, this trick seems to be effective. I have been searching for her for a long time but have not been able to find any trace of her. It was only when I revisited the place that I noticed something amiss. However, that demon is well hidden. I have been in Luoyan Town for several days but have not been able to find any trace of her. Therefore, I have come to ask for your help. I have heard that you also know the art of divination. It just so happens that you and I have a very deep connection with that Qiu Shui Xian. Perhaps we can calculate her whereabouts.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye nodded in agreement: "Alright, it is my duty to slay demons and monsters."

The monk Bu Mei said gratefully, "Thank you for your help, benefactor."

Chen Ye smiled and said, "This is the duty that the Yellow Springs Sect should fulfill."

The Northern Frontier is already within the sphere of influence of the Yellow Springs Sect, and Luoyan Town can barely be considered part of it. How can we allow such a demon to sleep peacefully beside our bed?

Last time, Chen Ye could only deal with these demons by resorting to sneak attacks. Now that he has been reborn, it is time to settle this karmic debt and let Qiu Shuixian taste the flavor of the Netherworld Hell.

(End of this chapter)