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

Chapter 197 Kui Niu Suppresses the Sea
On the shores of the East China Sea, it was another calm and peaceful day.

Just as the surface of the ocean may be calm, there are often undercurrents beneath, and the same is true for the Mirage School.

The sect's headquarters remained shrouded in ethereal mist, with the auspicious seven-colored clouds floating in the sky constantly shifting and changing shapes. As usual, the disciples were either meditating and breathing in the clouds or leisurely discussing the Dao among the pavilions.

But recently, those elders, who had always seemed so otherworldly, had been frowning deeply, their faces as gloomy as if they were in the deep sea.

Sect Leader Yin Xiaoshuang announced her seclusion, no longer concerning herself with sect affairs, and handed over all matters, large and small, to Vice Sect Leader Zhou Lang.

This Vice Sect Leader Zhou Lang has always been ambitious and harbored resentment towards his senior sister Yin Xiaoshuang.

Zhou Lang believed that she was just a woman who had inherited the position of sect leader by chance because her master's cultivation was slightly higher than his before his ascension. In reality, she was not worthy of the position.

Centuries have passed, and Zhou Lang has now entered the Void Returning Realm, believing that his strength is not much inferior to Yin Xiaoshuang's.

Seeing his senior sister take the initiative to go into seclusion and relinquish power, he was secretly delighted, feeling that he had finally gotten his chance to show his skills.

In his view, under Yin Xiaoshuang's indecisive management, the Mirage Sect had long lost its former glory and had almost become the last of the five major sects. It was time to work hard and make the Mirage Sect great again.

Zhou Lang never expected that he would encounter such a big problem so soon after taking power.

The Mirage Sect's direct lineage illusion techniques were actually learned by Chen Ye, who then repeatedly humiliated the Mirage Sect's rogue cultivators.

This is a great shame and humiliation!
Zhou Lang was furious and immediately ordered a thorough investigation into the matter.

However, after repeated investigations, no results were ultimately obtained.

There were people in the Mirage Sect who knew divination, but Chen Ye's fate seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog, and they couldn't calculate anything at all. After forcibly calculating twice, both of the Mirage Sect's Nascent Soul Realm elders coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Ultimately, they came to a frustrating yet unavoidable conclusion: Chen Ye had a close relationship with the world's number one master, Zhang Zhenren. Calculating Chen Ye's fate was tantamount to indirectly touching upon Zhang Qi's karma, which led to the backlash from Heaven.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Lang couldn't help but curse, "Is Chen Ye Zhang Qi's illegitimate son?"

But despite the criticism, we still have to face reality.

Since he couldn't find the cause from the outside, Zhou Lang could only turn his attention inward and ordered a thorough investigation of his disciples to see if any of them had had private contact with Chen Ye and leaked the sect's secret techniques.

After searching for a long time, they still found nothing.

Finally, it was the reclusive Lingguang Xian who suddenly appeared and inquired about the whereabouts of one of the mirage pearls, which made Zhou Lang realize the problem.

Qin Ze was plagued by inner demons and destroyed the Mirage Pearl in front of Chen Ye. The spirit of the artifact should have dissipated, but it was captured by Chen Ye's Myriad Soul Banner.

The secrets of the Mirage Sect's illusion techniques were thus leaked.

After the truth came to light, Qin Ze, who had been punished to meditate in seclusion, was immediately dragged out and subjected to severe interrogation and torture. Only after it was confirmed that he had not intentionally leaked the secret technique was he barely spared his life, but most of his cultivation was destroyed, and he probably wouldn't live much longer.

At the time, no one cared about the damage to a mere mirage pearl, just as now, no one cares whether the punishment Qin Ze received was too severe.

Qin Ze was not like the sect leader Yin Xiaoshuang, a mere disciple of the Gang Sha Realm who could be punished so easily.

Qin Ze's fate is irrelevant; the key is how to properly handle this matter and mitigate the sect's losses.

What troubled Zhou Lang even more was that Lingguangxian, who was usually like a puppet on a string, had also learned to protest. She believed that Qin Ze had violated the agreement between the Mirage Sect and her by damaging the Mirage Pearls. Therefore, Lingguangxian demanded that the Mirage Sect take back all the remaining Mirage Pearls and hand them over to her for safekeeping.

Until the Mirage Sect finds the spirit of the artifact that has been lost, the Mirage Sect is not allowed to use these Mirage Pearls again.

Although Lingguang Xian is only at the Tongxuan realm, she carries the secret of Guixu.

If the Mirage Sect wants to obtain the treasures of Guixu, they not only need Lingguang Xian to reveal the secret, but also need Lingguang Xian to personally infiltrate Guixu to help them retrieve the treasures.

The water pressure in that deep sea is extremely high; even a Nascent Soul cultivator would be crushed into mincemeat if they went down there. Only a sea monster like the Spirit Light Immortal could easily dive into the Ruins of Return.

Zhou Lang thought that since Lingguang Xian was still a member of the Mirage Sect, the Mirage Pearl wouldn't be of much use to cultivators above the Nascent Soul Realm.

Since Lingguang Xian has made the request, we might as well go along with it, appease the monster's emotions, and ensure that the Guixu Plan is not affected.

The remaining few mirage pearls were retrieved and sent to the waterside pavilion where Lingguang Xian lived in seclusion.

At this point, the plan conspired by the Venerable Lord and the Spirit Light Immortal can be considered half successful.

According to the plan, all that is needed is to wait for the day when the Yellow Springs Sect is founded, when Lingguang Immortal leaves the Mirage Sect in his divine soul form, and then the Venerable Master will come to receive him.

But the problem lies with these mirages.

One of the mirage beads appeared to have been damaged, and the spirit within it was weakening. By the time it was returned to Lingguang Xian, the mirage bead was nearly shattered.

Lingguang Xian asked the Mirage Sect to repair it, but the Mirage Sect said it was simply impossible.

This damage is like Mo Ci's soul, which is exhausted and dying. Even the Myriad Soul Banner cannot reverse the process of dissipation. Only the method of becoming a god through incense can repair this damage.

Lingguang Xian could only seek help from the Venerable Master, otherwise the spirit of the Mirage Pearl would completely dissipate before the Yellow Springs Sect was founded.

Having received news from Lingguang Xian, the Venerable Lord had no choice but to bring forward the plan.

However, the Mirage Sect is still discussing how to deal with Chen Ye. All the sect elders are on edge, and Lingguang Xian has just retrieved the Mirage Pearl. The small building where she lives is being watched closely.

Under these circumstances, even the slightest movement by Lingguang Xian would likely attract the attention of the Mirage Sect.

It's impossible to find an excuse to "temporarily leave" the Mirage Sect; the Lord must find a way for Lingguang Xian to escape.

On the vast ocean a hundred miles away, a ray of light appeared, transforming into a golden flame the size of a bean.

This golden flame was no bigger than a fingertip, yet it was unmoved by the sea breeze and unextinguished by the waves. It was right before our eyes, yet it seemed to be elsewhere. As the golden flame continued to expand, even space itself seemed to burn through it, revealing a chaotic and indistinct darkness.

A green dragon crawled out of the cave entrance.

This head alone is comparable to a giant whale in the sea, and the opening and closing of its eyes seems to reflect the rising and falling of the sun and moon.

Once the dragon's head submerged into the sea, its long, winding, massive body, resembling a city wall, followed.

The layers of scales rubbed against each other in the void, producing a low, teeth-grinding sound. It took half an incense stick's time just to completely "crawl" out of that spatial rift.

Such a huge dragon submerged into the sea silently, without even making a splash.

But once the dragon had completely sunk to the bottom of the sea, a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared on the surface of the sea.

The whirlpool was initially only a few feet in diameter, but in the blink of an eye, it expanded wildly like a living thing, ten feet, a hundred feet, a thousand feet... In the blink of an eye, the entire sea surface, spanning hundreds of miles, was covered by this terrifying whirlpool.

The seawater seemed to be stirred up by an invisible giant hand, spinning wildly and emitting a deafening roar.

A waterspout suddenly burst forth from the center of the vortex, shooting straight into the sky, tearing the clouds apart and swallowing them whole.

The enormous tornado connecting the sky and the sea generated countless bolts of lightning, and a hurricane began to sweep across a radius of ten miles. A world-destroying storm was brewing and rushing towards the Mirage Sect.

The monk Fangyuan of Cixin Temple can leave a mark in the sky with a single palm strike, and Zhang Qi of the Qinghe Sword Sect can cleave the sky in two with a single sword strike. The Venerable One must have similar abilities.

Since the Mirage Faction is so nervous right now, let's give them a little water and let them calm down.

The moment the hurricane formed, the masters of the Mirage Sect sensed it.

The sound was heard before the wind arrived!

It was a deafening roar, a mixture of wind, waves, and thunder, like the simultaneous roar of billions of ancient beasts, making people's eardrums buzz. The disciples with weaker cultivation could only cover their ears tightly, but they still grimaced in pain.

The sky darkened visibly, and thick, leaden clouds pressed down on the mirage, turning the ever-changing auspicious clouds a somber gray.

The air began to fill with suffocating moisture and subtle electric currents, and an invisible pressure descended as if it were a tangible force.

Chaos reigned within the Mirage Sect, as many disciples had never witnessed such a cataclysmic scene.

However, being one of the five major sects, the deputy sect leader Zhou Lang flew into the sky and shouted, "All disciples, return to your positions! Quickly activate the mountain-protecting formation!"

In an instant, streaks of light shot into the sky from various palaces!

The disciples of the Mirage Sect had already taken their seats on the array formations and trigrams in various locations throughout the sect, according to specific directions.

In an instant, the entire sect lit up with seven-colored light, and the magnificent palaces, winding jade bridges, and even the exotic flowers and herbs in the mountains all displayed various mysterious runes.

A vast amount of spiritual energy flowed within it, like stars that had been lit up and were linked together, quickly weaving a large net that covered the entire Mirage Sect.

As the light swirled, the auspicious clouds above the sect rapidly changed shape. Amidst the churning clouds, an enormous, ancient, and majestic figure appeared.

It was not a common auspicious beast like the dragon, phoenix, or qilin, but a strangely shaped creature.

It resembles an ox, with a dark gray body and purple lightning swirling around it. Most peculiarly, it has only one leg.

A single, thick, gnarled leg that seemed capable of crushing mountains and rivers!
This is the legendary Kui Niu from ancient times, with only one leg, yet powerful enough to suppress mountains and rivers.

This is the most powerful supernatural ability of the Mirage Sect: turning illusion into reality. The Kui Niu manifested in this formation has become a physical entity, leaping into the sea and creating a thousand layers of giant waves.

One more jump and you're several miles away.

The Kui Niu, its body wreathed in purple lightning, charged toward the thunderous storm with a form larger than a mountain.

"Moo!"

A roar that shook the heavens and the earth erupted from the giant mouth of the Kui Niu, sending forth endless waves.

From high above, the hurricane that covered a radius of a hundred miles was shattered by more than half of it.

In an instant, even the clouds in the sky were dispersed, revealing the azure color.

A single strike from the Kui Niu was enough to suppress this thunderous storm.

Zhou Lang breathed a slight sigh of relief and was about to order an investigation into the origin of the hurricane when he heard a Buddhist chant coming from the horizon.

“Amitabha, the Mirage Sect is indeed worthy of its reputation. However, I, the Nirvana Sect, will gladly accept your sect’s treasure.”

Zhou Lang's expression changed, and he hurriedly ordered, "Quickly, thoroughly search every corner of the sect. If any demons from the Nirvana Sect are found, kill them without mercy!"

After a moment of panic, the disciples of the Mirage Sect reported that they had not seen any of the Nirvana Sect's demons, and that no treasures were missing from the sect's treasury.

Zhou Lang frowned, thinking it was just the demon bluffing, but suddenly he sensed something and took a step to the front of Lingguang Xian's small building.

Pushing open the door and entering, he saw Lingguang Xian sitting cross-legged in meditation. Upon seeing Zhou Lang, she asked in confusion, "Vice Sect Leader, what brings you here?"

Zhou Lang's eyes narrowed, and he reached out to strike Lingguang Xian. With a snap, Lingguang Xian turned into a cloud of smoke.

"It was indeed an illusion!" Zhou Lang gritted his teeth and ordered, "All disciples, listen to my command! Lingguang Xian has betrayed the sect, go after him! Death or life is no object!"

(End of this chapter)