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

Chapter 199 Another Secret Technique

The Venerable One and Chen Ye carefully finalized many details of the method of achieving divinity through incense offerings.

Speaking of which, the most important thing is the power of incense offerings, which the Yellow Springs Sect has no shortage of. The incense offerings and prayers of the entire Northern Frontier are gathered in the City God Pavilion, and now they are purified and distributed by the White Bone Ancestral Spirit, no longer as chaotic as before, when the Ancestral Spirits were beaten senseless by the loud knocks on their heads.

Those chaotic and unclear desires were filtered and dissolved. Although much was wasted, what remained was pure "worship." Swallowing this incense would allow the ancestral spirits to develop normal intelligence more quickly, and they would no longer be like wild beasts, only howling and unable to understand what the priests were saying.

Besides the power of incense offerings and prayers, the second key element is the golden statue of the City God, which is the deity statue placed in the City God Pavilion.

The act of sculpting a golden statue through the power of incense offerings means shaping it according to the image of a deity, and it must be closely related to the deity. Ancestral spirits made of white bones can be sculpted into a flesh-and-blood form, but they cannot be made into a snake; such a completely subversive transformation would not be able to sustain the incense offerings.

If Lingguang Xian also wants to become the City God, and the broken Mirage Demon spirit also wants to become the City God, then their golden bodies must be shaped according to their own characteristics.

Once both are ready, the final ceremony begins.

Creating the golden body for the first time is the most troublesome. Even Chen Ye alone is not capable of setting up such an array.

However, the Venerable One possesses the complete method for achieving divinity through incense offerings, so Chen Ye need not worry about this aspect.

With everything in place, they were just waiting for the two of them to make their move.

After discussing these details, the Venerable One brought up the matter of the Mirage Sect.

"This time, when I tested the Mirage Sect's strength, Yin Xiaoshuang didn't show up. I guess the Mirage Sect must have changed its leader, and the successor can only be the vice leader Zhou Lang. Zhou Lang is a petty person; he lost face badly in this matter, so he definitely won't let it go easily..."

The Venerable One seemed to know a great deal about the Mirage Sect, and he analyzed the intricate web of forces within it in great detail.

Finally, the Venerable One concluded by saying to Chen Ye, "I guess Zhou Lang will come in person to participate in the founding ceremony of the sect."

Chen Ye frowned and said, "That might be a bit troublesome, after all, he is a great cultivator in the Void Returning Realm."

Chen Ye believed that Zhou Lang was not stupid and would not openly bully others by abusing his power. However, it was the grand day of the founding of the Huangquan Sect. Zhou Lang could easily ruin the ceremony and make the Huangquan Sect lose face by using any means necessary.

It is indeed difficult to deal with a cultivator with high cultivation who doesn't want to reason.

The Venerable One said, "There's no need to worry about that. Zhou Lang doesn't know I exist. There are fewer than a handful of people in the world that I can be wary of. If he dares to use underhanded tactics, I won't give him any face."

“But Zhou Lang is a very ruthless man. I’m afraid he won’t resort to underhanded tactics and will go straight for the hard way. If he tampers with the gifts he’s sent, then we’ll be in trouble.”

Chen Ye asked suspiciously, "Is there a trap hidden in the gift?"

"It's not just a trap," the Lord explained. "The Mirage Sect excels at creating illusions that are indistinguishable from reality, but precisely because of this, what they fear most is the difficulty in distinguishing between truth and falsehood."

"As far as I know, the Mirage Sect is skilled at crafting a very special magical artifact called the Mirror of Truth. This artifact is said to be able to break through all kinds of illusions and disguises. Under the light of the mirror, people can involuntarily reveal the truth and cannot utter a single lie."

"If Zhou Lang is determined to break off relations, I suspect he will very likely present this treasure as a congratulatory gift. Then, in front of everyone, he will pretend to ask you, the sect leader of the Yellow Springs Sect, to 'appraise' it. At that time, he will then launch an attack on the spot, interrogating you about the Spirit Light Immortal and the spirit of the Mirage Pearl. Then, I'm afraid you won't be able to hide it anymore."

Chen Ye frowned and said, "Since Grandmaster is so certain, it seems that even if I had taken precautions beforehand, I would probably find it difficult to avoid or evade the issue."

The Venerable One nodded and said, "Of course, Zhou Lang will spare no effort to deliver this magic treasure to you. As the sect leader of the Yellow Springs Sect, you cannot refuse gifts from others. Even if you refuse directly, Zhou Lang can still use this as a reason to suspect that you have something to hide and can still hold the Yellow Springs Sect accountable."

Chen Ye understood the Venerable One's meaning and pondered, "Therefore, I must activate this magic weapon in person and deal with Zhou Lang's questioning in order to pass this test completely."

The Venerable One sighed, “That’s right, exactly. It’s a pity that if your cultivation were a little higher and you could break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, the soul of a Lesser Immortal cultivator would be more stable and the resistance to such external objects would be much stronger. You might have been able to force your way through. But you are only at the Profound Realm now, and your cultivation is far from enough.”

"so……"

Chen Ye always felt that his grandmaster's words had a hidden meaning.

"So, you can't cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm in the remaining few months?"

"Grandmaster, how long did it take you to cultivate from the Profound Realm to the Divine Transformation Realm?"

The Venerable One recalled for a moment, and then said, "It was only about thirty years, but some of those days were spent hiding and running away, so it can't really be considered cultivation."

Chen Ye couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it a bit unreasonable for you to expect me to reach the Nascent Soul stage in just a few months?"

The Venerable One retorted, "But it took me over a hundred years to cultivate from the Qi Sea to the Profound Realm, while you only took a year."

Chen Ye: ...

The accounts shouldn't be settled this way, but Chen Ye couldn't refute it for the time being, so he could only say to the Venerable Master, "Grandmaster, let's find another way."

The Venerable One asked, "Really not going to work? Why don't you give it a try? One year to reach the Profound Realm, half a year to transform into a Divine Realm, and three years to ascend to immortality?"

Chen Ye was both amused and exasperated, and helplessly spread his hands, saying, "Grandmaster, let's be more realistic."

"Then we can only rely on supernatural powers. My grand-disciple, do you know about the Zen of Opening the Mouth?"

When Chen Ye heard about this supernatural power, he felt as if he had been transported to another world.

How could he not know? The first time Chen Ye dealt with the demon, the monk Ku'e used the supernatural power of the Opening Zen. He not only witnessed it, but also knew how to cultivate this Opening Zen. By borrowing the Dharma from the Buddha of the Nirvana Sect, one could cultivate this supernatural power without much effort.

"Does Grandmaster want me to cultivate the Speech Zen Divine Power?"

The Venerable Lord explained, "Indeed, this supernatural power is indeed formidable. Before your golden body is broken, you are impervious to all magic. Even the magic weapon of the Mirage Sect that forces people to tell the truth cannot harm you."

“Grandmaster, the Buddha of the Nirvana School is extremely evil. If I learn this supernatural power, I will suffer harm from it sooner or later.”

Chen Ye had long coveted the power of the Opening Zen, but had never dared to learn it. The Venerable One then said to Chen Ye, "Of course you can't learn the supernatural powers of the Nirvana Sect, but doesn't our Yellow Spring Sect also have Buddhas? My Crimson Dragon Buddha is already no less than the Buddha of the Nirvana Sect."

"However, the Buddha of the Nirvana Sect is known for granting all requests, so there are no restrictions on cultivating various supernatural powers through his methods. But my Crimson Dragon Buddha is for the sake of the world's resentment and hatred, which is somewhat incompatible with the Opening Zen, and needs to be improved."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye immediately became interested.

After pondering for a while, he said to the Venerable Master, "Grandmaster, in the end, Buddhist supernatural powers are just about borrowing Dharma from the Buddha after completing a set of rules. Open-mouthed Zen is about spouting fallacies; as long as you have good eloquence, you can keep borrowing Dharma. Our Yellow Springs Sect can also set a rule that suits the characteristics of the Crimson Serpent Dragon Buddha to borrow Dharma."

"Where there are injustices in the world, there is resentment and unwillingness. Could we change the supernatural power of this 'Open Mouth Zen' so that as long as one speaks out against injustice, one can obtain the protective golden body that is impervious to all laws?"

The Venerable Lord listened and laughed, "The idea is good, but in this way, the supernatural power will be much weaker."

The power of open-mouthed Zen lies in the fact that as long as you keep coming up with fallacies, and the Buddha's power is limitless, you can remain invincible forever.

If it were someone like Chen Ye, he couldn't just spout nonsense; he would have to truly speak up for others to obtain the Golden Body, which would be much more difficult.

How many people in this world can truly care about the suffering of others?

When facing an enemy, how many people can always stand on the side of justice?
However, Chen Ye's suggestion was indeed feasible, and it wouldn't be difficult to change "open mouth" to "speaking out against injustice."

Since there's no other way, let's give it a try.

The two discussed it further and decided to divide the work.

The Venerable One needs to study the method of improving the Opening Zen, and preside over the ceremony of reshaping the golden bodies of Lingguang Xian and others. Chen Ye needs to cultivate the Blood Bodhi Tree, improve the method of cultivating the Beast Blood Pill to help the disciples of the sect improve their cultivation, and also help Monk Bumei use hell to cleanse his soul...

Chen Ye couldn't help but sigh, "Being the sect leader is much busier than when I was a rogue cultivator."

The Venerable One laughed and said, "It's just because the Yellow Springs Sect has too few capable people. Even the Qinghe Sword Sect has several times more disciples than our Yellow Springs Sect. You should go and find that Lingguang Immortal. After all, she also comes from the Mirage Sect and has learned a lot of skills, especially illusion techniques and magic weapon crafting. She might be able to help."

Although Lingguang Xian has only recently joined the Yellow Springs Sect, she is now practically homeless, with only the Yellow Springs Sect able to shelter her from the storm.

The saying goes, "If you employ someone, don't doubt them; if you doubt someone, don't employ them." Since they have already accepted her into the Yellow Springs Sect, there is naturally no need to be on guard at every turn.

"Thank you for the reminder, Master. I will go now."

Chen Ye is now eager for someone to share some of his work. Lingguang Xian was once the second-highest level in the Tongxuan Realm, so he can definitely help.

Chen Ye took the notes he had made earlier to the City God Pavilion.

Pushing open the door, the place was still filled with the smoke of incense.

Chen Ye looked around but couldn't find Lingguang Xian, so he called out to her.

"Sect Master, I am here."

Lingguangxian's voice drifted over, its direction unclear, but Chen Ye soon saw a woman in white emerge from a corner.

Chen Ye took a closer look and was already prepared.

The Venerable One mentioned that Lingguang Xian was not yet proficient in this transformation and might show Chen Ye a rather ugly appearance, so he should be prepared.

Chen Ye was not one to judge people by their appearance. He could even share a drink with the ancestral spirit of the White Bone Clan, so why would he care about the beauty or ugliness of others?

However, Chen Ye was still startled when he saw Lingguang Xian's appearance.

"Why... why has my fellow Daoist become like this?"

Lingguang Xian asked in confusion, "That Supreme Elder said that I need to become good-looking to attract more worshippers. What, is it not good-looking?"

Chen Ye was speechless; he didn't know whether to say it looked good or not.

Because Lingguangxian's current appearance is seven or eight parts similar to his, others might mistake her for Chen Ye's biological sister.

Chen Ye sighed and said, "Fellow Daoist, why don't you change your face?"

Chen Ye would rather face a skeleton than see himself transformed into a woman.

Lingguangxian sighed and said helplessly, "Why is this not going to work and that not going to work? You and Su Chunyi from the Qinghe Sword Sect are the most beautiful people I've ever seen, so I'll just transform into Su Chunyi's appearance."

As soon as Lingguangxian turned around, her white clothes transformed into a pale yellow robe, and her face changed to resemble Su Chunyi's. Chen Ye couldn't tell the difference at all.

"This..." Chen Ye looked at the familiar face and finally said helplessly, "Let's leave it like this for now. Fellow Daoist can refine it slowly in the future."

Becoming Su Chunyi is better than becoming myself in women's clothing.

Chen Ye spread out his notes on the Blood Bodhi and Beast Blood Pill and said to Lingguang Xian, "I came here this time to ask for your help. My Yellow Springs Sect is still missing a method to strengthen the Qi Sea and improve cultivation. This is the Blood Refining Secret Technique of the Crimson Serpent Holy Sect. It needs to be improved. I would like to ask you to study it with me."

Lingguangxian walked to Chen Ye's side, glanced at the notes, and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh, I've seen these before. There's a spell in the Mirage Sect that's somewhat similar to the records about the Blood Bodhi Tree."

"Oh, I wonder what kind of secret technique it is?" Chen Ye asked curiously.

Lingguang Xian explained, "I don't know the specific name, but this is a unique technique used by the Mirage Sect for refining pills and treasures. I've heard it's a secret technique from a celestial book."

(End of this chapter)