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

Chapter 243 Can't even wait a day?
The Demonic Sect is a very complex concept. Not all of the original eighteen Demon Lords were bloodthirsty and wanted to kill everyone in an entire valley.

For example, that Azure Dragon Demon Lord.

Legend has it that this person encountered a stranded dragon on the beach when he was young.

Out of kindness, the little child dragged the heavy dragon's body, intending to send it back to the sea.

Unfortunately, the dragon was already critically injured and dying. Before it died, it remembered the child's kindness and spat out its dragon pearl, which merged into the child's body.

The dragon died, but after consulting the Demon Lord, he became exceptionally talented and a genius in cultivation.

According to this story, the Azure Dragon Demon Lord should be rewarded for his good deeds and become a righteous cultivator who upholds justice.

However, the Azure Dragon's pearl not only gave him talent for cultivation, but also gave him a form that was neither human nor dragon.

Many people like to say "kill all those who are not of our kind," and the Azure Dragon Demon Lord has suffered a lot of scorn and discrimination since childhood.

He was not one to passively accept his fate. As he grew older, stronger, and taller, he ruthlessly retaliated against those who discriminated against him.

The dragon pearl granted him boundless power, and his first act of revenge was to kill someone.

I only meant to punch someone, but I ended up smashing their head too.

When someone dies tragically, their relatives and friends will naturally seek revenge. The Azure Dragon Demon Lord, who also came from a rural background, didn't like to reason with people. He decided to go all out and kill all the invaders.

At that time, the Azure Dragon Demon Lord did not distinguish between good and evil. After killing so many people that blood flowed like a river, the ferocious beast nature within him was aroused, and he simply swallowed the corpses as well.

Once word spread that the Azure Dragon was eating people, this person truly became a demon.

After that, he explored and cultivated along the way. With the power of the Azure Dragon protecting him, he made good progress.

Legend has it that this Demon Lord cultivated until he reached the Nascent Soul stage before encountering the so-called righteous and demonic cultivators. Before that, he just pondered things on his own and lived according to the nature of the Azure Dragon.

Then, the righteous sects couldn't stand this barbaric man who killed people at will, while the demonic sects thought that this person had the bloodline of a dragon and was a good material for alchemy. Both sides felt that this person should be killed.

The Azure Dragon Demon Lord thus provoked both sides, and then fought his way out in a bloody battle.

The righteous path gradually declined in that era. As for the demonic sect, the strong were respected, and they gradually worshipped this person as the Demon Lord. Naturally, countless demons attached themselves to his command.

The Azure Dragon Demon Lord's lineage began to grow stronger, but because most of the Azure Dragon Demon Lord's cultivation came from the Dragon Pearl, most of his disciples were not very capable.

It was only at this time that the Azure Dragon Demon Lord began to consider compiling his knowledge and skills into a book for his disciples to practice.

However, since the Azure Dragon Demon Lord was not from the orthodox demonic sect, he did not know anything about the Blood Refining Pill. He inquired about the cultivation methods of others from the demons who had attached themselves to him, and after some pondering, he came up with an extremely strange "Azure Dragon Devouring the World Technique".

According to later generations, he could swallow anything.

The Azure Dragon Demon Lord once swallowed an entire city whole, along with everyone inside.

Ordinary people are swallowed by him like ants, but they do not die immediately.

According to the survivors, the Azure Dragon Demon Lord's belly was an independent blessed land, with sky, earth, and water, just like another world.

In this world, the Azure Dragon Demon Lord is the only deity.

His breath became wind, his inhalation became rain, his heartbeat became thunder, and his will transformed into frost... The birth and death of all things were within the Demon Lord's control.

Moreover, this is a world that keeps expanding upwards.

To survive here, you must keep climbing upwards, or you will fall into the acid pool deep underground and perish.

Only those who believe in the Azure Dragon Demon Lord can be sent to live in a high place, freed from the torment of living in constant fear.

But that's not enough, because there will always be people who are more devout and more fanatical than you. The people living on the upper levels will keep changing, and those who are replaced will still have to suffer the pain of falling into the abyss.

This is eternal torment: either provide incense and prayers for the Azure Dragon Demon Lord, or become his flesh and blood.

Although the Azure Dragon Demon Lord didn't kill as many people as other demons, he was still absolutely worthy of the title of demon.

Although most of the demons who learned the Azure Dragon Devouring the World Technique were unable to use their own bodies to create blessed lands, they also learned from the Azure Dragon Demon Lord's methods, swallowing all things in the world into their bellies, digesting them and transforming them into their own spiritual energy. At the same time, they kept the devoured yin spirits in their bodies, forcing them to provide incense and prayers.

The demons that have appeared in the northern frontier are like this. They can all transform into monsters with the heads of dragons and the bodies of humans. With a single breath, they can devour herds of livestock and living people. Some of the bolder ones have even set their sights on the city gods of various tribes.

Ghost soldiers and city gods are both intangible beings, making them the easiest to digest.

These suddenly appearing dragon-headed demons did indeed launch a surprise attack on a tribe's city god, but they underestimated the ghost soldiers trained by Chen Ye.

When the dragon-headed demons launched their surprise attack, they swallowed the city god whole, but they failed to wipe out all the ghost soldiers.

After the ghost soldiers began to fight back, they tasted the cruel tortures.

Ordinary spells could not withstand them, and their resilient bodies, transformed into dragons, were also powerless against these punishments, which directly affected their souls, causing them unbearable pain.

The city god then seized the opportunity to escape, burst open the belly of a dragon-headed demon, and suppressed its soul.

After a fierce battle, the ghost soldiers suffered heavy losses, but several of the elusive demons also died, so it was a draw.

Once the souls of those demons were escorted to the Yellow Springs Palace and fell into Qu Heng's hands, their fate could no longer be kept secret.

The Demonic Sect's soul-searching technique is simple, direct, and saves time and effort, but it may not yield what one wants.

The righteous path's method of questioning the mind is very troublesome, requiring a lot of manpower and resources just to set up the formation, but it is safe and precise.

However, the Yellow Spring Sect has a good method that combines both.

The tortures of hell are the perfect means of extracting confessions for demons, ensuring that no matter what they do, they won't harm your soul in the slightest, and they can be used repeatedly until you can't take it anymore.

Qu Heng gleaned a great deal of information from these demons.

They are indeed the successors of the Azure Dragon Demon Lord, and they have indeed been hiding underground for many years.

The reason he showed up this time was actually a test.

The gathering at Rift Sky Mountain has become common knowledge. Even though it looks like a conspiracy, there are always some demons who don't believe in evil. Many underground demonic forces have released some of their disciples to move freely on the surface.

There was no plan, no special arrangements; it was clearly a test of the true nature of the righteous path.

It wasn't just the Azure Dragon Demon Lord's legacy; other demonic sects also sent out many disciples with low cultivation levels.

Anyway, these little devils are endless; once they die, they're gone.

Now, hundreds of little devils have reached the surface and begun to act according to their own habits.

The little demons on Qingjiao Demon Lord's side, who were fond of incense offerings, naturally came to the Northern Frontier. Others, who preferred killing to refine pills, went to the densely populated Central Plains. In any case, none of them went to the overseas Rift Sky Mountain or the territory of the five major sects.

Nobody's stupid. They all know that with their current level of cultivation, they would surely die if captured on the surface. So they might as well enjoy themselves for a few more days.

Perhaps they'll have some extraordinary encounter that will allow their cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds, enabling them to escape this calamity?

However, these few were clearly not so lucky. They were captured by the City God and the Yin soldiers just as they were about to bully the herdsmen in the northern frontier, and even their souls were sent to the Yellow Springs Sect to be punished.

Qu Heng also failed to extract much useful information from the souls of these people.

Those underground demons are very cunning. Before throwing them out, they either select disciples who know nothing, or they destroy important memories in advance to ensure that even a soul search cannot find them.

Therefore, apart from knowing that the Demonic Sect had begun its probing, Qu Heng didn't gain much else, not even knowing how many demons above the Nascent Soul Realm were underground.

After carefully listening to the intelligence gathered by Qu Heng, Chen Ye felt even more uneasy.

These demons have no need to follow the rules of the five righteous sects. The world is so vast; they can do evil wherever they want. The five major sects gathering rogue cultivators together only makes the world even more powerless to resist, and who knows how many mortals will suffer.

But there is nothing we can do about it.

The resurgence of the Demonic Sect is unstoppable. No matter how the five major sects arrange things, the world is so vast that there will always be places they cannot take care of. If the Demonic Sect wants to kill someone, it is impossible to defend against them.

Now Chen Ye only hopes that those demons will be foolish enough to be truly deceived by the false ascension, and then swarm out in droves.

It would be best if they all rushed towards Rift Sky Mountain and were then killed by Zhang Qi with a single sword strike.

Despite his thoughts, Chen Ye knew that the possibility was extremely small. The only thing he could do now was to remind Qu Heng to be extra careful and make good use of the City God system to protect the entire northern frontier.

As for other places, Chen Ye was powerless to help.

After a few days filled with these worries, a large number of cultivators had gathered at Rift Sky Mountain, and the day of Zhang Qi's "ascension" had finally arrived.

……

At the summit of Rift Sky Mountain, the cliff that had been flattened by a single sword strike is now shrouded in mist and bathed in radiant light.

Lu Xingzhou had just transmitted his voice to all directions, briefly explaining the significance of this ascension ceremony. It was nothing more than Zhang Qi's life of slaying demons and monsters, and now that his merits were complete, he was about to ascend to the immortal realm to enjoy happiness.

The five major sects witnessed this together, and it was also a reaffirmation of their commitment that even if Zhang Qi ascends to immortality, the righteous path will continue to uphold order and eliminate demons.

After such platitudes were finished, quite a few young cultivators were moved to tears.

Although these were just polite words, Zhang Qi's meritorious deeds in eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path throughout his life were undeniable, and most of the cultivators present could be said to have received his kindness.

Now that this sword immortal is leaving, many people feel both admiration and reluctance, and tears well up in their eyes as they think about it.

Ascending to immortality is the ultimate dream of every cultivator, and Zhang Qi's willingness to ascend in front of everyone is already the best possible outcome.

As the ceremony began, Lu Xingzhou, Jiao Yue, Yin Xiaoshuang, and the five sect leaders lined up in four directions, each using their sect's secret techniques to activate their spiritual power and fully activate the illusion array that had been set up beforehand.

Outsiders assumed that the four were protecting Zhang Qi, escorting this number one person in the world on his final journey, but they were unaware that the entire Rift Sky Mountain had been covered by illusion magic.

Above the sky, the sword mark that had remained for a thousand years seemed to be sensing something, and faint lightning flickered in the dark crack.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhang Qi stood in the center of the mountain peak, his plain white robe billowing in the wind. His sword aura was restrained, yet he still gave people a sense of sharpness.

Zhang Qi looked up at the sky, as if his gaze had passed through the sword marks and landed in the legendary immortal realm.

Beneath his feet, intricate array patterns lit up one by one, and golden spiritual light spread like flowing water, eventually converging into a huge ascension platform.

Zhang Qi's figure gradually blurred under everyone's gaze, as if he had merged into the world.

His aura rose steadily, eventually causing cracks to appear all over the sky.

The next moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, pointed his fingers into a sword, and gently slashed towards the sky.

A dazzling sword light shot into the sky, merging with the ancient sword mark.

In an instant, the original sword mark was torn apart, and rumbling thunder came from the endless darkness, along with the wails of countless black shadows.

Zhang Qi's figure was enveloped in a seven-colored light and slowly flew towards the high sky, eventually turning into a stream of light and dissipating.

The rift slowly closed, and the sword mark remained unchanged, but the remaining aura seemed to possess endless majesty, making everyone breathless.

Zhang Qi ascended to heaven.

Many people, in that fleeting glimpse, witnessed the grandeur and magnificence of the celestial realm.

Everyone was excitedly discussing everything they had just witnessed. Ascending to the Immortal Realm was a miracle that not everyone could see. Everyone began to fantasize about one day becoming a Dao Integration Realm expert like Zhang Qi and ascending to the Immortal Realm amidst the anticipation of the masses.

Chen Ye simply waited quietly.

He knew that everything just now was an illusion, and that the grand ascension ceremony was ultimately just a staged spectacle.

The question now is, how many villains will believe this scam?

Even if some people believe it, how many will choose to speak out at this time?

Perhaps they will be extremely cautious and wait until next year to take action?

Chen Ye was contemplating all possibilities, but what he never expected was that just moments after "Zhang Qi" ascended to heaven, the once bright and sunny sky darkened.

Tianlie Mountain is surrounded by the sea on all sides, and layers of shadows begin to appear on the sea surface in all directions, as if evil spirits are crawling out of hell, staining the sea red with demonic blood, and then polluting the sky.

This malice spreading from all directions chilled Chen Ye to the bone.

Such terrifying pressure! If he hadn't been protected by his golden body of merit, he might have been so frightened that he would have been completely stiff and unable to move.

Such an unusual phenomenon instilled fear in the cultivators of all sects on Mount Lietian.

Zhang Qi has just ascended to immortality, and such a powerful demon is about to emerge. Without Zhang Qi, the number one in the world, is there anyone who can stop him?
Everyone involuntarily looked at Lu Xingzhou.

Now, only this great cultivator at the Dao Integration Realm remains. I wonder if the sect leader of the Incense Burning Sect can hold on.
Amidst great anticipation, Lu Xingzhou did not disappoint. Looking at the dark malice seeping out from all directions, he merely snorted coldly before flying into the sky.

Suddenly, a five-colored feather fan appeared in his palm, which he gently waved towards the distance.

From that sword mark onward, the sky seemed to be set ablaze, with five different colored flames rising up and rapidly spreading in all directions, extending hundreds of miles away in the blink of an eye.

The black malice that had just seeped out was ignited by the flames and burned away in the blink of an eye.

Chen Ye vaguely heard a mournful wail coming from behind, and it seemed that the person who was playing tricks behind the scenes had been seriously injured by Lu Xingzhou's fan.

However, before everyone could cheer, Lu Xingzhou, who had just been beaming with pride, suddenly changed his expression.

He forcefully waved his feather fan, shattering the void in front of him layer by layer, then stepped into it and disappeared.

The dignified leader of the Incense Burning Sect had just been so imposing that he set the sky ablaze.

Why did you run away suddenly?
Chen Ye immediately sensed something was wrong. For Lu Xingzhou to leave in such a hurry, something must have happened at the Incense Burning Sect.

Could it be that something happened to the body of the Demon Lord Wujiu?

Chen Ye thought to himself, "No way, do these sect leaders really not have any backup plans at all?"

Just as he was filled with doubt and surprise, a series of seductive sounds rang in Chen Ye's ears.

"Lu Xingzhou ran away?!"

"He's a coward, he must be in big trouble!"

"The Demonic Sect has revived and is coming for revenge. Staying here is just waiting to die!"

"The devil has been hiding among us all along."

……

Numerous noises reached Chen Ye's ears, just like they had been back in the Pearl and Treasure Pavilion.

The demon who used the conch shell to transmit his voice tried the same trick again, aiming to plunge everyone into chaos.

Chen Ye couldn't believe it. They really couldn't wait even a day, and they were lured out like this?
(End of this chapter)