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

Chapter 3 Heaven and Earth are a Cow
Mo Ci fell silent, not because he was angered by his disciple, but because he was truly exhausted.

He was already a lonely ghost whose lifespan was about to end. Although the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was somewhat useful and could barely keep his soul from dissipating, it was not enough to support him to move around freely. He had to rest for a long time after saying just a few words.

Well, I can't teach this disciple myself. Let's wait until he wakes up and see what level he can reach.

Chen Ye strode out of the dilapidated temple and watched as the thin boy ran as fast as the wind, even more nimbly than a deer in the forest.

He circulated his spiritual energy, chanted incantations, and concentrated his magical power at his fingertips, drawing talismans over his eyes. He then uttered a low shout: "Open your spiritual eyes!"

In an instant, he closed his eyes and opened them again, and his pupils turned golden. Everything before him changed its appearance.

The rocks and soil are in varying shades of yellowish-brown, and the tree branches and leaves are covered with a light blue color... All things in the world are colored according to the five elements.

This is an essential basic spell for cultivators in the Qi Awakening Realm. With these spiritual eyes, one can observe all things and discern the direction of spiritual energy flow. All methods of observing and probing are based on this.

But Chen Ye wasn't looking for any rare treasures; he was searching for his prey. The spiritual energy flowing around wild beasts varied, and under his spiritual eyes, the colors were mixed and extremely unstable, making them very conspicuous. He could easily find the traces of wild beasts without having learned how to hunt.

Before long, Chen Ye found a pack of wolves in the forest, five in total, all of them in their prime.

Chen Ye slowed his pace, held his breath, and slowly approached. When they were about four or five zhang apart, the most alert wolf pricked up its ears and looked up at him.

"So perceptive?"

Chen Ye muttered to himself, then stopped in his tracks. Even a cultivator at the Qi Awakening Realm was still a mortal being; a bite from this wolf would leave him covered in blood.

Now is the time for the deceased master to contribute his remaining energy.

Chen Ye opened the storage bag and released a jet-black zombie.

The zombie moved sluggishly, controlled entirely by the sound of the bell in Chen Ye's hand.

Shake it once and it will jump forward once; shake it three times and it will pounce on the source of living beings' blood and energy, scratching and biting wildly.

Chen Ye jingled the bells, urging the zombies to leap towards the wolves. The wolves instantly became alert, letting out low growls, baring their snow-white fangs, and forming a semicircle, warily watching the uninvited guest.

A large wolf, its eyes gleaming with ferocity, launched the first attack.

With a powerful kick of its hind legs, it lunged at the zombie like an arrow released from a bow, its sharp claws flashing through the air before viciously grabbing at the zombie's chest.

The zombie reacted slowly and failed to dodge in time, resulting in several deep gashes. The black flesh was turned inside out, revealing the decaying bones inside.

Seeing this, the other wolves pounced, some biting the zombie's arms, others tearing at its legs.

Although the zombie was impervious to pain, it was still somewhat disheveled under the siege of the wolves. Its beggar's clothes were instantly reduced to rags, and more and more of its dark flesh was torn apart, with bits of debris constantly falling from its skin.

But Chen Ye didn't care. He showed the true colors of a disciple of the Demonic Sect, completely disregarding his master's physical injury, and shook the bell to make the zombies fight the wild wolves.

Under Chen Ye's control, the zombie swung its arms violently, knocking down an approaching wolf. Then it opened its mouth and bit down hard on the neck of another wolf.

The wolf couldn't dodge in time, and blood gushed from its neck. After struggling for a few moments, it became still.

The wolves were cunning and pragmatic. Seeing the zombie's power, the remaining three howled a few times before fleeing. However, under Chen Yeling's watchful eye, these three wolves, seemingly running away, were actually using the woods as cover to circle around, intending to ambush from behind.

Chen Ye couldn't help but sigh, "Pu Songling was right. Wolves are indeed cunning; they can deceive people and even launch sneak attacks."

However, zombies don't have any vital points, so what's the point of a sneak attack? Even with the three-headed wolf tearing at it frantically, the old, slender corpse only lost some fragments and was otherwise unharmed.

Finally, the zombie had many more wounds, but four of the five wolves were killed. The last wolf, realizing that all was lost, chose to escape, which can be considered as showing loyalty and righteousness.

Chen Ye threw two of the wolves to the zombie so it could drink their blood and replenish its energy.

Ordinary zombies are driven entirely by blood; since they have no soul, human or animal blood doesn't have much of an impact.

He bled and skinned the remaining wolves, carefully prepared them, and then examined the collected wolf blood closely. The key to cultivating using the blood refining method lies in absorbing blood containing spiritual energy, refining it, and integrating it into one's own body to promote the formation of the dantian (energy center).

The most spiritual energy in the human body is found in the blood of the heart, and wolves seem to be no exception.

The blood squeezed from the wolf's heart shimmered with a star-like brilliance in Chen Yeling's eyes; although it contained some spiritual energy, it was pitifully scarce.

But that doesn't matter. Chen Ye only wants to find out why beast blood can drive people mad, while human blood can not.

No, that statement might not be entirely accurate.

According to the book, practicing with human blood will cause one to be affected by resentment, resulting in extreme emotions such as irritability, anger, and extreme sadness. One must use meditation to calm the mind and resolve these emotions.

The resentment from human blood can be dispelled, but what about the resentment from animal blood?
Regarding the practice of using beast blood, the book only mentions it briefly—"It damages the soul, and using it will turn one into a beast."

Such a description is far too brief, so brief that it seems as if it is intentionally concealed, or as if the author is too lazy to go into detail.

Chen Yesheng had a penchant for getting to the bottom of things; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to devise the improved version of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner. He had many guesses about this issue of resentment. Now that he had wolf blood, it was a good opportunity to verify them.

After tidying up, Chen Ye returned to the dilapidated temple and began refining the spiritual blood essence according to the instructions in the book. Since cultivators at the Awakening Spirit Realm could only see spiritual energy but could not control it at will, Chen Ye's refining process looked more like setting up a pot and heating oil to cook.

He fiddled with various bottles and jars, working up a sweat, and it took him quite a while to rub out half a gourd of blood pills. But he couldn't take them yet; he needed to rest for three days.

Although spiritual energy has various wonderful uses, it is extremely difficult to integrate it into the body.

Ordinary people can inhale spiritual energy with every breath, but only about one ten-thousandth of it remains in their bodies, with the majority being exhaled again. Over time, only a trace of spiritual energy remains in the blood, which is digested spiritual energy and is easier to absorb.

The Blood Pill seals away spiritual energy to prevent it from dissipating, while medicinal herbs draw out the spiritual energy and integrate it into the pill.

Once fully grown, the cultivator can quickly absorb the repeatedly digested spiritual energy, saving a great deal of effort. Although Chen Ye spent several days working to obtain this half-gourd of blood pills, its effects are comparable to meditating for half a year.

When Chen Ye was reading the book, he thought that the world was like a cow, and all things in heaven and earth were like the cow's first three stomachs. Cultivators were like the fourth stomach, which was used to eat what others had digested... and they ate with great relish.

But that's how cultivation is; if you want to cultivate without seeking external things, you'll most likely end up as a pile of bones. Even a demon lord has to take elixirs and refine magical artifacts; there's no such thing as ascending to immortality in a single day after enlightenment.

Now that we have the elixir, the next step is to find "guinea pigs".

We must first find the root cause of the madness caused by the Beast Blood Pill before we can think of a solution.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the dilapidated temple. Chen Ye looked up and saw a couple carrying an infant up the steps. When they reached the temple and saw Chen Ye and the skinned and bled wolf carcass, the man was immediately startled and almost turned back.

Seeing his hesitation, the woman gritted her teeth and said to Chen Ye, "Brother, the three of us are passing by and saw smoke coming from a chimney. We wonder if you could give us some meat soup or porridge? Our child has been hungry for three days. Please have mercy on us."

Chen Ye smiled slightly: "It is fate that we meet. Please make yourselves at home."

(End of this chapter)