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

Chapter 52 An unexpected event
The wooden arch bridge crumbled inch by inch under Chen Ye's hands. As the last bridge pillar, carved with runes, collapsed with a roar, the blue-faced demon suddenly let out a piercing shriek, and hundreds of distorted human faces appeared on its bulging muscles before quickly vanishing into thin air.

If I want to summon this blue-faced demon again, I need to find another place tainted by wine, women, wealth, and power; otherwise, it will be difficult to reproduce its current power.

Chen Ye wasn't heartbroken, at least he understood the truth behind the four secret techniques. They were actually the abilities of the underworld's ghost messengers, who would capture and severely punish those with grave sins.

It's not life-threatening, but the pain is excruciating.

It acts directly on the soul and cannot be directly resisted; it tests one's character entirely.

Someone with Chen Ye's impeccable character would only suffer a punch to the chest, but someone with poor character would be in excruciating pain and writhing on the ground in a sorry state.

If even a ghostly figure has such power, what would happen if it were a real ghostly figure from the underworld?

With the existence of the Book of Changes and the Ksitigarbha Sutra, this world must be inextricably linked to the myths we heard in our previous lives.

Could it be that cultivators in this world who ascend to immortality can truly become one of the 100,000 heavenly soldiers in the Heavenly Court?

"Hehe, I've really been reading too many novels, I only think about good things."

Chen Ye chuckled self-deprecatingly and then dismissed it.

Be down-to-earth and avoid unrealistic dreams.

Now that Wei Changsheng has run away, the first thing to do is to find him and extort him... no, the real priority is to find him and have a proper discussion with him.

After dismantling the formation, Chen Ye instructed the two awakened martial artists to clean up the mess, collect the bodies, and report to the authorities. He left it to ordinary people to handle their own affairs.

Then Chen Ye rode on Su Chunyi's sword light and flew into the air, chasing after the direction Wei Changsheng had left in.

Chen Ye had almost lost count of how many times he had ridden on Su Chunyi's sword light, but each time filled him with envy. He had cultivated for so long, yet he still couldn't fly—what kind of immortality was this?

Chen Ye originally intended to get some benefits from Wei Changsheng and be done with it, but who would have thought that the Ksitigarbha Sutra he obtained would be so important.

The secret arts of the heavenly book—you can tell from the name that there's more than one.

"I wonder how many kinds of celestial books and secret techniques the Incense Burning Sect has collected. Miss Su, would you be so kind as to ask me a few questions?"

Su Chunyi naturally wouldn't refuse, but she didn't know much about the secrets of the Incense Burning Sect.

"According to rumors, the Incense Burning Sect has collected more than ten secret techniques from heaven, and each one has different contents. Because of this, the disciples of the Incense Burning Sect have learned a wide variety of skills. Other sects value quality over quantity, but the Incense Burning Sect advocates broad learning. The most famous is the Supreme Alchemy Scripture, and the Incense Burning Sect's alchemy skills are undoubtedly the best in the world."

"The Supreme Alchemy Classic? Does Miss Su know anything about the contents of this book, even just a few words?"

Chen Ye seemed to have vaguely heard a similar name in his previous life, but the original text should be the "Taishang Laojun Neidan Jing" (太上老君内丹经), which is not very long and Chen Ye can even recite it.

Su Chun shook her head.

"The Supreme Elixir Classic is the foundation of the Incense Burning Sect. Even among the sect's disciples, very few have been able to inherit it, so outsiders naturally have no way of knowing about it."

Chen Ye wondered if the Incense Burning Sect would be willing to exchange it for the Ksitigarbha Sutra.

Chen Ye was also very interested in alchemy, since cultivation is inseparable from pills, and the higher one's cultivation level, the greater the need for pills.

No wonder Wei Changsheng's cultivation level wasn't that great, but he had a lot of treasures on him. Those who refine pills are all rolling in money.

But if it really is the "Taishang Laojun Neidan Jing" (The Inner Alchemy Classic of Laozi), then he has lost out big time, because he already knows it by heart. However, this book only explains the most basic principles of alchemy, and most of the other content is actually unrelated to alchemy, so Chen Ye can't really judge it.

Forget it, let's not take the risk.

Chen Ye felt he should choose something tangible that could only be done once.

For example, he could need secret techniques and elixirs to strengthen his Qi Sea, allowing him to quickly improve his cultivation; he also needed some powerful Qi Sha techniques to pass through the Qi Sha Realm; he could also need some secret techniques related to the Tongxuan Realm to comprehend a powerful divine ability; and so on…

In just a short time, Chen Ye had already planned to empty the entire treasure vault of the Incense Burning Sect.

Although he was no longer planning to change any secret techniques, Chen Ye continued to inquire.

"Besides the *Supreme Elixir Classic*, what other celestial books does the Incense Burning Sect possess?" Su Chunyi pondered for a moment, then said, "I don't know many, but the more famous ones include the *Spiritual Pivot Acupuncture Technique*, the *Eight Gates of Dunjia*, and the *Luban Book*, which are related to medicine, feng shui formations, and mechanisms and talismans, respectively. In addition to their daily cultivation, Incense Burning Sect disciples are required to learn at least three miscellaneous arts, mostly these kinds. As for other secret techniques, there are many different opinions, and outsiders can only speculate wildly."

Chen Ye was deeply moved. Compared to the Qinghe Sword Sect, he felt that he was more suited to the Fenxiang Sect, as he enjoyed studying various miscellaneous subjects.

However, the conduct of the disciples of the Incense Burning Sect is far inferior to that of the Qinghe Sword Sect. If all the disciples of this sect were like Wei Changsheng, then Chen Ye would have no choice but to keep his distance.

There's no point in thinking about it now; we should focus on getting the tangible benefits first.

Chen Ye was figuring out how to extort money from the Incense Burning Sect, but after flying for a long time, the two of them still couldn't catch up with the fleeing Wei Changsheng.

Su Chunyi was also puzzled; her sword light should have been much faster than Wei Changsheng's. Even with an extra person, they had already left Cui County's territory; they should have caught up by now.

Chen Ye noticed that Su Chunyi's expression was strange, and quickly asked, "Miss Su, is something wrong?"

Su Chunyi explained, "Wei Changsheng shouldn't have gone too far. Unless he deliberately hid, we should have caught up with him long ago."

Chen Ye then asked, "Can we use that divination sword technique to find him?"

Su Chunyi had the same idea.

The two were suspended in mid-air, their sword lights scattering and intersecting, transforming into complex hexagrams.

This was the third time Chen Ye had seen this move, and he had also heard Su Chunyi explain its principles. Now, seeing it again, he understood a lot more, but when he tried to imitate it with his fingers, he found that he couldn't learn it at all.

Because he didn't understand the Qinghe Sword Technique at all.

Those rune structures clearly have their own operating logic, and their foundation is the swordsmanship of the Qinghe Sword Sect. If Chen Ye wants to learn, he will probably have to start with the most basic swordsmanship.

"As expected, it is a secret that is not passed down. It is wishful thinking for outsiders to think that they can learn it by just taking a few glances."

Chen Ye abandoned his desire to secretly learn and focused on admiring Su Chunyi's casting technique. The girl in the pale yellow dress was beautiful no matter how you looked at her.

In an instant, the sword light receded, just as before. The sword light will now point out a clear direction and roughly estimate the approximate distance.

But this time was different. Chen Ye saw the condensed sword light flickering and swaying, sometimes pointing southwest and sometimes northeast, changing repeatedly.

"careful!"

Su Chunyi had barely uttered two words when she instinctively shielded Chen Ye behind her.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sword light, which had been condensed to the extreme, suddenly exploded.

Chen Ye felt a ringing in his ears and almost lost consciousness.

When he came to his senses, Chen Ye found himself falling rapidly, his robes fluttering in the wind.

Su Chunyi fell at the same speed, within Chen Ye's reach. Blood trickled from the corner of Su Chunyi's mouth, her face was ashen, and she had fallen into a coma.

The towering mountains below were approaching at an alarming speed. Chen Ye struggled to move his arms through the strong wind and held Su Chun in his arms.

The flying strands of hair clung to Chen Ye's face, and the blood that had spilled from the girl's lips was swept up by the air currents and splashed, staining Chen Ye's shoulder red.

Even though the two were embracing, they couldn't stop the downward momentum. Chen Ye then took out the Myriad Soul Banner from his storage bag and waved it forcefully.

Countless vengeful spirits flew out, pulling the Ten Thousand Souls Banner upwards, finally stopping the two from falling.

Although the wind was still whistling in my ears, I shouldn't get hurt if I landed at this speed.

Chen Ye exclaimed, "This Ten Thousand Souls Banner is truly the most useful treasure."

No wonder every demonic cultivator carries a Myriad Soul Banner; this magical artifact is truly omnipotent, and how to use it is entirely up to imagination.

Just when they thought they were temporarily out of danger, they heard Mo Ci's voice: "Don't be careless, you've gotten yourself into big trouble."

(End of this chapter)