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

Chapter 61 The rogue cultivators are poor bastards
As twilight descended, golden light, transformed from a cassock, swept across the mottled city walls of Cui County. This thing, however, wasn't as convenient to fly as a sword beam.

Chen Ye always felt that he might fall off the cassock at any moment, so he could only hold tightly to the edge of the cassock before daring to look down at the bustling city below.

Cui County was no longer draped in white mourning; instead, lanterns swayed among the vermilion pavilions. Tavern banners fluttered in the evening breeze, and the faint sounds of clinking glasses and lively conversation could be heard.

The seven-day mourning period hadn't even passed yet, and Su Bai had already left. It seems that the magistrate's remaining followers had all met their demise.

But these things were irrelevant to Chen Ye. He didn't want to see the wicked get their comeuppance; he wanted to see where his old friends were.

Monk Fangyuan slowly asked, "How is it?"

Chen Ye blinked his bright eyes, and the gold color finally faded.

Rubbing his sore eyes, Chen Ye could only sigh.

Having been separated from Su Chunyi for two days, Chen Ye shamelessly begged the monk Fang Yuan to take him flying for two days.

His eyes were bloodshot from staring, but he still couldn't find his own Ten Thousand Soul Banner, nor could he find any trace left by Mo Ci.

It seems that in the end, when disaster strikes, everyone flees for their lives.

That's not surprising; cultivators of the demonic sect don't really care much about the master-disciple relationship.

Chen Ye barely managed to preserve Mo Ci's soul with the Myriad Soul Banner. Mo Ci then exhausted her cultivation to help Chen Ye overcome several difficulties.

At the last moment, Chen Ye chose to recklessly throw his life away, causing Mo Ci to leave in disappointment.

That makes perfect sense; everything is plausible.

It's just a pity about that Ten Thousand Souls Banner; it was truly a rare treasure.

But he can only blame himself.

Ordinary demons wouldn't give their magical artifacts much autonomy. Letting the Myriad Souls Banner break free from its master and act freely would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog—gone and never to return.
Chen Ye never treated the vengeful spirits in the Ten Thousand Souls Banner as servants, which is why he gave them such great freedom of movement.

Looking down at the receding Cui County, Chen Ye muttered to himself, "Master, take care."

Then Chen Ye looked up at the boundless sea of ​​clouds and said to Monk Fangyuan, "Please send me to Baihai Valley, Master."

“Amitabha Buddha, please accept my condolences. There are always partings on the path of spiritual practice. I remember when I first started practicing, my parents often came to visit me at Cixin Temple. But when I came out of a retreat one time, all I saw were two old graves…”

“Master, if you don’t know how to comfort people, there’s no need to force yourself.”

"Amitabha Buddha, this humble monk will recite some Buddhist scriptures for you."

“Master, I know more Buddhist scriptures than you do.”

"That poor monk..."

Seeing that Monk Fangyuan was still not giving up, Chen Ye quickly interrupted and said, "Master, please tell me what this Hundred Seas Valley is."

Monk Fangyuan then gave up on "comforting" Chen Ye and instead introduced him to the Hundred Seas Valley.

"Speaking of Hundred Seas Valley, it wasn't always called that. It used to be called White Skeleton Valley, because the valley was full of bones, hence the name. Once upon a time, this wasn't a gathering place for rogue cultivators, but rather the territory of the Crimson Serpent Holy Sect..."

Chen Ye exclaimed in surprise, "The Crimson Serpent Holy Sect? One of the original eighteen demonic sects?"

Back then, each of the eighteen Demon Lords had their own lineage sect. The Crimson Serpent Demon Lord was ranked sixth or something like that, Chen Ye had only heard these legends and hadn't delved into the details, since all the Demon Lords were dead.

There are many cultivation sects in the world, and the five major righteous sects are naturally the most powerful. The demonic sects have long since become cowards and have no future.

However, over the years, the five righteous sects have found it increasingly difficult to pass on their traditions, and the number of disciples has dwindled.

However, there are more and more unorthodox and independent practitioners.

According to Monk Fangyuan, Hundred Seas Valley is a gathering place for independent cultivators. It cannot be considered a unified sect, but only a loose alliance.

This place was originally called White Bone Valley, the burial ground of the Crimson Serpent Holy Sect.

Back then, the Crimson Serpent Cult was incredibly powerful, treating mortals like pigs and dogs, skinning and refining their souls, and throwing the remaining tasteless bones into the valley.

The demons of that time were different from those of today. Today's demons are always hiding and can't even forge decent magical artifacts. Back then, the demons wouldn't even bother using bones of poor quality; they would just throw them away. Over time, these bones filled the valley, turning it into White Bone Valley.

Later, the Crimson Serpent Demon Lord was injured in the internal strife of the demonic sect and then killed by the righteous path, resulting in the massacre of the entire sect.

After the great battle between the righteous and the demonic forces, some rogue cultivators took a liking to this auspicious place and invited a few friends to come here for seclusion.

They say they were attracted by the rich spiritual energy and remoteness of the place, but in reality, they were mostly eyeing the skeletons that filled the valley.

Righteous cultivators look down on it because their sect rules prohibit them from using human bones to refine treasures.

The villains back then were so rich that they wouldn't even look at these tasteless bones.

But rogue cultivators are penniless!
The unorthodox cultivators lacked everything, and these skeletons were not killed by them, so leaving them was a waste. They were perfect for refining treasures.

Later, it turned into a group of independent cultivators coming to "retrieve corpses," which can be considered a rather lively period in the cultivation world.

However, as more independent cultivators appeared, it caused many conflicts and added many fresh corpses to White Bone Valley.

Seeing that things were about to descend into chaos, the righteous sects had no choice but to step in and suppress the unorthodox cultivators, thus preventing a major war between them.

A hundred years later, most of the skeletons in the valley had been recovered, and it returned to its normal appearance as a valley.

The valley has been hollowed out and there are no treasures, but it is still a good place for cultivation.

Moreover, the century-old bone-collecting process has left many traces, including various formations for maintaining order, and various shared alchemy furnaces and treasure-refining rooms.

As I said before, rogue cultivators are all poor bastards; how could they bear to just throw things away like that?

However, it's impossible to monopolize everything here. Many things here were provided by the five major righteous sects, so trying to monopolize them would be suicide.

Therefore, after discussing for several years, the independent cultivators renamed the place Hundred Seas Valley and formed a loose alliance of independent cultivators.

The righteous cultivators were also happy to see this happen, since after all the demons were killed, these rogue cultivators would be the biggest problem. However, due to the limitations of their sect rules, they couldn't kill them all before they committed any evil deeds. So, it was good that they were willing to form an alliance, at least someone would be held responsible if something went wrong.

They even put in a lot of effort at the beginning to facilitate the formation of the alliance.

Therefore, although Hundred Seas Valley is a mixed bag of people, it is protected by an array, and ordinary people dare not run wild here.

Because it is not easy to be killed and robbed, this guarantee has attracted many independent cultivators, who may be exchanging treasures or sharing their experiences. In recent years, it has become more and more lively.

Chen Ye, a rogue cultivator with no one to rely on, went there. Although he might not have a comfortable life, he was no longer afraid of being hunted down by the Nirvana Sect.

Nirvana Sect is a demonic sect, a demonic sect left over from the era of the war between good and evil. Anyone who dares to come to Hundred Seas Valley will be killed without regard for their burial.

Although Chen Ye had a demonic master, Mo Ci was no longer alive, so he was now considered to have a clean record. Chen Ye also had the double guarantee of the Qinghe Sword Sect and Cixin Temple, so his journey to Baihai Valley would certainly be unimpeded.

After introducing Baihai Valley, Monk Fangyuan said to Chen Ye, "Cixin Temple also has disciples stationed in Baihai Valley for a period of time, which is a kind of training. I will give them a heads-up, and they will not stand idly by if there is any trouble."

Chen Ye quickly expressed his gratitude.

With locals looking after them, life would definitely be much easier.

"Master, how far is Hundred Seas Valley?"

The monk Fangyuan smiled and pointed forward, whereupon the clouds parted, revealing a canyon a hundred miles wide before them.

The colorful mist, like auspicious clouds, enveloped the canyon, vying with the sunlight to create a magnificent and dreamlike scene.

Chen Ye had never seen such a magnificent sight before and couldn't help but exclaim, "Truly worthy of being called a celestial land, is this what they call auspicious seven-colored clouds?"

Master Fangyuan shook his head and said, "Benefactor Chen, this seven-colored mist is a kind of poisonous miasma that can bewitch the mind and soul. If an outsider wanders in, he will turn into pus in a few hours."

"Ah this..."

Chen Ye's beautiful fantasy was shattered instantly. It seems that the place where this rogue cultivator was located was also fraught with danger.

My writing software crashed, I can't log in, and I can't access my saved drafts. I'm working on it now. The second chapter today will be a little late, I'm very sorry, but there will definitely be two chapters. If I can't access them, I'll rewrite them!
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(End of this chapter)