Chapter 23: The Primordial Qi Myriad Spirit Banner

Above the sea of clouds, Liu Xin took the initiative to soften his stance: "If you two junior brothers can turn our conflict into peace, I am willing to gift you a high-grade Daoist scripture."

"At this point, you must be joking."

Hearing this, Lyu Yang laughed instead: "Senior Brother Liu, we are all disciples of the Sacred Sect; why bother with such pretenses? You are already at a point of life-and-death struggle with us."

"..."

Liu Xin did not answer, but his expression suddenly darkened.

Because Lyu Yang was right. At this moment, the ones truly unwilling to reconcile were no longer Lyu Yang and Xiao Shiye, but Liu Xin and Fairy Qingchen.

The reason was simple: the sect rules of the Sacred Sect.

"Although the sect rules are practically non-existent as long as one isn't caught, in other words, once discovered, they become very real."

Lyu Yang sneered, "This certainly isn't the first time people like you have set ambushes in private to pillage fellow disciples; it's just that no one discovered it before. However, now, as soon as I leave and file a report with the Hall of Law Enforcement, once the truth comes to light, Senior Brother Liu, you will be as good as dead."

"Junior Brother, you joke too much."

Liu Xin's facial muscles twitched slightly. "You and I could simply sign a magical contract, agreeing that today's events shall not reach any ears. That way, I can naturally rest easy..."

"Really?" Lyu Yang countered.

Of course, it was a lie.

Only the dead are truly reliable!

"Qingchen."

With a low command from Liu Xin, Fairy Qingchen, who had remained silent by his side, finally spoke. Her vermilion lips parted slightly as she slowly uttered a single syllable

"Open!"

Before her voice had even faded, the surrounding sea of clouds shifted again. In an instant, several towering, majestic peaks manifested, surrounding Lyu Yang and Xiao Shiye in the center.

Clearly, it was another formation!

"Do you truly think I am afraid of your Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light?" Liu Xin actually recognized Lyu Yang's divine ability. He sneered, and a fluttering banner appeared in his hand. "It just so happens that my 'Primordial Qi Myriad Spirit Banner' lacks a main soul to preside over it. Today, I shall use you to sacrifice to the flag..."

"Go!"

Before Liu Xin could finish, Lyu Yang, merged with his sword pill, flew toward him in a slashing strike. The overwhelming scent of bloodiness instantly forced Liu Xin to swallow his unfinished mockery.

"Return, O Soul!"

Liu Xin performed a hand seal and shook the Myriad Spirit Banner violently. Two wisps of misty white Qi were released, gradually manifesting into human figures amidst the steam.

Lyu Yang did not stop his momentum and struck down with a sword.

Under Liu Xin's command, the two figures also mobilized their true qi to meet the attack head-on. With a loud *boom*, they were shattered by the sword qi.

Liu Xin was about to step out to join forces with the two banner spirits he had summoned, but seeing this, he immediately retreated.

"Qingchen, strike now!"

Hearing this, Fairy Qingchen's beautiful face turned solemn. She plucked a phoenix-tail hairpin from her hair and threw it. The hairpin instantly transformed into a streak of golden light, piercing toward the space between Lyu Yang's eyebrows.

However, before the hairpin could reach Lyu Yang, another burst of treasure light appeared out of thin air and intercepted it. It was none other than Xiao Shiye, the "Boy of Many Treasures."

Not only that, Xiao Shiye unfurled his sleeves and, in one breath, hurled more than ten magical treasures. Although their quality varied, every single one emitted a dense, brilliant treasure light. Yet, once these treasures were cast out, they exploded violently in mid-air!

*Rumble!*

The exploding treasure lights were like miniature suns, directly blocking the killing formation laid by Fairy Qingchen, and even nearly blowing the formation apart from the inside!

Such a lavish display caused the eyes of the other three to twitch.

While Xiao Shiye was different from Lyu Yang in that he lacked powerful divine abilities, he clearly didn't need flashy techniques when fighting.

He simply needed to throw his treasures out and self-detonate them. That was enough.

This tactic made Liu Xin's already grim expression even uglier. He swung the Myriad Spirit Banner, instantly summoning dozens of banner spirits.

These were all the spoils Liu Xin had gathered from ambushing fellow disciples during this period.

"You all, go and hold the line."

Upon receiving Liu Xin's command, the banner spirits moved immediately, landing at various points around Fairy Qingchen's formation to bolster its power.

Seeing this, Fairy Qingchen felt reassured. A small flag appeared in her hand, which she shook forcefully. The majestic peaks manifested by the formation immediately responded, locking down heaven and earth and sealing the four directions, while also firmly protecting her and Liu Xin from Lyu Yang's sword light.

Only then did Liu Xin smile with satisfaction, and he shook the Myriad Spirit Banner once more.

This extraordinary treasure was something he had obtained alongside the *Primordial Dao Scripture* during a fortuitous encounter years ago; it was his greatest reliance in combat to this day.

The banner followed the theory of one main soul, two protectors, and three corpse gods.

As the saying goes: "The Dao produces one, one produces two, two produces three, and three produces all things." Only by filling these six positions and combining them with ten thousand souls could this treasure be considered complete.

It sounded simple, but Liu Xin had spent over ten years of painstaking refinement without success. Ten thousand souls were easy enough—he could solve that by finding time to massacre a city in the mortal realm—but the most important six positions remained elusive. Forget the two protectors; he hadn't even gathered the three corpse gods.

Even so, the power of this treasure was still considerable.

"Kill them!"

As Liu Xin shook the banner, ten thousand souls flew out one after another. Unlike the cultivated banner spirits, these souls were vengeful ghosts formed from the resentment of mortals.

Though their quality was poor, their numbers were immense.

Called forth by Liu Xin, they surged like a massive, overwhelming wave, instantly submerging Lyu Yang's figure.

More importantly, these were fleshless vengeful ghosts; they were completely immune to Lyu Yang's Blood-Transforming Divine Light!

However, seeing this, Lyu Yang showed no fear.

The Blood-Transforming Divine Light was his most powerful method, but it was not his only one. After refining his sword pill, his Divine Firmament Sword-Control True Art was equally formidable!

With a thought, Lyu Yang's sword pill rapidly split into hundreds of sword lights. His figure began to teleport and maneuver amidst the sword light. He refused to engage the vengeful ghosts and banner spirits in a direct confrontation, instead employing a hit-and-run tactic—retreating when the enemy advanced and striking when they grew weary.

This was the true advantage of a sword cultivator.

Strike with a single sword, flee a thousand miles, and then attack from another direction. By forcing the opponent to struggle with constant responses, he would eventually expose a flaw and deliver the final decapitating blow.

Before long, the ten thousand vengeful ghosts were scattered and broken by Lyu Yang, their ranks in total collapse.

On the other side, Xiao Shiye had also turned ruthless. He threw out several high-grade treasures to self-detonate, causing the hard-won stability of the great formation to fluctuate violently once again.

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Fairy Qingchen could not help but look at Liu Xin: "Senior Brother..."

"Don't be anxious. If I'm not anxious, why are you?"

Liu Xin remained calm. He didn't care about Xiao Shiye, but he didn't believe Lyu Yang could perform sword-teleportation and mass slaughter without any depletion of his true qi and mana.

This was his combat strategy.

First, release the unimportant banner spirits to exhaust the opponent. Once the opponent's qi is nearly depleted, bring out the trump card to secure victory in one stroke.

In truth, if it weren't absolutely necessary, he did not want to use his trump card. After all, that particular banner spirit was far too precious, and its identity in life was extremely sensitive. If seen by anyone, he could not leave a single witness alive; otherwise, even the slightest rumor could lead to his eternal ruin.

"Very well, one must be willing to lose the child to catch the wolf."

After a moment of deliberation, Liu Xin finally raised the banner in his hand and bowed respectfully: "A powerful enemy approaches. To break this deadlock, I beg Senior Brother to make his move."