Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect-Chapter 106: Entering the Banner

Although he had tricked Progenitor Tingyou out of the Lay Line, Lü Yang didn’t satisfied. After all, the man still had a batch of his Wu Ghosts.

As it happened, the Myriad-Soul Banner was short-staffed recently.

’I’ve restarted the Myriad-Soul Banner’s Talisman production line recently. Some of the Banner Spirits have already exhausted their Spiritual energy and self-destructed. It’s about time to recruit the next batch.’

They were all the same batch of Wu Ghosts, anyway.

Rather than waste time letting the Wu Ghosts who could no longer work due to excessive Spiritual energy consumption rest, it was better to just replace them with new ones.

Moreover, the replaced Wu Ghosts could be fed directly to the new ones, achieving waste utilization and resource recycling. This allowed the new Wu Ghosts to start their work in better condition, increasing Talisman production efficiency. It was an industrial upgrade, a way to achieve sustainable, exhaustive harvesting.

What happened next was fundamentally the same as it had been in Lü Yang’s life before last.

Without his interference, Perfected Yin Shan did indeed choose Zhao Xuhe. After a chaotic battle, Perfected Yin Shan successfully triggered the Wu Ghost Secret Realm, causing it to manifest in the world.

Then, the Golden Core Sword Qi dissipated, and the Celestial Corpse Fiend was taken by Perfected Yin Shan.

In return, Zhao Xuhe received an Ascension Order from Perfected Yin Shan and became increasingly complacent, as if he could already see the day he would achieve Foundation Establishment.

But Lü Yang paid no mind to any of this.

In this life, he remained hidden in the shadows. Only after Perfected Yin Shan had left did he come to the depths of the Skull Mountains and release the aura of the Yama Hall.

A moment later, a dark figure quietly appeared.

"Greetings, Progenitor!"

Lü Yang’s face showed excitement as he performed a deep bow, but he was simultaneously sensing Progenitor Tingyou’s Qi trace, gathering his power, ready to turn hostile at a moment’s notice.

"...Arise."

After his possession, Progenitor Tingyou at first glance looked like a handsome boy with red lips and white teeth. Though his tone was old and experienced, his voice was extremely childish.

He looked at Lü Yang with a solemn expression, seemingly lost in thought.

After a long while, he sighed faintly. "Summon your Avatar Guardian."

Lü Yang was stunned for a moment but didn’t hesitate. He immediately took out the Myriad-Soul Banner and summoned Su Nu, all while preparing to strike if anything went wrong.

"Hm?"

Progenitor Tingyou seemed not to notice anything unusual about Lü Yang. His gaze fell instantly upon the Myriad-Soul Banner. After examining it for a moment, he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "What a marvelous artifact! It’s not sentient, but it’s much better. It’s a perfect match for our Wu Ghost Sect’s Dao Lineage, giving us an even greater edge!"

"You flatter me, Progenitor. This item is called the Myriad-Soul Banner."

Lü Yang smiled faintly. "I acquired it through a chance encounter. It is thanks to this banner that I was able to preserve our sect."

Progenitor Tingyou nodded.

"Good. I was worried about how you would house our Sect’s thousands of Wu Ghosts and was thinking of helping you. It seems I don’t need to trouble myself now."

He then turned to Su Nu, his brow furrowing slightly. "And this Avatar Guardian of yours... The Refining is very well done, but it’s not well-adapted to your Yama Hall. Back then, I tailored the Yama Hall for myself. Since you now rely on this Avatar Guardian, you should learn to adapt to your circumstances."

After speaking, he formed a hand seal with his right hand and paused for a moment.

Before long, Progenitor Tingyou opened his eyes again, reached out, and sent a spell straight toward Su Nu and her Yama Hall.

RUMBLE!

In the next second, a light rose from beneath Su Nu’s feet, along with the characters for Nether Lord of Yama’s Heaven appeared one after another.

However, as Progenitor Tingyou’s hand seal changed, the appearance of these characters gradually transformed:

[Empress Su Nu of the Netherworld]!

With the change in the characters, the transformation was complete. Su Nu’s aura surged, with her cultivation reaching fifty percent of her previous life’s level even without the support of a Lay Line!

With the aid of a Lay Line, she could even surpass her cultivation from her previous life!

"Much better now."

Seeing this, Progenitor Tingyou smiled in satisfaction. "With a Foundation-Establishment-Level Guardian like this, your chances of advancing to Foundation Establishment and re-establishing the Sect are much higher."

With that, he took out a transparent black sphere. Inside were the thousands of Wu Ghosts from the Wu Ghost Secret Realm. Lü Yang even spotted a murky stream flowing slowly within it. As the former lord of the Skull Mountains from his previous life, he instantly recognized what it was.

"The Celestial Corpse Fiend!?"

Perfected Yin Shan didn’t take it... ’No, that’s not right. He took one, but there were more than one within the Lay Line!’

"This fiend is a creature of Yin Earth. It belonged to Chen Earth. It can restrain Fire and nourish Gold. If you want, you can use this Fiend to break through to the Mid-phase of Foundation Establishment in the future. If a powerful enemy attacks, you can also detonate it to destroy the Lay Line in the Skull Mountains and perish together with the foe."

Lü Yang already knew all of this.

It was just that in his previous life, Progenitor Tingyou had only left these words behind in a soul fragment. This time, he was explaining it all to him in detail, face-to-face.

’Is he... entrusting his legacy to me?’

Lü Yang was a bit puzzled. To be honest, he had expected Progenitor Tingyou’s attitude toward this so-called "heir" who had appeared out of nowhere would not be particularly good.

After all, *he* was the Sect Leader of the Wu Ghost Sect.

Now, living his fifth life with a great chance of returning to Foundation Establishment, he should have been ambitious and unwilling to see anything slip from his control.

But now, it seemed that was not the case.

Just then, Progenitor Tingyou stopped talking. He glanced at Lü Yang and then chuckled. "If you have something to say, just say it."

Lü Yang quickly denied it. "Progenitor, you misunderstand..."

Progenitor Tingyou waved his hand dismissively. "You managed to make a name for yourself in the Stain Sect. You think I can’t guess what’s on your mind? It would be stranger if you actually trusted me!"

With that, he shook his head, his expression bitter.

"I don’t have much time left in this life. My original plan was to go Overseas after escaping the Secret Realm, find a deserted island, and pass down the lineage of my Wu Ghost Sect."

"It would have been even better if there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator to watch over it."

"Now that you’re here, you’ve saved me a great deal of effort. Since you could cultivate to this level in the Stain Sect without dying, I have no doubts about your abilities."

"After all, for the rest of my life, all I seek is the continuation of the Sect’s legacy."

As his voice fell, Progenitor Tingyou’s expression returned to calm. He looked at Lü Yang and said flatly, "Alright, send me into your Myriad-Soul Banner."

Lü Yang was taken aback. "...Progenitor, you want to enter the banner?"

"I am a sinner of the Sect. If I hadn’t been so stubborn back then, the Sect would never have suffered such a great disaster."

"The rest of my fleeting life is really just about atoning for my past mistakes. That being the case, it is only right that I contribute one last bit of strength to the Sect."

After speaking, Progenitor Tingyou smiled again. "Besides, this will put you more at ease, won’t it?"

"...In that case, it would be disrespectful of me to refuse."

Lü Yang didn’t object. He immediately activated the Myriad-Soul Banner, opening a circular entry. Seeing this, Progenitor Tingyou nodded and stepped inside without hesitation.

SWOOSH—!

The next moment, Lü Yang raised the banner’s pole and slammed it hard onto the ground. A dull, heavy sound echoed as shadows rapidly expanded in all directions.

THUD!

Wherever the shadows passed, the Yama Hall opened once more, and from it emerged countless armored Yin Soldiers and Ghost Generals, who gathered around Lü Yang like stars around the moon.

The Wu Ghosts varied in strength, clearly divided into ranks from the Early-phase of Qi Refining, to the Mid-phase, to the Late-phase, and even to the Final-phase. They stood in orderly formations, like a true legion. And that wasn’t even counting the super-class Banner Spirits like the Split Self of the Master of Heaven Mending Peak, Progenitor Tingyou, and the Avatar Guardian Su Nu.

Without a doubt, this Spiritual Treasure had become even more terrifying!

Better yet, after being laundered by the Centome, Lü Yang didn’t have to worry about any troublesome karmic links attached to it. He could use it boldly and without reservation!

’...It’s time.’

The next second, Lü Yang dropped all pretense. An overwhelming Evil Qi shot into the sky, instantly alarming the entire Skull Mountains!

Almost simultaneously, Perfected Yin Shan, who had just collected the Celestial Corpse Fiend and was about to leave, snapped his head around in astonishment, looking toward the direction where the Evil Qi surged into the sky.

But at this moment, he couldn’t see a single soul.

His gaze was met only by a Yama Hall as majestic as a mountain, sitting enthroned in the heavens, swallowing and exhaling Earthly Fiend energy. And there, in the center of the thousands of Wu Ghosts, a banner flew high!