There were originally eighteen flags, but now only seventeen remained. The Soul-Eater Banner had been manipulated into this state, unless someone had a death wish.
"Tongtian, have you detected any issues?" Ye Zhizhou inquired.
[Lingyu's carriage has a formation engraved on it, which is hindering my spiritual power from penetrating.] Tongtian responded.
Ye Zhizhou's brow furrowed even deeper, and Dongfang Shu stepped forward to comfort him with a pat on the shoulder.
"Xiaozhou, Senior Tianhe, what are you discussing?" Flowing Sand Sword arrived on their flying artifacts and pointed in a direction, saying, "The mountaintop of Qingcheng Sect is over there; I'll take you there."
The two exchanged a glance and silently dropped the topic, following Flowing Sand Sword towards the direction of Qingcheng Sect.
Upon seeing Ye Zhizhou, Su Yin was excited and rushed over, wanting to lift him up as in their childhood, but Dongfang Shu sternly suppressed him.
"Senior Tianhe's cultivation has deepened again..." Su Yin withdrew his shocked hands and laughed nervously twice, behaving obediently.
Ye Zhizhou couldn't help but chuckle, taking out some ointment and handing it to him, then casting a stern glance at Dongfang Shu. Unperturbed, Dongfang Shu calmly went to chat with Sect Leader Xuan Zhongzi.
The mountain peak where Qingcheng Sect resided was relatively remote and small, but it was sufficient for two more people. Since Flowing Sand and the true and false protagonists had some interactions, they decided not to look for alternative accommodations as originally planned and settled on Qingcheng Sect's mountaintop.
Only Su Yin from Qingcheng Sect participated in the Grand Competition this time. Among the younger generation, the highest cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. The other Golden Core elders from the sect did not come; they volunteered to stay behind and guard Qingcheng Sect.
After bidding farewell to their Sect Leader, Ye Zhizhou sent Dongfang Shu to prepare their lodgings and went to visit Flowing Sand's dwelling. Under the pretext of catching up, he made some inquiries.
"There were only two people in the carriage, twins, the grandsons of the Sect Leader of Linxian Pavilion. The older one is named Yuan Jing, and the younger one is Yuan Tai. One possesses a single-element variant Ice Spirit Root and has reached the Golden Core stage, while the other has a dual-element Wood-Water Spirit Root and is at the Foundation Establishment stage. Yuan Jing is the one participating in the Grand Competition, while Yuan Tai's constitution is weak, and his cultivation progress is slow. He's here just to accompany his brother."
Dongfang Shu closed the door, poured a cup of spiritual tea for Ye Zhizhou, and asked, "Constitutional weakness?"
"According to Flowing Sand, he has a congenital weakness, and his Spirit Root has some issues. Even cleansing and marrow-washing techniques don't work on him. To recover, he needs to find an ancient herb called 'White Bone Flesh' to reshape his Spirit Root and body." Ye Zhizhou took a sip of tea, his expression somewhat grim. "Twins, one with eight flags and the other with nine. The Soul-Eater Banner has really given us a great show this time. Now I'm curious about where the remaining flag has gone."
"Don't overthink it." Dongfang Shu pressed his finger against Ye Zhizhou's forehead and sat down beside him. "The Grand Competition starts tomorrow. Let's wait until we meet the twins before making any plans."
The next day, the Grand Competition began. Several major cultivation sects cooperated to hold a simple opening ceremony, officially commencing the competition.
Ye Zhizhou dripped his blood onto the large formation at the bottom of the valley, and a moment later, a spiritual talisman appeared out of thin air and flew into his hand.
"Second match on the third day," he scanned the spiritual talisman with his divine sense and then handed it to Dongfang Shu. "My match is on the last day. Come, let's go and see those twins."
Dongfang Shu glanced at the spiritual talisman and nodded. He led Ye Zhizhou toward the direction of Linxian Pavilion.
"Flowing Sand and the twins met on their way to the Endless Abyss Valley. Back then, Flowing Sand got separated from Su Yin and the others for some reason and was unlucky enough to be targeted by a group of rogue cultivators who wanted to kill him for his treasures. The twins happened to pass by and rescued him." Ye Zhizhou activated Tongtian's scanning function and continued as they flew forward. "Flowing Sand has a very favorable impression of the twins. If one of them is the protagonist, then Flowing Sand..."
"Don't worry. Cultivators tend to view life and death with equanimity and insight. Flowing Sand isn't fragile." Dongfang Shu comforted him by squeezing his hand and then hovered directly above where the Linxian Pavilion group was located. "They're down there."
Thanks to Dongfang Shu's vastly superior strength compared to everyone in this realm, their eavesdropping went unnoticed.
[Receiving plot information... Reception failed.]
[Checking the status of the Soul-Eater Banner... Check failed.]
[Scanning the two individuals' bodies... Yuan Jing: Healthy body, no hidden ailments, Ice-type variant Spirit Root. Yuan Tai: Congenital weakness, damaged Spirit Root, no suitable elixirs.]
"The one who has been sitting and appears physically weaker should be Yuan Tai, at the Foundation Establishment stage, with eight flags," Ye Zhizhou frowned. "Tongtian didn't detect anything. It seems the closer we get, the stronger the influence of the Soul-Eater Banner."
Dongfang Shu shook his head. "It's impossible to distinguish between real and fake. Both of them have soul fluctuations on their flags."
Both have soul fluctuations?
Ye Zhizhou's expression darkened. "So, the Soul-Eater Banner has devoured more souls over the past dozen years and disguised them as false flags?"
Dongfang Shu nodded. "Seems likely."
The atmosphere grew heavier. From the beginning, the two of them hadn't planned to follow the old routine of finding the male and female protagonists, then gradually pulling the flags. Their only goal was to kill the final protagonist and destroy the Soul-Eater Banner. But now, there were two protagonists, and they couldn't tell which one was real. The biggest question was whom to kill.
"Yuan Jing is powerful, blessed with extraordinary luck, and holds a high position in his sect with good relationships... a typical protagonist setting," Ye Zhizhou observed, squinting at Yuan Jing, who was registering names below and talking to Yuan Tai. "Moreover, he has nine flags on his head."
Dongfang Shu glanced at him. "Do you think it's him?"
"No," Ye Zhizhou smirked coldly, eyes glinting. "After dealing with the Soul-Eater Banner for so many lifetimes, I've seen through its tricks. Nine flags and eight flags, it's deliberate to confuse us, making us doubt and kill the wrong person. But what's the use? We're both natives now, and killing the wrong person won't result in divine retribution. There's no need to worry."
Dongfang Shu frowned. "Don't act rashly. I'll go and kill them. Your hands shouldn't be stained with the blood of the innocent; it'll create karma. Besides, there are many experts in Linxian Pavilion. If they really want to pursue you, you won't have the strength to resist."
"Who said I'm going to kill the innocent?" Ye Zhizhou glanced at him from the corner of his eye, smiling maliciously. "Isn't this the Soul-Eater Banner's plan? It wants us to kill the wrong person and incur the anger of Linxian Pavilion. Don't forget, you're carrying the dark history of destroying three cultivation sects. It's easy for them to make trouble."
Dongfang Shu raised his hand to cover Ye Zhizhou's smirking mouth. "Still scheming, aren't you?"
Ye Zhizhou pretended to bite his finger, then pulled Dongfang Shu along as they flew back. "Always scheming. Come on, let's go back and draw the relationship chart of the people in Linxian Pavilion first, and then look for the ownership of that last flag. Killing can wait."
In the valley, the competition was in full swing, and Ye Zhizhou was immersed in drawing the relationship chart of the people in Linxian Pavilion.
"Linxian Pavilion truly lives up to its reputation as a major cultivation sect. There are eight experts at the Nascent Soul and Core Formation stages alone, not to mention how numerous those at the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment stages are," he muttered while flipping through his white paper. "And that's without considering the cultivators related to the protagonists... that evil spirit really knows how to find a place to be reincarnated."
Dongfang Shu fed him a pill and patted his head. "You've worked hard."
"Not really," Ye Zhizhou shook his head, swallowing the pill like candy, then looked up. "Any clues about the last flag?"
"No, I spread my divine sense to look, but I didn't find any trace of the last flag."
Ye Zhizhou furrowed his brow, stroking his chin, and hesitated. "Could it be... there was never a last flag to begin with? If a cultivator's soul was successfully absorbed, what would happen to the Soul-Eater Banner's formation flags?"
"They would transform into power and merge into the Soul-Eater Banner itself, awaiting the next flag-splitting ceremony. The stronger the souls absorbed by the formation flags, the longer it would take for the power to merge, and the later the next flag-splitting ceremony would occur." Dongfang Shu instantly understood his thought, sat down beside him, and asked, "Do you suspect that the Soul-Eater Banner has once successfully devoured a cultivator's soul?"
"Yeah, it just occurred to me suddenly. Some things don't add up." Ye Zhizhou took Tongtian out of his dantian and asked, "Who sent Tongtian to my world?"
Dongfang Shu paused for a rare moment, then furrowed his brows.
Ye Zhizhou asked again, "Where did the Soul-Eater Banner get the power to send those captured souls into the little world for reincarnation? Over seventy cultivators would require a significant amount of power. Moreover, it had been dormant for millions of years, so there must have been a trigger for its sudden awakening. And Tongtian, as an artifact that remained undiscovered for so long, who found it and sent it to find me? Was it you?"
Dongfang Shu shook his head, "No, I only discovered the truth about the Soul-Eater Banner after the end of the tenth reincarnation when all the souls had gathered." This was indeed something he had overlooked. Initially, he thought Tongtian had been sent to Ye Zhizhou by the previous owner... but now it seemed very unlikely.
The small mirror on the table trembled and the screen lit up. [When I woke up from my slumber, the task of removing the formation flags had already been imprinted on my consciousness.]
"As I thought." Ye Zhizhou touched the small mirror and fell silent for a moment. Then, he suddenly said, "Dongfang, you mentioned earlier that Jiajia was able to retain some of his humanity because his soul wasn't shattered too severely. The Soul-Eater Banner, being on par with divine artifacts, must devour souls at a fast pace, but Jiajia's soul managed to retain some integrity... why is that?"
Dongfang Shu held his hand. "Two reasons: either his soul was taken into the Soul-Eater Banner for a relatively short time, or his soul was inherently strong."
Ye Zhizhou squeezed his hand and spoke in a lower voice, "And he was even able to use a loophole in the heavenly laws to help me escape... Dongfang, what if Jiajia was the first cultivator soul devoured by the Soul-Eater Banner?"
Silence filled the air. After a long while, Ye Zhizhou took a deep breath and set out a blank piece of paper. "After the Soul-Eater Banner devours a cultivator's soul, it creates the illusion that the cultivator has ascended to a higher realm. So, all we need to do is check the cultivators who have ascended in the past century, then eliminate those whose flags have already been removed. That should give us the answer."
Dongfang Shu stopped him. "How will you eliminate those with removed flags? Their souls have returned to their original bodies and successfully ascended. When they were pulled into the little world, they were reborn and didn't retain their original appearances."
The small mirror trembled again, and the screen suddenly expanded, displaying numerous names.
Ye Zhizhou patted the small mirror and smiled at Dongfang Shu. "See, Tongtian is still very useful."
Dongfang Shu looked at the forced smile on his face and sighed inwardly but didn't object.
Several hours later, Ye Zhizhou stopped the screen on one person's information.
"Dongyun True Man, an elder of the Independent Cultivator Alliance, a Wood-element single Spirit Root, mistakenly entered the ancient secret realm a hundred years ago. Two years later, he emerged and directly ascended..." He turned to Dongfang Shu, "Ancient secret realm."
"The ancient secret realm is the oldest known secret realm that has survived to this day. It's extremely perilous inside, and it's rumored to contain divine artifacts. Only Nascent Soul stage cultivators or higher can enter, and it's considered a place of certain death." Dongfang Shu concluded, "Tongtian and the Soul-Eater Banner haven't been discovered by the cultivation world for so many years. They should be hidden inside."
Ye Zhizhou was filled with mixed emotions. "I really came too late... Dongyun True Man had a Wood-element Spirit Root with self-healing abilities. Even if his soul was taken by the Soul-Eater Banner, if we could have saved him in time, he wouldn't have died... From entering the ancient secret realm to the appearance of the fake ascension, it took two full years. If I had arrived earlier and removed his flag sooner, perhaps he..." He sighed deeply. "It's too late. Indeed, it's too late. Your world wasn't the first world where the Soul-Eater Banner appeared. Jiajia was. At first, the Soul-Eater Banner didn't establish a harem; it was only after devouring Jiajia's soul... Jiajia even thanked me in the end!"
Dongfang Shu hugged him gently and patted his back tenderly.
"He saved so many of you, but in the end... his soul scattered, and he didn't even have a chance at reincarnation." Ye Zhizhou gripped Dongfang Shu's collar tightly, his eyes filled with a murderous intent. "This last protagonist, I'll kill him. Don't interfere."
"...Okay."
On the second day, Yuan Jing's match took place. Ye Zhizhou watched his entire match with an expressionless face, occasionally glancing at the flag on Yuan Tai's head. His eyes remained unreadable. On the third day, it was Ye Zhizhou's turn. He easily defeated a group of Golden Core late-stage cultivators, making a significant impact.
After three days of fierce preliminary battles, the competition was put on hold for two days. After a brief rest, the cultivators faced the main event of the competition—the arena matches.
During the arena matches, Yuan Tai didn't reappear. According to Flowing Sand, the chaotic fluctuations of spiritual energy caused by the battles in the valley had further destabilized his already fragile spiritual roots, leading the senior members of his sect to take him away for recovery.
Ye Zhizhou sneered upon hearing this. Spiritual roots? For a naturally-born demonic cultivator, unstable spiritual roots were to be expected.
Five days later, the arena matches concluded, and Ye Zhizhou dominated the leaderboard with a substantial lead over the second-place Yuan Jing, surpassing him by a considerable margin. Two days later, the Delightful Visage Secret Realm was opened.