The sky of the female-oriented cultivation world was bluer than Genichi had imagined.
He stood atop an unnamed mountain peak, his robes snapping loudly in the wind.
In the distance, mountain ranges rose one behind another beneath drifting clouds and mist. From time to time, a few spirit cranes swept across the sky, letting out clear, resonant cries.
The air was saturated with spiritual energy, many times denser than in the ancient female-oriented world.
With every breath, he could feel that pure power flowing into his body, nourishing his meridians and dantian.
If an ordinary cultivator had come here, they would have been ecstatic, wishing they could immediately find some blessed cultivation ground and enter seclusion.
But Genichi didn't.
His gaze passed through the clouds and distant peaks before settling on a faraway direction.
There stood a prestigious sect.
A mountain gate he had once thought of as home.
And a group of people he had once believed were family.
He was in no hurry to attack them.
Not because he was afraid.
He simply wanted them to understand exactly why they were going to die.
He wanted them to know that the chief disciple they had framed, betrayed, and robbed of his spiritual root had returned.
And he had returned with the Myriad Souls Banner.
No.
It was called the Human Sovereign Banner now.
He wanted them to wait in fear.
To suffer while they waited.
To fall into despair as they suffered.
Just as that Genichi had waited inside the dungeon for his spiritual root to be ripped out.
Just as that Genichi had been stripped of his cultivation and thrown out of the sect.
Just as that Genichi had died alone in the wilderness.
Genichi took the Human Sovereign Banner from within his robes.
Its golden surface shone brilliantly beneath the sunlight. Golden patterns spread across the banner like veins, and from time to time, dark silhouettes flashed through those lines.
They were the imprisoned souls making their final struggles.
He tightened his grip around the banner pole and sensed the power of the souls within.
The souls of hundreds of thousands of foreign tribesmen had already been tempered and transformed by the Myriad Souls Banner, turning them into his most loyal warriors.
They were neither living nor dead.
They existed somewhere in between.
They knew no fear.
They never tired.
They would never betray him.
Perfect soldiers.
Perfect tools.
Perfect blades of vengeance.
"Still not enough."
Genichi murmured softly to himself.
The Human Sovereign Banner was powerful, but it was still far from enough to deal with that prestigious sect.
That sect possessed thousands of years of accumulated heritage, countless powerful cultivators, a mountain-protecting formation, and all manner of restrictions and defensive arrays.
He needed more strength.
More soul slaves.
More pieces on the board.
So Genichi began hunting down the Demonic Sects.
He spread a single message throughout the land.
Every demonic cultivator had two choices.
Submit.
Or die.
The moment the news spread, the entire demonic path was thrown into turmoil.
For the first time, those fiends who normally acted without restraint and slaughtered without hesitation experienced true fear.
They sent scouts to investigate the sudden appearance of this terrifying figure.
Who was he?
What was his cultivation?
What sort of background did he have?
The scouts returned with news that drained the color from the faces of every major demonic cultivator.
Mahayana Realm.
The highest realm attainable in the mortal world.
Only a single step away from ascension.
And in his hands was a bizarre Human Sovereign Banner, said to imprison souls and condemn the dead to eternal torment without reincarnation.
No one wanted to sit around and wait for death.
But no one dared face him directly either.
The demonic cultivators began to flee.
Some hid deep within ancient forests.
Some concealed themselves inside underground cave dwellings.
Others disguised themselves as ordinary mortals and blended into towns and cities.
But no matter where they hid, Genichi found them.
His shadows were like omnipresent eyes.
His presence clung to them like a curse embedded in their bones.
And his Human Sovereign Banner was like a waiting maw, ready to swallow everything.
In less than half a month, Genichi had hunted the Demonic Sects until they had nowhere left to flee.
The terrifying fiends who had once dominated entire regions now scattered like homeless dogs.
Some were cornered and detonated themselves in despair.
Some were personally captured by Genichi and thrown into the Human Sovereign Banner.
Others dropped to their knees and begged for mercy, offering him everything they possessed.
Genichi showed neither mercy nor hesitation.
He simply carried out his plan with cold precision.
He did not kill ordinary people.
He did not kill innocents.
He did not kill those whose hands were clean of blood.
But among these demonic cultivators, there were hardly any innocents to be found.
Their hands were drenched in blood.
Their paths were paved with mountains of bones.
Every one of them had committed enough crimes to deserve death many times over.
Using them to fill the Human Sovereign Banner caused Genichi no guilt whatsoever.
The headquarters of the Demonic Sect, the Myriad Demon Cavern.
It was an enormous cavern built deep underground.
Countless luminous pearls were embedded into the surrounding stone walls, illuminating the vast space as brightly as day.
At the center of the cavern stood a massive palace.
It had been built from black stone, its halls elaborately decorated, creating an atmosphere that was both sinister and imposing.
The plaza before the palace was packed with kneeling demonic disciples.
Fear and despair covered every face.
They kept their heads lowered, not daring to look at the young man seated atop the palace steps.
Genichi sat on the Sect Master's throne.
It was an enormous chair carved from black jade, with vicious demonic patterns engraved across its back and blood-red gemstones embedded into both armrests.
He sat with one leg crossed over the other, one hand resting casually on the armrest while the other held the Human Sovereign Banner.
Beneath his foot lay a man.
The Demonic Sect Master.
A Spirit Transformation Realm powerhouse who had once terrified countless cultivators merely by having his name mentioned.
Now he lay on the floor like a dead dog.
Blood covered his entire body.
His limbs were twisted at unnatural angles.
Blood continued pouring from his mouth, but he no longer had even enough strength left to scream.
Standing on both sides of the great hall were the Demonic Sect's ten Elders and several dozen stewards.
Their cultivation ranged from the Golden Core Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Every one of them had once been a feared overlord capable of dominating an entire region.
Yet now they were like rats cornered by a cat, trembling uncontrollably, furious but too terrified to speak.
Their eyes remained fixed on Genichi.
There was fear.
Anger.
Unwillingness.
And a trace of despair that even they themselves had not yet noticed.
"Two choices."
Genichi's voice was quiet, yet every person present heard him clearly.
"First, you enter my Human Sovereign Banner willingly."
The golden banner beside him began fluttering despite the complete absence of wind.
A deep humming sound emerged from it.
Golden light flowed across its surface, and the golden patterns wriggled like venomous snakes, eager to devour fresh souls.
The eyes of the demonic leaders twitched simultaneously.
Of course they recognized what that thing was.
Human Sovereign Banner, my ass.
Did he seriously think changing its color meant they wouldn't recognize it?
That was the Myriad Souls Banner.
One of the most wicked, cruel, and terrifying artifacts in the entire cultivation world.
Once someone entered the Myriad Souls Banner, their soul would be imprisoned for eternity.
There would be no release.
No reincarnation.
They would suffer within the banner endlessly until their very souls were finally destroyed.
It was a fate far more terrifying than death.
A nightmare no cultivator would willingly face.
(End of Chapter)
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