Zu An's expression changed. He had been immersed in the joy of reuniting with Yun Yuqing, but now, after her reminder, it seemed that such a possibility did indeed exist.
He hurriedly looked at the Goddess of Wushan, his voice trembling slightly: "Goddess, what will happen to the person with the special poisonous body who makes the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?"
“Young master, there’s no need to worry too much. The creation of the Myriad Souls Banner is only achieved at the very last moment, when the special poisonous body is refined and completely integrated into the banner. Only then will the banner reach its maximum power. Since there haven’t been any instances of the Myriad Souls Banner openly slaughtering living beings, it seems we haven’t reached the final stage yet. Miss Ji should be out of immediate danger.” The Goddess of Wushan clearly knew what he was worried about and offered her comforting words.
Zuan breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although the Chang clan and the Shouyang Witch Clan were very likely wiped out by the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, this was a small-scale, clandestine massacre, not the legendary scene where the entire world changed color and all living beings were refined by the Ten Thousand Soul Banner when it was unleashed.
Wu Hui also spoke up, "I've heard some rumors about the Ten Thousand Souls Banner. The banner pole is usually made of yin wood that is over a thousand years old, such as a locust tree or a coffin. But this Ten Thousand Souls Banner is obviously different from the ordinary one. It is probably made of yin wood that has been contaminated with the evil energy and corpse energy of the ancient battlefield for over ten thousand years."
“Banners are often made from human skin, but according to you, the Chang clan and the current Shouyang shamans did not show any signs of being skinned, so they obviously did not use that method. After thinking about it, it must be something like the shrouds of some powerful corpses filled with resentment.”
"Furthermore, the Myriad Souls Banner needs a core, a powerful and malevolent main vengeful spirit to control the other vengeful spirits within it. Based on what you just said, if I'm not mistaken, that person should have chosen your friend as the main vengeful spirit. Although she is not strong enough, her special poisonous body is enough to make up for it. Once she is successfully refined, the power of this Myriad Souls Banner will far surpass any Myriad Souls Banner that has ever appeared in the world before. When it appears, wherever it appears, there will be widespread devastation."
"Then Xiao Xi is in grave danger!" Zu An's heart, which had just relaxed, jumped back into suspense.
"To refine it into a core, theoretically it would take eighty-one days. Miss Yun, how many days has it been since your companion was captured?" Wu Hui looked at Yun Yuqing.
Yun Yuqing's face turned pale: "It's been sixty-three days."
“There are still eighteen days to rescue your friend,” Wu Hui analyzed. “We can start by investigating the sources of the materials we just mentioned.”
Zuan, however, was not so optimistic. Perhaps it would indeed take eighty-one days to successfully refine it, but every extra day would mean one more day of suffering for Xiao Xi. Moreover, the core of refining the Ten Thousand Soul Banner sounded extremely evil and vicious. Who could guarantee that Xiao Xi would still be alive by the end of the process?
"Yuqing, what ability did that mysterious person use when he kidnapped Xiaoxi? Was there anything special about it?" Zu'an knew that Wu Hui's method wasn't impossible, but it was too slow, and Xiaoxi might not be able to hold out for that long.
Wu Hui snorted: "Do you think I didn't ask you these questions before? Miss Yun's strength is too different from that person's, so there's no way she could force him to use any of his signature techniques."
As expected, Yun Yuqing's subsequent descriptions yielded absolutely no useful information.
Just like when someone steps on an ant on the roadside, how can the ant tell how much force the person used or what posture they used to step on it?
Zuan fell into deep thought and began to rethink all the information.
First came the death of the Chang family, then the disappearance of Mikado Baiqing, and then the mysterious death of Shouyang Wu here. Now that I think about it, their souls were collected by the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, and when it reaches its full potential, it will have the power to destroy the world...
Wait, I think I've overlooked some important information.
His mind raced, and finally his gaze fell on the Shouyang shamans. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: "We thought we had no clues, but actually the clues have already been placed in front of us."
"What do you mean?" Everyone was taken aback, wondering if he had found out something.
Zuan slowly said, "The reason we came here to investigate is because of that fragment of the cauldron. It's obvious that Shouyang Shaman was forging a special cauldron for that mysterious person. Since the other party already has the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, why would they need to make a cauldron?"
"A cauldron?" Wu Hui was taken aback. "What cauldron?"
Zuan took out the fragment, and when he saw the mark of a human face on it, Wu Hui's expression immediately turned extremely ugly: "This is actually a living soul imprinted on it."
“Indeed, that mysterious person not only created the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, but also commissioned the Shouyang Witch to forge a cauldron for collecting living souls!” Zuan said in a deep voice. “It seems that the other party’s scheme is even bigger than we initially imagined.”
A hint of surprise appeared between the brows of the Goddess of Wushan: "The level of that Ten Thousand Soul Banner alone is enough to cause widespread suffering, so what's the point of having such a cauldron?"
Wu Hui's face turned ashen: "I seem to have thought of a legendary ultimate formation. That formation seems to use these two things, but once that formation is activated, it requires sacrificing all the living beings in the world. Who has such audacity and such power?"
"Moreover, the Myriad Soul Banner required for that kind of ultimate formation is far more than what a single Innate Poisonous Saint Body can provide. It requires at least nine powerful vengeful spirits. But where can we find such powerful spirits who were extremely resentful before their deaths?"
"If such a thing really happened, it's impossible that the Heavenly Court wouldn't have heard a word about it."
He muttered to himself, as if he had thought of something terrifying, but kept contradicting his own guesses.
Upon hearing his words, all the golden-armored warriors paled. Originally, as heavenly soldiers and generals, they had a sense of pride as imperial envoys on inspection tours, regarding everyone else as mere chickens and dogs.
But now this case seems to have far exceeded their expectations, and even Lord Huozheng might not be able to handle it.
Zuan approached the leader of the Shouyang Shamans at the front and said in a deep voice, "We overlooked one issue before: why were the Shouyang Shamans willing to forge such a cauldron for that mysterious person?"
According to the information provided by the Goddess of Wushan, the Shouyang Witches are actually quite powerful. Many years ago, someone may have tried to force them to create something, but that problem no longer exists.
The Mermaid Queen's heart skipped a beat: "You mean these Sun Shamans voluntarily helped him build it?"
“That’s right. There’s no sign of coercion in these people. They were clearly created voluntarily.” Zuan nodded.
“But that doesn’t make sense. That Soul-Bearing Cauldron looks extremely evil. Shouyang Witches are generally considered to be of the lawful alignment. How could they possibly agree to refine such a thing?” the Goddess of Wushan asked, puzzled.
“There are two possibilities. One is that they don’t know what the cauldron they’ve made is for, but Shouyang Wu is famous in the world for crafting weapons, so it’s impossible that they wouldn’t be able to tell. So there’s only one possibility left,” Zu’an said, looking at the group of Shouyang Wu kneeling respectfully in the square, “that is, the other party’s identity is enough to make Shouyang Wu suppress their doubts and help him make such an evil weapon.”
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