CHAPTER 898: CHAPTER 894: JINGYA’S FEAR

Hua Wu said coldly, "You hand the Evil Spirit Banner over to this Sect Master. After I consider it, I may return it."

Ye Fan, being dependent on others, thought there was no need to offend Hua Wu over a magic artifact, so he tossed the so-called Evil Spirit Banner out. Hua Wu grabbed the Evil Spirit Banner in his hand, and perhaps because the Evil Spirit Banner sensed malice from the person holding it, it gradually shrank until it was only as large as a banana leaf fan.

"Senior Sister, do you sense anything unusual?" Master Hui Ning asked beside her.

Hua Wu shook her head, but before she could say anything, there was a clamorous noise from outside the main hall: "I want to see who injured my apprentice grandson."

This voice sounded familiar to Ye Fan; it was the effeminate Sect Master Jing Ya of the Tianzong that he encountered on his first day entering the sect.

Jing Ya, like a shrew cursing in the street, entered the main hall without even a formal greeting, without even glancing at Hua Wu, and stared directly at Ye Fan, extending a slender finger and asked, "Was it you who injured my apprentice grandson?"

Ye Fan saluted, "Greetings, Uncle-Master Jing Ya."

Previously, Master Hui Ning had already arranged the ranks for him; this effeminate person, within Hui Ning’s generation, was second only to Hua Wu. However, despite not holding a high rank among his peers, his cultivation was very high, so most people addressed him as "Uncle-Master."

"Don’t call me Uncle-Master, you have quite the ability, not even showing some courtesy to the juniors by directly injuring them and cracking my apprentice grandson’s Golden Core. I really want to see how capable you are," said Jing Ya, indeed intending to use his seniority to bully the young and challenge Ye Fan.

But in the end, he was just posturing. How could he bully a newcomer and still command respect? At most, he was just making a statement that their Tianzong disciples should not be bullied by others.

The young girl Qing Xu couldn’t stand it, and she quickly said, "Uncle-Master Jing Ya, it was clearly those juniors who provoked us first, even saying they wanted to refine cauldrons with me, stripping in front of me. It was my brother... my senior brother who helped me..."

The innocence of a child, and when Qing Xu said this, even Jing Ya couldn’t keep a straight face.

Hua Wu said coldly, "Junior Brother Jing Ya, you should manage Tianzong’s disciples better. It’s one thing for them to often come to our Xuan Sect’s territory for obscene matters, but now they even want to bully the naive Qing Xu. Qing Neng’s actions... serve as a lesson to our junior disciples."

Even knowing they were in the wrong, Jing Ya was still somewhat unconvinced, "So what does Sect Master Sister mean, you want to protect your people? I can’t understand, he’s just at the Foundation Establishment Stage, how could he possibly injure my apprentice grandson who’s at the Golden Core Stage? I’ve heard he has a powerful artifact; Sect Master Sister shouldn’t show favoritism..."

Hua Wu displayed the Evil Spirit Banner in hand and said, "Junior Brother Jing Ya, you should recognize this item, right?"

Jing Ya, who was previously aggressive about holding Ye Fan accountable, immediately changed his expression upon seeing the Evil Spirit Banner. He wanted to move closer but dared not, as if the item had some great influence over him. He examined it from a distance and gritted his teeth, saying, "Yes, back when our Sect Master sent me and a few senior brothers to investigate the Diyuan Sect matter for the Jiangyu Faction, it was this item that absorbed the souls of three senior brothers... If I hadn’t escaped quickly, I might have become one of the evil spirits in it by now..."

After Jing Ya recounted this tale, not only was Ye Fan shocked, but even Master Hui Ning was surprised, saying, "Senior Brother, when did you experience such an event?"

Hua Wu raised a hand and said, "This matter involves a historical tale of our Tianxuan Sect. Qing Neng and Qing Xu, you two go outside first!"

"Yes."

Ye Fan and Qing Xu exited the hall one after the other, and the main hall’s doors were closed immediately. Hua Wu also used a prohibition technique, preventing any sound from leaking out.

Although Ye Fan didn’t know what exactly happened between Jing Ya and his senior brothers, the fact that the Evil Spirit Banner could absorb a cultivator’s soul seemed to be a well-established fact, indicating its power could not be underestimated.

Yet when it was in Bai He’s hands and after falling into his possession, the Evil Spirit Banner could only transform the spiritual energy within a human body?

Moreover, who exactly was Bai He’s mother, and how did she acquire the Evil Spirit Banner?

"Senior Brother, thank you," Qing Xu, seeing Ye Fan remain silent, thought he was angry and looked at him with sincere eyes, saying, "If it wasn’t for you before, those juniors would surely have bullied me. I think... you’d make a better senior brother, so from now on I won’t call you junior brother."

The young girl seemed to enjoy the feeling of being protected, and receiving even a small favor from Ye Fan made her treat him like an older brother.

"It’s alright." Ye Fan smiled lightly. The young girl was innocent and lovely, and he didn’t want her purity tainted by his senior brothers from Tianzong. "We’re both Xuan Sect disciples, it’s only right to help each other."

Qing Xu happily nodded, saying, "Mm-hmm, but can you tell me, what is cauldron refining? And why must one undress to refine a cauldron?"

Ye Fan chuckled; such questions would only be understood once Qing Xu grew a few years older, once she experienced her first menstruation like any other young girl. She would gradually understand without needing to be taught.

"You’ll understand in the future." Ye Fan smiled and said.

"Hmph, if you don’t want to say, then fine. Always bullying me for being young... Senior brother, then in the future, when I don’t understand something, you have to tell me!" Qing Xu said innocently, blinking her big eyes.

"Alright." Ye Fan nodded affirmatively.

While Ye Fan and Qing Xu were talking, inside the main hall, Jing Ya was narrating what transpired back then at the Jiangyu Faction.

More than two hundred years ago, the then Sect Master had sent Jing Ya and three senior brothers to notify the Jiangyu Faction about the impending attack from Diyuan Sect. At that time, Jing Ya was only in his forties but had already reached the early Nascent Soul Stage, while his accompanying senior brothers were all at the late Golden Core Stage. They hadn’t expected the Diyuan Sect to lay siege around the mountains. The Jiangyu Faction, believing the Diyuan Sect had colluded with the Tianxuan Sect, also bore animosity towards them. Besides activating their mountain gate prohibition, they even battled Jing Ya and the others with the Evil Spirit Banner.

"...Speaking of the Jiangyu Faction, it was just an ordinary sect of ancient cultivators, yet unexpectedly had more than a dozen experts at the Nascent Soul Stage or higher. Even with Diyuan Sect attacking the mountain, they didn’t gain any advantage. I, along with the senior brothers, intended to retreat to report to our Sect Master, but before we could leave the Great Sorrow Region, two female disciples from the Jiangyu Faction, wielding the Evil Spirit Banner, attacked us. One of these women was only at the Golden Core Stage, the other at early Nascent Soul. We wouldn’t have lost... Who knew, during the battle, the Evil Spirit Banner forcibly absorbed the souls of Senior Brothers Jing He and Jing Shang, leaving behind empty shells devoid of soul... These shells became puppets for the two women and even turned to attack us..."

Although Master Hui Ning had not experienced that battle, the thought of her senior brothers losing their souls, their bodies becoming puppets attacking them, she could roughly sense the terror Jing Ya felt back then.

"And then?" Hua Wu asked.

Jing Ya, trembling with anger, replied, "Only because my cultivation was high did I manage to escape back to report to the Sect Master. As for the other senior brothers... they’re missing, most likely their souls absorbed by the Evil Spirit Banner."