31: Chapter 31 All things are under the Heavenly Dao; the ancient double pupils see through all illusions.

After devouring all the living souls, Xiao Hei's entire body radiated an extremely evil demonic aura.

Its cultivation realm had already reached the first level of the Mortal Shedding!

"Master!" Xiao Hei knelt on the ground and said respectfully to Chu Chen.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for nurturing the first Soul Gu to develop spiritual consciousness. Reward: ten thousand soul banner.]

[ten thousand soul banner: Can be consumed to increase cultivation realm, or used as a vessel to contain living souls, allowing them to possess a physical form.]

Xiao Hei had just developed spiritual consciousness, and the system gave me this reward; it is like sending a pillow when one is sleepy—truly commendable.

[Ding! Does the host wish to fuse Xiao Hei into the ten thousand soul banner?]

"Yes," Chu Chen responded.

The next moment, Xiao Hei's soul was sucked into the ten thousand soul banner.

[Ding! Please choose Xiao Hei's appearance. You only need to imagine the image in your mind, and the system will create it according to your imagination.]

The next second, a young man holding a sword across his chest and wearing a bamboo hat was born.

He looked exactly as Chu Chen had imagined—a proper swordsman.

The first level of the Mortal Shedding realm is still a bit weak. When I destroy the Dongxuan Sect, I will feed all the living souls to Xiao Hei.

However, now that Xiao Hei has a physical form, can it still return to the ten thousand soul banner?

Thinking of this, Chu Chen experimented, and discovered that Xiao Hei could enter the Small World inside the ten thousand soul banner directly.

"System, can Xiao Hei enter the Small World of the ten thousand soul banner?"

[Ding! Once a living soul refined by the ten thousand soul banner gains a physical form, it can enter the independent Small World. After a living soul is refined, it belongs to the ten thousand soul banner and can enter its independent world.]

[Ding! When the host reaches the rank of Intermediate Demon King, the ten thousand soul banner will unlock, at which point both inanimate objects and living creatures can be stored within it.]

So that is how it is. Chu Chen was quite looking forward to the independent Small World inside the ten thousand soul banner.

"Husband, are you there?" Xiaoyue's voice came from outside.

"Come in!" Chu Chen replied.

Bai Xiaoyue walked with a graceful, moonlit gait, her figure curvaceous, as she slowly approached Chu Chen.

"What is it? Is something the matter?" Chu Chen looked at Bai Xiaoyue.

"No, I just missed you, Husband, so I wanted to come and see you."

Chu Chen seemed to notice Bai Xiaoyue's troubled mind. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Bai Xiaoyue looked at Chu Chen. Gazing at that face she had thought about day and night, a myriad of emotions filled her heart.

She then took out two jars of spiritual wine from her spatial ring.

"I remember that you love to drink, Husband. How about I accompany you for a few cups today?"

"How do you know I like to drink? I recall I have not drunk in front of you before."

Bai Xiaoyue took a sip first and sat down beside Chu Chen.

With affectionate eyes, she looked at Chu Chen. "Actually, we met in our previous life, but I missed you back then, Husband."

"Fortunately, the heavens gave me a chance to start over, so in this life, I do not want to miss you again, Husband."

After saying this, Bai Xiaoyue took another heavy gulp.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Seeing her like this, Chu Chen also picked up a wine jar and drank with her.

As the saying goes, it is not the wine that makes a person drunk, but the person who makes themselves drunk!

"Husband, wait for me. I will definitely come back to find you. Right now, I do not have the ability to protect you yet."

"Are you leaving?" Chu Chen looked at Bai Xiaoyue, understanding why she had come to find him for a drink late at night.

"Mm!" Bai Xiaoyue bit her lip and said.

She then looked at Chu Chen with a serious expression.

"So... I want to give myself to you, okay?"

Chu Chen was silent for a moment, then finished the wine in the jar in one gulp.

"Have you thought it through?"

Chu Chen did not wait for an answer, but instead, a woman's faint fragrance rushed into his nose.

A pair of charming red lips pressed against Chu Chen's, their two bodies quickly intertwined, and clothes scattered across the floor.

Amidst the rising and falling, spring scenery appeared. (Ten thousand words omitted...)

Waking up the next day, the beauty beside him was already gone, leaving only a spirit crane and a spatial ring.

The moment Chu Chen touched the spirit crane, it instantly dissipated, turning into lines of text.

["Husband, Xiaoyue has some matters that force me to leave you, but Xiaoyue promises that I will return to find you very soon. By the way, Husband, since you can devour the physical abilities of others, please do not use it in crowded places. Love, your Xiaoyue!!!"]

Picking up the spatial ring beside him, Chu Chen probed it with his spiritual sense. Inside were mountains of cultivation resources, with spirit stones alone numbering in the millions.

Sometimes Chu Chen really did not understand why this girl was so good to him.

"Chu Xiaozi, I told you long ago that her identity is not simple. With so many cultivation resources, at least you will not have to worry about the resources needed to break through to the Cave-Heaven Realm."

The next moment, Ming Yuan's voice came urgently: "Not good, Chu Xiaozi, an incomparably powerful aura is rapidly approaching this side."

"Don't move, I will conceal your aura for you."

Boom!

In the next instant, a middle-aged man in a golden Daoist robe appeared outside Chu Chen's cave dwelling.

"Strange, I clearly sensed that aura nearby. Why has it suddenly disappeared? Did it escape?"

The middle-aged man in the golden Daoist robe snorted coldly, and an invisible aura field spread out with his body.

In an instant, all living creatures in the entire mountain range stopped moving. At this moment, whether they were flying in the sky or running on the ground, they all remained in the state they were in the previous second.

After a few breaths, the middle-aged man frowned, then disappeared, and the entire mountain range returned to its previous state.

A full half-hour later, Ming Yuan finally spoke: "Chu Xiaozi, it is a good thing I acted quickly, otherwise you would have been discovered."

"That person just now was so strong. Could he have come looking for me?" Chu Chen asked.

"Probably not. How could you possibly provoke such an expert to take action at your current level? It is likely he was chasing someone and just happened to pass by here."

"However, that person's strength might be in the Saint Realm. If not for my secret technique to conceal you, you might have been discovered."

"You are a demonic cultivator, and that person possesses an aura of righteous energy. If you were discovered, he might just casually suppress and kill you."

Upon hearing this, Chu Chen asked in confusion: "My aura has no anomalies. On what basis would he judge that I am a demonic cultivator?"

"The more people you kill, the more karma you carry. At his level, one can see the karma on a person."

"Take me for example; I can see a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, with piles of bones, behind you right now."

"Does that mean you are also in the Saint Realm?"

Ming Yuan denied it: "I was once more than just a Saint, but now I have long since fallen from my pedestal, and I am not much higher than you."

"I can see it all because of these eyes!!!"

Chu Chen asked suspiciously: "These eyes of yours?"

"Chu Xiaozi, have you heard of the Ancient Double Pupils? They can see through all falsehoods, and naturally, they can see the karma you carry."

"I saw that you were accumulating more and more karma, so I thought I would remind you."

"However, you have your own path; how you act is your own choice."

"So-called karma is nothing but shackles imposed by the Heavenly Dao. If my strength could surpass the Heavenly Dao, this karma would be nothing to me."

As soon as Chu Chen finished speaking, a thunderclap exploded in the sky, striking directly outside Chu Chen's cave dwelling.

"Chu Xiaozi, you must not say things like that. All things are under the Heavenly Dao."

"That sentence of yours has already attracted the attention of the Heavenly Dao, and this bolt of heavenly lightning is a warning to you."