"What? A mere avatar?" Ye Jingyu's heart jolted, and then he saw a spectral image slowly materialize before him. Soon, the figure grew clearer: an old man clad in a long black robe, his eyes sunken deep into his sockets, making him look utterly spectral.

"Naturally. If it weren't just an avatar, my Twelve Heaven Witches Annihilation Array, which now retains less than one ten-thousandth of its original power, wouldn't be able to trap him!" the man spoke calmly, his face etched with melancholy.

"Ah? What Twelve Heaven Witches Annihilation Array?" Ye Jingyu was taken aback; he had never heard of such a formation.

"Heh, this is the primordial era's foremost killing formation, created by the Demon Venerable Chiyou and the War God Xing Tian, using the vital blood of the Twelve Heaven Witches. Countless Primordial Golden Immortals were trapped and slain within this grand array!" As he spoke of the Heaven Witches Array, a smug expression crossed the man's face, yet to Ye Jingyu, it sounded like a bolt from the blue.

Chiyou? Xing Tian—these were titans of the Primordial Era! A formation they devised would naturally be peerlessly powerful. No wonder even less than one ten-thousandth of its residual strength was enough to neutralize both him and Fang Zhentian's avatar.

"Then who are you?" Hearing such secret lore from the Primordial Era, Ye Jingyu naturally became curious about the man's identity.

"Who am I? I don't even know who I am. Perhaps I was once a man, perhaps a demon, perhaps a spirit, perhaps nothing at all. But what does it matter? All you need to tell me now is whether you are willing to accept my inheritance." The man's eyes seemed to flicker with confusion, and he shook his head slightly.

"Your inheritance? You mean this so-called Twelve Heaven Witches Annihilation Array?" Ye Jingyu blinked, surprised that this being didn't even know his own race.

"Correct. My sole reason for existence is to pass down this formation. That was the command given to me by the Demon Venerable Chiyou. While you see its power as diminished now, that is because it lacks the Chiyou Banner as its array core, causing its strength to gradually erode. If you can one day recover the Chiyou Banner, you will be able to slowly re-coalesce the true forms of the Twelve Heaven Witches, making the slaying of gods and immortals mere trivialities. How about it? Will you inherit this formation?" the man continued.

"The Chiyou Banner? What is that?" Ye Jingyu asked, perplexed.

"It should be a flag..." the man stated very earnestly.

"..." Ye Jingyu rolled his eyes. I know it's a flag, but couldn't you at least tell me what kind of flag it is?

"Do not ask me any other questions. I don't even know who I am, let alone anything else. Except for the inheritance of this formation, ask me nothing else!" The man shook his head decisively.

"Er..." Ye Jingyu immediately clamped his mouth shut. This fellow seemed nothing more than some kind of residual memory construct.

"Hey, are you willing to accept or not?" Seeing Ye Jingyu hesitate, the man spoke once more.

"Are there any conditions? I mean, is there anything I need to do?" Ye Jingyu asked curiously. He never believed in free lunches, even though he’d stumbled upon a few already.

"Yes. If you ever manage to find the Chiyou Banner and perfect this grand array, you must take good care of the Minotaur lineage. They are all descendants of the Demon Venerable Chiyou; you must not allow Chiyou's line to be severed!" the man stated plainly.

"What if they are already extinct by then?" Ye Jingyu pressed.

"That... the Demon Venerable Chiyou didn't tell me that. You figure it out as you go," the man shrugged with utter irresponsibility.

"Er, very well then. If there are no other demands, I am willing to accept!" Ye Jingyu nodded. Looking after the Minotaur lineage—if he could truly perfect this grand array, ensuring the continuation of their bloodline would surely be an easy task.

This wasn't a free lunch, but it was definitely a bargain. Not accepting it would be a waste—and he already wanted more!

Upon hearing Ye Jingyu agree, the man suddenly transformed into a streak of white light and, ignoring Ye Jingyu’s consent, shot straight into the center of his brow.

Instantly, profound and esoteric incantations appeared within Ye Jingyu's mind. At this thought, Ye Jingyu nearly cursed out loud. If he could forcibly imprint this cultivation method into his mind, why bother asking all those questions?

"Boy, remember the promise you made!" This seemed to be the man's final message. Once this impression faded, Ye Jingyu could no longer sense the man's presence, but he felt himself inextricably linked to the grand array.

His hands awkwardly formed the hand seals, and he muttered the incantation. Immediately, twelve beams of white light shot out, landing before him. They were bones, thick as chopsticks.

Patterns were carved into the bone, but whether due to extreme age or some prior damage, the carvings were vague, showing little more than uneven textures to Ye Jingyu’s eye.

Were these the artifacts for the Twelve Heaven Witches Annihilation Array? As long as he possessed these twelve white bones, he could deploy the formation anywhere.

Alas, the man had said he must find the Chiyou Banner to fully mend the formation, otherwise its power would only thin further. But where was he supposed to find the Chiyou Banner?

Just then, the tattered black cloth hidden in his robes suddenly stirred, emitting streaks of dark light. Simultaneously, the twelve bone chopsticks in his hands glowed with white radiance, responding to the cloth. Finally, the large black banner flew out on its own, suspending itself in mid-air, while the twelve bone chopsticks circled around it, spinning rapidly.

The black and white lights intertwined, like two inseparable companions reunited after many years. They finally merged into a single flowing stream of light and surged directly into Ye Jingyu's Sea of Consciousness, where they hovered, much like the Eastern Emperor Bell...

Ye Jingyu stared, dumbfounded by the spectacle. After a long moment, he managed to utter a few words: "Could my luck really be this good? Is this ragged old flag I picked up somewhere actually the legendary Chiyou Banner?"

At that very moment, stripped of the power of the Twelve Heaven Witches Annihilation Array, the strange oppressive energy surrounding him vanished. Several powerful auras descended from above. Knowing he had only slain a mere avatar of Fang Zhentian, Ye Jingyu guessed these were people from the Fang family. He dared not linger, conjuring a streak of light and fleeing westward...

(Updating two chapters first; too tired, going to sleep, will continue writing upon waking.)