Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Transient Wings, the Glyph Lady Yun tattooed on Lu Ye’s back was a big help this time. The three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators visibly blanked out for a moment when the young man suddenly soared into the sky. No one was expecting him to be capable of flight, of all things.
Bathed in red light, Lu Ye flew like the wind while being chased by three Spirit Artifacts carrying different colors of Spiritual Lights. They almost looked like rainbows from a distance.
Not every low-level cultivator could acquire a tattooed Glyph. After all, there weren’t many Glyphweavers in Jiu Zhou, much less Glyphweavers who possessed the knowledge and technique to tattoo a Glyph. In fact, there were less than twenty Glyphweavers across the entire Cultivation World of Jiu Zhou who were capable of such a feat, and it so happened that Lady Yun was one of them.
If it wasn’t for the sect master, it would have taken much more effort to convince her to tattoo a Glyph for Lu Ye and Hua Ci.
Lu Ye must have flown at least a hundred meters before the pinpricks of danger gradually faded from his back. When he felt confident enough to look back, he discovered that the three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had withdrawn their Spirit Artifacts. It was because Lu Ye had escaped beyond their attack range.
Telekinesis was great, but it was hardly omnipotent. For these Seventh-Order cultivators, ninety meters was their absolute limit. Anything more than that would cause them to lose contact with their own Spirit Artifact.
After Lu Ye was gone, the three cultivators exchanged hesitating glances with each other. They didn’t know if they should chase after the enemy or not. Lu Ye’s ability to take out two spell cultivators in a row was worrying, but they also knew his cultivation level was only Sixth-Order. Moreover, the other two Grand Sky Coalition cultivators were so badly injured that they barely counted as a fighting power. Logically speaking, their best option was to chase and hunt down the enemy before they could recover.
However, the other island was also the enemy’s territory. It was never a good idea to chase into the enemy’s territory recklessly, not to mention that there was the possibility of traps.
It didn’t even need to be a complicated trap. Assuming that the enemy had the numbers—even if the likelihood was pretty low—all they needed to do was to lie in ambush somewhere.
A brief discussion later, it was decided that the ghost cultivator would sneak into the enemy island and scout out the area first.
Of the six major cultivation systems, ghost cultivators were most adept at infiltration and assassination. However, most of the ghost cultivators Lu Ye encountered weren’t too different from a combat cultivators. The reason for that was cultivation level. Ghost cultivators could not display their true capabilities until they had passed a certain threshold.
There was one edge a ghost cultivator had over other cultivators even at a low cultivation level, and that was their running speed. It was why the ghost cultivator was entrusted with the duty to scout the enemy, even if he wasn’t exactly eager to bear the risk. It was simply their best choice right now.
Thanks to the cover provided by his two companions, the ghost cultivator was able to infiltrate Lu Ye and Hua Ci’s island with no issues. After scouting out the enemy from a far distance, he returned to his companions with both good news and bad news.
The good news was that the enemy reinforcements they feared only consisted of one Sixth-Order cultivator.
The bad news was that she was a medicine cultivator, and she was treating the two injured Grand Sky Coalition cultivators right now!
For a time, the body tempering cultivator and the combat cultivator were completely speechless. What kind of sect would assign a pair of Sixth-Order cultivators to be their Legate and prolegate, not to mention that one of them was a medicine cultivator?
It wasn’t like medicine cultivators could not study another cultivation system to make up for their flaws, but they still had to invest most of their time in studying medicine. Combat wise, no one would dispute that medicine cultivators were the weakest of all types of cultivators.
This was why medicine cultivators rarely showed up in the Battle Royale of the Legates. In a battle royale, participants were expected to battle each other to the death most of the time. If the team wasn’t strong enough, then the most likely outcome was death. With that in mind, who in their right mind would intentionally halve their fighting strength by bringing a medicine cultivator? Were they planning on the medicine cultivator sewing their corpse back together after they were chopped to a dozen pieces?
The three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators just could not figure it out no matter what. Just who was the bizarre sect who came up with such an “ingenious” tactic?
Regardless, their course of action was clear now. If they chose to stay idle, then it was only a matter of time before the two injured cultivators regained their strength. When that happened, it would be a three versus four where they were the disadvantaged party. They needed to end this before those two cultivators could recover!
The three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators hurried toward the other island upon coming to a decision. On the way, they discussed battle plans and agreed that the ghost cultivator would keep Lu Ye occupied. The way Lu Ye had slain two of their numbers and kept the three of them at bay before escaping to their sky was still fresh in their minds, so they knew that it would be idiotic to treat him as a normal Sixth-Order cultivator. All they asked of the ghost cultivator was to keep Lu Ye occupied until they had taken out the other three Grand Sky Coalition cultivators. After that, there should be no reason they couldn’t kill Lu Ye even if he could fly.
Meanwhile, Hua Ci was in the middle of treating the two Grand Sky Coalition cultivators when she suddenly shot Lu Ye a look. The young man caught her meaning immediately.
The body tempering cultivator asked, “Are they here?”
“Yeah.”
He forced himself to rise to his feet and raised his Shield Spirit Artifact. Thinking that this was it for all of them, he let out a resigned sigh in his head and smiled at Lu Ye. “Sorry for bringing such trouble to your doorsteps. I’ll do my best to stop them.”
The female cultivator also rose to her feet and grabbed her Dagger Spirit Artifacts.
Hua Ci’s treatment was useful, but the enemy had come too quickly. All she managed to do was to stop their bleeding.
The female cultivator looked like she wanted to say something to Lu Ye, but in the end she didn’t. It was at this moment Lu Ye slowly unsheathed his saber and declared in an indifferent tone, “Calm down, you two. If those three dare to show their faces here, you have my word that they won’t live to regret it.”
Both the body tempering cultivator and the female cultivator looked at him in astonishment. Should they say he was boastful or an idiot? They might outnumber the enemy, but anyone could see that their chances of survival were low.
Sensing their doubt, Lu Ye added, “You don’t know this, but my medicine cultivator is a scary woman!”
As if on cue, three Thousand Ridge Demon cultivators appeared at the distance. Lu Ye tightened his grip around the Inviolable as the enemies launched their Spirit Artifacts at them using telekinesis.
The brawny body tempering cultivator let out a mighty roar and blocked in front of their group. He slammed his Shield Spirit Artifact on the ground and channeled his Spiritual Power to summon a thick barrier. It was large enough to protect all four cultivators behind it.
Every time a Spirit Artifact clashed against the barrier, the body tempering cultivator’s body would shake a little. However, he refused to budge as if he was rooted to the ground.
The barrier began to crumble as it blocked more and more attacks, but that was fine, because Lu Ye and the female cultivator had already rushed out of the cover.
The female cultivator controlled one of her daggers using telekinesis in an attempt to give the combat cultivator a taste of his own medicine. The man had no choice but to channel his own Spirit Artifact to defend against his attack.
Lu Ye had also channeled his Spiritual Power and launched a spell at the ghost cultivator.
Mayhem reigned supreme for a time. Spiritual Power rose and fell all over the place.
.
Then, Hua Ci casually raised her hands, activated her Spiritual Power, and made a Secret Technique.
The three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators blanched at the same time. Their Spiritual Power had suddenly become corrupted, and it felt like they were trying to cycle sludge instead of energy. As a result, their strength plummeted like a rock, and their skills became much weaker than before.
Not only that, they could feel something growing out of their eyes, their ears, their nostrils and their mouths. Not only did it block their breathing and eyesight, their Spiritual Power was leaking like a burst dam. It scared the shit out of them as a matter of course.
Then, Lu Ye ran up to the ghost cultivator and took off his head in a single slash…
Thirty breaths later, the battle ended with the body tempering cultivator crushing his counterpart’s head to bits with his Shield Spirit Artifact.
Lu Ye had returned his saber to its sheath, and Hua Ci looked so calm it was as if a battle hadn’t happened just now. The only ones who were affected were the body tempering cultivator and the female cultivator.
When Lu Ye told them that his medicine cultivator was a scary woman, they hadn’t really taken him seriously. Maybe he was right, but how scary could a medicine cultivator really be? Everyone knew that a medicine cultivator’s niche was saving lives, not taking them.
Then, Hua Ci shattered their world view completely. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦.𝘦𝑡
They hadn’t even seen it happen properly. All they saw was tiny mushrooms growing out of their enemies’ heads all of a sudden and severely impeding their performance in every aspect. The next thing they knew, they had killed the three Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators as easily as taking out the trash.
They had never heard of such a treacherous method of killing in their lives. It wasn’t like their sects didn’t have medicine cultivators who could kill, but none of them was even close to being as scary as this one!
Both Grand Sky Coalition cultivators had the feeling that the seemingly sweet-tempered medicine cultivator must have obtained a good fortune or an incredible inheritance in the past. It was the only explanation why she was so much deadlier than her peers.
“I’ll deal with this. Just focus on healing your injuries,” Lu Ye said before leaving to clean the battlefield.
Hua Ci looked at her patients and asked sweetly, “So, who wants to go first?”
The body tempering cultivator and female cultivator exchanged a glance with each other before declaring in unison, “He will!” “She will!”
Hua Ci beamed at them. “Relax. I’m not going to grow mushrooms in your bodies.”
The body tempering cultivator scratched his head in embarrassment. “You go first, Junior Sister Lan. I’m a body tempering cultivator. I can wait.”
And so the trio focused on treatment and recovery while Lu Ye put away the enemies’ Storage Bags and Spirit Artifacts. He then dragged the bodies to the shore and dumped them all into the sea.
Then he ran to the other island and did the same thing there.
An incense stick later, Lu Ye returned with a strange expression on his face. He seemed to be holding something in his hand.
“Junior Brother Yi Ye!” The female cultivator called out to him. Hua Ci had already finished treating her, though it would take her some time to recover to full health as a matter of course.
“Senior Sister Lan!” Lu Ye smiled back at her. “We meet again.”
It had been a while since he rescued them, but it was only now they had the time to properly speak with each other.
The female cultivator was none other than Lan Yudie of Mount Aurora. Over two months ago, after Lu Ye’s identity was exposed, and countless Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators attempted to murder him, it was she who sought him out first and escorted him the entire way.
Lu Ye received help from many more people during that time, but Lan Yudie was the one he remembered the clearest.
When they parted ways last time, she and the Northern Stars were being besieged by the members of Thousand Demon Ridge. However, Lu Ye exposed his whereabouts willingly and lured a good number of them away.
After the incident had settled, he messaged Lan Yudie and confirmed her safety.
He never expected to run into her again in the Battle Royale of the Legates, however. The fact she was here could only mean that she was a Legate or a prolegate.
“Thank you for saving our lives, junior brother,” Lan Yudie said seriously.
Lu Ye shook his head. “I would not be alive if you hadn’t escorted me that day, senior sister. I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
“Then I suppose we’re even now,” Lan Yudie replied with a smile.
Suddenly, Hua Ci interrupted the conversation with an innocent look. “Didn’t you tell me that the saved person should repay their benefactor with their body?”
“What?” Lan Yudie shot Lu Ye a confused look.
Lu Ye grunted. “Ignore her. My medicine cultivator also likes to talk crazy from time to time.”