Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
“Oh?”
Lu Ye was surprised by the fact that he had failed to kill the ghost cultivator in one hit. Then he saw the other person’s wizened, weather-beaten face and realized what was going on. His opponent was probably what they called an old-school Ninth-Order cultivator, and it showed. There was no chance an ordinary Ninth-Order cultivator could’ve withstood his charged attack. They might be unable to grow their cultivation level, but they definitely found other ways to expand their strength.
Suddenly, there was a strong disturbance of energy behind the ghost cultivator. Next, a shining rope descended from the sky and hit the ghost cultivator dead on. It was Yi Yi emerging from her hiding spot shooting a Spirit Shackling Rope at the old ghost cultivator.
It wasn’t the sect master who taught Yi Yi the spell. She wasn’t capable of mastering the spell at the time. Yi Yi had learned how to cast it herself after watching the Xianyuan City Watch throwing them again and again. It was because she thought that the spell was incredibly suited for immobilizing or catching enemies.
Caught completely off guard, the ghost cultivator was fully bound by the time he tried to react. He struggled with all his might in an attempt to break free, but discovered that it was firmer than he imagined. He still could break out, but it was going to cost him a bit of time, time he didn’t have.
A beam of light pierced through an eye socket and exited from the back of his skull, killing the old ghost cultivator instantly. When Yi Yi canceled the spell, he collapsed on the ground with a loud thud.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Ye beckoned as he grabbed the ghost cultivator’s Storage Bag. Amber leaped onto his shoulder, and Ju Jia summoned his flying Spirit Artifact.
A moment later, a beam of light soared into the sky. It was incredibly conspicuous in the dead of the night.
At the same time, several beams of light also shot out of the forest and gave chase. They clearly belonged to Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators who were scouring the area for Lu Ye.
“Knock him off!” Someone yelled.
Generally speaking, cultivators refrained from fighting when flying telekinetically because their Spiritual Power control was lacking. It was dangerous enough that they could be knocked off their Spirit Artifact even if they were stronger than the other party. It was more or less a death sentence if they fell from a height of tens of meters, and they had no way to reduce their fall speed.
Four Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had shown up to intercept Lu Ye. Although they absolutely outnumbered their prey, they still didn’t dare to engage Lu Ye in aerial combat. It was rumored that Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect possessed a Tattoo-type Glyph called Wings that gave him the ability to fly. If it was true, then fighting him in the air would be one of the stupidest things they could do. That was why they were attempting to knock him down with their flying weapons instead.
The shouter had barely finished his shout when the flying weapons got close to Lu Ye in an instant.
At the forefront, Ju Jia made the flying Spirit Artifact dance like a butterfly and successfully dodged all of the attacks. Not one flying weapon managed to touch even a hair on their bodies.
Forget the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators, even Lu Ye was surprised by this.
The body tempering cultivator was the perfect example of the idiom, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” He might look like a careless person, but his control of his flying Spirit Artifact was so fine that even Lu Ye believed himself to be inferior to the big guy.
Ju Jia then moved the flying Spirit Artifact closer toward their attackers, causing those at the forefront to turn fearful. Although they tried everything they could to resummon their Spirit Artifact, they were of course too late.
Lu Ye stuck his hand into his Storage Bag and threw four Spirit Artifacts at his attackers. Each and every one was empowered by a Glyph: Windwalk.
Bloodcurdling screams cut through the air. Two of the four Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were skewered and knocked off their flying Spirit Artifacts. From the looks of it, the fall was going to kill them.
The other two were also wounded by the flying weapons, but they did not fall off their Spirit Artifacts. However, they didn’t even get to breathe out a sigh of relief before four beams of light shot toward them once more. A pair of blood curdling screams broke out, and the rest was history.
If the quartet had fought him on the ground as a group, it would’ve taken Lu Ye some effort to kill them all. But in the air? It was considerably easier to kill them.
With that done, Ju Jia shot toward the horizon with almost no pause in between. The flying Spirit Artifact left behind a brilliant ribbon of light in the night sky.
From time to time, the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators who caught wind of their movement would attempt to intercept them, but this was very different from the time he had to escape on Amber’s back. Although the tiger wasn’t slow, it wasn’t quick either. His enemies had had a much easier time blocking his way and chasing him down. 𝐨𝘃𝗹.
This time, they were flying with Ju Jia at the helm. They were so much more mobile it wasn’t even a comparison. Add to the fact that Thousand Demon Ridge did not dare to escalate things so much that Grand Sky Coalition would have the excuse to retaliate, all the attackers were Eighth to Ninth-Order cultivators.
As a result, Thousand Demon Ridge was unable to form an effective blockade on a large scale.
Not only that, almost none of the group of threes, fours or fives they sent to intercept Lu Ye was able to escape alive. The attackers dared not act recklessly after they lost a couple of groups like this.
As the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators kept each other updated in real time, they gradually managed to deduce Lu Ye’s next destination. Although they weren’t sure if it was his final destination, they had already assembled an ambush force in that direction. They were just waiting for him to fall into their encirclement now.
A day later, while Ju Jia was flying across a big, winding river that looked like a living dragon from the sky, twenty beams of light suddenly rose into the sky and flew straight toward him.
That wasn’t all. Another twenty figures suddenly appeared from behind his back and cut off their retreat.
In just the blink of an eye, their way forward and back had been cut off by the enemy.
Lu Ye would’ve told Ju Jia to change directions, but the big guy was wise enough to change directions immediately. However, he didn’t manage to go far before another dozen beams of light flew out of the hill in front of him.
He had to admit that Thousand Demon Ridge’s plan this time was well thought out and well executed. They had accurately deduced where he would go and set up an ambush along his path.
It was too late to back out of the encirclement now, and it was folly to land on the ground. Losing their aerial mobility now was akin to committing suicide.
Lu Ye narrowed his eyes slightly and produced four flying weapons from his Storage Bag. He silently channeled his Spiritual Power and made them float beside him.
Yi Yi had also shown herself and stood protectively behind Lu Ye.
Spiritual Power circulated throughout Ju Jia’s body as they suddenly accelerated. Right now, the only way they could survive was to choose one direction and attack that part of the encirclement with all their might. It would also minimize the amount of pressure they would receive.
If Ju Jia could move fast enough, the two groups of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators who showed themselves at the very beginning would not even be able to touch them. They would only have to defeat the enemies in front of them.
The distance between the two groups quickly lessened until finally, the enemy group decided to attack first. Eight spell cultivators immediately channeled their Spiritual Power and launched a myriad of colorful spells at them.
Once again, Ju Jia stunned everyone with his fine control of his Spiritual Power. Somehow, the flying Spirit Artifact was always able to dodge out of the way at the last possible moment.
They had never seen someone who could fly a flying Spirit Artifact so well. Ju Jia’s control over his Spiritual Power impressed everyone.
As the distance between them shortened, the frequency of the spell cultivators’ attacks started increasing as well. Not only that, the spell cultivators started casting small, speedy spells after realizing that their big spells would not land no matter what they tried.
The adjustment definitely gave Ju Jia some trouble. It was no longer possible to dodge all of the attacks. The big fellow wasn’t stupid though. He made sure that the spells he couldn’t avoid would only hit his body and not his flying Spirit Artifact.
He was a body-tempering cultivator who boasted a thick skin and powerful vitality, so it didn’t matter if he got hit by a couple of small spells. On the other hand, the flying Spirit Artifact was a completely different story. The equipment was notoriously fragile, and even a few weak spells might just be enough to destroy it.
Speaking of which, Yi Yi was also casting her own spells and attacking the spell cultivators. She brought shame to every spell cultivator present because she was several leagues above in terms of casting speed, spell types and even spell power.
She was only one person, but her short-term explosive power was as good as three or four spell cultivators attacking at the same time.
Their spells met each other and exploded in mid-air. The explosions sent shockwaves across the sky and deafened the ears again and again. It was during this chaotic situation when a Thousand Demon Ridge combat cultivator suddenly took out his bow and performed a full draw. Aura started flashing wildly from his body.
Swoosh!
There was an ear-piercing noise when a huge arrow that was at least one meter long cut through the air and reached in front of Ju Jia almost instantly. The arrow wasn’t just faster than all the spells that had been cast until this point, it was obviously more powerful than a flying weapon as well.
Ju Jia was focused on flying his flying Spirit Artifact and could not dodge the attack. Letting out a mighty roar, he crossed his arms in front of himself. He was wearing a pair of pitch black vambraces that looked incredibly solid and sturdy. It was clearly a powerful defensive Spirit Artifact.
The combat cultivator’s aura destabilized a little because the full-powered arrow cost him quite a bit of Spiritual Power. However, the corners of his lips curled up when he saw Ju Jia’s movement.
He was aware of Ju Jia’s reputation. His full-powered arrow might be able to threaten an ordinary body tempering cultivator, but definitely not a monster like Ju Jia.
That was why the arrow wasn’t aimed at him.
The arrow was seconds away from connecting with Ju Jia when, suddenly, it made an unnatural curve in mid-air. Looking at the angle, it was going to hit the flying Spirit Artifact.
From the beginning, his goal was to destroy the flying Spirit Artifact!
It looked like the man was going to succeed when a Glyph appeared out of seemingly nowhere in front of the flying Spirit Artifact. It instantly enveloped the equipment in a solid defensive layer.
Behind Ju Jia, Lu Ye was crouching on one knee and pressing a palm against the flying Spirit Artifact.
With his current control over his Spiritual Power, applying a Protection to Ju Jia’s flying Spirit Artifact was well within his ability.
Boom…
The arrow struck the wall of Spiritual Power and caused a massive explosion. While it had failed to destroy the Spirit Artifact thoroughly, it was enough to knock it off balance and send it spiraling toward the ground.
Ju Jia did his best to regain control, and he did. However, the short interruption was all the enemy spell cultivators needed to send more spells flying their way. Worse still, the two groups of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators chasing behind them were swiftly approaching. They were seconds away from getting close enough to attack them.