Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Grand Sky Coalition immediately took out the 10-point map of the Spirit Creek Battlefield and took a look. When they discovered that the Cloud Smoke Sect and the Miluo Sect were at least tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Weishui, they could not say anything for a time.
They knew that the little fellow from the Crimson Blood Sect must have paid a sizable sum of Contribution Points to teleport using the Divine Opportunity Column. There was no other way to cover such a long distance in the short time he did.
To other Spirit Creek Realm cultivators, the option usually wasn’t worth the price. After all, Contribution Points were a valuable currency, and every teleportation cost at least a thousand Contribution Points at minimum.
This was not a problem for Lu Ye though. Sure, the teleportation was extremely pricey, but he could just earn them back by occupying another Outpost.
He had already occupied the Cloud Smoke Sect and the Miluo Sect. Who was next?
At this point, even the slowest person knew that Lu Ye was planning to redo his nonsense again and again.
His first invasion force might have been halted, but that was fine. He could just create another one.
This was why the Thousand Demon Ridge had suddenly made such a huge compromise. The old man knew that Lu Ye was capable of setting the entire Inner Circle on fire if he was allowed to continue.
“What? What is he thinking? I’ll give him a stern scolding right now!” Tang Yifeng exclaimed in fake anger before messaging Lu Ye right before the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators.
Meanwhile, Lu Ye and Ju Jia were flying toward their next battlefield on their flying Spirit Artifacts. When he looked down, he saw his sect master’s short but succinct message:
“I got your back!”
On the Spirit Peak, the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Grand Sky Coalition had gotten busy as well. They messaged their contacts and got more or less the same information as the Thousand Demon Ridge. It was said that Lu Ye had left not long after he occupied the Miluo Sect’s Outpost, and he was already on his way to his third target.
The old man let out a sigh. “Pang Zhen, there’s no point in delaying the negotiation further. We’ve stopped him once, and we can stop him again. All it’ll cost us is a couple of Outposts.”
Pang Zhen nodded in agreement. “Oh, we know what you’re capable of.”
The old man said exasperatedly, “Show me your terms.”
The Thousand Demon Ridge might be in a hurry to end this negotiation, but that definitely wasn’t the case for the Grand Sky Coalition. Pang Zhen stared the old man in the eye and said, “We want half a province’s worth of Outposts on top of what you’ve already seen earlier. Of course, you may negotiate among yourselves which province you wish to give up. And take your time. We are in no hurry whatsoever.”
There was no doubt that the compromise offered by the Thousand Demon Ridge had exceeded Pang Zhen’s expectations. If he hadn’t heard about Lu Ye’s latest exploits, he would have agreed to it already.
However, the situation had changed since Lu Ye had begun a second conquest in a completely different location. One could even say that the stand-off at Weishui no longer mattered. Pang Zhen would not deserve his post if he failed to notice that they were in a position of great advantage once more.
As he had told the old man, the Grand Sky Coalition was in no hurry to wrap up the negotiations. It was quite the opposite. The longer the Thousand Demon Ridge took to compromise, the bigger their losses would become. Each time Lu Ye conquered an Outpost, they would lose a massive amount of Contribution Points and resources.
Sure, the old man wasn’t lying when he said that they could stop Lu Ye. The thing was, Lu Ye could just start a third, fourth, fifth and even a hundredth conquest. So long as the young man still lived, he wouldn’t stop until he literally had nowhere else to go in the entire Spirit Creek Battlefield!
Knowing this, Pang Zhen’s biggest responsibility right now was to force the biggest concession out of the Thousand Demon Ridge using their position of advantage.
In fact, the bigger the commotion Lu Ye caused, the greater the pressure on the backs of the Thousand Demon Ridge.
“You will regret it if you push us too far, Pang Zhen!” The old man’s tone wasn’t nearly as warm as it was before. To be fair, no one could’ve maintained their cool in his place. The Grand Sky Coalition was going to squeeze them for all they were worth. It was only going to get worse if the Thousand Demon Ridge allowed them to do as they pleased.
“That’s why I told you to take your time. Feel free to negotiate until you’ve arrived at a solution that all of you can accept,” said Pang Zhen kindly as if he was doing the Thousand Demon Ridge a favor.
The old man shot him a long look before turning back to his peers. He began interacting with them via his Divine Sense while sending message after message.
It wasn’t long before the news that a third Thousand Demon Ridge Outpost had been conquered broke out. Lu Ye’s second invasion force was now six sects strong. The group of one thousand or so was currently moving toward the next Thousand Demon Ridge Outpost in high spirits.
All Grand Sky Coalition forces in the area were excited to say the least. They all sent their forces to join the second invasion force.
The Thousand Demon Ridge was making some emergency mobilizations as well. Just like before, all Thousand Demon Ridge sects along the path of the invasion force gave up their Outposts and assembled at a point some distance away from the frontlines. Two days later, two armies of three to four thousand cultivators each confronted each other with just 1.5 kilometers of ground between them.
Unlike the first conquest though, these armies weren’t separated by a natural stronghold, so the situation was a lot more sensitive. One misstep or two might just be enough to trigger a full-scale war.
It was only then the champions of the Thousand Demon Ridge let out a small sigh of relief.
The Thousand Demon Ridge hadn’t suffered too many losses this time since they knew what was coming. They were able to mobilize in time and stop Lu Ye in his tracks before he could occupy more than a dozen or so Outposts.
Even so, there was no denying that the Thousand Demon Ridge had lost another region of Outposts on the board that was the Spirit Creek Battlefield.
Back on the Spirit Peak of Crouching Dragon Mountain, the old man stared at Pang Zhen with a dark expression on his face, “Can we negotiate now?”
For the past two days, both sides had been waiting to hear the latest news from the Spirit Creek Battlefield. It wasn’t until the second invasion force was halted in their tracks that the old man finally spoke up.
Pang Zhen exclaimed in mock surprise, “You’ve come to a decision already? That’s quick. Tell me.”
The old man said, “Our terms are unchanged.”
“Then there is no negotiation. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but that kid is going to start a third conquest if you keep dilly-dallying like this!”
Every Divine Ocean Realm cultivator on the Thousand Demon Ridge’s side felt their eyes twitch. That was exactly what they were worried about.
An unprecedented situation was happening on the Spirit Creek Battlefield right now. Countless Thousand Demon Ridge sects were recalling their cultivators and forming armies to defend their Outposts. Even those who weren’t affected were worried that the goddamn Vanquisher of Sects would suddenly step out of their neighbor’s forces and give them the fright of their lives.
“There is no chance we are surrendering half a province no matter what!”
“Man, I’m hungry.” Pang Zhen gave his tummy a rub before looking at his peers. “Did anyone bring some food?”
Seeing that Pang Zhen wasn’t going to budge, the old man looked at Tang Yifeng and said, “Brother Tang, Lu Yi Ye is your disciple. Can you—”
The sect master waved him off before he could even finish. “The Crimson Blood Sect is just a Tier-nine sect. We do not have the right to give any opinion in a matter of such importance, much less be involved in the decision-making. Our sect will follow whatever the Grand Sky Coalition decides.”
Just Tier-nine, he said…
Just Tier-nine…
It was one of the most sarcastic things they had ever heard in their lives. But it was the truth. Literally no one had expected a mere Tier-nine sect to produce a monster unlike anything the world had ever seen. Not only was Lu Ye giving the Thousand Demon Ridge one of the hardest trashings they had ever experienced in their lives, the worst part was that they didn’t really have a good way of dealing with him. ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
They had tried sending Real Lake Realm champions to kill him, but the young man managed to kill one of them and cause the death of another. They had tried sending Heaven-Grade Ninth-Order ghost cultivators to assassinate him, but not a single one of them had returned alive, much less succeeded in the mission.
If the young man was currently in Jiu Zhou, then the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators could have annihilated him with a single fart. However, he was in the Spirit Creek Battlefield right now, and he wasn’t going to leave anytime soon.
The Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Thousand Demon Ridge had never hated the balancing and suppression of the Heavens more than they did at this moment.
“Oh my Heavens, they’re fighting!” Suddenly, a Divine Ocean Realm cultivator blurted out in a trembling voice.
“What?”
Both sides lost their cool when they heard this. Even Pang Zhen had forgotten his hunger as he messaged his contacts for the latest updates.
What was going on over there? The negotiations weren’t over yet. The younglings were supposed to stay put until they were done!
More importantly, where had the battle broken out? If it was the second invasion force and the defenders, then that was still acceptable. The numbers in that location weren’t so big that any clash would result in massive casualties. But it was the Weishui… then the situation had officially slipped out of everyone’s control.
A moment later, they got confirmation that, thank the Heavens, the battle had not broken out at Weishui. Thanks to the natural stronghold, no one there dared to make the first move.
This meant that the battle had broken out on Lu Ye’s side.
Around six to seven thousand cultivators had clashed against one another, and… the Thousand Demon Ridge was the one who lost horribly.
The reason this happened was because the second invasion force was joined by a powerful reinforcement from none other than the Crimson Blood Sect itself.
The Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Grand Sky Coalition exchanged glances with each other for a moment. At their age and cultivation level, there should be very few things that could excite them so anymore, much less a bunch of Spirit Creek Realm younglings.
They could not help but lament that younglings these days were way too active. If every one of them was like that boy from the Crimson Blood Sect, then the excitement alone was going to shave at least a hundred years off their natural lifespan. They weren’t even an active participant in the conflict, and the emotional roller coaster they were currently experiencing was easily the worst they had experienced in decades.
On the other side, the Thousand Demon Ridge Divine Ocean Realm cultivators were staring at their counterparts with dark expressions on their faces. This was especially true for Tang Yifeng.
The old man stared right back and rebuked, “The hell you’re looking at me for? It’s not like I’m the one who gave the order! That hopeless boy. Don’t worry! I’ll give him another stern rebuke right now!”
Back in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, a couple thousand Grand Sky Coalition cultivators were currently chasing down their routing enemy. The giant eagle in the sky was particularly eye-catching.
It was none other than Beaky, the giant eagle that watched over the Crimson Blood Sect’s Outpost.
At first, Lu Ye was going to leave for another location. The Thousand Demon Ridge had gathered several thousand cultivators, and it didn’t look like they would be able to break through them without suffering significant casualties. It was then he received a message from Hua Ci.
Hua Ci had wanted to help Lu Ye since Lu Ye had created his first invasion force. She was a proud member of the Crimson Blood Sect and a medicine cultivator, and Lu Ye never failed to get hurt in big battles like this. She would have liked to treat his wounds at the very least.
Unfortunately, he was just too far away at the time.
Then, she heard the surprising news that Lu Ye had teleported from Weishui to Silverlight Island.
The Silverlight Island was much, much closer to the Crimson Blood Sect, so Hua Ci immediately hopped on Beaky and rushed to his aid. She was almost at the battlefield by the time she sent him the message.
Lu Ye changed his mind the second he learned that Hua Ci had brought Beaky with her. When the time was right, he ordered the invasion force to charge the enemy.
The three thousand strong army had only come to be a few days ago, but their morale was sky high thanks to all the benefits they had reaped under Lu Ye’s leadership. That was why they did not hesitate to obey Lu Ye’s order.