Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
One could even say that Li Baxian was purposely goading them into attacking. If they lost their cool, then it would cause no end of trouble.
It was one thing if they knew they could kill Lu Ye for sure. In that case, they would become the heroes of the Thousand Demon Ridge.
However, they were unlikely to succeed while Li Baxian was around. The man in black clothing wasn’t feeling confident in the least. That was why he didn’t dare to make a move. At the same time, he regretted his earlier decision. If he knew that things would turn out like this, he would’ve evacuated back to Jiu Zhou with his cultivators already.
The short sword rang lightly before slashing downward. The Control Gem hanging off the guy’s waist shattered into pieces.
The grand ward stopped functioning. The barrier of energy was still there, but it had lost all of its power and function.
“Open the way, Ju Jia!” Lu Ye instructed.
Ju Jia immediately walked forward. Some Tower of Morning cultivators tried to block his way, but he just pushed right through them. It resulted in the occasional grunts of pain and even the snapping of bones.
Ju Jia’s physique was so that there were only a handful of body tempering cultivators in the Core Circle who might be able to give him a run for his money. In the Inner Circle? Such a person simply did not exist.
Naturally, the Tower of Morning cultivators were only torturing themselves by standing in his way.
Lu Ye stuck close to Ju Jia as they made their way toward the Sanctum of Providence. He kept a hand on his saber the entire time.
The hundreds of Tower of Morning cultivators gritted their teeth in humiliation and fury, but no one dared to act without their Legate’s order.
Everyone here knew what the consequences of attacking Lu Ye now were.
Their Divine Ocean Realm cultivators had arrived at a consensus, and the Tower of Morning was Lu Ye’s last stop. Therefore, their first priority should be seeing off this walking pestilence as soon as possible. It was humiliating, but their dignity could be regained, and their lost Blessings would be compensated by the Thousand Demon Ridge.
This was also why Li Baxian had not gone on a killing spree already. Anyone who attacked first would be, in essence, damaging the peace talks between the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators. No Spirit Creek Realm cultivator could possibly endure the avalanche of consequences that stemmed from it.
Ju Jia continued his unstoppable, bone-breaking march until they reached the Sanctum of Providence.
Lu Ye then put his hand on the Divine Opportunity Column and robbed all of its Blessings in his capacity as the Legate of the Crimson Blood Sect.
On the public square, every Tower of Morning cultivator was closing their eyes in pain. It sounded like their spine was being snapped vertebra by vertebra as they listened to the creaking noises coming from the Sanctum of Providence.
The World Spiritual Qi in the Outpost began thinning at a ridiculous pace after the Blessings were removed from the Divine Opportunity Column. The Outpost’s area of influence rapidly shrank, and even the grand ward that was barely functioning abruptly shattered into pieces.
A short while later, Lu Ye emerged from the sanctum and gave Li Baxian a nod. The sword cultivator had been standing guard at the entrance.
Li Baxian then summoned his massive flying sword once more.
After everyone had jumped on board, Li Baxian let out a guffaw and shot into the sky. From the Tower of Morning cultivators’ point of view, they looked like a shooting star that was shooting upward instead of down.
The sword cultivator had never felt this good in his life. With his abilities, there was practically no one except those on the top rung of the Scroll of Supremacy he couldn’t kill. However, it was a completely different experience to waltz into an enemy Outpost as a small group and plunder every last Contribution Point right before the enemy’s eyes. To say that he enjoyed the frustration and helplessness present on each and every face would be an understatement.
At almost the same time, the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators on the Spirit Peak at Crouching Dragon Mountain were receiving the latest updates from their contacts. Their hearts had leaped to their throats when they received the most horrifying news about fifteen minutes ago. Instead of the expected three days, the Vanquisher of Sects had appeared at the Tower of Morning’s Outpost in under a day. The problem was that the cultivators of Tower of Morning hadn’t evacuated, so it was like a spark meeting powder keg that was already primed to explode!
To say it was the scariest fifteen minutes of their long, long life would be an exaggeration, but it certainly was among the top ten. No one could say for certain what might happen next.
Thankfully, the Spirit Creek Realm cultivators of the Tower of Morning ultimately did not allow their emotions to get to their head. They would definitely have to compensate them properly for their loss and discretion, though that was for the Thousand Demon Ridge to think about.
The Thousand Demon Ridge old man looked at the sect master and said, “With this, I believe that the matter is satisfactorily resolved for all parties? Good. This must not happen again though.”
The sect master nodded in agreement. “I’ll ground that brat the second I reach home!”
The Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Thousand Demon Ridge merely shot him a cold look. The sect master called it grounding, but he was really sheltering the young man. To say that this matter had grown way out of control would be an understatement. The matters of the Spirit Creek Battlefield rarely affected Jiu Zhou because Spirit Creek Realm was the lowest cultivation level. This time though, the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators themselves had to come out and negotiate a solution.
A case like this was literally unprecedented.
In fact the Vanquisher of Sects had done a surprising amount of things that should be impossible for a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator until this point. It would not even be an exaggeration to say that he had single-handedly turned the Spirit Creek Battlefield upside down.
If he continued to show his face in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, he would definitely be attacked in every way possible.
The old man then looked at Pang Zhen and said, “The compensation will be prepared in a month’s time.”
Pang Zhen nodded. The old man hadn’t sworn a Heavenly Oath, but he wasn’t worried that the Thousand Demon Ridge would renege on the promise. There were only downsides if they did.
A moment later, the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of the Thousand Demon Ridge finally left the scene.
Pang Zhen exhaled deeply as the tension that had been building in his heart all this time finally subsided. They had been forced to negotiate with their enemies on this mountain and pay attention to all the events in the Spirit Creek Battlefield for days. They had experienced not one, but numerous emotional roller coasters in the past week. It was a rare experience to say the least.
“Let’s go.” Pang Zhen beckoned as everyone took to the sky and split up a few seconds later. They all came from different provinces after all. Naturally, their path home was not the same.
On the way, Pang Zhen said, “Elder Tang, your boy is going to go to the Core Circle after he switches his cultivation technique to a Heaven-Grade one, right?”
“Yeah? What are you trying to say?”
“If he wants to, the Righteous Sect welcomes him to cultivate at our Outpost.”
The sect master nodded. “I will let him know. Whether he will actually visit is up to him.”
It sounded like Pang Zhen was trying to improve his disciples’ prestige or befriend the Crimson Blood Sect, but the sect master knew he wasn’t. He was protecting Lu Ye.
Lu Ye had basically started a mini war in the Spirit Creek Battlefield. There was no Thousand Demon Ridge sect in the world who didn’t want to eat his flesh and drink his blood. As a Ninth-Order cultivator, the young man was among the best of the best in the Inner Circle. However, that would change once he entered the Core Circle.
The cultivators of the Thousand Demon Ridge were sure to shower him with all kinds of attention. It would be a manhunt the likes of which the Spirit Creek Battlefield had never seen.
Moreover, the Core Circle was a different landscape compared to the Inner Circle. Champions were a dime a dozen in that place, and they responded faster to threats. Even with Lu Ye’s ward breaching skills, it was doubtful he would be able to act as he pleased in the Core Circle.
The Righteous Sect was a Tier-one sect. He would be safer there than most places. In any case, Pang Zhen thought it natural to lend a fellow Bing Zhou-er a hand.
The sect master did not make the decision on behalf of Lu Ye though. He just said that he would tell Lu Ye about it.
About seven or eight days later, a sword light descended in the Crimson Blood Sect’s Outpost from above.
They should’ve arrived sooner, but even Li Baxian was hard pressed to carry so many people on his flying Spirit Artifact for so long. In fact, they had taken turns to fly the group so that no one person would be completely exhausted. Naturally, the trip home took a couple days longer.
At least they weren’t attacked by anyone along the way. Heck, they hadn’t even seen a Thousand Demon Ridge cultivator in the past couple days. The Thousand Demon Ridge was just that defeated. They had lost over a hundred Outposts, and their greatest protector, the grand ward, was completely useless to the Vanquisher of Sects. 𝗼𝘃𝗹.𝗼𝐫𝗴
Even now, the Thousand Demon Ridge was still being ruled by the shadow of Lu Ye. Although it was confirmed that the Vanquisher of Sects had ceased his conquest, no one dared to let up their guard for even a moment. Every man and woman was staying in their Outpost in case of an emergency.
The Outpost had been informed of their arrival a while ago, so they saw at least a couple hundred cultivators waiting for them when they arrived at the public square. With Chen Yu at the helm, the disciples saluted the group and greeted, “Welcome home, Brother Lu!”
As Hua Ci had mentioned earlier, the cultivators of the Crimson Blood Sect had desperately wanted to support Lu Ye when the young man was dominating the Inner Circle. They only didn’t because Weishui was too far away, and their cultivation level was still lacking.
When they learned that Lu Ye had created a second invasion force, they immediately sent their representative, Hua Ci to assist him.
Lu Ye had come home in triumph, so of course it was their duty to give him a warm welcome. What disciple wouldn’t be proud of their Legate’s numerous and practically miraculous exploits?
Different standings created different perspectives. To the Thousand Demon Ridge, the Vanquisher of Sects was a walking calamity that deserved a million deaths and more, but to the Grand Sky Coalition and the Crimson Blood Sect, he was their lucky star and their hero.
Besides that, the Crimson Blood Sect cultivators were quite curious about Lu Ye’s brawny companion, Ju Jia. They had heard for the longest time that Lu Ye was accompanied by an extremely powerful body-tempering cultivator, but as the saying went, seeing was believing. It wasn’t until they saw him with their own eyes that they realized just how vigorous he really was.
Even He Xiyin, a fellow body tempering cultivator could not help but give Ju Jia’s stone-like chest a one-two punch to confirm that he wasn’t an illusion. Ju Jia felt nothing at all, but she felt like she had just punched the ground. It wasn’t just a gap in cultivation, but also a gap in physique.
From the sidelines, Li Baxian watched it all with a gladdened expression. He felt younger just being next to his junior brothers and sisters.
Once upon a time, he had dreamed of seeing exactly this scene; an Outpost that was filled with people and energy. Instead, the Crimson Blood Sect itself had nearly been removed as a sect.
Today, his dream had finally come true.
A long time later, after the crowd had finally dispersed, Li Baxian said suddenly, “I’m leaving, junior brother.”
Once, he was frustrated with the fact that he had to devote most of his time and energy in the Devoted Ones despite being a former Crimson Blood Sect disciple. That was not the case anymore. For as long as Lu Ye remained in the Crimson Blood Sect, it would never decline. In fact, he could see the opposite happening under his junior brother’s leadership.
Lu Ye had accomplished what he had tried and failed to do. He no longer had any regrets.