Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
“I would like to challenge him, senior sister!”
The cultivator who was scolded by Feng Yuechan for taking Feng Yue hostage suddenly pointed at Lu Ye. The guy was currently stuffing his cheeks with Spirit Pills.
“Do you think you can defeat him?”
“I won’t know until I’ve fought him!” The cultivator remained firm in his resolve.
The corners of Feng Yuechan’s lips turned up. “What about you? Do you accept his challenge?” She said while turning toward Lu Ye.
Their eyes met, and Lu Ye raised his eyebrows inquiringly. Feng Yuechan responded with an imperceptible nod.
Their soundless communication ended there. It was then Lu Ye realized that Senior Sister Feng was deserving of her reputation. She had clearly figured out the true reason he had allowed things to “devolve” to this extent.
“I accept!” Lu Ye nodded.
Feng Yuechan then looked at a female cultivator standing not far away from Lu Ye and ordered, “Treat him.”
The woman in question was probably a medicine cultivator and a Heaven Eight cultivator to boot.
“It’s fine!” Lu Ye interrupted before ripping off his tattered shirt, wiping away the blood on his torso as best he could and tossing it on the ground. He then pointed the Inviolable at his challenger and declared, “Come at me!”
The cultivator let out a battle cry as Spiritual Power surged around his body. He shot a flying weapon straight at Lu Ye while following closely behind the Spirit Artifact. He reached Lu Ye in just two or three steps before thrusting his spear forward.
As someone who had witnessed all the techniques Lu Ye had put on display, he knew that he was no match for the young man. That was why he went all out from the get go.
Three “flowers” bloomed in Lu Ye’s vision as the spearman launched his ultimate attack. Not only that, he had to watch out for the flying weapon as well.
Cling! Clang! Two clangs of metal resounded throughout the air, and the flying weapon, the spear and the cultivator himself were thrown back where he came.
Technically speaking, they were both Heaven-Grade Seventh-Order. However, the spearman was unable to withstand even one of Lu Ye’s attacks. Not only did he lose his grip on his weapon, Lu Ye’s attack had split his purlicue and caused it to bleed profusely.
The spearman stared at Lu Ye in complete disbelief as a fellow disciple caught him. His arms were shaking like a leaf.
He knew he was no match for Lu Ye, but he wasn’t expecting the gap to be so huge. He knew that Lu Ye could’ve taken his life if he wanted to.
“Next!” Lu Ye declared while performing a blade flourish. His word of challenge immediately riled up the cultivators of the Devoted Ones as a matter of course.
The way Lu Ye had said it, he was clearly planning to challenge them one by one until no one was left standing! Just how arrogant could he be? If anything, his display of arrogance was even less tolerable than their failure to capture his group.
“I’ll fight you!”
A cultivator leaped out before Feng Yuechan could even say a word. However, he had just stood still when Lu Ye’s face appeared just tens of centimeters away from his in a blur. .𝘤𝑜𝑚
Startled, the challenger tried to dodge backward only to receive a powerful kick to his abdomen. It was as if he had been struck by lightning. He was literally launched back where he came like a cannonball.
An expressionless Lu Ye slowly withdrew his leg and stood his ground once more. He looked down on the angry Devoted Ones cultivator and waited patiently for the next challenger to appear.
“How many more losses do we need to see until you realize that Heaven Seven and Heaven Eight cultivators are no match for him, people? Heaven Nine, go!” Feng Yuechan ordered.
A burly body-tempering cultivator pushed his way through the crowd and entered the battlefield. Stopping not far away from Lu Ye, he solemnly produced a Shield Spirit Artifact from his Storage Bag and channeled his Spiritual Power into it. The shield abruptly expanded into a barrier that protected his whole body. Then, he lowered his center of gravity slightly and pushed off the ground with both legs, charging toward Lu Ye like a loose arrow.
Lu Ye inhaled slightly. Right before the enemy was about to come close, the Inviolable abruptly burst into flames and struck the Shield Spirit Artifact three times in a row.
Each time the blade landed against the barrier, the Inviolable would give off a flash. Three hits later, the aura surrounding the shield had dimmed considerably, and cracks were spreading across the shield itself.
Boom! That was all Lu Ye managed to do before the body-tempering cultivator slammed into him. He was pushed back uncontrollably while his feet dug deep into the ground. However, the body-tempering cultivator was unable to follow up on the attack because he felt as if he had slammed into a thick wall. Not only that, he realized in shock that Lu Ye’s physique was on par with his own!
[You call this a combat cultivator?]
He didn’t even manage to finish the thought before Lu Ye rushed him once more. This time, the young man launched a thrust at the Shield Spirit Artifact.
The body-tempering cultivator would have preferred to dodge the attack entirely, but unfortunately he was nowhere fast enough to perform the maneuver. He could only channel all of his Spiritual Power into the Shield Spirit Artifact and attempt to block the attack.
Shatter!
Stunned expressions spread throughout the spectators like a plague as the shield shattered into a million pieces. Not only that, the Inviolable penetrated three inches into his chest exactly where the heart resided.
The smell of burned flesh wafted across many a nose as a dull muffled groan escaped the body-tempering cultivator’s throat. He looked down on the burning Inviolable with trembling pupils.
Lu Ye withdrew his saber, causing the body-tempering cultivator to stagger back and a small shower of blood to burst out of the wound. A medicine cultivator hurriedly caught him and attempted to treat him, but the body-tempering cultivator shook his head to indicate he was fine. If Lu Ye’s saber had sunk an extra inch deeper and pierced his heart, then he would definitely not be standing right now. As it was, he would recover in just a short time.
No one could say a word for a time. They already knew that Lu Ye was incredibly strong when they were attacking him earlier, but this? This was beyond their expectations to say the least.
Generally speaking, the best way for a combat cultivator to fight against a body-tempering cultivator was to fight them at range. Specifically, they were expected to wear down the body-tempering cultivator bit by bit with their flying weapons. The reason for this was because a combat cultivator’s physique was inferior to a body-tempering cultivator’s. To fight a body-tempering cultivator at melee was to play to their strength.
That was not what had happened in this battle, however. Lu Ye, a combat cultivator, had destroyed a body-tempering cultivator’s defensive Spirit Artifact via brute force!
What was a defensive Spirit Artifact to a body-tempering cultivator? It was their dignity! Their pride and honor! And Lu Ye had just hacked it to pieces and mopped the floor with it!
The visual impact of this fight was even greater than the earlier battle.
A short silence later, another Heaven Nine cultivator stepped into the open. His head was slightly dipped, and he was holding a sword. Looking at his attire, he was probably a combat cultivator. Not all sword wielders were sword cultivators after all.
The man didn’t say a word, but his speed kept growing and growing. Just a few steps later, he was zipping around the battlefield like a lightning bolt.
Light surrounded the swordsman as he became one with the sword. Then, a Sword Beam flew straight toward Lu Ye.
The attack did not look very fanciful, but it was one hundred percent an all-out attack. The swordsman’s killing intent—so thick that it might as well be solid—caused every hair on Lu Ye’s body to stand on its end.
This man was definitely a sword cultivator!
The Sword Light arrived in the blink of an eye. Insight appeared in Lu Ye’s pupils as Protection appeared in the Sword Light’s path.
Tink!
There was a soft tink as the sword made contact with his Glyph. Then, it was followed by a seemingly unending cacophony of metallic clanks. Heavens only know how many times the sword cultivator had thrust his sword in an instant.
The Glyph was quickly covered in cracks despite Lu Ye channeling as much Spiritual Power into it as he could. Eventually, Protection shattered into a million pieces, and the Sword Light flashed past Lu Ye at the same time Lu Ye brought down his saber.
For a moment, the duo simply stood with their backs to each other, unmoving. Everyone’s heart leaped to their throats as they waited for the result.
Pssh! A shower of blood erupted from Lu Ye’s neck, but he remained standing. Behind him, the sword cultivator wobbled for a moment before collapsing on the ground.
A medicine cultivator from the Devoted Ones hurried to his side to treat him, but she discovered that he had just fainted from exhaustion. He was injured, but his life was in no danger. It was only then she let out a sigh of relief.
The cultivators’ gazes grew complicated. If before they were only angry and annoyed at Lu Ye, now they had grown a hint of respect for him.
It was true that the Crimson Blood Sect and the Devoted Ones shared a sour relationship with each other, and it was true that Lu Ye was a disciple of the Crimson Blood Sect. Even so, it was impossible not to respect a Heaven Seven cultivator who could duel two Heaven Nine cultivators in a row and come out victorious, especially since they were the strongest Spirit Creek Realm cultivators they possessed outside of Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan.
That this was after he fought a battle was just the icing on the cake. They would not have believed it if they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes.
As they watched the blood-drenched youngster with growing respect, they felt as if they were witnessing the rise of a new star.
Another Heaven Nine cultivator soundlessly stepped into the open.
They respected Lu Ye, and they were well aware that this battle was anything but fair. However, their sect’s dignity was on the line here. That was why they weren’t going to stop until they had defeated Lu Ye.
“Enough!” It was at this moment Feng Yuechan spoke up. “Have we not embarrassed ourselves enough already? Must we add another stain to our honor?”
The Heaven Nine cultivator stopped in his tracks for a moment and withdrew back into the crowd.
“Now get back to whatever it was you were doing and reflect on today’s incident. The sect has spared no effort in raising you all. You may let it down once, but do not let it down again.”
The Devoted Ones’ cultivators gave Feng Yuechan a silent bow before dispersing with heavy hearts.
Before this, they had prided themselves as cultivators of the Devoted Ones. It was because they were strong enough to even balk at Tier-One Thousand Demon Ridge sects despite only being a Tier-Two sect.
This was something no other Tier-Two sect could do.
Then, Lu Ye showed up and gave them the hardest wake-up call of their lives. It was bad enough that a Heaven Seven cultivator had almost trounced two of their strongest Heaven Nine cultivators, but the Crimson Blood Sect was just a Tier-Nine sect…
This was a shame they must never forget. And the only way to wash away this shame was to grow stronger and pay back what Lu Ye had done to them.
After the Devoted Ones cultivators were gone, Feng Yuechan finally landed on the ground to greet Lu Ye.
“Senior Sister Feng,” Lu Ye sheathed his saber and saluted her respectfully.
“Treat your wounds and change into a new set of clothes. I will take you to your fourth senior brother when you are ready.”
“Yeah.” He definitely did not want to meet his senior brother like this, not to mention that it only looked like he had handled the sword cultivator’s all-out assault with ease. In reality, he had one foot in the grave earlier.
The sword cultivator had concentrated all of his energy in that attack. That was why he had collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Not only that, it was clear that it was some sort of secret art, and only a dead man would think that such an attack would be easy to handle.
Even now, Lu Ye’s vitality was churning inside his chest, and his Spiritual Power was surging like a whirlpool. It was going to take a while for him to calm down.
He would’ve lost for sure if he had fought another Heaven Nine cultivator.
That was probably why Feng Yuechan had stopped the third Heaven Nine cultivator from challenging him. Her plan was to use Lu Ye to give her cultivators a wake-up call, and allowing Lu Ye to be defeated would have greatly diminished the effect.
Feng Yuechan led them to her residence and arranged a bath for him. After Feng Yue treated his injuries and healed the wound on his neck, he finally switched into a clean set of clothes and visited his fourth senior brother at a place at the back of the Outpost known as the Eagle Beak Cliff.
The place was as secluded as it was serene. Li Baxian’s residence was a simple log house. It was a private paradise that was located far, far away from the liveliness of the Outpost.
When Lu Ye’s group entered the house, they were surprised to smell the fragrant scent of food. They were even more surprised when Li Baxian stepped out of the kitchen with an apron tied around his waist.
“You can cook, Brother Li?”
Li Baxian chuckled. “Keep this a secret from your second senior sister, okay? Otherwise, she won’t cook for me the next time I return to the headquarters.” He then waved at everyone and said, “Take a seat. The food will be ready very soon.”