Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The Core Circle fell into total chaos after Lu Ye came. It wasn’t a peaceful place to begin with, but Lu Ye’s arrival had definitely increased the friction between the two cultivation factions. While the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were trying to surround and intercept Lu Ye, the Grand Sky Coalition cultivators focused on assassinating those enemies who were isolated or had strayed too far away from the pack. It invariably took some pressure off Lu Ye’s back.
Meanwhile, proverbial dark clouds were hanging above the Three Sages School’s Outpost. It was because Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect was almost at their Outpost. Judging from what they were hearing on the grapevine, Lu Yi Ye should be arriving in two hours tops.
Two days ago, the Three Sages School was still looking forward to Lu Ye’s arrival. Their situation was bad, and they hadn’t produced any noteworthy Spirit Creek Realm elites for the past few years. As a result, their disciples suffered greatly at the hands of the Thousand Demon Ridge. That was why they thought that Lu Ye’s arrival might improve their situation.
Then, the news that Li Baxian had repaired his Spiritual Point and ascended to the Cloud River Realm broke out. The Three Sages School was flabbergasted to say the least. Not only had Li Baxian left the Spirit Creek Battlefield, Feng Yuechan was gone as well. The entire reason they had invited Lu Ye to their Outpost was to indirectly recruit the two champions’ aid. Now, there was only the disaster.
If their hostile neighbors were the only ones they had to worry about before, now they had to bear the weight of the entire Core Circle.
“Have we received any direction from the headquarters yet, senior brother?”
Shi Lei, the prolegate of the Three Sages School, asked.
Sitting opposite of him was a young man in tight black clothes. He replied, “Not yet.”
He was none other than the Legate, Situ Han.
“What should we do then?” Shi Lei asked with a frown.
“We’re the ones who invited him over. Do you really think we can send him away?”
Situ Han was well aware that the fact that the sect said nothing at all was a direction in itself.
Shi Lei looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he could only let out a sigh. Their Outpost was doing poorly to begin with, and taking Lu Yi Ye in was only going to make things worse. Worst case scenario, they could even lose their Outpost. However, Situ Han was right. They were the ones who had invited Lu Ye to their Outpost, so how could they reject him at the last moment? They could only lie in the bed they had made.
Neither of them dared to say out loud that their sect master had screwed up big time.
Their sect master had thought that he was getting a three-for-one deal by inviting Lu Yi Ye to the Outpost. Lu Yi Ye alone was an invitation for disaster, but the addition of Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan would surely alleviate some of the pressure on their backs. Who could’ve predicted that Lu Yi Ye would purchase the near priceless Point Restoration Pill to restore Li Baxian’s Spiritual Point, which led to Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan ascending to the Cloud River Realm and departing the Spirit Creek Battlefield altogether?
“Inform all our cultivators to prepare for battle,” Situ Han ordered while rising to his feet. At this point, there was only one thing to do. Losing their Outpost and the culmination of several generations’ of hard work was going to be painful, but it was still better than losing their reputation. If they actually closed their doors to Lu Yi Ye, then the Three Sages School would never be trusted by the Grand Sky Coalition anymore.
“Yes, sir.”
Some time later, every cultivator in the Three Sages School was assembled at the edge of their grand ward. They numbered less than two hundred people, and they only had a handful of Heaven Nine cultivators.
An hour passed, and Shi Lei suddenly yelled, “Here he comes!”
A streak of light had emerged from the horizon and was flying toward them at high speed. If they focused their eyes, they could see even more streaks of light chasing behind it.
The streak of light arrived outside the grand ward just a dozen breaths later. They looked up and saw three people standing on top of a flying Spirit Artifact that was shaped like a boat. The young man at the forefront looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old, the woman in the middle looked pale with fright, and the massive, towering man standing at the end of the boat had a white cat on his head.
Situ Han took a step forward and asked, “Are you Junior Brother Lu, Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect?”
On the Spirit Boat, Lu Ye responded, “I am!”
Situ Han immediately gestured at Shi Lei while saying, “Come in quickly.”
Shi Lei opened a gap in the grand ward using the Control Gem, and Lu Ye immediately flew the Spirit Boat inside. Both him and Ju Jia jumped to the ground after they were in the Outpost, but Feng Yue was still sitting in the Spirit Boat. When Lu Ye looked at her, she forced a smile on her face and said, “Give me a second. My knees are still weak…”
The past two days had been quite memorable to say the least. She was just an ordinary Eighth-Order medicine cultivator, so of course she had never experienced such a “passionate” pursuit in her life. They must have encountered at least a couple hundred pursuers along the way, and no matter how many groups they managed to kill or shake off, there would always be a replacement. She would’ve believed it if someone told her that Lu Ye had murdered all their families. There were quite a number of times she thought that they were dead for sure…
It was no wonder that she was weak all over.
Lu Ye shot Ju Jia a look, and the brawny man grabbed the back of her shirt and lifted her off the Spirit Boat. It was almost like he was carrying a chick.
“Eep…” Feng Yue let out a strange cry as her pale face swiftly reddened like a tomato.
[Oh my heavens, this is so embarrassing…]
After Lu Ye had put away the Spirit Boat, he looked at the two men walking up to him and clasped his fist in salute. “How should I address you, senior brothers?”
He greeted them accordingly after Situ Han and Shi Lei reported their names.
Before he could say anything else, Situ Han made a welcoming gesture while saying, “You have had a long and arduous journey, so just leave the rest to us and catch some sleep. We can speak after you’ve had a proper night’s rest.”
It wasn’t until yesterday that Lu Ye finally figured out what his fourth senior brother meant when he said, “I wonder if they would dare to receive you then?” The reason the Three Sages School’s sect master had invited him to their Outpost wasn’t because of his strength, but because of his close relationship with Li Baxian.
If he was in danger, then Li Baxian would not sit by and do nothing. And if Li Baxian must rescue his junior brother, then Feng Yuechan would not stay idle either.
In other words, the Three Sages School’s sect master had negotiated a three-for-one deal with his Sect Master.
However, their sect master had not anticipated that Lu Ye would use his hard-earned Contribution Points to purchase the Point Restoration Pills and heal Li Baxian. Not long after that, both Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan had departed to the Cloud River Battlefield.
As a result, the condition seemed foolish at best and self-destructive at worst. Not only would Lu Ye’s presence bring unending calamity to the Outpost, there would be no Li Baxian or Feng Yuechan to help turn the tides. It was no wonder Li Baxian thought that the Three Sages School might decide to change their minds.
The good news was that the Three Sages School wasn’t a selfish, irresponsible sect. Despite knowing that they were inviting destruction into their midst, they had still opened their doors to Lu Ye.
Lu Ye glanced at a nearby group of Three Sages School cultivators. They looked like they were preparing for war.
Lu Ye waved his hand and said, “Your kindness is much appreciated, but we’re not going to stay at your wonderful Outpost for long. We’ll be taking our leave as soon as we catch our breaths.”
Since the Three Sages School had turned out to be more decent than anticipated, of course he wasn’t going to stay behind and bring harm to them. Right now, any Grand Sky Coalition Outpost who took him in would be harassed until they were wiped out from the surface of the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Plus, the Three Sages School was just a Tier-Two sect with a small group of Spirit Creek Realm cultivators. If he actually chose to stay, they were going to lose their Outpost in two days at best, or one day at worst.
Both Situ Han and Shi Lei looked surprised. They clearly weren’t expecting Lu Ye to make such a decision.
Situ Han asked, “Are you aware of your circumstances, Junior Brother Lu? With your cultivation level, I am afraid you won’t be able to survive for long without the protection of an Outpost.”
“Perhaps, but how long can your Outpost—or any Outpost for that matter—hold out before they are overwhelmed? Do not worry, senior brother. I may be weak still, but the Thousand Demon Ridge will have to work very hard to kill me. That said, there is one thing that I would like to ask for your help with.”
].
“Do tell, junior brother.”
Lu Ye pointed at Feng Yue, who was still being carried by Ju Jia like a chick. “Feng Yue here is a disciple of the Crimson Blood Sect. Is it okay if she attaches herself to your Outpost? Her cultivation may be weak, but she is a medicine cultivator. You do not need to give her special treatment either. Just treat her like one of yours and throw her a bone from time to time.”
Feng Yue was already red in the face to begin with, but her head drooped even lower when she heard Lu Ye’s remark about her. For some reason, she felt like the child of a poor family being sent away to greener pastures…
“But of course,” Situ Han agreed immediately. Forget that Feng Yue was a medicine cultivator, they would’ve accepted her even if she wasn’t. They already felt guilty and thankful that Lu Ye would rather risk his life than enjoy at least a day or two of safety, something that he was entirely entitled to.
“Also, can I form an alliance pact with you, senior brother? I would like to borrow your Divine Opportunity Column for something.”
A while later, Lu Ye was connecting his mind to the Three Sages School’s Divine Opportunity Column and entering the Vault of Providence.
He only had two thousand plus Contribution Points left when he was at the Crimson Blood Sect. After spending two days escaping from his pursuers though, he had gained some Contribution Points and a good amount of loot.
Besides the cultivation resources, he sold everything to the Vault of Providence for around two thousand Contribution Points. Now, he had four thousand Contribution Points in total.
It didn’t last long. A few minutes later, the four thousand Contribution Points had decreased to just five.
[It’s been a while since I was this poor.] Lu Ye thought wistfully to himself. You truly could never have enough Contribution Points.
Situ Han was waiting for him outside when he exited the Sanctum of Providence. Lu Ye asked, “Senior Brother Situ, can you prepare some food for us?”
Forget eating or sleeping, they barely had the chance to catch their breaths for the past two days. As a result, both him and Ju Jia were quite exhausted. While they hadn’t run low on Spiritual Power yet—Lu Ye could consume Spirit Pills to restore his Spiritual Power non-stop, and Ju Jia had a massive amount of reserves in his “Mutant Core”—their stamina was a different story altogether.
“No problem. Please give us a moment,” Situ Han replied before making the arrangements. A moment later, Lu Ye and Ju Jia were chowing down a tableful of food like hungry ghosts.
Lu Ye checked the 10-point map while gulping down his food. They could not afford to stay in the Three Sages School’s Outpost for long not only because he would be endangering them, but also because he would lose the initiative.
If he took too long, the Thousand Demon Ridge could surround the Outpost until even a fly was hard pressed to escape their encirclement. They were all going to go down if that happened. ．
The situation hadn’t devolved to that point yet, of course. The number of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators gathering a few kilometers away from the Outpost were still pretty low. However, their numbers would only grow bigger as time passed.
He must take his leave before the enemy’s size could exceed a certain threshold.
That said, fleeing wasn’t a permanent solution either. They had to falter eventually, not to mention that there was no way to fully predict the dangers ahead of them.
No, the best way to deal with his pursuers was to launch a counterattack; to show them the cost of pursuing him.
A plan was already forming in Lu Ye’s mind, but he needed a suitable setting to enact it.
That was why he was inspecting the 10-point map right now. He wanted to find a terrain that suited his needs.