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A short while later, a trade manager walked into the private room Lu Ye was seated in and saluted him respectfully. He said, “What would you like to buy, honored customer?”
Lu Ye replied, “I would like to buy a Spirit Artifact that can disguise my appearance.”
In fact, he had been thinking about making such a purchase since he was a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator. Back in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, everyone in the Thousand Demon Ridge had a picture of his face. As a result, there was literally nowhere he could go where he wouldn’t be recognized and attacked.
The reason he hadn’t bought such a Spirit Artifact back then was because of Amber. There was practically no one in the Spirit Creek Battlefield who didn’t know that the Vanquisher of Sects owned a white tiger. Why buy the Spirit Artifact when one look at Amber was all his enemies needed to identify him?
That was no longer the case since he obtained a Spirit Beast Bag from the Myriad Beasts Domain. Now that he had the option to hide Amber in the Spirit Beast Bag, he could actually disguise himself with a Spirit Artifact and stay anonymous. No one would ever realize he was Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect unless he revealed himself.
Moreover, no one except Lan Ziyi had recognized him yet because the Spirit Creek Battlefield and the Cloud River Battlefield were two completely different worlds. The champion of the Spirit Creek Battlefield might not necessarily be able to reign supreme after ascending to the Cloud River Battlefield.
This was a battlefield full of geniuses and elites. No one would purposely hunt down a newly ascended Cloud River Realm cultivator when there were better prey out there.
That said, Lu Ye had a feeling that the Thousand Demon Ridge hadn’t forgotten about him. As he grew stronger, he would catch significantly more attention as well. It was better to prepare now than to regret his lack of preparation later.
“A Spirit Artifact that can disguise your appearance…?” The manager looked troubled. “That is not an easy request to fulfill, honored customer.”
“Are you out of stock or something?”
“That’s not it. Generally speaking, a Spirit Artifact that can disguise one’s appearance or even their aura isn’t sold in the Divine Trade Association. In fact, Spirit Artifacts with unique properties are usually purchasable in the Vault of Providence only. Yes, that means you can only buy it using Contribution Points. In your case, a lot of Contribution Points.”
Lu Ye wasn’t aware of this. He asked, “How expensive are we talking here?”
“Ten thousand Contribution Points at the minimum.”
That was seriously expensive. It wasn’t like Lu Ye did not have the Contribution Points to spare, but ten thousand was an investment even he had to consider seriously, not to mention that he was just preparing for the future. It wasn’t like he needed it right here and now.
“Besides that, I must warn you that Spirit Artifacts like these are generally quite fragile. It is entirely possible for them to be damaged in battle.” The manager paused for a moment to observe Lu Ye before continuing, “On the other hand, if you’re only looking to disguise your face, might I suggest buying a set of face masks? Not only do we have face masks of all shapes and sizes, they’re sold at a fairly cheap price. Your Storage Bag won’t hurt even if you lose all of them.”
“Face masks, you say?”
“Would you like me to bring them to you, honored customer?”
“Please!”
“Very well. Please give me a moment,” The manager said before leaving to procure the items. A while later, he returned with what looked like a cosmetic box and pressed down on two side buttons. A click later, the box opened to reveal a bright mirror at the upper compartment, and a thick stack of exquisitely crafted face masks at the lower compartment.
Lu Ye counted eight face masks in the cosmetic box in total. The topmost mask featured the snarling, fang-bared face of a green ghost. The second mask featured a white fox with a pointed mouth and slanted eyes. The rest of the face masks were different not just in appearance, but in art style as well.
“You may try them out if you want, honored customer. The masks only need a tiny amount of Spiritual Power to maintain, and are as light as a feather. Unlike a Spirit Artifact that actually disguises your whole appearance, you probably wouldn’t even notice the drain unless you wear it for an extended amount of time,” the manager recommended enthusiastically.
Lu Ye inspected the goods for a bit before picking up the white fox face mask. He then carefully put it on his face. At first, he thought he would need to adjust the face mask, but it automatically clung to his skin upon contact. There was a cool sensation until it disappeared a few seconds later. If not for the fact that the face mask had to be maintained with a trickle of Spiritual Power, he wouldn’t even notice that he was wearing it. His eyesight was completely unobstructed, and when he looked down at the mirror at the upper compartment, he saw a white fox with a pointed mouth and slanted eyes looking back at himself. The thick purple eye shadows beneath his—or rather, the face mask’s—eyes gave him a ghastly appearance.
Lu Ye found the item quite interesting. It didn’t take a genius to see that the crafter was extremely attentive. Each pattern and line had been crafted with the utmost care.
More importantly, the face masks came in a set of eight. He could switch them if one of them had worn out its welcome per se.
Lu Ye removed the white fox face mask before putting on a different mask. This time, the mirror reflected a sultry woman’s face with unblemished skin and soft, red lips.
Beside him, He could hear Yi Yi barely suppressed laughter leaking out of Amber’s body.
Lu Ye expressionlessly returned the face mask into the cosmetic box before giving it a light slap. “How much does it cost?”
The manager immediately perked up. “It’s only three hundred and twenty Middle Grade Spirit Stones. A bargain, in my opinion.”
It was. If he divided the price by eight, it meant that each mask cost only forty Middle Grade Spirit Stones.
He could not help but recall the first few times he entered the Divine Trade Association. At the time, he had haggled with the manager like a housewife in the market. Today, his days of poverty were long behind him. It was why he did not hesitate to pay the manager on the spot.
After he stored the cosmetic box safely in his storage space, Lu Ye added, “I would like a room, please.”
He did not know if the young man who tried to rob him earlier was still around. He might even be spying on him right now. That was why he decided to stay the night in the Divine Trade Association.
He did not think that the young man would risk it though. Lu Ye knew he didn’t have many friends he could count on in the Cloud River Battlefield, but the young man didn’t know that. For all he knew, Lu Ye could message his friends and get them to kick his ass to kingdom come. The reward just wasn’t worth the risk.
Soon, Lu Ye found himself resting inside a guest room on the third floor. It should not need to be said, but the living conditions of the guest room were far more comfortable than the wilderness or an Arcane Glade. He resumed his cultivation only after he had ordered a tableful of food and enjoyed a satisfying meal with Amber.
He set up the Circle of Boon and placed a couple of High Grade Spirit Stones at key locations of the ward. This would increase the room’s concentration of World Spiritual Qi drastically. He also placed a dragon scale in the middle of the Circle of Boon so that he and Amber could absorb its blood qi.
Lu Ye had obtained a total of five dragon scales during his visit to the Dragon Spring. There was far more blood qi in the dragon scales as well.
Lu Ye had given Amber one dragon scale so it could consume its blood qi at its own time. He kept one for Ju Jia as well. The body-tempering cultivator was, well, a body-tempering cultivator, so the blood qi in the dragon scale would be greatly beneficial to him.
Lu Ye was reading when suddenly, a message entered his Battlefield Imprint. He wondered who it was when he saw that it was Xia Qianqian.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. Why would a Ninth-Order cultivator like her seek out a Third-Order cultivator like him?
“Yes?”
“Are you at City of Heavens W16 right now?” Xia Qianqian asked directly.
Lu Ye almost blurted, “How did you know?” before he controlled himself. He hadn’t seen her since they left the Myriad Beasts Domain and parted ways, and this was the first time they contacted each other. It should be impossible for her to find out his whereabouts.
He even suspected that she had planted some sort of tracking art on him. 𝒻𝘦𝘸𝑜𝓿𝘦.𝑐𝑜
Thankfully, he figured out the answer on his own. “Did Zhou Hai tell you where I was?”
He had encountered Zhou Hai by accident when he was entering the Divine Trade Association. The sword cultivator was the only one who knew his whereabouts, meaning that Xia Qianqian had contacted Zhou Hai earlier.
“That’s right. Are you still there?”
“Yeah?”
“Wait for me. I’m coming to see you right now!”
That was the end of the conversation.
Lu Ye frowned as he tried to think why Xia Qianqian might need him. He never came up with an answer. Just two hours later, Lu Ye received another message from her. A quick exchange later, he told her his room number and heard her knocking on his door a few minutes later. He opened the door and, nope, it wasn’t a prank. It really was Xia Qianqian standing in front of his room.
Brash as usual, the woman welcomed herself into the room before he could even say anything. She looked around, took a deep breath, and shot him a meaningful look. “I didn’t disturb you, did I?”
“What?”
Lu Ye did not understand what she was implying at all.
“It’s nothing,” Xia Qianqian replied sweetly. She had heard that the Divine Trade Association offered certain services that were quite popular among male cultivators.
“Anyway, why are you here?”
The woman turned serious and said, “I’m here to request your assistance.”
Her answer only confused Lu Ye even more. “I’m just a Third-Order cultivator. How could I possibly help you?”
“It is precisely you’re just a Third-Order cultivator that you’re a perfect fit for the job. I wouldn’t be asking for your help if you were higher than Fifth-Order.”
“Well, tell me.”
A while later, Lu Ye finally understood why Xia Qianqian had sought him out. To put it simply, she wanted his help to kick some ass!
Some time ago, her sect mates had stumbled upon a newborn Arcane Glade. Unfortunately, a different group had discovered the Arcane Glade at the same time. The Arcane Glade was just a small and low quality Arcane Glade that could fit five people at most, so sharing was out of the question from the get go. Not only that, it so happened that their sects were hostile toward each other, so they did not hesitate to beat the crap out of each other.
The problem was that they were evenly-matched. They were unable to decide a victor even until the end of the battle, which complicated things considerably. A long negotiation later, it was agreed that each group would invite five helpers each and have them fight another battle. It would be the battle that would truly decide the ownership of the Arcane Glade. However, both groups were fairly weak in terms of cultivation, so it was agreed that the helpers they recruited must not exceed Fifth-Order Cloud River Realm.
Xia Qianqian’s sect mates had messaged her and asked for her help. If she had enough time, she might not have sought out Lu Ye. Unfortunately, there was a time limit.
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