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Jiang Chengzi looked completely astonished as he reappeared into view. He never imagined that Lu Ye would be able to break his invisibility in just a matter of seconds.
He did not think it was because Lu Ye was capable of sensing him, however. He attributed the success to pure, unadulterated luck. After all, how many people had done what Lu Ye did and actually succeeded in forcing a ghost cultivator to reveal themselves right from the get go? There was a reason staying still was considered the superior tactic in dealing with a ghost cultivator, not the opposite.
He had just sent the flying weapon flying when his vision abruptly darkened without warning. He looked up just in time to see a fox mask with slanted eyes and pointed lips looming over him like a tombstone.
Jiang Chengzi’s astonishment was interrupted by a flash of metal and alarm bells ringing loudly in his head. He hurriedly raised his dagger to parry the second attack, but…
Kuang!
He was successful, but he was immediately overcome by the same shock his brother had felt when he was being pushed back by Lu Ye. [What the hell is this strength!?]
Jiang Chengzi kept falling as Lu Ye continued the assault like a storm. Just five breaths later, he hit the ground hard enough to leave a small pit. The ghost cultivator bared his teeth and hissed in pain as he lay motionlessly in the pit. He felt as if his elbow was broken, and there wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt like a bitch.
It was true that he was a ghost cultivator. It was also true that he couldn’t perform nearly as well as a combat cultivator in a straight fight. However, he was a Fifth-Order Cloud River Realm ghost cultivator, and his opponent a mere Third-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator! Just how was it possible for Lu Ye to suppress him so easily?
Suddenly, he felt death falling toward him from above. He hurriedly cried out, “I surrender!”
The saber that would’ve taken his life stopped just short of his forehead. In fact, the tip of the blade exuded just enough Spiritual Power to pierce his skin and bleed him. Despite himself, Jiang Chengzi still broke out in cold sweat. If he had been a millisecond slower, he would be on his way to the Underworld already.
His brother might be a sword cultivator who would rather die than surrender to someone who was technically his inferior, he didn’t share the sentiment. He was a ghost cultivator. Sure, it was humiliating to lose to an opponent who was two minor realms below his cultivation level, but being humiliated was still better than being dead. Plus, this was a job, not a feud. There was no need to risk his neck for a job.
Lu Ye withdrew his saber, and Jiang Chengzi hurriedly climbed to his feet and flew away from him.
On the Spirit Peak, the Fourth-Order female spell cultivator blurted unconsciously, “Unthinkable…”
She knew that Lu Ye was strong, but she never expected him to take out the enemy ghost cultivator so quickly. Individual strength did not matter too much when going up against a ghost cultivator because they specialized in killing cultivators who were one or even multiple minor realms above their level. There were countless accomplished cultivators who ultimately succumbed to ghost cultivators despite their legend and accomplishments because their abilities were practically cheating given the right circumstances.
The spell cultivator had been worried for Lu Ye’s safety when Jiang Chengzi had concealed himself. Then, the combat cultivator ended the fight so quickly it was like the ghost cultivator had never turned invisible.
She and her sect mates were practically trash compared to him!
On the opposite Spirit Peak, the Ninth-Order young man was watching Lu Ye with a frown. His side still had one Fifth-Order body-tempering cultivator, but he knew there was no chance he would be able to win after watching Lu Ye’s performance. So, he looked toward the opposite Spirit Peak and declared, “This last-man-standing is yours.”
What was the point of continuing this bout when the winner had already been decided? When he recruited the Jiang brothers at the beginning, he thought for sure that victory was perfectly within his grasp. However, Xia Qianqian had managed to surprise him.
[Just who is that bastard?]
The young man was brimming with curiosity right now.
“Shall we move on with the battle royale then?” Xia Qianqian asked.
The young man looked hesitant. “I don’t know. Over half our combatants are incapacitated, aren’t they?”
At first, they were hoping to have a last-man-standing, a battle royale, and a final duel between their two Ninth-Order cultivators if the first two bouts weren’t enough to decide the victor. However, the very first last-man-standing had left over half of their combatants incapacitated. f𝐫e𝘄ebo𝐯𝐞𝐥.𝐜𝚘m
It wasn’t like they couldn’t proceed with the battle royale with their current numbers, but the young man was pretty sure that his side would lose if they did. It was because their strongest cultivator, Jiang Liuzi, was still unconscious, while the enemy’s strongest, Lu Ye, looked perfectly fresh. Jiang Chengzi was battle ready, but he had lost his fighting spirit after having his ass handed to him by Lu Ye. He highly doubted he would be able to perform anywhere close to his normal standards even if he was still willing to participate.
“What do you want to do then?”
“Let’s skip the battle royale for now and duel each other first,” The young man said indifferently.
“You really ARE itching to get your ass kicked!” Xia Qianqian was already standing in the valley when she said this. “Well done, Ye Six. Just leave the rest to me!”
Lu Ye nodded and took off into the air. It would seem that neither combatants were patient people because they were fighting before he had even returned to the Spirit Peak. What surprised him was that the Ninth-Order young man was also a spell cultivator. In that sense, Xia Qianqian was fighting against a peer. The two flew all over the valley while throwing massive spells at each other. It wasn’t long before the entire valley was reduced to ruins.
Lu Ye spectated the battle in silence. In fact, he enjoyed watching other people fight because he could always pick up some tricks here and there. For example, Xia Qianqian was unknowingly teaching him how to neutralize a threat, and the young man how to find an opening in a spell cultivator’s defense.
Suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes burning a hole in his face. He turned and came face to face with a pair of beautiful eyes.
“Yes?”
The female spell cultivator hurriedly shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m just… you’re incredible, you know that?”
Lu Ye nodded. “I’m well aware.”
The female spell cultivator: “?”
The battle between the two Ninth-Order spell cultivators was as intense as it was entertaining, but Lu Ye was unable to discern who was the stronger one between the duo even after some time had passed. This probably meant that the duel was going to end in a draw, and that they were going to proceed with the battle royale after all.
The female spell cultivator clearly noticed the same thing because she moved closer to Lu Ye and whispered, “Junior brother, please keep me safe when the battle royale begins.”
Behind the fox mask, Lu Ye’s gaze shifted downward for an instant before he replied, “Sure!”
“You’re such a good person, junior brother,” The female spell cultivator broke into a wide smile.
For some reason, Amber suddenly started growling at her from atop Lu Ye’s shoulder. She wanted to give it a pat, but the white tiger surprised her by biting her all of a sudden. It didn’t break her skin, but it still hurt her enough to let out a cry of pain. She looked both hurt and confused by Amber’s aggression.
Suddenly, the two Ninth-Order spell cultivators stopped fighting and stood a good distance away from each other. A while later, the young man said, “The Arcane Glade is yours.”
He hadn’t lost the fight, but he couldn’t defeat Xia Qianqian without going all out either. This meant that his side had almost no chance to win the battle royale. In that case, he might as well concede the fight now.
“Guess you’re not stupid after all!” Xia Qianqian replied with a harrumph.
The young man looked over Xia Qianqian’s shoulder to stare at Lu Ye for a second. Then, he turned away and flew off into the horizon on his Spirit Boat.
When Xia Qianqian returned to the Spirit Peak, the female spell cultivator welcomed her with great cheer, “You’re amazing, senior sister!”
However, Xia Qianqian shook her head and said, “I didn’t win.”
The duel had ended with a draw at best.
“I guess my role here is done, Fellow Cultivator Xia. If there is nothing else, then I shall be taking my leave,” Lu Ye said while taking a step forward.
“Wait. Why don’t we check out the Arcane Glade first?” Xia Qianqian said before bringing out her flying Spirit Artifact and piling the wounded on top of it. She then waved for Lu Ye to follow. “Come.”
Lu Ye saw no reason to disagree.
As expected, the Arcane Glade was just a short distance away from the valley. It was located atop a Spirit Peak.
After everyone had landed in the Arcane Glade, Lu Ye looked around and spotted the Spirit Sprout almost immediately. The Spirit Sprout was currently spouting World Spiritual Qi into the surroundings. It was also nearly identical to his first Arcane Glade in the sense that it was also a small, Tertius-grade Arcane Glade.
“You’re more than welcome to stay if you want to. You’ll be joining as the fifth and final member of this Arcane Glade, so that’s just perfect. It’s only a Tertius-level Arcane Glade, sure, but it should still fulfill your cultivation needs,” Xia Qianqian explained.
A small Arcane Glade like this was best guarded by a five-man group. They could add more members to improve its security, but there wouldn’t be enough World Spiritual Qi for everyone.
Moreover, a five-man group was strong enough to defend the Arcane Glade against most threats.
Finally, Lu Ye had proven himself to be an exceptional cultivator who could defeat powerful Fifth-Order cultivators with little trouble. Of course Xia Qianqian wanted him to stay and protect her sect mates.
She wasn’t going to force him if he was unwilling though. Another Third-Order cultivator would’ve agreed to the offer so fast their head might fall off, but Lu Ye was no ordinary Third-Order cultivator. His skill with wards alone guaranteed him a position in practically any Arcane Glade that was Tertius-level or below.
“Thank you, but I need to search for my junior brother,” Lu Ye turned her down gently.
Xia Qianqian nodded. “Very well. Before you leave, can you set up some protective wards for us?”
Lu Ye rolled his eyes at her. [I was wondering why she invited me to the Arcane Glade even though our business is over. I should’ve known that she wouldn’t let me go until she had squeezed every ounce of value from me.]
“I can do that, but you’ll have to provide me with the ward flags and ward keystones!”
Lu Ye did not mind setting up some protective wards for Xia Qianqian’s sect mates—it was a fairly easy job for a ward cultivator like him—but he wasn’t going to offer his own materials as a matter of course. The keystones of a grand defensive ward alone cost a lot of Contribution Points, not to mention that the grand defensive ward wasn’t the only thing he would be establishing. The ward flags were hardly cheap either.
“I already bought everything,” Xia Qianqian said before tossing a Storage Bag into his hands.
She had anticipated this and purchased a full set of grand defensive ward and ton of ward flags when she visited Lu Ye at the Divine Trade Association earlier.
Lu Ye was a bit disgruntled, but he could hardly complain when the woman had anticipated and prepared everything.
After opening the Storage Bag and checking out its contents, he discovered that Xia Qianqian had not purchased the best grand defensive ward there was. For starters, he counted only eight ward keystones.
On second thought, this was just a small Arcane Glade. There was no need to purchase the best available grand ward when a normal one would suffice. Take the grand defensive ward Lu Ye had set up at his own Arcane Glade earlier. That one had been made of sixteen ward keystones, but an enemy still managed to breach it by force and destroyed all of the ward keystones. His total loss amounted to over ten thousand Contribution Points.
And so Lu Ye went to work. In the meantime, the wounded treated their own injuries, and Xia Qianqian cultivated in silence. The female spell cultivator was the only one sticking to Lu Ye’s side and praising him to the high heavens every once in a while. It was clear she was hoping that Lu Ye would change his mind and stay with them. His presence would be a great assurance to them all.
It grew to the point where Amber manifested its true self and pushed her to the ground when she wasn’t looking. It then opened its bloody maw and let out a mighty roar. Having received the threat loud and clear, the female spell cultivator finally kept her distance from Lu Ye.
Lu Ye spent the whole day setting up a grand defensive ward, a grand concealment ward, an alarm ward and a couple of offensive wards throughout the Arcane Glade. Then, he sought out Xia Qianqian and handed her the Control Gem. Finally, he told her about the location of the wards and demonstrated how each and every one of them should be used. It was only then that he wrapped up his business and got ready to leave.
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