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“An aura of protection bestowed by the Heavens that lasts for hours?”
Lu Ye could barely comprehend the words he uttered with shock.
“That’s the gist of it. As for how long the aura lasts, I’m not sure myself. I’ve only heard of the Token—this is the first time I’m seeing it up close.”
“It’s something that’s gifted by the Heavens and that makes it extremely rare,” added Feng Yuechan. “I’ve heard of people finding Golden Body Tokens during their forays into other mystic realms and dimensions, but I’ve never heard of it being seen in the Carnage Colosseum before. But it should be expected; Endowment events are after all instances where Heaven sprinkles gifts and trinkets around. To think that the Cultivators we slew were lucky enough to have stumbled on this Token—just not lucky enough to survive long enough to even use it.”
That reminded Lu Ye about one particular detail he had overlooked.
During the ambush earlier, one of the Thousand Demon Ridge Cultivators had been rummaging through his Storage Bag frantically as if he was looking for something. But before he found whatever it was he was finding, he was already cut down by Lu Ye who had appeared out of nowhere.
The poor fellow must have been digging so desperately for his Golden Body Token, Lu Ye realized. What else could he be searching for if not for something that would deliver him from harm during that perilous moment?
“This is a very rare and useful item, brother. Keep it well; this could save you when all else fails,” urged Li Baxian.
As a once-in-lifetime gift from Heaven, this Golden Body Token represented one of the best protection one could ever enjoy. There were few methods that could defeat a divine bulwark as potent as this.
The past few days of grueling and life-threatening tribulations—a close shave with an enemy Ninth-Order and that vicious battle against He Bing—had Li Baxian wondering if Luck had finally stopped favoring Lu Ye. But now, he knew that his doubts were misplaced; “Lucky” was still very much Lu Ye’s middle name and gaining possession of this Golden Body Token was proof of that.
“Um, so how do I use this thing?” asked Lu Ye.
“Just inject your Spiritual Power into it,” explained Li Baxian.
That’s simple enough, a bemused Lu Ye thought as he tucked the Token into safekeeping.
He could never have enough instruments like this Token that could ensure his survival. Instruments whose purposes were more useful and more crucial to him than any weapons or other magical apparatuses, for all humans only live once.
Lu Ye and his companions put aside the rest of their loot. It was time for their next ambush.
Two days later, Lu Ye was invisible as he waited patiently for his next targets to appear.
His luck had begun to look up markedly since finding the Golden Body Token. For the past two days, the raids he and his companions had conducted saw his Carnage Points tally skyrocketing so rapidly. So much so that Lu Ye had reached third place—just a mere five hundred points behind the first-placed Tan Sheng. It would take just another few more days for him to overtake Tan Sheng and regain his lead.
But the optimistic thought was conceived on the premise that Lu Ye still had time. Almost a fortnight had passed since this Carnage Colosseum began and no one knew for sure if it would end before Lu Ye could knock Tan Sheng off his perch.
More than six hours had come and gone. A coterie of Cultivators had passed by just now but the ambush had to be called off prematurely when Li Baxian realized that they were Grand Sky Coalition allies when he sprung his trap.
Just when they were grappling with boredom and restlessness, a powerful surge of Spiritual Power came sweeping at their positions. Lu Ye looked in the direction from whence it came. There, several miles away, he could see a bright radiant column of light reaching straight up into the skies, lancing through the clouds overhead.
[That’s the—] Lu Ye mused with a mix of recognition and amazement.
[That’s the eruption of Spiritual Power of that special Gold Amulet!]
After witnessing the same eruption four times the last time he was chosen to be the unlucky bearer of the unique Gold Amulet, Lu Ye immediately recognised the phenomena for what it was.
But this was his first time seeing it from a distance and the spectacle really was impressive, if not conspicuous enough.
Everyday, a Cultivator within the Carnage Colosseum was selected to be the bearer of the unique once-a-day Gold Amulet. But given the sheer expanse of the Colosseum’s area, plus the fact that Lu Ye and his companions kept their activities to a tiny range for the sake of security, it was normal to think that Lu Ye had never witnessed the spectacle before until today.
Lu Ye was stirred by the notion of the rewards of being in possession of that unique Gold Amulet, before he dismissed any ambitions of it. It would be foolhardy to head for the Gold Amulet. The eruption of Spiritual Power and the ensuing column of light speared right up into the clouds was a gigantic beacon beckoning literally every Cultivator—both strong and weak—to come this way, making the notion of going near it nothing but a surefire attempt at suicide. If a Seventh-Order like He Bing could nearly annihilate them all, then an enemy beyond that level would be more difficult if not impossible to defeat.
The Golden Body Token could only keep one individual safe, not two or three.
In fact, anticipating chaos and carnage, Lu Ye would rather leave this place as quickly as his legs could carry him.
By his reckoning, the point where the white spear of light was jutting skyward was but a mere handful of miles away from his position. Any Cloud River Realm Cultivator could scale that distance in a matter of seconds. Hence the safer course of action was to walk away instead of running headlong into certain peril.
But the thought of fleeing had merely struck him when the silhouette of a lone stranger flitted into view. Looking anxious and distressed, the stranger never stopped looking back as if he was fleeing from pursuers. Gliding at almost twenty-odd meters and hugging the treeline, Lu Ye surmised that he must be a Sixth-Order.
Cursing and muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, the stranger appeared visibly tense and agitated.
An idea occurred to Lu Ye, yet Li Baxian broke cover before he could convey to him what he had in mind, brandishing a flying shaft of light as he lunged at the Sixth-Order with astonishing speed.
Already on tenterhooks at first, being ambushed all of a sudden nearly sent the stranger into fits of panic as he frantically summoned whatever faculties he had at his disposal to put up as good a defense as he could.
As they clashed, the backs of their hands emitted luminous glows of two different colors.
The stranger immediately guessed Li Baxian’s cultivation rank and glowered, “How dare you! A lowly Fourth-Order like you?!”
He thrust a finger at Li Baxian and several projectiles— flying weapons—rose into the air and swarmed after the latter, who immediately summoned his own shafts of light to intercept, eliciting a cacophonous clamor of cascading metallic clangs.
Then Feng Yuechan came out of hiding to fire a spell from his flank, catching the lone Sixth-Order by surprise that he needed to defend himself in a pathetic and ignoble state of desperation.
The Sixth and Seventh-Order of the Cloud River Realm might have sounded close, but the gap in strength was by no means small. At any rate, the lone Sixth-Order could barely come close to boasting the same degree of talents and fundamentals as He Bing, who had, unlike this stranger, had ascended into the Cloud River Realm with all three-hundred-and-sixty Spiritual Points unlocked. All this stranger managed at the time was two hundred and ninety-eight.
That made him a very weak Sixth-Order. So weak that Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan alone were enough to give him a hard time.
In fact, even Li Baxian alone could have defeated him.
It did not take long for the enemy Sixth-Order to realize that he was not dueling a pair of Fourth-Orders of mediocre strength. His face squirmed from the growing fear and trepidation as he bemoaned his poor luck. He was trying to put as much distance between him and the site of the huge Spiritual Power eruption when he walked right into this ambush that had clearly been here for a long time!
Clearly not one set specifically for him, he realized that it was he who stepped into the trap like a hare getting caught in a hunter’s snare.
But he would have gladly given away the item that the Heavens had just bestowed upon him to bargain for his precious life—if only he could. He had tried tossing it away, but it stayed on him like a tumor. One that brought both despair and desolation in equal measures.
He had tried looking for help too. He had been reaching out to some of the Thousand Demon Ridge elites but none of them were willing to help. With the conclusion of the Colosseum now in the offing, the elites were all busy raking in as many Carnage Points as possible, all so that they could secure a better position on the Carnage Roster. No one heeded his call for aid.
He blamed Luck for visiting this fate upon him, of all people.
What was already a dire situation for the lone Sixth-Order took a turn for the worse as if in response to his dismal and cynical outlook.
His tingling senses warned him of danger coming from his back. But it was too late. A stab of pain coursed through every limb and he hurtled forward, crashing to the ground like a beaten dog. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Lu Ye appeared at where the Sixth-Order was standing with Inviolable bristling with a fiery light.
Drawing first blood enlivened Lu Ye enough to charge without fear. He lunged at his target with Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan holding up the rear with their flying shafts and spells poised to outflank the enemy.
The lone Sixth-Order scrambled to his feet, using his weapon to parry whatever bolts of light that pelted incessantly at him but he missed one spell that hit him, blasting him off his feet.
That gave Lu Ye the opening he needed. He dove forward and Inviolable sank its edge through the defenseless man.
Blood spattered before the body even hit the ground.
[That’s strange], Lu Ye mused. [A Sixth-Order that’s surprisingly weak.]
The trio had collected plenty of experience in dealing with Sixth-Orders in their many raids and ambushes on unsuspecting parties of enemy Cultivators, yet they had never seen a Sixth-Order as weak as this one.
This stranger’s fundamentals must be very limited and his attempts at unlocking his Spiritual Points before his ascension into this realm must have been lackluster at best.
Lu Ye and his comrades hurriedly set about gathering the spoils, swiftly stowing away the stranger’s belongings and items. In a daring move, Lu Ye extended his hand into the dead man’s robes, and as anticipated, he discovered a glistening Gold Amulet enveloped in a subtle cerulean glow…
“Let’s go!” barked Lu Ye, his voice resonating with urgency. Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan hurriedly followed suit, leaving behind the strewn ward flags and flagstones without a moment’s hesitation.
They had scarcely traveled a hundred yards when a streak of light darted straight for them, materializing into a figure right before their eyes. Evidently, it was another Cultivator, one that had detected the tumultuous clash and had decided to come this way to investigate.
Lu Ye and his companions tensed, their bodies braced for an imminent confrontation with an unknown adversary.
Thankfully, the Battlefield Imprints on the back of their hands remained dormant. The new stranger was an ally of the Grand Sky Coalition.
He sensed the cultivation ranks of Lu Ye and his party, and snorted, signaling them to leave this place with haste.
With a respectful bow, Lu Ye and his comrades swiftly retreated.
Moments later, the echoes of a fierce skirmish reverberated from behind them. It seemed the formidable ally Cultivator had crossed paths with Thousand Demon Ridge Cultivators. The upheaval created by such a clash would undoubtedly capture the attention of more Cultivators, drawing more dangers away from Lu Ye’s position.
Lu Ye and his companions darted into the shelter of a mountain cave. He activated a magical ward to conceal the signatures of their Spiritual Power and waited. At the first sign of trouble, he would activate the Teleportation Ward to shift them to another Ward.
Fortune seemed to favor them this time. Aside from the Grand Sky Coalition ally earlier, they encountered no one else. They were safe and no one had discovered them for now.
With no one finding this cave, there was no need for them to teleport away just yet.
But the din of battle never stopped resounding in the distance. Cultivators from both factions must have converged upon the location of the Spiritual Power surge just now and that must have culminated into a huge battle.
No one knew whose hands the unique Gold Amulet fell into. With its whereabouts now a temporary mystery, Lu Ye and his companions were safe. It was their luck when it was the bearer of the Gold Amulet himself who had walked right into their carefully laid ambush.
And with him now dead, the Gold Amulet was lost.
The first two hours passed, then another two hours…
The tumult outside was gradually subsiding and Lu Ye and his party finally breathed more easily.
In their respite, the trio turned their minds towards the spoils of their raid.
Several Storage Bags lay before them, each yielding a disappointingly meager loot. However, one item shone above all—the Heavens-sent Gold Amulet that was shining radiantly, its gentle azure luminescence an unmistakable emblem of its extraordinary nature.
Lu Ye couldn’t have fathomed that luck would once again grant him the opportunity to possess a Gold Amulet—the special and impossibly dangerous one. But given his past experiences, he now had more confidence in safeguarding this invaluable token. With a measure of good fortune on his side, he would succeed in holding on to it while staying alive.
To most other Cultivators, this unique Gold Amulet was more of a curse than a boon. It could not be used until the designated time period had elapsed, nor could it be stored away or even discarded—a ticking time bomb that could never be removed.
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