Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Now that Lu Ye had decided to leave this place, it was essential for him to have an accurate map. Whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to visit Green Cloud City one more time. Thus, his figure appeared in front of the Divine Trade Association early the next morning.
According to what Liu Ru Yin said before her death, she accidentally saw Lu Ye when he went to the Trade Association to trade for the second time. It so happened that she was quite close to the man called Liu Quan. Thus, she managed to learn about the contents of the transaction through Liu Quan.
At that time, she began to suspect that Lu Ye was monopolising a rich mineral vein and started having dishonest intentions. Unable to hold back her greed in the end, she contacted the fair-skinned man and told him to be ready at all times. She then kept an eye out for Lu Ye every single day.
It wasn’t until Lu Ye came to the Trade Association for the third time and made an even larger transaction that she made up her mind and asked the fair-skinned man to hunt Lu Ye down. Afraid that the fair-skinned man might pocket all the benefits for himself, she hurriedly took leave from work a short while after Lu Ye’s departure to chase after them. How could she have known that she would witness the scene of Lu Ye killing the fair-skinned man and lose her life in the end?
Considering Liu Ru Yin’s mental state before her death, it was impossible for her to lie. Hence, nobody would learn about her death any time soon.
For the time being, Lu Ye was safe. That was also the reason why he was in such a hurry to leave the city. He previously only sold the Yuan Metal ore in small quantities because he was afraid of attracting attention to himself. That was also why the profits of his sale generally was only enough to meet his short-term cultivation needs. Now that he had decided to leave this place, there was no need for such considerations anymore. His top priority was to obtain a map to determine the location of the Crimson Blood Sect’s base!
One hour later, Lu Ye drank so much tea inside a private room that he was just barely hanging in there. A middle-aged man was politely handing him a palm-sized white jade disc along with 2 bottles that contained 18 Spirit Restoring Pills, 3 bottles that contained 15 Healing Pills, and more than 10 Spirit Stones.
This time around, he had sold more than 12 Yuan Metal ores in one go! He received more than 600 Spiritual Stones in this transaction. This was undeniably a huge transaction in the Outer Circle of the battlefield, so much so that the middle-aged man gave him the best treatment available.
The facts had proven that, if not for some unfortunate circumstances, it was very safe to do business with the Divine Trade Association. Lu Ye had visited the Trade Association four times so far and would trade with a different person each time he came. It was quite difficult for him to be targeted, unless he brought out a substantial amount of goods like in this transaction. Needless to say, part of the reason he was targeted was his low strength. Liu Ru Yin would not have dared to plot against him if he were a cultivator in the Fourth Order Spirit Creek Realm.
Upon handing over the money and the goods, the middle-aged man saw Lu Ye off at the door and even handed a name card to Lu Ye. He bluntly asked Lu Ye to contact him directly if there was anything else to sell and promised to give Lu Ye a good price for the goods.
This was treatment that Lu Ye never received during his first three times here. Therefore, he eagerly accepted.
After leaving the Divine Trade Association, Lu Ye exchanged all the Spirit Stones for food and some daily necessities as usual. Spirit Stones were not very useful for him. Since he might be travelling very far on this journey, some camping gear for outdoor living were indispensable and various daily necessities were essential. Fortunately, he had enough Storage Bags so there was no worry about failing to store them all. 𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
After this transaction, the number of Spirit Restoring Pills in his possession increased to a total of 111 pills. The number of Healing Pills also increased to a total of 22 pills, but only 14 Yuan Metal ores remained.
He originally thought that the Yuan Metal ores in his possession would be enough to last him a long time. Maybe even until he advanced into the Ninth-Order Spirit Creek Realm. However, it would now seem that the Yuan Metal ores were completely insufficient for his use. He had to rush back to the Crimson Blood Sect’s bases as soon as possible. Only once he returned to his Sect’s base could he be considered safe.
A short while later, Lu Ye returned to the cave where he lived and took out the white jade disc. This was the 10-point map of the Spirit Creek Battlefield! It included information on the distribution of all the bases belonging to the major forces on the entire battlefield, the terrain and landforms of the battlefield itself, and also some dangerous areas.
Nevertheless, he felt as though his heart was bleeding in distress whenever he recalled that this thing was worth 600 Spiritual Stones. All his expenses accumulated since the day he started cultivating did not even amount to 600 Spiritual Stones. Unfortunately, this was the price that he had to pay in order for him to return to his Sect’s base. The only thing that comforted him was that he could go to any of the Divine Trade Association’s branch offices to update the information of this map at any time. Therefore, the information would never go out of date.
Holding the white jade disc with both hands, he poured his Spiritual Power into the disc. A soft light immediately flowed out of the disc to form a halo of light on the surface. That light twisted and distorted, transforming into a map in the blink of an eye. What surprised him was that this was not a 2D map, but a 3D map. He could even see the many undulating mountains on the map, each with a different height.
There was a spot of light on the map that flickered constantly. He shifted his gaze to that spot on the map. The spot of light remained unchanged. Conversely, the image zoomed in on the area when he focused his Spiritual Power on that spot of light. The map was continuously enlarged in response to the influx of Spiritual Power, but the disc was only so big. Therefore, as the map zoomed in on one area, the other areas of the map that could be covered gradually became smaller.
In the end, the map was enlarged to the maximum. He saw that the spot of light was located on an undulating mountain range and the mountain range was labelled as Green Cloud Mountain. Looking around, he saw a place that seemed to be marked as Green Cloud City No.3.
The realisation struck him immediately. That spot of light was where he was currently located! And, Green Cloud City No.3 was the city where he often visited. Aside from this city, there were places in the vicinity of Green Cloud Mountain marked as Green Cloud City No.1 until No.6. In other words, there were a total of 6 cities in the vicinity of Green Cloud City.
After playing around for a while, he gradually figured out how to use this 10-point map. Thus, he began searching for the location of the Crimson Blood Sect. At the same time, he secretly prayed that he was not too far away from the Sect’s base. He did not know how long it would take for him to get back to the base if he was too far away.
The Crimson Blood Sect was a Ninth-Tier Sect. Naturally, it would be located at the periphery of the battlefield, which made it slightly easier to search. He searched the map little by little, his gaze passing over name after name. At one point, he thought that he had finally found the name ‘Crimson Blood Sect’, but it turned out to be ‘Crimson Heart Sect’ upon further inspection. He nearly lost his temper right then and there.
Half a circle later, he still had not found the Crimson Blood Sect. On the contrary, his tense nerves that had been stretched to the limit relaxed instead. That was because it meant that the situation could not get any worse than it already was.
More time passed, but he still could not find it. His mood became increasingly cheerful in response. At this rate, it could only mean that he was not too far away from the Crimson Blood Sect. Finally, his gaze landed on a certain spot on the map. There were three words written there. It was the Crimson Blood Sect that he had been searching for so desperately. [I found it!]
After calming down somewhat, he zoomed out the map to compare his current location to the position of the Crimson Blood Sect. He was currently located slightly west to the south of the map while the Crimson Blood Sect was located slightly north to the west of the map. In other words, he would have to head west if he wanted to reach the Crimson Blood Sect’s base. He had to travel across a quarter of the entire battlefield’s periphery. The situation was neither good nor bad. It was within an acceptable range.