Sage of Humanity

In mid-air, Jiang Chengzi's figure appeared, his face full of astonishment. He hadn't expected his Concealment Technique to be so easily cracked.

It wasn't so much that it had been cracked, but rather that his opponent was incredibly lucky. A casual attack with the 9th Dao weapon control almost hit him, forcing him to counterattack.

Just as he deflected the weapon's flowing light, his vision suddenly dimmed. Looking up, he saw the eerie gaze of a sharp-mouthed, slant-eyed fox-faced mask staring at him.

A flash of saber light passed, and a sudden sense of alarm rose in his heart. Jiang Chengzi quickly raised the dirk in his hand to parry the incoming attack.

With a loud clang, Jiang Chengzi immediately experienced the same shock his brother had felt before, his heart filled with terror. What was the source of this wild power...

The continuous saber light, like a violent storm, slashed down without mercy.

Jiang Chengzi's form kept falling, and within just 5 breaths, his body plummeted to the ground like a meteorite from the sky, landing heavily.

The ground trembled, and a crater immediately appeared where he landed. In that crater lay Jiang Chengzi, grinning in pain, feeling as if all the bones in his arms were broken, with no part of his body that didn't hurt.

He was, indeed, a ghost cultivator, and his ability to fight head-on was certainly not as good as a combat cultivator's, but after all, he was a Cloud River Level 5 ghost cultivator!

To be so easily overpowered by a Cloud River Level 3 opponent was simply unacceptable.

The breath of death loomed over him, and he quickly shouted, "I concede!"

The shimmering saber light stopped right before his forehead, the fiercely sharp tip pressing against his skin. An inch of saber light flickered like a snake's tongue, ripping into his flesh and causing drops of bright red blood to flow.

Jiang Chengzi broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn't shouted in time, he might have truly died.

His brother was a stubborn sword cultivator who would rather die than submit, but as a ghost cultivator, he didn't hold on to so many principles. Conceding was certainly humiliating, but it was still better than losing his life. After all, he had been hired just to fight, there was no need to fight to the death.

Lu Ye sheathed his saber.

Jiang Chengzi hurriedly got up and flew away into the sky.

"What the..." the Level 4 female magic cultivator watched from the spirit mountaintop, dumbfounded.

Lu Ye had resolved the confrontation with the opposing ghost cultivator so quickly and neatly, something she had never expected. Although Lu Ye had already demonstrated his immense strength in the previous battle, facing a ghost cultivator wasn't just about being strong.

Many heroes in the Nine Provinces had fallen to ghost cultivators simply because they had been careless; ghost cultivators killed without any sense of fairness.

She had been worried for Lu Ye when Jiang Chengzi concealed himself, but the battle had ended so quickly.

Comparing her fellow sect members and Ye Liu to Lu Ye, she felt her companions were weak to the extreme!

On the opposite spirit mountaintop, a Level 9 young man stared into the valley at Lu Ye, frowning.

Not far from him was a Level 5 physique cultivator who had not yet fought, but seeing the strength that Lu Ye had unleashed, he knew that even letting this physique cultivator fight would only lead to a beating, with no chance of victory.

He looked up at the opposite spirit mountaintop, "This round, you win."

Since there was no chance of winning, there was no point in further humiliation. He had thought that by inviting Jiang Liuzi and Jiang Chengzi, the two brothers, victory was assured. But their opponent had brought someone even more formidable.

Just who was this guy?

The young man was immensely curious.

"How about a melee?" Xia Qianqian asked.

The young man said, "How many people can each side still send into battle now?"

Initially, he thought of having a series of one-on-one matches followed by a melee, then the two Level 9 cultivators would have a final fight, two out of three rounds, fair and square. But after the series of fights, of the ten people from both sides, there were only four or five left that could still fight, the rest were seriously injured.

Moreover, if they really were to fight a melee, the young man knew his side's chances of winning were very small. His side's strongest, Jiang Liuzi, was still unconscious, while their opponent's strongest, the one with the fox-face mask, was full of vigor. Even though Jiang Chengzi could still fight, his morale had been diminished by defeat, and sending him into battle again would probably not result in much performance.

"What do you propose then?"

"Let's have a battle between you and me," the young man responded calmly.

"I think you're really itching for a fight!" As her words fell, Xia Qianqian's figure had already appeared in the valley, standing beside Lu Ye, "You go back first, I'll teach him a lesson!"

Lu Ye nodded, and without a word, flew towards the spirit mountaintop where his side was located.

Before he even landed, intense sounds of fighting came from behind. Xia Qianqian was a magic cultivator, and so was the young man opposite her. Moreover, their cultivation levels were equal, making it a true clash of equals. The figures of the two moved continuously in the valley, casting powerful spells back and forth, leaving the valley in complete disarray.

Lu Ye watched silently, finding it rather interesting to observe others battle. Often, one could learn a thing or two this way, like how others resolved crises or sought the right opportunity to strike at their opponents.

As he watched intently, he suddenly sensed something and looked down, meeting a pair of beautiful eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

The female magic cultivator quickly shook her head, "It's nothing, just... you're really amazing!"

Lu Ye nodded slightly, "I know!"

Female magic cultivator: "?"

The battle between the two Level 9 magic cultivators was fierce and cool, but after watching for a moment, Lu Ye couldn't tell who was stronger, only feeling that their powers were matched and that it would likely end in a draw.

If that were indeed the case, a melee would still be necessary.

The female magic cultivator beside him clearly realized this as well, and whispered to Lu Ye, "Junior Brother, if we need to make a move later, you must protect me well."

Under the fox-face mask, Lu Ye's gaze shifted slightly downward.

"No problem!"

"You're so kind, Junior Brother." The female magic cultivator's smile bloomed.

Amber perched on Lu Ye's shoulder growled lowly at her, and although she reached out to tease it, Amber bit her, causing no blood but enough pain for her to cry out, looking utterly aggrieved.

Meanwhile, the battle in the valley below came to a stop for some reason, with two figures standing opposite each other at a distance.

The young man said, "The spirit ground is yours!" Although he hadn't lost this round, he also didn't bring up the matter of a melee anymore because his chances of winning were really not great. Forcing a melee would just be humiliating himself.

"You know what's good for you!" Xia Qianqian snorted coldly.

The young man's gaze swept past Xia Qianqian and glanced at Lu Ye on top of the spirit mountaintop before he turned and flew away. Moments later, a spirit ark shot up into the sky and quickly disappeared from sight.

Xia Qianqian returned, and the female magic cultivator cheered as she approached, "Sister, you're amazing."

Xia Qianqian shook her head, "I didn't win."

It was just a draw.

"Fellow Daoist Xia, now that the matter here is resolved, I shall take my leave," Lu Ye said, stepping forward.

"There's no rush; let me take you to see the spirit ground," Xia Qianqian said and produced a Flying Spirit Artifact, helping several injured onto it, and gestured to Lu Ye, "Let's go."

Lu Ye hurriedly followed.

The spirit ground was not far from there, located on top of a spirit mountaintop.

Once there, the group landed in succession.

Lu Ye looked around and saw a Spiritual Spring spurting Spiritual Energy. After feeling it for a moment, he found that this spirit ground was about the same as the one he had before, both being Class C Spirit Grounds and not very large in scale.

"If you are willing to stay, the five of you can just occupy this spirit ground. Although it's only a Class C Spirit Ground, it's still quite good and can meet the needs of your current cultivation," Xia Qianqian spoke up.

Such a small spirit ground was best occupied by five people. It was not that more couldn't be accommodated, but with more, the Spiritual Energy gushing from the spring would be insufficient.

Furthermore, with the combined strength of five people, the protective power of the spirit ground was assured, enough to handle most situations.

Besides, having Lu Ye stationed here would be better than several Level 5s, so Xia Qianqian genuinely hoped he would stay.

However, she had no idea if Lu Ye was willing. If it were any other Cloud River Level 3 cultivator, they would be eager for such a windfall, but Lu Ye was no ordinary Cloud River Level 3. With his mastery in Array Path, if he truly wanted to enter some spirit ground for cultivation, he would likely be welcomed in any below the Class B level as long as there was space available.

"I need to go find a Junior Brother of mine, thank you for your kindness," Lu Ye tactfully declined.

Xia Qianqian didn't insist, "Then help lay out some formations."

Lu Ye looked at her speechlessly, thinking everything had been resolved, yet this woman still insisted on bringing him here, apparently to get him to do some work.

"I'll need array banners and array bases!"

Helping with the array setup was fine by Lu Ye—it wouldn't take much effort—but he had no intention of providing the materials. Not to mention, just a set of array bases for a protective array was quite valuable. If other formations were to be laid out as well, the various array banners would also be a significant expense.

"I've bought them already," Xia Qianqian said, taking a storage sack off her waist and tossing it to Lu Ye.

She had specifically purchased a set of array bases and many array banners for a protective array from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union when looking for Lu Ye, planning for this moment.

With such thorough preparation from the others, what more could Lu Ye say?

After opening the storage sack and checking the contents, he saw that the protective array Xia Qianqian had purchased was not the highest grade but a slightly inferior one, with only eight array bases.

Frankly speaking, for such a small spirit ground, a protective array of eight array bases was sufficient; there was no need for anything fancier. Lu Ye had previously set up a protective array with sixteen array bases on his own spirit ground, which ended up being forcibly breached, destroying the array bases and costing him over ten thousand merits.

The several wounded were healing, Xia Qianqian was cultivating, and Lu Ye was busy setting up the array. However, the female magic cultivator was always nipping at Lu Ye's heels, praising and fawning over him, occasionally acting coy in hopes he would stay.

Having such a strong person nearby could indeed add to her sense of security.

This provoked Amber to reveal its true form and catch her off guard, tackling her to the ground with its huge mouth opened, roaring at her. The female magic cultivator was so scared that she went pale, and dared not come close to Lu Ye anymore.

A protective array, a concealment array, an alarm formation, and finally several killing arrays were set up within the spirit ground, with Lu Ye working busily all day long.

Finding Xia Qianqian, he informed her of the various formation locations and handed over the jade cluster for controlling the formations, demonstrating their use, only then was the job completed.