Sage of Humanity

In the spirit ground, Xia Qianqian and the female magic cultivator watched Lu Ye leave together, the latter waving continuously with a reluctant expression on her face.

Xia Qianqian glanced at her, "He's already gone, you little flirt, stop waving your hands."

The female magic cultivator felt extremely wronged, "Senior Sister, how can you say that about me?"

"Utterly useless," Xia Qianqian lamented, frustrated at her lack of steel.

"That guy isn't interested in women, what could I do..." The female magic cultivator felt even more aggrieved. She had followed Lu Ye around, trying her best to showcase her charms, but she still couldn't make him stay.

"Take good care of them, I'm going ahead. I'll find an array cultivator to come over later," Xia Qianqian instructed, handing over the Great Array Jade Cluster to the female magic cultivator and soared into the sky.

"Senior Sister, take care!" The female magic cultivator continued to wave her hand.

In mid-air, Lu Ye controlled his flight, still wearing that fox-face mask, feeling as free as a bird in the sky and a fish in the sea, his mood joyful.

It wasn't like when he was at the Spirit Stream battlefield, where he was recognized everywhere he went, and everyone called for his head. Life now was much more comforting.

By nightfall, he descended to find a cave in the wilderness for shelter and rest.

Inside the cave, the bonfire crackled loudly, with a large piece of beast meat roasting over it, turning golden brown and the aroma of the meat spreading all over.

In the deeper part of the cave, Lu Ye was busy setting up an array.

Yiyi's figure suddenly emerged from the ground, coming beside Lu Ye and spoke in a low voice, "Didn't find it."

Lu Ye nodded, "Not finding it is normal, it must be a ghost cultivator."

And it was very likely Jiang Chengzi, whom he had fought yesterday!

Not long after saying goodbye to Xia Qianqian and setting off, Lu Ye started feeling like he was being watched. He had felt this way before in the Spirit Stream battlefield, and it turned out he wasn't being paranoid; someone was indeed tracking him in the shadows.

Now at the Cloud River Level 3, his mental strength had grown stronger than when he was in the Spirit Stream Realm, so even though he wasn't sure who was tracking him in the shadows, he was certain he was indeed being targeted.

Yiyi had been looking for the person who was secretly tracking him, but she came back empty-handed. A ghost cultivator from Cloud River Level 5 realm, wanting to hide, wouldn't be found by Yiyi unless Lu Ye used Insight Spirit Runes to probe at a close distance.

Indeed, the benefits offered by Xia Qianqian weren't so easily obtained; as it turned out, his previous attack had brought him some unwanted attention.

It was to be expected, after all, a cultivator from Cloud River Level 3 defeating two from Cloud River Level 5 - and the Jiang brothers were not just any Level 5 cultivators, they were known for defeating those above their level.

It was hard not to draw attention under those circumstances.

But facing Jiang Liuzi, the sword cultivator, back then, Lu Ye couldn't afford to hide his strength. Already at a cultivation disadvantage, fighting a renowned killer sword cultivator and still concealing his strength would be like courting death. It was necessary to win that fight decisively and quickly.

Although he realized someone was following him and could speed up to shake off the pursuer, doing so would be too obvious.

There were other ways to shake off a pursuer, and quietly searching for the pursuer now wasn't a good idea; if the other party was tracking him, they surely had help. The Level 9 youth was very likely involved, perhaps even leading this, and facing such a formidable opponent, Lu Ye was no match.

A moment later, Lu Ye walked out of the cave and rocketed into the sky.

In the darkness, Jiang Chengzi watched Lu Ye's figure, perplexed.

As Lu Ye suspected, the one watching him was indeed Jiang Chengzi, who had been tasked by the Level 9 youth to track him all the way here.

Lu Ye's actions puzzled him; it was late at night, and instead of resting, why was he suddenly in a hurry to travel? Jiang Chengzi quickly sent a message out and continued to follow Lu Ye's figure.

An hour later, Lu Ye landed about 30 miles away and again entered a cave.

In the shadows, Jiang Chengzi also landed and sent another message out.

A few dozen miles away, the Level 9 youth, along with Jiang Liuzi, hurried toward this direction. They hadn't dared to get too close before, to avoid alarming Lu Ye. If alarmed, Lu Ye would definitely call for help, and it would be troublesome if they drew Xia Qianqian over.

After a day's recovery, Jiang Liuzi's injuries had significantly improved. Following behind the young man, he asked in puzzlement, "Senior Brother Wei, what's so important about that fox-face that it warrants such attention from you?"

The fox-face was incredibly strong, much stronger than one might imagine, clearly not someone obscure, but his importance seemed disproportionate, even to someone like Wei Que, a Level 9 cultivator from Cloud River, nearly ready to advance to True Lake.

After all, an ordinary person would not catch his eye.

Wei Que heard and said, "Do you know of the Righteous Blood Sect?"

"Naturally, I do."

Thirty years ago, the Righteous Blood Sect of Bingzhou had dominated the region as a leading sect, and it was also the front-runner of the Haotian Alliance.

"There's a Lu Yiye in the Righteous Blood Sect, have you heard of him?"

Jiang Liuzi was surprised, "Are you saying that the fox-face is Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect?"

"It seems you have heard of him," Wei Que said with a slight smile.

Finding out about Lu Ye's identity was not difficult; one just needed to ask who the monstrous talent that emerged in the Spirit Stream battlefield in the last six months who also happened to be a combat cultivator using a blade was.

After leading his men to retreat, Wei Que had immediately sent word out to investigate this matter, initially out of mere curiosity about Lu Ye's identity, wanting to uncover the truth.

The result turned out to be a big fish!

Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect—many sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had issued bounty rewards for him, and the combined bounty from all the big sects was enough to even make those at the Cloud River Level 9 envious.

It could be said that if one could kill this Lu Yiye, then one needn't worry about cultivation resources for the rest of one's life.

This huge temptation made it hard for Wei Que not to be moved, and he immediately had Jiang Chengzi lurk near the spirit ground, tracking Lu Ye's movements, waiting for Lu Ye to leave before following him from a distance.

As for Jiang Liuzi knowing about Lu Ye, it was not surprising since he was at the Spirit Stream battlefield when the battle at Golden Light Peak broke out. At that time, the Jiang brothers were at 9th Heaven level, and Lu Ye was just a common Level 5 realm cultivator—not paying much attention to it as Lu Ye's life or death was intertwined merely with the survival of the Righteous Blood Sect. He had not yet shown any threat to the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge forces.

Two months after the battle at Golden Light Peak, the Jiang brothers were promoted and came to the Cloud River battlefield, where they had not left since.

Thus, they had not heard about the various upheavals Lu Ye later caused on the Spirit Stream battlefield.

However, they did know about the warrant for Lu Ye issued by the various major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge; it was precisely because of this that thousands of cultivators gathered at Golden Light Peak, enabling Lu Ye to achieve the feat of fighting forty-three battles without a single defeat.

"This speed of cultivation is just too fast, isn't it?" Jiang Liuzi felt shocked. It hadn't been long since the battle at Golden Light Peak, and that minor figure who had triggered a contest between two camps had already been promoted to and arrived at the Cloud River battlefield?

And he was also at Cloud River Level 3!

One must know that the Jiang brothers had come to the Cloud River battlefield a year or two earlier than Lu Ye, and they were only at Cloud River Level 5 so far.

"It's not just his cultivation speed that's fast; you brothers may not know what he has done on the Spirit Stream battlefield." To be honest, when the detailed information about Lu Ye reached Wei Que, he too was quite taken aback.

Considering Lu Ye's two years on the Spirit Stream battlefield, it was truly a distressing and tormented time for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. Especially later on, Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect had essentially taken up the overlord status with a cultivator's identity, wherever he went, all the major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge trembled in fear. Even the territories of the 1st grade sects, he shattered whenever he pleased, until finally the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge collectively compromised and offered protection money to the core circle's major sects to preserve their own safety.

Said to have been on the day he was promoted to the Cloud River Realm, there was widespread celebration at every major sect's stronghold on the Spirit Stream battlefield, with gongs and drums blaring.

In history, no cultivator had ever caused such a massive reaction from one camp.

Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect had done it, and his reputation would likely remain legendary on the Spirit Stream battlefield for the next decade or two.

Hearing Wei Que say this, Jiang Liuzi couldn't help but ask curiously, "What did he do on the Spirit Stream battlefield?"

Wei Que remained silent for a while before sighing and sharing some intelligence.

Jiang Liuzi felt he had asked too much out of curiosity—why ask such things? Every part of this intelligence was a disgrace to the major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. Being a cultivator from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, listening to this made him feel his face burning.

"So after Lu Yiye was promoted to the Cloud River, all the top major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge raised the reward money, letting people on the Cloud River battlefield find his whereabouts and try to eliminate him! Sadly, due to difficulties in message transmission, and because he had not been on the Cloud River battlefield long, his whereabouts haven't been discovered yet."

Lu Ye's talent shown in the Spirit Stream Realm was too frightening, which made those of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge fearful. It was natural to want such a person dead sooner rather than later.

On the Spirit Stream battlefield, he was invincible, undefeated across the world; but arriving at the Cloud River battlefield was different, this was a chance for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side.

But communication between the Cloud River battlefield and Nine Provinces wasn't very convenient, unlike at the Spirit Stream battlefield, where a sect's governor might not return to Nine Provinces but could still exchange messages with his sect's Seal Envoy through the battlefield marking.

The Cloud River battlefield didn't offer this convenience; one needed to enter to deliver the messages, and once one left the Cloud River battlefield, re-entry wasn't possible within a month due to the rules set by Heaven's Augury that no one could break. This prevented Cloud River Realm cultivators from using the quick in-and-out method to transfer intelligence.

This time, if Wei Que hadn't become curious about Lu Ye's identity, he wouldn't have taken the trouble to investigate and discover Lu Ye's real identity.

If Lu Ye knew about this, he would definitely feel wronged. Previously, when he showed his real face, even when encountering some cultivators from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, nobody paid him any attention. Finally, having a chance to hide his identity and wearing a fox-face mask, just to almost have someone dig out what color his underpants were—truly, fate is unpredictable.