Sage of Humanity

In the chaotic stone forest, the flash of sabers was incessant. Under beast transformation, every strike that Lu Ye made reached a new peak in both speed and strength.

Hea Bing struggled to parry with his long spear, his tiger's mouth beginning to split, his spirit force violently surging, and his situation was becoming increasingly dire.

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan flanked Lu Ye, distracting Hea Bing's attention, finally giving Lu Ye a perfect opportunity. His saber thrusted straight forward, aiming directly at Hea Bing's chest.

Panic flashed in Hea Bing's eyes. At that moment, he leaned back, completely exposed, although he intended to block the incoming strike, he couldn't manage in time.

Given the strength that Lu Ye was demonstrating, his protective spirit body could not withstand this blow.

In other words, if he were hit, it would definitely be a thorough strike, and he was very likely to lose his life to this blow.

Just at this critical moment, Hea Bing suddenly pushed his spirit force to its limit, and a bright triangular barrier appeared out of nowhere, standing in front of him.

The Boulder Mountain Saber stabbed into the barrier, and was halted by it, unable to advance further.

Hea Bing's face was filled with horror, in that instant, he truly felt the breath of death.

Lu Ye raised his eyebrows, recognizing at a glance the flowing patterns on the suddenly emerged barrier as Defense Spirit Runes,

Is the enemy a battle runes master?

No!

If the opponent were truly a battle runes master, it would make no sense for him not to activate spirit runes during the fight. Since he isn't a battle runes master, then he must have a rune tattoo on his body.

Rune tattoos are not something every cultivator possesses, as the number of rune tattoo masters who can tattoo spirit runes onto cultivators' bodies is limited, and the materials required for rune tattoos are extremely expensive. Normally, based on the physical basis of a Cloud River Realm cultivator, only one rune tattoo can be endured, and more than that could not be withstood.

Hea Bing had a rune tattoo, and it was on his chest. At this moment, as his spirit force surged, it naturally triggered the power of the rune tattoo, forming a barrier that blocked Lu Ye's fatal strike.

This could be said to be Hea Bing's ace in the hole, something he wouldn't use unless absolutely necessary.

It had always been Lu Ye who activated Defense Spirit Runes to defend against others' attacks, and now his own attack being blocked by another's Defense Spirit Runes, was indeed a missed opportunity to kill his enemy.

Lu Ye's expression unchanged, he withdrew his saber and chopped again, yet the Defense Spirit Runes, activated by a Level 7 cultivator, had spirit force continuously infused into it, proving extremely sturdy.

To break this rune tattoo, an overwhelmingly fierce attack was needed.

Drawing back, he leveled his saber, severe blood Qi gathering towards his right arm, muscles slightly bulging.

However, before Lu Ye could strike, Li Baxian, darting at the flank, had already made his move. The scattered flying swords around suddenly gathered, all surging into the long sword in his hands. Li Baxian stood with his sword in front, his expression solemn.

In that instant, a chilling killing intent swept through all directions, and Li Baxian himself seemed to transform into an unsheathed sharp sword.

Since Lu Ye's beast transformation, Li Baxian had been skirmishing at the side, aiming not to harm or kill the enemy but primarily to distract. Seeing Hea Bing activating his Defense Spirit Runes, he held nothing back.

A terrifying Sword Intent arose, sword light shining in all directions, Li Baxian's entire being merged with the sword light, like a thunderbolt flashing past. He had appeared in front of Hea Bing, his longsword touching the Defense Spirit Runes.

A touch silent as the void, yet accompanied by an eruption of force.

With a loud crack, the seemingly impregnable Defense Spirit Runes shattered!

This is the fearsome offensive power of a sword cultivator, breaking his strongest defense means with a cultivation three levels lower than Hea Bing.

Under this one sword, Li Baxian's face turned as pale as paper, Hea Bing swept with his long spear, directly sending him flying.

Seizing the advantageous moment created by Li Baxian, Lu Ye's saber came slashing down.

A Single Flash!

Panic overflowed in Hea Bing's eyes, as he once again spurred his spirit force, attempting to activate the defensive power of the runes, but it was ultimately a step too slow.

As the saber fell, behind Lu Ye, the shadow of a fierce tiger flickered, as if the roar of a tiger resonated.

The fierce battlefield suddenly fell silent.

Lu Ye maintained the posture of his saber slash, motionless for a long while, as the dark red fresh blood gathered on the blade of the Boulder Mountain Saber, dripping down.

Drip, drop...

The faint sound broke the silence.

Feng Yuechan pressed her lips tightly, her gaze fixated on Hea Bing, her hand ready to unleash magic and spells.

Just three yards in front of Lu Ye, Hea Bing stood frozen in place, his long spear still in the pose of a thrust, the forming Defense Spirit Runes on his chest flickered and silently dispersed.

His eyeballs moved slightly, glancing at Lu Ye in front of him, his face twitching, then he fell backward.

As he hit the ground, his body separated, his eyes wide with resentment and disbelief.

"Phew..."

Only then did Feng Yuechan let out a deep breath, withdrew her spirit force, and hurried towards Li Baxian to check his condition.

Lu Ye also sat down on the ground, sprawled out, looking up at the ever-changing void above.

His vision blurred, and he appeared again in that underground cave, as Yiyi sensed the battle was over and had let them out.

"Lu Ye, are you alright?"

Yiyi stepped forward, looking at Lu Ye, who appeared as if drenched in fresh blood, her voice carrying a sobbing tone.

"I'm fine. How is Fourth Brother?"

From the side came the extremely weak voice of Li Baxian, "Power drained!"

His injuries were somewhat less severe than Lu Ye's, but the last of his secret swords had exhausted all his strength.

Hearing Li Baxian's voice, Lu Ye finally set his mind at ease.

As his mind relaxed, a streak of blood light burst from his chest, revealing Amber's figure, which looked quite exhausted, indicating that the beast transformation state had also taken a huge toll on it.

The moment he deactivated his beast transformation state, Lu Ye felt waves of fatigue sweeping over him, as if in that instant, all his essence, Qi, and spirit had been drained away.

It wasn't just the aftereffects of the beast transformation but also from the Bloodstain, the combination of which he simply couldn't withstand.

He just managed to say, "I need to sleep."

Then his consciousness plunged into darkness.

Yiyi was startled and quickly checked him, confirming there was no threat to Lu Ye's life, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Baxian also passed out shortly thereafter, and even Amber curled up next to Lu Ye, leaving Feng Yuechan and Yiyi to watch over them.

After feeding Lu Ye a healing pill and carefully bandaging his wounds, Yiyi said, "Senior Sister Feng, I'll go out and stand guard. Please take extra care here."

Feng Yuechan nodded, "Alright."

They had just experienced a fierce battle, and both Lu Ye and Li Baxian were now unconscious, which could spell trouble if someone were to come in at this time.

Yiyi could traverse underground, and when she was with Lu Ye, she often took on the duty of guard, making her the best choice to monitor the area.

The moment Lu Ye killed Hea Bing, on the high Kill Ranking in the sky, the points behind his name suddenly increased by two hundred fifty, reaching three thousand nine hundred ninety, just ten points shy of four thousand.

This sudden change inevitably caught the attention of many interested parties. Recently, the points following Lu Ye's name on the Kill Ranking had been increasing by hundreds at a time, and the time he killed a Level 6 cultivator, it even jumped by one hundred eighty points, which naturally aroused much speculation.

It was certain that the Rank 1 Lu Yiye's cultivation wasn't very high, because only when he killed enemies above his level would the kill points increase so substantially.

This additional two hundred fifty points indeed made people curious; whom had he killed this time? Considering that a Cloud River Level 9's base merit was only sixty points, two hundred fifty points were more than four times that amount.

About thirty miles away from the underground cave where Lu Ye and his group were located, Wei Que frowned as he looked at the Kill Ranking, his expression troubled.

He knew that Lu Ye was only at Level 3 cultivation. An increase of two hundred fifty kill points undoubtedly meant he had fought someone of Level 7!

Level 3 killing Level 7 was almost unimaginable, unbelievable to speak of, even if he had assistants like Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan.

But the fact was right before his eyes.

What troubled him was not the increase in Lu Ye's kill points, as he had no intentions of competing for the Kill Ranking; any increase in Lu Ye's kill points did not concern him.

His primary target had always been Lu Ye himself.

The reason for his troubled feeling was because he was certain that he had followed the wrong direction.

A few Level 3-4 cultivators fighting a Level 7 cultivator would definitely result in a heated battle, which simply couldn't be hidden, yet despite following their trail, he had completely lost track of Lu Ye and the others.

Where could those guys have run off to?

And what means did they use to escape?

Wei Que was utterly baffled.

As time passed, the rankings on the Kill Ranking continually changed, especially from second to tenth place, where the gaps were already small; a single battle could propel someone up several ranks.

What made them even more delighted was that Lu Ye's kill points had stalled.

Although there had previously been long periods when Lu Ye's kill points did not change, generally, almost every day there had been increases, and each time by several hundred points.

However, in the recent days, the points behind Lu Yiye had been fixed at three thousand nine hundred ninety and had not changed at all.

Originally, Lu Ye had been far ahead, seeming unreachable and causing despair among those behind him due to a thousand-point gap that was difficult to close.

But now they saw an opportunity again, thus they searched even more diligently for enemy traces.

After three days, Tan Sheng, who had been second in ranking, finally overtook Lu Ye, occupying the number one spot on the Kill Ranking, greatly pleased.

If not for Lu Ye's name still being on the Kill Ranking, he almost would have suspected the man had died. But now, with no activity for three consecutive days, it was almost certain that he was severely injured and likely healing.

It must be said, Tan Sheng was not wrong in his assumptions.

During these three days, Lu Ye was indeed recovering. His injuries weren't too severe and generally, a day or two of healing usually had no major impact on him, but the combined aftereffects of the beast transformation and the Bloodstain Spirit Runes made his body always feel weak.

The last time he had felt such weakness was after activating the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes at the Spirit Stream Battlefield, but back then, Hua Ci was by his side, caring for him thoroughly, allowing him to recover quickly.