Sage of Humanity

On the tenth day of entering the Chess Sea, the number of cultivators gathered on Chess Island had exceeded one hundred, and the vast island was already too large to see its end.

By the fifteenth day, the number of people temporarily swelled to two hundred.

The explosive growth was mainly due to the fact that each batch of surviving Haotian Alliance cultivators was not small in number, the least being around a dozen, and the most being up to thirty or forty.

As the numbers grew, so did our own strength.

However, correspondingly, the battles also became more intense. As our own numbers were gathering, so were those from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, and no longer were there small-scale skirmishes between a few individuals as seen at the start. Now, when a large battle broke out, the sky was filled with the light from magic and spells and flying weapons.

According to the information that Lu Ye currently held, the merging between the chess islands generally lasts from eighteen to twenty days. During this period, the scattered chess islands across the Chess Sea would slowly converge into a large provincial state.

Once this provincial state formed, some rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures seldom seen in the outside world would appear, possibly originating from those unexplored Chess Islands.

After the formation of the provincial state, it would last for about ten days before once again fracturing into countless Chess Islands. By that time, the Spirit Stream Defense Battle would come to an end, and any surviving cultivators would be sent back to the residences of their respective sects.

Fifteen days had already passed, and in a few more days, the merging between the chess islands would reach its final stages. Once the provincial state was formed, the confrontation between the cultivators of the two camps would become even more fierce, because now everyone could only passively wait. However, once the merging of the Chess Island was complete, they could take the initiative to attack.

Preparations by Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would also truly come into effect at that moment.

In these days, news from various parties was exchanged and communicated, and bad news would occasionally arrive, relaying that Chess Islands occupied by Haotian Alliance cultivators had been attacked and wiped out to the last man.

If the Haotian Alliance cultivators on the periphery suffered too many casualties, then once the provincial state formed, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge could take advantage of their superior numbers to sweep the Haotian Alliance out of the game, and with enough time to search, they could even kill every single one of the Haotian Alliance side.

The situation on the periphery was not optimistic, and it was even less so in the core areas.

At least on the periphery, there's the Righteous Blood Sect, with two of their members as the core support, propping things up. But the cultivators in the core areas weren't so fortunate. When they fought, there was no one to help weaken the enemy's strength for them.

If they were injured, there was no one to help them heal; if their energy consumption was too great, they could only rely on consuming elixir pills or sit in meditation to recover.

After several brutal, major battles, even those Level 8-9 cultivators who had cultivated Heaven Rank techniques had suffered significant casualties.

Two days later, the number of cultivators on the island had increased again, reaching as many as three hundred people. From one of the smaller islands that had merged over, there were up to seventy cultivators from the Haotian Alliance.

Upon learning that this Chess Island was where the cultivators of the Righteous Blood Sect were, the seventy-plus people were overjoyed, as if they had found their own family. They even made a special effort to come over and get acquainted with Lu Ye and Hua Ci.

With over three hundred people, our side became unprecedentedly strong and everyone eagerly awaited the final merging of the Chess Island. Only then could the Haotian Alliance cultivators who had not yet converged come together and find a glimmer of hope for survival.

The awaited day finally arrived.

When the Chess Island they were on suddenly shook and accelerated in one direction, the expressions of all the cultivators on the island became solemn, as everyone realized that the final merging had begun.

At this moment, across the entire Chess Sea, the Chess Islands, which were originally difficult to count, had already merged into large islands. These islands were now being drawn in the same direction by some force. Along the way, islands began to merge and cling together, forming even larger islands.

Some of these islands had people on them, others were uninhabited. Those uninhabited small islands all seemed small, as if they had never undergone merging, but without exception, they all contained some precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures, some of which were even unique products of the Chess Sea.

And somewhere on a Chess Island, there also was an island, not small in size, with a fruit tree growing at its highest point. The tree bore nine palm-sized blue flowers, whose scent filled the air even ten miles away.

The visible spiritual energy of nature formed a vortex, converging on these nine blue flowers, and beneath their petals, the beginnings of fruit started to grow.

It was foreseeable that such a tree would inevitably attract a struggle between the strong from both camps, and a great battle was destined to erupt here.

The Chess Island hadn't yet completely finished merging, but Lu Ye's side had already started fighting, because on their merging path, nearby Chess Islands had attached themselves to it, and simultaneously, two Chess Islands, one to the left and one to the right, were perfectly sandwiching Lu Ye and his fellow cultivators' island in the middle.

Both of the sandwiching islands had a gathering of around a hundred people each, and without waiting for Lu Ye and the others to ascertain which camp the two sides belonged to, the cultivators from the left and right had already charged over.

Both sides belonged to Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, and having made contact with each other and exchanged information, they determined that the one caught in the middle was from the Haotian Alliance, so they had no reason for courtesy.

Our cultivators saw this and thought it was a good turn of events, immediately becoming invigorated.

Ever since our numbers had surpassed one hundred, our side had been the one to take the initiative in every major battle.

There was no choice; with our increased numbers, the enemy couldn't just recklessly attack us anymore, and even the best actor couldn't lure them deep into our territory. The enemy only needed to send a few people to scout this side and they would know something wasn't right.

When taking the offensive, even with Hua Ci leading the array, there were always some inevitable casualties. Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators weren't easy to deal with; like the Haotian Alliance, they too had experienced many battles and feared not death.

It had been many days since anyone dared to attack, rendering all the extensive preparations made by Hua Ci useless.

So this moment, even though they were caught in a pincer attack from left and right, everyone was far from panicked and even a little excited. Each person's face showed eagerness, as they quietly gathered their spirit force.

Too many wolves, too little meat, at this time it was a competition of sight and speed. Killing the enemy's Governor not only yielded merits but also allowed for taking over the blessing of the opponent's Heaven's Augury Pillar. However, if you killed a Deputy Governor, you would only get merits, with a big difference between the two.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators on both sides were coordinating well, and their momentum was also full. In contrast, their own lines were standing in groups of threes and twos, without any special formation, appearing like a disorganized mob.

As usual, it was the collision and confrontation between the magic and spells and the weapon control spirit light that began the battle, and it was with this exchange that the people from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge realized that something was wrong.

There were unexpectedly too many people from the Haotian Alliance!

Their sides combined were still fewer than their opponents, but the battle had already begun, and there was no room for retreat now, so they could only grit their teeth and persist.
Your next journey awaits at empire

Luckily, they soon discovered that there was no unified command and coordination on the Haotian Alliance side, so even though they had the numbers, they weren't gaining the upper hand in the battle.

This reassured the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side, and they attacked with even more vigor.

What they didn't know was that the majority of the Haotian Alliance's three hundred cultivators were focusing their attention on a gentle-mannered woman, which was why they seemed to be lacking in combat power.

This woman, named Hua Ci!

Around Hua Ci, the number of people responsible for protecting her had increased to five, one physique cultivator, one combat cultivator, one magic cultivator, one ghost cultivator, and a cover armorer, who was Loo Yushan's junior sister.

As Hua Ci raised her jade hand, her magic spells changed, and a green halo burst forth sweeping across.

The more than three hundred people from the Haotian Alliance seemed to have received some kind of command as their offensive suddenly intensified!

With exclamations of shock coming from both sides, a large portion of the spirit light from the controlled weapons in the sky was shattered! The spirit light of their own controlled weapons blasted into the enemy camp following the momentum, and the physique and combat cultivators at the forefront were covered in blood, and more than a dozen died on the spot.

"Thunder Dragon Roar!" The diminutive Loo Yushan shouted with great momentum, her Spiritual Artifact emitting a strong pillar of light blasting into the midst of the enemy crowd, not knowing how many she had killed but her expression suddenly turned delighted.

"Kill!" Gao Tai roared furiously and was the first to charge out again, the big shield Spiritual Artifact in his hand erecting a barrier to withstand the attacks of the cultivators, as he sprinted forward with large strides.

Behind him, one combat cultivator after another burst forward like fierce wolves, their aura fearsome, lacking only a pair of red lights floating in their eyes.

Lu Ye followed close behind him without a step's delay.

Moments later, Gao Tai collided with an opposing physique cultivator, like two giant rocks smashing together, the shield Spiritual Artifact let out a thunderous blast, and spirit light loomed.

Both sides were forced back several steps, a clash that proved to be an even match.

But Gao Tai was smiling because as he retreated, the combat cultivators who had charged out behind him had already darted to either side.

The face of the opposing burly physique cultivator turned to horror; despite frantically activating his spirit force and the power of his Spiritual Artifact, as the combat cultivators passed by him, several streaks of blood still sprayed from his body before he kneeled on the ground.

The physique cultivators at the very front of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side all faced a similar fate.

The defensive system of the front-line physique cultivators had been breached; what was left was a bloodbath.

Lu Ye had just charged towards a panic-stricken magic cultivator when a streak of weapon control spirit light attacked from the side, puncturing a big hole in the magic cultivator's head!

Lu Ye's swung sword was immediately retracted.

Such things were common, and after several big battles, despite the heated fighting, the actual kills were few. With the advantage in numbers now, each battle left some without any gains.

Immediately, he set his sights on the next target, a combat cultivator who was fleeing towards the rear. He raised his hand and cast the Fire Phoenix Technique, staggering the man, with his back scorched and blackened, then he followed up with a swift strike of his sword.

Looking at the two red lights that fell onto the back of his hand, Lu Ye finally took a long breath. In the current situation, snatching a kill really wasn't easy.

Like a collapsing mountain, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side retreated, leaving countless corpses along the way, with the remaining dozen or so being chased to the seaside. Seeing they had nowhere to run, they actually jumped into the sea one after another.

A mass of unknown shadows surged up from beneath the water, engulfing these few people.

"No!" a Haotian Alliance cultivator stretched out his hand, thumping to his knees on the ground, eyes red and face filled with sorrow.

If uninformed people saw this scene, they would probably think that the people who jumped into the sea were his relatives.

"Why... Why would you rather kill yourselves than let me do it?"

Damn it, another fruitless battle!