Sage of Humanity

About one incense stick's time later, a small boat-shaped Spiritual Artifact flew by at a height of forty Zhang above the ground.

With previous experience in weapon control-flying using the wings spirit runes, combined with Lu Ye's now far superior control over his own spirit force, he spent only a brief time figuring out the trick to weapon control-flying.

The speed of this mode of flight was even faster than Amber running at full strength. After all, one was flight, and the other was running—they were incomparable.

However, riding on Amber didn't require any energy, whereas weapon control-flying consumed Lu Ye's own spirit force.

The degree of consumption was much lower than what Lu Ye had anticipated. This was related to the sufficiency and purity of his spirit force. After checking the rate at which his spirit force was depleting and doing some quick calculations, he could maintain this weapon control-flying for approximately four to six hours.

For a cultivator who had just advanced to Level 8, this duration of sustained flight was already quite long. As his cultivation improved in the future, both the duration and speed of his weapon control-flying would greatly increase.

The small boat also had a simple Protective Array on it. It wasn't very defensive, but it could block the oncoming gales.

Lu Ye was currently sitting in the middle of the small boat, with Yiyi sitting in front of him, leaning into his arms. As the small boat moved forward, her laughter tinkled like silver bells.

Being able to use weapon control-flying meant he now had another method for traveling and escaping. If he wished to fly, he wouldn't have to rely entirely on the wings rune tattoo anymore.

Half a day later, as night fell, Lu Ye arrived at the lake where the quasi-flood dragon resided, riding on Amber.

The place still bore traces of the bonfires left by people last time.

Lu Ye didn't know whether the quasi-flood dragon had returned here, but according to Yiyi's observations, there was a high probability that the beast had come back.

He allowed Amber to shape-change down to the size of a kitten and asked Yiyi to stand by at any moment, then he took the Scale Armor out from his storage sack.

He watched the lake silently, waiting for a moment, but there was no movement.

Lu Ye brought the Scale Armor up to Amber's face, and Amber immediately took a fierce breath, and a streak of blood was drawn out...

"It's coming," Yiyi whispered.

Lu Ye also saw ripples appear on the lake surface. The ripples swiftly expanded, and a horn slowly surfaced as it gradually swam towards the shore.

He quietly urged his spirit force, ready to activate the wings at any moment.

With a splash, a gigantic snake head rose from the surface of the lake, its two emerald green eyes fixated on the Scale Armor in Lu Ye's hand. The part of its body that was out of the water had many scales missing, looking quite disheveled.

Separated by a distance of thirty Zhang, their eyes met. Lu Ye lifted the Scale Armor in his hand, and the quasi-flood dragon's gaze shifted slightly.

However, unlike last time, although the beast still seemed very eager for the Scale Armor, it didn't immediately rush over.

Its snake pupils were filled with a wary expression.

Seeing this, Lu Ye knew that his plan to continue luring the quasi-flood dragon was likely to fail.

The quasi-flood dragon possessed high spiritual intelligence. Last time, it was drawn by the allure of the Scale Armor and ended up fighting a battle with the cultivators from the Sky Supporting Sect at their base. Although the Sky Supporting Sect suffered, it was injured as well.

The pain from its wounds made it angry and irrational, fixated only on taking the Scale Armor, which led it deeper into trouble.

After the Scale Armor's aura vanished and it emerged disgracefully back to its lair, it realized something was wrong—it seemed to have been used!

In this world, the incessant strife among the human race was something it knew about. The reason it chose to live a secluded life in such a place was firstly, because it had few pursuits left, and secondly, it didn't want to get involved in the conflicts of the human race. To it, the life-and-death battles of humans had nothing to do with it as long as they didn't disturb it.

But this peace-loving creature had been exploited by a despicable, deceitful member of the human race!

Over the past few days while healing its wounds, the more it thought about it, the angrier it became. But what could it do? The irresistible scent was gone, and that despicable human had disappeared.

Until today, when that scent reappeared, and that same human showed up again.

Although the quasi-flood dragon still craved the Scale Armor, it would no longer act rashly. It knew that to obtain that Scale Armor, it would have to kill that despicable human!

With that in mind, it brewed its power for a moment, and suddenly, a Thunderbolt appeared on its horn; a pillar of thunder as thick as an arm roared towards Lu Ye.

Already prepared, Lu Ye took to the sky in an instant. Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire

With a bang, the thunder pillar blasted a deep hole where Lu Ye had been standing.

In the sky, Lu Ye increased the distance between himself and the quasi-flood dragon, his back breaking into a cold sweat.

Though he had felt he was unlikely to exploit the quasi-flood dragon again, he hadn't expected the beast to despise him to this extent. It welcomed him with thunder on their first encounter. Had he not been prepared in advance, he wouldn't have been able to dodge that attack at all.

Landing at a distance, Yiyi followed over. Lu Ye handed the Scale Armor to Yiyi and let her give it a try.

Yiyi took the Scale Armor and burrowed into the ground for a trial.

An hour later, Yiyi returned and shook her head at Lu Ye.

No matter how Yiyi tempted it, the quasi-flood dragon refused to leave the lake it resided in—it had learned its lesson.

Lu Ye raised his hand and touched the battlefield marking, sending a message to Luo Fu.

"The quasi-flood dragon won't come out, there's nothing I can do."

Luo Fu quickly replied, his tone somewhat disappointed, but he knew it couldn't be helped. Lu Ye had already made it clear to him that he did not control the quasi-flood dragon but could only guide its actions to some extent. Since it was guidance, naturally, not everything would go as wished.

After ending the communication with Luo Fu, Lu Ye called to Yiyi, "Let's go."

Since they couldn't lure out the quasi-flood dragon, Lu Ye decided not to return to the Silver Light Island base. He planned to continue on his way.

In the second half of the night, they found a suitable place to rest, planning to set off again at dawn.

Lu Ye's purpose for entering the inner circle this time was two-fold—firstly, to pave the way for the cultivators of the Righteous Blood Sect by using his authority as a Governor to forge Alliance Pacts with suitable inner circle sects, thus giving the Righteous Blood Sect cultivators more options in the future. Secondly, he sought to avenge the battle at Golden Light Peak.

The nearest sect, Sky Supporting Sect, had already been arranged; the next target was Fenghua Courtyard.

Lu Ye vaguely remembered that Fenghua Courtyard was the second power from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to send someone to challenge him on Golden Light Peak. The challenger was a delicate female magic cultivator whose combination of wind and fire attacks caused him some trouble. However, once he closed in on her, the delicate female magic cultivator ended up decapitated.

Fenghua Courtyard was not close by. Riding on Amber, it would take at least half a month to get there, and weapon control-flying would be quicker but too draining on spirit force.

There was no rush, so naturally, Lu Ye chose to ride on Amber.

Sitting atop the tiger, spirit force surged continuously in Lu Ye's hands.

In his left hand, the Yin-Yang Primordial Element continuously emerged, gradually forming an extremely complicated pattern. It was a spirit rune he had learned from the tomes. The spirit runes Lu Ye learned from the tomes weren't the only ones he knew; although each had its clever use, they couldn't be activated at will, so they were only suitable for practice during peacetime and couldn't be used in combat.

The spirit runes Lu Ye used in battle all came from the Talent Tree, runes he could activate at will.

Even with the patient instruction from Madam Yun before, Lu Ye's mastery of the Path of Spirit Runes was only at a beginner's level. Now that he couldn't constantly consult Madam Yun, he had to study on his own.

Fortunately, before he left, he had taken many rune-related tomes from Madam Yun. As long as he could thoroughly understand the contents of these books, he would greatly advance in the Path of Spirit Runes.

In his right hand, there was also a spirit rune, a Sharpness rune, but Lu Ye was using his own spirit force to break this rune, dissipating it.

One hand constructing, one hand resolving, multitasking was undoubtedly difficult, and Lu Ye had yet to master it.

This sort of practice would not only advance his Path of Spirit Runes, but also train his precise control of spirit force. The very reason Lu Ye, at Level 7, could do weapon control with two weapons lay here.

Now, at Level 8, if he wished, he could control one or two more weapons.

He had not refined any more Spiritual Artifacts. Merely increasing the number of controlled weapons was meaningless; Lu Ye wanted to enhance their lethality, which meant constructing spirit runes on the weapons as they killed enemies.

This was difficult, and Lu Ye had no clear idea on how to do it for the time being, so he could only continue to delve into the Path of Spirit Runes, enhancing his expertise in this area.

With patience, success would come naturally. Once his mastery of the Path of Spirit Runes was sufficient, he would be able to construct spirit runes however he wished.

If he were traveling alone, Lu Ye would never dare to be so distracted, but he was not alone; Yiyi was with him. Therefore, if there was any danger, Yiyi would alert him.

During the day, he improved his mastery of the Path of Spirit Runes while on the road. At night, Lu Ye would study the tomes he brought from Madam Yun and occasionally, when keen for a challenge, he would enter the Mirage Realm.

That being said, after reaching Level 8, the next time he entered the Mirage Realm, he no longer encountered members of the Insect Race but instead faced a Level 8 cultivator in battle. The reason why was unclear.

A Level 8 cultivator was naturally no match for him, and even a Level 9 wouldn't last long under his knife. In the Mirage Realm, cultivators at the 7th Heaven level had started to appear.

Every fight was a grueling battle! A cultivator's strength would surge explosively after switching to a Heaven Rank technique.

When Lu Ye was at Level 7, killing Yuan Guang, who was two levels higher, hadn't been too difficult. Yet, as a Level 8 fighting against a 7th Heaven cultivator—which was also two levels higher—it became a struggle rife with injuries, and one slip-up risked him being killed in return.

From this, Lu Ye gained a clear understanding of his current strength. Against a 7th Heaven opponent, the chances of life or death were even, dependent on who performed better on the spot.

In the Mirage Realm, the opponents he faced were from varying factions, so as long as Lu Ye was willing to spend merit, he could easily amass a great deal of actual combat experience. Once settled, this experience became techniques for killing enemies.

The journey wasn't peaceful, as Lu Ye chose to travel in a straight line and inevitably trespassed the territories of some Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powers. Encountering Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators inevitably led to conflict.

Cultivators in the inner circle were generally between Level 6 to Level 9, with few who transitioned to Heaven Rank techniques. Those who did typically operated in the Core Circle. Those who encountered Lu Ye naturally did not end well, and the same was true even if they traveled in groups of three or five. It's worth noting that Yiyi was in control of the Nine Worlds map, and coupled with her ability to appear and vanish unpredictably, Lu Ye's enemies could carelessly end up trapped in the Nine Worlds map, leading to their inevitable demise.