Sage of Humanity

No matter how loudly the cultivators around him shouted and cursed, they couldn't change their predicament. They had already entered and there was no way to exit.

They could only wait for the time limit to arrive and be expelled by Xianyuan City.

Suddenly, a colossal pulling force came from ahead, and in the next instant, his body, which had been suspended in the air, involuntarily plummeted toward the ground below as Xianyuan City rapidly expanded in his field of vision.

Shouts of alarm rose from all directions.

This time, there were six to seven hundred cultivators who had entered the Boundless Mirage Realm. The spectacle of so many cultivators falling together was truly majestic.

Moreover, falling from such a height, even a physique cultivator like Giant Armor would definitely not survive. This was not a question of physical strength; the height was simply too great, and a fall from it would certainly result in a loss of human form.

All of them were trying to muster their spirit force, but the spirit force within their bodies was like stagnant water, impossible to stir, no matter how hard they tried. Those cultivators who were unaware of what was happening descended into panic, their curses growing fiercer, and some even cried out that they hadn't lived long enough and weren't ready to die yet.

Lu Ye, having purchased intelligence from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, was recorded in these circumstances, so he was not flustered. He simply kept trying to muster his spirit force.

Moreover, as they fell, everyone's bodies were uncontrollably drifting left and right. This situation was as if they were caught in a chaotic torrent of wind, unable to navigate, forced to drift with the flow, feeling utterly terrible.

The small-mustache cultivator and Giant Armor had initially been close to Lu Ye, but after a moment of falling, they disappeared without a trace. No one knew where they had gotten to.

Amongst the terrified screams, everyone drew nearer and nearer to the ground, until about thirty feet up, their rapidly descending figures were abruptly cushioned, and their speed plummeted.

When they were about nine feet from the ground, the force that had bound them all disappeared.

Those cultivators who were prepared immediately mustered their spirit force to escape the fate of crashing to the ground, while the unprepared ones were out of luck, each dropping down in various peculiar postures. Though this height wasn't lethal for cultivators, it was still quite an embarrassing fall.

When Lu Ye landed, he took the opportunity to roll forward and then stood up, his hand on the hilt of his sword, quietly mustering his spirit force as he looked around warily.

There was no one else around; he was the only one in the vicinity. He found himself on a street lined with buildings that looked like shops, though most of them appeared dilapidated.

In the initial entry into Xianyuan City, everyone's formation had been completely disrupted. Originally, the cultivators from the three forces had an advantage by sticking together since there's strength in numbers. But now it seemed they would need quite some time to regroup.

This was undoubtedly good news for independent cultivators who were on their own; they didn't have to worry about encountering groups of hostile cultivators for a short time.

"Who dares to trespass in Tianyuan City! Seize them!" A roar entered Lu Ye's ears, followed by the sound of fierce combat and the fluctuations of spirit force from a nearby street.

As Lu Ye listened intently, he saw two figures dash out from around a corner, running directly toward him. Their expressions were panicked, as if they were being chased by some fearsome beast.

Two unfortunate souls! Lu Ye cursed inwardly, hastily scanning his surroundings. He spotted a lantern hanging at the entrance of a nearby shop. Without hesitation, he activated his Move-Like-The-Wind technique, dashed over, pushed open the shop door, and ducked inside.

After shutting the door, Lu Ye peeked through the crack, only to see the two cultivators who were being chased hadn't gotten far when suddenly, dazzling spirit light ropes flew out after them. These rope-like objects did not seem to be Spiritual Artifacts but rather looked like a kind of magic and spells for binding enemies, similar to the rumored Spirit-Binding Lock.

The Spirit-Binding Lock flew straight at one of the combat cultivators, who, impressively, managed to slash at the spell in mid-flight, shattering it, and snorted coldly, "Trivial tricks!"

No sooner had he spoken than four or five Spirit-Binding Locks flew toward him, entwining around him as if they were sentient, and wrapped him up like a zongzi.

The combat cultivator cried out as he fell to the ground, struggling to break free, but the more he struggled, the tighter the Spirit-Binding Locks bound him, until he was struggling to breathe.

"No skills in fighting many against one, face me one on one if you dare!" the cultivator shouted.

Several figures silently crossed over him and pursued the other cultivator.

In just the span of a few breaths, a cry of alarm came from not far away.

Soon, the cultivator who had escaped was also bound and dragged back. The two looked at each other, silent, with tears welling up in their eyes.

Looking through the crack of the door, Lu Ye saw that, besides the two bound cultivators, there were several people clad in armor, with one of them having a long plume on his helmet.

These were the Xianyuan Guards, which could be considered as the city guard army of Xianyuan City. For some unknown reason, after the city was destroyed, the city guards had all turned into Spiritual Bodies. Even though this place was now a dilapidated city, they still adhered to their duties, protecting the city.

This was the biggest trouble in Xianyuan City and what the cultivators who came here wanted to avoid the most.

Because the Xianyuan Guards were mostly cultivators of Level 8-9, and the squad leaders could even compare to Level 7 cultivators. It was said there was also a commander over the city guards.

As for the cultivation of the Xianyuan City Lord… no one knew; none of the cultivators who had entered the City Lord's Residence ever came out alive.

The Xianyuan Guards were not to be trifled with; they usually operated in squads of about five or six, each led by a squad leader. Ordinary cultivators dared not provoke such teams.

Just looking at the two cultivators who were taken down, one could tell that their strength was not weak, one at Level 8 and the other at Level 9. Yet, when faced with a team of Xianyuan Guards, they were captured without much resistance.

"Take them to the dungeon!" the plumage-topped Xianyuan Guard squad leader ordered.

Lu Ye silently mourned. Everyone had entered Xianyuan City seeking fortunes, but they had been caught by the Xianyuan Guards shortly after entering and were now to be sent to the dungeon. Although there was no immediate threat to their lives, what they would encounter after being thrown into the dungeon was unknown.

It was said that those taken to the dungeon would suffer harsh torture, and if they could survive until being expelled by the city, they could keep their lives. But if they couldn't last, they were most likely to die here.

After issuing commands, the squad leader leaped in a few steps to the storefront where Lu Ye was. She pressed one eye against the crack in the door and locked gazes with Lu Ye at close quarters, hissing maliciously, "Having the gall to commit crimes in Xianyuan City, this is what awaits you!"

Having laid down that threat, the squad leader then took his leave.

Lu Ye watched his figure disappear, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife without relaxing his grip. He let out a soft breath; the nine hundred Spirit Stones were well spent. Had it not been for the information about Xianyuan City recorded in the jade slip, he would have had no idea how to deal with the situation and probably would have had to fight desperately against the squad of Xianyuan Guards.

According to the information in the jade slip, those buildings with lanterns hanging at the door seemed to be under the protection of some special power, which the Xianyuan Guards would not enter.

This was also the reason why Lu Ye rushed into this shop.

With a large number of cultivators breaking into Xianyuan City, chaos was bound to ensue in the city. Instead of running around like a headless fly, it was better to hide first and wait for the situation to stabilize before making plans.

Who knows how many people the Xianyuan Guards had captured...

Lu Ye turned around and quietly looked into the distance.

A zhang away, there was a plump middle-aged man dressed in wealthy merchant attire, rubbing his hands together and looking at Lu Ye with a beaming smile.

Some bad luck...

Most of the buildings with lanterns at the door were unowned and could serve as a refuge from Xianyuan Guards, but a portion of them had owners.

These Spiritual Bodies, who had died untold years ago, rarely encountered living people, and often made some strange and unusual demands. If one met the demands of these Spiritual Bodies, they could leave safely; but if not, a price had to be paid.

And those prices were often very severe... such as one's life!

All in all, Xianyuan City was a very bizarre place.

"Young Friend, meeting is destiny, care to gamble?"

This fellow must have been a gambler in his life.

Lu Ye's eyes wandered to the other's neck, contemplating whether he could kill this fellow with a single slash of his knife.

However, considering that the spirit light on his body was comparable to a 7th Heaven level, this possibility seemed slim, so he suppressed the urge to kill in his heart and decided to spare him for now; it wasn't appropriate to stir up too much commotion at the moment.

"Sure."

The plump Spiritual Body's expression turned even more affable as he invited Lu Ye, "Follow me!"

Lu Ye kept his hand on the knife and followed the plump Spiritual Body inside. There, to his surprise, was a gambling table. Seeing this setup, Lu Ye knew his previous thought was correct; this Spiritual Body had indeed been a gambler.

The plump Spiritual Body took the seat of honor and gestured with his hand, "Sit."

Lu Ye pulled back the chair in front of him and sat down with graceful ease.

"I am Liu Sanbao, what may I call you, young friend?"

"Lu Yiye!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Sanbao chuckled, "It seems we are truly fated, such a well-matched name. I see you're not heavily into gambling, probably not well-versed in it. Let's keep it simple and bet on the size with dice, how does that sound?"

"It's your place, you make the rules," Lu Ye replied casually.

"Then it's settled," Liu Sanbao said, rolling up his sleeves, ready for a serious gamble, and with a flip of his hand, he pulled out a dice cup from nowhere and tossed three dice inside, emitting a crisp sound.

Lu Ye merely glanced at the dice cup passively and remained silent.

Liu Sanbao capped the dice cup and shook it gently before slamming it onto the table, shouting, "Bet big on the left, bet small on the right. It's your turn to start, Young Friend Lu."

His face held an excited expression, clearly, it had been a long time since anyone had gambled with him.

"What can I bet?"

"Anything you like, even a strand of hair will do."

Lu Ye then took out a Spirit Stone and threw it to the right.

"Bets are locked, hands off!" Liu Sanbao cried out with excitement again, then opened the dice cup and laughed, "Four, five, six, big, Young Friend you lose."

Saying this, Liu Sanbao pocketed the Spirit Stone, closed the dice cup, and began shaking it vigorously, repeating the words he had just said.

"Bet big on the left, bet small on the right."

Lu Ye also took out another Spirit Stone and casually threw it to the right.