Sage of Humanity

"Hard work indeed," Bai Qian said with a smile, looking at Lu Ye. "Go back and rest first."

"Veteran Bai, earlier with Brother Zhao..."

Bai Qian raised his hand to stop him, "I am already aware of your plans. There's no rush today. Our sect headquarters has completely sealed off the area; no information can get out. Go back and rest for a day, let Zhao Li handle the rest, and tomorrow you can act together."

Lu Ye thought for a moment, "Then I'll listen to Veteran Bai."

Bai Qian used his spirit force and enveloped Lu Ye, who soared into the sky and quickly disappeared. The reason he was eager to take him away was not that the Tianyan Sect had any improper designs.

Lu Ye had consecutively challenged thirty-three levels of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, triggering the resonance of the pagoda at every level. Tianyan Sect had many Array Cultivators, and with so many eyes on Lu Ye, they all wanted to come up and discuss the Array Path with him.

If he didn't hurry to take him away, there was no chance of escaping freely.

Bai Qian understood the disposition of these Array Cultivators in his sect better than anyone else.

As expected, seeing Bai Qian taking Lu Ye away, many Array Cultivators who planned to come up for a discussion sighed in disappointment. Some bold ones even chased after Bai Qian, including some from the Cloud River Realm.

"Zhao Li, come with me; the rest of you disperse," commanded Yooi Xiao.

"Yes!" From somewhere in the crowd, Zhao Li responded.

Soon, Yooi Xiao also left with Zhao Li, evidently to arrange some matters. After a long while, the noise in the valley gradually subsided.

However, stimulated by Lu Ye's challenge in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, many Array Cultivators rushed into the pagoda to temper themselves, but how much they gained was uncertain.

Living at Bai Qian's residence, after Lu Ye returned, he had a big meal, took a bath, and comfortably went to sleep. When he woke up the next day, the fatigue he had accumulated was swept away, and he felt light and refreshed.

There was information stored in the battlefield marking. After checking, it was from Zhao Li, stating that everything was ready on the Tianyan Sect side, and even the Alliance Sect was prepared. They were just waiting for Lu Ye to make a big move.

Lu Ye sent a message back, instructing Zhao Li to count the manpower in preparation.

He also messaged Yiyi and Giant Armor to come and join him.

During the wait, Lu Ye examined his own spiritual orifice.

In the first level of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, he had advanced to Spirit Stream Level 9, and as of today, he had opened 218 orifices!

He had stayed in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda for about seventeen days, opening a total of thirty-nine orifices, averaging one per level, two a day.

Since the beginning of his cultivation journey, Lu Ye had never experienced such a rapid orifice-opening pace. If the Spirit Stream battlefield had as rich a cultivation environment as the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, it probably would have taken him no more than two to three months to advance to the Cloud River.

But, of course, that was unrealistic. The rich environment inside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was a reward he earned through trials, and others challenging the pagoda didn't have the same benefits as he did.

This made him look forward even more to the second part of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, but unfortunately, he could not enter at the moment.

Before that, he endeavored to improve his Array Path skills, waiting until he could enter again to potentially see another rapid advancement in his cultivation.

The benefits he received in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda this time were tremendous. Although he absorbed the benefits of every level, the time was limited, and his absorption was merely cursory, far from a complete understanding.

Just cursory absorption had increased his Array Path skills by several times. A complete understanding would elevate it to an even higher level, which required time to settle and accumulate.

He was only twenty-two orifices away from switching to a Heaven Rank technique at the 240th orifice. Under normal cultivation conditions, it would take about a month and a half to achieve this, but he had many tasks ahead and likely not so much time to cultivate.

He took out the set of pitch-black array banners and examined them.

This set of array banners contained many more comprehensive restrictions than the set he had crafted, and the materials were obviously superior. Although Lu Ye was not familiar with heavenly materials and earthly treasures to recognize what materials were used, they were undoubtedly top-notch, being a reward from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

Across the Nine Provinces, these array banners should be some of the best.

While array banners are merely aids in array setup and destruction, the better the quality of the banners, the higher the efficiency of breaking arrays, and the formations arranged would undoubtedly be more stable and powerful.

With such a set of array banners, Lu Ye felt like it significantly enhanced his abilities.

After a while, Lu Ye got up and went outside, where Giant Armor was waiting. Amber was crouching on top of Giant Armor's head, and Yiyi was hiding inside Amber, out of sight.

After half a month without seeing them, Giant Armor didn't have much change, but Amber had grown significantly, and its aura had solidified a lot.

Lu Ye took them to bid farewell to Bai Qian.

The veteran spoke earnestly, "Young Friend Lu, the legacy of the Spirit Stream Realm in Tianyan Sect is now in your hands. Try not to be too impulsive."

"Don't worry, Veteran Bai. Whatever Tianyan Sect has lost, I will help them retrieve it," Lu Ye reassured.

"Go then," Bai Qian said.

Lu Ye bowed and withdrew.

Once outside, Giant Armor brought out his Flying Spirit Artifacts and Lu Ye stood on it. With Giant Armor's manipulation, the artifact transformed into a beam of light and soared into the sky.

Shortly, in front of Heaven's Augury Hall square, Lu Ye could hear Zhao Li's passionate voice from afar, clearly rallying the troops before battle.

With his loud cry, the ear-piercing calls of "Slay!" continually responded.

In front of Heaven's Augury Hall, the murderous aura gathered by hundreds of cultivators from the Spirit Stream Realm soared directly into the sky.

Two months earlier, the territory of the Tianyan Sect was forcibly seized by Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, forcing many Spirit Stream Realm cultivators to retreat back to the Nine Provinces sect headquarters. The entire Tianyan Sect was left seething with pent-up rage.

What made the disciples of Tianyan Sect even more frustrated was that since their station had been occupied, Tianyan Sect had been completely sealed off, preventing them from returning to the Spirit Stream battlefield for revenge.

This waiting lasted for two whole months, with no one knowing what the higher-ups in the sect were thinking.

Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had long since withdrawn. Even if they were not allowed to take revenge now, they should at least hurry to rebuild their station. Otherwise, where would the disciples at the Spirit Stream Realm level go for cultivation? Surely they couldn't all hang around in other people's stations, making a mess of things.

During this period, multiple disciples had submitted petitions to go to the Spirit Stream battlefield, but these were suppressed by Yu Xiao and the council of elders of the Tianyan Sect.
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It could be said that after two months of accumulating, the anger of the Tianyan Sect had reached its limit, needing just a small spark to explode.

Only yesterday, many cultivators saw Lu Ye, who was completely unharmed at the Hundred Arrays Pagoda. Some pieces of information gradually started to leak out.

And today, Zhao Li gathered the disciples of the Spirit Stream Realm level here.

Everyone knew, the time for revenge had come!

The two months of lying low were not because Tianyan Sect was afraid, but rather, they were waiting for a crucial method to emerge.

Their minds were agitated.

They were impatient to begin a massive slaughter.

Giant Armor carried Lu Ye down, and hundreds of pairs of eyes looked over.

Zhao Li came forward and said with a bow of his hands, "Brother Yiye, everything is prepared."

Lu Ye stepped forward, his gaze sweeping left and right. He saw faces brimming with fighting spirit and, not far away, Yu Xiao and some of the Tianyan Sect elders floating in the air, to whom he nodded slightly.

"Set out!"

Zhao Li turned around and shouted loudly, "Set out!"

Silently, hundreds of cultivators hurried to Heaven's Augury Hall, using the Heaven's Augury Pillar to enter their station in the Spirit Stream battlefield.

This departure was like a flood dragon entering the sea, causing upheaval in the Spirit Stream battlefield.

The first to go in were the physique cultivators, followed by combat cultivators and then magic and healing cultivators.

Although Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had long retreated, some precautions were necessary. If the people of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were ambushed there, having the physique cultivators go first could provide some resistance.

In just a few moments, hundreds of cultivators had already entered the station, and the scouting cultivators quickly reported back that there was no sight of the enemy.

This was normal, as it had been two months since the station was broken into. No matter how arrogant Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was, they wouldn't occupy someone else's station indefinitely, as it held no benefit for them.

Sometime later, in front of the plaza of Heaven's Augury Hall, a large ship used as Spiritual Artifact rose into the air. The cultivators of Tianyan Sect boarded the ship, and under Zhao Li's command, the ship swiftly flew in one direction.

On the deck of the ship, Lu Ye stood shoulder to shoulder with Zhao Li, who, after ending a transmission, spoke, "Canglan Mountain has also set out. The leader is Brother Song Yin, the Governor of Canglan Mountain, as per the plan you laid out earlier, Brother Yiye, we strike Qingfeng Gate first."

"How many people have they brought?"

"They left a hundred to guard their station, and the rest have all come."

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow, "This Fellow Daoist Song truly has courage."

Zhao Li said, "Brother Song has always been cautious. To make such a decisive move, he must have received some hints from above, perhaps related to our sect's station being seized, since our territories are adjacent. When our station was seized last time, Canglan Mountain was quite distressed for a long while."

Two months ago, when Lu Ye had just arrived at the Tianyan Sect's station, he had been poisoned by an undercover agent of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, and soon after, several sects from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge joined forces to seize the station.

He had been poisoned while at the Tianyan Sect's station, which implicated the sect itself, yet the station was seized because of his arrival. On this front, it was he who had burdened Tianyan Sect, yet he also suffered heavily, and if it were not for the Soul Cleansing Water, even if Shui Yuan personally intervened, both Giant Armor and Zhao Li might have died.

It was pointless to dwell on who had burdened whom, as the primary culprit behind the scenes was Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

As he had previously discussed with Veteran Bai, whatever Tianyan Sect had lost, he would help reclaim it.

If they wanted to rebuild the station, they needed a lot of sect merit, which could naturally be obtained by occupying the enemy's station and plundering their resources.

He had come to Tianyan Sect to deepen his knowledge of Array Paths so that he could break the protective arrays. Now, he had the capability to do just that.

According to the ten-part map, the location of Tianyan Sect was not ideal, surrounded by three powers from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge in a triangular formation—the Qingfeng Gate, Crimson Blood Valley, and Lightning Order, and these were the main forces that had seized the Tianyan Sect's station previously.

The reason for striking Qingfeng Gate first was that this power from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge not only neighbored Tianyan Sect but also Canglan Mountain.

Tianyan Sect was now in a position of having nothing to lose, since their station was already compromised, but Canglan Mountain couldn't afford to lose theirs. Only by dealing with Qingfeng Gate first could they ensure that Canglan Mountain would have no concerns in the subsequent actions.