Sage of Humanity

Lu Ye would not typically activate the Sun Blaze Spirit Runes; when he acquired them, he felt they were a rather peculiar thing. To say they were useless was not entirely true, but to claim they were useful wasn't quite right either.

These spirit runes were only suitable to be activated under certain special circumstances.

Like at this very moment.

Under the influence of the Hefty Weight Spirit Runes, the old man's longsword met Lu Ye's Boulder Mountain Saber, and they were mere inches apart, staring each other down.

What would it feel like to have a sun explode right under one's eyelids?

Lu Ye didn't know, because the moment he activated the spirit runes, he had already closed his eyes.

He was afraid of blinding himself.

The old man from Crimson Blood Valley wasn't so lucky. Although he also hurriedly closed his eyes upon realizing something was wrong, he was a bit late. All he could sense was a continuous change of dazzling colors—yellow, blue, purple, red—causing such a sharp pain in his eyes that tears began to flow.

It felt as if someone had fiercely struck him straight in the eyeball.

The battles of spirit runes masters were always so mysterious and unpredictable; no one knew what strange spirit runes a spirit runes master would use in the next moment. Recently, because Lu Ye had shown his ability to dismantle arrays, everyone had subconsciously overlooked the fact that he had inherited the legacy of a spirit runes master.

But even if they had remembered, it wouldn't have been of any use. In a fight against a spirit runes master, one could only counter every move as it came; reaction speed was the most important.

Lu Ye had seized the opportunity to strike with his saber, aiming for vital spots with every blow. But the True Lake Realm was worthy of its name; even with his eyes closed, the perception power of the old man was incredibly strong. Waving his longsword, he successfully blocked all of Lu Ye's attacks without missing a single one.

The last time Lu Ye activated the Sun Blaze Spirit Runes against an enemy was when he first arrived at the inner circle and encountered a Sky Supporting Sect Level 9 cultivator named Yuan Guang while out in the wilderness.

At that time, he was at Level 7.

After activating Sun Blaze, Yiyi, who had been prepared all along, had sacrificed the Nine Worlds map, capturing him and Yuan Guang inside it to fight a life-and-death battle.

The situation this time was strikingly similar to the last.

Yiyi had always followed closely beside Lu Ye, never leaving his side beyond a three yards radius. Being a magic cultivator, she could attack from a great distance, so standing by Lu Ye's side was no hindrance to striking down enemies.

When the old man from Crimson Blood Valley targeted Lu Ye, Yiyi had thought about intervening to help, but she knew that even her own attacks would not be very effective, so she was constantly looking for the right moment.

When the Sun Blaze Spirit Runes exploded, she understood Lu Ye's plan.

At that moment, she leapt into the air, positioning herself above where Lu Ye and the old man were falling, and she unfurled the Nine Worlds map forcefully above them.

The old man instinctively felt that something was amiss, but at this moment, since he could not see, he had no idea what was happening and was unexpectedly captured by Yiyi into the map without any preparation.

Yiyi leaped away to a distance, avoiding the chaotic battlefield. Amber closely followed to guard her. Then, she spread out the Nine Worlds map in front of her, watching the two figures inside while pouring her spirit force into the spirit treasure.

In the stone forest area of merely a few square miles, where the yellow sand swirled, Lu Ye's figure danced like a fluttering butterfly. Enhanced by the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes, he launched swift and fierce attacks at the Crimson Blood Valley old man from various angles. If one strike didn't hit, he would retreat immediately and look for another opportunity. Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

The clanging and ringing of metal continuously resounded.

The old man's vision had not yet returned, he lowered his body slightly with his longsword slanted towards the ground, occasionally thrusting outwards. Each stab precisely dissipated Lu Ye's assaults.

A mere 8th Heaven level wouldn't possess such daunting abilities, but the True Lake Realm's profound depth granted the old man such capability.

What made the old man somewhat uneasy was the sudden silence around him; for some reason, all the noise nearby had disappeared.

It seemed as if the whole world revolved around just him and Lu Ye.

As Lu Ye launched another swift advance, the old man slightly turned his head, pushing his perception power to the limit. He raised his longsword again, pointing in one direction.

However, the space around him suddenly tightened this time, as if the void itself had turned somewhat solid, causing his sword-raising motion to slow by a fraction.

The old man's expression changed dramatically, and just after that, his blurred vision saw Lu Ye rush forward and slash down with his saber.

The old man's body went flying, a large wound tore from his shoulder diagonally to his lower abdomen, blood pouring from the wound. Before he even hit the ground, Lu Ye had already raised his hand and shot out four beams of Liu Guang at him. Those four rays spun and weaved, turning into a spinning top, slamming fiercely towards the old man.

In this life-and-death moment, the old man flicked his longsword continuously, and the sound of clanking metal spread as the four rays were deflected.

Just as he took a breath of relief, Lu Ye had already closed in for another attack.

Outside the Nine Worlds map, Yiyi's complexion showed a hint of paleness, tirelessly channeling her spirit force into the spirit treasure.

When Lu Ye had first arrived at the inner circle, Yiyi could only maintain the operation of the Nine Worlds map; this was under the condition that Madam Yun had sealed 90% of this treasure's powers.

Beyond keeping the treasure in operation, Yiyi could do nothing more.

But now, things were different; Yiyi could slightly leverage some of the treasure's powers.

The sudden solidification of the space around the old man, causing him to falter in his response, was Yiyi's doing.

It could be said, it appeared as though the old man was fighting Lu Ye alone, but in fact, Lu Ye also had Yiyi, an unseen ally, at his side.

The assistant this helper can provide is the most fatal.

Lu Ye's methods could be guarded against and resisted by the old man, but Yiyi's actions were completely invisible and intangible.

A moment later, within the Nine Worlds map, the old man was gasping for air, his body bearing not many injuries—only three.

But each of these three wounds was extremely severe; the most serious one was a penetrating injury from the right lung, caused by a stab. This injury alone was not deadly, but the destruction wrought by the Cactus Spirit Runes when Lu Ye thrust his blade was terrifying.

The old man's breathing now sounded like an old pair of bellows being pumped.

Staggering to his feet, his blurry vision fixed on the silhouette of the young man walking step by step towards him, coming to a halt one zhang in front of him.

Even at this point, the old man had no intention of sitting and awaiting death; summoning the last bit of strength in his body, spirit force surged violently as he thrust his sword forward.

Simultaneously, Lu Ye charged forward, his Boulder Mountain Saber enveloped by fiery red spirit force.

The two figures crossed each other, Lu Ye flicking the blood off his blade before slowly sheathing it.

A thud from a body hitting the ground sounded from behind.

The cultivators of the Nine Provinces, whether from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge or the Haotian Alliance, mostly shared one common problem: they were ruthless and taciturn. The stronger the cultivation, the more apparent this was, a result of the long-standing continuous confrontations between the two major factions.

For it didn't matter which side someone belonged to; if defeated by the other, there was virtually no chance of survival if they couldn't escape. Begging for mercy was futile.

The ground beneath the old man was dyed red with blood, his eyes wide open, filled with confusion and unwillingness.

To think that with his strong cultivation at the True Lake Realm, having forced his way into the Spirit Stream battlefield, he was supposed to root out Lu Ye, a major thorn in the side for the sect, for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. And yet, he ended up dead at Lu Ye's hands.

This was indeed a death he could not accept.

A wisp of dark red, almost black, light floated out from the old man's corpse and settled on the back of Lu Ye's hand.

This color of light, Lu Ye was seeing for the first time; in the past when defeating enemies, it was usually red light, and the difference in brightness wasn't much.

The variation in light color was clearly due to the old man's True Lake Realm cultivation; even though he could only display the strength of 8th Heaven in the Spirit Stream battlefield, it didn't change the fact that he was indeed from the True Lake Realm.

This kill was essentially a slaying across who knows how many levels.

Lu Ye checked his merit and discovered that his merit points had increased by around seven to eight hundred.

Higher-tier cultivators who forcefully enetered the Spirit Stream battlefield couldn't do whatever they pleased. The balance and repression of Heaven's Augury only allowed them to exert their peak fighting ability at the Spirit Stream Realm, and each slaying brought a punishment by the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning. The more they killed, the harsher the punishment.

Under normal circumstances, high-tier cultivators wouldn't easily enter the Spirit Stream battlefield because the cost was too great.

This time, the Crimson Blood Valley was clearly forced into a difficult position, with their stronghold about to be taken and no external assistance arriving in time. Thus, high-tier cultivators from within the sect had to take action.

Yet, even the strongest old man was still killed by Lu Ye and Yiyi with the aid of the Nine Worlds map.

If this should spread, the Crimson Blood Valley would undoubtedly become a laughingstock.

In the Nine Worlds map, Lu Ye quickly bandaged his own wounds, then collected the old man's Longsword, not seeing a storage sack, unsure if the old man hadn't brought it or didn't need one.

It was most likely the latter, considering the sect masters and Shui Yuan Sister didn't have storage sacks; they had their own methods of storing belongings.

Lifting his hand to grab the old man's mutilated corpse, the scenery before his eyes rapidly shifted, and the noisy chaos once again filled his ears.

Lu Ye looked up and saw the battle raging on not far away.

Crimson Blood Valley had already suffered heavy casualties and was on the verge of losing their stronghold, but with the entry of several powerhouses from the sect, they had managed to barely stabilize the situation.

While Lu Ye was engaged in the fight with the old man, the situation for Crimson Blood Valley worsened again.

The main problem was that the four powerhouses could no longer kill at will; all they could now do was passively defend against the assault of the two sects' cultivators.

The cultivators from both sects clearly noticed this and launched even more unrestrained attacks, infuriating those four people.

They were waiting for the old man to slay Lu Ye. Then, even if they lost their stronghold, it wouldn't matter. But they were fated not to see that happen.

Feathers spread out behind Lu Ye, he shot up into the sky, flying to the clashing sides and dropping the corpse he was carrying.

The torn cadaver of the old man slammed to the ground, splattering a large patch of blood.

The noisy battlefield suddenly went quiet for a moment, followed by a collective disbelief-filled gasps.

"Third Elder!" One of the First Blood Sect's cultivators stared at the corpse that had fallen before him, his eyes shaking violently. Looking up, he saw Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect suspended in midair, gently flapping a pair of fiery red wings behind him, blood seeping through the bandages on his bare upper body, his gaze from high above piercingly cold.

The Third Elder was dead!

No one knew exactly how he died. Too much was happening in this chaotic battlefield, and they could only focus on the enemies right in front of them. They only knew the Third Elder had gone out to find that Lu Yiye, and now, not long after, his body was thrown back by the latter.