Sage of Humanity

```

Blood spurted in clumps, accompanied by whirling lights, while screams rose incessantly.

Where Lu Ye passed, a sickening storm of blood raged, with limbs and flesh flung wildly. Behind him, as the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators fell, bits of red luminescence flew out, chasing after his figure like stars in pursuit of the moon.

By the time Lu Ye had effortlessly broken through the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators' formation, there were already thirty red luminous points chasing after him.

Each of those points of light represented the fall of a cultivator—thirty points meant thirty had fallen…

And many more were injured.

The glows one by one vanished into Lu Ye's battlefield marking.

The corpses of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators fell from the sky like dumplings, plummeting into the virulent green barriers below.

Although the loss was not insignificant, compared to the number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, it hardly mattered.

The sound of sword cries rose, signaling the return of the sword cultivators.

A plethora of dazzling flying swords filled the sky, more agile and deadly than the weapon control of other cultivators. Before they even drew near, they brought great peril to Lu Ye.

The speed of the flying swords was unmatched by cultivators' weapon control-flying, and in the blink of an eye as the sword light surged, a multitude of flying swords were already upon him.

Lu Ye's figure suddenly plummeted downward, falling directly into the boundless poison barrier and disappearing from view.

The sword lights pursued him closely, diving into the poison barrier. However, they quickly realized something was off, as once their flying swords entered the poison barrier, they became sluggish and their connection to them weakened, draining the spirit of the swords.

Inside the poison barrier, the intense toxicity had a strong eroding effect, undoubtedly restraining the spiritual artifacts controlled by the cultivators.

The situation turned dire.

The expressions of the sword cultivators grew solemn; no matter how numerous or powerful they were, in the domain of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, the initiative was always in Lu Ye's hands.

Lu Yiye dared to charge directly into the boundless poison barrier. Did they dare?

Several hundred yards away, the dense poison barrier burst open, and Lu Ye shot up into the sky. In that direction, some Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were hovering in the air observing, and their strength was not too formidable.

Taken completely by surprise, upon noticing Lu Ye's appearance, they scattered in all directions. However, some were too slow to react.

Another round of unstoppable slaughter ensued, and one figure after another fell from the sky amidst screams.

Dozens of sword cultivators split into two groups: one group flew close to the poison barriers with their swords, cutting off any chance for Lu Ye to escape into them, and the other group pursued relentlessly.

In this way, it became much harder for Lu Ye to take refuge in the poison barriers again, unless he could break through the blockade of the sword cultivators.

Obviously, Lu Ye did not intend to confront these sword cultivators head-on; he fixed on a direction and controlled his weapon to escape.

From all directions, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators hurriedly chased after him.

As before, those with higher cultivation and faster weapon control speed were at the forefront, while those with lower cultivation and slower speed gradually fell behind. Over time, the distance between them grew wider and wider.

Watching Lu Ye make a large detour and suddenly turn back to attack, the expressions of those at the rear of the pursuit changed dramatically.

They had already been played by Lu Ye in such a manner before, resulting in the loss of dozens of people. Now, facing the same threat, they worried how many might die.

Although the sword cultivators were desperately chasing after him, when it came to the speed of weapon control, they were still no match for Lu Ye who was enhanced by Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes. They could only try to keep up, not letting him completely shake them off.

With the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators' formation in complete disorder, and seeing Lu Ye returning to the fray, the cultivators with lower cultivation naturally refused to sit and wait for death. Most of them scattered and fled, while a small group banded together, defensively operating various protective spiritual artifacts and magic and spells.

Lu Ye's figure flashed past not far in front of them, and as he released nine weapons in rapid succession, a flock of Fire Phoenixes spread their wings and flew out.

None of the cultivators' defenses could withstand his attack. A strike enhanced by Double-Sharpness Spirit Runes was too much, even for physique cultivators with spiritual shields to bear.

More Fire Phoenixes followed closely behind him and swooped down.

The scene turned somewhat farcical as a large number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators chased after Lu Ye, while he in turn pursued a few scattered escapees. Those who were chasing Lu Ye had no good way to deal with him, but those he targeted met with no good end.

One body after another continuously fell from the sky.

It wasn't until many more Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators arrived to support their comrades, that Lu Ye's frenzied actions were restrained.

One must know that around the perimeter of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, there were as many as thousands of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators gathered. Lu Ye had only seen about a thousand before because that was the number in the direction he had gone; many more from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had not yet arrived.

Now that thousands had all converged, the sky above the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest was suddenly filled with a multitude of spiritual artifacts.

Lu Ye had long since fled in one direction.

Against just over a thousand people like before, his methods might work to fend off the enemy for a while, but with all the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators amassed, the sudden increase in their numbers meant that this tactic could no longer be effective.

```

Moreover, even though the engagement with the enemy was brief, his consumption of spirit force was considerable, especially the massive drain from empowering the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes on the Flying Spirit Artifact.

It could be said that sixty percent of the spent spirit force was due to this aspect alone.

What dissatisfied him was his lack of flexibility in controlling weapon-flying. He found it hard to perfectly control the Flying Spirit Artifact under his feet, like Giant Armor could, and struggled to fight while using weapon control-flying, always feeling a slight lag.

Giant Armor didn't have that issue; the guy possessed a skill in weapon control-flying that was hard for ordinary people to match.

Compared to most cultivators, Lu Ye's ability in this aspect was very good, but there was still a gap compared to Giant Armor.

This might also be a matter of talent.

A large group of pursuers were still hot on his heels, particularly those sword cultivators, each one stubborn to the core, clinging like relentless parasites that couldn't be shaken off.

While Lu Ye could empower his speed with the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes, they each had their secret techniques. Although these couldn't last long, they ensured for a short time they wouldn't lose sight of Lu Ye's shadow.

For the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side, this experience was a huge humiliation.

After waiting anxiously for more than two months, Lu Yiye finally reappeared, but over a thousand people were led around by him as if they were walking dogs, and even with the combined efforts of the sword cultivators, they failed to achieve significant results.

Lu Yiye emerged unscathed and had broken through the encirclement. In contrast, they had suffered over a hundred casualties.

This filled the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators with immense resentment, cursing Lu Ye for bullying the weak and fearing the strong, only targeting those with lower cultivation while never confronting those with high cultivation head-on.

What made the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side even more fearful was that this person had now advanced to the 8th Heaven!

If he's at the 8th Heaven now, how far could the 9th Heaven be?

Compared to his previous encounter at the Fog-shrouded Mountain, Lu Yiye's strength had undoubtedly increased a lot since ascending to the 8th Heaven.

In the Fog-shrouded Mountain, Lu Ye largely relied on formations set up in advance to kill his enemies, but this time, he didn't use any external means, relying solely on his own abilities.

Even though he indeed chose only the easy targets, from another perspective, being able to avoid the tougher enemies was also his skill!

In the past two months, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side mobilized thousands of people to besiege the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, drawing much attention. Everyone wanted to know what Lu Ye's ultimate fate would be.

When today's news spread throughout the Nine Provinces, many people were greatly shocked.

Lu Ye had single-handedly fought his way out, breaking through the encirclement set by the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side. Although the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were still in pursuit, anyone could tell that since Lu Ye had escaped the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, it meant that the two-month-long siege by the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side had ended in failure.

In the future on the Spirit Stream battlefield, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side would probably find it very difficult to threaten Lu Yiye's life, unless a really good opportunity arose!

The only consolation for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side was that they had already lost all face in dealing with Lu Yiye, so they weren't afraid to lose it one more time.

The saying goes, "One feels no itch from too many lice."

The pursuit continued; even though most people could no longer keep up, a small number still persisted, especially those sword cultivators. Even so, the distance between them was gradually widening.

After two hours, these sword cultivators had completely lost track of Lu Ye.

Despite their reluctance, the sword cultivators had to admit that they were outpaced by a combat cultivator in weapon-flying speed!

It was utterly irrational how fast this fellow was running.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators are now all searching for traces of Lu Ye. Although the chase failed, the operation against Lu Ye is far from over.

This is an order from the high-ranking members of all the major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge!

Compared to these Spirit Stream Realm cultivators, those in the True Lake Realm and the Divine Sea Realm could better appreciate the threat that a person like Lu Ye posed to an entire faction.

The Righteous Blood Sect had once dealt with a Feng Wujiang; they did not want a second one to emerge!

The Thousand Wings Sect's Qin Zheng had previously formed the Lu Ye Extermination Alliance at the Fog-shrouded Mountain, aimed at killing Lu Ye. It was a temporary and loosely organized group that disbanded after the events at the Fog-shrouded Mountain.

Today, the organization reemerged, this time as a formal entity, led by Szi Guang of Daoxuan Sect, who came from a 1st grade sect and topped the Spirit Stream Ranking. In just half a day, hundreds of core circle sects declared their membership in the alliance, almost all powerful Spirit Stream Ranking figures from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side were included, vowing to kill Lu Ye before his ascension to the 9th Heaven!

On one hand, the higher echelons behind these sects had already given orders to ensure Lu Ye was dealt with on the Spirit Stream battlefield; on the other hand, these Spirit Stream Realm cultivators felt they could no longer afford to let Lu Ye live.

If he's this problematic at 8th Heaven cultivation, wouldn't he be walking sideways through the battlefield once he ascends to the 9th Heaven?

With a large force fanning out in search, countless cultivators from the Lu Ye Extermination Alliance prepared for battle. Even the most dedicated cultivators temporarily gave up cultivation, ready to attack as soon as there was a clue to Lu Ye's whereabouts.

A thousand miles from the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, there was a Heaven's Augury Marketplace.

In the outer circle of the battlefield, many marketplaces formed by independent cultivators could still be seen, but in the inner and core circles, they were scarcely found; the markets there were generally established under the leadership of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.