Sage of Humanity

Gradually, the fragrance filled the air, and the dripping hot oil from the roast crackled on the campfire.

After eating his fill, Lu Ye continued reading until late into the night, then closed his eyes for a brief rest at the original spot until dawn.

The next day was more of the same.

This was the most boring combat Lu Ye had experienced; so far, he hadn't even seen his opponent, nor had Yiyi found any trace of them.

But he knew that if they continued like this, he would definitely win. He could eat something anytime to replenish his energy, but Spectral Shadow couldn't. Having to stay hidden meant remaining that way constantly; any other action might reveal his whereabouts.

However, Lu Ye didn't plan to continue in this manner. A cultivator like Spectral Shadow could go days without food or drink, which was no problem. Spectral Shadow was willing to wait it out, but Lu Ye was not.

Closing the book in his hands, he stood up and absent-mindedly took out several array banners from his storage sack, throwing them in all directions to form the basic framework of a Formation. Then he activated his spirit force, improving the internal structure of the Formation. In no time, a Formation that covered nearly a hundred feet was set up.

This Formation wasn't much use; it was just a simple warning Formation. Unlike other formations, this one was undoubtedly much simpler to set up, and it could cover a larger area while consuming very little of his own spirit force.

Spectral Shadow had been hiding all along, and Lu Ye couldn't do much about it. The Spirit Stream Ranking Challenge was like this, with Heaven's Augury maintaining basic fairness, and the rest being a contest between cultivators.

Nobody said that a contest of patience wasn't a competition.

Covering the entire several-mile-wide combat battlefield with warning Formations, Lu Ye didn't believe he couldn't find Spectral Shadow, unless the fellow was also proficient in arrays and knew how to avoid the detection of the formations.

After setting a warning Formation, Lu Ye began arranging a second one, followed by the third, and then the fourth...

All the next day, Lu Ye was busy setting up Formations. Fortunately, he had bought enough array banners from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union previously, or he wouldn't have been able to maintain it. By the end of the day, the Formations he had set up covered more than half of the combat field.

Spectral Shadow still didn't show himself; maybe he harbored a sliver of hope, wishing that Lu Ye didn't have enough array banners to cover the entire battlefield, which would give him some space to hide.

Suddenly realizing this, Lu Ye simply took all the array banners out of the storage sack and boldly placed them at his feet.

Hiding in the shadows, Spectral Shadow saw the large number of array banners and knew he couldn't keep hiding. If he didn't quickly find an opportunity to attack Lu Yiye, his whereabouts would definitely be exposed by the next day.

After a moment of silence, Spectral Shadow's lips moved slightly, and he quietly said a sentence, his figure quickly disappearing into the combat field.

On the other side, Lu Ye, who was busy setting up the formation, paused in his movements.

He had actually won!

He had thought that showing enough array banners would provoke Spectral Shadow to attack him tonight, but unexpectedly, the guy simply chose to surrender so cleanly.

Thinking about it, it made sense. Ghost cultivators' strength lay in approaching their targets silently. Such tactics could work against ordinary people, but facing Lu Ye, Spectral Shadow truly didn't have confidence. Who knew whether Lu Ye might have set up a Formation around him in advance? Actually attacking him would definitely lead to falling into a trap.

It can be said that for ghost cultivators when their cultivation is not high, well-prepared array cultivators are simply their nemesis!

But if the ghost cultivators were to cultivate their skills to a certain level, they could sneak through even a Formation undetected.

Having admitted defeat, Spectral Shadow fled, leaving Lu Ye and Yiyi to quickly gather the array banners they had set up across the battlefield, resulting in quite the busy scene.

"Lu Ye, if you encounter this guy again, make sure to beat him to death; he's just too hateful!" Yiyi complained while busying herself.

"Beat him half to death, then let Hua Ci heal him, then beat him half to death again…" Lu Ye declared fiercely; he would rather fight the opponent openly and straightforwardly than tire himself out like this only to end up cleaning up the aftermath.

Most importantly, from beginning to end, he hadn't even seen what his opponent looked like, which was incredibly infuriating.

On the Spirit Stream Ranking, the name of Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect had surged into ninth place.

The world was in uproar!

The man had done it.

Achieving a feat of breaking into the top ten of the Spirit Stream Ranking with an 8th Heaven cultivation undoubtedly also signified that he was among the strongest at the Spirit Stream Realm level.

He was still just an 8th Heaven!

He could still ascend to 9th Heaven!

This was what truly terrified people.

To this extent, strictly speaking, Lu Ye only needed to fight one more battle to qualify to challenge for the top spot on the ranking.

However, since the start of his challenges, he had been targeting the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators one by one, so he had not chosen to do so.

The next target was the guy ranked sixth.

The challenge against Spectral Shadow took two days, and from beginning to end, Lu Ye did not draw his weapon. Although it ended with Spectral Shadow's concession, his desire for battle had not been realized, leaving him somewhat frustrated.

That's why he sharpened his sword fiercely, preparing to make his move against the guy ranked sixth.

Once he initiated the challenge and the opponent accepted, waiting for the opponent to choose the terrain, as soon as Heaven's Augury fell, Lu Ye's figure disappeared, all in one go.

In his field of vision, a burst of white light appeared, and the sound of sweeping waves reached his ears, even the air had a salty, damp smell.

This immediately reminded Lu Ye of the days he had spent with Hua Ci in the Spirit Stream Defense Battle. If he was not mistaken, the opponent had chosen the ocean as their terrain.

As his vision returned and he looked around, sure enough, they were on a small island above the sea.

The island was small, about thirty feet in diameter.

About several dozen feet away, there was another similar small island; the two islands were roughly the same size and looked like twin islands.

And on the opposite island stood a man in loose sleeves, about twenty-something years old. His appearance was not particularly handsome, but his expression was very determined.

This person was certainly a magic cultivator, and a water-type magic cultivator at that! That's why he specially chose such a combat battlefield.

It is well-known that Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect practiced fire-type combat techniques. In such a combat battlefield, a water-type magic cultivator could take a large advantage, and conversely, this environment was extremely suppressive for a fire-type combat technique cultivator. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

If Lu Ye wanted to get close, he would have to leap across those several dozen feet of sea surface to reach the opponent's island. Yet in mid-air, no matter how agile the weapon control, he was just a target.

If he didn't find a way to cross over, he would also become a target. In any case, that magic cultivator would take full advantage of the situation.

The challenger made full use of his right to choose the terrain of the combat battlefield. Lu Ye greatly admired his ability to find such an astonishing terrain among so many combat fields.

What surprised Lu Ye even more was that the sea under them was not calm either, various strange sea beasts swam past, casting huge shadows under the water.

If he were to fall into the sea while leaping across, he would almost certainly die.

In such an environment, Yiyi found it very difficult to get close to the opponent.

"Lu Yiye?" the magic cultivator called out from the back edge of his own island, attempting to greet Lu Ye.

In response, nine Weapon Control lights shot out, breaking through the air. The lights skimmed over the sea surface, and the magic cultivator stood still, his facial expression barely changing.

The weapon control stopped less than three feet away from this magic cultivator, shuddered slightly, then was retracted by Lu Ye. It wasn't that Lu Ye didn't want to attack, but rather that he had reached the limit of his control distance and had to retract it, otherwise it would have been futile.

"I had long heard that Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect is sublime in Weapon Control Technique with an attack range far beyond his own realm. Seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation!" said the magic cultivator, not stinting in his praise, "But Fellow Daoist, there's no need for probing anymore, our current distance is about ninety feet, your weapon control can't hit me."

Although he was calm, he couldn't help but feel a trace of relief; he had tried to overestimate the range of Lu Ye's weapon control, but he still underestimated it.

In that moment, it was just a few feet short, and Lu Ye's weapon control would have hit him!

Moments later, he suddenly produced a water ball in his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, the water ball shot towards Lu Ye like an arrow off its bow. In midair, the water ball suddenly exploded, sending a hail of tiny water arrows covering Lu Ye's island.

"Magic and spells are different; the attack range of magic and spells is much farther than that of weapon control."

The attack range of magic and spells being longer than that of weapon control is common knowledge, so magic cultivators generally don't need to refine weapons to kill enemies, because their magic is enough.

Then he saw a Fire Phoenix Technique rushing towards him.

The magic cultivator immediately activated his magic to meet it, still a water ball, but as it flew into the air, the water ball transformed into various shapes of magic—water arrows, water dragons, or other shapes of water beasts—creating a dizzying array of techniques.

It had to be said that the reason this man was ranked sixth was indeed justified. He stood there like an artillery battery, casting one sophisticated spell after another at an extremely fast pace.

Lu Ye hadn't spent much effort in the magic cultivator sect, but his casting speed wasn't actually slow, especially after witnessing the birth to the fall of one of Four Auspicious Sacred Beasts in the lineage of Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes.

His understanding of the Fire Phoenix Technique far surpassed that of average magic cultivators, and the power of the Fire Phoenix Technique he now cast was several times greater than before.

Fire type explosive, water type supple, when it came to the lethality of a single spell, the opposing magic cultivator was inferior to Lu Ye, but in terms of the speed and frequency of casting, Lu Ye was far behind the opponent.

After all, the other party was a professional.

Moreover, Lu Ye quickly noticed a problem: the environment here strongly suppressed his Fire Phoenix Technique. Compared to the Fire Phoenix Technique he usually activated, the current one was weakened by as much as thirty percent.

"Impressive, truly impressive," said the magic cultivator as he exchanged spells with Lu Ye, getting increasingly excited, "Being able to manifest magic to this degree as a combat cultivator, Fellow Daoist, you are the first person I have seen who can do this! But continuing this way is meaningless, Fellow Daoist, you're going to lose if we keep up like this!"