Sage of Humanity

Outside the New Moon Sect's residence, Lu Ye landed and, with Insight Spirit Runes enhancing his eyes, he surveilled the nodes of the big array.

Almost immediately, a cultivator responsible for guarding the area spotted him. Swooping in and staring at him through the array, the guard shouted, "Who goes there?"

Seeing a figure that appeared suddenly and looked rather suspicious on the outside of their own protective array raised the guard's concern, so his challenge was understandably terse.

Lu Ye glanced at him and replied indifferently, "Who do you think I am?"

This question caught the cultivator off guard. Upon closer inspection, the newcomer seemed somewhat familiar, as if he had been seen somewhere before.

But he was certain he had never met this person, and couldn't recall where this vague sense of familiarity stemmed from.

Just as he was about to ask again, Lu Ye had already located the node and, in the blink of an eye, positioned himself there, throwing out array banners from his hands.

If he could utilize his Cloud River Level 3 cultivation, Lu Ye reckoned he might force his way through the protective array before him with brute strength, as its power wasn't fully activated yet and was merely operating at its most basic level. However, being only able to exert the strength of 9th Heaven, a brute force approach to array destruction was unrealistic. It would be wiser to sneak in quietly.

"What are you doing?" the cultivator asked, witnessing Lu Ye's actions.

Lu Ye remained silent, continuing his work without pause.

The guard's expression changed as he scrutinized Lu Ye once more and finally remembered why the face of the man before him looked familiar.

Indeed, he had never met Lu Ye in person, but he had seen his portrait!

It had been almost three months since Lu Ye left the Spirit Stream battlefield, and it never occurred to him that his adversary would appear there again, let alone at his own sect's doorstep.

"You're Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer!" the man exclaimed, staggering backward as though Lu Ye were some devastating force of nature best avoided at all costs.

Then, he turned around and lifting his Spiritual Artifact, he flew towards the residence, shouting as he went, "Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer is here, Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer is here!"

Catastrophe was upon them—Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer had come, and the New Moon Sect's residence was likely doomed.

The guard's cries alarmed many cultivators of the New Moon Sect, all of them uncertain and anxious.

A furious bellow erupted, "Who's spreading nonsense?"

With the sound, a burly man arrived on a flying instrument.

"Senior Brother Tan Li, Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer is here!" The cultivator who had run back reported immediately, addressing the man. As the governor of the New Moon Sect's residence and ranked fifty-eighth on the Spirit Stream Ranking, Tan Li could be considered the strongest cultivator in the current residence.

"Who's here?" Tan Li frowned, wondering if he had misheard.

"Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer, Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect!"

"Nonsense!" Tan Li reprimanded, "That bastard ascended to the Cloud River Realm three months ago and should be battling there. Why would he come here?"

"But Senior Brother, I'm not mistaken, it really is Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer! I've seen his portrait."

Tan Li's eyebrows creased further, "Maybe someone looks a lot like Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer?"

It wasn't uncommon for people to resemble one another, and Tan Li found it hard to believe that Lu Ye would come to the New Moon Sect's residence.

"But he is breaking the array!"

"What?" Tan Li was startled, and just at that moment, the jade cluster, which controlled the protective array, showed signs of disturbance. Before he could react and investigate, a streak of light rushed over from afar, quickly approaching.

Tan Li focused his gaze and involuntarily inhaled sharply.

It really was Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer!

He had indeed encountered Lu Ye before, having been part of the group surrounding Lu Ye at the fringes of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, leading several junior brothers and sisters from the New Moon Sect.

Thus, he had truly seen Lu Ye in person. Naturally, Lu Ye wouldn't remember him, as there had been too many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge involved at the time for anyone to remember clearly.

But why had Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer returned to the Spirit Stream battlefield, more so, what was he doing at their residence?

A flood of questions crossed Tan Li's mind, his expression grave but composed.

If Lu Yiye were still at 9th Heaven cultivation, he certainly would be worried. But now, Lu Yiye had forcibly entered the Spirit Stream battlefield with the cultivation of the Cloud River Realm, so there was no need for alarm.

They certainly couldn't defeat him in battle. The numerous fearsome feats Lu Ye had achieved while dominating the Spirit Stream battlefield were well-known, and Tan Li was clear about this.

But what of it?

Would Lu Yiye dare to kill?

The punishment of Heaven's Augury was no laughing matter. If high-level cultivators could easily murder on the battlefield, the big sects' residences would have been flattened long ago.

The pressing question now was, what was this person doing here?

One thing was certain: he came with ill intentions. Naturally not from the same faction, as far as the big sects of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were concerned, Lu Yiye carried a deep-seated vendetta. In the past two years, who knew how many their cultivators had perished under his hands. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe his killing as ruthless.

With this in mind, Tan Li took several steps forward, looking solemnly at Lu Ye, "Fellow Daoist Lu isn't mining wealth in the Cloud River battlefield but instead has come here to our New Moon Sect's residence. What is your intent?"

"Tan Sheng... is he a person from your New Moon Sect?" Lu Ye asked, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber, his voice carrying a faint tone.

Tan Li's brows furrowed as he heard the words, "Indeed, that's my elder brother. Does Fellow Daoist Lu have any advice?"

"Are you Tan Sheng's younger brother?" Lu Ye's eyebrows rose, this was truly an unexpected gain.

"Yes."

"Very good!" Lu Ye nodded in approval, "Tan Sheng took good care of me at the Cloud River battlefield. I came today solely to repay some of that kindness!"

As the last word fell, a shadow was already trailing behind Lu Ye as he lunged towards Tan Li.

Although Tan Li was on his guard, he clearly did not expect Lu Ye to make a move so decisively.

This was completely different from what he had thought; in his mind, a Cloud River Realm cultivator who had forcibly entered the Spirit Stream battlefield would surely not dare to kill rashly. Otherwise, the taste of the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning would not be something one could bear.

Who would have thought that Lu Ye would just start attacking without another word?

Under the enveloping crisis, Tan Li hastily summoned a spirit artifact big shield and infused his spirit force into it, holding it horizontally in front of him.

The next instant, a loud boom sounded out, and Tan Li was smashed to the ground, the sheer unblockable force of the attack causing his eyes to widen instantly, and what horrified him even more was that his spirit artifact big shield's luster had dimmed under the strike, losing much of its spirit nature!

His 9th Heaven cultivation ranked him in the top fifty on the Spirit Stream Ranking. Looking across the entire Spirit Stream battlefield, he was considered a strong fighter.

Yet Lu Yiye, who could only exert 9th Heaven cultivation at the moment, had nearly broken his defense with a single strike—such a terrifying lethality!

He had never really crossed hands with Lu Ye before, so while he knew Lu Ye was strong, he had no clear understanding of just how strong until now!

"Senior Brother Tan!"

The New Moon Sect cultivators around them cried out in alarm as they saw Tan Li being blasted to the ground.

At the same time, Tan Li felt another heavy attack on his spirit artifact big shield.

With a clatter, the low-grade spirit artifact shield of Restriction Level 9 completely shattered, revealing the panicked face of Tan Li.

Lu Ye closely followed him, the Boulder Mountain Saber sweeping across in a slash!

This time, Tan Li had no spirit artifact left to use and could only forcefully stimulate his spirit force and blood Qi, creating a protective layer on the surface of his body.

As the Boulder Mountain Saber came down, blood sprayed, and Tan Li hit the ground heavily, with a massive slash wound on his abdomen, almost revealing the organs inside.

He was terrified, feeling death so close to him.

If he weren't a physique cultivator with thick skin and dense flesh, the slash just now would have definitely cut him in two.

Seeing that Tan Li was not yet dead, Lu Ye was somewhat surprised and remarked internally that the physique of a physique cultivator was indeed much stronger than that of cultivators at the same level.

Just as he was about to rush over and deliver another blow, a dense array of whooshing sounds began to fill the air around them.

With their governor being attacked, how could the New Moon Sect cultivators hold back any longer? It didn't matter whether it was Lu Yiye or Lu Liangye; they needed to fight first and ask questions later.

With so many of them, there was no reason to fear one man.

For a time, magic and spells, weapon control, and illuminations bombarded from all directions toward Lu Ye.

With no other choice, Lu Ye had to abandon his killing intent and dodge the incoming onslaught. At the same time, his supplies box buzzed as nine weapon control artifacts flew out.

The scene became chaotically intense as more New Moon Sect cultivators were alerted and rushed over.

Next to Tan Li, a healing cultivator ran over to check his injuries and begin treatment, while Tan Li himself shouted angrily, "Lu Yiye, you are a cultivator of the Cloud River Realm and should be cultivating at the Cloud River battlefield, yet you strut around the Spirit Stream battlefield. Do you really think my New Moon Sect is afraid of you? I know now; it must be my brother who taught you a lesson in the Cloud River battlefield. Since you're no match for him, you came here to bully the weak—utterly shameless!"

Ever since Lu Ye suddenly asked about Tan Sheng, he had a nagging suspicion, though he dared not confirm it. Yet, it must be very close to the truth. Otherwise, Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer had no reason to show up at the New Moon Sect's station.

Amidst his shouting, a scream suddenly pierced the air.

The cultivators of the New Moon Sect had varying levels of cultivation. Although Lu Ye was facing a multitude, had he not been through similar situations before? He had plenty of experience handling such scenarios.

Dodging nimbly, defending with guarded protectors, and slaying with controlled artifacts, eventually, a New Moon Sect cultivator was caught off guard, sliced by his controlled artifact and fell from the sky, blood and body drifting down.

Tan Li was livid with rage, "You dare to kill!"

He could never have imagined that Lu Yiye would actually dare to kill here. Was he not afraid of the punishment from Heaven's Augury?

After killing one person, it was visibly noticeable that a purple light suddenly radiated around Lu Ye's body. Upon closer inspection, that wasn't any ordinary purple light, but rather a myriad of purple Thunderbolts coursing over his body.

The Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning enveloped him, and a twitch came to Lu Ye's eyes.

There was no other reason; it was just too painful.

Throughout his cultivation journey, he had suffered innumerable injuries, some so severe that they left him unconscious. But never had any injury felt intolerable like this one.

The punishment of the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning was truly unbearable. The pain generated not merely from the flesh but also echoed through the psyche, as if countless ants were frantically biting at his body and soul, subjecting him to torturous agony.