Sage of Humanity

"Flee!" Senior Brother Miao's thoughts raced, and he immediately uttered a low shout.

Several junior brothers and sisters looked on in bewilderment, with the person who had spoken earlier asking in confusion, "Senior Brother Miao?"

"That's Lu Yiye, run fast!" While Senior Brother Miao spoke, he summoned his Spiritual Artifact and assumed a defensive posture, clearly intending to stay behind and buy time for his juniors to escape.

It had to be said that as a senior brother, he exhibited considerable responsibility.

Yet upon hearing his words, the others' faces turned pale, and they were momentarily at a loss.

A person's reputation can cast a long shadow.

In the Cloud River battlefield, Lu Ye was virtually unknown, but in the Spirit Stream battlefield, it wasn't an overstatement to say that everyone knew of him.

Especially after he had recently performed that earth-shattering feat at the New Moon Sect base, single-handedly breaking through a Core Circle sect's base and killing more than fifty people, such a shocking battle achievement had a profound impact on anyone.

Who would have expected that in coming to the New Moon Sect base to gather intel, they would bump into this bringer of calamity.

A moment's hesitation had cost them the chance to escape; it was already too late.

The figure of Lu Yiye was now just a few hundred yards away.

"Act according to my gaze!" Senior Brother Miao shouted in a low voice, with spirit force quietly surging within him.

The others, facing a formidable enemy, hastily summoned their own Spiritual Artifacts, positioning themselves behind Senior Brother Miao, ready to advance or retreat together with him.

Shortly after, Lu Ye swept by them less than a hundred yards away and continued straight ahead.

Senior Brother Miao and his group stood stiff in mid-air, each with a grave expression, sweat beads sliding down their cheeks.

It was only after Lu Ye had gone far that they started to breathe heavily.

At that moment, they had thought they were certainly doomed, yet unexpectedly, Lu Yiye had simply passed by them.

Didn't he see them?

Of course, that was impossible; they were less than a hundred yards apart, and Lu Yiye certainly wasn't blind; how could he not have seen them?

If it wasn't that he hadn't seen them, then it was a pure act of disregard.

The others were alright, having narrowly escaped death they felt relieved, yet Senior Brother Miao alone felt both relief and shame—relieved that Lu Yiye hadn't attacked them, for they would have surely perished, and ashamed for feeling relieved…

Lu Yiye was now at the 9th Heaven level, and so was he. Though they were of the same realm, and he had the courage to fight, he had no confidence in defeating the opponent, considering he too was ranked within the top fifty of the Spirit Stream Ranking…

"Senior Brother Miao…" a junior sister's voice trembled, "he's coming back!"

Senior Brother Miao abruptly turned his head, indeed seeing Lu Yiye, who should have left, turning back and flying towards them.

Was he going to take action after all?

Senior Brother Miao's determination hardened; even if he had to die here today, he resolved to show Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer that Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were not to be trifled with!

The Flying Spirit Artifact halted less than a hundred yards away from them, a distance already viable for a 9th Heaven cultivator to strike.

"From the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge?"

Lu Ye inquired.

Sweat broke out on Senior Brother Miao's brow as he almost struck out with his weapon; upon realizing the situation, he gravely nodded his head. The figure standing before him seemed not just a fellow cultivator of the same rank, but rather a lofty and superior True Lake-Divine Sea Realm master.

The sense of shame deepened; faced with Lu Yiye, he found he did not possess the resolve he had imagined, not even the courage to refuse to respond.

"It seems you know who I am, so I won't waste words. Also, don't be nervous; I'm not in a killing mood today, and I won't do you any harm."

Basically, killing was too costly. Previously in the Spirit Stream battlefield, killing enemies earned merits, but now, not only were merits deducted, one also had to spend merits to purchase Earth's Core Fire to burn the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning.

Hearing these words made Senior Brother Miao and the others twitch at the corners of their eyes.

He had just broken through the New Moon Sect base and killed more than fifty people, and this was called not being in a killing mood?

"What do you want from us?" Senior Brother Miao asked, steeling himself.

"Go back and relay a message to all the big sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. Tell them it's business as usual, Heavenly Sword Peak, within ten days! If I don't see what I want within ten days, I'll be visiting each household personally," said Lu Ye, before turning away and leaving, with Senior Brother Miao and the others wearing mixed expressions.

It was only after Lu Ye's figure had disappeared that someone finally spoke up, "Senior Brother Miao, what does he mean?"

Senior Brother Miao didn't answer. He naturally understood what Lu Yiye meant; after all, such an incident had occurred a few months before. That time, the Core Circle sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were unwilling to cooperate—as if they could willingly give away so much resources, especially to an enemy faction. Who could bear it?

But following Lu Yiye's battle with an Overlord-class demon beast, where he unprecedentedly rose to the status of an Overlord-level existence as a Spirit Stream Realm cultivator, those sects that were uncooperative all complied dutifully…

The fist is not as big as others, and there are many lessons from the past; if they are not cooperative, what else can they do? Compared to the material resources invested, it's hard to imagine the loss that would come if the sect's stronghold were to be breached.

"Let's go!" Senior Brother Miao called out and hurriedly led his people toward their own stronghold. He needed to spread the news as quickly as possible. As for the rest, it was not something he, a Spirit Stream Realm cultivator, could consider. The strong ones in the sect would weigh those matters.

Half an hour later, the demands raised by Lu Ye were reported by Senior Brother Miao and then quickly spread to the various 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade sects within Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

Upon hearing this news, the first thing that the major sects paid attention to was not the unreasonable demands made by Lu Ye but his current condition.

According to the observation of Senior Brother Miao and the others, there was not the slightest trace of purple lightning entwining Lu Yiye's body; he seemed to be in a perfectly normal state.

This puzzled countless strong cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

Over fifty disciples from the New Moon Sect had died at the hands of Lu Yiye, and the cultivators who escaped from their strongholds had all seen him enveloped by purple lightning. So little time had passed; how could the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning, which even Divine Sea Realm cultivators feared, disappear without a trace?

It wasn't until Senior Brother Miao and others took a vow under Heaven's Augury that this news was confirmed to be true.

The forces of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge couldn't help but be stunned.

They had originally hoped that Lu Yiye would not be able to endure the torture of such soul-destroying methods and that, even if he didn't die, he would be too weakened to stir up any trouble. But now, it seemed he had somehow suppressed or even dispelled the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning that had been swirling around him.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side was more inclined to believe the former possibility, as the thought of eliminating the punishment of Heaven's Augury was somewhat far-fetched.

Then they remembered that woman from the Righteous Blood Sect, named Weh Ying, who had twice forcefully entered the Spirit Stream battlefield and killed many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators. After receiving the punishment of Heaven's Augury, she emerged unscathed just the same.

Did the Righteous Blood Sect possess some special, astounding method capable of suppressing the punishment of Heaven's Augury?

If that were the case, things would become troublesome.

Facing Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer, they couldn't beat him, and they couldn't defend against him. Other than cooperating with him obediently and appeasing his rage, there seemed to be no other choice.

Many sects within Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were indignant since it wasn't their cultivators who had troubled Lu Ye in the hunting ground, yet now they too had fallen victim to this unwarranted disaster.

Clearly, Lu Ye had no idea which individuals had actually troubled him in the hunting ground, so he simply decided to cast a wide net.

How could they be willing to accept this?

A few months ago, they had already paid protection money to Lu Ye, an indelible humiliation for the forces of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. A few months later, would they really have to endure such humiliation again? Wasn't that like stabbing salt into a wound?

Most importantly, Lu Ye was from the Righteous Blood Sect, which was part of the Haotian Alliance.

The protection money paid by all those 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade sects, when amassed, was an incredibly large sum of resources, which unequivocally nourished the enemy. The Righteous Blood Sect had already received a sum of protection money last time; that vast wealth was sufficient for the sect to not worry about its disciples' cultivation expenses for decades to come. It's said that the monthly stipend of the Righteous Blood Sect's disciples is now comparable to those from the topmost 1st grade sects in the Nine Provinces, so opulent that even their disciples in name receive better treatment than many other big sects.

A 9th grade sect where disciples receive such generous benefits, if not from the blood squeezed out of the many big sects of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

If this were to happen again, who knows how the Righteous Blood Sect might develop in the future.

Luckily, Lu Ye had given them ten days, just like last time, so there was still room for negotiation on the side of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

To compromise or not to compromise, that was a major issue.

For a time, many Divine Sea Realm cultivators from different sects gathered to discuss the matter.

Someone soon raised a critical question.

That was why Lu Ye had not killed Senior Brother Miao and the others!

If just conveying a message was his only goal, leaving one person alive would've been sufficient. Frankly speaking, Lu Ye could've gone to any Ten Thousand Demons Ridge stronghold himself to deliver the message personally.

The fact that Senior Brother Miao and the others were unharmed, that Lu Ye never even intended to attack them from beginning to end, was thought-provoking.

Given his decisive actions at the New Moon Sect stronghold, it made no sense for Senior Brother Miao and others to have escaped unscathed. Though at the time Lu Ye said he had no intention of killing and let them go, a deeper investigation would reveal that this excuse was full of holes.

There surely must have been some concern preventing Lu Ye from attacking Senior Brother Miao and the others.

This discovery brightened the eyes of many Divine Sea Realm cultivators.

Someone slowly spoke, "Now we speculate that the Righteous Blood Sect has some special method capable of suppressing the punishment of Heaven's Augury, but what if this method also has certain drawbacks?"

"What does Veteran Chen mean?" someone asked.

Veteran Chen stroked his beard, "Having lived for so many years, I've never heard of anyone who can contend with Heaven's Augury, and as ludicrous as a method of suppressing its punishment sounds, the facts are before us. I shall choose to believe it this time, but such a heaven-defying method must have a huge cost. Perhaps Lu Ye does not want to kill, or rather, he can no longer kill!"

Upon hearing this, the eyes of many Divine Sea Realm cultivators brightened further.

Someone nodded in agreement, "Veteran Chen's words are reasonable. Maybe if Lu Ye were to kill again, the suppressed punishment of Heaven's Augury might erupt even more fiercely."

"If that's the case, wouldn't that mean he is bluffing?"

"Do you remember when he was at 9th Heaven level, he broke through nearly thirty sects' core circles? That's why we were coerced into making a humiliating compromise. But now? Half a day has passed, and if he still had the ability to breach a second stronghold, why would he hesitate to apply more pressure?"