Sage of Humanity

In the great hall, Zhou Yuntian led Lu Ye and the other three forward, stopping five zhang away from the low couch, bowed their heads, and respectfully said, "Zhou Yuntian pays respects to the Venerable One, the newcomers have been brought here."

As he spoke, he turned his head to give Lu Ye and the others a meaningful look.

Li Baxian and the other two hurriedly performed a salute with a fist in palm, while Lu Ye, following suit, joined them in unison, "We pay respects to the Venerable One!"

"Hmm," a lazy voice responded again.

Lu Ye sneaked a look and was momentarily stunned by what he saw.

Previously, even though the Venerable One had appeared in the forest, there had been a veil separating them, so Lu Ye had no idea what she looked like aside from knowing she was a woman.

Now, without the veil in between, her features were clearly visible.

To be honest, Lu Ye had seen many women since he started his cultivation, many of whom were outstanding in appearance... There were no particularly unattractive female cultivators, most of them were fine-featured, at the very least passably good-looking, and there were also quite a few of stunning beauty.

The main reason, of course, was that cultivators possessed spirit force, which allowed them to preserve their youthful beauty.

But Lu Ye had never seen a face as exquisitely beautiful as this one before, her visage was almost flawless, so perfect it seemed unearthly.

What was even more striking was not just this perfect beauty, but an indescribable enchanting allure! Especially the small teardrop mole beneath the corner of her eye, which added an additional charm.

This face was undoubtedly a great visual impact to the men of this world, and the fact that the Venerable One wore very revealing attire, exposing large expanses of fair skin, could be considered improper, further arousing unrestrained passions.

With such looks and figure, even without the use of her astounding psyche secret technique, she was qualified to reign over most men in this world, compelling them to willingly risk their lives for her.

What concerned Lu Ye more was not her appearance, but the aura emanating from her.

He had already felt something peculiar about the Venerable One's aura before, but now it became even clearer.

The power that flowed through her was somewhat different from the normal spirit force... It seemed more like demonic power.

Lu Ye, who had spent day and night with Amber, was particularly sensitive to demonic power.

So, could it be that the Venerable One was not a human, but a demon? Moreover, she must be a demon with some special abilities, otherwise, it made no sense that she could employ a psyche secret technique to control cultivators with just the strength of the Cloud River Realm.

That explained it, traditional cultivators did not possess the ability to use psyche secret techniques in the Cloud River Realm, but it was different for demons, some powerful demons naturally had special abilities beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Seeming to sense Lu Ye's gaze, the Venerable One's soul-capturing beautiful eyes swept over him, meeting his, her lips slightly curving into an amused smile.

She had seen such gazes plenty of times and did not find them strange, yet Lu Ye's boldness took her by surprise since due to the psyche secret technique, most people seeing her for the first time were utterly frightened.

Even Zhou Yuntian, a cultivator who had followed her for many years, only dared to steal glances at her occasionally and never dared to look at her so openly.

Lu Ye was the first to stare at her so intently upon first meeting.

During their eye contact, Lu Ye's expression suddenly changed, as her eyes seemed to transform into bottomless abysses, pulling his consciousness irresistibly inwards, sending a tremor through his psyche, and he quickly lowered his head.

"Oh?" The Venerable One uttered a sound of surprise, somewhat amazed that Lu Ye could break away from her gaze. She had intended to teach Lu Ye a small lesson, but she did not expect to discover his strong mental fortitude instead.

But this was good news for her, the stronger the cultivator under her command, the more power she could utilize. She took a deep look at Lu Ye and then paid him no more mind.

"Introduce yourselves," the Venerable One said languidly.

Zhou Yuntian murmured from the side, "The Venerable One wants to understand your strengths, so if you have any special abilities, you must disclose them fully, without hiding anything. Brother Xia, you start."

Xia Liang immediately clasped his fists and declared, "Mad Saber Sect's Xia Liang, Cloud River Level 9, combat cultivator... As for special abilities, Xia is wholly dedicated to the saber and possesses no other."

Zhou Yuntian explained, "Venerable One, the Mad Saber Sect is a 1st grade sect, and Brother Xia was once ranked in the top ten on the Spirit Stream Ranking. His Level 9 of the Cloud River Realm is not one to be taken lightly."

"Not bad," the Venerable One commented flatly.

Zhou Yuntian prompted, "Brother Tan!"

Tan Sheng promptly said, "New Moon Sect's Tan Sheng, Cloud River Level 9, also a combat cultivator."

Zhou Yuntian continued, "Brother Tan also once made it onto the Spirit Stream Ranking. The New Moon Sect is a 3rd grade sect and considered a big sect throughout the Nine Provinces."

The Venerable One remained silent, apparently less interested in Tan Sheng than in Xia Liang.

When it came to Li Baxian, he said, "Loyal Heart Sect's Li Baxian, Cloud River Level 5 realm, sword cultivator."

Zhou Yuntian spoke, "Li Baxian was a legendary figure in the Spirit Stream battlefield and the only one to occupy the top ten rankings of the Spirit Stream Ranking for more than a decade with an 8th Heaven cultivation. Is it true, Fellow Daoist Li, that your spiritual orifice, which was damaged during a battle back then, has now been restored since your promotion to the Cloud River Realm?"

"Yes. Thanks to our junior brother Lu Ye's enormous expense to purchase the orifice repair pill, his damaged spiritual orifice has been repaired."

"That's cause for celebration! Venerable One, although Fellow Daoist Li's cultivation is not high at present, if we talk about potential, none of us can match him. Moreover, he's a sword cultivator. Should he one day reach Level 9 of the Cloud River Realm, he would surely be a top-tier expert!"

"Excellent!" the Venerable One's voice was filled with joy, "Later on, bestow upon him some cultivation items, let him cultivate well and strive to enhance his cultivation."

Zhou Yuntian immediately turned his head towards Li Baxian, "Have you not quickly thanked the Venerable One for the reward!"

Li Baxian promptly said, "Thank you, Venerable One."

Zhou Yuntian looked towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye also clasped his fists and said, "Righteous Blood Sect's Lu Ye, Cloud River Level 4, combat cultivator." He paused for a moment before continuing, "This subordinate is proficient in the Path of Spirit Runes, Array Path, and has a slight understanding of the Rune Tattoo Path as well."

Zhou Yuntian had previously said to speak of all special talents without holding back any secrets.

Although Lu Ye did not want to disclose these, as these things were well known, and Xia Liang and Tan Sheng were also aware, he had no choice but to speak, to avoid revealing any clues.

Zhou Yuntian was astoundingly surprised, "Fellow Daoist Lu has studied many schools of thought?"

"I have dabbled a bit," Lu Ye replied modestly.

"Impressive, truly impressive," Zhou Yuntian said with a pleased expression, "Venerable One, our sect is currently lacking such talents, especially in the Array Path. Fellow Daoist Xie has always been complaining about not having enough capable people on his side. I think we can assign Fellow Daoist Lu to assist Fellow Daoist Xie."

"You can decide on this matter yourself, no need to ask me," the Venerable One indifferently replied.

"Yes."

"I am weary, you may all take your leave," the Venerable One waved his hand dismissively.

Zhou Yuntian immediately responded respectfully, "Your subordinate will take his leave."

Having said this, he gestured to Lu Ye and the others with his eyes, leading them to bow and take their leave.

Once out of the great hall and following closely behind Zhou Yuntian, they soon reached one side of the valley, where many pavilion-like buildings stood tall, each separated by about a dozen meters or so, totaling nearly a hundred in all.

Zhou Yuntian said, "Fellow Daoists, choose a dwelling for yourselves. From now on, we will all be living in Fox Fairy Valley for a long time, we are all family here, no need to be too formal. There is just one thing that you all must remember!"

At this point, his expression became extremely serious, and his voice lowered, "Once in Fox Fairy Valley, you all must sever ties with your past. From today onward, you are people of Fox Fairy Valley. Do not contact your fellow sect members or friends anymore, and you must not reveal the existence of Fox Fairy Valley to outsiders. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed without mercy!"

"Yes," all four, including Lu Ye, nodded, showing they understood.

"Outside of this, Fox Fairy Valley has no strict rules. On ordinary days, apart from going out to recruit various talents, there's basically nothing else to do. You are free to cultivate as you wish," he added, pointing to the buildings, "Those with closed doors on the second floor are occupied, and those with open doors are unoccupied. You may choose as you like."

After finishing, he exchanged battlefield imprints with Lu Ye and the others and told them to contact him if they had any issues, before leisurely leaving.

Once Zhou Yuntian left, Tan Sheng and Xia Liang went together to find their own places to stay.

Lu Ye and Li Baxian also headed in one direction together.

Along the way, Lu Ye observantly found that Li Baxian's expression was as usual, with no sign of anything inappropriate.

He tentatively spoke out, "Fourth Senior Brother."

"Hmm?"

"What about Senior Sister Feng?"

Zhou Yuntian said before that upon entering this Fox Fairy Valley, one must cut off all ties with the past and not reveal its existence to anyone. Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan have been childhood sweethearts, inseparable for many years, living together through cultivation. Suddenly being brought here and forced to sever all past connections, Lu Ye was curious about the choice Li Baxian would make.

With a sigh, Li Baxian responded, "Since the Venerable One has given the order, I can only obey. Yuechan... she will be heartbroken, but as time passes, all will be well."

Lu Ye felt a coldness in his heart but said aloud nonetheless, "That makes sense," and pointed towards two pavilions ahead, "Senior Brother, let's pick those two; if we live close to each other, we can look after one another."

Li Baxian nodded happily, "Good."

Thereupon, the two of them chose one building each.

Lu Ye selected a pavilion on the right side and surveyed the inside, discovering traces of someone having lived there recently, with some used items remaining. However, it seemed that the original owner hadn't returned for a long time, as dust covered everything.

He did not know the current situation of the pavilion's former occupant. From the looks of it, the place's original inhabitant was probably more unfortunate than fortunate, otherwise, they would not have stayed away for so long.

This so-called Fox Fairy Valley, in its apparent tranquillity where everyone seemingly got along harmoniously under the guidance of the Venerable One's Psyche Secret Technique, with people more united as a whole, appeared to be not so safe after all.