Sage of Humanity

However, at this moment, Amber seemed to be in a bit of a pickle; a giant grey eagle stood before it, looking down as if scrutinizing its prey, seemingly contemplating whether this little trinket... could be eaten!@@novelbin@@

Although Amber's figure was quite robust, compared to the grey eagle in front of it, it was practically a dwarf; in comparison to these two ferocious beasts, Amber was barely the size of the other's talon.

This gave an idea of the size of the grey eagle.

Lu Ye remembered something Li Baxian had mentioned earlier: although there were no disciples overseeing the general affairs of the Righteous Blood Sect, there was still a ferocious creature that the outer circle of sects generally could not defeat.

It seemed that this grey eagle was the ferocious creature that Fourth Senior Brother spoke of!

Before coming in, neither Second Senior Sister nor Fourth Senior Brother had particularly mentioned the details about this creature, so it seemed that this grey eagle should not pose too much of a threat to him.

Thinking this, Lu Ye hurriedly walked forward.

The grey eagle seemed to notice, turning its head to look at Lu Ye, its gaze even more scrutinizing.

Amber also saw Lu Ye and immediately positioned itself between Lu Ye and the grey eagle, while beside it stood a cultivator with a headache, watching this scene unfold.

"Is it a brother from Cangming Mountain?" Lu Ye asked as he approached, noting that the newcomer was not weak, and had to be at least a Level 9 cultivator who had practiced an Earth-class technique to have brought Amber all the way here.

"Precisely," the man nodded slightly.

"I have seen Brother!" Lu Ye greeted with a bow, "Thank you for escorting us all the way, I am deeply grateful."

The man smiled and said, "It was on my way." He sized up Lu Ye and exclaimed, "Junior Brother Yiye indeed has an exceptional air, the battle at Golden Light Peak has made many of us long to witness it."

Lu Ye responded modestly, "Brother is too kind."

Now, it seemed he would indeed have to travel the Nine Provinces bearing the moniker of Yiye.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before the Cangming Mountain cultivator, who had urgent matters to attend to, took his leave, and Lu Ye expressed his gratitude once again.

After watching him leave, Lu Ye looked up at the grey eagle that had remained by his side; the eagle too looked down at him, then bent down and gently tapped Lu Ye's head with its beak twice. Its intentions unclear, it spread its wings and flew away, landing soon after on a peak not far away.

Only after the grey eagle left did Amber relax, coming up to Lu Ye's side and rubbing its big head against him.

"Let's go, I'll take you to the Righteous Blood Sect!" Lu Ye patted Amber's head, speaking to both Amber and Yiyi.

Ignoring the astonished gazes of the independent cultivators along the way, Lu Ye headed straight back to Heaven's Augury Hall and fiddled around in front of the Heaven's Augury Pillar for a while.

Before coming here, Second Senior Sister had told him to request a pet contract from this place, but he didn't know how to get one.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Disciple Lu Ye of the Righteous Blood Sect respectfully requests a pet contract."

A warm sensation came from the battlefield marking, and new information he had never contacted before entered his mind. It seemed as if a primitive piece of beast hide had been added to his consciousness.

He quickly understood that this was the pet contract, which could form an inseparable link between a cultivator and their beast pet. With this, the beast pet could follow the cultivator in and out of the Spirit Stream battlefield.

Taking Amber as an example, it was a demon beast born within the Spirit Stream battlefield, and without this pet contract, it would not be capable of leaving the Spirit Stream battlefield to travel to the Nine Provinces.

This was somewhat miraculous, reminding Lu Ye of the Heaven's Augury Pact that Li Baxian had requested earlier.

Whether it was the Heaven's Augury Pact or the pet contract, such things couldn't just appear out of thin air. Where did these things come from? Why could they be obtained simply by respectfully requesting from Heaven's Augury? And what exactly was Heaven's Augury?

Lu Ye had some questions in his mind, but he didn't delve deeper. He felt that these matters certainly contained great secrets, still too far out of his reach.

Requesting a pet contract came with a cost, which was a hundred points of merit, as the information he just received had explained.

He checked the information in his battlefield marking.

Name: Lu Ye.

Identity: Disciple of the Righteous Blood Sect.

Cultivation: 64th orifice.

Location: Spirit Stream battlefield.

Merit: 943 points.

His cultivation hadn't changed much; he had opened up to the 63rd orifice after the battle with Dong Shuye, and in the days that followed, he had only opened up one more orifice. The main reason was that he had been constantly on the run and fighting during this period, leaving no spare spirit force for orifice-opening.

The change in merit was significant, though; he remembered that after killing Dong Shuye, his merit was not even four hundred points, but now it was close to a thousand.

The majority of it came from the battle at Golden Light Peak, where he had fought forty-three battles in a row, killing at least thirty-something enemies. Except for the first one who was at Level 5, the others were all Level 6, each adding twelve merit points to his count, and the last battle awarded twenty-one points.

Just from the Golden Light Peak alone, the merits he had obtained were almost around three hundred and sixty or seventy, with the excess coming from killing enemies along the way.

A hundred points of merit was not a small amount, and though Lu Ye's merits were fast approaching a thousand, earning these merits had not been easy; they represented the battle achievements he had made along the way.

However, Yiyi and Amber had known him since they were insignificant and had accompanied him all along. Lu Ye owed many of his escapes from death to Amber's swift pace, so no matter what, he was intent on securing this beast pet contract. Even if it took all his merits, Lu Ye wouldn't frown upon the decision.

As his thoughts stirred, a milky white vortex appeared in front of the Heaven's Augury Pillar, slowly rotating, and at the same time, Lu Ye's merits decreased by a hundred points.

He reached into the vortex and took out an ancient-looking piece of beast hide.

Based on the information he had obtained before, he bit his fingertip, pressed a fingerprint onto the beast hide, activated his spirit force, and sent the beast hide flying towards a befuddled Amber.

The beast hide burst into flames, transforming into a stream of light that enveloped Amber and merged into its body. Although Amber did not understand the reason, it remained still, as the light did not harm it in any way.

After a moment, the light extinguished, and Lu Ye could distinctly feel an added layer of connection between himself and Amber. This connection not only allowed them to sense each other's presence within a not too distant range, but Lu Ye also seemed to have a clearer perception of Amber's thoughts.

This pet contract did possess some mysteries.

Without delay, Lu Ye returned to the Righteous Blood Sect headquarters with Amber.

After he left, several heads peeked out from the entrance of the Heaven's Augury Hall, looking around. Seeing that there was no one inside, they confirmed that the one from the Righteous Blood Sect, Lu Yiye, had actually arrived at the stronghold!

The news spread rapidly, worrying many independent cultivators...

Inside the Heaven's Augury Hall of the sect headquarters, the Second Senior Sister and the fourth brother were still waiting. Seeing Lu Ye and Amber appear, Li Baxian said with a smile, "Did you meet Little Gray?"

"Little Gray?" Lu Ye was taken aback and quickly realized that Li Baxian was referring to the giant grey hawk, causing the corner of his eye to twitch, "Who named it?"

Such a majestic and impressive ferocious beast had been given such a casual name...

"That beast pet was tamed by the eldest senior brother," Li Baxian explained with a smile. "After the eldest senior brother left the Spirit Stream battlefield, it has been staying in the stronghold all this time. That's why the Second Senior Sister told you not to worry about the stronghold.

Right now, there's not much worth in the Righteous Blood Sect's stronghold, and with Little Gray as the governor, the sects from the outer circle wouldn't dare to offend casually."

As he spoke, he tossed a jade slip to Lu Ye, "I've written everything about the stronghold inside. Take a look when you have time. Being the governor does have great benefits for cultivation, especially since your current cultivation level is still low."

Lu Ye caught the jade slip and nodded slightly. Then he remembered something and patted Amber's head, "Come and greet my Second Senior Sister and fourth brother."

Shui Yuan and Li Baxian looked at Amber curiously, wondering how it would greet them.

Soon, their expressions turned to one of surprise.

Yiyi's figure slowly floated out, somewhat shy, and spoke softly, "I've seen the Second Senior Sister, seen the fourth brother!" She didn't know how to address Shui Yuan and Li Baxian, so she followed Lu Ye's lead.

During the battle at the Golden Light Peak, Yiyi had not shown herself, mainly because her appearance wouldn't have been of much use, and as a Spiritual Body, it wasn't convenient for her to be seen by others.

But here, it didn't matter, since both the Second Senior Sister and fourth brother were their own people.

Li Baxian stared at her for a while before turning to Lu Ye, raising an eyebrow and saying, "Not bad, Junior Brother!" with an expression that said all men understood.

Lu Ye explained, "Yiyi is Amber's accompanying minion spirit. Along the way, she and Amber have helped me a lot."

"Minion spirit?" Shui Yuan asked curiously. Even with her experience, she hadn't seen an existence like Yiyi. She stepped forward, curiously pinched Yiyi's arm, and was surprised to find it felt no different from pinching a real body. However, she could tell that Yiyi indeed was a Spiritual Body capable of shifting between corporeal and incorporeal forms.

Shui Yuan and Li Baxian's scrutiny made Yiyi uneasy, and she looked at them for help.

Shui Yuan patted her head, "Since you're Junior Brother Ye's companion, you're a member of the Righteous Blood Sect. From now on, consider this place your home."

Her words seemed to carry immense comforting power; Yiyi looked at her intently, her eyes slowly reddened, and then she nodded vigorously.

I also have a home from now on! She thought back to when she decided to follow Lu Ye out of Qingyun Mountain and felt full of gratitude.

Li Baxian winked at Lu Ye, indicating that he was about to walk away.

Lu Ye stepped forward to follow him.

As they exited the Heaven's Augury Hall, Li Baxian spoke, "Originally, after you joined the sect, an instructor would have been assigned to guide your cultivation, especially since your current Level 5 realm cultivation should determine your future faction choice. But as you've seen, the state of the Righteous Blood Sect is such that I fear no one can teach you much.

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The old man is certainly strong, but he hasn't taught anyone for many years, and his rigid personality doesn't suit this role."

Suddenly, a stone flew out of nowhere, striking Li Baxian's forehead with lightning speed.

Visibly, a large bump swelled up on Li Baxian's head. As if nothing had happened, he turned around, his forehead sporting the bump, and looked at Lu Ye, "Fortunately, your self-cultivation along the way has been quite good. However, the most urgent priority now is to determine your faction. Have you given it careful thought?"

"Combat cultivator!" Lu Ye stared at the prominent bump on Li Baxian's head and decisively gave his answer.