Sage of Humanity

Having confirmed this, Lu Ye felt greatly relieved.

He turned his head to look at several bound cultivators and silently raised his hand, flashing the battlefield marking's light on the back of his hand.

All four changed their expressions simultaneously, with one of them forcing a smile and saying, "Fellow Daoist, we are also from the Haotian Alliance, please help us."

What responded was a streak of weapon control light that passed through this person's head and flew straight out, then swept towards the other few, killing them one by one.

One of them shouted in anger before dying, "You won't die a good death."

Lu Ye didn't know whether he would meet a bad end or not, but those who had cursed him were already dead beyond dead.

If these people had truly been from the Haotian Alliance, they would certainly have shown their battlefield markings immediately. Since they had not, it confirmed that they were from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge; naturally, there was no need for pleasantries.

The four Xianyuan Guards still stood woodenly aside, acting as if they saw nothing before them.

Lu Ye gave a command to Amber, and Amber darted out to one of the Xianyuan Guards, opened its mouth wide, and sucked at him. The guard instinctively struggled, but to little effect, and was quickly swallowed by Amber.

Using the same method on the remaining three, he transformed them one by one into minion spirits.

After releasing the transformed minion spirits, Lu Ye saw that their strength hadn't changed much, similar to before. It seemed that the significant drop in strength of Liu Sanbao and the previous squad leader might have been because he had chopped them, or perhaps because the minion spirits Amber transformed couldn't exceed a certain limit.

After all, Amber's own strength wasn't considered high.

As for which reason it was, further verification was needed, but even if it was the first reason, Lu Ye had no good solution since not chopping them made it difficult for Amber to devour them, creating an unsolvable situation. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire

This time he had obtained five minion spirits, adding up to six with the previously acquired Liu Sanbao; Lu Ye officially had six minion spirits under his command.

Nobody had ever done this in Xianyuan City before; cultivators who entered Xianyuan City fought with Xianyuan Guards and hostile cultivators. Each time, their minds were nearly scrambled, yet the gains were minimal.

That's because the benefits Xianyuan City could provide to cultivators were minimal; the biggest attraction was a place called the Soul Cleansing Pool, which could refine a cultivator's psyche — an intangible and untouchable entity unreachable by cultivators in the Spirit Stream Realm.

However, if one's cultivation broke through to the True Origin Realm and ascended to the Divine Sea Realm, the cultivator then possessed Mental Consciousness, the origin of which was the cultivator's psyche.

Thus, if one could carry some water from the Soul Cleansing Pool out, it would be hugely attractive to anyone in the Divine Sea Realm.

There had been cultivators who by sheer luck managed to carry a few drops out, presented them to esteemed elders in their sects, and were granted many treasures in return.

However, the Soul Cleansing Pool was said to be at the core of the Xianyuan Guards, hence it was heavily guarded, and a group of junior cultivators from the Spirit Stream Realm could hardly breach into the Soul Cleansing Pool.

Lu Ye had no intention of targeting the Soul Cleansing Pool; it was impractical. What he aimed to do was simple — to allow Amber to convert as many minion spirits as possible. In this way, no matter what dangers lay ahead, he would have measures to respond. If he could transform an army of minion spirits, then even facing over a hundred cultivators from Fenghua Courtyard, Lu Ye would not be weaker.

With six minion spirits already under his command and together with Yiyi's strength, he no longer had to be so cautious in his actions.

Strolling on the streets with Amber strutting confidently, Lu Ye occasionally searched the buildings on either side, seeing if he could find anything valuable.

The result was disappointing. Although there were many buildings along the streets, they hardly contained anything useful.

Lu Ye then gave up on this idea. Xianyuan City, indeed, was not suitable for scooping up benefits. The Boundless Mirage Realm connecting such a place was truly a bit of a trap.

One incense stick's time later, they encountered a patrol squad of Xianyuan Guards, numbering only six.

Upon facing each other, the squad leader immediately pointed in Lu Ye's direction and shouted angrily, "Seize him!"

The few Xianyuan Guards immediately rushed towards him.

To the squad leader's great surprise, not only did Lu Ye not flee, but he also charged towards him. While charging, one minion spirit after another emerged from within Amber, confronting the several Xianyuan Guards.

Suddenly, both sides were embroiled in a fierce fight.

The opposing squad leader visibly paused, his expression growing angrier. "How dare you!" he exclaimed.

As he spoke, Lu Ye had already crossed the battlefield of those Xianyuan Guards and reached him. Amber, perched on his shoulder, let out a tiger's roar at the squad leader. The oppressive force made him falter, and before he could recover, a Spirit-Binding Lock was thrown at him by the Xianyuan Guard squad leader under Amber's command.

Caught off guard, the squad leader was tightly bound, and Amber rushed up to him, opening its mouth to suck fiercely.

By its side, Lu Ye's hand rested on the hilt of his blade, ready to strike.

Ultimately, Lu Ye didn't get a chance to act. After being bound by the Spirit-Binding Lock, the squad leader's ability to resist weakened significantly, and Amber managed to devour him with some effort.

The other Xianyuan Guards were still fighting continuously with their own kind, evidently following their squad leader's previous orders.

After Amber transformed the squad leader into a minion spirit and released him, as the squad leader shouted in a low voice, "Everyone stop."

The battling sides immediately ceased fighting.

What happened next was simple: Amber stepped forward and devoured them all, one by one.

The minion spirit squad grew to twelve members, including two squad leaders, nine ordinary Xianyuan Guards, and one Liu Sanbao.

Amber still hadn't reached its limit.

Lu Ye continued to search with it.

Xianyuan City was vast, but there were also many Xianyuan Guards, who patrolled in squad formation, making them easy to find.

As they walked along, they would occasionally encounter groups of cultivators. If they were from the Haotian Alliance, all was peaceful, but if they ran into those from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, a fierce battle was inevitable.

The grouped Ten Thousand Demons Ridge teams, seeing Lu Ye alone and at Level 8, would not treat him with courtesy. However, when they truly charged at him, they were horrified to discover that they were not facing just one person but a team composed of Xianyuan Guards!

Spirit-Binding Locks were thrown, and many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were bound before they could even get close to Lu Ye, who then moved forward to strike them down one by one.

He had begun to like the place called Xianyuan City, a perilous land unfriendly to other cultivators, offering little reward and fraught with danger. However, for Lu Ye, this place was nothing short of a Sacred Land, where Amber's talent for transforming minion spirits played a significant role.

The number of minion spirits steadily increased until, after four hours, Amber reached its limit.

The minion spirits it could transform, apart from Yiyi, totaled thirty-one, making thirty-two including Yiyi.

This completely shattered the large-scale minion spirit army plan Lu Ye had envisioned, but even this number was substantial enough to handle most dangers within the city.

After several attempts, Lu Ye finally confirmed that the strength of minion spirits transformed by Amber could at most reach the Level 9, which was related to its own strength.

Moreover, the more minion spirits there were, the greater the burden on Amber. It might not show normally, but if the minion spirits returned after a major battle with an enemy, Amber would quickly become languid.

This was because the strength of the minion spirits derived from it, and it would consume its power during recovery.@@novelbin@@

It had been the same with Yiyi before, who had to hide inside Amber to recover whenever she was injured or had depleted her power.

Now she had freed herself from this limitation. She could cultivate on her own, relishing the joy of gradually becoming stronger. Moreover, Amber could also get stronger by consuming elixir pills, doubling the joy.

This was also the reason why both Amber and Yiyi swiftly improved their strength. Whenever one grew stronger, the other benefited as well.

It was different for the minion spirits; whether it was Liu Sanbao or those squad leaders, once transformed by Amber, they lost their spiritual intelligence and could only act on Amber's commands. When their power was depleted, Amber had to provide them with the energy for recovery.

So, Amber's limit for transforming minion spirits might not be a bad thing. If there were too many, it couldn't bear the strain.

Now, when Lu Ye encountered Xianyuan Guards, he would avoid them if possible, trying not to clash with them. After all, fighting them brought no benefits, only a needless waste of energy.

Walking down the street, Lu Ye's eyelids drooped as he strolled, having felt a vague sensation of being watched from the moment he began walking, as if someone was secretly targeting him.

The one watching him must be a ghost cultivator, for only they possessed such elusive skills.

Although certain someone was watching him, Lu Ye was not the least bit anxious, for he was not alone. If the hidden enemy dared to emerge, he was ready to show them what the minion spirit squad could do.

With so many minion spirits at his command, Lu Ye no longer even needed to dirty his hands; once the spirits had bound the enemy, he just had to step forward and deliver a strike to finish the job.

The trouble now was that he could not catch a glimpse of the opponent. If outside, he could dispatch Yiyi to track down the enemy, but it wasn't possible here. Yiyi had tried before; even as a Spiritual Body in Xianyuan City, she couldn't perform ground evasion since there seemed to be a restriction underground.

Not only underground, but there was also one in the air. Within Xianyuan City, the maximum altitude for aerial travel was thirty feet. Beyond that, one simply couldn't fly any higher, which explained why no cultivator dared to fly through air here; thirty feet was too low.

Moments later, Lu Ye suddenly halted and looked ahead.

In his line of sight, a group of several people appeared, led by a tall woman in a short shirt exposing her midriff. Seeing this woman, Lu Ye's eyes slightly narrowed, and he suddenly realized that the enemy observing him in secret was not a chance encounter. She had specifically come for him!

This was because he had briefly glimpsed this woman earlier near the valley; she was from Fenghua Courtyard.

Had he been recognized earlier? So, were they here for revenge?

It made sense. On Golden Light Peak, thousands had seen his face; being recognized was not surprising.

All around, sudden surges of spirit force fluctuated, accompanied by the rustling of clothes. Lu Ye looked around to see the rooftops filled with cultivators looking ominously at him.