Sage of Humanity

In the room, the small-mustache cultivator occasionally ran to the doorway, peering through the crack to check the outside, apparently wanting to see if the mystical fog had lifted.

Lu Ye ignored him, busying himself with recovery, consulting a jade slip he had purchased from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union. It recorded that the duration of the fog varied, short as two hours or as long as a day or two, with no certainty.

Half a day later, after the small-mustache cultivator had checked several times, he suddenly shouted, "Giant Armor."

The broad-shouldered Giant Armor, wearing a torn hemp robe with his chest partly exposed, stepped out from inside.

The small-mustache cultivator cupped his fists towards Lu Ye and said, "Fellow Daoist, we will take our leave first. Until next time."

He had refrained and endured before, but ultimately hadn't dared to attack Lu Ye.

After speaking, he left the room with Giant Armor, and the tall and short figures quickly disappeared.

Once they were gone, Lu Ye stood up, walked to the doorway to look outside, and finding the fog had dispersed, left as well.

He needed to replenish the minion spirits under Amber's command and meanwhile, look for any trace of Choo Qing and others.

Lu Ye also contemplated whether he could replace all minion spirits with those of squad leaders' or Liu Sanbao-like special minion spirits. Ordinary Xianyuan Guards converted into minion spirits fought too rigidly, hardly displaying their true strength. Squad leaders were much better, and Liu Sanbao was even more flexible.

After being converted into minion spirits, they truly lacked their own thoughts, but only needed orders from Amber to execute them flawlessly, much more useful than ordinary Xianyuan Guards.

However, minion spirits like Liu Sanbao were rare, so the focus should be on those of squad leaders' level.

After the fog cleared, the Xianyuan Guards and the hidden cultivators became active. As Lu Ye passed by, he could easily sense nearby combat disturbances.

It took no time at all before he encountered a squad of Xianyuan Guards. Before the squad could act, he preemptively struck, and moments later, the squad was subdued, increasing the number of his minion spirits.

Although he decided to replace all minion spirits with either squad leaders or ones like Liu Sanbao, such matters could proceed slowly; it was critical to ensure the quantity of minion spirits first.

Along the way, he occasionally saw buildings with lanterns hanging, and Lu Ye searched them eagerly, hoping to find a presence similar to Liu Sanbao, but unfortunately found nothing.

It appeared, special spirit bodies like Liu Sanbao were also scarce in Xianyuan City.

Two hours later, after replenishing the minion spirits, Lu Ye had Amber release one to follow him, wanting to test something.

Shortly after, a squad of Xianyuan Guards approached. Following that, the minion spirit immediately activated a Spirit-Binding Lock, binding Lu Ye and continuing forward.

As they drew closer and then passed by, those oncoming Xianyuan Guards didn't spare him a glance.

It really worked!

Lu Ye's eyebrows rose.

The reason for this experiment was that once his plans were complete, he no longer needed to engage in pointless conflicts with the Xianyuan Guards; killing them was of no benefit and merely wasted energy.

Now, by using his own minion spirits to create a false appearance of capture, he could deceive the Xianyuan Guards and avoid combat many times.

However, that wasn't possible yet; he had to wait until all the minion spirits were replaced with squad leaders.

Just as he was contemplating this, several cultivators suddenly burst out from a nearby building. A young man in his early twenties, leading them, sized up Lu Ye and said, "Fellow Daoist, please show your battlefield marking."

Lu Ye glanced at them and activated the battlefield marking on his hand, which immediately emitted a blue light.

"Kill him!" The cultivator waved his hand, and his companions immediately assumed an attacking stance.

Then they were all shocked to see the Spirit-Binding Lock that had bound Lu Ye retract. A series of spectral-like spiritual bodies drifted out from Amber perched on Lu Ye's shoulder. Before they could comprehend what was happening, they were tightly bound by numerous Spirit-Binding Locks.

Lu Ye flexed his neck, walked up to the man, and slowly drew the Boulder Mountain Saber from his waist.

The man, petrified, looked at Lu Ye incredulously, "How can you control the Xianyuan Guards?"

Seeing Lu Ye captured by the Xianyuan Guards had prompted them to intercept. Naturally, if he were one of them, they would rescue him to strengthen their forces, but if he were an enemy, that was a different matter altogether.

They had never imagined that someone in this world could control Xianyuan Guards!

"Do you know where Choo Qing from Fenghua Courtyard is?"

"I don't know."

"Then you are of no use." The saber sliced down, blood splattering.

Lu Ye then approached the second man and asked the same question.

"I know."

"Swear by Heaven's Augury!"

"I... I don't know."

...

A moment later, several corpses were strewn across the ground, and Lu Ye had collected their storage sacks.

These men were probably not from Fenghua Courtyard, since there were no women among them, they might be independent cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge or people from Illuminating Sun Mountain, naturally unaware of Choo Qing's whereabouts.

Coming back to it, pretending to be captured by the Xianyuan Guard was truly a useful tactic, not only could it deceive other Xianyuan Guards, but it also allowed for fishing opportunities. Lu Ye had even thought about continuing this approach.

Considering that being bound by the Spirit-Binding Lock wasn't convenient for dealing with sudden crises, he dismissed the idea.

He continued moving forward, taking down squad leaders of the Xianyuan Guard he encountered and replacing the ordinary minion spirits with them. Occasionally, he also came across other groups of cultivators, inevitably leading to some battles. But with over thirty minion spirits under his command, those cultivators were no match for him. Although they thought they were only facing one enemy, thirty suddenly appeared, turning their surprise into horror.

The storage sacks he collected were indeed becoming more numerous.

He had also encountered people from the Haotian Alliance. From them, Lu Ye learned that the cultivators from Illuminating Sun Mountain and Fenghua Courtyard were gathering, clearly intending to take the opportunity to eliminate all Haotian Alliance cultivators who had entered the area.

This time, there were hundreds more cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge than from the Haotian Alliance, with the majority coming from Illuminating Sun Mountain.

Thus, the situation was quite tough for the Surreptitious Palace, and the independent cultivators from the Haotian Alliance side, under pressure, were all gathering towards the Surreptitious Palace.

It could be foreseen that, before long, there would be a clash between the two groups of cultivators. The outcome of this clash would determine the life and death of the cultivators of the two camps. Should the forces of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge gain the upper hand in this clash, they would certainly seek to annihilate the Haotian Alliance's members completely.

The Haotian Alliance was supposed to have two forces enter this area as well, but unfortunately, the ones from Soaring Cloud Palace were still on their way when the Boundless Mirage Realm was already underway, preventing their entry.

The Haotian Alliance cultivators, seeing Lu Ye alone, naturally persuaded him to move together with them.

Lu Ye declined, joining with other Haotian Alliance members might be safe, but waiting for the preparations of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side would be too late. Although he appeared to be alone, he actually had over thirty minion spirits under him, enough to handle unless he encountered too many enemies.

Being alone granted him more freedom, and he could also take the opportunity to weaken the forces of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, having already killed a considerable number of their cultivators along the way.

Moreover, his plan to replace all minion spirits with squad leaders was not yet complete.

In front of a three-story building, Lu Ye stopped. There were more than one lantern hanging in front of the building, but rather a row of them, and it was unclear what they signified. There was also a crumbling plaque above the main door, the characters on which were no longer readable, except for the last character that still showed some traces, barely recognizable.

Lu Ye pushed the door and entered, a musty scent hitting him as he did.

The room's original layout was indiscernible; it now appeared very chaotic, with an old staircase leading up to the second floor.

After searching the first floor and finding nothing, Lu Ye proceeded to the second floor.

Upon entering the second floor, Lu Ye's eyes lit up, for there was a special spirit body here.

These special spirit bodies hidden within Xianyuan City, up until then, Lu Ye had only encountered Liu Sanbao, who performed admirably in combat, showing capabilities several times stronger than those squad leaders.

The spirit body before him was a woman, with fine features and a gentle and fragile expression. She was dressed somewhat provocatively, holding a pipa in her arms.

Lu Ye didn't think she looked easy to bully just because she appeared frail, for near the female spirit body, three corpses lay. It was unknown what unfortunate souls they were, but given their expressions before death, they clearly had suffered greatly, as blood had oozed from their seven orifices, solidifying on their pained faces.@@novelbin@@

Noticing the movement, the frail woman shyly looked up at Lu Ye, her eyes seemingly covered with a layer of mist, captivatingly beautiful. She softly opened her lips, her tone as gentle as water, "Do you recite poetry, guest?"

These special spirit bodies hiding in Xianyuan City each had their own obsessions or preferences from their past life. Liu Sanbao was a gambler, so when Lu Ye entered his house, he wanted to gamble with Lu Ye, betting his life and the game wouldn't end until he did, usually resulting in Liu Sanbao winning.

This female spirit body's obsession was somewhat strange, immediately asking Lu Ye if he could recite poetry.

"No."

"Then, can you respond in poetry?"

"No, I can't."

"Then what can you do, guest?" Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire

"I can chop people!"

Lu Ye raised his hand and drew out the Boulder Mountain Saber.

The spirit light around her body was even denser than Liu Sanbao's, possibly indicating an 8th Heaven level or even Level 9 spirit body, truly showing that Xianyuan City was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

The female spirit body glanced at the Boulder Mountain Saber and did not get angry due to Lu Ye's rudeness, but merely smiled gently.

However, she soon couldn't smile anymore, as from Amber, one Xianyuan Guard after another floated out, quickly filling the room to the brim.

"Ying ying ying…" the female spirit body took the initiative to attack, her smile turning into a crying face, with tears flowing from her eyes, looking heartbreakingly sad.

An invisible force swept across the second floor, making the Xianyuan Guards' spirit light flash wildly, even Lu Ye felt his head sink.

Lu Ye's mind sharpened. This was a sonic attack, able to utilize sound for its strike. He had only heard of it but had never seen it before. He wanted to raise his saber, but under the woman's crying, he found himself somewhat unable to control his arms.