Sage of Humanity

The Xianyuan Guards nearby were overwhelmed, even Liu Sanbao displayed an expression of agony.

"Roar!" Amber, lying on Lu Ye's shoulder, let out a tiger's roar.

In a critical moment, it still depended on Amber to take action.

That roar suppressed the cries of the female spirit body, and even scared her silly, it was only then that she noticed Amber's uniqueness. Her beautiful eyes took a careful look at Amber and revealed a wary expression.

Amber had already pounced forward, and with an open mouth, she tried to suck in the female spirit body.

The female spirit body sensed the danger, plucked her pipa with a swift motion, and sent Amber flying, tumbling several times over.

Yiyi seized the opportunity to dash out and cast a magic spell at the female spirit body, Lu Ye advanced at the same time, bringing his blade down with a chop.

The female spirit body blocked the spell but couldn't block Lu Ye's strike, her body's spirit light flashed momentarily.

Seizing this chance, the surrounding minion spirits all made their move at once, numerous Spirit-Binding Locks shot towards the female spirit body tying her down, and Liu Sanbao even threw out his three dice.

The female spirit body's slender fingers hooked several strings of the pipa, with a fierce pull and tug, most of the Spirit-Binding Locks aiming at her were fixed mid-air, while the rest shattered completely.

"Ying ying ying…" The weeping started again.

"Roar!" Amber charged and roared at her again, this time the roar was even louder, and the visible wave of energy surged towards the female spirit body, causing her to display an expression of pain immediately, and the whining also ceased abruptly.

Lu Ye took advantage of the situation and brought his blade down again.

"Ying ying…"

"Roar!"

Lu Ye struck again with his blade.

"Ying…"

And another strike...

The female spirit body truly cried, hugging her pipa and shrinking her neck, looking at Lu Ye with a pitiful expression, as large tears continuously slid down.

This time's guest proved difficult to host, she didn't recite poetry, didn't respond, and she was even being roared at, chopped at…

Moments later, Amber swallowed the exasperated female spirit body and turned her into a minion spirit.

With one more valiant warrior added to his ranks, Lu Ye was in a very good mood.

He had Amber release the female spirit body, and as expected, her strength was greatly suppressed, just like Liu Sanbao, she was only at the Level 9.

The captivating luster that once shone in her eyes was no longer present. Now she stood there dazed, holding the pipa in her arms, appearing somewhat sluggish and stiff, with hints of her former frailty still visible.

This was a side effect of being transformed into a minion spirit. It could be said that once Amber transformed anyone into a minion spirit, regardless of whether they had spiritual intelligence before, they would no longer have any afterwards.

Lu Ye examined the pipa in her arms; this object seemed to be similar to Liu Sanbao's dice cup. At first, Lu Ye had thought it was a Spiritual Artifact, but later he realized it was not. Neither Liu Sanbao's dice cup nor the pipa in front of him were like that; they were more manifestations of their innate power, like themselves, neither wholly tangible nor intangible.

He checked the number of minion spirits under his command. Aside from Yiyi, the count still came to thirty-one, which included two special minion spirits, and the rest were fifteen squad leaders, with fourteen ordinary Xianyuan Guard-converted minion spirits.

With such strength, they were much more powerful than before. If Choo Qing and her people had ambushed him like they did before, and he had this group of minion spirits, not a single one of them would have escaped.

He forgot to ask the name of that female minion spirit. Oh well, he would just call her Pipa Girl, Lu Ye thought to himself.

He continued his exploration.

Two hours later, Lu Ye stood in front of a large estate with high walls, looking at the lantern hanging at the entrance, he pushed the door open and entered.

For such a residence to exist within a large city indicated that the original owner must have held a high status in Xianyuan City. As he entered, traces of small bridges and running water were faintly discernible.

Lu Ye's gaze was immediately drawn to a splash of red in a corner of the courtyard; on a swing there, a graceful figure was seated, back turned towards him.

Lu Ye immediately felt his heart soar, feeling incredibly fortunate, as he had not found any special spirit bodies like Liu Sanbao and Pipa Girl before, but in just a short while, he had stumbled upon two. It seemed that the special spirit bodies in Xianyuan City were not as rare as he thought; perhaps he had been unlucky before, or the other cultivators who had entered the city had killed them.

The swing swayed gently, and the woman sitting on it had her long red skirt trailing on the ground.

Lu Ye was about to have Amber release the minion spirits to communicate properly with the other party, when his body suddenly stiffened.

He rubbed his eyes and stared at the woman in the red skirt to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Then, hastily raising his hand, he clamped down on Amber's mouth.

Amber seemed like she wanted to yawn…

Then he slowly started to move backwards, taking care not to make any noise.

Boom…

The doors behind him suddenly swung shut with a loud noise. Lu Ye threw himself against the door but hit it solidly. The rotten door, which looked like it would crumble upon touch, stopped him in his tracks.

His spirit force surged, and fiery red spirit force streamed from Lu Ye's back. His wings beat with the intention of soaring into the sky. He planned to scale the wall and escape, but his body was as if fixed in place, unable to budge an inch. An invisible force had restrained him, and his spirit force came to a halt. The wings on his back vanished.

Cold sweat streamed down his forehead all at once as Lu Ye gazed at the woman in the red skirt and felt a sense of immense peril enveloping him.

He suddenly understood the sudden shift from excitement to fear in the hearts of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators he had killed. Such sharp rises and falls in life were truly thrilling.

When he first saw the spirit light on the woman in the red skirt, Lu Ye had felt something was off, because he actually couldn't detect any spirit light on her surface.

He had only encountered this situation with three other individuals before.

One is Sister Shui Yuan.

The second is the sect master.

The third is Madam Yun.

Of these three, one was at the True Lake Realm, and the other two were at the Divine Sea Realm. Because the gap in their strength was too vast, Lu Ye simply couldn't see through their spirit light.

This was also the reason Lu Ye wanted to leave immediately because this red-robed woman was most likely an existence he shouldn't provoke, even with the help of a minion spirit.

Of course, lack of spirit light could also be due to the person having no power at all, like ordinary mortals who have no cultivation and thus no spirit light.

But in Xianyuan City, could any spirit body be without power?

Even if she truly had no power, converting her into a minion spirit would have been pointless for Lu Ye. But if she had power... that would be terrifying.

By the time he tried to leave, it was too late, the doors were sealed, spirit force was banned, and Lu Ye didn't even see any signs of her having made a move. From beginning to end, the red-robed woman sat quietly on the swing, gently swaying.

The intelligence from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was not that reliable either, at least, Lu Ye had not seen any mention of such a terrifying presence in Xianyuan City from those reports.

They should refund his money!

The faint singing suddenly began, soft as it was, it was like singing in his ear, striking directly at his soul.

Lu Ye's anxious expression calmed down because he knew that any resistance was meaningless in the face of such a formidable and unassailable presence.

The special spirit bodies in Xianyuan City each had their own obsessions and preferences from before they died. Liu Sanbao wanted to gamble, Pipa Girl wanted to recite poetry, and now the red-robed woman in front of him had suddenly started singing a ballad.

Lu Ye speculated in his heart, could it be that the red-robed woman wanted him to listen to her sing? Or perhaps to sing with her, and she would let him go if he sang well?

Since she hadn't attacked him right away, but only confined him here, it meant there was a sliver of hope for him. What came next would depend on how he would respond.

Lu Ye calmed his mind and listened carefully, in case she asked him later what she had just sung and he couldn't answer. That would be an unjust way to die.

Though he couldn't make out much, he could feel the mournful and sorrowful melody of the ballad. As for the lyrics, Lu Ye couldn't understand a single word.

Unwittingly, Lu Ye found himself engulfed in immense sadness, the faint singing seemed to tell a story of parting, a loved one gone, a millennium yet to return, leaving only the longing lover with yearning eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, the soul-piercing singing abruptly stopped.

Lu Ye was still immersed in the somber atmosphere, and even though he was aware that the red-robed woman's singing had affected him, it was hard for him to step out of that mood for a while.

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The swaying swing came to a halt, and a faint voice arose, "Have you seen Mochi Ball?"

"Does the lady want to eat mochi balls?" Lu Ye sniffled, thinking to himself that this could be troublesome. He had plenty of food in his storage sack, but mostly jerky. He didn't have anything like mochi balls at all.

The red-robed woman, with her back to him, shook her head, "Mochi Ball is a cat."

"I haven't seen it."

The silence lingered for a moment, then the red-robed woman spoke up, "Could you help me bring Mochi Ball back? It's very dangerous outside, and I'm a bit worried about it."@@novelbin@@

"Alright."

"Thank you for that."

"You're welcome!"

Boom...

The tightly closed doors suddenly opened, and Lu Ye decisively leaped backward, swiftly exiting the courtyard.

Boom...

The doors closed again, and faint singing could be heard from inside.

With the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes enhancing him, Lu Ye broke into a sprint, not stopping until he was two streets away, where he finally halted to catch his breath.

Yiyi drifted out from inside the Amber, her eyes brimming with tears, clearly affected by the singing just now.

"Lu Ye, are we going to look for that cat?"

"Find the..." Lu Ye was about to say find the hell with it, but his heart skipped a beat before he could finish, and he felt a premonition of danger. Since he had promised the red-robed woman, going back on his word would surely bring no good. He quickly corrected himself, "Finding a cat is quite simple."

The sudden premonition of danger dissipated into nothingness.

This startled him, and only then did he understand why the red-robed woman had so easily let him leave.

His head ached slightly. With Xianyuan City so vast, where was he to look for a cat? Moreover, it was uncertain if there even was such a cat in the city. If not, this would be an insoluble problem.

No, he just had to look for it. As for whether he would find it... that was beyond his control.

Realizing this, Lu Ye's mind felt suddenly clear; the situation wasn't as bad as he had thought.

On second thought, Xianyuan City really was peculiar, no wonder cultivators who entered were full of grievances. Not only were there dangers at every turn, but they also had to deal with the strange requirements of these special spirit bodies. One misstep and it could cost one's life.

It was only then that Lu Ye noticed the signs of a recent skirmish nearby, and judging from the commotion over that way, there appeared to be quite a few people involved.

Having Yiyi hide away, Lu Ye activated the Breath-concealing Spirit Runes to conceal his presence and quietly approached the commotion.