Sage of Humanity

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With a light clink, the jade cluster shattered. Without the jade cluster's control, the protective array of Fenghua Courtyard buzzed, and the flow of spirit force upon the light screen halted. Although it wasn't broken, it could no longer receive replenishments of spirit force.@@novelbin@@

After a fierce assault by the combined forces of eight hundred cultivators from Surreptitious Palace and Sky Supporting Sect, the big array that enveloped the garrison crumbled into pieces.

Beneath the night sky, swaths of phosphorescent lights scattered like fireflies dancing through the air.

"Kill!" Gu Canyang roared, taking the lead and charging into the Fenghua Courtyard with his troops. At this moment, the cultivators from Fenghua Courtyard had barely run fifty yards!

Hearing the commotion behind them and looking back, the group of Fenghua Courtyard cultivators grew even more panic-stricken, and they ran faster. Although many among the group were female cultivators, no enemy would show mercy simply because they were women.

A bustling crowd rushed into the Heaven's Augury Hall, using the Heaven's Augury Pillar to continuously return to the Nine Provinces sect headquarters.

However, the Heaven's Augury Pillar could only accommodate so many, and nearly four hundred people required some time to return. By the time the cultivators from Surreptitious Palace and Sky Supporting Sect arrived, nearly a hundred people had yet to make it back.

The last group fought back desperately, but they were no match for the overwhelming numbers and were quickly overcome, falling into pools of their own blood.

After several moments, the battle subsided, and dozens of bodies lay strewn in haphazard fashion within the Heaven's Augury Hall—all Fenghua Courtyard cultivators.

These unfortunate souls, the slowest runners, met the most tragic deaths, perfectly illustrating the harsh truth that in the face of danger, one need not outrun the enemy, only outrun one's companions.

"Thrilling!" Gu Canyang laughed loudly.

As neighboring powers, Surreptitious Palace and Fenghua Courtyard held long-standing grudges against each other, mutually disdainful, but without the means to conclusively settle the dispute, they were unable to harm one another—until today when divine providence came to their aid, allowing them to overcome Fenghua Courtyard.

The only regret for Gu Canyang was not having killed many from Fenghua Courtyard, as the battle from start to finish had very little actual combat. In the end, the dozens of deaths were mostly due to their failure to make it back to the Nine Provinces in time.

Nevertheless, it was enough!

To overtake Fenghua Courtyard's garrison was to strip their marks of merit from the Heaven's Augury Pillar—benefits accumulated by generations of their sect. And the merits to be gained were certain to be substantial.

"Everyone, hurry up and clean up the battlefield. I give you the time of one incense stick's burning. After that, regroup!" Zhou Pei yelled, his face aglow.

According to the plan, if Fenghua Courtyard's defenses could be successfully breached, then next in line would be Illuminating Sun Mountain. As rivals to Sky Supporting Sect, one could infer the depth of their enmity from that between Surreptitious Palace and Fenghua Courtyard.

The biggest concern Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei had when they concocted this plan was whether Lu Ye could successfully infiltrate and, upon doing so, succeed in his mission!

The outcome proved all their worries to be superfluous. Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect was more reliable than they had imagined!

Upon his call, the cultivators from both sects immediately sprang into action, knowing that time was limited.

"Where is Brother Yiye?" Gu Canyang called out.

"Here." Lu Ye walked into the Heaven's Augury Hall from outside, with Yiyi beside him, checking for any injuries.

After leaving Xianyuan City, Yiyi had fallen into a deep sleep, waking only half a month prior. Compared to before, she had undergone dramatic changes, the most evident being that she now appeared as a real person to any observer, even to the point where the Second Senior Sister might not be able to detect any flaw.

Previously this wouldn't have been possible; a cultivator as advanced as the Second Senior Sister could perceive Yiyi's true nature with a single glance.

If the benefit Lu Ye and Giant Armor Amber received from the Soul Cleansing Pool were considered as one, then the benefit Yiyi received could be rated as four or even five—since that was where many Spiritual Bodies of Xianyuan City rested, a Spiritual Body like Yiyi would gain substantially more from soaking in the pool compared to Lu Ye and others.

If it were not for her status as a minion spirit constraining her Cultivation Realm from surpassing Amber's, she might have left Lu Ye far behind by now.

"Brother Yiye, please!" Gu Canyang gestured with a smiling invitation.

Having taken down Fenghua Courtyard, it was natural to divide the spoils. As previously agreed, the blessings upon the Heaven's Augury Pillar would be equally shared among the three parties.

Lu Ye didn't hesitate to reach out to the Heaven's Augury Pillar, activating his battlefield marking and began plundering.

He had done this once before with the Sky Supporting Sect and was fairly familiar with the process.

As the various blessings were stripped away from the Heaven's Augury Pillar, the concentration of nature's spiritual energy in the garrison of Fenghua Courtyard began to diminish, and the range of the territory affected by the garrison also began to shrink...

Feeling that it was sufficient, Lu Ye withdrew his hand, and Gu Canyang continued, followed by Zhou Pei as the third.

After one incense stick's time had passed, everyone assembled in the square in front of the Heaven's Augury Hall, boarded their vessel, and set off towards Illuminating Sun Mountain.

Midway through the journey, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei received news that a considerable number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were attacking their respective garrisons. This was clearly a typical ruse used by both sides. The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge attempted to force Surreptitious Palace and Sky Supporting Sect to retreat with this tactic, in hopes of breaking the siege on Fenghua Courtyard.

In the past, both sects would have struggled to find a solution, as it would have been impossible to breach Fenghua Courtyard's garrison in such a short time. Attacking the opponent's strong protective array would only deplete their own strength, weakening their position and giving the enemy an opportunity to strike back.

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But at this moment, those cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge probably still had no idea that the Fenghua Courtyard outpost had fallen, and that the forces of Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace had been thoroughly routed, with troops now dispatched to Illuminating Sun Mountain.

The speed was too fast—so fast that not even Fenghua Courtyard itself had reacted in time, let alone the other factions of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

Therefore, even though they received a message from the cultivators of their sect headquarters, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei did not pay it much attention, only ordering the personnel left behind at their outposts to strengthen the might of the big array until their triumphant return.

One incense stick's time later, another message arrived: for some unknown reason, those several powers from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had all withdrawn, and judging by their hurried manner, it seemed like their retreat was rather urgent.

On the great ship, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei gathered, realizing that the news of Fenghua Courtyard's occupation must have leaked out, otherwise those several powers from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would not have retreated so swiftly.

Indeed, that was the case. Earlier, when Moon Charm ordered the Fenghua Courtyard cultivators to retreat back to the Nine Provinces, there was no time to send a message to the faction allies at Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. After returning to the Nine Provinces, they immediately sought to contact the governors of those several factions at the first opportunity.

After quite some difficulty, they finally conveyed the message.

There was no direct way to send messages between the Nine Provinces and the Spirit Stream battlefield, and information needed some intermediaries—for example, Moon Charm first relayed the message to the cultivators of those factions in the Nine Provinces and then had those cultivators pass it on to their respective sect members on the Spirit Stream battlefield.

With the message relayed in this manner, it naturally wasn't so fast.

When those governors received the message, they were all stunned. They had deployed troops to attack Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace mainly to relieve the siege on Fenghua Courtyard and force the defenders of Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace to come to its aid. As long as they offered support, the crisis at Fenghua Courtyard could be alleviated.

But it hadn't been long before Fenghua Courtyard's outpost was actually occupied!

If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't contact her in time, they really wanted to ask Moon Charm if Fenghua Courtyard's protective array was made of paper. No protective array had ever been breached so quickly before.

Now that Fenghua Courtyard's outpost was occupied, their attacks on the outposts of Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace were pointless. What alarmed them even more was another message from Fenghua Courtyard.

Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect actually had a means to infiltrate the protective array without anyone noticing!

The reason Fenghua Courtyard fell so quickly was because Moon Charm was ambushed by him, the jade cluster was lost, leading to the breaking of the big array.

The governors of the several powers from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge became anxious and realized where the problem lay.

There was nothing wrong with Fenghua Courtyard's protective array; the problem was that Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect.

With a Cultivation Realm of Spirit Stream Level 8, silently infiltrating a protective array was unprecedented.

The might of their own protective arrays was not much different from that of Fenghua Courtyard, so if Lu Yiye could infiltrate Fenghua Courtyard's array, their own arrays would also undoubtedly be unable to stop him.

Especially at Illuminating Sun Mountain, where, because of the incident at Xianyuan City, they had formed a personal grudge against Lu Ye—now that Fenghua Courtyard's outpost was gone, would they be the next target?

In such a situation, who would dare to linger outside? Naturally, they all retreated swiftly. If they didn't return soon, they might lose their home.

As the cultivators of Illuminating Sun Mountain, led by their Deputy Governor, hurried on their way back, a message came from the direction of their outpost.

The people from Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace had indeed gone to their own outpost and were now furiously attacking the big array.

The Deputy Governor nearly spat out a mouthful of blood in frustration, and he quickly ordered his subordinates to accelerate their pace. At the same time, he cursed inwardly at his governor brother's unchanged lustful heart—when Moon Charm had sent him the message that the outpost was under attack, he had him lead more than three hundred cultivators to assist in the battle.

Illuminating Sun Mountain had only a little over four hundred cultivators altogether, and now only a hundred were left to defend the outpost. If Lu Yiye managed to break through the big array, how would they have the strength to resist?

Hastily arriving outside the outpost, he saw the multi-colored lights flickering and darting in the distance. His heart felt unbearably stifled, but he could only stand and watch from afar, not daring to approach.

Aside from that, his side had just over three hundred people while the other side numbered eight hundred. Rushing in like that would be no different from courting death.

He even dared not reveal his whereabouts, lest he attract danger to himself.

Meanwhile, outside the great array of Illuminating Sun Mountain, the sounds of battle thundered as the cultivators from Surreptitious Palace and Soaring Cloud Palace attacked the array in waves, determined to break through.

Inside the big array, the cultivators of Illuminating Sun Mountain formed squads under the arrangements of their governor to patrol around, to prevent Lu Yiye from infiltrating their ranks unnoticed.

And close to the governor, several people formed a circle, keeping vigilant on all sides.

This was because, according to the message passed on from Moon Charm, although Lu Yiye was only at Spirit Stream Level 8 in terms of cultivation, he was extremely powerful. He had only attacked her twice: once nearly decapitating her, and the second time severing one of her arms, and that was how the Great Array Jade Cluster was lost.

The current governor of Illuminating Sun Mountain, who had originally been the deputy, had assumed the position after Qi Ming's death in Xianyuan City. He had interacted with Moon Charm and knew of her strength.

If even Moon Charm couldn't withstand his two strikes, he was even less confident. So, despite looking a bit flustered at the moment, he was taking utmost caution to deal with this crisis. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire