Sage of Humanity

"Charge through!" Lu Ye ordered in a low shout, directly enhancing the flying spirit artifact beneath him with Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes.

A flash of light passed, and the stabilized flying spirit artifact immediately transformed into a stream of light, charging straight ahead.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators in front, who had already summoned their own spiritual artifacts and were prepared to fight using weapon control, hadn't yet reacted when the enemy was already upon them.

Four streams of light flew from Lu Ye's hands, while Yiyi's magic and spells were also deployed, blocking attacks from all sides.

The expression of a Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivator blocking the front turned to extreme horror, as the enemy charged directly towards him without dodging or avoiding. Seeing that the opponent had no intention of changing direction, the cultivator couldn't help but scream in terror, "Don't come any closer!"

Giant Armor paid him no heed. Lu Ye had instructed it to charge through, so it would, even if there were a copper wall and iron barrier in front, it wouldn't even frown.

With a booming sound, the two flying spirit artifacts collided. The one from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge shattered instantly into countless pieces, and the cultivator himself was hit so hard that his chest caved in and he spat out blood, screaming as he plummeted downward.

In contrast, Giant Armor's flying spirit artifact was completely undamaged.

The moment the collision occurred, Lu Ye had reinforced his own side with Defense Spirit Runes. As for the dent in that man's chest, it came from a punch that Giant Armor had thrown.

Screams sounded again, coming from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators who were injured by Lu Ye's weapon control and Yiyi's magic and spells.

With the opponents in front now broken through, under the boost of the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes, Giant Armor rapidly carried Lu Ye and Yiyi away into the distance.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators pursued for a while but soon gave up in frustration.

The enemy was too fast! Even though they were at Level 9 of cultivation, they could only move at about half the speed that Giant Armor did with his weapon control-flying. How could they possibly catch up?

"What are you all doing? How could you let them break out so easily?" one of the hurriedly approaching Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, his face ashen, could not help but curse.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had meticulously laid plans, waiting for Lu Ye to arrive, hoping to kill him here. Yet, contrary to their desires, he had escaped, leaving them feeling utterly deflated, as if punching cotton.

"If you can do it, then you go!" replied a jittery young man with an ugly expression, "Giant Armor is as stubborn as Heaven's Augury Pillar— who can stop him?"

"That's no excuse for your failure! If one person can't stop him, what about all of you?"

"Cut the cold remarks. If Giant Armor had broken through your line, the situation would have been the same."

"Bullshit…"

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"Alright, alright, everyone just stop," someone jumped in to mediate, "We all came here for Lu Yiye. Since the operation has failed, there's no need to waste our energy and morale fighting amongst ourselves and let the Haotian Alliance laugh at us."

The two arguing parties glared at each other disdainfully.

The other Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators also wore solemn expressions, having witnessed the situation themselves. Giant Armor's stubbornness was indeed excessive. Generally, no cultivator in midair combat would choose such a risky approach. Reportedly, Lu Yiye can activate spirit runes in combat and possesses the potential of a battle runes master. It seems that the spirit runes he mastered could not only enhance himself but also bolster flying spirit artifacts defensively.

This posed a considerable challenge.

Moreover, the speed at which Giant Armor flew was also extraordinarily fast. Among the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, many were adept at weapon control-flying, but compared to Giant Armor, they were greatly overshadowed.

Suddenly, everyone realized that this Lu Yiye was somewhat beyond handling.

With so many people mobilized this time, and he even fell into the encirclement, yet they still couldn't stop him; chances like this might be hard to come by in the future.

Attacking him after he lands also seemed impractical, not to mention whether there'd be such an opportunity again, and even if there was, this fellow also had a wings rune tattoo— if he couldn't win, he would definitely fly away.@@novelbin@@

Moreover, where exactly was this guy headed? Since coming out from the area of the Surreptitious Palace, he had been continuously on the move. As for his destination, no one knew as of yet.

How to handle Lu Yiye had become a tricky issue for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge; today's Lu Ye wasn't the same as the Level 5 junior cultivator who was once trapped on Golden Light Peak. Compared to then, Lu Ye's methods were unquestionably much richer now. Simply put, the inner circle's cultivators had no way of dealing with him effectively.

To handle him, only someone from the Core Circle would have a chance, but taking such an action would definitely lead to nasty repercussions.

Last time, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had broken the rules, and as a result, a True Lake Realm powerhouse from the Righteous Blood Sect did not hesitate to charge into the Spirit Stream battlefield, bearing down with the Soul-Destroying Divine Lightning atop Golden Light Peak, causing blood to flow into rivers.

After the battle at Golden Light Peak ended, the sect master of the Righteous Blood Sect took things even further by personally leading an attack into Yunzhou, annihilating three Ten Thousand Demons Ridge forces. Although the arriving Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powerhouses managed to repel him later, those from the Divine Sea Realm also did not dare to retaliate recklessly, and the matter was left unresolved.

It is said that those three forces faced a drastic decline in their sect's grade during the subsequent sect evaluation, an extremely tragic outcome.

As the proverb goes, "Let the past guide the future." The protective stance of the Righteous Blood Sect left a deep impression.

This time, if they broke the rules, one couldn't know what retaliatory measures the Righteous Blood Sect might have, yet if they merely acted within the rules, there really wasn't a good way to handle Lu Yiye.

A moment of melancholy followed.

Two days later, news came that Lu Ye had arrived at the Tianyan Sect headquarters.

Only then did the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side confirm his destination, and they immediately sensed that something big was amiss.

The reason they went to such lengths to target Lu Ye was because of the astonishing talent he had shown in array destruction before.

Although the methods he used at Fenghua Courtyard and Illuminating Sun Mountain couldn't be repeated for various reasons, and Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would not give him such opportunities again, no one dared let him continue to grow unchecked, for that would leave no one at ease in the future.

The mere thought of being able to break the protective arrays of their headquarters was bone-chilling.

But what kind of place was Tianyan Sect? It housed the first part of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

Moreover, many cultivators within Tianyan Sect were adept at Array Path, and although the Great Elder was only at the True Lake Level 9 in cultivation, his mastery in Array Path was admired throughout the Nine Provinces.

Out of all places, Lu Yiye chose to go to Tianyan Sect, and his purpose was self-evident.

This guy clearly was addicted to breaking arrays, knowing that he couldn't continue using his original methods, he sought to deepen his knowledge of Array Path at Tianyan Sect!

If he were successful, could the cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge still sleep at night? Perhaps the big array of their headquarters could be broken unexpectedly, followed by a swarm of Haotian Alliance cultivators charging in...

A massive sense of crisis loomed over every sect of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge like countless dark clouds, and even the strong cultivators from Divine Sea Realm realized the severity of the situation.

The moment Lu Ye set foot in the Tianyan Sect headquarters, messages from many Divine Sea Realm strong cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge flurried across the Nine Provinces, urgently deliberating on how to handle this situation.

A mere junior cultivator from Spirit Stream Level 8, through an unintentional act, had stirred up clouds and winds across Nine Provinces—an unprecedented occurrence.

As for Lu Ye himself, completely unaware of this, had encountered no further troubles after breaking out from the encirclement of nearly a hundred cultivators at Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. Accompanied by Giant Armor and Amber, he traveled all the way to the Tianyan Sect headquarters, where he was warmly received by the Deputy Governor and settled in the guest area.

He didn't meet Zhao Li, who, according to the Deputy Governor, was at the Nine Provinces sect headquarters and seemed temporarily unable to extricate himself from some matters, thus he had asked him to host Lu Ye.

Lu Ye didn't have any objections to this; when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although he was eager to check out the Hundred Arrays Pagoda now, there was no need to rush anything. It wouldn't be too late to wait until Zhao Li had dealt with his matters.

Meanwhile, in a grand hall at the headquarters of Tianyan Sect...

Tianyan Sect Master Yooi Xiao and the Great Elder Bai Qian were seated on the left and right, respectively. The former appeared to be a forty-something middle-aged man with a dignified look. However, one could not judge a cultivator's age by appearance; often they may seem young but could have lived for hundreds of years.

As for the latter, he was a small old man with white hair and beard and a ruddy complexion.

Standing in front of them was Zhao Li, who now looked pale as if he had done something wrong, and said with a mournful face, "Sect Master, Great Elder, I didn't think too much about it. Thinking that Fellow Daoist Yiye has a talent for Array Path, I invited him to visit Tianyan Sect. If he can break through his own mastery in Array Path, it would also reflect well on our sect."

He spoke the truth, originally thinking that his plan was without faults, but it was only after being enlightened by the Sect Master and the Great Elder that he realized his grave mistake.

If it were normal times, wanting to befriend Lu Ye and invite him to visit Tianyan Sect wouldn't be a problem. Across the Nine Provinces, the sects interact closely with each other, and disciples from the Spirit Stream Realm often help each other. Moreover, Tianyan Sect and the Righteous Blood Sect share some connections.

But this time it was utterly unacceptable.

Lu Ye had just caused a big stir recently, and right now who knows how many eyes from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were watching. Inviting Lu Ye to Tianyan Sect at such a time would definitely make the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side anxious, fearing that he might learn something about Array Path in Tianyan Sect and thus enhance his existing mastery.

Now they could still fend off Lu Ye, but if his mastery in Array Path were to increase further, they might not be able to defend against him at all.

In such a situation, Lu Ye's entry into Tianyan Sect headquarters necessitated a response from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

The most likely scenario was that Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would quickly gather a large number of people and launch a strong attack on the Tianyan Sect headquarters, forcing Lu Ye to leave.

Thus, Lu Ye's visit to the Tianyan Sect headquarters at such a time was akin to putting Tianyan Sect on a fire, and if mishandled, the headquarters might even be lost.

Do not underestimate the resolve and determination of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side; the Haotian Alliance would not handle this situation any more leniently if it were them.

This was also the reason why the Tianyan Sect Master and the Great Elder personally intervened in this matter; otherwise, affairs concerning a few Spirit Stream Realm cultivators wouldn't normally require the involvement of these True Lake Realm seniors.

Today, having been summoned here and hearing the Great Elder's account, Zhao Li also realized the shortcomings in his considerations.