Sage of Humanity

Yoo Xiao said he had a favor to ask, and Lu Ye knew immediately what he wanted to discuss.

Healing cultivators from Tianyan Sect were at a loss regarding the conditions of Giant Armor and Zhao Li. Just before, Yoo Xiao had been considering asking for more skilled healing cultivators from other sects, but now that Shui Yuan was on her way, there was no need to seek help elsewhere.

Across the Nine Provinces, there were some healing cultivators whose medical skills surpassed those of Shui Yuan, but they were all strong cultivators from the Divine Sea Realm, scattered throughout the provinces and serving as stabilizing forces within 1st grade sects. It would not be easy to persuade them to leave their posts.

Moreover, these individuals might not care about the life and death of two junior cultivators from the Spirit Stream Realm.

Therefore, even if Yoo Xiao tried to invite others, they would surely be inferior to Shui Yuan.

It could be said that in the Nine Provinces, apart from those Divine Sea Realm healing cultivators, no one surpassed the medical skills of Shui Yuan from the Righteous Blood Sect.

The Righteous Blood Sect's protective style was well known throughout the provinces, and if Shui Yuan were to be offended and refuse to treat Zhao Li, Tianyan Sect would have no grounds for complaints.

But as the sect master, Yoo Xiao could not just watch his disciple be poisoned to death, so he thought to ask Lu Ye to intercede on their behalf.

To Lu Ye, this was not a big deal. If Shui Yuan truly had the means to extract the psyche poison, treating one person or two would make no difference.

Lu Ye still needed to study the Array Path at Tianyan Sect headquarters, and with this favor, he could stay without any qualms.

Now, the only concern was whether his Second Senior Sister's medical skills could save Giant Armor and Zhao Li!

Lu Ye had heard clearly the conversation between that female healing cultivator and Yoo Xiao. Although the Second Senior Sister was highly skilled, the female healing cultivator had mentioned that this incident could not be resolved simply with advanced medical skills.

"Then, Young Friend Lu, please rest well. I'll make sure they keep what happened to you confidential. As for this incident, I will give Young Friend Lu a satisfactory resolution," Yoo Xiao said.

Yoo Xiao walked to the door to leave but suddenly paused, "There is one thing that this Sect Master is confused about, and I wonder if Young Friend Lu could enlighten me."

Lu Ye looked at him.

Yoo Xiao asked, "Young Friend Lu should also be poisoned, yet you show no symptoms. How is that possible?"

"Could it be that I have a unique talent that makes me immune to all poisons?"

Yoo Xiao chuckled and shook his head as he left, clearly not believing Lu Ye's absurd claim. In this world, nobody was immune to all poisons; even if someone were, they could only resist toxins aimed at the physical body, and not those targeting the psyche.

But what he didn't know was that in a sense, Lu Ye was indeed immune to all poisons.

The Talent Tree could completely burn away even something as hidden as pill poison, so what were other toxins in comparison?

It was Lu Ye's first time learning about this effect of the Talent Tree, but he faintly realized that burning those toxins had consumed quite a bit of the stored fuel in the Talent Tree.

Once that fuel was exhausted, he would need to use the Talent Tree to absorb Earth's Core Fire again.

However, this was not an urgent matter. It was not that he didn't want to possess more spirit runes; rather, he needed to accumulate merit. Previously, the accumulation was for the purpose of purchasing a Heaven Rank technique, but now it was for another matter requiring a staggeringly large amount of merit, an amount daunting to any Spirit Stream Realm cultivator.

This was also why he was keen to seize the territories of others. Merit earned from killing enemies alone could not meet his needs, and even selling captured spoils to the Heaven's Augury treasure vault would not suffice.

The merit gained from taking over someone else's territory was substantial. Though such merit must be converted into sect merit via the Heaven's Augury Pillar when one returned to one's home base and disbursed as a monthly salary, the profits were incomparable to what one would gain from killing enemies.

Yet, returning to Yoo Xiao, the man indeed had a meticulous mind. Before leaving, he specially told Lu Ye that he would ensure that those in Tianyan Sect who knew of Lu Ye's condition would keep silent. It was evident he had realized something.

As soon as Lu Ye detected poison in the wine and food, he messaged Shui Yuan, his Second Senior Sister, for two reasons: first, because of her superior medical skills which might save lives and second, to use this opportunity to divert the attention of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge away from him.

Since leaving the Surreptitious Palace base, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had been keeping a close watch on him, and he had been through multiple ambushes and assassination attempts en route. He had just arrived at the Tianyan Sect base when someone poisoned him, using a fierce toxin that even Tianyan Sect's healing cultivators could not handle.

The resolve of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to kill him was intense!

If he truly "died" from this poisoning incident, it might reassure Ten Thousand Demons Ridge and shift their focus from him for a short while.

Simply spreading the news of Lu Ye's death by poison from Tianyan Sect might not convince Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, but if Shui Yuan were present, that would be a different story.

He had already explained his situation to his Second Senior Sister in his message, but unexpectedly, she had still brought the sect master along.

This warmed Lu Ye's heart.

Turning his head to look at the slumbering Giant Armor, Lu Ye's expression gradually grew solemn.

He himself was unscathed thanks to the protection of the Talent Tree, but the Giant Armor had been poisoned, and it was uncertain whether Second Senior Sister's skills could save it.@@novelbin@@

The Giant Armor had benefited from the Soul Cleansing Pool; if even it couldn't resist the mysterious poison, that spoke volumes about the potency of the toxin.

The one who had poisoned them in secret had been captured by the Tianyan Sect. When Lu Ye sensed the poison in the food and drink, he had entrusted Zhao Li with making arrangement. The poisoner had evidently not foreseen their downfall so soon, and was caught not long after their escape.

The Tianyan Sect showed no mercy to someone who pretended to be a disciple but was in fact a spy for the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. After a bout of interrogation, they obtained remnants of the poison from the spy. The female healing cultivator carefully investigated and confirmed their earlier conjecture: the toxin primarily affected the psyche rather than causing severe physical harm, so both the Giant Armor and Zhao Li were physically unharmed at this point.

However, if they could not cure the poison in their psyches, both of them would surely die.

According to the spy, he was carrying the poison as a precaution without a specific plan to use it. But with Lu Ye's arrival at Tianyan Sect, and the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's eagerness to kill him, they commanded the spy to strike.

While the interrogation was underway, outside the Tianyan Sect encampment, squads of varying numbers from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators arrived. Initially, the arrivals weren't many, all from three nearby forces of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, each deploying around two hundred people. However, in just half a day, their numbers soared, surpassing the thousand mark.

This news shook the Tianyan Sect headquarters.

Although Zhao Li had made preparations early on under Yooi Xiao's orders, even with the protective array in place, the defensive capability of an encampment is limited.

If the invading enemy's numbers were too great, even the sturdiest protective array couldn't withstand the assault, and the forces the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had gathered already exceeded the limits of what Tianyan Sect could fend off.

Moreover, it seemed like more forces from various branches of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were continuously arriving. Each time, the incoming forces weren't large, only a hundred or two each, clearly an amount a sect could deploy. But the problem was the multitude of sects involved in this affair, some even traveling from far distances to converge here.

This was unusual for the Spirit Stream battlefield because reinforcements from afar were easy targets for enemy ambushes en route.

The Tianyan Sect, of course, urgently sought assistance from allies in all directions, yet the forces nearby Alliance Sects could deploy were also extremely limited, given the enemy's overwhelming numbers, a hasty conflict seemed doomed to heavy losses. Yet, nobody could simply watch as Tianyan Sect's encampment fell.

In such circumstances, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge forces audaciously launched an attack on the Tianyan Sect's encampment.

Even with forces from nearby Alliance Sects intervening and diverting some of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's might, Tianyan Sect ultimately couldn't hold their own ground.

The big array was forcibly breached, and in the face of the tidal wave of advancing Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, Tianyan Sect disciples could only retreat back to the Nine Provinces.

Suddenly, Tianyan Sect was enveloped in an atmosphere of sorrow—throughout its years, it had seen its encampment breached several times, but never had it felt so powerless, merely watching its protective array being whittled down without any means of resistance.

However, it was precisely because of this that Tianyan Sect had enough time to retreat its disciples back to the Nine Provinces, avoiding massive casualties, a silver lining in an otherwise unfortunate event.

For the moment, the disciples were safe and sound, but the encampment was lost, and the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge forces had not withdrawn, instead they brazenly remained onsite.

This was a silent warning from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to the other sects of the Haotian Alliance: to harbor Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect would result in a similar fate.

In response, the Haotian Alliance was unwilling to concede. Governors from many sects contacted one another, preparing to assemble a counterattack.

But just as quickly, they ceased their aggressive stance, not for a lack of courage or resolve—after all, they were a tremendous force, all ready for a life-or-death battle. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire

The main reason was the restraint imposed by the elders of the great sects.

The occupation of the Tianyan Sect's encampment was a fact, and if the Haotian Alliance were to counterattack at this point, a large-scale battle would surely erupt, causing considerable losses for both the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge and the Haotian Alliance, an outcome the older generation of cultivators could not accept.

As a result, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators occupying Tianyan Sect's encampment became increasingly arrogant and triumphant.

In the encampment of the Surreptitious Palace, upon hearing the news, Gu Canyang and Wey Li were shivering with fear. While they knew that the capture of Tianyan Sect's encampment was mainly because of Lu Ye's intention to study the Array Path at Tianyan Sect and the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge could not tolerate such a development, they still couldn't help but feel scared.

Had the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge carried out such an attack when Lu Ye was at the Surreptitious Palace, its encampment would undoubtedly have fallen too.

By forcefully occupying Tianyan Sect's encampment, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge seemed to be avenging their previous humiliations, and what buoyed the spirits of their cultivators even more was the rumor that Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect had been severely poisoned and was on the brink of death.

For a time, all over the Spirit Stream battlefield, the mood of the sects of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge lifted, and they were moments away from celebrating with drum-beats and gongs.