Sage of Humanity

In this direction, more than 700,000 cultivators from the Core Circle of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were gathered, above and below the heavens, with many Arrays and Spiritual Artifacts deployed, forming a tightly sealed defensive line. Such a defense could not be said to be anything but solid.

However, when the silhouette of the Vermillion Bird swept past, this sturdy defense line was as if made of paper, easily torn open with a gaping breach.

The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, who had been pulling on the spirit net to ensnare the Vermillion Bird, bore the brunt of the attack. Before they could even get close, their clothes and hair ignited, and their protective spirit force did nothing to help.

By then, they finally realized that a great disaster was about to befall them, and wished to turn and flee, but it was already too late.

The wings of the Vermillion Bird quivered slightly, and its slender and graceful figure overcame the barrier of space. The orange flames enveloped and encased them.

Screams rose as figures fell like rain toward the ground below, already breathless before they fully hit the earth.

More cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were swept up by the orange flames, and even the powerful cultivators from the Spirit Stream Ranking were as fragile as ants before such a might.

The dense formation was originally intended to better cope with any charge from the Haotian Alliance; however, it now became their biggest blunder.

The figure of the Vermillion Bird swept through the most crowded place among the people, and scorching power carved out a path of death in both the air and ground, ramming into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest.

Its momentum unabated, the perennial poisonous barriers in the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest were cleared away, forming a cleared zone through which the Vermillion Bird passed, nullifying the poisons into nothingness.

From high above, outside the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, the previously tight formation of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge now had a gap tens of yards wide where no one stood; on either side of the gap were Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators with looks of terror, their pairs of eyes trembling as they stared into the forest where the orange figure had crashed.

They were alive not because they were strong enough, but because they were luckier, not affected by the great figure's sweep.

And for those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators who were affected, each and every one of them was now a charred corpse, void of life.

In just a short ten breaths or so, more than two hundred cultivators gathered here from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had died or been injured! Even several from the Spirit Stream Ranking had perished, including Woo Beihan, who ranked thirty-third.

After all, he was the most powerful on the face of this operation, so when the Vermillion Bird revealed itself in that instant, he did not choose to hide or flee but instead commanded cultivators from all directions to attack.

But he underestimated just how powerful the Fire Phoenix was, and by the time the orange figure charged forward to his face, it was too late to run.

He died a peaceful death.

That clear and resonant cry rang out once more, and the figure of the Vermillion Bird scattered into specks of light several miles into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, dissipating into tiny glowing sparks.

Amidst the fluttering lights in the sky, a figure plummeted straight down.

"It's that Lu Yiye!" a Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivator exclaimed with a trembling voice.

This Vermillion Bird, one of the Four Auspicious Sacred Beasts, was a method conjured by Lu Ye, and now that the Vermillion Bird was gone, Lu Ye's figure naturally revealed itself. However, his current condition seemed... not very good?

"He's done for!" someone shouted excitedly.

This shocking method had massacred more than two hundred core circle cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge in one fell swoop, and the red lights streaming out of the corpses converged into a ribbon of light drifting towards where Lu Ye had fallen.

But could this truly be a method casually executed by a Spirit Stream Realm cultivator?

By this point in their cultivation, who didn't understand the principle that the stronger the method, the greater the cost?

Although it was unclear why Lu Yiye could execute such a method, it was undoubtedly now when he was at his weakest, possibly even suffering great retaliation.

It was definitely his most vulnerable moment, as evident from the wretchedness of his falling figure.

The boundless terror from a moment ago was suddenly struck by a great surge of excitement; all surviving cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge saw this as an opportunity.

An opportunity to slay Lu Ye!

Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect was considered a mobile treasure vault; whoever killed him could enjoy inexhaustible wealth in the future.

So, after a brief freeze, all surviving cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge became fervent.

However, before they could rush into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest to search for Lu Ye, the sound of sword cries suddenly rang out.

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Someone exclaimed, "The killers from Haotian Alliance have arrived!"

Those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators whose attention had been drawn by Lu Ye turned their heads and saw more than a dozen Sword Madmen from the Beixuan Sword Sect forming a Sword Array, their flying swords like dragons, attacking from their direction. And following these Sword Madmen were three to four hundred Haotian Alliance cultivators.

The appearance of the Vermillion Bird was indeed startling, but the Haotian Alliance, after all, was not the one being attacked, and so they were quicker to regain their senses than Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

Yooi Lianzhou and the others immediately realized this was a good opportunity to attack Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. As the Vermillion Bird's figure smashed into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, they launched an assault on the enemy whose minds were greatly disturbed.

A massive battle suddenly erupted.

Thousands of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators had gathered inside and outside the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, with over seven hundred in this direction before. Even though some had died just now, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge still held the numerical advantage.

But sword cultivators excel in combat, especially when more than a dozen of them form a gigantic Sword Array — its killing power greatly enhanced. The sword dragon, formed by over a thousand flying swords, crashed into the crowd and instantly turned into a meat grinder. Screams rose and fell as blood and limbs scattered everywhere.

Following closely behind this Sword Array, over three hundred Haotian Alliance cultivators employed various techniques, striking terror in the hearts of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge for a time.

If the previous arrangements had still been in place, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge could have used them to turn the tide. But once the silhouette of the Vermilion Bird swept across this area, all the previously laid-out formations and tactics had been destroyed.

At this moment, all Ten Thousand Demons Ridge could rely on was their numerical advantage.

That slight advantage was utterly insufficient to block the ferocious offensive of the Haotian Alliance. Under relentless pressure, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge found themselves unable to withstand the attack until cultivators from both sides, alerted by the noise, came to assist and finally stemmed the onslaught of the Haotian Alliance.

The several hundred members of the Haotian Alliance didn't linger after gaining the upper hand; they fled immediately. Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's cultivators pursued, and the battle raged furiously…

As the cultivators from both sides were engaged in fierce combat, Lu Ye, covered in blood and weak in breath, sprinted through the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest.

He felt his consciousness blurring, overwhelmed with exhaustion, and his spirit force was nearly depleted. If it weren't for the Breath Fruit wine he had drunk before using the Fire Phoenix technique, he would have surely burned out by now.

Numerous wounds covered his body, and even the flesh inside had sustained damage.

He was fortunately relieved that he had previously stored a good amount of spirit force with his 5th Dao spirit energy storing spirit runes, or he wouldn't have been able to execute the Fire Phoenix.

This spirit rune was too taxing on one's spirit force and consciousness, not something a cultivator of his level should be able to cast.

Though he had managed to successfully unleash it in the end, the Fire Phoenix he conjured was beyond his control. If that hadn't been the case, he wouldn't have crashed into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest and would've already wiped out those several hundred Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators.

Soon after crashing into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, the Fire Phoenix dissipated — not because its power was exhausted, but because he had no strength left to maintain it. If he had persisted, Lu Ye felt he would have died.

To easily construct such a massive spirit rune and control it flawlessly, Lu Ye estimated he would need to advance to the Cloud River Realm… and that was just a possibility.

The Breath Fruit wine continued to work, rapidly replenishing the consumed spirit force, but the aftermath of using the Fire Phoenix began to manifest rapidly.

He dared not stay put, as there were Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators within the forest, and his conspicuous crash must have already led some to search for him.

If he encountered a cultivator from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge at this time, Lu Ye guessed his fate wouldn't be so favorable, as his ability to fight was severely diminished.

Luckily, he had already communicated with Yiyi, who was guiding the Giant Armor to his location. Besides, the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest was filled with toxic barriers and limited visibility, making it extremely difficult for anyone from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to track him down in such an environment. As long as he remained cautious, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As he was contemplating this, a feeling of Heaven's Augury descended upon him, and subsequently, a giant, semi-transparent ranking appeared out of nowhere in the sky above him.

Emblazoned on the ranking were the names and origins of a hundred cultivators — it was the renowned Spirit Stream Ranking.

Lu Ye stiffened as he fled.

Things seemed… not so good!

Lu Ye, of course, knew about the Spirit Stream Ranking. His fourth senior brother told him that those who made it onto the list for the first time could feel this omnipresent Heaven's Augury, and if they performed exceptionally well, Heaven's Augury would manifest in a unique way to highlight those who made the list as a form of recognition and reward.

But throughout history, the number of people genuinely recognized and rewarded by Heaven's Augury has been limited. If compared to the total number of those who made the list, the ratio is about one in ten thousand. Nearly every few years, one such person emerges.

Just as Lu Ye was considering how to keep his whereabouts a secret, the semi-transparent Spirit Stream Ranking suddenly unfolded in the sky above him like a banner, clearly visible to anyone within thirty miles who wasn't blind.

Could it be…

It shouldn't be…

Why would it...

Under countless gazes, five names on the Spirit Stream Ranking suddenly dimmed, followed by their disappearance as streaks of light, signifying these five either ascended to the Cloud River or had perished.

Then, in the position of the thirty-third rank, a row of dazzling golden characters appeared.

Lu Yiye, Righteous Blood Sect of Bingzhou, 7th Heaven level!

Immediately after, everyone ranked below thirty-three advanced one spot upward, and at the tail end, where vacancies were created, a few new lines appeared, denoting the names, origins, and cultivation levels of the newcomers to the list.

The vast Spirit Stream Ranking hung high in the sky for an instant; every cultivator within thirty miles could see it clearly, with all eyes fixed on the line at rank thirty-three, especially the last five characters.

7th Heaven level!

How eye-catching.

Traditionally, strong individuals on the Spirit Stream Ranking had invariably possessed 9th Heaven cultivation. Only in the past decade had Li Baxian, with his 8th Heaven cultivation, consistently held a position in the top ten of the Spirit Stream Ranking. But Li Baxian was different as he had fallen from 9th Heaven cultivation, and even with a damaged spiritual orifice, his profound accumulation was intact. Moreover, with extraordinary talent and his mastery of Sword Control of one hundred paths, even the sword master of the Beixuan Sword Sect had once considered taking him as a disciple.

Attaining a spot on the Spirit Stream Ranking with 7th Heaven cultivation was unprecedented!