Sage of Humanity

In the combat field, Lu Ye summoned his spirit ark and, through weapon control, rose to a position level with Zhuo Jianchen, several dozen zhang apart.

Even though his ascent through the ranking had been extremely smooth along the way, Lu Ye never underestimated his opponents, especially since his current opponent was very likely a sword cultivator!

The fact that the other party was ranked thirty-second without a doubt showed that he was quite capable.

As their eyes met, Zhuo Jianchen was furious and demanded sharply, "Lu Yiye, what excessive things have you done to my junior sister?"

Lu Ye pondered, recalling how he had knocked Bai Lan all the way from the 48th to the 97th position on the Spirit Stream Ranking, and extorted her for Earth's Core Fire worth four thousand merit points. Perhaps that was a tad too excessive?

But then again, that woman should thank him for not killing her, since if it weren't for his urgent need for Earth's Core Fire, she would already be dead.

Compared to one's life, what does a drop in the Spirit Stream Ranking or the loss of some possessions amount to?

A junior sister being bullied, and a senior brother stepping forward to take up her cause—it was understandable.

Lu Ye's silence undoubtedly fueled Zhuo Jianchen's rage even more. His face turned somewhat blue with anger as he gritted his teeth and said, "Good, since you have nothing to say, go to your death!"

As his words fell, 7th Dao materialized beside Zhuo Jianchen. Flying swords of varying lengths shone with sword light and the sound of slicing through the air erupted as the sword light streaked towards Lu Ye, arriving in an instant.

The speed and lethality of a sword cultivator's flying sword were extremely fast and powerful, which was why sword cultivators were able to slay enemies above their own rank.

Lu Ye's understanding of sword cultivators' methods wasn't comprehensive, but the fact that Zhuo Jianchen could control 7th Dao flying swords showed that his mental power was much stronger than that of average cultivators; otherwise, it would be impossible for him to control so many flying swords at once.

Compared to Yooi Lianzhou, the gap was still significant. According to Lu Ye's knowledge, Yooi Lianzhou's current limit in Sword Control was 20th Dao, almost three times that of Zhuo Jianchen.

Comparing with Li Baxian was even more out of the question. In the Spirit Stream Realm, Li Baxian's record of controlling flying swords was unbreakable. One reason was his natural talent in this area and another was the excessively long time he had stayed in the Spirit Stream Realm.

Unable to advance his cultivation for over a decade, he had continuously strengthened his psyche, which allowed him to control 100th Dao flying swords.

It could be said that with such a foundation to advance to the Cloud River Realm, Li Baxian's starting point in the Cloud River Realm was much higher than the average person.

As the 7th Dao flying swords came attacking, Lu Ye's supplies box at his waist buzzed and yi-yi streams of light met the attack. In an instant, in the mid-air where the two were, streams of light continuously flickered, and the sounds of clinking and clanging were incessant, accompanied occasionally by sparks flying in all directions.

On the path of Weapon Control, Lu Ye had strong confidence. After all, his psyche was strong, and a strong psyche meant powerful mental strength, which greatly enhanced his ability to control Spiritual Artifacts and manipulate spirit force.

Looking over the entire Spirit Stream battlefield, there was likely no one with a stronger psyche than his, and there should also be very few whose Weapon Control Technique surpassed his, and that definitely did not include Zhuo Jianchen.

In the mid-air where both individuals were, the weapons clashed endlessly in their control. The artifacts, as if possessing their own lives, fought each other fiercely.

But in just a moment, Zhuo Jianchen's flying swords fell into a disadvantage, completely suppressed by Lu Ye.

Not only did Lu Ye have a numerical advantage in terms of weapons, but he could also apply various spirit runes to his weapons, something Zhuo Jianchen couldn't match.

Zhuo Jianchen noticed something was wrong when his 7th Dao flying swords were pressured to approach him. His spirit force surged around him, and in a flash, the already disordered flying swords gathered together, intertwining with each other, and shot out like spinning tops.

Along the way, all of Lu Ye's controlling artifacts were knocked away.

Sword Array! Lu Ye's eyebrows raised. Although he wasn't very familiar with sword cultivators' methods, he had certainly heard of the Sword Array.

Formations composed of multiple cultivators typically required at least three people, but powerful sword cultivators could form an array by themselves because they could control multiple flying swords.

A Sword Array composed of 7th Dao flying swords was not to be underestimated. With a whistling sword sound and a thunderous momentum, it instantly attacked in front of Lu Ye.

Lu Ye's controlled artifacts were knocked away, and there was no time for them to come to his aid.

Just as the Sword Array reached Lu Ye, the Boulder Mountain Saber roared out of its sheath. A fiery red saber light slashed down, a strong impact swept from the front, accompanied by a bone-chilling Sword Intent.

On the ground, Yiyi looked up and saw Lu Ye holding the Boulder Mountain Saber in front of him. The saber confronted the buzzing Sword Array, pushing against his body, unable to stop retreating, while behind the Sword Array, Zhuo Jianchen merged with the sword light, becoming one with his sword, and striking with it!

Yiyi watched with a calm expression and showed no intention of intervening.

Challenging the Spirit Stream Ranking was not only a way for Lu Ye to reach his limit in the shortest time possible but was also a means of tempering himself.

Facing off against powerful experts from various schools, fighting life and death battles—nothing could accelerate the growth of one's strength faster than this.

The opponents he had encountered before were too weak to withstand a single blow, and now that there was finally someone formidable, why would Yiyi step in and interfere?

Nine streams of light from the controlled weapons attacked from the left and right, and Zhuo Jianchen, merged with the sword light, felt murderous intent the first moment and swiftly deflected the approaching weapons with his Longsword points. However, the massive impact made his wrist go numb, and he was secretly shocked by Lu Yiye, a combat cultivator, being so Impressively fast and powerful with his weapon control.

Distracted here, the Sword Array developed flaws.

Lu Ye thrust forward with his saber, piercing the Boulder Mountain Saber right through the flaws in the Sword Array. Fierce spirit force burst forth, immediately disintegrating the unified Sword Array, which broke into streaks of light shooting in all directions.

Lu Ye's form halted, and the next moment, he pounced toward Zhuo Jianchen like a tiger descending the mountain.

Blades clashed, emitting a piercing screech, and in midair, the figures of the two men faced each other at a distance of less than ten feet, one with eyes ablaze as if harboring an irreconcilable hatred for the other, while the other remained expressionless.

"I will kill you!" Zhuo Jianchen gritted his teeth and growled.

Before the battle began, he had actually been quite worried because so far, none of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators who had accepted Lu Ye's challenge had met with a good end. But after the fight truly commenced, he realized that everyone had overestimated Lu Yiye. Indeed, the guy did have some strength—otherwise, he wouldn't have been qualified to challenge him—but that was all there was to it!

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He even felt that with some effort, he could surpass his opponent.

If that were the case, he would surely bring glory to Ten Thousand Demons Ridge and his sect!

In the midst of his rage, his longsword flickered continuously, a flurry of sword flowers enveloping Lu Ye.

Bright sword light cleaved the heavens, and the myriad sword flowers dissipated into nothingness.

Zhuo Jianchen felt a chill at his chest and instinctively took a few steps back, looking at Lu Ye doubtfully before glancing down at his own chest.

A gash with flesh turned outwards had appeared on his chest.

He hadn't even reacted to the opponent's slash just now—it was too fast.

"You..." Zhuo Jianchen suddenly began to doubt his life. He had thought the other man was nothing special, but then the other's violent outburst made him realize a serious problem.

Was what he had seen before really all of this guy's strength?

He hadn't considered it before, mainly because he hadn't expected anyone to hold back during the challenge of the Spirit Stream Ranking.

As he spoke, a figure flashed before him. Lu Ye, who had been more than ten feet away, was now up close. Faced with the slash coming at him, Zhuo Jianchen could only raise his sword to block.

An unstoppable force swept down from above, and Zhuo Jianchen, along with the flying spirit artifact he stood on, plummeted to the ground like a meteorite falling from the sky.

With a thunderous crash, dust billowed.

Zhuo Jianchen struggled to his feet, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, and felt as though his bones were about to fall apart. His eyes were filled with disbelief, as it dawned on him that he couldn't even withstand a single slash from Lu Ye, and the explosive power that Lu Ye had suddenly unleashed was shockingly terrifying.

At his feet lay his flying spirit artifact, which, after such an impact, was now nearly wrecked, as flying spirit artifacts themselves didn't have much protective strength.

He staggered a few steps, looked up, but saw no trace of Lu Ye. On guard, he heard footsteps nearby and turned to see Lu Ye, holding the Boulder Mountain Saber, walking steadily towards him.

The opponent's pace was not fast, yet it carried with it an overwhelming pressure that weighed upon Zhuo Jianchen's chest, making it difficult to breathe.

Zhuo Jianchen raised his sword and pointed it at Lu Ye, shouting fiercely, "Why didn't you go all out from the start!"

Only now did he understand that Lu Yiye hadn't been using his full strength at the beginning, giving him the false impression that "I can win against this man if I try hard enough."

What was this? Was it not enough to humiliate his junior sister; did he have to humiliate him as well?

Hearing Zhuo Jianchen's words, Lu Ye didn't want to respond, but after thinking it over, he said, "I wanted to see the strength of someone around the 30th rank."

In the previous several battles, he hadn't had the chance to fight, as those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators had outright refused him, which meant he only knew the approximate strength of cultivators ranked around the 50th place. Those ranked 40th, he had no clue about.

Since Zhuo Jianchen had finally accepted his challenge, naturally, he had to hold back a little.

"And the result?"

"A bit disappointing!"

Zhuo Jianchen's eyelid twitched violently at the word, and just as he was about to say something more, he saw Lu Ye engulfed in surging spirit force, his form rapidly charging toward him.

"I..."

"Roar!" Amid the tiger's roar, Zhuo Jianchen only managed to spit out a single word before his mind felt as if it were struck by a heavy hammer, plunging into darkness.

But he was, after all, a sword cultivator capable of Sword Control at the 7th Dao, which undoubtedly meant his psyche was stronger than that of average Spirit Stream Realm cultivators, so the roar's effect on him was weaker than on others.

"...I concede!" The moment Zhuo Jianchen regained consciousness, he blurted out those two words, but by then, Lu Ye's figure was gone, leaving only the sound of sheathing a sword behind him.

Zhuo Jianchen breathed out lightly, gazing up at the clouds drifting across the sky, and muttered to himself, "So that's how it is!"

That was the reason why those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge Fellow Daoists who accepted the challenge never got the chance to concede...

Although he had managed to say it, he was still too late.

On the Spirit Stream Ranking, the name at the 34th position trembled slightly before dissipating into nothingness, to be replaced by the name of Lu Yiye from Righteous Blood Sect.