Sage of Humanity

On Heavenly Sword Peak, Lu Ye, bare-chested and covered in wounds, was sitting while Yiyi gently cleaned and dressed his injuries with herbs at his side.

The fierce battle with the female demon was strenuous, yet thrilling.

With his current strength, no one on the Spirit Stream battlefield could match him.

Before ascending to 9th Heaven, Lan Ziyi might have been able to battle him, but after his ascension, even Lan Ziyi had to step aside.

Over the past two months, Lan Ziyi, who was ranked second on the Spirit Stream Ranking did not challenge him, which spoke volumes.

The only ones who could duel with him were those Overlord entities.

The battle had no definite winner or loser, one could say they both won and lost; he and the female demon were injured to varying degrees, both nearing their limits as they fought to exhaustion.

Following the battle, the female demon quickly left the scene. Despite her simple mind, she knew better than to show herself in her current condition and it was unknown where she had gone to recuperate.

Lu Ye did not leave; he needed to wait here for the people from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to bring the items.

Under the cover of night, the sound of someone stepping on dry leaves echoed.

Amber immediately entered into alert mode, and Yiyi cautiously scanned the surroundings while Lu Ye, still seated, raised his hand to grip the Boulder Mountain Saber.

This was his most vulnerable moment; if the people from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge truly wanted to kill him, now would be their best chance.

A figure appeared not far in front of Lu Ye, dressed unmistakably as a ghost cultivator. He stopped about thirty feet away from Lu Ye and cupped his fists in salute from a distance before raising his hand and tossing a bulging storage sack toward him.

Yiyi caught it with her hand then lifted her eyes to see that the ghost cultivator had already disappeared. From beginning to end, he didn't utter a word or reveal his origins.

Thoughtful, Yiyi quickly opened the storage sack and took out a jade tablet inscribed with three large characters, clearly the name of a core circle power from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

Softly, Lu Ye said a word and he nodded slightly, indicating he understood.

After the first ghost cultivator appeared, more and more appeared, throwing storage sacks toward Lu Ye from a distance and swiftly escaping without a word.

Using wealth to avert disasters wasn't a glorious deed, so those ghost cultivators delivering the tribute maintained their silence. The storage sacks left messages and Lu Ye would understand which sect had complied and which had not.

Soon, the storage sacks were flying in like rain, Yiyi briefly unable to gather them all.

Many of the ghost cultivators involved in delivering the goods did not even show their faces but merely tossed their storage sacks from a distance, ensuring they were collected on Lu Ye's end before considering their task complete.

At this moment, there were still three full days left until the ten-day deadline set by Lu Ye.

Originally, these ghost cultivators delivering goods had resolved to wait until the last day, but after Lu Ye's battle with the female demon, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge side was completely without spirit.

The current Lu Ye was universally recognized as a cultivator who had entered the ranks of the Overlords, pioneering an unprecedented first, leaving no Ten Thousand Demons Ridge sect daring to act rashly.

Moreover, the precedent of twenty-three sect headquarters being breached lay before them.

Some sects had intended to negotiate with Lu Ye, hoping to pay less, considering even a 1st grade sect would find it challenging to produce items valued at three hundred thousand merit at once.

But now, they could not make such a request; facing an Overlord, spending money to ensure peace was an acceptable affair.

By the time dawn arrived, the storage sacks laid before Lu Ye had grown to number four to five hundred.

Feeling somewhat dizzy, Yiyi looked at the storage sacks and murmured, "Lu Ye, we're rich!"

"We're rich!" Lu Ye nodded emphatically.

Handing over the ten-part map to Yiyi, he left her to manage the task of inventorying the wealth. Using the map's annotations, she would check whether the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge forces had delivered adequate amounts of goods, a tedious task best suited for Yiyi.

Lu Ye needed to recuperate, after all.

"Oh, and hold onto the storage sack from Mad Saber Sect," Lu Ye instructed further.

"Okay."

Three days later, Lu Ye's injuries were almost healed and the contents of the several hundred storage sacks had been thoroughly inventoried and categorized by Yiyi, grouping different types of goods together.

Even after careful organization, it was impossible to store the contents of several hundred storage sacks into one; there were simply too many items.

In the end, there were still about thirty full storage sacks. Lu Ye frowned slightly, having so many sacks hanging from his body was somewhat unsightly and could hinder combat...

But this was an unavoidable problem, a rich man's dilemma that few could empathize with.

According to Yiyi's comparison with the ten-part map, the core circle, aside from the twenty-three sects previously breached by Lu Ye, all other Ten Thousand Demons Ridge sects had sent their dues without omission.

"This one is from Mad Saber Sect." Yiyi handed over a storage sack kept aside to Lu Ye who opened it to see a mix of various items inside—elixir pills, Spirit Stones, and even Spiritual Artifacts and herbs. Lu Ye couldn't immediately estimate the value, but given Mad Saber Sect was affiliated with Dingzhou and a 1st grade sect, the contents should ostensibly be worth three hundred thousand merit.

"Do you think this is worth three hundred thousand?" Lu Ye asked Yiyi.

"Maybe?" Yiyi was also uncertain; she vaguely felt Lu Ye harbored some ill intentions.

"If you're unsure, then it's not enough!" Lu Ye suddenly said with a fierce tone, "Mad Saber Sect really has a lot of nerve. It seems they don't want their headquarters anymore."

Yiyi's eyes twitched, "What are you planning to do?" She was unclear why Lu Ye seemed to be targeting Mad Saber Sect.

"To Mad Saber Sect!" Lu Ye stood up, summoned his Flying Spirit Artifact, and soared into the sky.

Only half a day later, Lu Ye's figure landed in front of the Mad Saber Sect's base.

Immediately, a cultivator from the Mad Saber Sect sensed the commotion and came to investigate, spotting at first glance a young figure with a circle of storage sacks hanging around his waist.

Those storage sacks hung from his belly to his back, leaving the cultivator dumbfounded.

He had never seen anyone carry so many storage sacks; Lu Ye's current appearance was only short of having the word "wealthy" engraved on his forehead.

Upon seeing the young man's face, the cultivator's expression changed drastically, "Lu Yiye!"

Lu Ye acted as if he didn't exist, activated Insight Spirit Runes to observe the array nodes in front of him, and then planted several array banners.

"Lu Yiye, what are you doing?" Seeing what Lu Ye was doing, the cultivator couldn't help but shout angrily.

Rumors had it that Lu Yiye had unique skills in array destruction; sects that had their bases breached by him were first infiltrated through special means into their protective arrays, where he would then wreak havoc.

So, seeing what Lu Ye was doing now, the cultivator became somewhat panicked.

And as he finished speaking, Lu Ye had already lifted a corner of the big array and casually walked in.

The cultivator immediately stepped back several paces, grabbed his Spiritual Artifact with his hand, and, though fearful, yelled out, "Lu Yiye is attacking!"

In an instant, the entire Mad Saber Sect's base was in an uproar, figures flying in from all directions to gather tens of meters in front of Lu Ye, ready for battle.

True to its status as a 1st grade sect's base, the response was extremely swift; less than ten breaths after the shout, dozens of people had already assembled.

Though they had heard of him, most were seeing Lu Ye, the living legend, for the first time. They couldn't help but size him up and down, noticing nothing particularly remarkable, but his status as an Overlord demanded their utmost attention.

So, even though the Mad Saber Sect had superiority in numbers, the cultivators were tense and apprehensive, in stark contrast to Lu Ye, who, alone in the enemy's protective array, was composed and at ease.

A man of striking appearance stepped forward, his voice grave, "Lu Yiye, you have intruded into our Mad Saber Sect base, what are your intentions?"

The person who could speak at this time must be either the Governor or the Deputy Governor; no one else had that authority.

Lu Ye tossed the storage sack in his hand toward the man.

The man caught it, frowned as he opened it, and quickly packed it up, his expression sour, "What do you mean?"

The storage sack was clearly handed by him to a ghost cultivator under his command, then sent to Heavenly Sword Peak.

It was also the property the Mad Saber Sect paid for, worth three hundred thousand merit.

Lu Yiye suddenly returning the untouched storage sack clearly indicated his hostile intentions.

"Not enough!"

"Did you check it thoroughly?" the man said through gritted teeth.

It wasn't possible that it was not enough! The man and an elder from the True Lake Realm from his sect were responsible for this, so he was more aware than anyone else of what items and their values were in the storage sack.

Having chosen to pay off the disaster with wealth, the Mad Saber Sect naturally would not skimp on the assets, as that would undoubtedly invite trouble.

"You can now sell them to Heaven's Augury treasure vault and see if it amounts to three hundred thousand merit," Lu Ye said expressionlessly as he watched him.

Although he didn't know the exact value of these assets, selling them to Heaven's Augury treasure vault would definitely net less than three hundred thousand, something he could be sure of because there was a nearly double price difference between buying and selling at the treasure vault.

The man's color changed, "Are you calculating this way?" If so, they would have to pay the equivalent value in assets.

It was an outright outrage!

"Do you see a problem?"

It was not just a problem; it was a huge problem!

Moreover, as far as he knew, the assets paid by other Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powers were calculated based on the purchase price from Heaven's Augury treasure vault, not the selling value.

The man clenched his teeth and laughed sarcastically, "Lu Yiye, don't be too greedy!"

"Are you scolding me?" Lu Ye fixed his gaze on him.

"I didn't..."

His words had just finished when his face turned pale, because in his field of view, Lu Ye's figure suddenly blurred with an afterimage, and in an instant, he was up close with a fiery red saber light slashing down. The man hurriedly summoned his Spiritual Artifact to defend.

With a booming sound, great force hurled the man back into the crowd. He staggered to his feet, blood already trickling from the corner of his mouth!

His face was full of shock. Being ranked in the twenties on the Spirit Stream Ranking, he hadn't even been able to withstand a normal slash from Lu Ye!

"This matter today won't be solved without twenty volumes of saber skills insights!" Lu Ye's voice rang out slowly.