Sage of Humanity

Third Senior Brother Xiao Xinghe's insights into saber skills greatly aided Lu Ye, and it should be known that Third Senior Brother is currently only at the True Lake Realm.

Ever since Lu Ye obtained those insights, he had been thinking that it would be wonderful to have more insights into saber skills.

However, looking across the Nine Provinces, there was no sect within the Haotian Alliance that was famous for their saber skills...

There was a sword sect, though, the Beixuan Sword Sect of Bingzhou. Thus, sword cultivators from various major sects in the Nine Provinces liked to go to Beixuan Sword Sect to further their studies and improve their mastery of the Sword Dao.

Since Lu Ye practiced saber technique, going to the Beixuan Sword Sect wouldn't make much sense for him, and he certainly couldn't dare to approach the Mad Saber Sect of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge—if he did, he wouldn't see not just tomorrow's sun, but even tonight's moon.

Unable to visit the main branch of the Mad Saber Sect, storming into the Mad Saber Sect's establishment on the Spirit Stream battlefield should pose no problem.

He didn't expect the strong saber users of the Mad Saber Sect to personally guide him. He would be content with twenty portions of saber skills insights, just like those from Third Senior Brother.

If it weren't for this reason, why would he specifically target the Mad Saber Sect out of hundreds of sects from the Core Circle of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge?

After he spoke those words, the cultivators of the Mad Saber Sect finally understood Lu Ye's intention for coming.

Claims that the contents of the storage sack were worth less than three hundred thousand merit points were all nonsense. He had come here to demand insights into saber skills—that was the truth.

Inside the light curtain of the big array, upon seeing their Governor wounded by Lu Ye with a single strike, someone immediately couldn't contain themselves and their figure flickered as they rushed towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye's eyelids drooped low, his long saber obliquely pointing towards the ground, spirit force surged, and the blade shimmered with flames.

"Halt!" The man quickly bellowed in anger, and seeing his own cultivator stop in their tracks, he breathed a sigh of relief.

They absolutely couldn't let their own cultivators clash with Lu Yiye. If a battle were to break out, no one knew how many would die before it was over. The Xuanqing Palace was a lesson from the recent past!

The first stronghold that Lu Yiye broke through in the Core Circle was Xuanqing Palace. During that battle, Xuanqing Palace's cultivators suffered seventy to eighty percent casualties, and their vital energy was greatly damaged; it was unknown how many years it would take for them to recover.

Although the grade of the Mad Saber Sect was higher than that of Xuanqing Palace, the overall strength of the cultivators at the Spirit Stream Realm level wasn't much stronger than those of Xuanqing Palace.

If Lu Yiye could kill seventy percent of Xuanqing Palace's cultivators, he could naturally kill seventy percent of the Mad Saber Sect's as well. By then, not even their own stronghold could be preserved, and the accumulation of more than a dozen generations would be destroyed in an instant.

Taking deep breaths for a while, the man said, "Lu Yiye, don't go too far."

"If you're not the one to decide, then go find someone who can. I have urgent matters to attend to. I'll give you one hour. If there isn't a satisfying result after one hour, I'll break your Mad Saber Sect stronghold!"

The man stared deeply at Lu Ye for a long time before turning his head to instruct the people beside him and hurriedly left.

This matter was indeed beyond his authority; he had to return to the Nine Provinces sect headquarters and ask for instructions from the powerful members within the sect.

Lu Ye sheathed his Boulder Mountain Saber and planted the scabbard in front of him, with both hands resting on the hilt, closing his eyes to conserve his energy, waiting.

A group of Mad Saber Sect cultivators stood confronting him, separated by dozens of paces, but due to the orders from their departing Governor, none dared to make any rash moves. They could only glare at Lu Ye hatefully, using their gaze to vent the frustration and anger in their hearts.

Some were also curiously observing Lu Ye as they had heard the name Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect many times, but this was their first time seeing him in person.

Time trickled by.

Suddenly, a valiant-looking female cultivator stepped out of the crowd, offering a cup of tea held in both hands as she approached Lu Ye.

"Our honored guest has arrived, please enjoy the tea!"

Lu Ye opened his eyes, gazing down at her from above.

The female cultivator's lips curled into a mocking smile, "Don't you dare?"

They indeed couldn't beat Lu Ye, but if they are humiliated at their doorstep without any resistance, they wouldn't be the fearless saber users they claimed to be.

The Governor had instructed them not to engage in conflict with Lu Ye before he left.

Serving tea, of course, did not constitute a conflict, and it was also a way to treat a guest.

But from Lu Ye's standpoint, no one would dare to drink this tea casually—who knew if it was poisoned? The female cultivator simply wanted to retaliate silently in this way, to quell Lu Ye's arrogance.

If Lu Ye was afraid to take the tea, then the moniker "Cowardly Lu Yiye" would surely spread afterward. After all, the man was not short of nicknames and wouldn't care for one more.

While the female cultivator was thinking this, Lu Ye took the teacup and drained it with a tilt of his head.

Who cares if it's poisoned or not; poison won't kill him anyway!

The corner of the female cultivator's eye twitched.

There was no poison in the tea, but she truly didn't expect that Lu Yiye would be so audacious. She regretted inwardly—if only she had put some deadly poison in the tea! Maybe it could have killed the bastard outright, making for an enormous feat.

Now it looked as though she had genuinely come to offer tea to Lu Ye...

Before the hour was up, the man who had left earlier returned.

He made his way through the crowd and stood firm before the cultivators. Before he could speak, Lu Ye said, "I will not accept any bargaining. Your Mad Saber Sect has been handed down for so many years with countless strong saber users. Twenty portions of saber skills insights shouldn't be too much for you."

The man's prepared response was stuck in his throat.

Before coming here, the elders in the sect had given clear instructions to bargain with Lu Ye to see if they could give fewer saber skills insights. Although these were not unique copies, giving them to Lu Yiye was like providing aid to the enemy. Naturally, they should give as little as possible and withhold if they could.

This was different from giving wealth...

Lu Ye clearly anticipated this and deflected the statement, leaving the Mad Saber Sect no opportunity.

After giving Lu Ye a deep look, the man raised his hand and tossed over a storage sack, which Lu Ye caught.

The storage sack had no restriction locks, so he reached inside and pulled out several hand-written notes, randomly selecting one to open and read. The ink on the pages hadn't even fully dried, indicating they must have just been rubbed down.

He gave a cursory scan of the content to confirm it indeed contained insights on saber skills cultivation without any mistakes.

After checking several books in succession, he found no significant issues.

Only then did Lu Ye carefully store the saber cultivation insights and looked up at the man, reaching out his hand and saying, "The item!"

The man's face was grim, "What item?"

What else could it be?

Lu Ye said as a matter of course, "The thing I initially gave to you!"

The man looked at Lu Ye in shock, "You want it back?"

"Nonsense!" Lu Ye said expressionlessly, "That was the protection money for your Mad Saber Sect, and naturally, I must take it back; of course, if you don't want this protection, it's all the same to me."

The man was so angry it hurt, and he took off the storage sack from his waist and threw it directly to Lu Ye.

After securing it, Lu Ye spoke again, "Am I leaving on my own, or are you allowing me to leave?"

"Open the array!" the man barked.

Why create trouble when the person can leave anyway? Though rage simmered in his heart, the most prudent action for now was to quickly usher this plague out!

A gap opened in the big array, and Lu Ye soared into the sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Watching the direction where Lu Ye departed, every cultivator from the Mad Saber Sect clenched their fists, as endless humiliation and anger churned within them.

Controlling his flight through weapon control, Lu Ye consulted the ten-part map and followed its guidance towards the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest.

Almost done dealing with matters in the Core Circle, besides the twenty-three sects whose bases he had previously destroyed within the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, all the other sects had paid protection money, so it wasn't right for Lu Ye to create more trouble.

He was planning to return to the Righteous Blood Sect headquarters.

He was still the governor of the Righteous Blood Sect, so he had to hand over this role to a suitable candidate before his promotion to Cloud River.

Moreover, after having taken down those twenty-three bases and looted a great amount of resources, he needed to return to the sect headquarters to deal with it.

Another reason was that he had too many storage sacks on hand, worth fifty to sixty million merits, which he had to bring back to Shui Yuan at the headquarters. Carrying so much was not something Lu Ye felt at ease with.

In ten days, the blessing of Heaven's Augury was due, and based on previous experiences and Lu Ye's estimation, the Spirit Mist from the Heaven's Augury Pond wouldn't be of much help to him after this time.

His cultivation had reached the end of the Spirit Stream Realm, having gained all the benefits there were to gain, and apart from one last unaccomplished task, there was no further need to stay on the Spirit Stream battlefield.

The reason he was heading to the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest was, of course, to leave some cultivation materials for Hua Ci.

Having confirmed his direction, he was flying along the way when a message suddenly came through his battlefield marking.

Lu Ye looked at it and saw a message from his Second Senior Sister, Shui Yuan.

"Before your promotion to Cloud River, come back to the sect headquarters!"

"Got it."

Lu Ye wasn't sure why Second Senior Sister had reminded him of this, but he was already intending to go back in that direction.

Two days later, Lu Ye directly descended into the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, appearing in front of the cabin.

Not seeing Hua Ci, the woman was probably cultivating somewhere.

Lu Ye didn't go looking for her. Instead, he went straight to the third floor, lay down on the bed, and fell into a comfortable sleep.

In the entire Spirit Stream battlefield, this was the only place where he could totally relax, much more so than at his own base.

Unfortunately, he couldn't stay here forever.

He didn't know how long he had slept when he was woken up by a fragrant scent and laughter. By the time Lu Ye opened his eyes, it was already bright daylight. The voices of Yiyi and Hua Ci were coming from outside the window.

Lu Ye got up and walked to the window, looking down. He saw the smoke curling up from below and the two women chatting and busy working.

He rested his arms on the window sill, quietly watching the scene below, his heart filled with warmth.

If it weren't for Hua Ci tossing some lively and bizarre creatures into a clay pot to make soup, that warmth might have lasted a long time.

"Lu Ye, you're awake?" Yiyi looked up, locking eyes with Lu Ye and waving to him.

"Hmm!" Lu Ye casually responded, ducking his head back in, "Call me when it's time to eat."

He sat cross-legged on the bed, took out a book of saber cultivation insights from his storage sack, and began to study it attentively.

As the Mad Saber Sect was concentrated with saber users, and being a 1st grade sect, the sect had countless formidable practitioners who wielded sabers since ancient times, leaving behind innumerable insights on saber cultivation that were challenging to enumerate.