Sage of Humanity

Under a blood-red sky enveloping the hunting grounds, more than ten zhang below the earth, a cave bustled with activity as Lu Ye busily planted one array banner after another, setting up formations.

The Kills Ranking had revealed his name and surname, and he didn't know how many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators it would attract, but one thing was certain—it would definitely not be too few.

The ripples he had stirred in the Spirit Stream battlefield were too big; which one of those Core Circle sects from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge wouldn't want to put him to death?

In the Spirit Stream battlefield, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge never had a chance, but the Cloud River battlefield was different. Here, countless powerhouses with higher cultivation levels could kill him; this was an opportunity for the Ten Thousand Demoms Ridge side.

He believed that the moment he entered the Cloud River battlefield, those powers from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge that had previously suffered at his hands must have already sent messages to their disciples, telling them to watch his movements.

It didn't matter much when he wasn't exposed before since he could sneak around without many noticing him, but once exposed, he was bound to become the target of all.

Especially now that he was still trapped in the hunting grounds, unable to escape.

Thus, Lu Ye had to prepare some escape routes for himself.

He had many spirit runes at his disposal, suitable for hiding, for concealment; but accidents happen and if someone were to stumble upon his trail, he would need to flee swiftly under the premise that he couldn't fight them off.

Using a teleportation array was a good method.

The teleportation arrays he had set up before were single-point to single-point parent-child arrays, which could be surprisingly effective for escaping and saving one's life normally, but in the hunting grounds, naturally, he had to choose a more secure method.

So what he was setting up now was a multi-point to multi-point teleportation array!

Every teleportation array that was set up was both a child array and a parent array. In this way, he didn't need too many; he only needed to set up about seven or eight teleportation arrays, scattered throughout the hunting grounds. Then, he would be able to teleport back and forth between all the arrays, which would allow him to be completely at ease.

His cultivation not being high enough, Lu Ye resolved to absolutely not initiate trouble deliberately.

Although it's a teleportation array, the multi-point to multi-point array was undeniably more complex to set up, but fortunately, as his cultivation increased, the difficulty of array setup correspondingly decreased.

An hour later, a teleportation array was properly set up. Lu Ye also arranged a Concealment Array and an explosion array nearby. This way, even if someone accidentally stumbled upon this place and didn't thoroughly investigate, they wouldn't be able to find any traces of the array. To step back and say, even if one accidentally entered the range of the array, the explosion magic array would be triggered, and then everything would be thoroughly destroyed.

This was also a precaution, to prevent others from discovering the safety measure he had set up.

After ensuring everything was in place, Lu Ye left the area.

Now, he needed to find some concealed places to continue setting up arrays.

He still dared not fly through the air, so he sped close to the ground, keeping his senses pushed to the limit. If he perceived any disturbance, he wouldn't hesitate to shield himself with a Concealment Spirit Rune and hold his breath in stillness.

With such cautiousness, he managed to travel quite smoothly.

As he moved, he occasionally sensed bursts of spirit force, signifying the battles between cultivators taking place within the hunting grounds. From time to time, powerful cultivators would brazenly fly overhead. Those who acted with such disregard were either Level 8 or Level 9...

Such individuals were the ones Lu Ye absolutely did not dare to provoke.

After running for more than a hundred li, Lu Ye surveyed his surroundings to confirm no one was near. Then, he constructed a Void Spirit Rune to connect with the teleportation array he had previously set up, ensuring their link.

Unaware of the maximum distance between his teleportation arrays, he had to conduct various tests from time to time.

The connection between the Void Spirit Rune and teleportation array remained tight, which indicated he hadn't reached the limit yet.

Continuing on until he was nearly two hundred li away, that connection started to weaken, almost reaching its limit.

Therefore, given his current level of cultivation, the maximum distance his teleportation array could cover was about two hundred li, a significant improvement from before.

It also made the execution of his plans more convenient. The farther the teleportation distance, the safer he undoubtedly would be.

Calling out Yiyi, he asked her to burrow underground in search of suitable locations for array setup, while Lu Ye himself started searching nearby.

In a short time, he found a cave. The location wasn't great because, if cultivators discovered this cave, they would certainly come in to investigate. However, there were no better places nearby.

Lu Ye had no choice but to pick this cave. He went inside, delved about a dozen zhang deep, and began to work busily at the bottom of the cave, all the while having Yiyi stand guard outside to prevent being cornered inside.

Being trapped inside before the array was set up would truly mean having no way to heaven and no door into the earth.

After busying himself for another hour, another teleportation array was properly arranged, concealed by a Concealment Array, with an explosion array set up as a precaution.

In this way, even if cultivators entered the cave, as long as they didn't reach the very bottom, they wouldn't trigger the explosion array.

Stepping out of the cave, Lu Ye looked up to see the Kills Ranking still suspended high in the sky. The blood-red banner-like list was extremely conspicuous. His gaze swept over it, and he noticed that his ranking had already dropped beyond the fiftieth place.

It was quite normal; the hunting grounds had been open for four hours, and battles had erupted everywhere during this time. With battles came deaths, and with deaths came kill points.

A little over a hundred kill points wasn't too many, so naturally, Lu Ye's ranking kept sliding downward.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before his name disappeared from the Kills Ranking.

Lu Ye had no interest in the Kills Ranking; within the hunting ground, his only goal was to stay alive.

As he continued to press forward, the Concealment Spirit Runes came in extremely handy. Without them, Lu Ye would have had much difficulty making any progress. But with the Concealment Spirit Runes hiding his form, even if someone passed by nearby, as long as they weren't too close, he could remain out of harm's way.

For most of the day, Lu Ye intermittently set up four teleportation arrays that corresponded with one another. Only then did he feel a slight sense of security.

But it wasn't enough; he needed to set up more.

While sneaking around quietly, Lu Ye suddenly looked up toward the distance, where he saw a whirl of five-colored aurora converging at the horizon, swiftly forming a multicolored cloud.

The Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick had arrived!

This phenomenon, the appearance of Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune sticks, occurred almost daily on the Cloud River battlefield, but ordinary cultivators wouldn't come across it often. After all, the Cloud River battlefield was vast, and even if there was a Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick every day, who knew where the colorful clouds would appear.

In Lu Ye's case, he had been on the Cloud River battlefield for nearly two months and had only encountered it once.

However, in the hunting ground, it was different. There was almost a Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick every day within a territory of hundreds of thousands of miles. It wasn't particularly large, nor was it small, and once the colorful clouds appeared, many cultivators could see them clearly. It could be said that within the hunting ground, one had a twenty to thirty percent chance of participating in the chase for each Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick.

Furthermore, the Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune sticks within the hunting ground almost always manifested as five-colored clouds. In other words, there would inevitably be one or even several gold-hued spirit fortune sticks — an irresistible temptation for the strong.

Gazing at the swirling five-colored cloud, a foreboding sense suddenly rose in Lu Ye's heart. He remembered the last time he encountered a Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick...

What he feared was precisely what came to pass.

After the five-colored cloud had formed, it drifted directly toward his direction. Although it was still far away, it was indeed floating toward him.

Lu Ye made a quick decision, changing direction and creeping to the side.

If he weren't in the hunting ground, he might have been interested in joining the fray, as no one knew to which faction he belonged. As long as he wasn't too greedy fighting for spirit fortune sticks above blue, grabbing a white or green one would have been no issue.

But this was the hunting ground!

If he truly got involved, his Haotian Alliance faction simply couldn't remain concealed. Once he soared into the sky, he would be surrounded by foes with red lights emerging from the backs of their hands. On spotting Lu Ye, they would think, "Ah, a Cloud River Level 3 dares to show up."

Not even ten lives would be enough for him to survive that.

As he fled, Lu Ye observed that the five-colored cloud was still drifting towards him.

Lu Ye's eyelid twitched. It seemed that sometimes having too much good luck wasn't a good thing!

In the midst of his flight, Lu Ye suddenly came to a halt, quickly concealing his form because someone in the sky ahead rushed over with the momentum of a meteor, clearly drawn by the colorful cloud.

From the fluctuations of spirit force alone, this person was unmistakably Level 8. Naturally, without such cultivation, one wouldn't dare to behave so conspicuously within the hunting ground.

That person stopped abruptly about a hundred yards away from Lu Ye, silently watching the colorful cloud drifting towards this area.

Lu Ye immediately felt uncomfortable, only able to maintain the Concealment Spirit Runes, not daring to move.

He had no idea to which faction the other belonged. If they were from the Haotian Alliance, it wouldn't be too bad, but if they were Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, exposing his whereabouts at such a time would leave him with no place to be buried.

The emergence of the five-colored cloud undoubtedly alarmed a large number of cultivators; some chased after it, others met it head-on, and within a short time, many eyes were watching.

Lu Ye could only pray that the five-colored cloud wouldn't stop too close to him.

As time passed, the cloud drew ever nearer. Beneath it, cultivators were either flying through air chasing it or running on the ground, with occasional battles erupting.

Suddenly, Lu Ye felt something was off. His senses picked up the aura of life approaching not far from him.

Silently activating the Insight Spirit Runes, enhancing his eyesight, various colors flowed and transformed within his view. Lu Ye looked towards a spot about a dozen yards away.

There, a ghost cultivator with their form concealed!

The battlefield marking on his hand showed no reaction; they might be from the Haotian Alliance.

But Lu Ye wasn't sure if the battlefield markings would react if both parties were hiding and the distance between them was short.

Logically, they shouldn't. If the markings still reacted when someone was concealed, then the ghost cultivators' advantage would essentially be nullified.

Ghost cultivators were known for their ability to lurk and assassinate. If battlefield markings still reacted when they were concealed, that would basically serve as a warning to those they targeted, indicating nearby ghost cultivator presence.

As if sensing Lu Ye's gaze, the ghost cultivator suddenly turned their head in Lu Ye's direction for a moment.

But Lu Ye had the Insight Spirit Runes, and they did not, so naturally, they couldn't see anything.