Sage of Humanity

In the cave, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan gazed blankly at Lu Ye.

After a moment, Li Baxian finally said, "Didn't you say there was someone else before?"

"I also thought there was someone else, because in my own calculations, my kill points were not that much, the first place's kill points were a whole thousand more than I had calculated, but just now, I observed that after I killed two Level 5 realm cultivators, the first place's kill points increased by two hundred and forty..."

Previously, five people had besieged Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan. By the time Lu Ye arrived, one of them had already been killed by Li Baxian.

Lu Ye launched a sneak attack on the Level 5 realm array cultivator and then killed another Level 5 realm cultivator, Repeated Slashing two people.

For his Level 3 cultivation to exceed two ranks and kill Level 5 cultivators, each kill awarded him one hundred twenty kill points. First place on the Kills Ranking originally had one thousand five hundred fifty kill points, but after Lu Ye killed the two Level 5 realm cultivators, it became one thousand seven hundred ninety points, an increase of two hundred forty points.

Moreover, after failing to find his own name among the ranking of over ninety, Lu Ye could almost determine that the one ranked first was himself.

Otherwise, the numbers wouldn't have matched up so coincidentally.

"The kill points on the Kills Ranking are a full thousand more than you calculated? Where did they come from?" Li Baxian was puzzled.

"After much thought, there's only one possibility."

As he spoke, Lu Ye took out a gold-hued spirit fortune stick from his storage space: "It must be because of this thing! Within the hunting grounds, each day Heaven's Augury selects one person to bestow a golden spirit fortune stick. This stick cannot be used, nor taken into possession for twelve Shichen. Only after the twelve Shichen can the spirit fortune stick be truly possessed. I have been selected once by Heaven's Augury before."

Li Baxian was curious about the source of the thousand extra kill points, and Lu Ye was equally curious, the only possibility he could think of was this.

However, he hadn't been informed of such a thing when he purchased intelligence from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, so he wasn't certain.

Moreover, a whole thousand kill points seemed a bit too much.

"I'll ask around," Feng Yuechan said as she began to send out secret communications. Li Baxian's relationship with the cultivators of Loyal Heart Sect was bad, but it was different for Feng Yuechan. Regardless of her origin, appearance, figure, or talent, she was top-tier in the Loyal Heart Sect. She had been on the Spirit Stream battlefield for over a decade, having seen off countless Loyal Heart Sect cultivators. Now, within the Cloud River battlefield, many from the Loyal Heart Sect's Cloud River Realm were active, including those of Level 8-9. These people should have more information about the hunting grounds.

After a short while, Feng Yuechan ended her communications and spoke: "Indeed, the spirit fortune sticks bestowed by Heaven's Augury can bring cultivators kill points, and the amount is directly related to the cultivator's cultivation level and possession time upon the duration's end. The lower the cultivation, the longer the possession, and the more kill points it brings!"

With Lu Ye's Level 3 cultivation, holding on for a full twenty-four Shichen, no one else in all Nine Provinces could achieve that aside from him.

Not to mention, with the spirit fortune stick's burst every six hours, a total of four times, one's location would be exposed, attracting a horde of cultivators to fight over it. How could a Level 3 maintain possession of the spirit fortune stick under such conditions?

It was precisely because he accomplished this nearly impossible task that he was able to gain a full thousand kill points in one go, climbing to the top of the Kills Ranking and greatly outpacing the second-place holder.

Two days had elapsed since the opening of the hunting ground. Before Lu Ye, there had been another golden spirit fortune stick bestowed, but that one exchanged hands several times, eventually landing with a Level 8 cultivator who, having only held it for just over four hours, earned a total of three hundred kill points.

At that time, Lu Ye hid in a cave, constantly ready to flee; naturally, he was completely unaware of this.

"Wonderful," Li Baxian exclaimed and clapped his hands.

Lu Ye had set up numerous teleportation arrays in advance, so in case of an emergency, he could teleport away at once. Thus, a golden spirit fortune stick given by Heaven's Augury was definitely not a blessing for a standard Level 3 cultivator, but for Lu Ye, it didn't have much of an impact.

The one thousand kill points were as if Heaven's Augury had given them for free.

This made Li Baxian deeply realize how fortunate Lu Ye was.

"Originally as a lone junior brother, my priority was self-preservation, thinking to simply hide here until the hunting ground closed. But now, the first place on the Kills Ranking... It's not something I can't compete for!"

First place on the Kills Ranking came with the reward of a Class A Spring Spirit and nine golden spirit fortune sticks—who wouldn't be envious?

Lu Ye was envious, too. He had once lost possession of a Class C Spirit Ground; while it wasn't much of an upgrade for him and somewhat restrictive, he simply discarded it.

But a Class A Spirit Ground was different. Even if he didn't need it much, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan certainly did, as did Giant Armor. With such a spirit ground, they could cultivate within it without having to travel outside seeking various opportunities, even if they couldn't rise as quickly as they would by using spirit fortune sticks. Owning a Class A Spirit Ground was stable.

Furthermore, in addition to a Class A Spring Spirit, there were also nine golden spirit fortune sticks—those were precisely what Lu Ye needed at the moment.

He already had a considerable number of spirit fortune sticks in hand, but at most, they would only allow him to advance to the Level 4 realm. His future cultivation would require even more spirit fortune sticks.

Of course, what truly sparked his ambition to compete for the top spot on the Kills Ranking was the arrival of his fourth senior brother and Feng Yuechan. Both of them were extraordinary cultivators from the Cloud River Realm, already at the Level 4 realm. It would not be an exaggeration to say that overcoming adversaries two levels higher should pose no problem for them.

With the support of his fourth senior brother and Feng Yuechan, if they could secure first place on the Kills Ranking, the nine gold-hued spirit fortune sticks would be divided among them, granting each person three. That would be enough to allow him to make a significant leap in his Level 4 cultivation, saving many days of arduous cultivation.

Another point was that his cultivation was indeed low. Looking around the current hunting grounds, it would be hard to find many with a lower cultivation than his. Yet, having a lower cultivation also had its advantages!

The advantage of earning kill points.

Kill points were directly linked to merit, exchanging them on a one-to-one basis. An enemy from the Cloud River Level 5 killed by him would yield a different number of kill points compared to one killed by Li Baxian.

So although the majority of the strong contenders on the Kills Ranking were from the Level 8-9 realms, if Lu Ye killed a Level 5, they would need to kill three Level 5s. And if Lu Ye killed a Level 6, they would have to kill four Level 6s to match the kill points Lu Ye earned.

While it was indeed easier for the Level 8-9 realm powerhouses to defeat their enemies, Lu Ye would earn kill points by different multiples for his kills. Each side had its own advantages.

In comparison, Lu Ye's advantage was undoubtedly greater, as he had the ability to defeat enemies above his level. With his current strength, ordinary Level 5 cultivators were no match for him, let alone with the help of Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan; even Level 6 could be killed!

Level 7... best avoided if possible.

As for Level 8-9, there was absolutely no way to defeat them, even if the three of them joined forces; the gap in cultivation was too large. However, with proper measures in place, even if they encountered such powerful foes, they would still have a chance to escape.

Upon realizing he could actually be the first on the Kills Ranking, and after reuniting with his fourth senior brother and Feng Yuechan, Lu Ye's ambition was ignited.

All that being said, it was still best to proceed with caution in action.

"Little Junior Brother wants to vie for first place?"

Li Baxian raised his eyebrow but, after pondering for a moment, thought that it might be feasible. If there was absolutely no hope, then forget it; the key point now was that Lu Ye was currently the first on the Kills Ranking, and had a considerable lead over the second place. He didn't dare to say more, but as long as they maintained this trend and lasted until the hunting grounds closed, they would succeed.

With a thought, Li Baxian nodded and said, "Since Little Junior Brother has this idea, then your senior brother and Senior Sister Feng will lend you a helping hand!"

"Senior brother and Senior Sister Feng, please protect me while I craft some array banners."

Although he had just obtained several dozen array banners, to make waves in the hunting grounds he still needed enough banners. No matter how you looked at it, all three of their cultivations were slightly lower than ideal.

With plenty of array banners, Lu Ye could set up formations without any reservations. Only with the aid of the power of formations would he have a chance of preserving himself in dangerous situations.

The objective of setting up formations was not to kill enemies, but to ensure a retreat. In these hunting grounds, there were many powerhouses from the Level 8-9 realms, and who knew when one might encounter them.

He still had many materials left over from the ones he had purchased from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, enough to craft several hundred array banners. The only problem was that crafting array banners would cause fluctuations in spirit force, which could easily reveal his position.

For this reason, Lu Ye setup a large array to conceal his activities. Now, as long as he didn't make too much noise, no one outside would be able to detect him.

Time trickled past, and Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan both rested and recuperated while keeping vigilant watch in all directions.

A great many materials were consumed, and one array banner after another was completed.

While he was busy crafting array banners, many strong contenders on the Kills Ranking were spreading out to earn kill points. Xia Liang, from the Mad Saber Sect—a 1st grade sect—and advancing to Cloud River using his 360 orifices, had secured a top-ten position on the Spirit Stream Ranking during the Spirit Stream battlefield. Looking across the entire hunting grounds, his strength was top-tier as well.

When the Kills Ranking first appeared, he had been overshadowed by Lu Ye. However, he soon rebounded, steadily capturing the first place and hunting the cultivators of the Haotian Alliance everywhere. Then suddenly, Lu Ye overtook him and pulled ahead by several hundred kill points.

This made Xia Liang quite frustrated.

If he had merely suspected that this Lu Yiye was the guy from Righteous Blood Sect before, now he was certain of it.

Because the increase of a full thousand kill points undoubtedly indicated that Lu Ye's cultivation was not high, which matched the intelligence he had received. However, it was unclear how Lu Ye managed to possess those special gold-hued spirit fortune sticks for a full twelve Shichen.

While roaming and hunting everywhere, he was also looking for Lu Ye's whereabouts, to no avail. The hunting grounds weren't too large nor too small. Unless he had precise intelligence, finding a particular person there wasn't an easy task.

He didn't believe that Lu Ye could contend with him for the first place. A cultivator with low cultivation from Cloud River Realm would definitely be hiding somewhere at this moment, not daring to show his face, let alone come out and compete with him.

The reality proved his thoughts right. Over the course of a day and a night, Lu Ye's kill points remained fixed at one thousand seven hundred ninety, while his own kill points had reached over one thousand six hundred. Just a few more kills, and he would reclaim the first place.