Sage of Humanity

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan's actions drew everyone's attention, and the magic cultivator had not guarded against someone stealthily approaching from behind. By the time Lu Ye suddenly struck, it was already too late.

The barely risen body heavily hit the ground, the severe pain in his back nearly stopped him from breathing. As he looked up, a sky full of saber light slashed down.

He hurriedly activated his spirit force barrier for protection, yet the barrier only held out for three breaths before it shattered under a barrage of saber lights.

The crisscrossing saber light fell, thudding sounds emitted, the magic cultivator's body violently shook, not knowing how many strikes he had endured in that instant as his protective spirit force completely dispersed.

Right after, his body lightened, his vision turned upside down, and his consciousness rapidly blurred.

Having dealt with this magic cultivator, Lu Ye rushed towards another part of the battlefield. At that moment, Feng Yuechan bombarded with a series of magic and spells, entangling another physique cultivator preventing his escape, while Li Baxian's flying sword wreaked havoc, trapping the other two severely injured cultivators in place.

Seeing Lu Ye rush over, the sky filled with sword light converged, directing itself at that physique cultivator in unison.

The two severely injured cultivators had no time to catch their breaths before Lu Ye pounced in front of them, hand rising and blade falling, chopping them down easily as if slicing vegetables.

Normally, these two, one a Level 5 realm and the other Level 4, facing Lu Ye, it would be uncertain who would fall, but they had been ambushed by Li Baxian, the sword cultivator, and heavily injured. They were not dead because Li Baxian did not intend to kill them. With such injuries, not to mention Lu Ye, even a typical Level 3 could have dealt with them.

After slaying the two men, Lu Ye looked towards the direction of the last physique cultivator.

Though it had been only a few breaths, the physique cultivator was already bruised all over, with dozens of flying swords shuttling back and forth, his attacks were unpredictable and even though he was tough, he could not block them. Furthermore, Feng Yuechan's magic and spells kept raining down, fiercely shaking the physique cultivator's body, and the spirit artifact big shield in his hand was even knocked away.

Lu Ye joined the battle, making the outcome more certain.

Several breaths later, the burly body of the physique cultivator sprawled on the ground, and Lu Ye immediately dashed towards the location where white light burst forth, reached into the light, and grabbed something, not even looking at what he snatched, as he hurried to retrieve the array banners he had set up around the area.

Meanwhile, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan cleaned up the battlefield, collecting spoils of war.

Moments later, Lu Ye called out softly, "Let's go!"

Three figures swiftly swept away, running towards the direction of the cave.

As stability was necessary, naturally, they could not stay in the same place any longer. Although the battle was short, the aftermath of their engagement was significant. If there were any powerful enemies nearby, they could very likely be attracted.

Changing locations after each battle, although troublesome, was safer.

A short while later, back in the cave they had started from, the three of them returned and sat down in meditation.

"Junior brother, I've checked the Kills Ranking. The first place in the kills points just increased by four hundred thirty, exactly matching with yours," Li Baxian spoke.

Lu Ye had seen it on the way back as well.

The four people previously killed, three of them Level 5 realm and one Level 4, exactly gave him four hundred thirty kill points.

With the numbers matching, the first place was indeed his.

Earning over four hundred kill points in a single battle was undoubtedly a substantial gain, considering that Xia Liang, who was second in ranking, averaged only about five hundred kill points per day.

This battle alone compared well with Xia Liang's daily gains.

Before this battle, Xia Liang's kill points were almost surpassing Lu Ye's, but now Lu Ye had widened the gap again.

Xia Liang's feelings about this were unknown.

In the Cloud River battlefield, with the hunting ground opened so many times, there had never been a situation where a Level 3 cultivator topped the Kills Ranking. Let alone Level 3, even Level 7 had never happened.

The top three spots on the Kills Ranking were either occupied by Level 8 or Level 9, with Level 9 occurring more frequently.

There had been powerhouses who tried to use the rule that low-level cultivators could earn large amounts of kill points by killing higher-level cultivators to climb the ranks, but implementing it proved to be extremely challenging.

Firstly, for this rule to be exploited to climb the ranks, the cultivator's cultivation level could not be higher than Level 5, otherwise, it wouldn't make much sense.

Even if a Level 9 cultivator was accompanied by a Level 5, it was very easy for accidents to occur.

These Level 9 powerhouses mostly faced enemies of Level 9 from opposing camps; once a battle commenced, it was hard to ensure an ally's safety completely. The enemy could easily take advantage, and any accident with the companion could render all previously accumulated kill points void, resulting in loss outweighing the gain.

If it weren't for Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan coming to join him, and because he had obtained a special gold-hued spirit fortune stick leading to his taking the lead on the Kills Ranking, giving him an excellent foundation, Lu Ye wouldn't have considered contesting for the top of the Kills Ranking and would have wisely stayed hidden until the hunting grounds closed.

The collected spoils were gathered in front of Lu Ye, waiting for him to break the restrictions of the storage sacks, which naturally wasn't difficult for him.

Soon, each storage sack was opened, and Lu Ye divided the contents into three parts, taking a share along with Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan.

He rummaged through his storage sack, but this time he hadn't obtained anything noteworthy.

He then examined the opportunity that he had gained from the white light earlier; previously, due to time constraints, he hadn't had a chance to check and had directly stored it in the storage space. Now that he took it out, it turned out to be a spirit flower.

Last time, what he had retrieved from that white light was a white spirit fortune stick...

Indeed, the opportunities scattered across the hunting grounds were bizarre and varied, providing all sorts of items.

Lu Ye's knowledge in herbal medicine was not profound, so he didn't know what this spirit flower was or what effects it had, he could only vaguely surmise that the value of this spirit flower was not very high.

No matter what it was, he could just bring it back to the sect and give it to Shui Yuan when he had the chance.

The previous battle had erupted swiftly and ended quickly; Lu Ye and the others had used very little energy, but out of caution, the three of them hadn't taken any further action. Instead, they stayed in the cave for two hours to ensure that their recent fight hadn't attracted the attention of any powerful beings before continuing their journey.

Just as before, the three of them walked out of the cave.

This time they chose a different direction, walked ten more miles, found a spot, and Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, and Yiyi spread out to stand guard while Lu Ye began to set up a Formation.

Once ready, they quietly waited for their prey to take the bait.

Last time they had reaped rewards because the suddenly appearing white light had drawn a group of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators to investigate. They weren't so fortunate this time; they waited a full day and night, and although a few cultivators traversed the air above them during that period, they were all powerful beings above Level 7 realm, and Lu Ye and his two companions didn't dare make any rash moves.

It wasn't until the latter half of the day that a group of three passed by close by.

As usual, Li Baxian was the first to act to attract attention, but when his form was revealed, the battlefield marking on the back of his hand gave no response.

The sharp sword light suddenly retracted, startling the trio, who hastily reacted, only to find it was a false alarm.

The three turned out to be from the Haotian Alliance.

As they were all from the same camp, there was naturally no need to fight to the death, and after a few brief explanations from Li Baxian, the other three quickly left.

Indeed, waiting like this seldom resulted in a catch, as no one knew when their prey would take the bait. Even if it did, there was a fifty percent chance it would be someone from the Haotian Alliance. Even if it were from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, without engaging in a fight, it was still unclear whether the other party was a man-eating shark.

However, neither Li Baxian nor Lu Ye felt the slightest impatience.

Both were well aware of their limitations. In the current hunting field, cultivation was their biggest weakness. A Level 3 or Level 4 cultivation was absolutely bottom-tier in the hunting grounds today; to ensure their own safety and yet achieve some gain, ample patience and waiting were necessary.

About half a day later, another group of three passed nearby.

Li Baxian attacked once again, and this time the battlefield marking on the back of his hand reacted, emitting a blue light; contrary to that, the trio displayed red lights.

An ambush resulted in one of them being severely injured on the spot, and the other two were also injured. With Feng Yuechan joining the fight, the situation quickly became one-sided.

Just as Lu Ye had thought, the cultivators who now traveled in groups did not possess high levels of cultivation; most of those above Level 7 preferred to operate alone.

All three Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were at Level 5 cultivation, and with the premise of being ambushed by Li Baxian, how could they possibly stand a chance against him and Feng Yuechan.

In the fierce battle, Lu Ye concealed his presence and quietly approached.

Moments later, three bodies lay sprawled, the smell of blood soaring into the sky; Lu Ye gained three hundred and sixty kill points.

In a corner of the hunting ground, Xia Liang, holding a long saber, looked up into the sky, his eyes on the blood-red banner-like Kills Ranking. His eyes couldn't help but twitch.

He felt that this guy named Lu Yiye was mocking him!

Ever since the other party had suddenly gained a thousand kill points, taking the top position in the ranking, he had felt this way.

These past few days, he had been hunting far and wide, attacking the Haotian Alliance's cultivators. Every day he reaped some rewards, steadily narrowing the gap between him and Lu Ye. However, whenever he hoped to surpass the other, the other's kill points would suddenly surge by a few hundred, making all his efforts go down the drain.

It was like that before, and it was still the same now. Originally, he was only a hundred or so kill points behind Lu Ye, but now it had increased to over four hundred.

How infuriating!

What made him even angrier was that he was now being targeted by a Level 9 cultivator from the Haotian Alliance!

The other's ranking on the Kills Ranking wasn't high, only just above ten, and it seemed their luck hadn't been very good these past few days. With this trend, they had no chance of reaching the top three in the Kills Ranking.

So the other party adopted an attitude of preferring not to compete for the Kills Ranking themselves, just to prevent him from competing for it, staying hidden and trailing him.

In a direct fight, that person was no match for him, but with the other moving in secret, he really had no good way to deal with them, and his heart was incredibly stifled.