Sage of Humanity

That place was somewhere Lu Ye had intended to visit ever since he entered the Cloud River battlefield. However, in the beginning, he was not familiar with the situation of the Cloud River battlefield and his cultivation was not high, so he did not act rashly.

Of course, the main reason was that he was not fully prepared and could not maximize the benefits he would gain from that place.

In that place, elixir pills and Spirit Stones and the like were not very useful. What really mattered were things that could restore the power of the psyche.

He had originally thought to prepare for a while longer before going, but now he could no longer wait.

The main reason was that he didn't need to prepare anything else; he had already obtained what he needed most!

The Hundred Arrays Pagoda!

This was the Sacred Land for the array cultivators of the Nine Provinces and a place for them to advance their own Array Path.

It was said in the Nine Provinces that the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was a relic left over from a previous cultivation era, with a total of one hundred levels. Each level presented a different challenge, each more difficult than the last. If one could pass the challenges, they would be rewarded by Heaven's Augury, and all of these rewards were related to the Array Path.

This also attracted countless cultivators from the Nine Provinces to enter the Hundred Arrays Pagoda to temper and hone their Array Path.

However, the complete Hundred Arrays Pagoda no longer existed, and no one knew what had happened to it. Now, the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was divided into three parts.

One part, which was the bottom part, was located within the Tianyan Sect in Wuzhou.

Lu Ye had once been invited by a cultivator named Zhao Li from the Tianyan Sect to be a guest at their sect's headquarters and subsequently enter the core part of the sect. He managed to pass through thirty-three levels in one go, causing a huge commotion within the entire Tianyan Sect.

Before attempting the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, Lu Ye had some accomplishments in the Array Path, but it was not to an exaggerated extent. However, after surmounting the Hundred Arrays Pagoda of the Tianyan Sect, Lu Ye's accomplishments in the Array Path could be said to have improved by leaps and bounds.

It was also the foundation that allowed him to act unbridled in the Spirit Stream battlefield. No other Spirit Stream Realm cultivator had ever possessed such high Array Path accomplishments—penetrating others' protective arrays as easily as eating and drinking. Coupled with Lu Ye's strength that surpassed that of fellow cultivators at the same level, his existence was like an unending nightmare for the big sects of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge on the Spirit Stream battlefield.

The only consolation for the side of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was that Lu Ye had advanced to Cloud River early and left the Spirit Stream battlefield, otherwise the vast Spirit Stream battlefield might have been tormented by him beyond recognition.

Lu Ye's current accomplishments in the Array Path could partly be attributed to his foundation as a spirit runes master. Many spirit runes were used in formations, and being able to easily construct numerous spirit runes gave him an advantage in array setup and array destruction that was difficult for ordinary people to match.

But the more significant reason came from the gifts of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda!

Having passed through thirty-three levels of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda in one attempt, and given that his cultivation level at that time had only been at Spirit Stream Level 8—just after the incident in the secret realm of Xianyuan City—the gifts Lu Ye received from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda far surpassed those of any other array cultivator before him, elevating his accomplishments in the Array Path to a level difficult for peers to reach.

The foundation as a spirit runes master gave him some advantage in array setup and array destruction, but the gifts from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda were fundamental in enhancing his Array Path skills. Moreover, for a long time afterward, these gifts continued to have an afterglow effect, further enhancing Lu Ye's insights into the Array Path.

Zhao Li of the Tianyan Sect once told Lu Ye that managing to pass through the first ten levels of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda meant one had a basic understanding of the Array Path and could be considered a qualified array cultivator. Passing through twenty levels meant mastering the Array Path, and passing through thirty-three levels warranted being called a master...

A master of the Array Path in the Spirit Stream Realm—what a tremendously prestigious honor.

Previously, in the mines at the outskirts of Great Wilderness Mountain, that fellow named Si Nan desperately thought he could obstruct Lu Ye with a protective array. The outcome proved that what Si Nan considered an impregnable protective array was no match for Lu Ye.

He never imagined the gap between their Array Path skills would be so vast.

A part of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was in the Tianyan Sect in Wuzhou, while the second part was in the Cloud River battlefield!

Having experienced passing through the Hundred Arrays Pagoda and reaping unimaginable benefits from it, Lu Ye planned to challenge the Hundred Arrays Pagoda again one day after advancing to Cloud River and arriving at the Cloud River battlefield.

Previously his cultivation had been too low and he was not prepared, making it difficult to proceed.

Based on his previous experience, Lu Ye knew that the biggest issue array cultivators faced in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was the consumption of mental power. He had relied on Soul Cleansing Water to get through the challenges each time, which is why he always received a large number of gifts.

He didn't have much Soul Cleansing Water before, so he was reluctant to rashly venture into the Hundred Arrays Pagoda. These days, every time he entered the Heaven's Augury treasure vault to look for resources, he had also looked for items or miracle cures that could restore the force of the psyche.

But he had never found anything, as items or miracle cures that could restore the force of the psyche were also very useful to those in the Divine Sea Realm. Even if they occasionally appeared in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, they would be quickly bought by others—how could it be Lu Ye's turn?

An unforeseen trip to Xianyuan City resulted in him having a large quantity of soul water, far more than he had obtained before.

This resolved his greatest concern.

Now everything was ready, and Lu Ye was eager to improve his cultivation. The trip to the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was inevitable.

For every level of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda he managed to pass through, the gifts he received were not only related to the Array Path. The nature's spiritual energy inside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was also exceedingly rich and pure, and Lu Ye had previously opened dozens of orifices while in the Tianyan Sect.

That was still the lowest part of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, the Hundred Arrays Pagoda in the Cloud River battlefield should have an even better effect.

If nothing went wrong, his cultivation might be able to improve somewhat.

Lu Ye knew the location of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda. It wasn't close to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union where he currently resided; even if he traveled at full speed, it would still take about ten days.

Furthermore... there were probably still quite a few powerful individuals from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge keeping an eye on him outside. The moment he showed his face, he would inevitably attract a chase to the death.

Lu Ye sighed in his heart, realizing that peaceful days could never last. He was about to embark on a life of fleeing once again.

However, before that, he needed a large number of array banners.

The difficulty of braving the Hundred Arrays Pagoda lay in two aspects. One was the test of mental power; each level would place a tremendous burden on the cultivator's psyche. Without strong mental power, it would be hard to successfully pass through too many levels at once. The second aspect was the need for array banners since both array destruction and array setup consumed them.

Lu Ye chose not to refine them himself. Although doing it himself would be the most cost-effective, he currently had a large amount of merit at hand, and even if he spent some, it wouldn't matter much.

He left the guest room and lined up in the Heaven's Augury Hall, connecting his mind to the Heaven's Augury treasure vault and purchasing a large number of array banners from it.

Outside the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, in the teahouse that had a direct view of the union's entrance, both the owner and the waiters were overjoyed.

The teahouse's business had always been lukewarm, with cultivators coming and going in a hurry. Unless they had business to discuss or were reuniting after a long time, few would patronize places like teahouses; they would more frequently visit taverns and the like.

But in recent days, the teahouse's business... had boomed!

Every day, some cultivators would come in to drink tea, and they were the kind that would occupy a table and sit for many days.

The teahouse only had two floors, and at this moment both levels were packed to the brim.

At first, the workers at the teahouse didn't know what was happening, but as time passed, word started to spread, and they began to understand what these people were up to.

The incident of two million Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators being poisoned to death outside the mines of the Great Wilderness Mountain had caused an uproar, and the name of the instigator, Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect, began to circulate widely within the Cloud River battlefield.

The madman Lu Yiye was now hiding in this Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, and many cultivators from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge who had received the news from various sources gathered here, hoping to get a piece of the action.

Previously, some cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge couldn't hold back and barged into the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union to assassinate Lu Yiye. The result was that those few fellows were killed on the spot by the people from the mercantile union, dying a terrible death. Not only that, but their respective sects were also implicated; they couldn't do any business with the mercantile union for three years.

After such deterrence, no one dared to cause trouble in the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union. Even those who went in to investigate Lu Ye's whereabouts were just feigning business transactions.

As for whether Lu Yiye was really hiding in this Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union... no one knew.

Because from beginning to end, no one had actually seen him enter; it was only suspected.

However, according to the widespread rumors, after the mine incident, an individual wearing a mask, carrying a huge bundle, had entered the union. That person's figure matched Lu Ye's exactly.

Wearing a mask was undoubtedly a way to avoid showing one's true face. As for the huge bundle, it was very likely the spoils of the massacre of two thousand people.

So even though it was mere suspicion, many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were convinced that Lu Ye was hiding here.

Among them, Chu Yun and Zhou Pey from the Sacred Fire Order were the most certain of this.

The two of them were among the earliest to arrive here. In the meantime, quite a few Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators had lost patience and left, but these two had been sitting here for many days, unmoved.

On another part of the second floor of the teahouse, there were two silhouettes with whom Lu Ye was familiar.

It was none other than Xia Liang and Tan Sheng, who refused to give up.

When a large number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators had gathered outside the Great Reversal Valley, the two of them had miscalculated Lu Ye's response, thinking he would certainly return to the Nine Provinces, so they departed early.

As a result, the subsequent developments had been completely different from what they had anticipated. By the time they received the news and rushed to the mines, what they saw was a hellish scene with the corpses of more than two thousand Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators strewn about, which was hair-raising.

They couldn't help but feel lucky that they hadn't arrived too early; otherwise, they would likely have just become one of those two thousand.

Besides these four, the other cultivators were mostly related to those who had been poisoned to death by Lu Ye. Some had lost childhood friends, while others grieved the deaths of fellow sect sisters. With such enmity, how could they not seek revenge?

Driven by hatred, people came from all directions.