Sage of Humanity

The tea house was filled with a significant number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, among whom there were many strong figures, but in actuality, few had the confidence to kill Lu Ye.

As long as Lu Ye hid within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, they were at a loss, and within the Mercantile Union there was a Heaven's Augury Pillar, which meant Lu Ye could escape back to the Nine Provinces at any moment.

It could be said that Lu Ye's current situation, compared to when he was in the Great Reversal Valley, had become a myriad times safer.

The gathering of these cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge here was more out of unwillingness to give up; others also harbored a stroke of luck... what if that Lu Yiye recklessly ran out from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union? He probably didn't even know how many eyes were watching him outside.

After waiting so many days, many had lost patience, but thinking that they had already waited for so long, they might as well wait a few more days to see if there would be any turn of events.

If another ten days to half a month passed, the cultivators gathered here from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would likely diminish by over eighty percent, as nobody would keep up surveillance without any solid information.

However, at noon on this particular day, there was a turn of events.

Since there were quite a few cultivators in the tea house, it had always been rather noisy; but at a certain moment, the boisterous noise suddenly quieted down as if someone had activated an invisible soundproof barrier over the entire tea house.

At a window-adjacent seat in the tea house, one after another, cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge looked unbelievingly in the direction of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, where a figure had unexpectedly appeared.

The person was wearing a face mask and suddenly appeared at the entrance to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, looking as though they had just walked out from there.

In the Nine Provinces, there were not a few cultivators who liked to wear face masks as they moved about, especially those ghost cultivators who act sneakily, so a simple face mask didn't explain much.

While one's features could be hidden behind a mask, their physique could not be changed.

What moved the many cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was that the person's physique was strikingly similar to Lu Ye's.

It seemed as if the person standing at the entrance to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union noticed their gazes and looked up towards the second floor of the tea house.

As gazes collided, many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge flashed expressions of nervousness and excitement.

The excitement stemmed from the possibility that this person might indeed be Lu Yiye, who had really been hiding within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

The nervousness came from the realization that the person had noticed the situation inside the tea house and might not dare to actually come out. If he turned around and went back to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, there would be little anyone could do.

In a moment, a silent standoff played out under the watchful eyes of all; the person suspected to be Lu Yiye took a step forward, moving beyond the range enveloped by the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

A group of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators nearly let out an exultant cheer.

Under the mask, Lu Ye looked helpless.

He had been warned by a manager of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union earlier and knew that many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were surveilling him outside, but he hadn't expected to find so many people still there after all this time.

These fellows really had patience.

Of course, he still had an even safer and more reliable option, which was to retreat back to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union and escape back to the Nine Provinces, then come back after a month. By then, nobody would know where he was. However, if that had been what he wanted, he would have made that choice while in the Great Reversal Valley, and never waited until today.

Moreover, even if he came back after a month, how would that change anything? With countless cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge watching over him, wherever he might be, as soon as he dared to show his face in public, he would inevitably invite numerous troubles.

Unless he hid away in the Nine Provinces sect headquarters forever.

Masking one's appearance had become futile, so as Lu Ye stepped out of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he reached up and removed the mask from his face.

In an instant, the many eyes gazing through the void sharpened significantly.

Earlier it was mere suspicion, but now with the mask removed, Lu Ye's identity had become certain.

After walking a few steps, Lu Ye summoned his spirit ark, stepping onto it. With spirit force propelling it, the spirit ark shot into the sky, turning into a stream of light heading off in one direction.

"Chase!" someone in the tea house called out in a low voice.

The next instant, everyone sprang into action, flying out through the windows.

Not only from this tea house, but buildings all around the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union also revealed tons of figures who suddenly showed themselves, rising into the air.

The tea house, once full of guests, emptied in a blink of an eye.

This grand disturbance left some cultivators who were unaware of the specifics dumbfounded, as none of them knew exactly what had happened.

In the sky above, Lu Ye led the way with a dense array of multicolored lights trailing behind him—a bare minimum of three hundred streams. At first glance, it almost looked as if Lu Ye was leading a group of cultivators on some mission, but in reality, each of the cultivators in pursuit wished to tear him limb from limb.

They had assumed that should Lu Ye dare to leave the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he would have no way out. Yet after a brief moment of chasing, many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were shocked to realize that something was amiss.

"How is this kid so fast?" someone exclaimed in astonishment. With a Cloud River Level 8 cultivation, although not known for speed, they were above average. Logically, Lu Ye, a mere Cloud River Level 5 cultivator, shouldn't possibly escape their pursuit.

But in fact, the distance between him and Lu Ye showed no signs of closing.

In other words, Lu Ye, at the Level 5 realm, was nearly as fast in flight as he was at Level 8.

The flying speed of a cultivator is basically determined by the strength of their cultivation; generally speaking, the higher the cultivation, the faster the flight.

So, for cultivators with lower cultivation, it's very difficult to survive under the hands of cultivators with higher cultivation—unable to fight back, unable to escape, all that's left is to face death.

Of course, there's also the factor of Flying Spirit Artifacts. Different restrictions are branded in different artifacts, giving varying benefits to cultivators.

Some expensive Flying Spirit Artifacts could indeed allow a cultivator to fly faster; however, such artifacts are invariably exorbitantly priced.

The Level 8 cultivator soon realized that what was exorbitantly priced for others was nothing for dog tycoon Lu Yiye, whose name rang loud and clear.

This guy didn't lack anything, especially merit; casually inviting one or two Heaven's Augury Pillars or fishing out a top-notch Flying Spirit Artifact from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

A mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred only strengthened his resolve to kill Lu Ye.

However, by this time, he also understood that taking down Lu Yiye was likely not within his reach. Cloud River Level 9 cultivators were faster than him and were closing the distance with Lu Yiye. Once they caught up, Lu Yiye's death was certain.

Feeling it was a pity, he cursed himself for being at Level 8 instead of Level 9.

As time passed, the group of more than three hundred people who had chased out of Heaven's Augury City gradually spread out with the cultivators of lower cultivation lagging behind, and those at the front having higher cultivation.

And at the very front, over a dozen figures were all from the Cloud River Level 9; each of them desperately urged their Flying Spirit Artifacts to the limit, their spirit force surging ceaselessly.

At this juncture, their goal was not simply to kill Lu Ye, but to be faster than the others. After all, there was only one Lu Ye's head, and whoever could make the first move had the chance to take his life.

There at the forefront, Lu Ye put several elixir pills into his mouth, slowly chewing them.

Despite being relentlessly pursued by a horde of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, he showed no hint of panic and even had the leisure to evaluate his current foundation.

His confident departure in full view of so many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was not because of a rush of blood to the head, but due to a fair amount of certainty that he could resolve this crisis.

Indeed, he was alone and could not possibly stand against so many enemies. If caught, he would have no chance of survival.

But the premise was that he had to be caught first!

At this moment, he simply activated his spirit ark, which had Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes added to it, essentially keeping pace with the average Level 8 cultivator's flight speed.

And this was not yet his ultimate speed. After a round of assessment, he felt confident that, giving his all, even those at Level 9 might not be able to catch up with him.

Being able to achieve such a feat in the Cloud River Level 5 realm, the opportunity he obtained in Fox Fairy Valley was indispensable.

The blessing from Heaven's Augury had not only elevated his formidable foundation to new heights but had also increased his cultivation by one realm. This not only gave him the power to kill enemies three ranks higher but also a faster flying speed.

Of course, this did not mean that he could rest easy while being chased by Cloud River Level 9 cultivators.

What he lacked, compared to Level 9 cultivators, was his spirit force reserve. Even with a profound foundation and stable base, the difference of four minor levels meant his spirit force reserve was not as abundant as theirs.

Maintaining Move-Like-The-Wind was not an insignificant drain on him; hence even though the chase had just begun, Lu Ye had already made preparations to replenish his spirit force.

Most cultivators didn't have this convenience. After all, how many effects of elixir pills can one refine while fleeing? However, he didn't have this problem.

He never had the chance to compete properly in flight speed against Cloud River Level 9 cultivators before. Now, after this trial, Lu Ye felt far more confident in himself.

A spiteful voice came from behind, "Lu Yiye, you cannot escape. Surrender yourself to death quickly!"

Lu Ye ignored it as if it were nothing. Honestly, he had heard similar words on various occasions, but the outcome was always that he lived well and those from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge who crossed him usually did not end up well.

Someone who had said such words to him before was a Yuanhong Hall cultivator named Song Zhui.

After racing for about 30 miles, the distance between those at Level 9 and Lu Ye was getting closer; they were almost within striking distance.

At the same time, Lu Ye acutely perceived the sharp presence from behind locking on to him.

Right when those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were preparing to strike, Lu Ye's figure suddenly plummeted, his speed dropping so quickly it was astonishing.

This move made them extremely uncomfortable, forcing them to quickly disperse the spirit force they had been secretly accumulating.

Soon after, they saw Lu Ye change direction and speed past under them, quickly receding into the distance.

He actually flew back the way he had come!