Sage of Humanity

The cultivators of Cloud River Level 9, who were lagging behind Lu Yiye, the cultivators of Level 8 followed. Initially, they had almost given up the pursuit, believing that if the current trend continued, Lu Yiye would eventually die at the hands of those Level 9 cultivators. Catching up would be fruitless for them.

However, just at that moment, they saw Lu Ye descend lower and turn around to fly back.

Overjoyed, they each promptly descended, hoping to intercept him.

Before they could even prepare, they saw Lu Ye retract his spirit ark, a pair of fiery red wings unfolded behind him. His whole being turned into a red beam, sweeping under them in a blur.

The moment those wings appeared, Lu Ye's speed surged to an entirely new level!

Everyone's expression changed, none of them had expected Lu Ye to have such a trick up his sleeve. Some faintly realized something and could not help but look back with anxious eyes toward the way they had come, inwardly marvelling at Lu Yiye's audacity and reckless audacity.

Outside of Great Wilderness Mountain, the battle in the mines made Lu Ye understand a truth.

That was, vengeance should be sought as soon as possible, preferably overnight. Otherwise, once the opportunity is missed, even if one's strength increases in the future, there might not be another chance for revenge. After all, the Cloud River battlefield is vast, and finding someone's whereabouts is quite challenging.

His current strength indeed was no match for Level 9 cultivators, and even facing a Level 8 would require a hard battle. But killing those below Level 8 typically wouldn't be too troublesome.

The few hundred cultivators who had chased him out of Heaven's Augury City varied in cultivation levels, and after covering about 30 miles, the originally compact group was stretched into a long line, with the less powerful ones falling behind.

Lu Ye had already bypassed the attempts of Level 8-9 cultivators to stop him, and now he was facing the ones below Level 8.

These cultivators had almost lost sight of Lu Ye until, driven by interest and hatred, they persisted in the chase, only to suddenly encounter a figure with flame-flowing wings flying directly toward them.

Using their Ocular Power, someone cried out in delight, "It's Lu Yiye!"

As these words fell, many cultivators summoned their Spiritual Artifacts, covertly mobilizing their spirit force, waiting to give Lu Ye a harsh reception as he drew near.

In the next instant, a fiery red Liu Guang carrying an unstoppable force crashed into the midst of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators.

The explosion of violent spirit force at that moment was unceasing, with thunderous noises filling the air, accompanied by cries and exclamations of horror.

In an instant, the red beam that Lu Ye had become pierced through the enemy's formation like an arrow, flinging a mist of blood and scattering severed limbs and flesh into the air behind him.

In that brief contact, at least seven or eight people were slain.

The remaining Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators revealed terrified expressions, none expecting that Lu Ye, a Level 5 realm cultivator, could unleash such formidable power.

Indeed, in the mountain cave outside of Great Wilderness Mountain, over two million Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators died at his hands, including several of Cloud River Level 9, but that was due to poison, not a reflection of his own power.

Very few knew of Lu Ye's true strength.

Only at this moment did everyone realize that Lu Ye's own strength was not to be underestimated; in that brief encounter, none of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators was able to withstand even a single strike from him.

The red beam that had pierced through the formation turned around and charged once more, and several more unsuspecting Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators perished.

"Lu Yiye, how dare you!" roared an angry voice, from the Level 8-9 cultivators who had caught up, their eyes nearly bursting with rage.

They had never imagined that under such circumstances, Lu Yiye would have the audacity to turn around for a counter-assault and slaughter over a dozen right under their watch.

Even though those who lay dead were neither kith nor kin, the onlookers still felt a burning sensation on their faces.

Lu Yiye's actions were as if he was slapping them directly in the face.

Sensing the approach of these powerful pursuers, Lu Ye did not linger. After piercing the enemy's formation for the second time, he immediately dashed off in a direction, each flap of his fiery red wings propelling him a vast distance.

The ten or so pursuing Level 9 cultivators were alarmed to discover that Lu Ye's flying speed, in this state, was not in the least bit inferior to theirs, even slightly faster!

When he had first left Heaven's Augury City, Lu Ye had already shown astonishing speed. With the cultivation of Level 5, his speed was comparable to Level 8, and everyone thought that was due to his Flying Spirit Artifact.

But now what?

He had put away his Flying Spirit Artifact, and everything relied on his own abilities, yet his speed was even faster than before.

This was almost incomprehensible.

At this point, the cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge finally understood why Lu Ye dared to escape from Heaven's Augury City; clearly, he was fearless.

"Everyone, that is the wings rune tattoo!" someone suddenly exclaimed, "Lu Yiye must have a highly skilled rune tattoo master behind him."

The one who spoke evidently had a certain understanding of the Path of Spirit Runes. Although he knew Lu Ye was also a spirit runes master, he did not believe that Lu Ye was capable of creating wings spirit runes stable enough for a cultivator's flight on his own. It was illogical; maintaining the stability of the spirit runes while crafting them and simultaneously utilizing their power to fly was something not even Divine Sea Realm cultivators could necessarily achieve.

Short-term might be possible, but over time, slip-ups are bound to occur.

Wings, the kind of spirit runes that need to be maintained over a long period, are generally used in the Rune Tattoo Path.

The person continued, "With him driving the power of the rune tattoo like this, the consumption on his own body is immensely large. Relying on his Level 5 realm cultivation, he can at most maintain it for half an hour. Therefore, Fellow Daoists, don't let him shake you off. Make sure to keep up with him, and half an hour later, he will surely be dead!"

With these words, a group of Level 9 cultivators suddenly became spirited.

Some had been considering whether to use some secret technique to increase speed, but after hearing this, they also dismissed the idea. Secret techniques of this level always have some degree of backlash on oneself... just like Ying Wuji, who had used a secret technique to escape outside the Great Reversal Valley and ended up extremely weak.

So, unless absolutely necessary, no cultivator is willing to activate a secret technique.

It must be said, this Level 9 cultivator had a considerable understanding of the Path of Spirit Runes, but he didn't understand Lu Ye.

If it were an ordinary Level 5 cultivator, indeed, they could not maintain such desperate activation of wings for a long time—this was not a spirit rune that Cloud River Realm cultivators could master.

But who would have thought that Lu Ye would have something like the Talent Tree? The wings spirit runes had been activated on the Talent Tree, so when he activated them, the consumption was much less than that of the pure wings rune tattoo.

Moreover, with Lu Ye's profound foundation and the fact that he had been consuming elixir pills from the very start to replenish his consumption, the outcome would certainly not be as the cultivator had predicted.

Time passed, and the distance between them gradually widened. Even if a group of Level 9 cultivators desperately pushed their power, after half an hour, they could only see a red dot in the distance...

This distance was very dangerous because if it widened a bit more, they would lose track of Lu Ye. By then, with the world so vast, where would they go to find him?

The Level 9 cultivator who had spoken earlier had an ashen face.

He had confidently declared that with Lu Ye's cultivation, he could only last at most half an hour, but now that the time had come, looking at Lu Ye from afar, he seemed full of vigor, showing no signs of exhaustion.

On the contrary, they had all been fully driving their power for half an hour and each of them had suffered significant consumption. Although not to the point of complete depletion, it had reached a level that could affect their strength.

Seemingly sensing the glances all around, the cultivator who had spoken earlier clenched his teeth and said, "He certainly can't last much longer. Fellow Daoists, victory is within sight. You absolutely can't give up now. At the very least, we can't let him shake us off, or else all will be lost."

With that, the spirit force swirling around him pulsed with an extremely peculiar rhythm a few times, and then his entire person suddenly radiated with a healthy glow, his speed, which was already very fast, increased by another level, instantly pulling away from the others.

He had clearly activated some secret technique capable of increasing speed.

Seeing his conviction, the others did likewise, each activating secret techniques they would normally not use easily.

With their cultivation at such a level, they basically all had some life-saving or desperate secret techniques, inherited from their sects or purchased from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault.

Lu Ye, in fact, had also cultivated secret techniques. The Mental Eye, taught to him by Xia Liang, was a secret technique from the Mad Saber Sect.

The Blood Moving Technique, passed on by his third senior brother, was also a secret technique.

However, the two secret techniques he had learned had hardly any significant backlash, especially the Mental Eye Secret Technique, which was merely an extension and expansion of perception.

The Blood Moving Technique did indeed have some backlash, but with a bit of caution, the effects were not too significant.

The secret techniques displayed by these Level 9 cultivators at this moment were different—each one was the kind that could be used to boost escaping speed in critical moments. It goes without saying that the backlash was evident, and the longer the duration, the greater the backlash.

But at this moment, in order not to be thrown off by Lu Ye, they could no longer care about that, particularly a sword cultivator among them. As the sound of the sword cried out, he immediately overtook everyone else, leading by a great distance.

The gap that Lu Ye had opened was steadily closing.

Lu Ye, who was fleeing ahead, was clearly aware of this, but at this moment, he was going at full speed, with both Move-Like-The-Wind and wings spirit runes constantly maintained and activated, leaving him no way to increase his speed further.

Moreover, the consumption of spirit force within his body was immense.

Despite constantly consuming elixir pills to replenish his powers, the spirit force consumed by maintaining the two spirit runes was unimaginable, and the spirit force supplied by refining elixir pills was simply not enough to keep up.

Luckily, he had the spirit energy-storing ring!

The spirit force stored in this Spiritual Artifact ring was either poured in by him on regular days or dissipated from his body, so he could access it at any time without any delay or hidden dangers.

As the pursuit continued, the scenery on the ground swept by rapidly.

Lu Ye took the opportunity to pull out the ten-part map, checking his current location and looking for suitable hiding spots in the vicinity.

He had to prepare for the possibility of being caught. If he really couldn't throw off those guys behind him, he would have to find some terrain he could use to hide.