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Translator: TheBrokenPen
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Like a dying fish’s mouth agape for breath, desperately seeking the elusive embrace of air, Lu Ye’s shallow, labored breaths were occasionally punctuated by fits of coughing.
After a brief eternity, he managed to muster a fragment of his strength.
His vision spun, and all around him were the furious yet wary visages of the enemy Ninth-Orders like a flock of vultures circling him.
“What a wretched soul you are, Lu Yi Ye!”
Wei Que’s voice reverberated, dripping with venom.
Turning his gaze toward the sound, Lu Ye beheld a rather comical sight: a bedraggled Wei Que whose hair looked like flames singed it.
He hadn’t exactly fared well, even though he had survived Lu Ye’s last attack, having been visibly frightened by his phoenix too. While he hadn’t sustained physical injuries, the sheer terror had left its mark. Deep inside, he was thanking the stars that he was not caught in the path of the phoenix fire or he would have been severely wounded, if not dead.
Lu Ye’s coughing intensified, each bout threatening to wrack his body apart. Despite the agony, he forced himself into a seated position, his blood mixing with the earth beneath him, painting a grim tableau of crimson.
Gazing pensively at Wei Que, Lu Ye spoke impassively, “You can’t wait to end my life, no?”
Wei Que retorted icily, “You still think there’s any chance of you walking away from this alive?”
Lu Ye remained silent.
Wei Que continued, his tone laced with derision, “Did you think we wouldn’t notice powerful Grand Sky Coalition Cultivators lurking nearby, waiting to rescue you? But given the current circumstances, do you think they would dare to intervene? Your fate is sealed; it’s time to let go of any lingering delusions.”
“Is that so?”
Lu Ye allowed his head to droop, his long hair forming a shadowy veil over his eyes, shielding his countenance from the harsh sunlight.
He surreptitiously tapped a finger on his Battlefield Imprint and relayed a message, “You don’t have to come to rescue me, Brother Baxian. I’ll be taking my leave; so we’ll meet again in one month.”
Twenty miles away, Li Baxian, who had been closely monitoring the situation, received this message. Once reading the message, his expression shifted to a mixture of astonishment and suspicion.
At first glance, it seemed as though Lu Ye had resigned himself to a certain death, but when coupled with the last sentence, the context changed entirely.
Lu Ye specifically mentioned “in one month”. The only thing that brought to mind was the one-month restriction period that followed any Cultivator’s exit from the Cloud River Battlefield. During this period, Cultivators were prohibited from reentering the Battlefield.
Such was the rule set by the Heavens that no one could alter.
Hence, the implications in Land Yele’s words could not have been any more crystal clear—he intended to depart from the Cloud River Battlefield.
“Wait, Lu Ye. What are you thinking of doing?!” Li Baxian hurriedly inquired.
Lu Ye’s response came through expeditiously, “Right from the start, brother, the only thing stopping me from leaving was the Carnage Colosseum. But now, it’s no more!”
Li Baxian blinked in surprise, and then a realization dawned upon him. He had been so deeply concerned about Lu Ye’s safety, rushing around to rally for help while attempting to devise a plan to rescue him that in the process, he had lost sight of the most important point.
Indeed, all along, it was the Carnage Colosseum’s eldritch restrictions that had been preventing Lu Ye from escaping. Now that it had ended, there was no longer anything to confine him.
The Thousand Demon Ridge enemies assumed that Lu Ye would be theirs to slaughter once the effect of the Golden Body Token faded. Little did they know that the diminished restriction of the Carnage Colosseum now meant that Lu Ye could leave whenever he wanted to.
Although doing just that would incur a very, very steep price, to say nothing of the fact that this particular method that Lu Ye had come up with was something that few could emulate.
When weighed against the preservation of one’s own life, no expense would appear too exorbitant.
As for Lu Ye, Li Baxian never doubted whether Lu Ye had the wherewithal to make such a maneuver. After all, Lu Ye had amassed such wealth that few in the Cloud River Battlefield could match.
Li Baxian could still not quite forget how Lu Ye had once purchased two Point Restoration Pills—each worth one hundred and fifty thousand Contribution Points—in a single transaction for him.
He could count on one hand the number of Cultivators of similar rank who could possibly match Lu Ye’s opulence. Especially since he had just amassed an impressive increment of almost ten thousand Contribution Points after decimating so many enemy Cultivators.
“Let’s go! We’re leaving!”
Li Baxian called out to Feng Yuechan.
An incredulous Feng Yuechan was completely bewildered, “What about Lu Ye, Baxian?”
“Lu Ye has his own way of escape; our job here is done,” Li Baxian answered cheerfully, his former tension and worry evaporated, replaced by an inexplicable sense of tranquility and relief.
Feng Yuechan looked puzzled, but it did not take long for something to click in her mind, “Lu Ye is planning to use that method to leave the Cloud River Battlefield, isn’t he?”
Li Baxian nodded, “Precisely!”
Feng Yuechan sighed softly, “Wow, Lu Ye really is rich. No wonder his progress has been so rapid.”
They swiftly sped away as they talked, at the same time relaying word to the rest of the Ninth-Order allies whom he had rallied for help to inform them that Lu Ye would be fine and it was time to go.
More than twenty miles away on the blackened-scorched plain, Lu Ye immediately contacted Xia Qianqian right after he was done with Li Baxian. Up until now, he recognized Wei Que by face, but he had always been unaware of the latter’s name and the sect he belonged to. Since Xia Qianqian was always well-informed about such matters, Lu Ye decided to ask her.
A response from Xia Qianqian came moments later.
[Wei Que of the Clouded Sun Clan!]
Lu Ye raised his gaze and cast a deep, unfriendly, and yet meaningful look at Wei Que. Their eyes locked, and the latter furrowed his brow, sensing a palpable measure of hostility. Still, the situation dictated that there were few reasons for him to be afraid of Lu Ye. Lu Ye appeared unlikely to be able to even stand unassisted, let alone pull off any other tricks anywhere nearly as destructive as the one he had just displayed earlier.
“Every one of you here wants to be the one to kill me, eh?” Lu Ye surveyed his surroundings.
Someone growled in a low tone, “What a pointless question. When the Token’s effect runs out, that’s when your clock ends. I’d be hoping for the effect to last as long as possible if I were you, just for a little extra time.”
Lu Ye exhaled heavily, “Maybe.”
Supporting himself on his knees, he slowly rose up. He faltered, wobbling unsteadily as he straightened up, “But I guess I’m sorry. You’re all gonna be disappointed.”
“Quit playing games, Lu Yi Ye,” one of the Thousand Demon Ridge elites sneered, “You would have been dead hundreds of times over if not for the Golden Body Token. Dispense with all that grandiloquence. If I were you, I’d be digging a grave right now; unless you’re hoping for scavengers to deal with what’s left of you.”
“True enough,” Lu Ye conceded, nodding, “Without the Golden Body Token, I would have long been killed already. But what can you say? I did really have the Golden Body Token to keep me safe.”
His voice crescendoed increasingly loud and resolute, “I shall remember this day, gentlemen—the ‘hospitality’ and ‘generosity’ you have showered upon me today—, and if the opportunity arises, I shall surely repay it in kind!”
Such audacity set off a wave of anger sweeping through the remaining horde of Thousand Demon Ridge Cultivators. Was Lu Yi Ye out of his mind, some wondered. Did he not grasp the circumstances he now faced, others thought. Why was he talking about retribution when he could very well be dead anytime now?
As doubts swirled within the host of enemy Cultivators, they witnessed with their own eyes as Lu Ye suddenly flung his head backward, gazing skyward with his arms outstretched arm as he let loose a resounding cry, “In the name of the Heavens on high, I, Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect, hereby call upon a Divine Opportunity Column!”
The words only just left his lips when a dazzling blue glow blazed at the back of his hand followed by a sapphire beam of light that shot up into the sky.
Simultaneously, the countenances of the Thousand Demon Ridge Cultivators surrounding Lu Ye twisted in shock, few amongst them with even dawning amazement.
Since the outset, a vague sense of something amiss had taken root in their minds, although the feeling of suspicion was initially subdued by the awe and terror of the phoenix earlier, followed by Lu Ye’s hefty collection of bounty from those who perished because of it. There was hardly any time for deep contemplation.
Now, however, the very reason for the foreboding finally manifested.
Everyone had overlooked the fact that Lu Ye could invoke upon the name of the Heavens a Divine Opportunity Column.
His sole chance to escape from this dire predicament!
Divine Opportunity Columns were sacred objects created by the Heavens and they could typically be found at every Divine Trade Association branch, the strongholds of various militant sects and orders, plus their outpost in dimensions such as the Spirit Creek Battlefields.
These were Divine Opportunity Columns one could access without charge.
However, there were certain instances where getting access to a Divine Opportunity Column demanded a price.
For example, within certain sacred sites scattered across the Cloud River Battlefield, the Pillars of Celestial Mechanism were not intrinsic to the land itself. Instead, cultivators would petition for their presence.
There were also Arcane Glades scattered across the Cloud River Battlefield, for instance, that were equipped with their own Divine Opportunity Columns. These Glades did not appear with their Divine Opportunity Columns; it was the Cultivators who summoned these Glades that needed to petition to the Heavens and pay the heavy price for them.
Divine Opportunity Columns stood as conduits bridging the ethereal expanse between the Cloud River Battlefield and their strongholds in the real world of Jiu Zhou. For convenience’s sake, these mystical obelisks facilitated access into the Vault of Providence, in addition to enabling seamless transitions between the Battlefield’s dimension and the real world in the event of an invasion on the Arcane Glade.
But only a scarce number of Arcane Glades across the vast expanse of the Cloud River Battlefield could afford to have Divine Opportunity Columns. To have a Column in a Glade demanded an exorbitant price: a staggering tithe of a hundred thousand Contribution Points.
Few Cultivators—especially Cloud River Cultivators, who were usually bogged down by their meager reserves of Contribution Points—could ever afford such a price. Most Cultivators would rather direct their Contribution Points towards augmenting their personal cultivation with little remaining to be spared. Therefore most Cultivators scarcely dared to dream of having Divine Opportunity Columns of their own.
Therefore, it was only the bigger Arcane Glades with a larger capacity to house more Cultivators that have their own Divine Opportunity Columns, where the cost of purchasing the mystical obelisk from the Heavens could be shared amongst the members of bigger Arcane Glades. The mitigated cost would make the substantial cost a manageable feat.
That was also the reason behind Feng Yuechan’s amazement about Lu Ye’s wealth upon learning of his bold plan. The sheer wealth the latter commanded was nothing short of astonishing.
To wield a hundred thousand Contribution Points was a rarity within the Cloud River Battlefield, a feat beyond the reach of mere handfuls and Lu Ye happened to be one of them.
Before being trapped inside the Carnage Colosseum, Lu Ye had accumulated a substantial ninety-two thousand two hundred fifty Contribution Points. Yet, today, his tally had soared to an impressive hundred and sixty-one thousand two hundred.
That was thirty thousand more than what he owned when he first entered the Cloud River Battlefield.
That was all thanks to Glyph: Fire Phoenix, which was the one thing instrumental to this resounding achievement or he would still be short of Contribution Points to reach one hundred thousand.
Now that Lu Ye finally had enough Contribution Points, he could summon a Divine Opportunity Column for his use.
As he told Li Ba Xian, it was only the Carnage Colosseum that had denied him escape. With the arterial-red dome-like shield of the Colosseum preventing his exit, he could still call upon the Heavens for a Divine Column Opportunity, but it would still do him no good.
But now, with the Carnage Colosseum concluded and its crimson veil lifted, Lu Ye was now free. Nothing and no one could hinder his passage anymore.
Meanwhile, the surrounding Thousand Demon Ridge Cultivators finally grasped what Lu Ye was trying to do.
Xia Liang’s voice thundered in anger, “STOP HIM! STOP HIM NOW!”
A sweeping scythe of light hurtled towards Lu Ye. Xia Liang’s attack, a resplendent cascade of gleaming arcs aimed at Lu Ye rent the sky. Such a formidable display of might and choler by the Ninth-Order.
Too much had been given up to corner Lu Ye here. Victory was just within reach; all that remained was for the effect of the Golden Body Token to end and Lu Ye’s life would be theirs.
Yet, Lu Yi Ye was going to summon a Divine Opportunity Column on the brink of their triumph. Would they allow him? No. Never.
If they were to let him slip out of their fingers again, then all the painstaking efforts up until this point would become meaningless. All the sacrifices that they had made, all the lives lost on his account—everything would be in vain.
And once news of this got out, the Cultivators of the Grand Sky Coalition would never stop tormenting any Thousand Demon Ridge members they met with ridicule and scorn.
[Just how incredibly rich is this brat?! One hundred thousand Contribution Points?!] Xia Liang mused. For all his life, he had never come near to having that amount of Points before.
A barrage of attacks converged from all directions, bearing down on Lu Ye.
Simultaneously, a beam of light descended just in time from the skies above, enshrouding Lu Ye within its luminous embrace. The onslaught of assaults crashed against the cylindrical barrier of light, each strike swallowed by its sheer brilliance. On the other side, within the confines of this protective column of light, Lu Ye’s cold and unyielding gaze panned from one face to another, etching the countenances of these Ninth-Order elites deep in his memory.
