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Translator: Jon
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
After hastily parrying five consecutive blows, Ying Wuji’s entire body had gone cold with fear. His body involuntarily leaned back from the impact, leaving his chest wide open and defenseless at this moment.
He watched as a long blade came stabbing at him. It was impossible to avoid or parry the blow at this point. The injuries he suffered in the Ameliorate Valley and the cost of activating the Secret Technique had caused his reaction speed to become much slower. Therefore, he was powerless to defend himself against the incoming attack.
When they first started fighting, he had been shocked by the strength Lu Ye displayed. He could not shake the feeling that he was facing an opponent who was equal to him in terms of strength. However, the evenly-matched battle soon became a one-sided massacre in the short span of two seconds…
Frantically summoning the Spiritual Power Shield to protect himself, he watched in horror as the blade stabbed into his chest.
All of a sudden, the pitch-black blade erupted with a burst of light. Complex and intricate patterns simultaneously flashed across the blade. The blade had received the Blessing of the Sharp Edge Glyph twice!
Ying Wuji’s disordered Spiritual Power that was summoned hastily could not provide much protection. When the blade reached him, the Spiritual Power Shield immediately shattered upon impact. Then, the Inviolable Saber stabbed into his chest.
Lu Ye raised his eyebrows in surprise. When his blade stabbed into the other party’s chest, he clearly felt as though there was something blocking the advance of the blade. In addition, the obstruction was accompanied by a soft clanging sound.
The Ghost Cultivator wearing the black cat’s mask seemed to be carrying some sort of treasure that resembled chest armor.
“Bleurgh…” Due to the force of impact, Ying Wuji’s figure was pushed back by a considerable distance. A mouthful of blood involuntarily spewed out of his mouth. His reaction was not because he was wounded during the exchange with Lu Ye earlier but because he was already wounded in the first place.
Hastily creating a distance of several meters between them, he abandoned the idea of defeating Lu Ye and turned around to rise into the air instead.
Lu Ye immediately gave pursuit. He had only taken one step forward when he saw a mist of blood enveloping Ying Wuji’s figure that had soared into the sky.
All the blood in Ying Wuji’s body seemed to be boiling and evaporating away. Then, he transformed into a stream of blood light and vanished into the distance. The speed was so incredible that Lu Ye would not be able to catch up even if he activated both the Wings Glyph and the Soar Glyph together!
It was that Secret Technique again. Back at the Ameliorate Valley, the Ghost Cultivator had previously used the Secret Technique to escape. He unexpectedly used the same Secret Technique again in such a short time.
Regardless of how powerful the Secret Technique was, it could be seen that the Secret Technique was not that simple just by looking at the symptoms during activation. The user would suffer from a huge backlash just by activating the Secret Technique.
Lu Ye did not bother to give chase even though he was certain he could slaughter the other party if he did. After all, he was also being hunted at the moment. It was not long since he teleported out of the Ameliorate Arcane Glade, so his top priority was to hide as quickly as possible.
At the moment, he only had two choices before him: Venture deeper into the Grand Wilds Peak or leave the Grand Wilds Peak.
This location was considered extremely deep inside the Grand Wilds Peak, but there were generally no living Spirit Beasts roaming around the vicinity of the Arcane Glade due to the constant hunting of the wolf pack. On the contrary, he would easily encounter various mighty Spirit Beasts if he ventured too deep into the Grand Wilds Peak. Even if there were no elite-level Spirit Beasts like the Berserk Giant Ape, certain powerful flying-type Spirit Beasts were often more dangerous to cultivators compared to the Berserk Giant Ape.
On the other hand, there was no need to worry about encountering mighty Spirit Beasts if he chose to leave the Grand Wilds Peak. He would simply need to face countless Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators instead.
Only several hundred Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had besieged the Arcane Glade, but those numbers were not the true representation of how many Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators there were in the Grand Wilds Peak. That was because the weaker cultivators could not travel deep into the Grand Wilds Peak to arrive at the location of the Arcane Glade.
It was important to note that the cultivators outside the Arcane Glade were basically in the Sixth Order Realm and above. In contrast, more than several hundred Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had rushed over and gathered around the surroundings of the Grand Wilds Peak after receiving the news regarding Lu Ye. There were at least several thousand of them. Not to mention, their numbers would only increase with time.
Although it seemed as though Lu Ye had two choices before him, the truth was that he only had one choice he could make. He had not hesitated to take the risk and leave the Arcane Glade instead of escaping back to Jiu Zhou via the Divine Opportunity Column. Needless to say, the reason for his actions was not to avoid and flee from the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators.
Inside the Spirit Creek Battlefield, he had been hunted and pursued by various parties. However, he later dominated the entire battlefield once he reached a certain level of strength. Countless Thousand Demon Ridge Sects had trembled in fear before him as a result.
At the moment, he was far from reaching the strength required to dominate the Cloud River Battlefield. Fortunately, strength was something that gradually accumulated over a period of time.
Besides, the situation in the Cloud River Battlefield was different from the Spirit Creek Battlefield because there were no Outposts in the Cloud River Battlefield. If somebody provoked him in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, he could simply target the Sect in revenge. After all, the cultivator in question would eventually have to return to his Sect.
On the other hand, the situation in the Cloud River Battlefield was different. If somebody provoked him and he was no match for the opponent at the time, he might not be able to find that person again even if he wanted to seek revenge. Therefore, revenge should be done as soon as possible in the Cloud River Battlefield. It was best if these affairs were not left to stew over time.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Ye immediately began traveling in the direction of the outer edges of the Grand Wilds Peak.
A cup of tea’s time later, several streams of light flashed across the sky. The person in the lead was none other than Song Zhui of the Rainbow Temple, and the people surrounding him were his Juniors from the same Sect. They had been hidden in the crowd earlier, secretly helping him by expressing their approval and fanning the flames among the crowd.
At present, the plan to cooperate with Ying Wuji to assassinate Lu Ye had fallen apart. Lu Ye had escaped the Arcane Glade with the help of a Teleportation Ward, and hundreds of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were also scattered throughout the Grand Wilds Peak in search of his traces.
Hence, there was no need for them to remain hidden anymore. They decided to join forces instead. Once they found Lu Ye’s location, defeating him would be as easy as clenching their fists.
At this moment, they were rushing around the vicinity at a low altitude and searching for something at the same time.
“Senior Brother, over there!” All of a sudden, an Eighth Order Realm Master pointed at a spot below them.
Song Zhui glanced in that direction, then quickly landed nearby with the rest of his subordinates.
Not far ahead was a man wearing a black cat’s mask. The man was leaning motionlessly against a large boulder with his head drooping downward. The shirt on his body had been dyed crimson with blood, making him look as though he had been soaked in a pool of blood. Strangely enough, there were no obvious wounds on his body.
This person was none other than Ying Wuji, but he seemed completely different from when he first appeared in front of Lu Ye just now. At this moment, his entire being seemed to have shrunk and grown considerably thinner. This was the price he had to pay for activating the Secret Technique twice in a row within such a short time.
The so-called Secret Technique should not be wielded carelessly… If his heritage and strength had not been enough to support the burden, he would have exploded to death by now.
“Is he dead?” A Seventh Order Realm female cultivator whispered softly. Anybody who suddenly found Ying Wuji in this state would definitely wonder if he was dead.
Ying Wuji’s drooping head suddenly lifted, and his hands that were lying by the side twitched slightly. He managed to speak with great difficulty. “Don’t speak nonsense… Cough… Cough…”
Between the fits of coughing, blood trickled out from the corners of his mouth.
Song Zhui frowned. “How did you end up in this state?”
Even if Ying Wuji had been wounded by the Wards prepared by Lu Ye inside the Ameliorate Arcane Glade; even if he was forced to activate the Secret Technique, there was no reason for him to be so weakened.
Song Zhui finally understood why Ying Wuji had sent him a message and summoned him here without any warning. Without the protection of others, Ying Wuji would be dead if any random Spirit Beast came across him in this state. Ying Wuji had summoned them here to help him.
“Lu… Yi Ye!” Ying Wuji struggled to get the words out.
“What!?” Song Zhui was taken aback, then he immediately reacted strongly. “Did you encounter Lu Yi Ye? Where!?”
Ying Wuji raised his hand and pointed in a direction with great effort. “Twenty kilometers away…”
After he finished speaking, his hand fell limply to the side. He was completely exhausted at this moment. With the extent of his injuries, it would take at least half a month to recover from his wounds.
For a Ghost Cultivator like him, who was strong enough to kill a Real Lake Realm Master, his current condition was extremely pathetic. He couldn’t help feeling humiliated to the core.
Song Zhui immediately shot into the air and anxiously glanced in the direction that Ying Wuji pointed. At the same time, he shouted, “Junior Brother Liu, stay behind and protect him!”
Ying Wuji’s weak voice entered his ears. “Don’t… be careless… He is… very strong!”
He pretended not to hear the warning. [Lu Yi Ye is just a Fifth Order Realm Master. No matter how strong he is, how can he be stronger than me? The most urgent matter right now is to find him!]
Afterwards, Sigh Zhui and the others departed in a hurry. They left behind a man with a full beard, who was none other than Junior Brother Liu.
Ying Wuji was a cultivator from the Yama Temple after all. As Sects from Bing Zhou, both the Yama Temple and the Rainbow Temple had always maintained a close relationship with each other. Under the premise that they could take care of each other with no issues, there was no reason for Song Zhui to ignore the plight of the other party. Junior Brother Liu was in the Seventh Order Realm, so it should not be a problem for him to protect the injured Ying Wuji.
Song Zhui and his Juniors traveled at full speed, heading in the direction Ying Wuji pointed earlier. It did not take long for them to arrive at the cave where Lu Ye and Ying Wuji had exchanged blows earlier. After a thorough examination, they confirmed that there were traces of a battle in this place. However, the traces were far and few. It was obvious the duration of the battle had been very short.
Then, they entered the cave and discovered a hidden Ward. Even if they were ignorant about the Way of Wards, they were certain that this was the Teleportation Ward left behind by Lu Ye! It was through this particular Teleportation Ward that he had teleported from the Ameliorate Valley directly to this cave.
Unfortunately, there were not many useful clues. Even if they could confirm that Ying Wuji had encountered Lu Ye here, it was difficult for them to determine Lu Ye’s current location. Therefore, there was nothing they could do except continue their search.
…
The hundreds of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had forcibly suppressed Lu Ye’s Arcane Glade under the leadership of Song Zhui from the Rainbow Temple. Unfortunately, an astonishing turn of events occurred in the battle where victory was certain. It turned out that the Arcane Glade had a Divine Opportunity Column!
Although Lu Ye could have used the Divine Opportunity Column to safely return to Jiu Zhou, he made a surprising decision instead. He chose to depart the Arcane Glade through the Teleportation Ward. Moreover, he also threatened to return to the Spirit Creek Battlefield and destroy the Outpost belonging to the other party’s Sect if they dared to destroy his Arcane Glade.
Nobody knew why he took such foolish and irrational action, but the situation undoubtedly gave the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators great hope. Lu Ye was currently hiding somewhere in the Grand Wilds Peak, and the person who could find him would have the chance to obtain the enormous bounty on his head.
Thanks to the Battlefield Imprint that every cultivator possessed, the news soon spread across the land like wildfire. There was no saying how many Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators received the news in the span of a single day.
In particular, the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators lurking around the Grand Wilds Peak but could not make the journey to the Ameliorate Valley. Both their cultivation and their strength were not enough for them to venture deep into the depths of the Grand Wilds Peak. They initially thought that they had made the trip for nothing. Who could have known that the situation would turn around to give them a new ray of hope?
They immediately became full of energy and enthusiastically began searching their surroundings. However, nobody could find any traces of him even though thousands of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators spent the whole day scouring the Grand Wilds Peak. Nobody knew where he was hiding.
