Sage of Humanity

The transaction went smoothly, and the Manager never asked for Lu Ye's name throughout the process.

Because when those thousands of storage sacks appeared before his eyes, the Manager had already discerned Lu Ye's identity.

The mining battle had resulted in the poisoning of two million Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, an event that caused quite a stir. How could the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union not be aware? They knew even more than the average cultivator.

After all, the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was involved in all kinds of business, including intelligence.

At this stage, besides Lu Ye, who else could produce so many storage sacks in one go when looking across the entire Cloud River battlefield?

Empty storage sacks aren't valuable, but the sheer number makes up for it, plus all the miscellaneous items Lu Ye wanted to sell. All in all, it was a rare large transaction, so the Manager calculated the price very carefully, and it took almost half a day to conclude the deal.

As he stepped out of Lu Ye's guest room, the Manager suddenly turned around, his face showing a hint of hesitation, and he said something meaningful to Lu Ye, "The vicinity of the mercantile union has been quite lively recently, I hope it won't disturb the esteemed guest's rest."

After saying that, he gave a slight bow and turned to leave.

Lu Ye closed the door of his room, walked to the window, hid his form, and stealthily surveyed the area outside.

Yiyi didn't understand, "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid our location has been exposed."

"Ah?" Yiyi was startled, "How could that be?"

"It's normal. Back then, I was carrying such a large bundle; it was bound to be seen by many people. As a cultivator, carrying such a large bundle in itself is a very suspicious act, and it's inevitable that it would draw the attention of some interested parties."

This was within Lu Ye's expectations, but there was really no other way at the time, unless he was willing to abandon all his war spoils. With so many spoils, it was simply impossible to conceal himself in the wild.

"But those people didn't see my face, and at that time, I even put Amber in the spirit beast sack, so although some people suspect I'm hiding here, there's no definitive evidence."

Yiyi suddenly remembered the Manager's parting words, which hadn't crossed her mind at the time, but now she suddenly realized, "Was that Manager hinting at you?"

Lu Ye nodded.

Yiyi found it very strange, "But isn't the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union always neutral, never involving itself in the conflict between the two major camps? Why would it suddenly do you a favor?"

"It's not necessarily a favor…" Lu Ye moved away from the window, sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and said, "It might be to avoid any misunderstanding, thinking I believed my information here was leaked by them."

That is why the Manager appeared so hesitant before leaving.

Since the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union never gets involved in the competition and conflict between the two major camps, in theory, there is no need to provide Lu Ye with any information.

But not to warn Lu Ye would be problematic. If he were to be attacked right after leaving the mercantile union, it would inevitably lead to unnecessary misunderstandings, with him suspecting that the union had leaked the information. If Lu Ye held a grudge against the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union because of that, it would go against the union's original intention.

The Manager's expression was hesitant, and his words were vague, but the implication was clear enough, and how could Lu Ye not understand?

Besides, even if the Manager hadn't said anything, Lu Ye would have likely noticed on his own.

He had been busy unlocking the restriction locks on the storage sacks these past days, paying no attention to the outside world, but if he had taken the time to observe his surroundings, he would have definitely noticed something amiss.

The Manager's hint was just going along with the flow, not essential.

"So what do we do now?" Yiyi asked.

"Just leave them hanging, what else?"

No matter how much those from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge want to kill me, they won't dare to cause trouble inside the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, as all fighting is prohibited within it.

Even though Lu Ye was confident that even if he were to go out, those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators might not be able to do much to him, ever since leaving Great Reversal Valley, he had been running around and pitting his wits against Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, which was truly exhausting. It was perfect to rest here for a while.

He tapped on his battlefield marking to check his personal information.

Name: Lu Yiye.

Identity: Disciple of Righteous Blood Sect.

Cultivation: Cloud River Level 5.

Location: Cloud River battlefield.

Merit: One hundred seventy-six thousand five hundred and twenty points.

Battle merit: Fifty-six points.

When he left Great Reversal Valley, his battle merit was only a little over seventy thousand, but now it had reached over one hundred seventy thousand, which was naturally the harvest from the mine.

For most cultivators, a few thousand to tens of thousands of merits were already a considerable number, but for Lu Ye, the number of merits was merely just that… a number.

In the short term, except for allowing him to buy some uncanny fires from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault or ask for assistance from the Heaven's Augury Pillar in times of crisis, merits did not have much use.

But as far as he knew, once one's cultivation reached the True Lake, merit became greatly useful.

It could be said that in the Nine Provinces cultivation world, merit was a lifelong companion for cultivators, no matter how high their cultivation soared, merit would always be indispensable.

Especially after reaching the True Lake, the demand for merit became tremendous.

Lu Ye hadn't inquired in detail; he only casually chatted about these matters with Shui Yuan back when he was at the Righteous Blood Sect headquarters.

Because of the great demand for merit, the foundation of a sect could not merely be supported by several strong individuals, the quantity and quality of its disciples were particularly important.

The reason Shui Yuan had lingered in the True Lake Level 9 for so many years, only advancing to the Divine Sea last year, was because the Righteous Blood Sect was too poor. Without sufficient merit, she could not enhance her cultivation; otherwise, given her aptitude, she would have ascended to the Divine Sea long ago.

The predecessors of the Righteous Blood Sect, the several senior brothers and sisters, were among the top talents in the Nine Provinces.

Not to mention the late senior brother Feng Wujiang, who almost flattened his opponents by leading a mighty faction. Even though he had died more than thirty years ago, there were still many legends about him circulating in the Nine Provinces.

Shui Yuan, Xiao Xinghe, Li Baxian, all were supremely talented, especially Li Baxian. Had it not been for his spiritual orifice breaking and being delayed at the Spirit Stream battlefield for over a decade, he might not be far from the Divine Sea Realm by now.

He didn't plan to leave the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union for the time being and felt at ease cultivating with abundant resources.

This made the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators who were covertly observing him uncomfortable.

Although these cultivators who gathered from all around upon receiving the news deduced from various clues that Lu Ye had entered the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, no one had actually seen him in person, so no one knew for sure if he was really there.

They could only wait outside for Lu Ye to show himself... assuming that Lu Ye was truly inside.

But after seven or eight days passed with no sight of Lu Ye, some of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators grew restless.

From their point of view, even if Lu Ye was inside the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he was unlikely to show himself anytime soon. The outside world was too dangerous, but hiding in the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was safe. Besides, Lu Yiye was a significant merit holder, with countless merits in hand. Coupled with the storage sacks of more than two thousand cultivators he had acquired before, he surely wasn't lacking in cultivation resources.

Even if he stayed there for a year or two, no one would find it strange.

Lu Ye might be able to stay inside for a year or two, but could they wait outside for a year or two? Obviously, they could not.

With the uncertainty of whether Lu Ye was hiding there and not knowing when he might come out, many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators gradually lost patience and left. However, some still waited patiently, like Chu Yun and Zhou Pey of the Sacred Fire Order. Patience was something they did not lack. To kill Lu Ye, they would wait, not just for a year or two but even for ten or twenty years!

Days passed swiftly, and Lu Ye spent his days leisurely.

He swallowed elixir pills and studied cultivation every day. Although his efficiency wasn't as high as when he was in the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground, the difference wasn't significant.

His requirements for the cultivation environment were not that stringent, after all.

Furthermore, the nature's spiritual energy in this guest room was also equivalent to a Class B spirit ground, but the nightly accommodation cost was a bit steep, affording which was something ordinary people couldn't manage, only someone as financially strong as Lu Ye didn't mind at all.

He thought it simple; no matter how abundant the resources, they were external. Only by timely converting these external factors into one's own strength could they serve their true purpose.

Yiyi was also mostly silent in her cultivation beside him, as her relationship with Amber was symbiotic; either's cultivation would foster an increase in power for both.

This was an advantage unmatched by any cultivator or demon beast in the Nine Provinces, and it was also why Yiyi and Amber could keep pace with Lu Ye's strength.

Previously, Lu Ye's cultivation had always been slightly higher than Yiyi and Amber's, but now they were on equal footing, with the demonic pill of the Overlord-level Demon General playing the most significant role.

There were also times when Yiyi would go out to buy some delicious food for Lu Ye or gather some information.

The world only knew that Lu Ye was accompanied by Amber, never aware of Yiyi's existence.

This greatly facilitated Yiyi's actions.

The door was pushed open, and Yiyi entered with enthusiasm: "Lu Ye, Lu Ye, there's a spirit fortune stick auction in the mercantile union tonight."

"Oh?" Lu Ye showed an interested expression, having been on the Cloud River battlefield for half a year and obtaining many spirit fortune sticks through various channels. However, he had only encountered such an auction once.

And this was the only opportunity to use merit to obtain spirit fortune sticks.

As for merit... Lu Ye was never short of it, having taken nearly all the spirit fortune sticks in the last auction he attended.

"What spirit fortune sticks are there?"

"I heard there's a purple spirit fortune stick." Yiyi set down her food box, and Amber leaned in to sniff it - cooked... and instantly lost interest.

"Shall we participate?"

"Let's go take a look." It would be a good opportunity to see if the Heaven's Augury treasure vault had any Earth's Core Fire for sale.

The battle in the mines had certainly claimed two thousand enemies, but his Talent Tree fuel had likely also been depleted considerably.

Though he had some spare Earth's Core Fire, which was meant for emergencies, Lu Ye decided not to use it.

Now with plenty of merit in hand, it was a good time to scout for some treasures in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault.