Sage of Humanity

At Beixuan Sword Sect, before the cliff, as Muk Qingyun narrated, Muk Suifeng's tightly closed eyes slowly opened, flashing a look of interest, as if he sensed something.

"Master, this matter is very strange, I do not know how to decide, please advise me," Muk Qingyun spoke.

"Sword cultivators act according to their hearts, since your heart responds, then let nature take its course. Besides, you are not in a hurry to advance to the True Lake Realm."

"I understand," said the Disciple.

After Muk Qingyun left, Muk Suifeng remained seated without moving, and after a long while, he lifted his head to look at the sky, his gaze profound.

Meanwhile, on Endless Island, in a coastal area, atop a spirit mountaintop by the sea, Lan Ziyi wearing purple clothes, with a gold-hued spirit fortune stick in her hand, curled up the corners of her mouth, revealing a faint smile.

A soft murmur arose, "Interesting."

Without much hesitation, she put away the spirit fortune stick, didn't even continue cultivating by meditating, but instead, came out of her own chamber, heading straight for the Heaven's Augury Hall on Endless Island.

Compared to Muk Qingyun's full-hearted confusion, she obviously realized something.

…

"This is for me, what about your own cultivation?"

In the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground, Lu Ye looked at Hua Ci in surprise.

Not everyone was cultivating, Hua Ci wasn't, so Lu Ye found her easily after his return.

To Lu Ye's surprise, Hua Ci took out two gold-hued spirit fortune sticks and handed them to him.

In this Cloud River Realm competition, Hua Ci made it into the top three hundred. Although the reward wasn't very generous, she still received two gold-hued spirit fortune sticks.

"I've said before that my method of cultivation is different from normal people; this thing is not very useful to me."

It's not that it had no use to her at all. With the help of the spirit fortune sticks, by swallowing elixir pills or inhaling nature's spiritual energy, she could also advance her cultivation like other cultivators.

But her main aim in cultivation was not just to elevate her cultivation level. While improving her cultivation, enhancing her poison was her way of cultivating.

If she focused solely on improving her cultivation, one day her means of using poison would become ineffective against her enemies.

For example, with her current capabilities, any cultivator from the Cloud River Realm wouldn't dare to underestimate her, and she could even pose a threat to some cultivators of the True Lake Realm with lower cultivation levels.

But for those in the True Lake Realm with a bit higher cultivation, they could resist her poisons.

If she didn't enhance her poison, when she advanced to the True Lake Realm and faced enemies from the same realm, she would have no effective means of confronting them.

A healing cultivator like her couldn't be expected to fight enemies head-on.

"Also, this isn't really a gift, think of it as a reward," she added.

"What reward?" Lu Ye asked, puzzled.

"Tomorrow, escort me to a place."

Lu Ye gradually began to understand, "Are you hiring me as your escort?"

Hua Ci's eyes curved with amusement, "I wonder if this little reward is enough to hire the number one of Cloud River."

Lu Ye couldn't help but snort with laughter and casually replied, "I'm afraid it's not enough."

"Then what should I do?" Hua Ci's expression suddenly turned pitiable, her tone melancholic, "I have nothing of value; if really necessary... then I can only compensate with my body!"

Lu Ye looked around guiltily, as if a thief, fearing that Yiyi had heard the conversation. Once he realized Yiyi was not nearby, he relaxed.

He scolded Hua Ci, "You woman, always so indiscreet with your words. Dare to do it again, and be careful, I'll hit you!"

Hua Ci's expression became even more aggrieved, "It's not like you haven't hit me before..."

She still remembered the slap she received in the guest room of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

Lu Ye didn't want to continue that line of dialogue, "Escorting you is no issue, but keep the spirit fortune sticks for yourself. You might need them one day, so there's no need to give them to me."

He took a few steps away, then turned back remembering to ask, "Where are you going?"

"The Five Poisons Pond!"

Just as the Spirit Stream battlefield had the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, a forbidden land full of poison, rampant with poisonous fog, the Cloud River battlefield naturally had similar forbidden lands. Such places were always fraught with danger, even cultivators of Cloud River Level 8 or Level 9 rarely dared to venture there willingly.

But for Hua Ci, there was no better cultivation environment than such places in this world.

In Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground, her progress in cultivation mainly relied on refining the poison pills Lu Ye gave her, without breathing in a bit of nature's spiritual energy, hence her advancement in cultivation was not significant.

But with the inheritance she had acquired, as long as she found a suitable cultivation environment, she could grow rapidly in a short period of time.

As soon as she entered the Cloud River battlefield, she had wanted to search for a place similar to the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest. However, before she had the chance, she heard the news from Li Baxian that Lu Ye was trapped. Without delay, she started her journey to rescue him.

Afterward, she was brought by Lu Ye to the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground and took part in the Cloud River competition. During this period, she purchased a ten-part map from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault and used it to find a suitable place for her cultivation, eventually locating the Five Poisons Pond.

Now that the Cloud River competition was over, it was naturally time to set off.

The journey was not short, and having Lu Ye escort her would make it safer, avoiding any unexpected dangers along the way.

After arranging the matter with Hua Ci, Lu Ye took out the ten-part map to locate the Five Poisons Pond.

He quickly made progress.

On the ten-part map, the words "Five Poisons Pond" appeared dark and deep, instilling a sense of unease in anyone who looked at it. It was clear that this place was a perilous land, not to be trespassed lightly.

Just as he was about to stow away the ten-part map, Lu Ye seemed to remember something and quickly took another look at the route from Great Reversal Valley to Five Poisons Pond.

A moment later, he put away the map and headed straight for the direction of the Heaven's Augury Pillar.

Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, and Giant Armor were all in closed-door cultivation; it would be improper to rashly disturb them.

Fortunately, gatherings and partings among cultivators were frequent occurrences, so there was no need for formal farewells when leaving with Hua Ci. Once their fourth senior brother and the others emerged from seclusion and couldn't find themselves or Hua Ci, they would surely send messages to inquire.

It would not be too late to explain then.

An uneventful night passed, and the next day, as dawn broke, Lu Ye packed his belongings and, with Amber, stepped out of his wooden hut. The door next door swung open at the same time.

"Let's go," Lu Ye called out as he summoned his spirit ark.

Hua Ci stepped aboard unceremoniously and sat down at an angle.

Lu Ye gave her a glance but had no choice but to follow suit.

As spirit force surged, the spirit ark soared into the sky.

Racing along the way, the unique scent of Hua Ci filled his nostrils. Yiyi appeared, engaging in idle chatter with Hua Ci, and throughout the journey, her silver bell-like laughter sprinkled through the air.

When one's cultivation was not high, flying with weapon control on the Cloud River battlefield had to be cautious. One could not fly too high, for if an overwhelming enemy was encountered, escape would be impossible.

Neither could one fly too low, for it would risk ambushes from the ground.

An altitude of about one hundred meters was just right.

Reflecting on the various experiences and hardships when he first entered the Cloud River battlefield, Lu Ye felt a mix of emotions.

Now, he no longer needed to worry about these things. He could fly however he wanted, as high as he desired. If anyone dared to cause trouble, his long blade would teach them a lesson.

In the blink of an eye, his cultivation was approaching the limit that the Cloud River battlefield could accommodate.

Looking back, it seemed his time in the Cloud River battlefield was not particularly long, was it?

It was even shorter than the time he spent practicing in the Spirit Stream battlefield.

Once he advanced to the True Lake Realm, he would have to leave the Cloud River battlefield, and the vast stage of the Nine Provinces would be waiting for him.

With improved cultivation, the speed of weapon control also increased significantly.

In just one day, they left Great Wilderness Mountain behind.

They found a spot in the wilderness to rest for the night, setting up a warning and Protective Array, which meant there was no fear of surprise attacks.

On the second day, they set off again.

Hua Ci quickly noticed something amiss, "Lu Ye, is the direction wrong?"

The overall direction was not incorrect, but the angle of flight seemed a bit off. If they continued like this, they would definitely deviate from the location of Five Poisons Pond, and they would have to make a detour later.

"No mistake," Lu Ye replied. "I'm going to settle a personal grievance first."

Hua Ci understood and silently offered her condolences to the unknown enemy.

She did not ask whom Lu Ye was seeking trouble with. As far as she was aware, in the Spirit Stream battlefield, Lu Ye had enemies everywhere, and it seemed the same was true in the Cloud River battlefield.

She just didn't know who was unfortunate enough to be directly sought out by him.

Lu Ye was not the type to forget grievances; it was just that he had too many enemies, and remembering them all was futile. Moreover, the situation in the Cloud River battlefield was different from the Spirit Stream battlefield as most cultivators here did not have a fixed abode. Even if one wanted to seek revenge, there might never be an opportunity to encounter their target.

But there was one exception to this.

That was the cultivators who owned spirit grounds!

Under normal circumstances, it was not easy for cultivators with spirit grounds to relocate unless they were willing to bear the consequences of a decline in the rank of their spirit ground. This is because once a spring spirit was settled, attempting to retrieve it would inevitably result in a decrease in its quality.

In the Cloud River battlefield, many cultivators participated in the siege and chase to kill Lu Ye, but there was only one place he could take revenge.

The Sacred Universe Spirit Ground!

Conveniently, the Sacred Universe Spirit Ground wasn't far from Great Wilderness Mountain, and it was, more or less, on the route for this particular journey.

Originally, Lu Ye didn't plan to go to the Sacred Universe Spirit Ground, but yesterday, while checking the ten-part map and confirming the route, he inadvertently glanced at the words "Sacred Universe Spirit Ground."

It could only be said that they were a bit unlucky!

From a distance, the Sacred Universe Spirit Ground came into view.

Normally, the vicinity of such a large spirit ground, for about 30 miles around, was almost equivalent to the main gate of a sect.

Any cultivator daring to approach was challenging its authority.

Throughout the entire Cloud River battlefield, the strength of the Sacred Universe Spirit Ground ranked amongst the top. It was a spirit ground built collaboratively by the Sacred Fire Order and Universe Sect. Through generations, it had nurtured countless elites for the two big sects.

Such a large spirit ground could be considered one of the foundations of the two big sects.

Within the spirit ground, there were about 300 cultivators with robust arrays for defense. Even if attacked, the spirit ground would not be breached swiftly. As long as they delayed the attackers for a while, reinforcements would arrive from various places within the Cloud River battlefield or directly from the sect headquarters.

Therefore, over the years, even though the Haotian Alliance knew this spirit ground was created collaboratively by the two big sects, no one dared to covet it.

However, at this moment, an unexpected guest descended from the sky, challenging the protective array that shrouded the spirit ground!