NOVPUBAfter swallowing a drop of soul water, it took less than the time of one incense stick for Lu Ye to fully recover.
He slowly got up, greeted Yiyi and Amber, and took one last look at the dilapidated Soaring Dragon World.
It was time to leave!
With a thought, ripples formed in the Void before him.
Faintly, a familiar aura emanated from those ripples—it was the aura of the Cloud River battlefield.
To Lu Ye's surprise, he could actually see through the layers of ripples and observe the situation outside.
It was just like a reflection on water!
In his line of sight, he indeed saw the forbidden land outside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, the very place where he had entered the Soaring Dragon World through the teleportation array.
But near that teleportation array, there were figures seated, dense and numerous—there must have been hundreds of them at a glance.
He recognized several familiar faces among them.
Xia Liang, Tan Sheng, as well as Chu Yun and Zhou Pei from the Sacred Fire Order who had chased him out of Heaven's Augury City...
These people had surrounded the area near the altar so tightly that the moment he showed himself, he would be met with a tempest of attacks.
Thieves after his life were relentless!
The worst had happened.
The Soaring Dragon World was merely a secret realm after all, and Lu Ye knew that he would have to leave it sooner or later.
Whether the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators would be waiting outside had always been a concern of his. And now, it seemed his worries were justified; he truly was trapped.
Lu Ye's expression turned slightly cold.
How long had it been?
He had stayed in this Soaring Dragon World for at least a month and a half. Such a long time had passed, and these people still had the patience to wait here?
It annoyed him but also amused him at the same time. He clearly understood it was because of the tempting bounty on him. The bounty was so huge that regardless of whether they held any grudge against him or not, everyone wanted a piece of the pie when the opportunity arose.
What comforted Lu Ye slightly was that he could see the situation outside, but those outside seemed unable to see him. Thus, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators showed no unusual reactions at this moment.
However, several suspected array cultivators were examining the damaged teleportation array on the altar, seemingly attempting to repair the formation. Unfortunately, given their level of expertise in the Array Path, it was naturally unlikely for them to succeed.
In this situation, rashly rushing out would definitely be disastrous.
But if he didn't go out, would he just keep hiding in the Soaring Dragon World?
Seeing the posture of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, it didn't look like they were leaving anytime soon.
Not that it wasn't an option... Although the Soaring Dragon World was dilapidated, it didn't affect his ability to consume pills and cultivate.
As he was thinking this, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Hua Ci!
She had actually come to the Cloud River battlefield.
But that was also normal. Hua Ci had long had the credentials to advance to the Cloud River level. The only reason she hadn't advanced yet was that the environment of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest was too suitable for her cultivation, which was why she had remained there to refine the power of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest.
The last time he visited her, the scale of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest had dramatically reduced. So much time having passed, the source of poison there had probably been completely refined by her.
Naturally, she would be advancing to the Cloud River.
Her appearance here was clearly no coincidence—it must have been that she had heard some news about him.
However, looking at her current state...
How come… 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
It seemed...
That she was captured?
But she hadn't encountered any harsh treatment; within the Nine Provinces, even though cultivators of the two great factions opposed each other, they always maintained a lenient attitude toward healing cultivators.
Even if an enemy's healing cultivator was captured, no harsh action would be taken. It was even possible for the healing cultivator's friends and family to redeem them by spending some wealth.
This was a privilege uniquely enjoyed by healing cultivators.
After all, everyone needed the aid of healing cultivators at some point, and across the entire Nine Provinces, there weren't many of them. If they were killed upon capture, it wouldn't take many years for the healing cultivators of both factions to be wiped out.
At the moment, Hua Ci was healing someone, her body emanating a green glow full of vitality.
Looking at those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators and the nearby terrain, Lu Ye gradually realized that a battle had erupted here!
…
Outside the altar, many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were restless.
Xia Liang, sitting still, looked particularly gloomy.
One and a half months ago, when Lu Yiye emerged from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, he, along with Tan Sheng, Chu Yun, Zhou Pei, and others, had collectively taken action. However, they failed to kill him and instead let him escape into the forbidden land, vanishing without a trace.
Afterwards, he had rallied the array cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge to unite and decipher the formations of the forbidden land, vowing to dig three feet into the ground if necessary to find Lu Ye.
The formations within the forbidden land were numerous and tremendously powerful; normally, the array cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would not dare to trespass recklessly.
However, when the array cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge learned they were searching for Lu Ye, their interest was piqued.
With such coordinated efforts, progress was not slow; one after another, long-standing formations were broken until they found an altar with a damaged teleportation array.
The sudden appearance of an inexplicable altar in such a place was clearly hiding some opportunity.
After inspection by the array cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, it was confirmed that the formation on the altar had been activated recently.
Looking over the Cloud River battlefield, who else but Lu Ye could repair a damaged teleportation array and activate it?
Thus, Xia Liang and the others immediately concluded that it must have been Lu Ye who activated the teleportation array, but as for where he went, no one knew.
Such an altar would undoubtedly lead to a secret realm!
Lu Yiye, burdened with a hefty reward, and a secret realm full of unknown opportunities, either was enough to motivate the cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.
So these days, the array cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had been attempting to repair the teleportation array, but alas, the progress was minimal.
The actions of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge naturally couldn't be concealed from the cultivators of the Haotian Alliance, and once the news spread, many from the Haotian Alliance came to investigate.
However, under the direction of Xia Liang and Tan Sheng, all who came with covetous intentions from the Haotian Alliance were repelled.
Regardless of Lu Ye, the opportunity hidden in this altar was something that Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was also unwilling to let the Haotian Alliance touch.
Over the past month, the two groups of cultivators had clashed several times, but fortunately, both sides had been somewhat restrained, and no major casualties had occurred.
This was also the reason why Hua Ci was captured and ended up healing the cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.
She had entered the Cloud River battlefield a month ago and upon hearing that Lu Ye had run into trouble, she immediately rushed to this location.
"Brother Xia, people are becoming restless, and it's unlikely they'll hold out much longer," Tan Sheng walked up to Xia Liang and said softly.
Having seen no sign of Lu Yiye in a month and a half, and with no improvement in the repair of the formation, many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge gathered here had already lost their patience.
With this idle time, they might as well wander around the Cloud River battlefield, perhaps stumbling upon a Heaven-bestowed spirit fortune stick, or some other opportunity.
The Cloud River battlefield was never short of various opportunities.
Lu Ye only saw a few hundred people gathered here, but before this, there had been thousands of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators assembled.
Only so few remained because most had grown impatient and left.
If there's no progress soon, even the few hundred who remained might gradually disperse.
"Mediocre minds are not worth contemplating; don't bother about them," Xia Liang huffed. If they lacked even this bit of patience, what right did they have to vie for the immense bounty on Lu Yiye?
He had deliberately delayed his own advancement in True Lake for the sake of killing Lu Ye. For these past months, his cultivation had stagnated. Eliminating Lu Ye, then slaying Li Baxian, had almost become his obsession.
Because he could feel that his own opportunities were not plentiful.
When he first met Lu Yiye, in the hunting grounds, he had been driven into a corner by Xia Liang and had had no choice but to use the Golden Body Token to call upon the Heaven's Augury Pillar for a miraculous escape.
Latterly, at the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground, Lu Yiye had, leveraging the power of a formation, disgraced himself and his comrades, resulting in the loss of Wei Que.
Every time he saw him afterward, Lu Yiye's strength had significantly increased.
Until the last time, when he emerged from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda and survived a joint attack by four Cloud River Level 9 cultivators.
With such a terrifying rate of progression, if he didn't seize the chance to eliminate him now, he feared he would soon lose the opportunity altogether.
Therefore, even if it meant not advancing to True Lake, he had to kill Lu Ye first.
Only with Lu Ye dead could he confidently and boldly assault the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground to kill Li Baxian and avenge Yanh Xing.
"Chu Yun and Zhou Pei won't leave," seeing Tan Sheng still somewhat anxious, Xia Liang spoke again.
The people of the Sacred Fire Order were particularly persistent; since these two had set their sights on Lu Ye, they would certainly not give up easily, not to mention the deep grievances between the Sacred Fire Order and the Righteous Blood Sect.
Tan Sheng nodded.
As long as Chu Yun and Zhou Pei stayed, the four of them together didn't need to fear much. If others truly wanted to leave, they couldn't force them to stay.
...
Fifty li away from the damaged teleportation array altar, Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, and Giant Armor were secretly hiding.
If Hua Ci could receive the news and rush here directly, so could they. However, with the enemy numerous and powerful, the three of them had no chance of success.
Moreover, Li Baxian dared not show himself rashly; if discovered by Xia Liang, it was very likely he would be targeted, and instead of rescuing anyone, he might end up sacrificing himself.
"What did sister Hua Ci say?" Feng Yuechan turned to Li Baxian and asked.
Thinking of sister Hua Ci, Feng Yuechan couldn't help but feel admiration.
Although Hua Ci was just a healing cultivator, she wasn't easily captured; of all the Haotian Alliance cultivators who charged into battle formations, none were captured by Ten Thousand Demons Ridge except for Hua Ci.
This wasn't due to her being foolish but rather intentional.
Even with the status of a healing cultivator as protection, such bold moves were somewhat audacious; looking at such a gentle person, one wouldn't expect such surprisingly resolute actions.</p
