Sage of Humanity
Chapter 859 - 857: Terrifying Upon Close Reflection

"Who is responsible for patrolling this area?" Yuen Chou scanned the crowd with his eyes.

A Cloud River Realm cultivator stepped out of the crowd, cupping his fists, and said, "Master Uncle, it is I."

"From now on, you must patrol more thoroughly. Such incidents must not happen again."

"Understood!" the cultivator responded but seemed hesitant to say more.

Yuen Chou frowned, "If you have something to say, speak up."

The cultivator said, "Master Uncle, I am always extremely careful and cautious during my patrols, especially in the water, not daring to miss anything. Only yesterday, I patrolled this section of the waterway, and there was nothing unusual."

"No need to make excuses," Yuen Chou reprimanded in a stern voice, "The water demons are often skilled at hiding. It is normal for you to miss something. Now that this demon has appeared here and destroyed the dam, it is your fault. It cannot be that someone deliberately placed the demon here to harm the mortals under the control of the Qingquan Sect. If not for that Righteous Blood Sect disciple, Lou City, fifty miles away, would have been in grave danger, and tens of thousands of mortals would have..."

At this point, Yuen Chou's expression suddenly changed. He glanced in the direction Lu Ye had departed.

Lu Ye was already at Cloud River Level 9 cultivation. The direction he was heading... should be toward Haotian City.

Is he heading to Haotian City in response to an order?

As far as Yuen Chou knew, once the order was given, the time limit would not be extended. Once it exceeded the limit, there would be no leniency. The provincial guards in each state acted with military discipline, and an order was as unchangeable as a mountain. If Lu Ye did not arrive at Haotian City within the time limit, even a deity could not save him!

Yuen Chou had only spoken casually earlier, but what if... someone really did place this water demon here deliberately?

The timing was too coincidental. As soon as Lu Ye arrived nearby, the flood broke out. He was here to seal the source and was likely ambushed by the water demon...

Although the water demon was dead, Yuen Chou could still tell that it was at the Demon General level, enough to cause considerable trouble for a Cloud River Realm cultivator, yet it would not take his life.

"Senior Brother?" a Qingquan Sect cultivator called softly, not knowing what Yuen Chou was thinking.

"Nothing," Yuen Chou collected his thoughts and dared not think anymore. Some things simply could not withstand scrutiny; the more you think about them, the more terrifying they become.

He hoped he was just overthinking.

Leaving that river, Lu Ye continued on his journey.

From dawn to dusk, he did not stop. It was not until the middle of the night that he finally descended, casually finding a spot in the deep mountains and ancient forests to set up an array for four-way vigilance, resting and adjusting himself.

An hour later, just as Lu Ye was about to set out again, the sound of something breaking through the air entered his ears. It seemed someone was passing nearby.

Lu Ye looked up and saw, in the moonlight, a man in black clothes swiftly moving past not far away.

The man in black looked anxious, as if some danger was closing in behind him.

Moreover, the spirit force fluctuations emanating from this person were at the True Lake Realm level.

Indeed, danger was approaching. Just as Lu Ye saw the man in black, a stern shout came from afar, "Where do you think you're going?!"

The shout was accompanied by the sound of a sword, with sword light dancing wildly.

The man in black was clearly fleeing. He probably did not want to involve Lu Ye initially, but sensing the relentless killing intent behind him, he gritted his teeth and dashed straight towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye had no idea what was happening. He was just resting here, but now it seemed he had been drawn into a fight between two forces!

This was Haotian Alliance territory. Even if there were occasional frictions among Haotian Alliance cultivators, they wouldn't engage in such a high-profile conflict.

So Lu Ye immediately realized that one of the sides must be from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge!

Bingzhou was a battleground for the two major camps. Each side infiltrated the other's territory, causing panic and killing the emerging talents of the opposite side—it was a common occurrence.

Encountering someone from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge here was not surprising.

What made Lu Ye feel unlucky was getting caught up in it himself.

The person giving chase was clearly a sword cultivator and exuded the style of Beixuan Sword Sect's heritage. Based on the actions of the man in black, it was clear which side was Haotian Alliance and which was Ten Thousand Demons Ridge.

The man in black seemed to know he couldn't shake off the sword cultivator, so he intended to use Lu Ye to make the pursuing sword cultivator hesitate.

No matter what, if the two True Lake Realm cultivators fought here, Lu Ye, a Cloud River Realm cultivator, would surely be dragged into it, making it hard for the Haotian Alliance side to fight without reservations!

It's even possible that the man in black intended to take Lu Ye hostage!

But the man in black had clearly overthought.

In a normal Cloud River Realm cultivator's situation, the only option would be to flee.

But Lu Ye had set up a protective array beside him earlier. To save time, he even used an array base.

This made the protective array quite strong.

The man in black swooped down from high in the sky like a hawk, with spirit force surging around him. He intended to grab Lu Ye. Though he was injured during the chase, a True Lake Realm cultivator taking down a Cloud River Realm cultivator should be no problem.

However, to his surprise, the youth below stood still as if frightened, staring calmly into his eyes.

From the youth's eyes, the man in black couldn't detect any panic. The youth was perfectly composed, as if he didn't see him as a threat!

Feeling instinctively that something was wrong, but it was too late to retreat. The approaching sword cultivator was fast. If he didn't capture the youth quickly, he would be doomed.

Even if he succeeded, he wasn't sure if it would make the sword cultivator hesitate.

The distance closed quickly. The man in black reached out to grab Lu Ye's neck.

Then he saw Lu Ye lift his foot and lightly stomp. As spirit force surged around him, an upside-down bowl-shaped light barrier suddenly appeared, tightly enveloping Lu Ye.

"A protective array!" The man in black was shocked. He never expected the youth to be an array cultivator. Only an array cultivator could set up an array to protect themselves while resting in the wild.

However... no matter how sturdy a protective array set up by a Cloud River Realm cultivator was, how tough could it be?

The outstretched hand flipped, and a dirk appeared in his grasp. True Lake spiritual force poured into the dirk, activating all its restrictions, and he fiercely slashed at the barrier before him.

The expected scene of the barrier being shattered did not occur. The barrier merely dented sharply and then swiftly returned to its original state.

"Impossible!" The man in black was aghast. Though he was injured and hadn't used his full strength, he should have been able to break a protective array set up by a Cloud River Realm cultivator.

As he delivered the strike, he could feel the sturdiness of the protective array before him.

Such an array would take at least three strikes at full strength to break through!

He finally understood why the youth had been so composed. It turned out he had immense confidence in his own array.

Ridiculous that he himself had thought...

Realizing the situation was hopeless, the man in black gave Lu Ye a hateful glance as if trying to etch his face into his soul before attempting to retreat.

"Prepare to die!"

As the stern shout echoed, an incredibly fierce sword light, like moonlight, descended upon the man in black.

The sword light was cold, spirit force shaking, and the two figures were locked in fierce combat.

But the sword cultivator was clearly stronger, and with the man in black injured, how could he be a match?

If the sword cultivator wasn't wary of Lu Ye nearby, fearing the collateral damage might hurt him, he would have already succeeded.

Lu Ye also noticed this and said, "Senior Brother, go all out. I can hold on over here!"

Upon hearing this, the sword cultivator responded, "Alright, be careful!"

With those words, his attacks became much more ferocious. The man in black retreated step by step, cursing Lu Ye internally the entire time.

Thirty breaths later, with a scream, the sword light faded. The man in black collapsed to the ground, covered in blood.

The sword cultivator retrieved the storage sack from the man in black, then took out a token from his chest, nodded with satisfaction, and put it away.

Only then did he have the time to explain to Lu Ye, "This Ten Thousand Demons Ridge scoundrel infiltrated the area with sinister intentions. I tracked him down and chased him to this place. Sorry for startling you, Junior Brother."

"Thank you for your hard work, Senior Brother," Lu Ye cupped his fists.

The sword cultivator nodded slightly and said, "Though this is Haotian Alliance territory, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge scoundrels often appear. It's best if you head to the nearest city to rest. Do not linger in the wild for too long at night."

He had no intention of chatting further or protecting Lu Ye. For cultivators, resting in the wild was common, so he just gave a brief warning.

Soon, he left.

"Alone? Not necessarily!" Lu Ye packed away his array banner and array base, soaring into the sky.

The Nine Provinces were lively. He had previously cultivated and trained in the two major battlefields and had not yet experienced the local splendor.

This time, leaving the Righteous Blood Sect was like entering a new world.

As daybreak approached, more than half of his journey was completed. At his current speed, he would reach Haotian City before nightfall.

As he passed a spirit mountaintop, Lu Ye suddenly paused, his hand gripping the hilt of his blade.

Amber, perched on his shoulder, bristled immediately, growling softly.

At that moment, from a certain spot on the spirit mountaintop below, a dragon-like stream of light shot up, heading straight for Lu Ye.

Its imposing aura was astonishing.

Evidently, this was magic cast by a True Lake Realm cultivator!

Lu Ye immediately maneuvered to evade, but True Lake Realm cultivators controlled their spirit force as if it were part of their bodies. No matter how Lu Ye dodged, the magic trailed him persistently, quickly closing the distance.

Realizing he couldn't dodge the attack, Lu Ye gritted his teeth and stood his ground, raising his hands and unleashing his spirit force. A giant Defense Spirit Rune shield appeared before him.

Simultaneously, a figure appeared from a distance, charging toward the spirit mountaintop with astonishing momentum.

Recognizing the familiar aura, Lu Ye breathed a sigh of relief, knowing his previous suspicions were correct.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.