Sage of Humanity
Chapter 873 - 871: Ample Quantity Ensures Fullness

Within the volcanic crater, the temperature was extremely high, and the magma below churned with explosive bubbles, creating an awe-inspiring commotion.

In such a harsh environment, even a True Lake Realm cultivator would suffer severe burns if they accidentally fell in, if not worse.

Lu Ye glanced around and then descended swiftly, channeling his spirit force to protect himself.

He practiced a fire attribute Cultivation Technique, and his spirit force was also fire attribute, giving him a natural resistance to this kind of environment. So, despite the harsh conditions, he was relatively unharmed.

The volcanic crater was over a hundred zhang deep. Lu Ye descended to the very bottom before stopping and used his Boulder Mountain Saber to carve out a foothold.

With a place to settle, Lu Ye activated the power of his Talent Tree, enveloping himself.

In an instant, the scorching sensation vanished completely. Not only that, Lu Ye could clearly feel the surrounding heat being absorbed by the Talent Tree, transforming into its fuel.

If one were to activate Insight Spirit Runes in their eyes, they could clearly see dense, root-like structures enveloping Lu Ye's body. These were the roots of the Talent Tree, which protected him from the searing heat.

Back at the Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground, when Huo Liaoyuan of the Sacred Fire Order summoned the combat arena and tried to kill him, regardless of how powerful the magic he used, Lu Ye easily defended against it.

The key was the Talent Tree. With its power protecting him, ordinary fire-type attacks couldn't harm him.

Of course, this was also due to Huo Liaoyuan's insufficient power. Even though his cultivation was stronger than Lu Ye's, they were ultimately in the same realm, allowing the Talent Tree to defend against his fire-type techniques.

If the power gap were too large, the Talent Tree's power would probably be unable to withstand it.

At this moment, with the Talent Tree's power activated, the energy was continually being absorbed. Lu Ye observed with rapt attention and immediately noticed subtle changes in the tree leaves that were partially ignited.

His sense of anticipation grew even stronger.

Two or three months ago, this spirit rune had already shown its initial form, but until now, Lu Ye hadn't managed to fully ignite it and didn't know what it was.

Now, with such a suitable environment, as long as he had enough time, fully igniting this spirit rune was only a matter of availability.

He might even have more gains.

As time passed, Lu Ye sat cross-legged, immersing himself in cultivating the Talent Tree's power while swallowing elixir pills to refine their medicinal effects.

Cultivation couldn't be delayed. After entering the True Lake Realm, the need for spirit force increased significantly, making advancement much more difficult than in the Cloud River Realm.

Gradually, Lu Ye frowned.

He noticed that the leaves on the Talent Tree were igniting too slowly, which confirmed his prior speculation. Though the environment here was harsh and filled with heat, its quality wasn't high.

Previously, the Talent Tree had absorbed mainly uncanny fire and pill fire, which, despite being limited in quantity, were of guaranteed quality and quickly ignited the leaves.

In comparison, the quality of the heat energy here was rather mediocre.

At this rate, it could take a day or two to fully ignite that spirit rune.

Lu Ye pondered momentarily, then looked down at the churning magma below. If he could let the roots of the Talent Tree extend into the magma, it might improve the situation.

While the quality of the heat energy might not increase significantly, at least the quantity would be assured.

The Talent Tree had been with him for so many years, and from the first accidental activation of its power until now, Lu Ye had gained some experience in how to wield it.

Having an idea, he immediately took action.

He channeled his mental power, attempting to control the roots of the Talent Tree that were emerging on his body.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't very difficult. The Talent Tree seemed to understand his thoughts, and the roots enveloping him quickly extended and plunged into the churning magma below.

Under the amplification of Insight Spirit Runes, he could clearly see the red energy being absorbed through the roots and flowing into his body, causing further changes in the partially ignited leaves on the Talent Tree.

Lu Ye quickly took out a bottle containing Soul Cleansing Water, dabbed a bit, and swallowed it.

Activating the Talent Tree's power had its costs, specifically draining his mental power. Previously, when absorbing uncanny fire and pill fire, the process was quick and the consumption minimal, so Lu Ye didn't need to worry much.

But in the current circumstance within Ten Thousand Demons Ridge territory, he had to maintain his mental power to avoid exhaustion and fatigue.

Only with a sufficiently strong mental state could he respond to sudden dangers.

Once the roots of the Talent Tree plunged into the magma, the absorption efficiency visibly increased.

In less than half a day, the spirit rune that Lu Ye had long awaited was fully activated.

He quickly immersed his mind to observe, and at first glance, he saw dozens of leaves connected, burning brightly. Upon closer inspection, each leaf bore intricate patterns with embedded Yin-Yang Dual Origins.

Finally succeeded!

Lu Ye focused intently on the dozens of leaves, and the next moment, familiar pain surged through him as his psyche felt like it was being torn apart. A flood of information uncontrollably poured into his mind, as if someone had pried open his skull and stirred inside with a red-hot iron.

Fortunately, Lu Ye's mental power was strong enough, and he had just ingested Soul Cleansing Water, so the pain lasted only two breaths before dissipating.

Regaining his composure, Lu Ye shook his head to clear the discomfort and calmly examined the new spirit rune he had acquired.

After a moment, his expression turned peculiar.

The spirit rune he had awaited for two or three months seemed... different than expected?

He had most hoped to gain a Void Spirit Rune. Although given his current expertise in the Array Path, he had a high success rate in constructing Void Spirit Runes to set up teleportation arrays, there was always a chance of failure when creating them from books. However, obtaining one from the Talent Tree would be foolproof since it never failed to activate according to his intent.

If he could obtain a Void Spirit Rune from the Talent Tree, he could finally test many ideas involving it, making his methods against enemies much more unpredictable and formidable.

But this time, what he obtained wasn't a Void Spirit Rune.

And this new spirit rune felt somewhat underwhelming to him.

It appeared useful, but in what way? Despite seeming useless in some situations, it might have its uses in others.

Lu Ye promptly slapped his face lightly, reassuring himself, "There are no useless spirit runes in this world, only useless spirit runes masters!"

This principle, taught by his master, was one he vividly remembered.

Just like when he first received the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes, he initially thought it wasn't very useful. But later, it proved to be the most beneficial and valuable spirit rune for him.

Without that rune, he never could have built the small funnel, nor advanced at such a rapid pace.

Any gain is good; how could he be greedy and dissatisfied?

Moreover, this was just the beginning...

Lu Ye immersed himself in observing the Talent Tree and found that within this short period, dozens of leaves had already radiated a reddish glow, indicating another valuable spirit rune was soon to emerge. His confidence reinforced, he took another drop of Soul Cleansing Water to replenish his mental power.

As the fiery energy from the magma continued to be absorbed, the glow of the dozens of leaves grew stronger, showing signs of complete ignition.

However, at that moment, Lu Ye's instincts stirred, and he frowned.

The sound of something breaking through the air approached from a distance, accompanied by faint conversation. Judging by the noises, more than one person was coming—an entire squad!

Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's patrol cultivators?

This was Ten Thousand Demons Ridge territory, so encountering their cultivators wasn't surprising to Lu Ye, who had anticipated it.

He quickly withdrew the Talent Tree's power and activated Breath-concealing Spirit Runes to hide his presence.

Hopefully, they were just passing by...

But as fate would have it, they seemed to be heading directly for the volcanic crater. Soon after, he could clearly hear their conversation.

"Although this area is under Gushan City's jurisdiction and there's not much Haotian Alliance presence at Cangyan Mountain Pass opposite, we must always be cautious. Now that you're in the provincial guard, you need to follow orders. This isn't your sect anymore, and your senior brothers and sisters won't be here to look after you. If anyone dares to disobey, don't blame me for being harsh."

"Yes."

A scattering of voices responded.

The initial speaker's tone softened, "That said, our task this time isn't complicated. As long as you follow orders, there shouldn't be any issues. Completing the task will earn you battle merit, and I doubt I need to stress the importance of battle merit. Opportunities to earn it on the Cloud River battlefield are scarce."

"Senior Brother Ying, we're counting on you for this mission." A gentle voice spoke, sounding like a female cultivator, sweet and soft.

"Address me as Lord! When you joined the provincial guard, you were told there's no 'senior brother' or 'junior brother' on the frontlines. Only commanders and subordinates."

"Lord Ying?"

"Straighten up!"

This was followed by the laughter of women. It seemed this Lord Ying was easygoing, as even though he led the team, the cultivators were not too afraid of him and felt comfortable enough to joke around.

"Alright, we're here. You stay outside, and I'll check out the situation."

At the bottom of the volcanic crater, Lu Ye's expression turned strange.

Encountering Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators here wasn't unusual, but running into this person was quite the coincidence. By now, this individual should have advanced to the True Lake Realm and joined Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's provincial guard.

Appearing here meant he was likely assigned to Gushan City Pass, directly opposing Lu Ye's faction.

Lu Ye still remembered vividly, during their desperate situation at the Huntian Holy Temple on Unparalleled Continent, surrounded by corpses and facing near-certain death, this person venting with furious curses!

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