CH 242

There were plenty of such techniques on the Tree of Glyphs. Lu Ye learned a lot from them.

In fact, the main reason he improved so quickly when studying the Way of Glyphs under Lady Yun was thanks to the knowledge he gleaned from these techniques.

At first, he had no idea how to use them. Over time, he was able to figure out the method through Lady Yun’s teachings and his own explorations.

For example, one of the techniques on the Tree of Glyphs could connect two Sharp Edges together, drastically amplifying his weapon’s damage.

To put it in simpler terms, just view them as two enhancements. When he activated them, it was like the Inviolable had gained two additional Sharpening enhancements in an instant!

This was why Lu Ye was able to pierce through Yuan Guang’s armor despite its excellent defensive qualities. The moment he attacked, the Spiritual Power surrounding his blade had sharpened instantly.

The single attack wasn’t enough to kill Yuan Guang, so he tried to stab Lu Ye in the face. However, it was not meant to be. He had just enough time to feel a sudden surge of Spiritual Power inside his body before countless energy spikes burst out of his body, killing him in an instant and turning him into a cactus.

In fact, the attack—or rather the Glyph—was aptly named as Glyph: Burster. It was one of the new Glyphs Lu Ye had obtained after feeding his Tree of Glyphs another ten Flame of Earthen Spirits. When it was activated, it would use the Spiritual Power that made up its structure to grow a ton of energy spikes.

The spikes didn’t last very long, and the Glyph was useless in most situations. However, it was devastating if he could activate it inside an enemy’s body.

A defensive equipment could protect a cultivator from external attacks, but not internal attacks. In the past, Lu Ye’s attacks generally could not kill an enemy unless he managed to hit a vital spot. Now, he could just stab someone in, say, their shoulder and activate Burster, skewering them from the inside out. Even cultivators had squishy insides after all. They would be grievously injured even if they somehow survived the attack!

The energy spikes would disappear rapidly after taking form and losing its Glyph, but the damage it left behind wouldn’t fade. It was a vicious Glyph to say the least.

Yuan Guang’s sword stopped when it reached within centimeters of Lu Ye’s eyeball. It would never progress further.

The deed done, Lu Ye withdrew his saber and sent Yuan Guang’s body flying with a kick.

Clang…

Without Yuan Guang’s control, the flying weapon was no more than a decoration in the sky. Lu Ye easily struck it out of the air before withdrawing his own flying weapons.

Suddenly, he felt as if the world itself was rejecting his existence. Lu Ye knew it was Yi Yi bringing him out of the Nine Realms Scroll.

His eyes blurred, and he found himself standing before the girl once more. Yuan Guang’s corpse lay on the ground not far away from him.

Hao Ren was staring at him with a complicated expression. The man moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but he was unable to find the words no matter what he tried.

Hao Qing experienced no such difficulties, however. She praised, “You’re… incredible, Brother Yi Ye!” The shiver in her voice proved that her praise had come from the bottom of her heart.

The Hao brother and sister had been fortunate enough to witness the battle from the start to finish. Although it was hardly a perfect portrayal—in fact, the moving sketches looked so amusing that they couldn’t feel the tension of the battle at all—but there was no denying the fact that Lu Ye was alive, and Yuan Guang was dead. It wasn’t an easy death either; he looked like a blood bag that had been punctured all over the place.

Everyone knows that cultivators hailing from top sects could fight above their cultivation level and win, but that was one minor realm, not two. Not only that, Lu Ye didn’t have a scratch on his person, which could only mean that he hadn’t gone all out.

They were mistaken on this point, though. Lu Ye did go all out and used practically everything he could possibly use to win the fight. If Yuan Guang hadn’t made a questionable choice at the end of the battle, he could’ve delayed his death for a while longer.

As for why Lu Ye was completely unharmed, it was thanks to the combat experience he had accumulated in the Rift of Illusions. He almost never made a mistake anymore because he had literally died to learn how to avoid them.

Yuan Guang’s Sword Light was something Lu Ye had encountered many times in the Rift of Illusions. It had thrown him off quite a bit when he encountered it the first time, but now he knew exactly how to counter that type of attack.

Also, he now knew that the Ninth-Order cultivators in the Rift of Illusions were practically the same as a Ninth-Order cultivator in real life. Their strength was more or less the same as well.

After he had collected himself, Lu Ye looked at Yi Yi with an inquiring look in his eyes. The girl dipped her head slightly to indicate that she was fine.

It was difficult for her to use the Nine Realms Scroll at her level right now, but if all she needed to do was to keep it running, then the drain was within acceptable limits.

In any case, the battle had refreshed the Hao brother and sister’s understanding of Lu Ye’s strength. It also took a lot of tension away from their shoulders. Before this, they were constantly worried about being discovered by a Ninth-Order cultivator in the Sky Pillar Sect and killed. 

But now? They knew that Lu Ye could easily take them out unless there was more than one of them, and maybe even then.

Lu Ye and Yi Yi needed time to recover their strength, so the Hao brother and sister offered to protect them as a matter of course.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the next morning.

The fragrance of the Purple Cloud Flower grew stronger and stronger until finally, it achieved full bloom.

While Hao Ren was paying Lu Ye a hundred Spirit Stones, Hao Qing carefully plucked the Purple Cloud Flower and stored it within a box they had prepared from the beginning.

Both sides were happy with the outcome, and in Lu Ye’s case it was like getting a hundred Spirit Stones for free. It wasn’t much, but it would cover his and Amber’s cultivation needs for at least a couple of days.

“Brother Yi Ye, you were asking about the location of Sky Pillar Sect’s ore vein, weren’t you? Are you planning to…” Hao Ren drew a line across his neck after saying this.

“Yeah. Do you have any advice you would like to offer, Brother Hao?”

Hao Ren hurriedly waved it off. “Oh no, I highly doubt I’d be able to offer a genius like you any useful advice. It’s just that… are you sure you want to do this with just Sister Yi Yi? Isn’t it a little… you know…” He wanted to say reckless, but he was afraid of offending Lu Ye.

“Don’t worry. I’ll use my discretion and operate within my limits.”

Hao Ren then asked, “If you don’t mind, can we come with you?” 

Hao Ren would never have suggested this if he hadn’t witnessed Lu Ye slaughtering Yuan Guang with his own eyes. Since Lu Ye had proven to be most formidable, what had seemed like an insurmountable mission now only required, as Lu Ye said, a little discretion.

Lu Ye raised his eyebrows. “Of course I welcome your aid.”

The offer didn’t surprise him. Silverlight Island and Sky Pillar Sect were neighbors, and he was sure that they had a river of grudges to settle with one another. If someone wanted to give the Sky Pillar Sect trouble, they were only all too happy to offer their aid.

The reason Lu Ye hadn’t tried to recruit them himself was because, one, they were little more than strangers, and two, it was a pretty risky endeavor. He would be putting them on the spot if he asked them about it.

It was a different story if Hao Ren made the offer though. They were both Eighth-Order cultivators, so he more than welcomed their strength.

They spent a few minutes communicating their abilities with each other. Lu Ye learned that the siblings were ghost cultivators who were versed in the art of concealment.

It made sense. They would never have dared to search for the Purple Cloud Flower on their enemy’s territory otherwise.

Ghost cultivators weren’t much different from combat cultivators at Seventh-Order or below. It was after they gained the ability to commune with the Nether that they were able to unleash the true strength of their cultivation faction. 

Each major cultivation faction possessed a number of advantages that were exclusive to themselves. Body tempering cultivators had the strongest physique, spell cultivators were unrivaled in spellcraft, combat cultivators were fearsome in close combat, and medicine cultivators could heal the sick and ill.

A ghost cultivator’s exclusive advantage was their unpredictability. Not only were they fast, they excelled in the art of concealment and assassination. They also had the easiest time killing enemies that were above their cultivation level. After all, what could you do if a ghost cultivator managed to get within killing range undetected, even if your cultivation level was higher than theirs?

Of course, their advantages came with certain drawbacks. For starters, they were almost as fragile as a spell cultivator. Second, they could never learn spells because one had to pay a price to commune with the Nether. In fact, their Spiritual Power wasn’t just Spiritual Power after they underwent a communion. It was a special mix of power that allowed them to pull off many seemingly impossible feats.

Originally, Lu Ye was just going to find a place with plenty of Sky Pillar Sect cultivators that wasn’t the Outpost and play the bait. He was a Seventh-Order cultivator and a member of the Grand Sky Coalition. It should not be difficult to draw the enemy to him at all. He would then kill anyone who came his way. If their numbers were too great, then he would run away from them. 

Nothing was off limits. He was here to take revenge against his enemy, so there was no need to factor benevolence and morality into the equation.

Now that he had the Hao brother and sister, he could make the plan even better. Eighth-Order ghost cultivators were equally excellent baits, not to mention that they hailed from Silverlight Island as well. The plan was discussed and finalized in no time.

Technically speaking, flying to the enemy’s ore vein was an option. Eighth-Order cultivators had just enough control to fly via controlling Spiritual Artifact. However, it would exhaust them unnecessarily before the great battle, not to mention that they were currently behind the enemy lines. It would hardly be a good idea to travel openly.

That was why they ran all the way to the ore vein. The good news was that their destination was only one hundred or so kilometers away from their current location, and fifteen kilometers away from the Outpost.

As a general rule, a resource site was never too far away from an Outpost. It would be difficult to defend it otherwise.

This was one of the criteria the sects considered before choosing the location of their Outpost. It was common sense to scout out a piece of land and identify the location of the resource sites before founding the Outpost.

It took a full day to make it to the ore vein. The sky had turned fully dark by the time they arrived at their destination.

They were currently just thirty kilometers away from the Outpost, and fifteen kilometers away from the ore vein.

They did not act immediately. Instead they took a moment to rest and regain their strength.

When it was midnight, Hao Ren finally took off toward the ore vein. Lu Ye saw him abruptly melting into the darkness after moving just a short distance away from them. He was unable to see him even after he channeled Spiritual Light into his eyes.

This was one of the unique strengths of a ghost cultivator. In fact, Hao Ren wasn’t able to conceal himself completely because his cultivation level wasn’t high enough. Once he was at the right level, he would be able to conceal even his Spiritual Light.

Ghost cultivators only became harder to detect when they reached Cloud River Realm. That was why powerful ghost cultivators were to be feared. They could always claim a life from the most unexpected corners.

Of course, a ghost cultivator’s concealment was hardly unbeatable. For starters, they could not maintain their concealment if they suffered a hit. Also, a cultivator’s perception naturally improved with their cultivation level. Even if they couldn’t see the ghost cultivator, their sixth sense would warn them that there was danger.

Less than half an hour later, a pair of Spiritual Lights suddenly burst out of the ore vein and flew straight toward Lu Ye’s group. They were both Ninth-Order cultivators, and one of them was a spell cultivator. They could tell because they kept flinging spells at the forest floor with reckless abandon. The other cultivator did not emulate his ally’s example, but he too summoned his flying weapon that zipped around the trees in a sheen of golden light.