Translator: Asuka Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys Blood splashed as Lu Ye and Senior Brother Zhou respectively stepped backwards. At this moment, blood was spurting out from the right side of Lu Ye’s chest as his opponent’s sword had penetrated his body. On the other hand, Senior Brother Zhou wasn’t in a better state either. There was a cut that extended from his chest to his belly. If it weren’t because he moved backwards at the most critical moment, his chest and stomach would’ve been cut open. Certainly, he had seen Lu Ye’s attack. The reason he didn’t dodge it initially was that he was confident that his Spiritual Power could protect him. Earlier, Lu Ye had used a Breathing Curbing Talisman Paper to cover up his figure and Spiritual Light, so these people from Serene Cloud Mountain were not able to find out his power. However, Lu Ye was exposed as soon as he made a move. There was no way he could hide the fluctuations of his Spiritual Power. [He’s a Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master!] The moment Senior Brother was freed from the bell, he realized Lu Ye’s true power. He was a Fifth-Order cultivator, which meant that he was two minor realms above the other party, so his protective Spiritual Power was stronger. Therefore, he was confident that Lu Ye’s attack wouldn’t harm him. He would be slightly wounded at most. On the other hand, he could severely injure Lu Ye with his sword. If it weren’t because he had always been careful, he wouldn’t have stepped back when faced with Lu Ye’s slash. His decision had saved his life. When the sword came into contact with his protective Spiritual Power, it was only stopped for a moment. The next instant, his protective Spiritual Power fell apart, and he was wounded. After widening his gap with Lu Ye, Senior Brother Zhou looked down at the wound as he couldn’t believe that his protective Spiritual Power was so weak. The weapon in his opponent’s hand was sharper than he thought. It wasn’t until this moment that he had the time to scan his surroundings. He was astounded to see that his Junior Brothers and Junior Sister were lying on the ground as they were covered in blood. No vitality could be felt exuding from them. Presently, he and Lu Ye were the only Humans that were alive. In the distance, the tiger was pacing around and growling at him. His eyelids twitched violently. He was trapped inside the bell for about ten breaths. Prior to that, his Junior Sister had already been killed. However, the remaining Junior Brothers were all Third-Order cultivators. How was Lu Ye able to kill his Junior Brothers on his own in ten breaths? He was even injured by Lu Ye. [Where is this Monster from?] At that instant, he was both exasperated and sorrowful. With his eyes turning bloodshot, he said through gritted teeth, “Third-Order cultivator. You’re just a Third-Order cultivator…” Lu Ye wasn’t in the mood to listen to what his opponent had to say. The penetrative jab from earlier made it difficult for him to breathe. He knew that this battle couldn’t drag on. Therefore, while his opponent was still engulfed in sorrow, he decided to charge forward. Senior Brother Zhou clenched his teeth and cursed. After they rubbed past one another, three more cuts had been formed on Lu Ye’s figure, but at the same time, he had left one more cut on his opponent as well. The angle from which he slashed at his opponent was tricky. He managed to hack at Senior Brother Zhou’s thigh, which made the flesh around that area roll up and caused blood to gush out of the wound. Since Lu Ye wasn’t able to overpower him with his techniques, he decided to let the other party hurt him in exchange for a chance to injure his opponent as well. If they were to compete against one another using their techniques, he would’ve been tortured to death. Lu Ye turned around and lowered his gaze. His chest and his neck, which were the vital parts of his body, were respectively protected by Spiritual Patterns. His Spiritual Power was rushing to infuse new energy into the Spiritual Patterns to sustain them. Lu Ye’s rationale was simple. He just had to use two Spiritual Patterns to protect his vital parts. As for his other body parts, he wouldn’t mind exposing them to his opponent. He wanted to see which one of them would be brought down first. It had to be said that his way of defending himself was shameless but extremely effective. That was because his chest was indeed attacked by Senior Brother Zhou, but his Spiritual Pattern had fended off the fatal strike. It was also because of this attack that Senior Brother Zhou’s thigh was exposed, which allowed Lu Ye to harm him. It wasn’t that Lu Ye didn’t want to activate a large Spiritual Pattern, but it was energy consuming to do so. He wasn’t powerful enough to sustain it. Therefore, he had to ensure that he could kill his opponent before his Spiritual Power was exhausted. Otherwise, he and Amber would be doomed. It was enough to have two Spiritual Patterns to protect his vital parts. “Damn it!” Senior Brother Zhou cursed again in exasperation. After he finished speaking, he fished out a talisman paper and used it on himself. That was a Golden Body Talisman Paper. In an instant, he was engulfed in a layer of golden light. Following that, he took out another talisman paper and hurled it at Lu Ye. As a Fifth-Order cultivator, he certainly had some talisman papers that could save his life. Normally, he was reluctant to use them, but now, he was left with no other choice. After trading moves twice, which caused both of them to be injured, he realized that it was difficult to deal with this Third-Order cultivator who came out of nowhere. The weapon in his opponent’s hand was especially sharp, which could easily penetrate his protective Spiritual Power. On the other hand, Lu Ye had already dashed forward. Seeing that Senior Brother Zhou had cast a talisman paper, he had no choice but to stop in his tracks. Following that, a bell spun and became as tall as a Human before it came into the way between Lu Ye and his opponent. The power of the talisman paper clashed with the bell with a loud clang. While his figure was covered up by the bell, Lu Ye seized the chance and emerged from the side. When Senior Brother Zhou saw him, they were only 15 meters apart. He wanted to retreat, but the wound on his leg caused him to totter. Faced with the ferocious Lu Ye, he clenched his teeth and pushed his sword forward. Lu Ye charged forward and slashed at him. Blood splashed everywhere as the sounds of weapons jabbing into flesh were heard. After their Spiritual Powers clashed, the battlefield became a mess. They had traded moves again as both of them were hurt. Although Senior Brother Zhou was two minor realms above Lu Ye, the latter’s Spiritual Patterns, Sharp Edge and Protection, were able to make up for the gap between their powers. In fact, Lu Ye was even stronger than his opponent when it came to attack and defense. The only thing Senior Brother Zhou had an advantage over Lu Ye was his Spiritual Power reserve. A Fifth-Order cultivator must have unlocked 63 Spiritual Points at the very least. Although Lu Ye had been cultivating while looking for Amber on the mountain, he had only managed to unlock up to 41 Spiritual Points. There was a gap of over 20 Spiritual Points between them, which was why Senior Brother Zhou was at an advantage when it came to Spiritual Power reserve. However, that didn’t allow him to gain the upper hand in the battle. This kind of brutal and violent fight made him feel despondent because his opponent was able to use Spiritual Patterns, which protected his two vital parts. As a Fifth-Order cultivator, he was still unable to break the Spiritual Patterns. He had attempted to shatter the Spiritual Patterns. However, whenever he weakened the powers of the Spiritual Patterns using his sword, his opponent was able to use Spiritual Power to repair them. Unless he could destroy the Spiritual Patterns with one strike, anything else he did was futile. Realizing that his injuries had worsened, he stopped having the urge to avenge the death of his Junior Sister and Junior Brothers. That was because he felt that if he kept fighting, he would probably lose his life in this place. Faced with the other party’s relentless attack, he didn’t even have the time to send a message.