Translator: TheBrokenPen Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys But the Fifth-Order enemy was not the only one facing the unbelievable quandary of having mushrooms mysteriously popping out of nowhere in his mouth; the same was happening to the rest of the newcomers. It was the Seventh-Order who had it worst. When mushrooms began sprouting out of his nose, eyes, mouth, and ears, he reached a hand and grabbed them, crushing them only to find that his hands were drenched in his own blood. Realizing what was going on, he snarled furiously, “Poison?! How dare you, you worthless wench!” Enraged, he sped straight at Hua Ci. Boom! Lu Ye launched himself off Beaky’s back and hurled himself to just in front of Ruan Lingyu and Hua Ci where he ripped Inviolable out of its scabbard and swung it without any hesitation. A streak of red tore through the air with a trail of sparks following in its wake. The deadly force drove the Seventh-Order backward. Lu Ye backtracked a couple of paces, but quickly collected himself and propelled forward as soon as his feet caught the bamboo floorboards. The two figures hurtled forward to meet each other, their weapons colliding fiercely amid incessant clangors of steel. This was Lu Ye’s first skirmish against a fully-fledged Seventh-Order and he was positively feeling the challenge. Fortunately, he was no longer the Lu Ye of the Battle of Goldentip—although he was still a Fifth-Order, being trained by Li Baxian made him formidable enough to hold his own despite the relatively wide gap in rank. As if a creature with a life of its own, Inviolable was a thrashing serpent with unmatched agility and venomous viciousness. In mere moments since the skirmish began, Lu Ye found an opening. He hacked down hard, slicing through the Seventh-Order’s protective aura and causing a hideous gash more than a foot long that traced from his chest and down to his abdomen with blood pouring out of the sickening wound. Staggering backward, the Seventh-Order gawked with disbelief. Never did he know that a Fifth-Order could hurt him so badly. Just when he was still reeling with amazement, Lu Ye bolted forward. After another clash, the Seventh-Order collected another wound. By then, his surprise had turned into terror. Whoever this Fifth-Order was, he noted, his speed and strength unequivocally outstripped his own. But what truly terrified him was how the weapon just managed to draw blood whenever it grazed him. Whatever type of toxin he was poisoned with, the Seventh-Order could feel his vision blurring and his ears ringing. His power was plummeting at a noticeable rate and more and more vibrantly hued mushrooms were blooming all around his face. It was the poisonous spores that were sapping his power, causing the mushrooms to bloom! That would mean that he needed to settle this fight quickly and apprehend that wench to obtain an antidote! He immediately dug inside his Storage Bag and drew out a Spirit Artifact which he flung into the air with a low grunt, “GO!” The Artifact shot off into the air with a stream of sparkles in its wake, dashing straight for Lu Ye. A Seventh-Order who had learned Telekinesis. Lu Ye could have sworn that his hair instantly stood on end the moment he spied the Artifact being set loose by the enemy Seventh-Order. An engulfing sensation of lethal danger expanded all around him, threatening to swallow him whole as he could barely take his eyes off the streaking glow. Time seemed to have paused for that one second as he quickly calculated the trajectory of the object. That was when he finally saw what it really was. That was the effect of his physical enrichment at play. All thanks to the mysterious red substance from inside the dragon scale, he was not only becoming stronger and faster but his vision was enhanced to a superhuman degree. His body wasn’t the only thing that could react more quickly than before, his vision could too. [ There’s no time! I’m not going to be able to parry it in time! ] Lu Ye realized, knowing how fast the object was moving. He quickly channeled his Spiritual Power and a Glyph: Protection energy shield immediately took form right in front of his chest as he injected more power into it to strengthen his final line of defense, Next came a bang and a violent discharge of force as the object collided with the energy shield. Lu Ye grunted as the impact battered his ribs and he immediately tasted the acrid tang of blood. But his feet—as if rooted to the ground—kept him upright even as the huge but invisible force pushed him backward, his legs plowing through the soil in the ground, leaving two long ditches in his wake. “Yi Ye!” Ruan Lingyu who was beside Hua Ci yelped with fright, her face now a pallid white. Hua Ci bit her lip and performed another hand seal. Puff! Puff! Puff! One after another, the tiny little mushrooms growing on the enemy Seventh-Order began to pop, spreading a smog of poisonous spores all around his face. He began screaming maniacally as the very flesh on his face began to melt like liquid in sickening sizzles, leaving his face grotesquely deformed and bloody as more damage occurred. That was a much-needed breather for Lu Ye, who saw his chance and delivered a blow to the object still trying to spear through his Glyph: Protection shield, sending the object careening elsewhere. Then he dashed straight at his enemy who could only watch helplessly with panic and horror and drove his weapon through him. The Glyph: Sharp Edge-reinforced Inviolable pierced through the man’s chest, rupturing his heart, and punched out his back. Satisfied that victory was his, Lu Ye extricated his blade from his enemy and watched the blood pouring out the wound. “ARRGGHH!” another shrill cry slashed through the air. Lu Ye jerked his head around just in time to see Beaky pecking at the enemy Sixth-Order and tossing him up into the air. Did he attack Beaky in some way or had Beaky just deemed him an enemy when the skirmish began, Lu Ye did not know. All he knew was that Beaky easily tore the man into two bloody halves that fell to the ground with a huge morbid splatter of blood, entrails, and viscera. At the same time, Kong Niu had successfully dealt with his opponent. Fresh into the Fifth-Order, Kong Niu would have had a difficult time holding up his own. But the newcomers had been poisoned even before the fight broke out and Hua Ci’s timely triggering of the poison was what helped to even the odds. Anyone in their shoes would have been distracted and intimidated by mushrooms suddenly growing out of his or her face. More so, mushrooms that could sap one’s Spiritual Power as sustenance to grow… With the impromptu melee now concluded, Lu Ye flicked the blood off his saber before sliding it back into its sheath. He rubbed at his chest to ease the gnawing soreness. Glyph: Protection might have saved him from certain death, but it did not manage to prevent the entirety of the impact at all. “Who were these people?” Lu Ye asked, creasing into a worried frown. That was more than just a concern. He only just arrived, wanting to visit a friend when he stumbled upon Hua Ci trying to kill herself before Ruan Lingyu’s squeal sparked what turned out to be a bloody brawl. “Just a few pieces of filth from the inner ring areas,” Hua Ci muttered quietly. She looked at Lu Ye, upset that he was hurt, “Are you all right?” Lu Ye shook his head. “Let’s come inside,” Hua Ci motioned toward her bamboo abode. Lu Ye went with her. Ruan Lingyu and Kong Niu stayed outside to help clear up the bodies. Hua Ci poured Lu Ye a cup of water once inside. The latter did note that she looked slightly at ease than she was earlier. At any rate, the weary look on her face must mean that life had not been too kind to her lately. Lu Ye lifted his cup and sipped at the water, “Are you in trouble?” He did not have to ask. The look on her face was enough for Lu Ye to guess what was going on. In fact, this was exactly what he had been worried about back when he first visited Mount Ying. As a local household name in the villages and townships nearby, any Cultivator who got injured often sought her treatment and help and Hua Ci would be willing to provide it in exchange for a small payment which she relied on to get her supplies. It was only a matter of time before somebody powerful and dangerous heard of her—someone that the Rogue Wanderers’ Club could do nothing to resist. As a Fifth-Order Cultivator, Hua Ci and the Club—a band of barely more than a dozen independents—had been able to keep themselves safe in the outermost areas of the Battlefield. But trouble often comes when you’re least expecting it. Hua Ci was eventually discovered when the enemy Seventh-Order came looking for her when he somehow heard of her name, wanting her to heal his injuries. Naturally, Hua Ci was reluctant to provide her services to a Cultivator of the Thousand Demon Ridge. Unfortunately, she had little choice but to do as she was told. By the time the enemy Seventh-Order was fully healed, he flatly refused to leave. Seeing her as a golden goose, he enslaved her and used her to earn Spirit Stones. So long as he could control her, he would not have to venture into the inner ring areas of the Battlefield anymore. He was only hurt because he lost a battle during his time in the inner ring areas and that was what brought him to these parts. More than three weeks had passed since then and every Spirit Stone that Hua Ci made was surrendered to the enemy Seventh-Order and his band of ruffians just so that the rest of the Rogue Wanderers’ Club could be safe. “What of the rest?” The last time Lu Ye came, the Club had more than a dozen men. But all he saw now were the three of them. “Killed,” Hua Ci exhaled grimly. Kong Niu and the others had tried to resist the enemy when he wanted to enslave Hua Ci, and in the ensuing altercation almost everyone in the Club was killed. It was only when Hua Ci threatened to kill herself that the enemy stayed their hand and spared the rest. That was how the cut on her throat came to be. Hope only arrived in the form of Lu Ye on the back of a gigantic eagle today and that was enough for Hua Ci to set aside any reservations. She knew that Lu Ye would do whatever was needed to help her and decided to gain control of the initiative. Fortunately enough, Lu Ye had improved more than she anticipated, making the attempt to take down the enemy Seventh-Order a relative cakewalk. Noticing Lu Ye was staring at her neck, Hua Ci tried to cover the wound on her neck with a hand. She cracked her usual soft and demure smile and said, “Nevertheless, we’re thankful that you’ve come.” “Looks like they weren’t going to survive long anyway, with or without me,” Lu Ye added dryly, waving her off. Whatever devilry Hua Ci had concocted, from how her mushrooms worked, Lu Ye knew that, given time, she could have eliminated them all by herself, although doing so might incur some unwanted repercussions. Medical Cultivators could also kill, and among them existed a select breed of Cultivators who loved to use poison popularly known as “Poisoneers”. Using toxins and venom, Poisoneers could dispense death and carnage without anyone knowing and those unlucky enough to be their victims oftentimes died painful and agonizing deaths. “Enough about me. What about you? What brings the famous Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect to this place? Have you left something here?” Clearly, news about the Battle of Goldentip had reached these parts too. “My name is Lu Ye!” he insisted vehemently with his veins bulging at his temples. “Really?” Hua Ci feigned ignorance. “I seem to recall someone telling me that his name was Lu Yi Ye. Was he lying?” She peered at Lu Ye through misty eyes, then her head began shaking. “It’s true then. Men are not to be trusted at all,” she sighed. “But what can I do? You’ve saved my life and I should perhaps devote myself to you in gratitude…” Her lilting voice went hushed as she lowered her head, stealing furtive glances at him with her face now fully blushing red. Then he saw her hand—the one she used to cover her neck wound—coming down to tug on the hems of her clothing. Lu Ye felt unbearably parched all of a sudden and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. [ What the hell?! Is this even true?! I saved her and she’s willing to give herself to me? Is this her trying to make an honest man out of me?! ] Her hand innocently flatted a wrinkle… Lu Ye’s gaze panned upwards and met hers—a toying and sly look on her face. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath instead. [G ods, I’m a fool for entertaining such fantasies and thinking that they could be real! ]