Translator: Truth Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys There were no signs of combat in the surroundings, and yet a Heaven Nine ghost cultivator lay dead next to Lu Ye. The situation was more complicated than he initially thought to put it mildly. He looked up. That was when he saw Lu Ye staring straight into his eyes. Cold sweat dripped down Yu Qi’s forehead. He knew he was exposed almost the second their eyes met. Never mind that he had no idea how he was exposed. Never mind that Lu Yi Ye, a Heaven Seven combat cultivator, should never be able to see him. Ghost cultivators did excel at assassinating enemies above their cultivation realm, but that was assuming that their stealth wasn’t broken. Otherwise, they were far less of a threat. Yu Qi barely hesitated before jumping back. Maybe it was the threat of death so tangible that he could practically smell it, but he was moving faster than he ever had in his life. He heard something whistling through the air. The next moment, three flying weapons closed in on him from multiple directions. Yu Qi had long since heard of Lu Ye’s telekinetic prowess. He hurriedly summoned his own Spirit Artifact and knocked the three flying weapons away. At the same time, he used the knockback force to put another thirty meters between himself and Lu Yi Ye. However, just as he stopped, another flying weapon flew toward his side soundlessly. Yu Qi hurriedly dodged to the side, but the attack still managed to brush his shoulder and trigger a burst of intense pain. Blood immediately poured profusely down his shoulder. As if that wasn’t enough, he heard more whistling sounds coming from behind. He looked back just in time to see five or six flying weapons approaching him from multiple angles. In that instant, two words flashed across his mind. [I’m dead.] He was aware that Lu Ye was powerful. He was a Heaven Seven cultivator who could kill Heaven Nine cultivators. However, seeing was believing, and it wasn’t until now that he grasped just how powerful the young man really was. He was a Heaven Eight cultivator who had unlocked three hundred and ten Spiritual Points, and yet he couldn’t even retaliate against someone who was one minor realm below him. Lu Yi Ye had not even moved an inch from his position. Yet, he had driven Yu Qi into a dead end with his flying weapons alone. His strength had literally surpassed his imagination of what was possible. An instant before death, he tapped on his Battlefield Imprint and sent out an emergency message. He wasn’t scared of dying, but he was scared that he would perish before informing the others about Lu Yi Ye’s location. The reason he hadn’t done so the second he discovered Lu Ye was because he wanted to claim all the rewards for himself, but now, he was way past the point of selfishness. [Please make it in time!] Chiang! He could hear the reverberation of the metals. He could almost feel them pressing against his skin from multiple angles. It was then he realized that he was… alive? He looked around. For whatever reason, the Spirit Artifacts had come to a stop just an inch away from his vital spots. He maintained his awkward posture and did not dare to move a muscle. Large beads of sweat slid down Yu Qi’s face as he turned his eyes sideways and glanced at Lu Ye. “You done?” Lu Ye asked. “What?” “Are you done messaging your comrades?” “Yeah,” Yu Qi replied instinctively. “Good!” The Spirit Artifacts immediately shone with power once more. Just as he was about to die, Yu Qi uttered through gritted teeth, “See you on the way to the Yellow Springs!” That was all Lu Ye allowed him to say before controlling his flying weapons to pierce his protective Spiritual Power like they were paper and destroy his vitals. The ghost cultivator spewed blood like a leaking wine skin before hitting the ground with a heavy thud, and the flying weapons returned to Lu Ye’s Weapon Holder. Ju Jia set down the half-cooked boar and walked up to Yu Qi. After taking the ghost cultivator’s Storage Bag, he dumped the corpse on the small stack of corpses behind the large rock Lu Ye was sitting on. These dead men were all ghost cultivators who had discovered Lu Ye’s tracks, but instead of reporting back to the main group like they should have, they all succumbed to greed thinking that they could single handedly slay the Vanquisher of Sects and claim all the fame, glory and wealth. Instead, all they got was a premature death. In fact, none of these ghost cultivators managed to send out a message until Yu Qi came by. After a massive expenditure of Contribution Points and several days of setup, he was finally ready to begin the massacre. Not long after Yu Qi’s death, the squads searching through the forest began converging on Lu Ye’s location. The closest squad took only half an incense stick to arrive at the location and detect Lu Ye from afar. Unlike the ghost cultivators though, they did not attack Lu Ye on their own. Instead, they waited patiently for the other squads to arrive. An hour later, five squads and over seventy people had arrived at Lu Ye’s resting spot. More were moving in from multiple directions. It was only then they began moving in from every direction. They exposed their killing intent once they had gotten close enough. At this distance, it did not matter if they were concealed or not. Every Thousand Demon Ridge cultivator was staring at the figure standing on the rock with greed-filled eyes. “Die, Lu Yi Ye!” “Take him down!” “For those who have died because of him!” Anger-filled cries broke out from every direction. To someone who knew nothing about the situation, it looked like they were heroes attacking an evil monster who had terrorized their people for too long. Spells and flying weapons shot toward Lu Ye from all over the place. But to their surprise, Lu Ye remained exactly where he was. Despite the rain of death flying toward him from every direction, he didn’t even try to dodge out of the way. [What is he doing?] No one could understand what Lu Yi Ye was thinking. Forget a Heaven Seven cultivator, even an ordinary Cloud River Realm cultivator would not dare to block such an attack head on. Unless he was suicidal, of course. Naturally, Lu Ye wasn’t feeling suicidal. Right before the attack could hit him, he abruptly summoned a ward flag and gave it a little wave. There was a surge of Spiritual Power, and a layer of light that surrounded both him and Ju Jia manifested into existence. Swimming across the surface of the barrier like fish were multiple Glyph: Protections. “It’s a defensive ward!” Someone yelled. Now they understood why Lu Ye had acted as if their attack didn’t exist. He had clearly set up a defensive ward around his resting spot. The defensive ward was basically the mini version of a Grand Ward. It looked pretty tough because the amount of space it needed to protect was much, much smaller. The main reason Lu Ye was feared by the Thousand Demon Ridge was because of his ward breaching skills. If he could breach a grand ward, then it made sense that his ward creation skills could not be far behind as well. Suddenly, some of the attackers had a bad feeling regarding this whole assault. At the same time, they realized something they had been subconsciously ignoring until now… Ripples appeared all over the barrier of light as the telekinetic weapons and spells landed. The barrage was powerful enough that the defensive ward was dimming at a visible rate. It would probably shatter in less than ten breaths. It was at this moment Lu Ye produced yet another ward flag. When he gave it a little wave, a Thousand Demon Ridge squad over a dozen strong suddenly felt an unnatural prickle all over their skin. At the same time, the alarm bells in their heads abruptly rang in full force. The ground beneath their feet started glowing with strange patterns. The next moment, it transformed into a huge ward that encompassed over thirty meters of space. Glyph: Explosion was a Glyph Lu Ye had obtained from the Tree of Glyphs a while ago, and it was one of the best Glyphs to be used in a ward. Lu Ye’s attainment in the Way of Wards had increased by an unimaginable degree thanks to the knowledge he absorbed in the Hundred Wards Tower, but to this day he was still growing at a visible rate. It was because he wasn’t able to digest the packets of knowledge that had been forcefully shoved into his head immediately. Every time he reviewed those packets of knowledge, his skill would improve a little more. Lu Ye had created countless wards as per the Hundred Wards Tower demanded in its tests. Naturally, he was no longer the novice he used to be. For starters, the Explosive Ward the Thousand Demon Ridge squad was sitting in had been created using four ward flags as the frame and Glyph: Explosion as the main Glyph. It was then charged to the brim with a good amount of Spirit Stones. This was the first time he created this type of ward, he dearly wished to know just how powerful it really was. The Thousand Demon Ridge was wary of his ward breaching skills, but this would be the first time they had a taste of his ward creation skills. “Run!” Someone shouted, but it was too late. The Spiritual Power of the ward went from zero to a hundred in an instant. The second the Glyph took form, the earth shook, and the world was consumed in a blaze of fire and stone. Caught completely by surprise, the other squads instinctively paused in their tracks and looked in the direction of the explosion. They saw blood, flesh and bone raining from the sky. They saw the affected squad had lost over half of their men, and those who survived had not escaped intact. They were all missing a good chunk of flesh and bone and screaming like it was the end of the world. Meanwhile, Lu Ye was thinking to himself: [Hmm, the Explosive Ward is more powerful than I thought. It’s too bad it ruins the ward flags as well.] Of course, the ward flags used to establish the Explosive Ward were not the ones he had received from the Hundred Wards Tower. He would have to be really desperate, insane or both to waste them like this. The four ward flags used to establish the Explosive Ward had been purchased from the Vault of Providence. Each one cost between dozens to a hundred Contribution Points, or the equivalent of a good Lower Grade Spirit Artifact. Earlier at the Three Sages School’s Outpost, Lu Ye had spent nearly all of Contribution Points on ward flags and ward keystones. While he could have just purchased the raw materials and materialized the items out of thin air using his Fire Attribute Spiritual Power, he wasn’t yet at that skill level. He didn’t have the time or the tools to create them using the standard method either, so he had no choice but to buy them directly from the Vault of Providence. That said, he wasn’t making a loss “wasting” his ward flags like this. Forget that he and Ju Jia’s life were priceless, the kills alone earned him Contribution Points, not to mention the loot could be resold for more Contribution Points or Spirit Stones. If the enemy he blasted to the Heavens were rich, then his return would definitely be higher than the cost. A couple more wards came active while the Explosive Ward was grabbing everyone’s attention. A second explosive ward caught another squad of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators and dealt severe damage to them as well. The second Explosive Ward was the last of its kind, but that didn’t mean the other wards he had set up were useless. They all had their own uses and functions. Lu Ye manipulated these wards and gave the remaining Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators a hell of a hard time.