Translator: Asuka Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys Zhang Wu was in the Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm. Moreover, he clearly had more combat experience than Lu Ye. The two machetes in his hands were dancing so swiftly that it was a whirlwind of movements. Lu Ye’s opponent’s second attack was already stabbing diagonally toward him at a very high speed by the time Lu Ye had brought his knife up horizontally to block his opponent’s first attack. At this moment, it was clearly too late for him to retract the knife and defend. Just as Zhang Wu thought that his attack was about to succeed, a small triangular thing that looked like a miniature shield suddenly appeared on the surface of Lu Ye’s body. There was a loud clanging noise as the machete struck the Protection Spiritual Pattern. Thus, the brutal attack was blocked by the Protection Spiritual Pattern. Meanwhile, Lu Ye went along with the shift in his centre of gravity and slid sideways. At the same time, he slashed out diagonally with his long knife! The sharp blade opened up a long wound down Zhang Wu’s arm, causing blood and flesh to curl. The tiger also took this opportunity to lunge forward. The tiger’s roar reverberated throughout the Heavens. On the other hand, Yi Yi’s figure floated about erratically like a Ghost to distract Zhang Wu’s attention. It was three against one! A short while later, Lu Ye panted heavily. The long knife in his hand had pierced through Zhang Wu’s chest once more. This time around, it stabbed directly into his opponent’s heart. Consequently, Zhang Wu’s head drooped, both hands fell to his sides, and his weapons clattered to the ground: He was dead. This arduous battle ended in Lu Ye’s victory. Even so, he had paid quite a high price for his win. Leaving aside the fact that he had exhausted most of his Spiritual Power, he even had four wounds on his body that were deep enough to see the bone. Blood practically dyed his entire shirt red and a thick stench of blood permeated his surroundings. The Protection Spiritual Pattern was indeed capable of defending against the opponent’s attacks. Unfortunately, there were quite a few occasions where he didn’t even have the time to activate the Protection Spiritual Pattern at all. The other party’s attacks were too fast for him. That was the gap brought about by the difference in their cultivation and combat experience. Fortunately, none of his injuries landed on his vital spots. He had fought a Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master with the strength of a Second-Order Spirit Creek Master under highly advantageous circumstances where he managed to severely injure the other party in addition to seizing the initiative in battle. Even so, he had paid such a high price just to take his enemy down. It made him deeply realise his own shortcomings. He was not the only one with serious injuries. Both the tiger and Yi Yi were wounded too. Half of the tiger’s body was covered in blood while Yi Yi’s figure had dimmed considerably. He hurriedly cleaned up the battlefield and grabbed the Storage Bags of those people, not forgetting to take the Young Master’s Mystic Spirit Bell as well. Then, he swung himself up on the tiger’s back and shouted, “Go!” The tiger’s figure leaped forward, charging straight for the Split Sky Gorge. Halfway through the journey, Lu Ye’s vision began to blur. His body was on the verge of collapse. Knowing that he could not hold on any longer, he only managed to utter one sentence to Yi Yi and the tiger. “If you encounter a fork in the road, don’t arbitrarily wander around on your own. Find a place to hide instead. We can talk about the rest when I wake up.” Yi Yi didn’t even have time to react to those words when his body slumped to the side and he nearly fell off the tiger’s back. Thus, she hurriedly leaned forward to support his body. Approximately half an hour after the tiger left with Lu Ye on its back, a figure suddenly appeared on that battlefield. Looking around at the traces of battle that were left behind, he raised his head and shouted, “Found it!” A short while later, two other figures came over from not far away. The three of them looked at the chaotic battlefield and knew that the situation was very bad. “What do we do?” “Notify Senior Brother Cao Ye,” one of them said with a sigh. He activated his Battlefield Imprint and sent out a message. Another short while passed. A burly figure landed on the battlefield. The aura around his body was very dense. Looking at the aura around him, it was stronger than what Lu Ye had once seen on a Fifth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master. “Senior Brother Cao!” The three of them greeted the man. Cao Ye stepped forward to investigate the four corpses of his Sect members. Judging from what was left on the battlefield, Junior Brother Sun had gotten his neck slit and bled to death quickly; Junior Sister Yuan had been beheaded; and the Young Master had sustained injuries on his thigh, shoulder blade, and neck. He even lost an arm. However, he died from the fatal wound in his chest. Zhang Wu, on the other hand, was covered in injuries. It was obvious that he had experienced a huge battle. Similarly, he died from a stab to the heart. “Trash!” Gritting his teeth, he cursed angrily. He simply could not understand how the Young Master who was protected by the Mystic Spirit Bell could end up dead. It had to be said that although the Mystic Spirit Bell was only a Low-Grade Spirit Artefact, its defensive properties were fairly strong. As long as the Mystic Spirit Bell was activated for protection in the case of danger, it could even withstand the attacks of a Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master for a short while. There was no way anybody below the Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm could even hope to penetrate the defences of the Mystic Spirit Bell in a short period of time. In the Outer Circle of the battlefield, forget a Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master, even a Sixth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master would be hard to find. A Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master and a Sixth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master were existences akin to the overlords of this land. Cultivators with that level of cultivation would generally oversee the bases of their Sects and rarely leave the place. He would not have come out here if he had not received a message from Zhang Wu. The Young Master had the protection of the Mystic Spirit Bell, as well as a Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master like Zhang Wu escorting him. That was why both Cao Ye and Dong Shu Ye had felt at ease to let him wander around outside. What’s more, this place was still within the territory of the Nine Star Clan… Nevertheless, he was killed within the territory of his own Sect! [How am I supposed to explain this situation to the Sect Master!?] It could be said that the entire Nine Star Clan had been completely humiliated in this incident. Cao Ye could almost imagine how furious the Elders of the Sect would be when the news was reported back to the Sect. “Send a message back to the base. Seal off the area within 50 kilometres of this place and search for a young man accompanied by a white tiger. He is probably in the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm or the Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm and uses a knife-type Spirit Artefact. Regardless of the factions, we will reward those who provide any leads on this man with 30 Spirit Stones; those who manage to kill him with 500 Spirit Stones; and those who capture him alive with 1,000 Spirit Stones!” His low voice rang out. The three other cultivators looked grim and hurriedly went to carry out the orders. Zhang Wu had only managed to send a simple message that contained just one sentence before he died: ‘Young man with white tiger. Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm.’ Even so, Cao Ye had gained a lot of information from his investigation. Zhang Wu had fought with the killer before being killed. Therefore, Cao Ye deduced that the other party was stronger than a Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm. It was most likely that the perpetrator was a Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master or a Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master instead. Otherwise, that person could not have managed to kill Zhang Wu. As for the part where the other party used a knife… That was very simple. Both the Young Master and Zhang Wu carried injuries that clearly indicated they were caused by a knife. In addition, the opponent most likely had quite a good Spirit Artefact. How could he have killed Zhang Wu otherwise? It was impossible for the weak to defeat the strong. While lost in thought, Cao Ye suddenly raised his head to look in a certain direction and shouted, “Who’s there!?” As soon as Cao Ye’s voice rang out, a handsome man with a charming attitude dressed in green clothes walked out from the shadows. That man wore a longsword at his waist. His hand was pressed against the hilt of his knife as he glided over with light steps, acting as though he was a King patrolling his own territory. The moment Cao Ye saw this man, he reacted as though he was facing a great enemy. Quickly activating his Spiritual Power, he shouted through gritted teeth, “Wang Yang!” It was no wonder that he was so nervous. Although he was in the Sixth-Order Spirit Creek Realm, the other party was in the Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm. Even with only one Realm difference between them, there was a dividing line on the Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm and the Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm. Therefore, a cultivator would experience a huge difference in strength after crossing this dividing line. Having suffered great humiliation at the hands of this man during their past battles, he immediately felt troubled as soon as he saw this person appearing in this place. He had the confidence that he could escape, seeing as he was a body tempering cultivator. Besides, he had a tough hide. Even if he could not win against Wang Yang, it was still possible for him to escape alive. Unfortunately, the three other companions behind him did not have the ability to do so. [Why didn’t this damned dog stay quietly inside the Mystic Sect’s base!? Why did he come here!?] He cursed in his heart. At the same time, he knew that the commotion had been so huge that it had attracted the Mystic Sect’s attention.