Sage of Humanity

Lu Ye sheathed his blade and raised his eyes to gaze at a certain spot in the sky.

"Quickly, retract the Heaven Reflecting Mirror!"

Chu Ruoyu's mind was in turmoil as he hastily gave the order.

The final slash seemed like it wasn't aimed at Lin Xun but rather at his own neck. Even though separated by a world, he felt a chilling illusion on his neck.

Beside Chu Ruoyu, the cultivators of the Five Great Families were all silent.

It was supposed to be borrowing a knife to kill, but no one expected to witness such a terrifying scene.

Lin Xun, such a powerful figure of the Corpse Race, along with his hordes of corpses, was incinerated clean by a single Dao technique, and even Lin Xun himself was slain.

Such strength…

Such ferocity…

Everyone silently rejoiced that the knife-wielding youth hadn't used that technique in Five Prime City; otherwise, the entire city might have turned into a living hell.

Now it seemed, losing their edge had its advantages. If they hadn't grown complacent during peaceful days, they might indeed have confronted those two intruders.

Although they've now offended those two, as long as they can't find the portal to the secret realm, there's no way they can come in again!

Almost everyone had this thought cross their mind: they never want to encounter that knife-wielding youth ever again!

...

In mid-air, Lu Ye withdrew his gaze and silently stuffed his mouth with a handful of elixir pills. As he turned around, his gaze swept in a certain direction, and he propelled himself towards Ying Wuji.

In that direction, two figures were hidden, their hearts filled with shock that was hard to calm.

Those two weren't there by chance but had been lurking there for days, monitoring Lin Xun, and unexpectedly witnessed such a shocking scene.

"Big brother…" one of them softly spoke.

"Shh…" the other hastily placed a hand by his mouth, signaling to stay silent.

There was a feeling that the knife-wielding youth glanced in their direction while turning. Facing such a formidable figure, how could he dare to be careless?

As Lu Ye's figure moved away, he quickly got up: "Follow him!"

No matter what, they had to figure out the origins of this person, and if they could recruit him, that would be ideal. Solving Lin Xun, such a powerful rotting corpse and his horde, with individual strength like that—it couldn't be overlooked!

Such strength, such terrifying Dao techniques—the likes of which are unheard of.

It's just unclear which family's secret realm he hails from!

After reuniting with Ying Wuji, Lu Ye led him while hastily activating Bestial Gluttony Feast, rapidly refining the elixir pills' efficacy in his stomach, replenishing his spirit force.

There was a time when he needed extensive preparation, even relying on the spirit force stored in his spirit energy-storing ring, to activate the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes.

But now, relying on his own spirit force reserves, he can barely manage to cast this spirit rune.

The time required to charge up has significantly reduced.

Undoubtedly, these are the benefits brought by the improvement in cultivation.

Although the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes are powerful, they aren't suitable for life-and-death battles with strong opponents. Even though charging time is greatly reduced, he wouldn't have the chance to charge at all in front of a peer.

They're only suitable for situations like earlier when a reckless enemy rushed towards him from afar, giving him ample preparation time.

To elaborate, all his major trump cards require charging.

The Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes are like this.

Bloodstain Spirit Runes are like this too.

The Beast Transformation Secret Technique is even more so!

Having finally acquired such powerful cover armor as the Dragon Throne from the Soaring Dragon World, it turns out to be broken and unusable. He doesn't know how his master is faring with the repairs now.

Currently, with Cloud River Level 8 cultivation, he is not far from leaving the Cloud River battlefield. Once he leaves, the environment won't be as serene, and life-and-death dangers could arise anytime.

He needs to have a means to preserve his life!

While thinking this, Ying Wuji's voice reached his ear: "Lu Yiye, I'll repay the life-saving grace someday!"

Upon reflection, this was the second time Lu Ye had saved his life.

The first time was when they first entered the Unparalleled Continent and were being chased by corpse hordes. Lu Ye appeared out of nowhere to save him from peril.

This time, Lu Ye rescued him from the Five Great Families intact.

It would be a lie not to feel grateful, but given their opposing camps and their constrained circumstances, Ying Wuji felt very helpless.

Earlier, he was engrossed in the shock brought by the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes, unable to recover until now.

Expressing sincere gratitude, his face showed gratitude.

"Just incidental!"

Lu Ye's brief words made Ying Wuji feel like he had swallowed a fly... secretly grumbling, wasn't it unnecessary to say it so bluntly even if it were incidental? Am I face-saving or not?

Upon careful thought, perhaps Lu Yiye did save him in passing.

To leave the Silver Snake Valley Secret Realm, he would inevitably clash with the Five Great Families, capturing their hostage and incidentally swapping it back for him...

Ying Wuji felt bitter; in front of Lu Yiye, his status as the sixteenth in Cloud River meant nothing!

While muttering inwardly, suddenly Lu Ye descended swiftly, and several array banners appeared in his hand, swiftly thrown in all directions.

Setting up an array now?

Ying Wuji realized that the previous Dao technique must have cost Lu Yiye greatly, making it urgent for him to restore himself.

Soon, a vast array enveloping a large area was formed, leaving Ying Wuji in awe. Such array setup speed was simply unparalleled.

"Hide," Lu Ye instructed.

Ying Wuji didn't ask why and immediately activated the concealment method.

Soon after, Lu Ye also disappeared from his view.

About a tea's worth of time passed, the concealed Ying Wuji suddenly sensed something amiss.

It seemed like someone entered the array as stealthily as he and Lu Ye did, acting covertly.

Ying Wuji suddenly realized, Lu Ye set up the array here not to restore through its protection but because he sensed someone was tailing them.

People from Silver Snake Valley? Or someone else?

Just as Ying Wuji was feeling suspicious, sudden shouts broke out, and two figures appeared in his field of vision, seemingly burdened by an invisible mountain, their forms hunched while their spirit force churned violently, expressions strained.

Their appearances were identical, one wearing a green robe, the other a grey robe—they must be twins!

Their individual aura fluctuations matched Cloud River Level 8, but their interwoven spirit force and aura perfectly integrated, making their combined presence stronger than ordinary Level 9!

What kind of secret technique is this? Ying Wuji watched in silent astonishment.

"A formation!"

The man in the green robe's expression changed. Realizing the dire situation, he hurriedly called out: "Brethren Daoists, my brother and I mean no harm. Please show mercy!"

Heart pounding, they had unwittingly fallen into someone else's formation, placing their lives in others' hands.

More surprising was how quickly this formation had been set up, considering the short time.

The man in the grey robe also called out: "We come from the Ziwei Dao Palace Secret Realm, we are not evildoers!"

"Ziwei Dao Palace..."

A voice emerged, and Lu Ye's figure appeared.

This was indeed serendipitous; when he was in Silver Snake Valley, he sought information from Chu Ruoyu on connecting with the other two secret realms and finding their portals, but Chu Ruoyu had no solution.

He was pondering how to locate the other two secret realms, and who would have guessed that stepping out of Silver Snake Valley, he would encounter people from Ziwei Dao Palace!

With a wave of his hand, the pressure enveloping the twins dissipated instantly, and they both breathed a sigh of relief, still distressed.

They were skilled and acted covertly, yet still ended up in someone else's formation. They realized that their previous feelings were accurate—Lu Ye had noticed them early on and set up the formation, waiting for them to fall into the trap.

"You indeed come from Ziwei Dao Palace?" Lu Ye looked at the two before him.

"There's no reason to fake it," the man in the green robe clasped his fists: "Fengyun Qianli from Ziwei Dao Palace, greetings to Fellow Daoist!"

The man in the grey robe followed suit: "Fengyun Wanli, greetings to Fellow Daoist!"

These brothers' names…

Lu Ye's gaze flickered: "Why were you following me?"

Fengyun Qianli gave an embarrassed smile: "We didn't intend to; my brother and I were ordered to monitor Lin Xun's tomb nearby. Seeing Fellow Daoist descend as a deity and effortlessly resolve Lin Xun and his hordes, we were struck with admiration and wished to make acquaintances. If this caused any misunderstanding, we apologize deeply."

Saying this, the brothers bowed deeply.

Though the words weren't entirely true, as following Lu Ye and Ying Wuji was a fact, their desire to engage with Lu Ye was sincere.

"You were ordered to monitor? Orders from Ziwei Dao Palace?" Lu Ye thought aloud.

Yiyi gathered extensive information in Five Prime City, including the operational styles of the three secret realms.

Among the Human Race's three secret realms, Silver Snake Valley is the most cautious, never daring to actively confront the Corpse Race. The Guiding Envoys avoid encounters with the Corpse Race, having long lost the daring and resolve to combat them.

On the contrary, the style of Ziwei Dao Palace is strong and assertive.

For a millennium, Ziwei Dao Palace has unceasingly aimed to eliminate the Corpse Race from the Unparalleled Continent, restoring balance and purity to the world, actively launching attacks against the Corpse Race.

They also attempted to persuade the other two secret realms to join them.

Regrettably, results were minimal. Silver Snake Valley preferred to guard their own territory, even calculating portal openings to avoid strong Corpse Race locations, never proactively confronting or cooperating with Ziwei Dao Palace.

As for the third secret realm, Mount Sumeru, it also evades confrontation, neither agreeing nor rejecting cooperation, adopting an ambiguous stance. However, Mount Sumeru did express willingness to cooperate should Silver Snake Valley agree.

Thus, the current situation in the Unparalleled Continent is somewhat awkward: the proactive hunters of the Corpse Race are solely Ziwei Dao Palace cultivators, Mount Sumeru stands by watching Silver Snake Valley, and Silver Snake Valley upholds their principle of self-preservation.