Sage of Humanity-Chapter 454 452: Luck

"Draw your sword," the man leaning against the tree trunk under the large tree said calmly as he looked at Lu Ye.

Lu Ye quietly watched him.

"I'm at the Cloud River Level 7, and your cultivation probably isn't too high, so killing me should at least net you a few hundred merits, consider it my last gift to you, Fellow Daoist," he said.

In the Spirit Stream battlefield, defeating an enemy of a higher level resulted in exponentially increasing rewards based on a certain base number, a rule that applied not only there but also on the Cloud River battlefield, and indeed throughout the entire Nine Provinces cultivation world.

Moreover, the base number represented by a cultivator from the Cloud River Realm was much higher than that from the Spirit Stream Realm.

In the Spirit Stream Realm, the base number was the level itself, for instance, a Level 5 cultivator of the Spirit Stream Realm represents five points of merit, Level 9 represents nine points, 7th Heaven ten points, and 9th Heaven twelve points.

The base number increased considerably upon reaching the Cloud River Realm.

For someone at the Cloud River Level 1, the base is twenty merit points, and with each rise in level, the base increases by five points.

For instance, this man, being of Cloud River Level 7, had a base of fifty merit points. If Lu Ye, being at a Cloud River Level 1, were to slay him, that would mean overcoming six minor levels, earning seven times the base, thus gaining three hundred fifty merit points.

Undoubtedly, this had significant value for any cultivator.

Three hundred fifty merit points could buy one and a half white spirit fortune sticks.

Defeating a higher-level enemy brought more rewards, but on the Cloud River battlefield, a higher-level cultivator slaying a lower-level one did not incur any penalties, unlike on the Spirit Stream battlefield.

On the Spirit Stream battlefield, overpowering someone weaker would result in merit deduction as a form of punishment by Heaven's Augury, a protective measure for lower-level cultivators, resulting in a clear delineation of outer circles, inner circles, and core circles.

But for cultivators who had reached the Cloud River Realm, having passed through the initial stages of cultivation, it was generally clear whom one should and shouldn't provoke. Having provoked someone one shouldn't and getting killed as a result was merely getting what one deserved.

Heaven's Augury only protected those who had just stepped into the cultivation world, leaving those in the Cloud River Realm to fend for themselves.

"No need to; taking money to ward off disasters, I will entrust this sword to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union to be delivered to the Blinding Speed Sect," Lu Ye replied.

Having cultivated till now, Lu Ye had killed many from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, and for him, killing cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge posed no psychological barrier. However, to actually kill such a man who couldn't even fight back and was on the brink of death, he indeed found it difficult to proceed.

The man gave a bitter smile, "Fellow Daoist, please grant me a quick death. Waiting to die like this... is too agonizing."

Speechless, Lu Ye slowly drew out the Boulder Mountain Saber.

The man loosened his grip on the Longsword and tightly closed his eyes.

With his spirit force propelled around him, Lu Ye covered the distance of several tens of meters in an instant, plunging the Boulder Mountain Saber straight into the man's chest.

Perhaps due to the pain, the man suddenly opened his eyes wide and instinctively grabbed Lu Ye's arm, the strength of his grip causing Lu Ye to feel pain as well.

However, the man's strength soon faded, and his raised hand helplessly fell back, the gleam in his eyes rapidly vanishing.

Lu Ye withdrew the saber, bringing out a spray of hot blood, and seeing that the man's eyes were still wide open, he reached out and closed his eyelids.

There was no personal connection or acquaintance between them, and while killing the man didn't cause much of an emotional stir in Lu Ye, still being a fellow cultivator, and one who had reached the Cloud River Level 7 in this brutal Cloud River battlefield, only to meet such a fate, made Lu Ye even more aware of the cruelty of the cultivation world. It prompted a moment of reflection for him that he would need to be extra cautious in navigating the Cloud River battlefield in the future.

This battlefield wasn't the Spirit Stream battlefield where he could dominate; here, many could easily bring him to his demise.

Yiyi suddenly appeared next to Lu Ye, her mood seeming somewhat subdued.

Moving forward, Lu Ye took the storage sack attached to the man's waist and picked up the bloodstained Longsword. He then took a cloth from his own storage sack and wiped the fresh blood from the sword.

He didn't know what this Longsword meant to the cultivator, who had insisted on having it returned to his sect even in death. Observing it now, two small characters were engraved on the sword's handle.

Qingyun!

Perhaps it was the name of the sword, or possibly someone's name. Who could tell?

Most likely the latter; it could be a token of affection he had with a woman, otherwise, there was no reason to be so persistent about sending the sword back.

"Lu Ye, may I bury him?" Yiyi suddenly asked.

Having killed many from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge alongside Lu Ye, this was the first time she had felt the need to properly bury someone.

"Of course."

After all, they had taken his money, and burying him to let him rest in peace was just a small effort.

However, Lu Ye didn't dare linger too long on the spot because the man had been severely injured, and it was uncertain if a powerful enemy might chase after them. Thus, he carried the man's body and flew far away until they reached a clear and pristine area before landing.

Together with Yiyi, he found a spot, dug a large pit, and buried the man, carefully filling in the grave.

Yiyi bowed several times to the grave, then returned into her Amber form.

Although he initially planned on returning to the spirit ground, he now had to make a detour back to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union. On the way, Lu Ye examined the Longsword engraved with the word Qingyun but didn't find anything special about it; it was just a mid-grade spirit artifact with 18 restrictions, worth a few hundred merits.

Lu Ye took out the opponent's storage sack again, attempting to unlock the restriction lock.

Since entering the Cloud River battlefield, he had noticed that his luck was unusually good.

Shortly after entering, he encountered the Heaven's Augury Bestowment, and fortuitously, the four-colored clouds stopped right above him. Although the competition for them was fierce, and he only managed to obtain a green Spirit Fortune Stick, the final outcome was surprisingly in his favor, as someone delivered a purple Spirit Fortune Stick right to him.

Later, when he stopped for a rest, he happened upon a rare revival of the Spiritual Spring, and effortlessly claimed it for himself.

That night was the same. He could have chosen to stay and rest at the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union for the night before heading back, but due to his concern for the spirit ground, he decided to travel overnight. Just as he was worried about his cultivation supplies, a dying person came his way, and now the storage sack was in his hands.

If he had decided to stay and rest at the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he undoubtedly would have missed out on such a good fortune.

He never had such good luck at the Spirit Stream battlefield!

One or two incidents might be coincidental, but he had only been in the Cloud River battlefield for ten days, and he stumbled upon several lucky chances.

This was no longer something that could merely be explained by good luck alone.

Lu Ye faintly suspected that it was related to the Heaven's Augury Bestowment he experienced upon ascending to the Cloud River realm.

The Heaven's Augury Bestowment was made out to be grandiose, yet the benefits it brought him were disappointing. Lu Ye always felt that it was much ado about nothing.

But what if some benefits were invisible?

Like luck!

Luck is a peculiar thing. Those with good luck seem to rise effortlessly, while those with poor luck find trouble even when drinking water. Lu Ye always felt that his own luck was average; it didn't make sense for his fortunes to suddenly change once he entered the Cloud River battlefield.

If it were linked to the previous Heaven's Augury Bestowment, then it made sense.

Of course, this was just a guess by Lu Ye. Whether it was true needed further verification in the future.

With Lu Ye's current mastery in the Path of Spirit Runes, unlocking the restriction lock on the storage sack was extremely simple. In just a moment, the restriction lock was opened.

Lu Ye began his search.

It turned out the person was right. Compared to other cultivators in the Cloud River realm, this person was indeed quite wealthy.

Not to mention some rare ores and spirit flowers and rare herbs whose names Lu Ye didn't know. These likely were collected or acquired as spoils from slain enemies. This inference came from the fact that there were more than a dozen mid-grade spirit artifacts and several Flying Spirit Artifacts in the person's storage sack alone.

A cultivator simply didn't need so many spirit artifacts; they could only have been acquired from slain enemies.

Of course, for Lu Ye, apart from selling these items to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union in exchange for cultivation supplies, they had little use.

The remaining items were useful to him.

There were several bottles of healing pills, and more than twenty bottles of Origin Spirit Pills!

The most abundant item this person possessed was Spirit Stones!

There were mid-grade spirit stones and low-grade spirit stones, and even some that appeared to be top-grade spirit stones!

All in all, the total amount reached tens of thousands of stones.

Lu Ye, though he had seen much and knew much, had never seen anyone so tremendously wealthy.

Leaving everything else aside, the tens of thousands of spirit stones alone constituted a tremendous fortune, which even Lu Ye did not possess.

This certainly solved Lu Ye's urgent need. Originally, even if he had purchased a large number of Origin Spirit Pills from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he wouldn't have lasted long. He was thinking about where to find some cultivation resources, but now he didn't need to worry about this problem for a while.

After transferring the useful items into his storage space on the back of his hand, Lu Ye took out a copper shard from the storage sack.

The copper shard was about the size of a palm and looked quite ordinary. Lu Ye examined it for a long while, not knowing its purpose, until he channeled spirit force into it. Suddenly, a glow burst forth from the copper shard, and soon after, Lu Ye faintly felt a pulling force coming from it, suggesting a direction.

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This copper shard... seemed to contain some secret!

Lu Ye was unclear about what lay in the direction indicated by the copper shard, but from the current situation, following its directed path would likely lead to discovering something.

Holding the copper shard, Lu Ye pondered for a moment.

After a while, he stored the copper shard away. No matter where it pointed, the most important thing for him at this stage was to enhance his own cultivation. Only by increasing his cultivation could he have sufficient self-protection and capital to venture further.

Before the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, Lu Ye descended and walked in leisurely.

He found a manager and inquired about a matter regarding the consignment of a sword. After learning the full circumstances, the manager provided Lu Ye with a solution.

The Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union would temporarily keep the longsword while sending a message to the Blinding Speed Sect, allowing the cultivators from the sect to come here and claim their Spirit Sword.

Lu Ye had no objections, but he had one condition, that they must not disclose any of his information to anyone.