Sage of Humanity-Chapter 478 - 476: The Heart of the Matter

In the Spirit Stream battlefield, within the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, inside a wooden hut, Hua Ci counted the Ten Thousand Poisons Pills in her hand with nothing else to do: "Eight, nine, ten..."

Her cultivation was different from everyone else’s. Ever since she obtained that inheritance, consuming and refining poisons became her primary method of enhancing her cultivation. The Ten Thousand Poisons Forest was undoubtedly a suitable place for her cultivation, thanks to its extremely dense poisonous fog. However, after reaching Spirit Stream Level 9, she temporarily had no way to advance to the Cloud River Realm, so she could only deplete her own cultivation over and over to condense the Ten Thousand Poisons Pills. In this way, she accumulated more and more pills in her hand, each one a condensation of her cultivation level, ready to be absorbed back into her once she advanced to the Cloud River Realm one day.

Lu Ye thought the Ten Thousand Poisons Pills he had offered were simply Hua Ci’s means of killing enemies, not knowing that they were, in fact, a concentration of her own cultivation.

After the condensation of that particular Ten Thousand Poisons Pill, Hua Ci had fallen straight from Spirit Stream Level 9 to Level 8. Such an outburst of an entire cultivation level was something even Cloud River Realm cultivators could not withstand against this severe poison.

Luckily, all those present were from the Cloud River Realm. If a Spirit Stream Realm cultivator were enveloped by such a poison fog, they would likely be decimated in an instant.

Among those present, Lu Ye was the only one unaffected by the poison fog.

Sounds of heavy, disorderly footsteps reached his ears. Halting his forward motion, he turned around and swiftly made his way toward the source of the noise.

The Black Tortoise Sect cultivators, who had found themselves trapped without escape, were finally met with his counterattack.

He had only taken a few steps when two crimson glows appeared through the dense fog ahead.

Enveloped by the fiery glow of the Boulder Mountain Saber and with the Double-Sharpness spirit runes enhancing its blade, his own blood Qi merged with that of Amber, making the saber more powerful and quicker than usual. He unleashed a ferocious slash downwards.

There was a thud, followed immediately by the sound of blood gushing. The two crimson eyes, along with the head they were attached to, were sent flying and had dimmed completely before even hitting the ground.

After being poisoned, the Black Tortoise Sect cultivators’ strength was greatly reduced and their reaction speed had slowed considerably. They were utterly incapable of dodging Lu Ye’s returning slash.

With a single strike, Lu Ye dispatched a formidable enemy and bore down on the remaining three, skillfully dodging enemy attacks while his Boulder Mountain Saber severed another head.

Yet another head soared through the air as the body without it staggered and collapsed to the ground.

Just as he was about to kill the third person, Lu Ye was struck hard in the waist, forced to slide back over a dozen yards.

Next to him was Shen Xiaomao’s battlefield; the woman danced with a multicolored ribbon in her hands, bursting with spirit light. Wielding her ingenious strength, she flung her nearby enemies away. However, just like her, they were all affected by the severe poison, rendering them unable to exert even half of their true power. Moreover, her kind of Spiritual Artifact was hardly lethal to enemies like the Black Tortoise Sect cultivators; it served more to immobilize them.

Seeing Lu Ye appear not far from her, Shen Xiaomao’s eyes lit up. With a flick of her ribbon, she wrapped up an enemy, shook her wrist, and the ribbon danced in the air, tossing her bound foe directly towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye, having just stopped himself from sliding further, saw what was happening and immediately knew Shen Xiaomao’s intention. He swiftly brought his saber down, spattering blood as a head was thrown into the air.

"Come!" Lu Ye shouted lowly as he charged toward Shen Xiaomao.

Though there was no detailed exchange between them, at that moment, they seemed to have a telepathic understanding of each other’s intentions.

The ribbon danced more nimbly, entwining another person and holding him firmly in place. As Lu Ye passed by, his saber light flashed, and without looking back, he brushed past Shen Xiaomao to confront another enemy attacking her from behind.

Their figures constantly intertwined and maneuvered, with enemies occasionally being delivered to Lu Ye by the ribbon.

Moments later, Lu Ye stood with his saber in hand, taking a light breath while the crimson blood slid down the blade of his Boulder Mountain Saber. Beside him, Shen Xiaomao’s face bore a layer of greenish tint, her eyes filled with relief at having survived the ordeal.

In this series of cooperation, the two had swiftly killed off all their enemies.

Without pause, they both rushed to the nearest battlefield together. Upon arrival, they discovered it was the battlefield of a physique cultivator from their team.

This physique cultivator was not weak, possessed of Cloud River Level 7 strength. He was currently holding his spirit artifact big shield, fending off the frenzied attacks of the enemies.

Like Shen Xiaomao, the physique cultivator’s skin also shimmered with a greasy green light, a sign of being poisoned.

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However, he was strong and durable with rich blood Qi, which meant his symptoms were lighter than Shen Xiaomao’s. Moreover, there was already a corpse of an enemy at his feet, seemingly killed by him. Hence, even if Lu Ye and Shen Xiaomao had not come to assist, he would have been able to hold on.

As the ribbon whirled and the long saber fell, Lu Ye and Shen Xiaomao tore into the enemy ranks, while the physique cultivator seized the opportunity to counterattack.

After a short while, several mutilated bodies were left behind, and three silhouettes moved on to the next battlefield...

Like a snowball rolling downhill, their advantage grew greater and greater as more Black Tortoise Sect cultivators were killed, until the scattered comrades regrouped once again.

Everyone was in a sorry state, with poisoning being just one aspect. After the previous skirmishes with the enemy, nearly everyone was injured, even the Great Elder and Xia Qianqian, who were the strongest among them.

Furthermore, as time passed, the symptoms of poison in everyone were gradually worsening. Although all had taken Detoxification Pills, in this enclosed environment, the effects of the Ten Thousand Poisons Pill were undoubtedly pushed to the limit. In any other place, even if Lu Ye had activated the full power of the Ten Thousand Poisons Pill, it might not have been this effective. At the very least, those at Cloud River Level 9 wouldn’t have ended up so miserable.

By now, the originally dense poison fog had begun to thin.

Xia Qianqian suddenly showed a look of surprise and turned to look at Lu Ye because she realized that he showed no signs of poisoning.

When everyone gathered together, it was clear who was poisoned and who was not. Those who were poisoned had a greenish glow covering their bodies, extremely conspicuous. Only Lu Ye was an exception. His spirit light was clear. Not only was he not poisoned, but even Amber, who had been crouching on his shoulder, wasn’t poisoned either, because Lu Ye had been continuously using his spirit force to protect it.

What puzzled Xia Qianqian even more was the origin of the poison fog... who had released it? She had been pondering this question during the fight. At first, when the poison fog erupted, she thought it was a method of the Black Tortoise Sect cultivators or the Insect Race. But when the cultivators of the Black Tortoise Sect were also affected by the poison fog, she understood it wasn’t the enemy’s method but from someone among their own ranks.

Now, seeing that Lu Ye didn’t possess the slightest hint of being poisoned, Xia Qianqian had already vaguely guessed—only those who would not be poisoned would release such poison fog!

This move was too sinister, a vicious tactic that didn’t spare friend or foe. However, it was lucky to have this move; otherwise, looking at how the situation had been developing, it would have only been a matter of time before their own people were caught in one fell swoop. Now, although it looked embarrassing, they still wouldn’t die for the time being. If they could leave this place in time and slowly recuperate, they would be able to recover.

At this very moment, in the very center of the insect hive, Zhou Hai and Pang Dahai were jointly attacking the Black Tortoise Sect’s Sect Master, Niu Meng. However, the situation was not optimistic. Both Pang Dahai and Zhou Hai were covered in wounds, with Pang Dahai’s one arm limply hanging by his side, apparently broken and unable to lift.

Zhou Hai’s leg was also abnormally twisted.

On the contrary, Niu Meng, who was being attacked by both, didn’t have any injuries on his body. His expression might have been dull, but the ferocity and savagery in his eyes didn’t diminish in the slightest. His method of attack was simple and monotonous, yet it was extremely brutal. A casual punch or kick could put great pressure on Zhou Hai and Pang Dahai.

Even though they were all at Cloud River Level 9, Niu Meng’s strength was not just a little bit stronger than Zhou Hai and Pang Dahai. Moreover, he was still in a state controlled by the Insect Race’s parasitism, which was obviously quite abnormal.

What concerned Lu Ye even more was that Niu Meng didn’t have a single injury on his body. If he remembered correctly, Niu Meng had already been injured by Zhou Hai when he first appeared.

But soon Lu Ye understood why. He saw Zhou Hai’s flying sword strike out, hitting Niu Meng’s arm and leaving a deep wound that exposed the bone. Yet incredibly, the wound began to wriggle and closed up quickly!

This sight made everyone’s eyelids twitch. No one had ever seen such terrifying regeneration abilities. This kind of recovery defied all logic.

"His vitality..." Xia Qianqian suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, beginning to understand, "He is the core of the insect hive!"

Each insect hive has its core, and the simplest and most effective way for cultivators to destroy an insect hive is to destroy its core because it contains a tremendous amount of life force, even something called a vitality core. Without destroying the core, the insect hive can continuously breed members of the Insect Race. Only by destroying the core can the hive wither and lose its reproductive capability.

The core of the insect hive is usually found within the central flesh sac.

However, in this case, Niu Meng emerged from the core flesh sac! So even though the core flesh sac was gone, the insect hive wasn’t destroyed.

Previously, they had directly experienced the surging vitality within Niu Meng’s body, which was beyond what someone of the Cloud River Realm should possess.

Xia Qianqian’s words finally made everyone realize why Niu Meng had such abundant vitality—he was the core of the insect hive.

Having such exaggerated vitality, his body could heal instantly from injuries, which made perfect sense.

If Niu Meng was indeed the core of the insect hive, then the trouble was significant.

Because if everyone wanted to escape from here, they would have to kill Niu Meng first; otherwise, they had no way out in this sealed insect hive.

But how could they kill an enemy who could recover instantly after being injured? Unless they had a chance to behead him, they could only erode his vitality slowly.

The only consolation was that Niu Meng was covered in a greenish color too; he was poisoned as well. Furthermore, the strength he showed now was much weaker than what it initially appeared to be.

Clearly, the intense poison had significantly affected him.

"I’ll go help!" declared the Level 7 physique cultivator, picking up his spirit artifact big shield and rushing forward.

The Great Elder followed closely without a word.

The rest didn’t dare to approach recklessly. Compared to physique cultivators, combat cultivators and magic cultivators were much more fragile. Everyone had seen the terrifying power of Niu Meng’s attacks and knew too well that they couldn’t withstand a single punch or kick from him.