Sage of Humanity-Chapter 616 - 614: The Way Out

Li Baxian had anticipated that they couldn't hold onto the spirit ground.

This was a common occurrence on the Cloud River battlefield; many spirit grounds had changed hands multiple times. Only those larger spirit grounds with more people could maintain an aloof status on the Cloud River battlefield, being passed down from generation to generation.

"What does junior brother plan to do?" he asked.

"There are two options," Lu Ye held up two fingers, "We can take the spring spirit now and retreat to the Nine Provinces. After returning from the Cloud River battlefield, we must wait a month before we can re-enter. Leaving earlier enables us to come back sooner."

Li Baxian couldn't help but chuckle, as Lu Ye's words gave off the impression of 'the sooner you die, the sooner you're reborn.'

"Or, we don't return to the Nine Provinces and start moving to a more concealed location now. Regardless of the choice, we'll end up with only a Class B Spirit Ground," he continued.

Every time they recalled the spring spirit, it would fall by one grade. Although Class A and Class B were only one grade apart, the concentration of nature's spiritual energy within the spirit ground was vastly different.

"And the second option?"

"We wait and see! The situation might not be as bad as I expect. Even if it does come to the point where we must retreat to the Nine Provinces, we have the Heaven's Augury Pillar and can retreat at any time."

Li Baxian nodded slightly, thinking the same thing. With the situation as it was, they indeed only had these two choices: either leave immediately or wait until the situation deteriorated to a certain extent before leaving. Regardless, they would ultimately be unable to hold onto this spirit ground.

It was truly a pity. A Class A Spirit Ground was extremely rare; they had only cultivated here for a few months, and during that time, they had even stayed in the Fox Fairy Valley for over a month...

"Then let's wait and see. Maybe it's not as bad as the junior brother said?" Li Baxian spoke up.

"Let's wait then."

With the Heaven's Augury Pillar, they could leave at any time; they were secure in terms of safety.

With just a few words between them, the two set the tone. Neither Feng Yuechan nor Giant Armor spoke. Feng Yuechan just listened quietly, never interrupting Li Baxian when he spoke. As for Giant Armor... the fellow was a taciturn type, rarely speaking.

"But before that…" Lu Ye looked at Giant Armor, "the wolf pack needs to leave first."

All of them could retreat to the Nine Provinces using the Heaven's Augury Pillar, but the wolf pack could not. Once the situation became irremediably dire, the wolves would surely become a target for others to vent their anger. It was highly likely that the pack would face great danger then.

While leaving the wolf pack behind could ensure the protection of the spirit ground, if the cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were to take action, they would certainly come with an overwhelming force. The wolves might stave off the Sacred Universe Spirit Ground cultivators' assaults, but definitely not the crisis that lay ahead.

"You handle this. Within three days, make sure the wolf pack has left this place."

Giant Armor responded with a muffled affirmation: "Hmm."

After discussing briefly, the four dispersed to their respective tasks.

How Giant Armor would lead the wolves away was not something for Lu Ye to worry about. The wolves stayed near the spirit ground entirely because they were drawn by Giant Armor, and the alpha wolf possessed significant spiritual intelligence. After previous battles, it was clear that the alpha could sense certain things; unless it was extremely foolish, it would know that leaving early was the only way to preserve the pack.

Lu Ye then began to create a large number of array banners.

Many formations had been destroyed during the assault by Sacred Universe Spirit Ground cultivators on the spirit ground, which naturally required replenishment.

With his increased strength and resources, Lu Ye was able to create array banners much faster, using up vast amounts of materials to bring fresh banners off the production line.

He redeployed the damaged big array and added even more formations within the spirit ground.

Under the alpha wolf's lead, the pack left, but they didn't go too far, lingering about two to three hundred miles deeper into the Great Wilderness Mountain, obviously preparing to return to the spirit ground at any time.

Days passed in a flash, and above the spirit ground, Lu Ye's figure flitted about, checking the many formations he had laid out... With so many formations, they should be sufficient.

Although he had told Li Baxian that they currently only had two ways out, there was actually a third option. He hadn't intended to share this with Li Baxian, not because he was holding back, but rather because if he spoke of it, Li Baxian would definitely disagree.

If this method could be successfully implemented, then the spirit ground could be preserved. At that time, Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, and Giant Armor could cultivate in peace. It would be such a waste to simply abandon or downgrade such a Class A Spirit Ground.

The numerous formations Lu Ye had set up were not meant for fending off incoming enemies. If the situation deteriorated as much as he feared, no amount of formations he laid would make a difference. He left these formations simply to add a bit of defensive capability to the spirit ground.

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Upon inspection, the big arrays layered throughout the spirit ground were as solid as a rock.

An alert came from his battlefield marking; Lu Ye looked down to investigate and saw that the message came from someone he hadn't expected.

Shen Xiaomao!

Her real name was unknown to Lu Ye; Shen Xiaomao was obviously a pseudonym, much like his own Ye Liu.

However, since they lost that Class C Spirit Ground, Lu Ye had parted ways with Shen Xiaomao. She had disappeared to some place unknown, and they hadn't contacted each other since.

To his surprise, she suddenly sent a message, the content of which took Lu Ye aback.

"Run, a lot of people are heading your way! A lot! A lot!"

A simple sentence, yet it contained three "very many", clearly indicating that there were indeed many. From this, it was evident that the location of the spirit ground had been completely exposed. By now, a large number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators should be rushing over here, or perhaps... some were already lurking nearby.

Shen Xiaomao sent such a message to him at this time, which contained a significant amount of information.

Firstly, how did Shen Xiaomao find out that many people were coming this way?

The exposure of the spirit ground's location would certainly only circulate within the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge faction; cultivators from the Haotian Alliance couldn't possibly know...

Even Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan hadn't received any warning.

With connections far broader than Lu Ye's, if the cultivators from the Haotian Alliance faction were aware of this news, they would surely have sent warnings to the two of them.

But now, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan hadn't received any news, yet Shen Xiaomao had sent a warning to Lu Ye.

The fact that Shen Xiaomao knew this news revealed many issues.

That Ye Liu was actually Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect, Shen Xiaomao must have known for a long time, as Lu Ye's image messages were spread all over the place on Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's side, seen by many cultivators.

Lu Ye didn't know what motivated Shen Xiaomao to send him such a message, but he could feel that it was well-intended.

Perhaps it was because they had cultivated in the same spirit ground, or maybe because they had faced life and death together in the Ten Thousand Beasts Domain secret realm, or even because she had followed him and made huge gains by selling items at the Heaven's Augury treasure vault...

Regardless, sending this message at such a time showed the girl had a good heart.

When Lu Ye first entered the cultivation world, he thought all from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were utterly reprehensible, even believing that the Haotian Alliance represented righteousness and Ten Thousand Demons Ridge represented evil.

But as he learned more about the situation in the Nine Provinces cultivation world, he realized that there was no such thing as good and evil in this world, only two opposing factions.

He quickly sent a reply, "Understood, thanks!"

Shen Xiaomao didn't say anything more; sending the message to Lu Ye as soon as she got it was the limit of what she could do. If she were to divulge more information, it would only cause her conscience to suffer.

Speaking of which, her sect had also been blackmailed by Lu Ye before... even though Lu Ye had no idea which sect she belonged to.

Returning to his wooden cabin, Lu Ye fell into deep thought; things were indeed heading in an unfavorable direction, but that's life—rarely does it turn out as one wishes.

Suddenly feeling something amiss, Lu Ye hurriedly opened the spirit beast sack, and a snow-white figure darted out, shaking its head and wagging its tail.

It was Amber, who had been asleep for many days!

The little guy had finally awakened.

"Lu Ye!" Yiyi's cheerful voice rang out as she flashed out of Amber's body and threw herself into Lu Ye's arms, wrapping her hands around his waist and burying her head in his chest, her blue-black hair spreading out.

Lu Ye's raised hand paused in mid-air.

Despite their frequent companionship, Yiyi seldom made affectionate gestures towards him, let alone hug him like this.

His hand slowly lowered, gently embracing her petite body, softly patting her back.

Yiyi was actually very afraid of being trapped in that silent state - though she had never mentioned it to Lu Ye, he could feel it.

Once trapped in that silence, it was as if she were enveloped in endless darkness, even thinking became extremely sluggish; in such conditions, the passage of time became imperceptible, like an endless nightmare from which she feared she could never awaken.

She was terrified of never waking from that dream, of never seeing a sliver of light again, or the person she wanted to see.

"It's all right now," Lu Ye comforted her softly.

After a good while, Yiyi extricated herself from his embrace, her cheeks reddened, and stealing a glance at Lu Ye, she stamped her foot and said, "Don't you laugh at me!"

"Not at all!" Lu Ye replied solemnly, "Why would I laugh at you?"

Saying so, he reached to pinch her cheek, testing the feel—smooth and delicate, not bad at all.

Yiyi stepped back to evade his "magic claw," her cheeks puffed up in indignation.

"Did your cultivation increase?" Lu Ye asked.

After a moment's thought, Yiyi said, "It might be equivalent to the Cloud River Level 5 realm now!"

Yiyi's strength enhancement was directly linked to Amber's growth. As strong as Amber was, she could be just as powerful. Previously in Fox Fairy Valley, both the spirit and the tiger had greatly enhanced their strength, advancing them a minor level. Now, with an Overlord-class demon beast's demonic pill, it pushed them a further step forward.

Such cultivation was now on par with his own!

Checking Amber next to him, he indeed found that both the spirit and the tiger were comparable to the cultivators of the Cloud River Level 5.