Sage of Humanity

Listening to the conversation of those cultivators, Lu Ye gradually understood the circumstances of the situation.

As he had guessed, after he fell into the water and went missing, Yiyi and Amber sought a place to heal their wounds. They were discovered by three Level 3 cultivators, but both the spirit and the tiger had experience dealing with such situations, so they were not panicked at all.

They cooperated with each other to scare away the cultivators, who even offered their storage sacks as a token of their fear.

However, after these three returned, they shared their encounter with Senior Brother Zhou, who sensed something was amiss. He took them back to find Amber. As for the Level 4 female cultivator, she was likely specially invited by Senior Brother Zhou. With the ability to wield the beast-taming collar, she was incredibly useful against demon beasts.

Thus, a squad of five people once again located Amber's trail. Perhaps after some testing, Senior Brother Zhou confirmed Amber was not as formidable as it seemed and made a decisive move.

Fortunately, they wanted to capture Amber alive and did not intend to kill it; otherwise, Amber would have been long dead.

In these past days, Lu Ye had fed Amber many Spirit-Nurturing Pills and made sure it was well-fed and hydrated. Amber's strength had increased significantly from before, but it was still roughly between Level 2 and Level 3. Even with Yiyi's help, they were no match for these cultivators—Senior Brother Zhou alone could easily subdue them.

Amber fell to the ground, struggling to get up, but the beast-taming collar was as heavy as a thousand catties. Even though Amber managed to stand, its head hung low to the ground and it couldn't move, letting out more hoarse roars from its throat.

A flash of spirit light, and Yiyi's figure leapt out from on top of Amber, furiously rushing towards the female cultivator while shouting, "Let go of Amber!"

Seeing Amber in pain, she couldn't help herself even if it meant like a moth to a flame.

However, she had only charged a few steps when her expression suddenly froze, her eyes lighting up with surprise as if she had seen something. The next moment, she hurriedly turned back and darted into Amber, disappearing from sight.

Senior Brother Zhou had quickly approached, ready to drive off this accompanying minion spirit, but to his confusion, she had returned to her companion instead.

But with Yiyi's shout, the light from the beast-taming collar on Amber's neck gradually began to retract. Without the suppression from the collar, it slowly lifted its head. Its amber-colored tiger eyes shone with a demonic glow, and pale golden demonic power swirled around its body, making it seem fierce and menacing, undoubtedly provoked by the series of events it had suffered.

"Senior Sister Yooi, quickly activate the beast-taming collar!" a Level 3 shouted urgently.

Yet Senior Sister Yooi did not react at all.

Senior Brother Zhou looked puzzledly in her direction, and the sight he witnessed caused his expression to darken.

Unbeknownst to them, there was a person standing barely two feet behind Senior Sister Yooi, holding what appeared to be a sharp weapon against her back, near her heart. Senior Sister Yooi stood deathly pale, not daring to move an inch.

As their eyes met, Senior Sister Yooi softly called out to Senior Brother Zhou, "Brother, save me..."

It was only at that moment that a faint scent of blood wafted through the air.

The three Level 3 cultivators finally realized something was wrong and turned to see Lu Ye standing behind Senior Sister Yooi. One of them bellowed, "Who are you? Release Senior Sister Yooi at once, or we from Cloudy Mountain will not let this slide!" As he questioned, he energized his spirit force to probe the spirit light around Lu Ye, only to find nothing.

The other had no spirit light on him at all, leaving him uncertain whether Lu Ye possessed a Spiritual Artifact that concealed his aura or had used some Spirit Talisman.

If it was the latter, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but if it was the former, this person might have a noteworthy background.

While he was filled with doubts, Senior Brother Zhou had already cursed through clenched teeth, "Fool, shut up!"

The cultivator at Level 3 realm had not yet figured out why Senior Brother Zhou was scolding him, when Lu Ye, standing behind Senior Sister Yooi, already revealed a look of realization: "Cloudy Mountain, huh…"

He had seen this power on the ten-part map; it was a 9th grade sect affiliated with the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge faction. Initially, he couldn't confirm which faction these people belonged to, but they made a big mistake trying to intimidate him using their sect's name.

The reason why Senior Brother Zhou swore was precisely because of this; it was very unwise for unfamiliar cultivators to reveal their origins before figuring out which faction the others belonged to when meeting face to face.

This Level 3 realm cultivator clearly had too little experience in battlefield encounters and had not suffered enough from the harsh lessons of the cultivation world.

Lu Ye was originally somewhat concerned about how to deal with them if these few were from the Haotian Alliance, but even if they belonged to the same faction, if he brazenly stepped forward and told them that Amber was his, they would most likely ignore him.

So, no matter which faction they were from, Lu Ye needed to take control of one person first; only then would he have the leverage to talk to them. The reason he chose Senior Sister Yooi was because she was concentrating on operating the beast-taming collar, which gave him the highest chance of a successful sneak attack.

As for that Senior Brother Zhou, with a cultivation at the Level 5 realm, Lu Ye wasn't too confident, as they were two levels apart in cultivation.

Lu Ye didn't put the knife to someone's throat because doing so involved too many uncertainties; the opponent, being at the Level 4 realm, might have some means to break free.

So after quietly sneaking up behind Senior Sister Yooi, Lu Ye decisively struck with his knife, piercing through her back. With one hand on her shoulder, the tip of his blade was only two inches from her heart.

If they wished to survive, they would not dare make any rash moves in response.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

It could be said that the moment Lu Ye struck with his knife, no matter which faction the opponent belonged to, enmity had already been established.

But he had no choice. To save Amber, relying on mere words and reasoning was useless; the weapon in his hand was the ultimate argument.

Now that he knew they were from Cloudy Mountain, Lu Ye had no more reservations.

With a light hiss, the long blade that was thrust into Senior Sister Yooi's chest emerged from the other side. The blade was stained with blood, and drops of blood fell from its tip.

Senior Sister Yooi's pupils abruptly contracted, then dilated. She reached out her hand towards Senior Brother Zhou and uttered her last words, "Senior Brother, save…"

Lu Ye kicked her on the back, and as he pulled out the knife, he pushed her toward Senior Brother Zhou.

Senior Brother Zhou, being the highest in cultivation, reacted extremely quickly. Almost at the instant Lu Ye made his move, he drew his sword from his waist, dirt flew under his feet, and he charged at Lu Ye ferociously. A bright spirit light emanated all around him, his eyes were blood-red, and gritting his teeth, he bellowed, "You're courting death!"

He truly hadn't expected the attacker to directly strike down Senior Sister Yooi; such decisive and swift action chilled him to the bone.

His forward rush was interrupted as Senior Sister Yooi, whom he had thrown his way, ran into him. He caught her in a hurry and before he could check whether she was alive or dead, a shadow had already descended upon him.

Senior Brother Zhou looked up and the last thing he saw was a huge, spinning bell. The surface of the bell shimmered with spiritual charm, forming bands of light that twirled around it as it descended from the sky, enveloping him securely.

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