The enemy response was proving most troublesome, at least that was the case with Lu Ye who was hiding unseen in the shadows.
He had spent some time observing. Deciding at last that he could not pull off the same trick he tried at the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost, he stepped out into the open.
The acolytes of Sunlit Mountain were communicating too closely. They were clearly informed about his exploits during the defeat of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost. Otherwise, Sunlit Mountain would not have come to such a deliberately meticulous arrangement.
Lu Ye could only lament this outcome. Sneaking into enemy outposts to steal the jade tablet that controls an outpost’s magical ward had officially become a one-time-only trick that he would not be able to use anymore.
Acolytes of the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court were—with Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei leading them—raining hell down on the shield of the Sunlit Mountain defensive ward; the incessant rumbles of the detonating blasts terrible and daunting,
Lu Ye stepped out of the shadows and strode out into the open step by step.
Zhou Pei’s heart nearly burst out of his chest when he saw Lu Ye and he hurried forward to meet him.
“Brother Yi Ye, what’s wrong? You can’t get in?”
Lu Ye shook his head.
He could get in, but it wouldn’t do much good with just him inside. It was due to the element of surprise that he was able to snatch Yue Mei’s jade tablet in the first place. No one at the House of Wintry Blossoms had seen him coming and that was what allowed him to close the distance unimpeded.
If Yue Mei had not been careful enough, she would have died by Lu Ye and his saber already.
But this time, the situation had completely changed. Sunlit Mountain had clearly been informed about his ability to slip through the energy shields of magical wards and they ramped up their defenses. Even the legate himself was constantly surrounded by a ring of his best and most trusted men. There really was no way for Lu Ye to get his hands on the enemy jade tablet anymore.
“Ahh… Gods…” Zhou Pei groaned sourly.
If only they could conquer the Sunlit Mountain outpost. Life at the Lofty Plume Hall would be so much better in the future. For instance, the House of Wintry Blossoms had suffered few casualties in the capture of their outpost, but they had lost the Blessings on their Divine Opportunity Column—which was a loss that they would never be able to repair in a short time.
Without the Blessings to keep the ambient Spiritual Qi in the atmosphere rich enough, the House of Wintry Blossoms could reestablish their outpost and rebuild their magical ward, but it would no longer be as solid and sturdy as before.
In other words, the House of Wintry Blossoms force at the outpost there would never again be able to pose any threats to the Hidden Light Sanctuary. With the odds now perpetually against their favor for the foreseeable future, the Hidden Light Sanctuary would be wise to bank on this opportunity to ensure that the House of Wintry Blossoms became just a simple footnote in the history of the Spirit Creek Battlefield.
The House of Wintry Blossoms invasion had turned out to be a massive success, and just when Lofty Plume Court had hope that their allies would be able to assist in dealing with Sunlit Mountain, an ironic stroke of fate had denied Zhou Pei’s wishes from coming true and that left him somewhat disappointed.
“If it’s not working, we attack with all we can!” Gu Canyang remarked.
The more-than-eight-hundred-man-strong army made it possible for the joint force to capture the Sunlit Mountain outpost by force, although that would demand both time and patience to whittle down the defensive ward’s shield.
A straightforward invasion of such crudeness would not be feasible in the past. Nearby Thousand Demon Ridge forces would definitely launch invasions of their own on the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court outposts. But no one would dare to attempt such a move anymore.
The shocking fall of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost had left such a lasting impression on its allies that no one dared to risk dispatching any sorties for fear of having Lu Yi Ye of getting past their outpost’s defenses and capture their outposts in their absence.
“There might be another way though.”
Lu Ye uttered suddenly.
Zhou Pei’s eyes lit up with excitement. “What is that way?” he asked at once.
“I can’t guarantee that this method will succeed; all I can only say is that it’s a chance.”
“That’s good enough. Let’s hear it, Brother Yi Ye.”
“We’ll need ten—just nine, nine will do—Nine Body-tempering Cultivators. The very best from both orders. Then equip them all with whatever defensive Spirit Artifacts you can find.”
Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei might not understand what Lu Ye was up to, but they complied nonetheless.
Nine Body-tempering Cultivators were speedily handpicked and assembled before Lu Ye, who surveyed them closely. Most of them were large and broad men with size and strength that could run through a brick wall with barely any difficulty. Two of their numbers were even Mutant Cultivators.
Clad in the full complement of every defensive Spirit Artifact their orders could supply them, they looked as dashing and intimidating as a coterie of knights.
Lu Ye summoned Ju Jia.
Ju Jia joined the rest and stood beside them, basking in the envious gazes of every other Body-tempering Cultivator around him. He might not be the biggest, but he definitely looked like the one with the most vigor and strength, easily eclipsing the rest of the nine.
But that was not the only reason Ju Jia was admired. As one of the strongest Body-tempering Cultivators, Ju Jia’s gifts made him highly coveted by many sects and orders. No one would ever commit the mistake of belittling him despite his rather modest provenance as being just a normal independent.
Everyone knew full well that Ju Jia was the sole reason Sima Yang managed to survive so long—the sole cause Sima Yang’s fruitful life had managed to reach as far as the appearance of the Lost City of Xianyuan.
Naturally, the death of Sima Yang was much-welcomed news. Cultivators, especially Grand Sky Coalition Cultivators, rejoiced on Ju Jia’s behalf for having the yoke of servitude finally removed.
But all of them could barely confess to not feeling envious that Ju Jia had chosen to follow Lu Ye and rejected other offers.
Lu Ye led the Body-tempering Cultivators on a beeline trail straight for the spot where he found a weakness in the shield, then he gave them all his instructions.
Everyone nodded their assent. Ju Jia got to his position and prepared to charge, bending down and arching his back.
Lu Ye gave him a look. He said nothing to Ju Jia. Next, he raised a hand and swiped it at the dome-like shield.
At the other side of the shield, the Sunlit Mountain acolytes who had been watching had not been idle.
More than eighty Cultivators were mobilized to this position at the legate’s command when he heard Lu Ye was about to try something. The men channeled their powers and positioned themselves, making ready to attack while their Spirit Artifacts pulsed with energy.
They looked as Lu Ye placed a hand on the surface of the glowing shield of light, a knot tying in their guts.
Every single defender had been notified about Lu Yi Ye’s strange ability to slip through defensive ward shields, hence seeing him up to something made everyone wonder if he was going to conjure that unknown witchery of his again.
Yet despite the mounting apprehension, they were nonetheless curious and anxious to witness the feat itself. Without even blinking, they eyed him intently.
Eighty defenders facing ten Body-tempering Cultivators, with just a shield of light separating them—in spite of the clamor of war still roaring at the other side of the shield, it was the relative silence and stillness here that made the atmosphere tenser and more uneasy.
Lu Ye focused his Spiritual Power on both eyes. As Glyph: Insight activated, his vision of the world transformed and the Yin-Yang elements swirling in the glowing wall right before him looked like a castle emerging from the mist.
Power surged from his palms, centering right on a focal point as Yin-Yang elements materialized before him like massive jigsaw puzzle pieces locking into one another. The pieces grew to almost 10 meters wide as if Lu Ye was conjuring another layer over the shield of the defensive ward.
The defenders could not help feeling worried. Deep within the taut, well-muscled torsos, the men thought, [Is this the devilry that Lu Yi Ye is going to use to slip through the shields?]
A trigger-happy acolyte even lost his cool and fired a blast on his own outpost ward shield inadvertently.
That elicited a chain reaction as more than half of the eighty defenders that huddled at the spot sprang into action. Radiant ribbons of myriad colors zipped through the air, ending with floral explosions on the wall of light and its surface rippled wildly at every blast.
Lu Ye paused and withdrew his power. He stared at them blankly from the other side of the shield.
The Sunlit Mountain acolytes who fired at their own shield stopped in their tracks, trading embarrassed looks.
That marked the first failure.
Lu Ye was not certain if this method would work and that was the reason he could not promise Zhou Pei anything yet.
This was him really trying to defeat the magic of a defensive ward and the original intent of his study, which was what he had been attempting at first before he got sidetracked where he discovered a way to disguise his signature and slip through a defensive ward’s shield. Compared to cracking the shell, infiltrating the shell without breaking it was obviously the easier method, although not the better one.
Nevertheless, the premise of his study had not yet changed. The principles remained more or less similar. But to defeat the shield would require an ungodly amount of precision and skill. The elements on the shield changed all the time, especially when the magical ward was running at its fullest.
At the moment, the Sunlit Mountain outpost defensive ward had been activated to just that, the highest strength.
That would mean that the arrangement of Yin-Yang elements on the shield shifted every three seconds.
Hence, to defeat the defensive ward, Lu Ye would need to read the arrangements and construct the opposing elements to cancel the ones in the shield—all in three seconds. Being able to do that would break a hole in the shield and thus defeat it.
But that was easier said than done. That would include reading more than hundreds or thousands of elements and constructing the same number of opposing ones.
Even with Lu Ye’s impeccable control of Spiritual Power and his gifts in studying Glyphs, being able to do that would require a tremendous amount of luck.
But all those advantages were nothing compared to Glyph: Insight. Without the visual enhancement of Insight to enable him the ability to see the shield and read its intricate arrangements of Yin-Yang elements, Lu Ye would have needed more than just a few years of training before he could actually attempt defeating a magical ward of this size and strength.
Lu Ye’s trials with the shield went for a second time, then a third time, and on and on…
He could go on for as many times as he wanted to. All he needed was to succeed one time. Pull it off once and the outpost would fall.
For the umpteenth time, Lu Ye calmed himself down and observed the changes in the patterns of the shield again. He tried again, but he failed—yet again.
Three seconds was just not enough time for him.
Whenever his hand came up as he got ready to construct Yin-Yang elements, all eighty-or-so Sunlit Mountain defenders would flinch. But as the failures began to pile up, they eventually became insensate. It was not because they had gone tired or bored. It was fatigue from the constant trepidation that arose whenever Lu Ye made another attempt.
The same trepidation that gnawed at their mind and souls whenever Lu Ye’s hand came up.
Ju Jia straightened up. Maintaining an arched posture was tiring enough, although he quickly resumed his bent stance in preparation to charge.
Maybe it was due to him staying with Sima Yang for far too long. Ju Jia had always left the decision-making part of things to Sima Yang. But whenever he received an order, Ju Jia would see it completed without fail.
Lu Ye’s trials and errors barely yielded anything useful up until now. Even at his best, he just couldn’t make it in three seconds.
Perhaps he could do it once he transitioned to a Sky-grade cultivation technique. Cultivators who made the leap would experience a substantial increase in their control of Spiritual Power, which was also a prime reason Cultivators became even more powerful once they began training in Sky-grade cultivation techniques.
