Of course, there was one more reason they were targeting the Clear Wind Sect first. It was a Tier-six sect while Sanguine Vale and Thunderlight Sect were Tier-five.
This would be Lu Ye’s first battle after he “came back to life” per se, so of course they should go for the weakling first, relatively speaking. Just because the Clear Wind Sect was a lower tier sect did not mean it was weak.
The ship continued onward until they arrived at the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ore vein. At least a hundred Spiritual Lights jumped off the ship and flew into the caves. A while later, they returned with bloodstains on their outfits. The blood belonged to the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators who were mining in their ore vein.
It had been two months since the Heavenly Derivative Sect lost their Outpost and put their headquarters under lockdown. Naturally, their “friendly” neighbors were unwilling to let the resources go to waste. Unfortunately for the miners, their greed had doomed them today.
As they continued toward the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost, news of their invasion eventually spread to both their allies and their enemies. It was basically impossible to conceal such a large-scale operation. There were countless ways a cultivator might obtain intel from their enemies, and in this case it was perfectly natural for the Clear Wind Sect to post watchers—ghost cultivators to be exact—within their territory.
The Clear Wind Sect immediately leaped into action, and the Legate and prolegate made an emergency summon to all cultivators who were currently away from the Outpost. At the same time, they requested help from both Sanguine Vale and Thunderlight Sect.
If the Heavenly Derivative Sect was attacking alone, then they wouldn’t have bothered calling their allies for help. However, the Deep Sea Mountain was involved in the invasion as well. Together, they numbered around eight to nine hundred people. It wasn’t a particularly massive force, but it was still something they could not afford to underestimate.
In fact, the Clear Wind Sect wasn’t quite sure what the Heavenly Derivative Sect was thinking. Unless they could occupy their Outpost in a short time, their reinforcements would be able to catch them in a pincer attack. If that happened, the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain would be crying for their mothers for sure.
While a million suspicions were running through their heads, a big ship Spirit Artifact came to a stop about 5 kilometers away from their Outpost. Judging from the emblem on the ship, it belonged to Deep Sea Mountain. They were the neighbors of Clear Wind Sect after all. It was only natural that they showed up sooner than the Heavenly Derivative Sect.
Less than an hour later, another ship Spirit Artifact arrived at the scene. This one was definitely the Heavenly Derivative Sect. The two ships then advanced toward the Outpost in tandem.
Suddenly, a cultivator flew over from Deep Sea Mountain’s ship and landed on their deck. Lu Ye looked at the newcomer curiously. He was a man with an imposing appearance and a face that invoked feelings of stalwartness and assurance. He was none other than the Legate of Deep Sea Mountain, Song Ying.
After Zhao Li had introduced them to each other, and they saluted one another in kind, Song Ying wasted no time in going straight to the point, “Brother Yi Ye, Brother Zhao told me a few things about you, but I still need to ask you something. How confident are you in breaching the grand ward, and how long do you need to do it?”
As Zhao Li had mentioned earlier, Song Ying was a very conservative man. Despite his personal and repeated assurances, the man would still rather hear the answer from Lu Ye’s own mouth. His people’s lives were at stake after all. He might be the Legate, but even he dared not make what he believed to be an extremely risky action without taking all the necessary precautions.
The main reasons he agreed to cooperate with Zhao Li on this operation were, one, he was good friends with the Legate and trusted his character, and two, Zhao Li swore on his honor that Lu Ye would be able to breach the Clear Wind Sect’s grand ward.
A bitter smile crossed Zhao Li’s lips. “Brother Song, Brother Yi Ye is the man who triggered thirty three resonances in the Hundred Wards Tower, not to mention that this isn’t the first time he’s breached a grand ward. Considering his recent improvement, I have no doubt that he will succeed in this endeavor.”
Song Ying continued to look at Lu Ye as he said in a calm voice, “I know nothing about the Way of Wards. What I do know is that Clear Wind Sect has already sent out the call for help, and both Sanguine Valley and Thunderlight Sect have dispatched between three to four hundred people each to rescue their ally. If they managed to reach us in time, then our situation would be awful to say the least. The only way we could stop this is to breach the grand ward and occupy the Outpost as soon as possible.”
He did not press the matter, but he was clearly still expecting Lu Ye to give him a direct answer.
“If I fail to breach the ward within an incense stick, feel free to withdraw from this operation.”
Zhao Li shot Lu Ye an astonished look. Song Ying was frowning deeply as well.
Although he was ignorant of the Way of Wards, and he had no idea what it meant to trigger thirty three resonances in the Hundred Wards Tower, he could not interpret Lu Ye’s words as anything but a lie. A Ninth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master claiming that he could breach a grand ward in an incense stick? What kind of nonsense was this?
For a second, Song Ying was tempted to turn his back on the duo and withdraw on the spot. He had heard of stories of Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect. At the time, he was impressed with Lu Ye’s deeds during the Battle of Goldentip and was hoping to meet the man himself one day. Now though, he was thinking that the stories were exaggerated after all. It was one thing to be arrogant, and another to be blindly arrogant.
A few seconds later, Song Ying answered, “I look forward to it.”
An incense stick wasn’t a long time. As much as he disbelieved Lu Ye, he did not mind wasting that bit of time.
After Song Ying had flown back to his ship Spirit Artifact, Zhao Li asked worriedly, “Brother Yi Ye, are you sure… you can breach the grand ward in an incense stick?”
The Legate knew how Lu Ye had conquered the House of Wintry Blossoms and Sunlit Mountain’s Outposts with Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court, and both times the young man had used cheap tricks that could only work one time. Objectively speaking, he could not really say that Lu Ye had breached a grand ward through pure skill and knowledge. He knew that Lu Ye’s attainment had improved by an unimaginable degree after conquering the Hundred Wards Tower, but he still could not imagine the young man breaching a grand ward in just an incense stick.
It was precisely because he was a ward cultivator that he understood just how difficult it was.
“I can!” Lu Ye replied firmly and without any hesitation.
It didn’t take long to cross five kilometers of distance. After the two ship Spirit Artifacts had landed on the ground, the cultivators marched out into the open and glared at the enemies standing behind the screen of Spiritual Power. This was especially true for the cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect.
Two months ago, they had glared at one another in the exact same way. It was just that their positions were reversed now.
Although the enemy was right in front of their doorsteps, the cultivators of Clear Wind Sect weren’t worried for their safety. It was because they knew that it was unrealistic for the Heavenly Derivative Sect and the Clear Wind Sect to bring down their grand ward in a short time. Their reinforcements were already on their way. Once they arrived, their positions would be reversed immediately.
Their confidence lasted until Lu Ye stepped into their view. The Legate of the Clear Wind Sect was so stunned by this that he looked Lu Ye up and down a couple of times and even rubbed his eyes before exclaiming in disbelief, “You’re alive?”
The man clearly recognized Lu Ye. Although he had never seen Lu Ye in person, he had seen the young man’s picture before. It was because Lu Ye was labeled as a key monitoring target by Thousand Demon RIdge after the House of Wintry Blossoms and Sunlit Mountain were conquered. Naturally, a lot of people had checked out his information and his picture.
Two months ago, the Keeper of Seal of the Crimson Blood Sect had turned violent at the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s headquarters and fought five Real Lake Realm enemies on her own. The Great Elder of the Heavenly Derivative Sect was even injured during that battle.
Not satisfied with just that, she entered the Spirit Creek Battlefield and killed dozens of Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators before the Judgment of the Heavens finally drove her away.
The Sect Master of the Crimson Blood Sect himself had gone to Lei Zhou to wreak some havoc. Although he wasn’t able to deal any significant damage, he still gave the Divine Ocean Realm cultivators of Lei Zhou quite the scare.
Even the second runner up of the Spirit Creek Battlefield’s Scroll of Supremacy, Li Baxian, had gone on a bloody rampage in the Core Circle for a time.
The reason they had done this was because their disciple, Lu Ye had been poisoned to death by a Thousand Demon Ridge spy in the Heavenly Derivative Sect Outpost. This had been confirmed by both cultivation factions.
Thousand Demon Ridge had even held a short celebration when they confirmed that Lu Ye was dead. The thorn in their side was finally gone, and they no longer had to worry about their Outpost being breached any longer.
That was then, this was now. The young man who should have been dead two months ago wasn’t just alive and healthy, he was standing right in front of him!
[This is bullshit!]
It took the Legate of the Clear Wind Sect some time to process his shock, but when he did he quickly figured out the truth. His emotions were a jumbled mess as he cursed the ancestors of everyone in the Crimson Blood Sect in his head. Were they professional actors or something? It was precisely because their acting was so convincing that everyone in Thousand Demon Ridge was sure that Lu Ye was dead.
[What the hell is wrong with this sect? It’s one thing if it’s just the disciples who were putting on an act, but no, even their Keeper of Seal and Sect Master had come together to deceive the entire Jiu Zhou! How can the entire sect be so treacherous and deceitful?]
While the Legate was busy ranting inside his head, the cultivators of Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain had begun moving into formation. In accordance with Lu Ye’s command, the body tempering cultivators had formed up at the forefront of a certain section of the grand ward, followed by the combat cultivators, the ghost cultivators, the spell cultivators and finally a dozen or so medicine cultivators.
The Legate of the Clear Wind Sect felt his heart skipping a beat when he saw this. It was clear that the enemy was planning to attack their grand ward by force. Considering what had happened to the House of Wintry Blossoms and Sunlit Mountain, how could he not feel nervous about this?
He did not stay nervous for long though. Lu Ye had breached the grand ward of the two sects, true, but his methods were cheap tricks that could only be used one time. Lu Yi Ye might have come up with new tricks, but he should not be able to pull off anything as long as they kept a close eye on him.
He was just thinking this when Lu Ye stepped forward and swept his gaze across the grand ward in front of him. His eyes were circulating with Spiritual Power because he had empowered them with Insight.
When he was performing the tests in the Hundred Wards Tower, Lu Ye had only ever used Insight to confirm that his deductions were correct. It was the way to improve his attainment in the Way of Wards. But since he was here to breach an enemy’s grand ward, there was naturally no need to limit himself.
A short period of observation later, Lu Ye fired a blast of Spiritual Power at a certain spot on the grand ward. A Heavenly Derivative Sect disciple holding a pitch black ward flag immediately ran forward and stood at that exact position. The ward flag in the disciple’s hands was none other than the reward Lu Ye had received.
It had taken Lu Ye over four hours to breach the grand ward on the thirty-third floor of the Hundred Wards Tower, but that was because he had to do everything by himself. That was not the case here. The one thing the Heavenly Derivative Sect did not lack was ward cultivators, so he saw no reason not to let them assist him with the task. It would be much easier for him to breach the grand ward this way, not to mention that he wasn’t aiming to bring down the whole thing.
That was why Lu Ye had asked Zhao Li to select thirty one ward cultivators before giving them a ward flag each. The last ward flag was held by himself as a matter of course.
Lu Ye continued firing blasts of Spiritual Power to direct the ward cultivators holding his ward flags into position. A moment later, all thirty one of them were in place.
By now, the Legate of the Clear Wind Sect had realized that his wishful thinking was just that, wishful thinking. He immediately squashed his optimism like trash, brought out the Control Gem of the grand ward, and cranked up the ward to maximum power.
He knew nothing about the Way of Wards just like Song Ying, but it did not take a genius to see that Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect had come prepared. He had no desire to experience the same fate as the House of Wintry Blossoms or Sunlit Mountain.
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