Although their side held the overwhelming advantage, neither the Heavenly Derivative Sect nor the Deep Sea Mountain showed signs of overeagerness. They continued to maintain their formation and stuck to the plan.
No one wanted something unexpected to happen right before they plucked the fruits of victory. They would still win, but it would almost certainly cost unnecessary lives.
The survivors of the Clear Wind Sect tried charging the enemy line multiple times, but each time they were pushed back by the body-tempering cultivators led by Ju Jia. Moreover, they always lost someone when attacking or withdrawing from the enemy lines.
In all this, Lu Ye was the one who had the highest kill count.
With an attack range of two hundred meters and Glyphs that massively boosted his offensive power, a single flying weapon could usually kill multiple enemies in one revolution. Considering the fact that there were four, well…
All four of his flying weapons ran out of power when the battle had reached the end. An incense stick later, when the last Clear Wind Sect cultivator had collapsed on the ground, the sky shook from the cheers of the allied forces…
They had never experienced such an exhilarating victory in their lives. Not only did they occupy an enemy sect’s Outpost, they had almost annihilated their cultivators as well. This battle was destined to be remembered in the history books as one of the greatest sieges of the Spirit Creek Battlefield.
There wasn’t a single Heavenly Derivative Sect cultivator on the battlefield who wasn’t flushed with pure joy. For two months they had stewed in anger, and today they were finally able to vent it in the best way possible. One would think that they were celebrating a new year from the way they were cheering and flailing their limbs in joy. At that moment, they felt like they could do anything.
This was just the beginning of their conquest though. Zhao Li barked out a shout, “You have one incense stick to sweep through the battlefield! Get moving now!”
The Clear Wind Sect was but the first stop in his and Lu Ye’s plan. There were still two more stops before their operation was officially over.
The reason this battle had gone as smoothly as it had was because the Clear Wind Sect had let down their guard too much. However, the other two sects must know what happened and be prepared for them. They might not be able to achieve such a crushing victory again.
The allied forces immediately leaped into action. An incense stick was hardly a long time. They were going to miss out on that precious, precious loot if they did not work as quickly as possible.
Lu Ye finally began refining the Control Gem as well. Last time, he had been forced to destroy the Control Gems to bring down the grand wards of the House of Wintry Blossoms and Sunlit Mountain. However, the situation wasn’t the same as back then. Clear Wind Sect’s grand ward was perfectly functional, so he only needed to refine the Control Gem, shut it down, and dig out the ward keystones to claim total ownership over it.
A full set of grand wards was worth a lot of Contribution Points in the Vault of Providence after all.
While this was going on, Zhao Li and Song Ying traveled to the Sanctum of Providence together to plunder the Clear Wind Sect’s Divine Opportunity Column. The former claimed seventy percent of the Blessings, and the latter only thirty percent. That said, a portion of that seventy percent belonged to Lu Ye.
Before they had set out, Lu Ye had told Bai Qian that he was going to take back what the Heavenly Derivative Sect had lost. Naturally, now was the time to fulfill his promise.
They had discussed the distribution of loot before this, and it was agreed that the Clear Wind Sect’s grand ward would go to him. Lu Ye had no use for the grand ward, but he could sell it to the Heavenly Derivative Sect or the Vault of Providence for rewards. The former would give him a ton of cultivation resources for his troubles, while the latter would give him Contribution Points. Either exchange was more than acceptable.
A short while later, Lu Ye successfully refined the Control Gem and shut down the grand ward. He then requested some help to dig out the ward keystones and put them in the Storage Bag.
While everyone was busy robbing the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost, news of its occupation was swiftly spreading throughout Thousand Demon Ridge and Grand Sky Coalition. Rumors claimed that Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect wasn’t dead at all, and he was the main reason the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost was occupied.
According to the disciples who managed to escape back to Jiu Zhou before their Sanctum of Providence was taken, Lu Yi Ye had put a huge gap in their grand ward in just dozens of breaths. Then, the well-prepared disciples of the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain rushed through the gap and started slaughtering them. Since they had been caught with their pants down, they were unable to put up any effective resistance. Their cultivators had dropped left and right like flies.
In this battle, the allied forces were able to occupy the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost and massacre over four hundred Spirit Creek Realm cultivators. There were so many deaths that it was almost enough to cause a total rupture of their talent succession in the Inner Circle.
Naturally, the news stunned all of Jiu Zhou. What stunned them wasn’t Lu Yi Ye’s return to life, but his ward breaching skills.
If the young man had used the cheap tricks he used when he conquered the Outposts of House of Wintry Blossoms and Sunlit Mountain, which could be easily adapted to, then his current method was easily ten times better.
The young man had, via his own power and skill, breached a grand ward the proper way. In other words, it was no longer possible to defend against his methods. Whoever this bastard targeted was going to lose their grand ward, meaning that every Thousand Demon Ridge Outpost in the Spirit Creek Battlefield was in grave danger.
To say that the sects were nervous would be an understatement. Two months ago, all signs had indicated that Lu Yi Ye was killed by the poison. They had cheered and celebrated his passing all across Jiu Zhou. It was just a lie though. Not only was the young man alive and perfectly healthy, his attainment in the Way of Wards had grown by an unimaginable degree during his two months’ stay in the Heavenly Derivative Sect!
Countless ward cultivators skilled in the Way of Wards cried, “Impossible!” when they heard of this news. They had never heard of a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator talented enough to breach a grand ward in just dozens of breaths, much less witnessed it with their own eyes. If grand wards were so easy to breach, they would have done so ages ago!
And yet Lu Ye had done the impossible. Short of denying reality itself, they had no choice but to accept the truth. Naturally, the entire Jiu Zhou was in an uproar because of this.
Back in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, both Sanguine Vale and Thunderlight Sect were panicking right now. They were on their way to reinforce Clear Wind Sect, and they were going to reach the Outpost and catch the enemy in a pincer attack in just another hour or so. Then, they heard the impossible news that the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost had been occupied, and nearly all of their cultivators were slaughtered to the last.
At first, no one was willing to believe the news. They all thought it was a sick joke and messaged their companions about it. Eventually though, they realized it actually wasn’t a joke, and terror consumed them like someone had poured an ice bucket over their heads. They immediately turned around and flew back to their respective Outposts.
If Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost was truly conquered, then one of them was going to be the next target. As for who was more likely to be targeted, Sanguine Vale was probably it because they were closer to the Clear Wind sect than the Thunderlight Sect.
Sanguine Vale’s Legate and prolegate acted like headless chickens for a time. They sent out an emergency request for reinforcements and begged Thunderlight Sect to send their forces over to Sanguine Vale first. It was because Thunderlight Sect’s forces were already on the road. Assuming their ally was willing to take the risk, there was still a good chance they would be able to hold back the combined forces of Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain.
Thunderlight Sect was aware that they were next if Sanguine Vale were to fall. The prolegate leading the expeditionary force was inclined to agree to Sanguine Vale’s cry for help as well. However, this wasn’t a matter he could decide alone, so he had to send a message to the headquarters and request for direction from his elders.
The higher-ups of Thunderlight Sect quickly arrived at a consensus and agreed to respond to Sanguine Vale’s cry for help. Without further ado, the prolegate turned the ship around and flew toward Sanguine Vale’s Outpost.
Meanwhile, the cultivators Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain had already finished sweeping the battlefield. They were now on their way to their next stop, Sanguine Vale.
Lu Ye was currently working on something with the ward cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect. Speed was of the essence here. The news of their occupation of Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost must have spread by now. If they were too late to show up at Sanguine Vale’s Outpost, then their next battle was going to be a hard one. That was why they were making haste now.
If they weren’t mistaken, Sanguine Vale and Thunderlight Sect should have dispatched some reinforcements to assist Clear Wind Sect. News of its occupation must have reached their ears already, so they were probably on their way home right now. A funny thought arose in his mind though, [what if they could intercept these forces before they returned to their Outpost?]
All massive ship Spirit Artifacts that could carry hundreds of people at a time were all purchased from the Vault of Providence. They cost a lot, and their quality usually reflected that price. However, there was a limit to how fast they could go, and they were definitely slower than an individual’s flying speed.
The cultivators flying the ship had already cranked up its speed to the max, but it still wasn’t fast enough to catch up to their enemy. That was why Lu Ye was busy right now. He was going to boost the ship’s speed beyond its limit.
Some time passed, and a ward that encompassed the entire ship Spirit Artifact was built. The ward was nothing special; it was just a ward with a massive Glyph: Windwalk as the core and sixteen ward flags as the base.
If he could apply the Glyph to himself and Amber, then of course it could be applied to a flying Spirit Artifact as well. However, Lu Ye literally could not sustain a Glyph that was big enough to empower the entire ship. It was a different story if they used a ward though. The reason he used sixteen ward flags to build a ward was to secure the Glyph to the ship and to make it so that it could absorb Spiritual Power to sustain itself.
A pile of Spirit Stones had been placed next to each ward flag, and their Spiritual Power was being siphoned into the massive ward. After Lu Ye had activated the ward, it buzzed once before coming alive. Complicated patterns began to appear and shower the entire deck in light.
One moment, the two ships were flying side by side. The next, the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship shot forward like an arrow and transformed into a dot in the horizon in an instant.
On the Deep Sea Mountain’s ship, Song Ying was tallying his casualties when he noticed the disturbance. When he looked up and realized that his ally’s ship had turned into a dot in the sky, he hurriedly sent a message to Zhao Li with a slack jaw.
He wasn’t the only one who was caught off guard by the sudden movement. Nearly everyone on the ship was sprawled across the floor, and it took a not insignificant amount of effort to climb back to their feet.
Lu Ye hurriedly adjusted the output of the ward. He had created countless wards when he was challenging the Hundred Wards Tower, but this was the first time he created one a ward meant to accelerate an object. Naturally, his inexperience had caused a minor screw up. If he did not adjust the output now, the ward was going to overload and destroy itself in less than an hour.
The ship gradually slowed down until Lu Ye had found the sweet spot. The ward was now stabilized, but the ship was still moving at more than twice its normal speed. While this was going on, Zhao Li replied to Song Ying’s message and explained what had happened before ordering his cultivators to pay close attention to their surroundings.
Two hours later, a cultivator reported that they had spotted a massive ship some distance in front of them. They were clearly moving toward Sanguine Vale’s Outpost.
Zhao Li perked up immediately. As he and Lu Ye predicted, Sanguine Vale had dispatched some reinforcements to rescue Clear Wind Sect from their predicament. Unfortunately for the reinforcements, they were able to conquer the Outpost before they could arrive, so they had no choice but to turn back.
Why had Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain left the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost in such a hurry? It was to catch up to the reinforcements Sanguine Vale had dispatched!
“Ram it!” Zhao Li immediately ordered from the deck.
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