```
Cultivators in the Spirit Stream Realm can only fly using Flying Spirit Artifacts, but once they reach the Cloud River Realm, they’re able to fly through the air using their bodies alone.
The two concepts are different, one involves wielding a Flying Spirit Artifact and being carried by it, while the other relies on the physical body to fly directly.
Although Lu Ye is currently relying on wings spirit runes, he can somewhat be said to experience the benefits of flying through the air in advance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean cultivators no longer need Flying Spirit Artifacts after reaching the Cloud River Realm, as flying with artifacts consumes less energy. Moreover, some Flying Spirit Artifacts can be fitted with Spirit Stones and other consumables to replace the cultivator’s own spirit force.
Especially those large Flying Spirit Artifacts, which are generally driven by the power of Spirit Stones and Formations, are hard to control solely with a cultivator’s own spirit force.
After acquiring the wings spirit runes, Lu Ye was in high spirits, and considering the intensity of the battles he had fought over the past few days, he decided to rest for a day.
The Spirit Stream battlefield was unusually calm for a day, with no significant changes on the Spirit Stream Ranking and not too many disturbances on the battlefield.
There was a time when the vast battlefield could remain undisturbed simply because one man lay quiet. The Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators sadly realized that as long as Lu Ye the Sect Destroyer didn’t stir up trouble, everything was rather peaceful.
However, this calm was shattered after just one day.
A day later, Lu Ye began to make his move on the ranking.
On the Spirit Stream Ranking, his rank climbed several places every few breaths. All the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators he challenged rejected him without exception.
It might be embarrassing, but it was better than losing their lives!
After so many 9th Heaven cultivators had been killed by him, those on the lower ranks of the Spirit Stream Ranking from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had no confidence in surviving against Lu Ye.
The last time he climbed the ranking, Lu Ye specifically targeted cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, not letting any of them ahead of him off the hook.
This time was different. In the rankings between fiftieth and eightieth place, almost all belonged to the Haotian Alliance, and only after the eightieth rank did a small number of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators appear.
If Lu Ye wanted to climb to a higher position on the Spirit Stream Ranking, he would have to challenge some Haotian Alliance cultivators.
There was no choice in the matter, but fortunately, those Haotian Alliance cultivators were understanding about it.
In just half a Shichen, Lu Ye once again fought his way back into the top fifty of the Spirit Stream Ranking — an unprecedented speed for climbing the ranks.
By then, there were many targets for him to choose from. Like before, Lu Ye specifically sought out cultivators from the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge camp to challenge one after another.
It must be said, even if Lu Ye’s previous combat achievements were astounding, those ranked in the top fifty still had their own pride, so at first, no one declined his challenges, and they all accepted gleefully.
Because they all had a reason to be proud of themselves!
Out of the countless Spirit Stream Realm cultivators on the vast battlefield, being in the top fifty meant their strength certainly wouldn’t be weak.
Lu Ye did not deal with these people as he had with Bai Lan. First, he wasn’t in such an urgent need of Earth’s Core Fire at the moment; second, he had already accumulated quite a bit of merit, which he could use to purchase Earth’s Core Fire if he needed it; and third, to do so would be a waste of time.
Ten days had passed since he began his assault on the Spirit Stream Ranking, and he needed to reach his limit position as soon as possible. That way, when Heaven’s Augury bestowed rewards, he could get more benefits.
If he used the same method as with Bai Lan against these people, not to mention whether he could swindle any advantages, even if he succeeded, the cost would outweigh the benefits.
Any one of them, if handled properly, could consume days of his time.
Therefore, he had only one objective now: climb the ranks!
Since he was the one initiating the challenges every time, the choice of terrain was left to others. But even if those people chose terrains that suited themselves, they couldn’t escape death.
After Lu Ye triumphed in three battles, killing his opponents in all of them, even those ranked in the top fifty sensed trouble brewing.
They had previously thought that it was the cultivators ranked after fiftieth who were too weak to even surrender against Lu Ye. But now it seemed that it wasn’t a question of their strength, but rather that Lu Yiye had some special method that prevented the challenged from surrendering.
The precondition for accepting Lu Ye’s challenge was that they could live if they couldn’t win. If death was certain, then they needed to weigh their options carefully. Nobody was foolhardy enough to court death intentionally.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out what special technique Lu Yiye was using.
So far, Bai Lan of the Runyu Sect was the only surviving example among the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators who had encountered Lu Ye in the combat field.
There had been queries to Bai Lan for information about Lu Ye before, and now there were even more. However, Bai Lan couldn’t provide a clear answer; her battle with Lu Ye had been completely one-sided, to the point where her top-grade spirit artifact’s defenses had almost been breached.
Considering the circumstances of that fight, Bai Lan clearly had the opportunity to surrender, so it stood to reason that Lu Yiye must have some technique he didn’t use on her.
This caused a lot of speculation among the cultivators of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, wondering if perhaps Lu Yiye was the sort to be merciful to women. Otherwise, why treat Bai Lan so differently?
But it wasn’t as if there were no beautiful women on the Spirit Stream Ranking besides Bai Lan, and all except for her had been killed by him. Why was Bai Lan able to live?
When compared with the other fallen female cultivators, the only advantage Bai Lan had was her proud and ample "assets." Explore hidden tales at freewebnovel
Suddenly, it seemed many understood the truth...
It is worth mentioning that since Lu Yiye began climbing the ranks, Bai Lan had also started making her move on the ranking. However, in comparison, the rate of advancement between the two was not on the same level. After all, Lu Ye had climbed from one hundredth to fiftieth without a single battle, advancing smoothly as his challengers rejected matches outright.
Bai Lan didn’t have the same intimidating presence, so climbing ranks through battle after battle naturally couldn’t achieve the same swift pace.
```
She already had the foundation of ranking forty-eight, so if she went all out, her final ranking shouldn’t end up too bad.
In the wooden hut, Lu Ye’s mind was connected to the Spirit Stream Ranking as he challenged one after another. After he had consecutively defeated three strong competitors ranked in the top fifty, the following challenges were unanimously declined by the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, which caused his ranking to soar to the thirty-sixth position in no time.
The next target he had to challenge was Zhuo Jianchen, who was ranked thirty-fourth.
The name sounded somewhat familiar. Lu Ye checked his sect, and—it was Runyu Sect.
He suddenly remembered—wasn’t this the brother who had boldly declared he would wait for him a few days ago? It seemed he was Bai Lan’s senior fellow disciple.
After issuing the challenge, sure enough, the other party accepted, and Lu Ye waited in silence.
Within Runyu Sect, Bai Lan looked at the suppressed Zhuo Jianchen, "Senior Brother, has Lu Yiye challenged you?"
"Yes."
"You..."
"I accepted!"
"Senior Brother, wouldn’t it be better to refuse?"
Zhuo Jianchen suddenly turned his head, "Why refuse? What are you afraid of?"
Bai Lan was somewhat dazed, "What?" She didn’t understand why her senior brother was acting so strangely today; the usually gentle and refined brother now gave off an extremely gloomy feeling.
"Junior Sister, I ask you, why did that Lu Yiye only spare you?" Zhuo Jianchen pressed down the frustration in his heart and asked solemnly.
"He didn’t spare me ah... he extorted twenty portions of Earth’s Core Fire from me. That’s worth four thousand points of merit!"
Zhuo Jianchen said, "All the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge Fellow Daoists who accepted his challenge have died, only you are alive. Do you think he was merely after those twenty portions of Earth’s Core Fire from you?"
Bai Lan also sensed something was amiss at this point and looked at Zhuo Jianchen in astonishment, "Senior Brother, what are you trying to say?"
"I don’t want to say anything; it’s just that I’ve heard some things."
How could Zhuo Jianchen not care about the rumors flying about outside? At first, he didn’t think much of it, but recalling the state his junior sister returned in after her fight with Lu Yiye, he couldn’t help his wild thoughts from running.
A few days ago, when his junior sister returned from the combat field, she was extremely pale, as if she had suffered some great humiliation.
Back at their quarters, the way many junior brothers and sisters looked at him seemed somewhat off.
Bai Lan’s face suddenly turned pale. She had naturally heard the rumors outside, but how could such rumors be taken seriously?
"Senior Brother, you believe..."
"I don’t know if I should believe!" Zhuo Jianchen cut off Bai Lan, "So, I will ask him face to face."
"You can’t go, Senior Brother. So many people have died," Bai Lan expressed her fear and concern.
However, the more fearful and concerned she appeared, the deeper the thorn in Zhuo Jianchen’s heart pricked, the more he wanted to seek out Lu Ye for answers.
Without clarifying this matter, he would never have peace of mind.
"Alright! I need to prepare for this fight." Zhuo Jianchen turned around, presenting his back to Bai Lan, and with a sweeping motion of his large sleeve, the door to the room closed.
Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.
Bai Lan stood there dazedly, her eyes void of focus, truly unable to understand how things had developed to this stage.
Lu Yiye... it was all this guy’s fault!
Clenching her teeth with resentment, Bai Lan wished she could rip that man into ten thousand pieces. Yet, whenever the image of that person came to mind, she couldn’t help but shudder.
She pounded the door, yelling, "Senior Brother, listen to me."
But there was simply no response.
Having chosen the terrain of the combat field, the scenery before Zhuo Jianchen began to change.
Inside a combat field of moderate size, the silhouettes of Lu Ye and Zhuo Jianchen appeared simultaneously. Yiyi immediately submerged herself underground as usual to search for the enemy’s trail, while Amber crouched unmoving on Lu Ye’s shoulder, resembling a decorative item.
Before Lu Ye had a chance to survey his surroundings, a fierce shout came from ahead, "Lu Yiye, come out and face me!"
He looked up to see a sword light floating in mid-air ahead, with a figure standing on it, emanating an elegant sense of floating above the ground.
Around this person hovered several sword lights, each one a flying sword. From the looks of it, there was no doubt he was a sword cultivator!
For some reason, he appeared furious, and Lu Ye suspected it had to do with his junior sister being conned out of twenty portions of Earth’s Core Fire.
With so many having declined his challenge before, and only this person accepted, it seemed that he had enough confidence in his own strength and was also quite headstrong.
Lu Ye liked such people!