Lu Ye had not exerted his full strength before, first because he was wary of the unknown rune tattoos that the opponent might have, and second because he wanted to test the strength of the cultivators ranked in the top twenty. However, now that the opponent’s depth had been probed, and it was clear that those rune tattoos were fake, there was no longer any need for caution.
The figure crouched slightly, the long saber slanting as he stood ready, supported by the Move-Like-The-Wind Spirit Runes, he surged forward like thunder.
It seemed that the demon cultivator sensed Lu Ye’s intent to kill and hastily began to say, "I..."
"Roar!" The previously silent Amber roared out, yet the usually unbeatable Tiger Roar Intimidation failed to take effect this time.
The demon cultivator only suffered a very brief impact before returning to normal, swiftly shouting out the words of surrender.
Lu Ye had already charged in front of him, brushing past, with the Double-Sharpness Spirit Runes bolstering his Boulder Mountain Saber as it cut across the demon cultivator’s neck.
But even before this, an invisible protective barrier had enshrouded the demon cultivator from head to toe, and the blade failed to inflict any harm.
That was the protection of Heaven’s Augury!
The demon cultivator touched his neck in terror, his figure quickly fading as he promptly left the combat field.
"He got away?" Yiyi revealed herself.
Lu Ye nodded slightly.
In fact, after the battle with Zhuo Jianchen, he had already realized this problem: the higher the ranking of the cultivator, the stronger their resistance to Amber’s roar, and the harder they were to kill.
Zhuo Jianchen was actually only a step slower. The moment after Lu Ye’s saber had passed over his head, was when he managed to yell out his surrender.
This demon cultivator was ranked seventeenth, a full seventeen ranks above Zhuo Jianchen, and naturally stronger. He hadn’t completely blocked Amber’s roar, but the impact was too minor.
"Should I help in the next fight?" Yiyi asked.
"Good!"
Having been challenging the Spirit Stream Ranking for some days, Lu Ye had a clear assessment of his own strength. With his current power, defeating those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators was not too difficult, but advancing further and attempting to kill them would not be easy.
Yiyi’s assistance at the right moment would undoubtedly be a safeguard.
Returning to the cabin, Lu Ye took a short rest before beginning the next challenge!
Meanwhile, the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge finally understood the source of Lu Ye’s ability to wreak havoc: the beast pet by his side could assault the psyche with its roar, which was why previously challenged Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powerhouses didn’t even have a chance to admit defeat.
It wasn’t until the demon cultivator, who was originally ranked seventeenth, managed to survive by luck under Lu Yiye’s hand and shared this crucial intelligence.
With the experience of that demon cultivator, those of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge who were ranked before him became fearless, all confident that they were no less capable than he. If that demon cultivator could survive under Lu Yiye’s hand, they naturally thought they could as well.
However, the results took everyone by surprise.
In the subsequent challenges, not one of the three Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powerhouses ranked sixteenth, fourteenth, and eleventh was spared; all were slain on the Spirit Stream battlefield by Lu Yiye.
One must know that those ranked in these positions from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge generally came from 1st grade sects, and all had a high likelihood of advancing to the Divine Sea Realm in the future.
And just like that, Lu Ye killed them, causing the powerhouses of those few sects to clutch their hands in dismay and further intensifying Ten Thousand Demons Ridge’s hatred towards Lu Yiye.
They couldn’t understand how the seventeenth-ranked demon cultivator survived while those ranked higher all died.
After all, no living person on the combat field had seen Yiyi take action; all who had were now dead. With Yiyi cooperating in the shadows, using magic and spells at critical moments, even those Ten Thousand Demons Ridge powerhouses who could resist Amber’s roar couldn’t escape death.
Thus, the name of Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect rose high on the Spirit Stream Ranking at the eleventh position. Just one more step forward, and he would break into the top ten.
On the Spirit Stream Ranking, fifty is a watershed, thirty is a watershed, and ten is yet another watershed. The gap in strength between cultivators is significant before and after each watershed.
If Lu Ye truly managed to enter the top ten of the Spirit Stream Ranking, it would mean that he was eligible to be among the strongest tier of the Spirit Stream Realm.
The last person to rank in the top ten of the Spirit Stream Ranking with 8th Heaven cultivation was Li Baxian!
However, Li Baxian was a special case; he originally had 9th Heaven cultivation, but his spiritual orifice was damaged, causing his cultivation to fall. This was different from Lu Yiye’s situation. If Lu Yiye could truly enter the top ten, he would be genuinely, on the basis of 8th Heaven cultivation, counted among the strongest echelon of the Spirit Stream Realm.
But everyone knew that he wouldn’t challenge the one ranked tenth, because that position belonged to the Haotian Alliance. His next target was undoubtedly the one ranked ninth, Spectral Shadow!
Everyone was watchful, eager to see if the powerhouses ranked in the top ten could stop Lu Yiye from advancing.
Yet, at this crucial moment, Lu Yiye suddenly stopped climbing the ranking, and for nearly half a day, there were no changes on the Spirit Stream Ranking. People sent messages to Spectral Shadow, who stated that he had not received any challenge.
This slightly relieved the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, but it also brought about more anxiety.
Lu Yiye obviously had not stopped his ranking challenge. The lack of activity at this time clearly indicated he was resting and adjusting, preparing to challenge the top ten in peak condition.
In fact, this was indeed the case. Since resuming the ranking challenge, Lu Ye had hardly rested at all.
The powerhouses in the top ten of the ranking represented the strongest tier within the Spirit Stream Realm’s level, and naturally, he wanted to face them in his best state. The relative strength of cultivators was not just a matter of higher or lower realms, but also their condition during the fight and their responsive reactions.
In the small courtyard outside the wooden hut, Hua Ci had prepared many bizarre and strange dishes, which Lu Ye enjoyed without any reservations.
No matter what the ingredients of those dishes were, they were all incredibly delicious.
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However, if one didn’t have strong means of detoxification, it would be impossible to enjoy Hua Ci’s hospitality.
After eating and drinking his fill, Lu Ye lay on a chair and suddenly thought of something. He turned his head to look at Hua Ci and asked, "Aren’t you going to challenge the Spirit Stream Ranking?"
Although he didn’t know Hua Ci’s current strength or what kind of extraordinary methods she had for killing enemies, just from the fact that she had previously come here alone and killed so many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, Lu Ye knew that one shouldn’t underestimate her strength.
If they were to face off, it’s likely that one might not even know how they died. If he had to choose between Hua Ci and the top of the Spirit Stream Ranking, he would choose the latter without any hesitation.
Hua Ci certainly had the strength to challenge the ranking.
"No rush," Hua Ci casually replied while she and Yiyi cleaned up the dishes, "My cultivation is still a bit lacking, I’ll wait until I’ve advanced to the 9th Heaven then consider it."
"How much more do you need?" Lu Ye asked casually.
"Twenty or thirty spiritual orifices?" Hua Ci pursed her lips and smiled, then turned and walked away.
Lu Ye’s eye twitched.
He had noticed that since arriving in the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, Hua Ci’s cultivation had been increasing at an unimaginable speed. His cultivation used to be higher than Hua Ci’s, but now, even though they were both at the 8th Heaven cultivation, Hua Ci had opened more orifices than he had.
Even though he had been busy challenging the ranking and hadn’t spent much time on cultivation recently, Lu Ye suspected that even if he were to focus purely on cultivation, he might not be able to catch up to her.
What kind of inheritance had this woman received?
After resting for a day and adjusting his condition to the best, Lu Ye connected his mind and spirit to the Spirit Stream Ranking and issued a challenge to Spectral Shadow, ranked ninth.
The opponent accepted the challenge, and a Heaven’s Augury descended a moment later.
In a combat field about ten miles in diameter filled with towering trees and lush vegetation, Lu Ye found himself in a dense forest, terrain similar to the Fog-Shrouded Mountain, perfect for concealment.
The opponent’s name was Spectral Shadow, presumably a ghost cultivator, so seeing this choice of terrain didn’t surprise Lu Ye in the least.
Yiyi had already set off to search for traces of Spectral Shadow. Lu Ye stayed in place and chose a clean spot to sit cross-legged. He took out a few elixir pills and popped them into his mouth, then pulled a book out of his storage sack…
As time passed, even though Yiyi meticulously searched the entire combat field several times over, she found nothing.
Spectral Shadow seemed to have vanished into thin air.
As for Lu Ye, he continued to cultivate and read without encountering any attacks.
In his previous challenges, Lu Ye had encountered several ghost cultivators, all of whom first concealed themselves, then tried to ambush him by closing in when they saw an opportunity, in hopes of landing a killing blow in one strike.
The ghost cultivators who held such thoughts and put them into action generally died very quickly. Enjoy more content from freewebnovel
This time, the ghost cultivator seemed to be different. So well-concealed was he that not even Yiyi could find his tracks, nor did he make any rash moves to approach Lu Ye.
However, Lu Ye was certain that the opponent must be observing him from somewhere nearby, as his acute perception allowed him to sense that he seemed to be under surveillance.
As for exactly where the opponent was located… it was hard to pinpoint.
A few dozen yards away from where Lu Ye was seated, on a branch, Spectral Shadow clung like a ghostly shadow, quietly observing Lu Ye’s figure.
In the combat field, his opponent was actually sitting as if at peace reading a book, methodically turning the pages. This was clearly a ruse to lure him closer.
As a ghost cultivator ranked at the forefront of the Spirit Stream Ranking and the current strongest within the Spirit Stream Realm, he wouldn’t fall for it so easily.
A distinguished ghost cultivator must endure loneliness, waiting for the enemy to show their true flaws, and that would be the time for ghost cultivators to bare their fangs.
Time trickled by, and countless cultivators outside waited for the outcome of this battle. But as for the combatants, one was contentedly reading and cultivating, the other patiently lying in wait. In the expansive combat field, there wasn’t even a sound to be heard.
The sky gradually darkened, and Lu Ye was somewhat surprised.
He had never stayed in a combat field for so long, so he had never known that the combat field also had nightfall.
It seems that the rumor of the combat field being part of some location in the Nine Provinces wasn’t just conjecture; the time here, including the time in the Spirit Stream battlefield, was consistent with that of the Nine Provinces.
He touched his stomach, feeling a bit hungry again.
Lu Ye put away the book in his hands, took a few pieces of beast meat out of his storage sack, gave half to Amber, and then lit a bonfire to roast the remaining half.
This beast meat all came from the Fog-Shrouded Mountain, flesh from demon beasts.