Humanity’s Great Sage

The battle between the raiders of both sides had barely just begun but the difference between the two raiding squads was clear enough: Tao Tian Gang was wounded and Song Xie could barely defend himself. It wouldn’t be too long before he, too, would find himself injured, or worse, killed. Qiao Qiao Er’s situation might be on the sunny side, but there was no way that a lone victory from her end could turn things around. Meanwhile, Xie Jin himself was doing all he could by keeping his target occupied in spite of being already impaired by his injuries from last time.

The situation could not have been any worse. Either Tao Tian Gang or Song Xie would be dying first and so would the rest of them in due time. 

[We need to flip the tables!]

The notion flashed through Lu Ye’s mind as he delivered a blow that forced his target behind, giving himself enough space to dig out the Bell Spirit Artifact from his pocket. He infused his Spiritual Powers and activated the magical bell. The bell soared up into the air, growing larger and larger at an unbelievable speed before it slammed down on the Fifth-Order Spell Cultivator Song Xie was fighting against, trapping him inside. 

That was a tactical choice. Spell Cultivators usually stood stationary while they fired their spells, making them the sweetest targets since they would be easy to aim at. Moreover, trapping the Spell Cultivator inside could have the best efficacy since any spells that he fired could bounce off the inner wall of the bell and potentially hurt himself instead. 

With a deafening clangor, the bell had the Spell Cultivator securely captured inside. 

Song Xie was doing all he could to evade whatever death rays came his way when he saw the gigantic bell come crashing down on his foe. Doubt and disbelief swept across his face for one split second before he wheeled around and dashed towards Tao Tian Gang to give him a hand. Whether the bell would hold, he did not know. All he knew was that this was the chance of a lifetime to turn things around. If he could regroup with Tao Tian Gang and hold back his target for as long as he could, even if they failed to defeat the enemy, that would at least give the whole squad more breathing space. 

The notion to desert his squadmates had reared its head for one brief moment just now, although he quickly perished the thought. Beyond any doubt, he too would not be able to survive much longer than his comrades if he were to abandon them and flee. At least by standing firm and fighting, he and everyone might still have a chance of surviving this ordeal. 

His arrival helped to relieve the pressure on Tao Tian Gang and together, the duo realized that they might just give the Fifth-Order enemy a run for his money. 

In the meantime, Lu Ye renewed his attacks on Goatee as soon as he cast the Bell Spirit Artifact, raining blow after blow with his saber and forcing his enemy on the defensive that the Body-tempering Cultivator could do nothing but depend solely on his iron manica to defend himself. 

Realizing another opening, Lu Ye immediately fired a spell. The crimson plump bird-like energy bolt tore straight into Goatee’s chest and detonated, the blast incinerating half of his face. Yet somehow, he was able to prevent real damage to himself all thanks to the protective cuirass he was wearing beneath his tunic.

Nevertheless, the blast propelled him backward. Staggering unsteadily, he growled, “Impressive!”

In fact, he really was impressed by Lu Ye’s strength. He was the superior Cultivator out of the two and yet here he was, being kept on the defensive while it was Lu Ye who has been maintaining the initiative of this duel. 

But the word merely just slipped out his lips when Lu Ye’s foot was already heading his way. Goatee snarled and channeled his Spiritual Powers, sending every iota of them coursing through the veins all over him. A pale-gossamer shroud like a veil of scarlet-red blood rose over the surface of his skin. Then he twisted around, throwing a punch of his own at Lu Ye’s foot. 

The collision of both attacks and their various Spiritual Powers hurled both men backward. Lu Ye’s foot grew so numb from the pain that he could almost barely stand up. But Goatee didn’t get the better end of the exchange either; the impact had sent him crashing to the ground. 

Lu Ye saw his chance. 

He charged forward and unleashed another onslaught of attacks before his target could get up.

Goatee roared with indignation and ire. With more of his Spiritual Powers suffusing with his blood, the thick and crimson mist-like veil that was his protective shroud was looking more and more corporeal. 

But that did not go well. With Lu Ye’s brutal and ceaseless barrage of attacks reinforced by Spiritual Pattern “Sharp Edge”, the protective shroud thinned more quickly than it could manifest. 

Not far away, pops and bangs were coming from inside the shaking Bell Spirit Artifact. The color of the magical relic—the indicator of its integrity—was quickly fading. Any longer and the enemy Spell Cultivator inside would manage to get out and by then, whatever upper hand that Lu Ye and his squadmates had just found would all be for naught. 

Lu Ye realized how crucial it was for him to defeat his target quickly or all of them would die. 

With desperation slowly waxing in him as he swung his saber recklessly at his enemy, distantly hoping for one of his attacks to work, Lu Ye could feel his patience waning. He slashed, chopped, and hacked all he could, but to no avail. The Body-tempering Cultivator’s budding protective shroud and his iron manica were fending off every attack with tremendous effectiveness. Nothing Lu Ye did could penetrate his defenses and inflict any fatal wounds. 

Meanwhile, the Bell Spirit Artifact was turning duller by the second. It was going to break!

“You’re dead meat!” bellowed the Body-tempering Cultivator Goatee with triumphant glee despite being overwhelmed by Lu Ye’s relentless salvo of attacks. He knew that his squadmate was close to escaping the magical bell and the initiative of this battle would be restored back to theirs. 

For this reason, he did not even attempt any retaliation. There was just no need to. The situation had been in their favor right from the start and there was no need for any changes yet. All he needed to do was to bide his time and wait.

Lu Ye refused to give up and finally, his efforts bore fruit. The iron manica worn by Goatee on his arm cracked at last, much to his disbelieving surprise. He was informed prior to this battle about how he should deal with Lu Ye with caution. That prompted him to equip himself with more protective gear. His purpose was to keep Lu Ye pinned down while his squadmates dealt with the rest of Squad Xie Jin, even though he had clearly miscalculated Lu Ye’s ability. 

It would not be a stretch to say that the Clan had specifically chosen him to be Lu Ye’s nemesis.

That was the spur Lu Ye needed to go on. It emboldened and encouraged him and instead terrified Goatee enough that he could no longer tolerate being on the receiving end of Lu Ye’s abuse. He rummaged through his Storage Bag as if he was looking for something and Lu Ye’s best guess was that he was looking for a defensive Talisman, most likely the Golden Body Talisman.

All of a sudden, Goatee felt a strange weight crushing down on his shoulder before hearing a strange but sharp whistle ringing in his ears, disorienting him for one brief moment. 

Panicking, he hastily channeled more Spiritual Power, infusing every bit of it into all the vital energy he could muster to strengthen once again the thinning protective shroud, reviving it back to its deep red richness. 

A shrill cry of pain came from his back. He did not know who it was trying to attack from behind, but Goatee knew that re-strengthening his protective shroud have somehow warded off the unseen enemy from behind. 

But Lu Ye saw who it was: Yi Yi. She had materialized just behind Goatee earlier and seeing how his protective shroud had hurt his friend rekindled the flames of wrath in him. Furiously, he stormed toward Goatee and attacked. 

Yi Yi had never once shown herself in Squad Xie Jin’s battles before. Without a corporeal physical body, there was only so much she could contribute to their skirmishes. Yet right now, in their hour of need, she had decided to appear to create a distraction for Lu Ye. 

Goatee was just in the midst of retrieving his Talisman from inside his Storage Bag when the distraction cut short his attempt of activating it. Little did he realize that he would never have the chance to. 

With the iron manica gone, there was nothing that Goatee could rely on to shield himself against a blow reinforced with Spiritual Pattern “Sharp Edge”. The blow carved through what defensive auras Goatee conjured, defeating the scarlet-red protective shroud, and cleaved off the arm that was still clutching the unused Talisman before slicing into the side of his neck, engendering a ghastly burst of blood oozing out like a fountain. 

Goatee grunted at the enormous pain, his teeth gnashing as he tried to maintain his hold of Lu Ye’s wrist to prevent the saber from slicing any further. In the nick of time, he reacted quickly enough right after his arm was severed to stop what would have been a fatal strike and prevented his own death. 

Lu Ye took one more step forward to reposition himself for more leverage. Placing another hand on the front of his blade, he pressed down on the blade with hardly an ounce of mercy. 

Standing inches away from each other, both men stared at each other eye to eye. 

Crunch! 

The keen edge of the blade sliced through flesh and more blood gushed out like a geyser. Lu Ye stood over his foe whose huge and bloodshot eyes were transfixed to his. Kneeling and still desperately trying to stop Lu Ye, Goatee’s mouth trembled as if he wanted to say something. 

Swish! If Goatee really had something to say, Lu Ye certainly had no interest in hearing it. Applying more strength, the long shiny steel of the saber sundered whatever fibers in his enemy’s flesh, ripping through every tendon in his neck and exiting cleanly in a morbid arc. 

The headless body swayed in the wind for a couple of seconds before it finally tumbled lifelessly to the ground. 

[The Body-tempering Cultivator was, at long last, dead!] 

But there was no time for respite. While Lu Ye defeated his opponent, adding another notch to his belt of Fifth-Order enemy kills, all thanks to Yi Yi’s timely intervention, the durability of the Bell Spirit Artifact was going to give way, as shown by its color which looked almost dark by then. 

Lu Ye wiped his face clean of the blood that was the souvenir that his dead opponent left him and peered around to survey the battlefield. Xie Jin was steadily losing ground while Song Xie and Tao Tian Gang were just barely holding their own against their Fifth-Order enemy. The combined might of both of them should have been able to make it a fair fight, but Tao Tian Gang was wounded before Song Xie’s arrival and the latter had to carry much of the heavy lifting himself. The overall situation for Squad Xie Jin really wasn’t good at all. 

Whereas Qiao Qiao Er was still locked in a stalemate against her enemy, the only Fourth-Order Cultivator in the enemy raiding squad. 

There was no time for second thoughts. He darted for the Bell Spirit Artifact, his arms swinging up to withdraw the magical bell and it obeyed, rising up to the air swiftly and flying back to him.

Bang! A spell blasted out from inside as soon as the bell flew up, hitting an empty spot. That was the Spell Cultivator who had been trying to free himself. Then, thinking that he had defeated the magical relic himself, he couldn’t help cracking into triumphant laughter. 

He had been firing spells after spells inside, trying to whittle down the bell’s defenses from inside while getting himself scalded so badly by the very same spells he fired when they bounced off the inner walls. Fortunately, he was careful enough to prevent killing himself instead and looking disheveled and smoldering seemed like a small price to pay.

But he did not know that his elation would be short-lived. His vision was only just getting used to the light again when the cold glint of steel blinded him. Before he even knew what was going on, Lu Ye’s saber was already hacking through his protective aura, and with his smile still frozen on his face, the Spell Cultivator’s severed head hurtled through the air. 

That the most durable of his team, a Fifth-Order Body-tempering Cultivator, could be slain in such a diminutive period of time during his incarceration inside the magical bell was certainly well beyond his comprehension. 

He did not even see the blow coming and there he was, as dead as a doornail. 

In mere minutes, the tables had been turned. This time, for real.

Two out of the four Fifth-Order Cultivators that the Clan had fielded specifically to wipe out Squad Xie Jin were dead. The sudden shift in the status quo not only shocked the remaining enemy raiders and even Xie Jin and the rest were having difficulty believing this to be true. 

What followed was an ecstatic blur of frenzy. 

What was initially expected to be a fight to the death had just played out way beyond everyone’s expectations. [A Fourth-Order who could slay a pair of Fifth-Orders in one go?! Never. No one would have been capable of such a feat. No one else except him—the one who had single-handedly survived smashing through the defenses of the Tai Luo Clan could pull off such a kill-streak.]

Lu Ye could feel his adrenaline still pumping as he darted towards Qiao Qiao Er’s end of the battle this time. His Spiritual Powers were churning like a storm raging in his belly after his slaying of two Fifth-Order enemies and he needed an easier challenge to cool things down. 

More so, since Qiao Qiao Er’s preferred weapon, a whip, was a good match to his fighting style. 

Both he and Qiao Qiao Er had formed quite an unlikely double act in the recent battles, sharing a chemistry that had translated into numerous successes in the field. Seeing Lu Ye rushing her way, Qiao Qiao Er instinctively knew what to do. 

She stepped aside and allowed Lu Ye to take point. Meanwhile, her target was reeling with disbelief and panic at seeing both his seniors killed. He turned around and bolted. But he barely took two steps when the crack of a whip reverberated in the air and the end of it coiled tightly around his throat like a hangman’s noose. 

Qiao Qiao Er gave her whip a furious yank, pulling the man off his feet. 

Before he could fall, the enemy slashed at the whip with his weapon. But before he could, Qiao Qiao Er had withdrawn her weapon.

He tumbled with a big crash and when he finally got up, Lu Ye was already upon him with his saber swinging down on his head. The Fourth-Order Cultivator quickly raised his weapon, hoping to parry the blow. 

Only then did he see Qiao Qiao Er’s whip already wrapping around his legs. Then he felt it pulling his legs from under him and he lurched unsteadily. That was all the opening Lu Ye needed to chop him down. 

“Go help them!” Lu Ye yelled. Without even stopping for one split-second, he tore right after Xie Jin. 

“Help who?!” Qiao Qiao Er cried after him as she lashed her whip at her fallen target with one last blow to the head, blasting it open like a watermelon. 

Lu Ye gave no reply. He sped towards Xie Jin with every semblance of a wolf on the scent of blood and rejoined his squad leader in a brief staredown against the enemy Fifth-Order Cultivator. The leader of the enemy raiding squad looked rather sullen and crestfallen at the astonishing, if not ignominious, outcome, but that dampened his rancor and fury not one bit at all.