Sage of Humanity

In the Spirit Stream Realm, each advancement of a level would result in the addition of a Minor Circumambulation circulatory system within one's body.

Now at Spirit Stream Level 3, Lu Ye had opened twenty-seven orifices, with nine forming a cycle, and thus three Minor Circumambulation circulatory systems existed within his body, where the spirit force flowed like a stream, babbling incessantly.

To Lu Ye's surprise, after he achieved Spirit Stream Level 3, he distinctly felt a resonance between these three spirit force circulatory systems, something that had not occurred when he was at Level 1 or 2.

This resonance made the flow of spirit force within his body a bit faster.

Now he had also cultivated the Golden Cicada Carefree Method he obtained from Manager Yang to Perfection. If the twenty-seven orifices opened in the body were connected in a certain sequence, the resulting pattern resembled that of a cicada.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The name of the Golden Cicada Carefree Method was probably derived from this.

Each circulation of spirit force was like the breathing of this cicada, and although the three circulatory systems seemed independent, they could actually influence one another...

Logically, an increase of one level in cultivation should have raised Lu Ye's strength by a bit more than thirty percent, but he felt that his strength had increased by not just thirty percent but by about half. He came to a realization that this was the benefit brought about by cultivating a complete Cultivation Technique to Perfection.

If he had faced Zharng Wu with the current level of cultivation back then, Lu Ye most likely wouldn't have paid such a heavy price, and might even have taken him down unscathed.

In terms of attack power, he had the Sharpness spirit runes, and even at Spirit Stream Level 2, the likes of Zharng Wu at Level 4 could not withstand it.

Regarding defense, he had the Defense Spirit Runes, which Zharng Wu could not break through.

Both attack and defense exceeded his current realm, and what he lacked was nothing but experience and skill in combat. However, experience is something that must be accumulated gradually through personal combat.

As for skill... along the way, he spent at least four hours practicing his saber skills every day. With limited time, he did not dare claim his saber skills were exceptional, but at the very least, his grip had become steadier than before, and his attacks quicker.

After all, he had killed a few people and slowly became accustomed to the feeling of his long saber breaking through the protective spirit force of his enemies and cutting into their flesh. By firmly embedding this feeling in his mind and transforming it into instinct, he naturally evolved superior skills.

His cultivation could no longer continue; he only had a handful of elixir pills left in his hand and no compatible Cultivation Technique.

His injuries had completely healed, and after pondering for a moment, Lu Ye stood up.

A short while later, he gathered Yiyi and Big Tiger and left the passage where they had been hiding for several days.

According to the information Yiyi relayed, Xuanmen and Nine Stars Sect had been fighting incessantly inside Sky-Splitting Gorge over the past few days, with small-scale battles breaking out from time to time and both sides suffering damages.

Lu Ye mentally applauded Xuanmen.

It was exactly the situation he had hoped to see, and also the reason why he had been able to hide for so long.

He had previously suspected that Xuanmen and Nine Stars Sect could not coexist peacefully. If there was any significant move from Nine Stars Sect, Xuanmen would surely respond. Now it seems he had underestimated the deep-seated enmity brought on by the opposition of their factions.

The whole affair started with Lu Ye killing four disciples led by the Young Master of Nine Stars Sect, which then triggered a large-scale search by Nine Stars Sect for Lu Ye's whereabouts. But while he was quietly healing his wounds, the situation had already evolved into full-blown combat between the cultivators of the Spirit Stream Realm from the two big sects.

He had originally planned to stir the waters further, but it appeared there was no need for such trouble.

While the situation was in his favor, Lu Ye thought it unrealistic to consider just walking away; he had no idea how many personnel these two sects had deployed in Sky-Splitting Gorge. Now that he was caught up in it, escaping required leveraging someone else's power - the power of Xuanmen.

Having decided on a course of action, he had Yiyi scout ahead to check the situation while he and Big Tiger stealthily followed thirty yards behind her.

In a ten-yard-wide canyon, seven cultivators were engaged in a relentless melee, three on one side, four on the other. It appeared that the side with fewer people was gaining the upper hand, mainly because their average cultivation was higher, with one at the Spirit Stream Level 4 and two at Level 3.

On the other hand, the group of four consisted of two at Spirit Stream Level 3 and two at Level 2. One of the Level 3 cultivators had an arm drenched in blood, clearly having been wounded.

Among low-level cultivators, close-quarters combat was the norm. The use of magic and spells was rare because their cultivation wasn't high enough to wield powerful spells, and casting spells took time, making it easy to be interrupted. Even if a spell was successfully cast, accuracy remained an issue.

In this style of combat, the side with higher cultivation and stronger weapons naturally held the advantage.

Among the group of four, the leader was a bulky, robust man. He held a large saber in front of his comrades, retreating while shouting, "Go on, get out of here!"

It bore a sense of wanting to cover their retreat.

The other three, with expressions of sorrow, did not abandon him to escape. Instead, they fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the robust man, retreating as they fought.

But this was merely a desperate act. Once the robust man fell, all four of them would lose their lives here.

The opponent at Level 4 clearly understood this, so even though he had opportunities to kill the robust man, he refrained from doing so. Instead, he continuously inflicted cuts on the man, making his predicament look even more pitiable.

Not far behind the four men, amidst a pile of chaotic rocks, Lu Ye and Big Tiger were concealed, peering through the gaps between the stones at the scene unfold.

Originally, he was somewhat worried about how to distinguish between the cultivators of Xuanmen and Nine Stars Sect, as it certainly wasn't feasible to simply ask someone's affiliation.

However, upon seeing the conflict between the two sides, he realized he had been overthinking it. The cultivators of Xuanmen and Nine Stars Sect were easy to tell apart, as there was a glow of different colors shining on the backs of their hands.

Lu Ye was quite astonished, not understanding why this was happening.

During his previous skirmishes, the battlefield marking didn't show any such activity.

He was unaware that this was all Wang Yeang's handiwork. Xuanmen and Nine Stars Sect had been competing over this territory for many years, but since Xuanmen's Spirit Stream Realm cultivators were more numerous and stronger, they had always had the upper hand.

This caused the Nine Stars Sect's Spirit Stream cultivators to lay low in this region, making it difficult for Xuanmen to hunt down their adversaries.

With the killing of the Nine Stars Sect's Young Master, nearly all the Spirit Stream Realm cultivators of the clan had come out in pursuit, presenting an opportunity for Xuanmen.

An opportunity to hunt and kill the disciples of the Nine Stars Sect en masse.

Therefore, Wang Yeang couldn't care less about the cause of the conflict; he only saw a chance to deal a heavy blow to the Nine Stars Sect. To this end, he didn't hesitate to pay some price and, using the Heaven's Augury Pillar at his clan's base, he declared war on the Nine Stars Sect.

While Nine Stars Sect had the right to refuse such a declaration, they could hardly decline while they were on a mission to track down the killer of their Young Master.

Dong Shuye had no choice but to bravely accept the challenge, inwardly bestowing Wang Yeang's ancestors with an affectionate greeting that spanned eighteen generations.

During the declaration of war, whenever cultivators of the two sides clashed, different colored glows would emanate from the backs of their hands, clearly aligning their stances.

It's important to know that there were many independent cultivators on both sides, and the faces of these independents were very unfamiliar to the majority of cultivators from the two big sects. The battlefield marking was useful to prevent friendly fire, and it also allowed for the quick identification of enemy from ally.