Chapter 1164: Our Own People

This was also why the Crimson Blood Holy Land's defenses had been maintained smoothly.

This was even the result of the Bing Province cultivator corps holding back, as they didn't want to alert the enemy. Therefore, the supporting Bing Province corps hadn't used their full strength at all.

On the Blood Race's side, however, they felt frustrated because no matter how much they intensified their attacks, the Crimson Blood Holy Land miraculously managed to resist them.

The Holy Land's performance gave them an incredible feeling and left the Saint Seeds who were leading the battle somewhat bewildered.

While the war at the Holy Land was in full swing, Lu Ye was setting up a teleportation array by a blood pool in the southern region of the Blood Refinement Realm.

He had searched the underground blood river for a full half-month, but he couldn't uncover its mysteries. However, he did manage to find a single drop of Saint Blood.

It seemed to be due to his current strong Saintly nature that he had a unique perception of the Saint Blood scattered throughout the underground blood river during his search. He could sense any Saint Blood within a certain range. Otherwise, in an environment like the underground blood river, where divine sense was greatly suppressed, it would have been impossible to scout in all directions.

After refining an additional drop of Saint Blood, his Saintly nature increased slightly. The extent of the increase was not significant, as the stronger Saintly nature became, the slower its rate of increase.

However, the immense energy contained within the Saint Blood further advanced his cultivation, and he was now not far from reaching the sixth level of the Divine Sea Realm.

The moment the cultivators from the Nine Provinces descended upon the Blood Refinement Realm and heavenly might surged, he sensed it and roughly understood what had happened. Thus, he knew that his exploration of the blood river should now conclude.

The nearby location where a Heavenly Secret Pillar had been placed was the Wrestling Cave Heaven. He needed to rush back quickly, as he had already received a message from Shui Yuan.

He had set up a teleportation array at the Wrestling Cave Heaven in advance, and by using it, he could save significant travel time.

With his current cultivation and mastery of array formations, setting up a teleportation array was no trouble at all. It was properly set up in a short while. He flashed onto the array, channeled his spiritual power into it, and activated its power.

Amidst spatial distortion, his figure vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already in the Wrestling Cave Heaven.

His divine sense spread out, and he immediately detected many more presences in the area.

"Little Junior Brother." A familiar voice came from beside his ear. Lu Ye looked in the direction of the sound, and Shui Yuan's smiling face came into view.

Standing beside Shui Yuan was another familiar figure: Pang Huanyin, the Palace Master of Ziwei Dao Palace.

Lu Ye knew that a group of cultivators from the Nine Provinces would be teleported to the Wrestling Cave Heaven, but he didn't expect them to be his own people. This was probably Xiao Jiu's doing; otherwise, such a coincidence would make no sense. This, in turn, saved Lu Ye a lot of trouble.

A bloody scent permeated the air, and many Blood Race corpses were visible, indicating that a major battle had evidently taken place here. Based solely on the current strength of the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace, it wouldn't have been enough to take down a Blood Race cave heaven, as many Divine Sea Realm Blood Race members gathered here, yet the Crimson Blood Sect only had Shui Yuan present.

But with Lan Qiyue assisting, the outcome was completely different.

Under the activation of Lan Qiyue, the Saint Seed's Saintly nature, the strength of all Blood Race members was greatly diminished. She also adhered to Lu Ye's previous instructions, only assisting the Nine Provinces cultivators in killing enemies and never personally engaging. With her assistance and protection, the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace took down the Wrestling Cave Heaven without losing a single soldier.

"Senior Brother Lu!" Pang Huanyin greeted him with a smile. After not seeing him for several years, she was still as valiant and dashing, but her cultivation was undoubtedly much more profound than before.

Lu Ye returned a smile and a greeting. "Junior Sister Pang."

As they spoke, a snow-white figure darted over and leaped onto Lu Ye's shoulder; it was Amber. Pouncing along with Amber was Yi Yi's figure.

After such a long period of secluded cultivation, both Amber and Yi Yi had reached the limits of the True Lake Realm and were roughly about to reach the stage of advancing to the Divine Sea Realm.

This was also thanks to Lu Ye leaving them enough golden spirit tokens when he departed. Without sufficient resources, even with their special cultivation methods, they wouldn't have made such significant progress.

Another sturdy figure stepped forward; it was Ju Jia. He was shirtless, with surging blood and qi, as if he had just been in a battle, and there were still some bloodstains on him. However, seeing that he was unharmed, it was clear those bloodstains belonged to the Blood Race.

Their eyes met, and Ju Jia gave a simple, honest smile.

Old friends and fellow disciples, gathered together in a foreign land, brought joy to Lu Ye's heart. However, he found it a bit strange not to see Hua Ci.

Yi Yi, understanding his thoughts best, leaned closer and explained, "Sister Hua Ci was conscripted. She's operating with the Bing Province corps and should be in the Divine Sea Realm now."

Lu Ye understood. The Crimson Blood Sect now had more than two medical cultivators, but only Shui Yuan and Hua Ci were truly capable. Since Shui Yuan needed to lead the combined forces of the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace, it was reasonable for Hua Ci to be conscripted.

"Having just arrived, how do you all feel?" Lu Ye asked.

Shui Yuan replied, "The spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this realm is richer than in the Nine Provinces, and the Blood Race's blood arts are very peculiar. But what puzzles me is that the Blood Race's strength doesn't seem to match their cultivation realms; the power they display is far from reaching the level of their own realms."

Initially, when they suddenly arrived here and noticed many Divine Sea Realm Blood Race members gathered, Shui Yuan was startled and vaguely felt they might suffer heavy losses. But unexpectedly, only when they truly engaged in combat did she discover that those Divine Sea Realm Blood Race members were all weaklings.

Pang Huanyin also nodded, "Is the Blood Race's strength always like this, or is there a special reason?" As she spoke, she looked to the side, precisely where Lan Qiyue stood.

Although Lan Qiyue had already shown them the identity token Lu Ye had given her in advance, which made Shui Yuan and others roughly understand that she wasn't an enemy, Lan Qiyue still looked like a Blood Race member. Before Lu Ye confirmed it, no one knew if what she said was true or false.

During the recent battle, Lan Qiyue had offered much assistance and had also been continuously activating her own aura, which made Pang Huanyin vaguely speculate, wondering if Lan Qiyue had secretly done something to make the Blood Race's strength not match their cultivation realms.

Lu Ye smiled, "The Blood Race's strength is fine; the reason they became weaker is due to Junior Sister Lan's contribution."

As he spoke, he beckoned.

Lan Qiyue, standing alone not far away, quickly flashed over.

Lu Ye said seriously, "Let me introduce her to everyone. This Junior Sister Lan Qiyue was originally human, but for some reason, she became a Blood Race member, and even a Saint Seed among them. A Saint Seed is an existence that surpasses ordinary Blood Race members. Saint Seeds possess Saintly nature, which we humans cannot sense, but to the Blood Race, it's a form of oppressive force that greatly hinders their strength."

After his explanation, Shui Yuan and the others finally understood, and their gazes towards Lan Qiyue were no longer wary.

"Second Senior Sister, I have taken the liberty to admit Junior Sister Lan into our sect. I will inform the Sect Master about this after I've seen him."

Shui Yuan understood. "The old man won't have any objections. Since you've admitted her, she'll be a member of the Crimson Blood Sect from now on, regardless of whether she's human or Blood Race."

It was clear that Lan Qiyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Ye then introduced Shui Yuan and the others to her, and they all exchanged greetings.

This was Lan Qiyue's first time meeting anyone from the Crimson Blood Sect besides Lu Ye, and her first time meeting cultivators from the Nine Provinces. Naturally, she didn't dare leave a bad impression. Fortunately, she had performed quite well before Lu Ye appeared.

Leaving aside other things, if not for her secret assistance this time, the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace would certainly have suffered considerable losses.

However, on the other hand, Xiao Jiu probably knew that Lu Ye had arranged for Lan Qiyue to stay here, which was why it sent the combined forces of the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace to this location.

Other Heavenly Secret Pillar locations were not like this.

Lu Ye only brought about a hundred Heavenly Secret Pillars this time. Apart from the ten that remained in the Crimson Blood Holy Land, the rest were all placed throughout the Blood Refinement Realm.

For the vast territory of the Blood Refinement Realm, fewer than a hundred Heavenly Secret Pillars was indeed not a large number.

So at this very moment, at the location of each Heavenly Secret Pillar, a large number of Nine Provinces cultivators appeared, ensuring they could seize the cave heavens immediately and then dispatch forces to radiate in all directions.

The Wrestling Cave Heaven didn't require such a large force because with Lan Qiyue, the Saint Seed, present, and the surrounding territory already under her control, not much military force was needed.

Although Lu Ye didn't have much direct communication with Xiao Jiu after arriving in the Blood Refinement Realm, through the Heavenly Secret Pillars, Xiao Jiu had insights into all of Lu Ye's various deployments and arrangements here. Thus, it could naturally make the best arrangements when sending the Nine Provinces cultivators over.

For instance, its concentration of all nine great corps from the Nine Provinces in the Divine Sea Realm was to complete the encirclement of the Blood Race army and annihilate as much of the Blood Race's power as possible in one battle.

It can be said that Xiao Jiu's intelligence was already on par with that of humans, and in some respects, even incomparable.

The forces gathered at Wrestling Cave Heaven were not strong now; compared to other Heavenly Secret Pillar locations, they could even be considered very weak. But as long as Lan Qiyue was present, nothing would be a problem!

Such a situation was of immense benefit to the combined forces of the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace, as it meant more Blood Race members could be hunted and more benefits gained. It could be foreseen that after this war concluded, the surviving cultivators of the Crimson Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace would undoubtedly reap abundant rewards.

This was probably also some of Xiao Jiu's favoritism towards Lu Ye, and could also be considered a form of reward. In any case, Lu Ye had put in a great deal of preliminary preparation and effort to facilitate the expedition of the Nine Provinces cultivator army to the Blood Refinement Realm, and where there was effort, there should naturally be reward.

As they spoke, Lu Ye noticed a group of cultivators standing quietly not far away. They didn't look like cultivators from the Crimson Blood Sect, nor like people from Ziwei Dao Palace, because the one leading this group of cultivators was a Divine Sea Realm expert.