Chapter 1166: Rushing to the Battlefield

The second matter is that cultivators are needed to guard human settlements throughout the Blood Refinement World.

In Kyushu, conflicts between cultivators generally do not affect mortals, except in unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances. This is because, no matter how much they fight, Kyushu cultivators share a common understanding: mortals are the foundation of the cultivation world.

However, there are no such rules in the Blood Refinement World. While Kyushu cultivators might pity the lives of mortals, the Blood Race does not. Injured Blood Race members in battle need to recover quickly, and for that, they require a large amount of 'blood food'.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that with the outbreak of major battles across various fronts, Blood Race members will inevitably descend upon human villages and act wantonly.

Faced with the Blood Race, the human population of the Blood Refinement World has no means of resistance; even a single Blood Race member possesses the ability to wipe out an entire village.

This must be prevented proactively. It would be a great sin if the Kyushu cultivation world conquers the Blood Refinement World only to find its population decimated.

Xiao Jiu replied, "You have thought this through comprehensively. I will assign some cultivators the task of guarding human settlements."

"One last thing: I need to go to the Divine Palace Sea!"

This time, Xiao Jiu was silent for a moment before responding, "As you wish!"

As soon as the words left his lips, Lu Ye felt a slight warmth on the battle imprint on the back of his hand, followed by a burst of information in his mind.

Upon careful examination, he quickly understood.

As the biggest contributor to instigating the Kyushu cultivation world's expedition to the Blood Refinement World and having completed much of the preparatory work for the two-realm war, Lu Ye was granted the right to freely teleport using the Heavenly Mystery Pillars during the war.

This was essentially a reward, clearly a modification Xiao Jiu made within the confines of its existing rules.

The Heavenly Mystery Pillars inherently possess teleportation abilities. Kyushu cultivators enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield or the Cloud River Battlefield from their homeland, or return to Kyushu from these two battlefields, all through the teleportation of the Heavenly Mystery Pillars.

Given this, it stands to reason that any location with a Heavenly Mystery Pillar installed should be able to teleport to and connect with others.

In reality, however, only cultivators in the Spirit Creek Battlefield enjoyed this convenience across all of Kyushu. Cultivators in the Cloud River Battlefield, and even in Kyushu proper, could not use the Heavenly Mystery Pillars for round-trip teleportation.

This was clearly a restriction imposed by Xiao Jiu.

Lu Ye had previously wondered about this, though he couldn't quite grasp why. Now, it seemed related to the world's inherent reserves.

Teleportation consumes energy. The higher the cultivation level and the greater the teleportation distance, the more energy is consumed. This energy, whether from spirit stones or the cultivators' own spiritual power, can be considered part of the world's inherent reserves.

The inherent reserves of the Kyushu world were continuously recovering, and it was naturally not advisable to deplete them extensively, as it would hinder the recovery process. This was why Xiao Jiu restricted teleportation between Heavenly Mystery Pillars. While a very small number of people doing so wouldn't affect the overall situation, the number of Kyushu cultivators was immense; if everyone had such a right, it would significantly impede the world's reserves from recovering.

As for the Spirit Creek Battlefield... its overall scope was relatively limited. It only seemed vast because Spirit Creek Realm cultivators had restricted mobility. Furthermore, given the low power of Spirit Creek Realm cultivators, teleportation consumed negligible amounts of the world's reserves, so granting this convenience to cultivators in the Spirit Creek Battlefield was not a major issue.

Moreover, using Heavenly Mystery Pillars for teleportation in the Spirit Creek Battlefield required consuming merit points, so no one would do it casually. Thus, even though Spirit Creek Realm cultivators had this convenience, few actually used it.

It seemed that a long time ago, Xiao Jiu had established a rule preventing cultivators outside the Spirit Creek Battlefield from using Heavenly Mystery Pillars for teleportation. However, since Lu Ye had brought up the matter, it had to make some exceptions.

In any case, Lu Ye's journey to the Divine Palace Sea was to contribute to the major battle, and it was highly likely to significantly accelerate the war's progress. Xiao Jiu had no reason to disagree.

Having obtained the right, Lu Ye did not immediately depart. Instead, he flashed to an isolated spot and condensed a clone. He dressed the clone in the Scarlet Dragon Battle Armor and equipped it with a sword gourd. Aside from an unchanged appearance, a new sword cultivator was now ready.

When the two Lu Yes walked out together, they left a group of cultivators from the Blood Cloud Sect and Purple Willow Dao Palace stunned, and even Shui Yuan was extremely surprised.

Yiyi whispered a few words into Shui Yuan's ear, and only then did Shui Yuan understand. She scrutinized both Lu Yes, but apart from their differing attire, she couldn't tell which one was real and which one was fake. She could only marvel at the profundity of Lu Ye's cloning technique.

Lu Ye walked directly to Shui Yuan and said, "Second Senior Sister, I need to rush to the Divine Palace Sea. I'm entrusting matters here to you. I will leave my clone to assist."

"Be careful," Shui Yuan earnestly cautioned. Through communication, she now knew that the battle at the Divine Palace Sea was a crucial one that would determine the conflict between the two realms' races. The victorious side would most likely win the final victory of the war. At such a critical juncture, Lu Ye's decision to go to the Divine Palace Sea clearly indicated his intention to contribute.

She wasn't concerned about Lu Ye's safety; if he could navigate this place alone, there was no reason he couldn't do so with the Kyushu army present. Still, necessary warnings were always appropriate.

Lu Ye nodded. "Also, please send out a message: if anyone encounters a Holy Seed, spread the news immediately, and I will rush to handle it as quickly as possible."

Shui Yuan nodded gravely.

Lu Ye then looked at Lan Qiyue. "Junior Sister Lan, I will need a lot of your assistance here."

"Don't worry, Senior Brother."

With that, Lu Ye stepped forward, approached the Heavenly Mystery Pillar, placed his hand on it, and instantly vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already in the Blood Cloud Holy Land. His divine sense spread out, quickly revealing the situation there.

The war had already erupted, but it was still in an initial attrition phase. The Blood Race was using its lower-cultivation members to deplete the human forces. At every moment, large numbers of Blood Race members died on their way to attack, and countless mutilated bodies rained down onto the Divine Palace Sea.

This was also the Blood Race army's usual tactic when besieging the Blood Cloud Holy Land; Lu Ye had experienced such a formation once before during his previous visit.

Without the support of the Kyushu cultivation world, it was hard to say whether the Blood Cloud Holy Land could withstand this assault. But with the Kyushu cultivation world as its backing, the Holy Land's defenses, while not impregnable, were certainly not easily breached.

This greatly frustrated the Blood Race, because no matter how much they intensified their attacks, the Blood Cloud Holy Land managed to hold its ground. This was because the cultivators of the previously hidden Bing Province Corps had all joined the defensive ranks.

Moments later, Lu Ye arrived at a defensive islet on the outskirts of the Holy Island, where he found his Senior Brother in charge.

A group of people surrounded his Senior Brother, many of them familiar faces to Lu Ye, including the Sect Master, Pang Zhen, Long Bo, as well as Taishan, Nianyue Xian, and others.

There were also many he didn't recognize, but all possessed an ethereal, Daoist aura, clearly indicating they were powerful figures from various major sects.

Lu Ye quickly stepped forward to pay his respects.

Long Bo looked surprised. "Kid, where did you pop out from?"

He hadn't seen Lu Ye before, and Feng Wujiang had confirmed that Lu Ye was not in the Blood Cloud Holy Land. With the Blood Race army besieging the area from all sides, passage was impossible, making Lu Ye's sudden appearance quite unusual.

"Heavenly Mystery Pillar teleportation," Lu Ye explained.

Long Bo couldn't help but exclaim, "You must be Heaven's favorite son!"

Everyone knew the Heavenly Mystery Pillars could teleport, but no one could easily use them. Their journey from Kyushu to this place was a necessity of the times, but once here, they couldn't use the pillars for further teleportation. The fact that Lu Ye could made him unique.

However, considering Lu Ye's extraordinary abilities and unique experiences over the years, such a thing happening to him didn't seem too difficult to comprehend.

"What's the situation now?" Lu Ye asked, stepping next to his Senior Brother.

Feng Wujiang briefly updated him on the current situation, then added, "The Blood Race must have realized something is amiss. I estimate they'll adjust their strategy soon, very likely going all-in. At that point, the situation might become somewhat unfavorable for us."

According to the original plan, in the early stages of the war, the eight provincial legions from the outer regions would encircle the enemy. Before the Blood Race could react, they would launch a pincer attack with the Holy Land's forces, catching the Blood Race off guard.

However, if the Blood Race launched a full-scale assault prematurely, all the pressure would fall upon the Holy Land.

It wasn't that they couldn't withstand it. With the Bing Province Corps now participating, the intensity had indeed significantly increased. It was clear the Blood Race feared prolonged struggle and intended to flatten the Blood Cloud Holy Land, that 'malignant tumor,' with overwhelming numerical superiority.

The Blood Race had initially believed the Blood Cloud Holy Land could not possibly endure such an assault, but to their great surprise, the Holy Land held firm! This was because the cultivators of the previously hidden Bing Province Corps had all joined the defensive ranks.