Chapter 1668: He Meets an Old Friend in a Foreign Land

In just a moment, Lu Ye understood his situation. He was currently on a massive, tower-ship-like starship. It was clearly a star pirate group's vessel.

He pondered silently: if he were to suddenly unleash the red talisman now, even if it couldn't kill the late-stage Moon Splendor cultivator, it should at least cause a moment of panic. This might create an opportunity to escape. With even a brief period of chaos, he could detonate his precious blood and activate the Blood Clan's Blood Escape technique; even typical Moon Splendor cultivators might not be able to catch him. The only trouble was the grand formation set up around them. That formation had a concealing effect, and it might also have defensive capabilities. It would be awkward if he activated the red talisman only to find himself unable to escape the formation's area.

“Do you understand formations?” the old man suddenly asked while he was pondering. The old man's question was clearly prompted by Lu Ye's recent actions. Without knowledge of formations, it would be impossible to detect anomalies beforehand. Lu Ye had evidently seen traces of the formation, which was why he had turned to flee.

“A little,” Lu Ye replied indifferently.

“Your strength isn't bad either!” The old man looked Lu Ye up and down, a meaningful smile on his face. “Kid, do you want to live or die?”

The question was pointed. “If I can live, who would choose to die?”

“Very good!” The old man grinned, his expression somewhat fierce. “If you want to live, perform well. If you do, I can spare your life. It's even possible you could join my Divine Wind Group!”

The Divine Wind Group was undoubtedly the name of this star pirate group. Lu Ye naturally had no interest in joining, but at this moment, he could only display his desire to survive. “Please elaborate!”

Seeing his compliance, the cultivators of various races around the old man chuckled, their expressions suggesting he was quite sensible. The old man gestured to the adjacent Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator. The Flame Clan member immediately stepped forward, clapped a hand on Lu Ye's shoulder, and dragged him to the ship's rail, pointing in a direction. “Kid, look over there!”

Lu Ye endured the burning sensation on his shoulder and looked in the direction he was pointing, his expression slightly surprised. For in that direction, there was indeed a realm.

This was somewhat strange because they were already in the Barren Star Domain. Logically, there shouldn't be any realms here; it should mostly consist of barren or dead planets and floating landmasses. Yet, it was undeniably a realm. However, it felt like a very low-level realm to Lu Ye, with no intelligent life and even sparse vegetation. There were many such low-level realms in the starry sky, so Lu Ye was not surprised. However, at this very moment, the entire realm was in turmoil. Visibly, many areas were erupting with astonishing power fluctuations. Furthermore, several Tiger Shark warships were patrolling outside the realm, continuously unleashing terrifying attacks. Under these numerous assaults, the entire realm was like a candle in a storm, teetering precariously, with many parts already shattered and large sections missing.

“Go on, destroy that realm, and you'll be a member of the Divine Wind Group!” The Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator clapped Lu Ye's back. A surge of power propelled Lu Ye towards the realm.

Only then did Lu Ye understand why they hadn't killed him but instead captured him alive—they clearly intended to use him as a laborer. But what was so special about this realm that the Divine Wind Group was willing to destroy it, and even set up a concealing grand formation before acting? Lu Ye vaguely felt there might be some secret here, but at this moment, he had no mind for further investigation. He flew forward, propelled by the Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator's force, while considering a plan for escape. It was unwise to act rashly before breaking through the opponent's formation. Since things had come to this, he could only wait and see.

Such a realm, devoid of life, could potentially nurture living beings given enough time. However, considering it was already in the Barren Star Domain, where the Yin-Yang Grand Millstone was located, it was likely that the Millstone would expand to this area before the realm could even breed life.

Soon, Lu Ye arrived within the realm. From close proximity, he could increasingly confirm that it was a very low-level realm, with no native life forms and very sparse vegetation. He casually chose a direction to land, intending to slack off, but a divine sense was clearly observing him. Needless to say, it was the Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator. Helpless, Lu Ye drew his Boundless Mountain Blade, channeled spiritual power into the blade, and brought it down in a single slash. A ribbon-like blade light swept out, striking the ground, which immediately began to tremble violently.

Such a low-level realm couldn't withstand too much disturbance. The Divine Wind Group had dispatched a considerable number of cultivators this time, along with several Tiger Shark warships. Lu Ye didn't use his full strength, only displaying the standard expected of a late-stage Star Constellation cultivator. Even so, he felt that this realm would be shattered within two or three days. This was even before the opponent's Moon Splendor cultivators made a move; if they did, the process would only accelerate. Regardless of the Divine Wind Group's objective, Lu Ye knew he needed to find a way to escape before the realm was destroyed.

In fact, directly advancing to Moon Splendor was not an impossibility. His physique had been tempered to its limit, and his cultivation had reached a point where it could no longer progress further without advancement, making him fully capable of becoming a Moon Splendor cultivator. As long as he reached the Moon Splendor realm, Lu Ye was confident that even if he couldn't defeat the late-stage Moon Splendor old man, escaping from him would certainly be possible. However, advancing to Moon Splendor was not an overnight process, and under their close scrutiny, the conditions for it simply weren't met. Moreover, Lu Ye was somewhat unwilling to advance just yet. Even though he knew the Yin-Yang Grand Millstone was for body tempering, with the Reincarnation Tree's prior admonition, if he didn't go and see the situation for himself, Lu Ye always felt he would miss something important.

With various thoughts swirling in his mind, and his actions deliberately sluggish, just as he was about to make his second slash, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out in his ear: “Little friend, why are you here?” Lu Ye was startled and quickly turned to look around, but found nothing. There was no one in sight. But this voice, why did it sound a little... familiar?

Just as he was feeling suspicious, the voice spoke again: “Little friend, come in quickly.” Come in where? As Lu Ye pondered, the void before him suddenly rippled, and then a portal abruptly appeared. After a moment of hesitation, Lu Ye didn't hesitate at all and plunged headfirst into the portal!

At the same time, on the Divine Wind Group's tower-ship starship, the old man, having sensed something, suddenly transformed into a streak of light and darted directly towards Lu Ye's previous location, arriving in an instant. However, he was ultimately a step too late. By the time he arrived, the portal Lu Ye had passed through had already vanished. The Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator also followed. He had been watching Lu Ye closely and naturally knew what had just happened. His gaze was now burning. “My lord, there truly is a secret realm hidden here!” Before the portal appeared, he had not detected any clues, nor was he certain if there were any real benefits here. Everything had been the old man's command; he was merely following orders. The old man said indifferently, “My judgment is naturally not wrong. But that human kid was actually ushered inside…” This was indeed a bit strange. They had been destroying the realm, trying to force the secret realm's inhabitants to show themselves, but the other party had consistently ignored them. Unexpectedly, they exposed themselves for a mere human boy. Was there something special about him? It couldn't be that they knew each other. If so, that would be too much of a coincidence. The old man sneered repeatedly, “Pass down the order: intensify the assault! I want this realm destroyed within two days!” “Yes!” The Flame Clan Moon Splendor cultivator acknowledged the order and quickly relayed it. The Divine Wind Group's assault grew even fiercer.

At this very moment, Lu Ye, having passed through the suddenly appeared portal, had arrived in a secret realm. Looking around, he saw an endless sea of flowers stretching to the horizon, incredibly vibrant. Above the flower sea, massive mushrooms stood tall, and towering trees were scattered throughout. Aside from the flower sea, the enormous mushrooms felt somewhat familiar to Lu Ye; he had definitely seen them somewhere before. He looked up, and two colossal figures came into view. Lu Ye looked at them, momentarily stunned. “It really is you two?”

Of these two colossal figures, one appeared to be an ancient tree spirit, exuding an incredibly pure wood-elemental energy that gave a sense of vibrant life. The other, equally massive, had a mushroom cap on its head, resembling a giant open umbrella. These two giants were none other than Mu He, the patriarch of the Wood Spirit Clan, and Black Umbrella, the patriarch of the Spore Clan! Previously, under the guidance of the Reincarnation Tree, Lu Ye had gone to the Azure Jade Realm to help them avert the crisis of their clan's annihilation. Later, he even led them to relocate their clansmen into the Reincarnation Tree's tree realm. However, because the Reincarnation Tree's realm could only accommodate beings at or below the Divine Sea stage, the Star Constellation cultivators of both clans had embarked on a journey to find a new homeland. Since then, Lu Ye had not seen them again and naturally didn't know their circumstances. He never expected to meet them again in such a place! However, unlike the impression they had given Lu Ye before, both Mu He and Black Umbrella had now advanced to the Moon Splendor realm, clearly radiating Moon Splendor auras. And the one who had just spoken to Lu Ye was undoubtedly Mu He.

“Little friend, we meet again,” Mu He said with a slight smile. Black Umbrella also greeted him from nearby. Lu Ye nodded, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly saw another figure emerge from behind Mu He, instantly filled with astonishment. “You... why are you here too?”

The figure that emerged from behind Mu He was a woman, and importantly, Lu Ye recognized her. It was Hua Qianying! The one who used to run a stall in the Myriad Manifestations Island market, was later recruited by Lu Ye to Unrivalled Island, and had recently gone missing! When Three Realms Island was initially taking shape, Lu Ye had even sought her out, hoping to bring her to Three Realms Island to teach and guide Hua Ci and Senior Sister Shui Yuan in alchemy. However, he hadn't found her. Even his sound-note messages received no reply. Lu Ye had guessed that Hua Qianying must have left Myriad Manifestations Ocean and felt a moment of regret at the time. He never imagined he would see her here again!