Chapter 1932: Good Place

In a flash, two bandits lay dead. The remaining three, who had been charging towards Lu Ye, stopped in their tracks, their faces betraying apprehension.

These men, possessing only a bit more strength and brutality than ordinary folk, had witnessed much death. Yet, when faced with their own mortality, they lacked the courage and resolve to confront it directly.

"Whoosh..." A sound of something cutting through the air. Lu Ye, just about to strike again, suddenly spun around. His long spear danced, precisely deflecting an arrow shot from his side and rear.

With a clatter, the arrow snapped in two. Lu Ye looked in the direction from which it had come and saw a short bandit crouching on a rooftop, a longbow drawn and aimed towards him.

The bandit wore a stunned expression, clearly not expecting Lu Ye to react so swiftly. They said an open spear was easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow was hard to guard against, yet his surreptitiously fired arrow had been blocked so effortlessly.

Their eyes met, and the bandit frantically drew an arrow from his quiver, pulling back the bowstring.

The next moment, his expression turned to horror as he watched Lu Ye hurl the long spear in his direction.

He instinctively tried to dodge, but the spear was too swift. In a mere blur, it impaled him, and he screamed as he was flung backward.

"Charge him, kill him!"

A startled shout erupted as the three bandits near Lu Ye, seeing he had discarded his spear, suddenly grew bolder. A large-bearded man yelled, taking the lead and slashing his saber down at Lu Ye.

At that moment, Lu Ye had his back turned to him.

Success!

The large-bearded man was overjoyed.

However, just as the saber was about to descend, Lu Ye suddenly twisted his body, and the blade merely grazed his sleeve, cutting only air.

"Huh?" The large-bearded man was utterly astonished. How could this person... it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head?

Before he could ponder further, a sharp pain shot through his wrist; his saber had been snatched away. Immediately, his vision spun wildly.

Lu Ye, now wielding the saber, directly confronted the two remaining bandits. To their astonished gazes, he dispatched them one by one, cutting them down on the spot.

More bandits emerged from every direction, wielding various weapons and charging at Lu Ye with bloodshot eyes.

The seemingly ethereal, varying numbers floating above each of their heads made Lu Ye's spirits soar.

Although the number of bandits wasn't overwhelming, there were still over a dozen of them. Including those he had already killed, the total number of bandits attacking this village was roughly twenty.

Lu Ye was in high spirits. Although he felt targeted by the Asura Arena in this trial, and his strength was severely suppressed, this was truly an excellent place.

He met them alone, sweeping through them like a destructive force. Bandit after bandit fell into pools of blood.

These bandits, relying on their numerical advantage, had initially believed they could easily overwhelm Lu Ye, who was alone. However, within moments, more than half of them lay dead or wounded.

The remaining bandits were instantly terrified, realizing they had finally encountered a true terror after their many dark deeds.

Immediately, one of them fled, shouting, "Sixth Boss! Sixth Boss! Help!"

With a crash, the door of a house burst open, and a bare-chested, burly strongman emerged. In the messy room behind him, on a disheveled bed, a naked young girl was curled up, crying helplessly.

The strongman swept his gaze over the scene, saw the heavy casualties among his men, and was instantly enraged.

He swiftly approached a black horse in front of the house, mounted it, and hoisted a massive long spear. Squeezing his legs and tightening the reins, the black horse neighed and galloped furiously towards Lu Ye.

"What contemptible wretch dares to ruin the affairs of my Great Wind Mountain!" he roared as he galloped closer to Lu Ye.

Lu Ye heard the commotion and turned to look, instantly spotting a large "3000" floating above the strongman's head. Connecting this with the bandit's earlier shout, his eyebrows shot up; he knew this man must be the leader of this group of bandits.

As expected of a leader, his worth was different. The bandits he had killed earlier were all valued at just over a thousand, but this one was worth three thousand.

Their distance wasn't particularly far to begin with. The Sixth Boss, galloping at an incredible speed, reached a spot not far in front of Lu Ye in mere seconds. The massive long spear in his hand was clearly heavy, not something an ordinary person could wield.

To Lu Ye's surprise, he detected a faint trace of spiritual power emanating from the Sixth Boss. It was very subtle, but undoubtedly spiritual energy.

He immediately recalled the woman's warning on the mountain that there was someone among these bandits who cultivated immortality; it seemed she was referring to this man.

However, in Lu Ye's opinion, even if someone opened spiritual apertures, if they didn't form a coherent system, they couldn't be considered a true cultivator. Just like himself now, possessing only the power of four apertures, he wasn't considered a cultivator because these four apertures were isolated and didn't connect into a continuous energy circulation path.

This Sixth Boss was even weaker. His spiritual power was extremely faint; Lu Ye estimated he had likely opened only one aperture, barely making him an apprentice in cultivation.

The difference in strength between one spiritual aperture and four was not actually significant. Both physical aptitude and reaction speed depended on individual talent. Given the same foundation, four apertures offered a greater advantage in terms of endurance and sustained power compared to one. Having progressed through these stages himself, Lu Ye naturally understood this well.

The Sixth Boss, charging ferociously with the momentum of his horse, came with great impetus. With the limited strength Lu Ye could currently exert, a head-on confrontation would undoubtedly be a Pyrrhic victory, costing him dearly even if he won.

"Die!" The Sixth Boss thrust his long spear fiercely at Lu Ye. With such a powerful strike, even a large boulder in its path would be shattered to pieces.

Then his expression turned to astonishment, for almost at the instant he thrust his spear, Lu Ye suddenly leaped lightly and then stepped onto the spear's shaft. In that moment, the Sixth Boss felt his long spear become incredibly heavy, causing both him and his horse to falter slightly. A heavy-pressure spirit pattern had momentarily flashed beneath Lu Ye's foot.

Before he could even react, Lu Ye had already moved along the spear shaft and closed in on him.

The Sixth Boss cried out in alarm, quickly rolling off his horse and falling to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, ready to continue fighting, when suddenly his body went limp, and a torrent of blood erupted from his neck, staining his vision a horrifying crimson.

His eyes widened in terror. He dropped the long spear from his hand and clutched his neck with both hands, but he couldn't stop the torrent of blood.

He had no idea when Lu Ye had drawn his saber.

Witnessing this scene, the remaining bandits all cried out in alarm and scattered, fleeing in every direction.

How could Lu Ye let them escape? Each of these bandits was a living Asura Mark. Seeing a large rock at his feet, he immediately bent down and shattered it with a single punch, breaking it into pieces of various sizes. He then grabbed the fragments and hurled them.

After a series of screams, numerous bandits lay dead, their heads shattered.

Lu Ye's vital energy surged as streaks of light flew from all directions, pouring into the Asura Token at his waist.

Behind him, houses blazed fiercely, and hot air currents swept through the area. Under the flickering firelight, Lu Ye's otherwise pleased expression became somewhat twisted and menacing.

The villagers who had miraculously survived the recent turmoil all looked at him with a mix of fear and trepidation, feeling that he seemed far more terrifying than the bandits themselves.

Half an hour later, the fire was extinguished.

In front of the fire-damaged ruins, Lu Ye sat on a large rock, examining his Asura Marks. His recent heroic actions had yielded nearly thirty thousand Asura Marks. While not an enormous sum, considering his last trial had taken extensive effort to gain just over fifty thousand, thirty thousand now seemed quite substantial.

And this was only the beginning!

He pondered the nature of this trial. It was true that both Abuluo and Gusheng had experienced situations where their power was suppressed, preventing them from exerting their full strength. However, their suppression had, at most, reduced them to the Constellation level; compared to his current predicament, there was simply no comparison.

He, a formidable late-stage Moon Splendor cultivator, now possessed only the power of four apertures. Who would believe such a claim?

Even the Pan Mountain Blade had been sealed by the power of the Asura Arena.

He couldn't even open his storage ring.

Moreover, when he entered this trial scenario, he had been trapped in darkness for a full two days, which was highly abnormal.

Yet, he couldn't grasp the reason for it, only having a vague feeling that he might... or perhaps... was being targeted.

He already knew the Asura Arena was sentient, but he questioned himself: he hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy since arriving there, so why was he being targeted?

Furthermore, a cosmic treasure like the Asura Arena, even if truly sentient, should not possess personal biases. It ought to merely operate according to its own rules, maintaining various trial scenarios.

Unless the Asura Arena, like the Samsara Tree, possessed complete autonomous consciousness.

Unable to fathom it at the moment, Lu Ye decided to focus on his immediate situation.

The power of four apertures was ultimately still too weak. Although he hadn't expended much energy killing those bandits, there had been some consumption. These were only twenty-odd bandits; if he encountered more, he genuinely might face exhaustion.

His powerful physique, which he typically relied upon, was also of little use in this trial scenario. The injury on his cheek still hadn't healed.

If he could raise his cultivation level, it would undoubtedly make this trial much easier for him.

The only thing he could still utilize was his Talent Tree, which even the Asura Arena couldn't suppress.

He attempted to activate the power of his Talent Tree to absorb energy from his surroundings and replenish his depleted spiritual power. However, he discovered that the spiritual energy in this world was exceedingly thin. This was clearly a very low-level realm, where it was already remarkably rare for individuals to open spiritual apertures and generate spiritual power.

In such an environment, improving his cultivation would be an insurmountable challenge. Furthermore, Lu Ye was uncertain if his cultivation could advance even if the environment were suitable, given the Asura Arena's suppression. If this suppression proved unbreakable, his cultivation would remain fixed at the four-aperture level.

"Immortal Master," a somewhat elderly voice called out.

Lu Ye looked up and saw an old man, leaning on a cane, standing before him. Beside the old man was the young girl he had rescued on the mountain.