Chapter 195: For the Honor of the Sect

Wind Rises in Kyushu

Lu Ye and his group had finished their battle, and so had the other side. They collected spoils, counted casualties, and the injured voluntarily went to Hua Ci for treatment.

They had killed many enemies in this battle, and their own casualties were not significant.

Lu Ye sent a message to his Fourth Senior Brother, asking about his situation.

Previously, because the Chess Islands hadn't fully merged, inter-island travel was impossible. However, the final merger had now begun. Once all Chess Islands combined into a single continent, the previous restrictions would cease to exist.

Lu Ye's primary reason for messaging was to ask if his Fourth Senior Brother wanted to join him. His current location was temporarily very safe, even with spare capacity to suppress the Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators.

If his Fourth Senior Brother's situation wasn't good, joining Lu Ye would undoubtedly be a wise choice.

However, Lu Ye was in the outermost area, so if his Fourth Senior Brother came, his cultivation would certainly be suppressed by the Heavenly Mechanism.

Regardless of the terrain in the Spirit Stream Guardian Battle, the Heavenly Mechanism would apply such adjustments and suppressions. After all, there were vast differences in cultivation levels among the various sect guardians. For example, Lu Ye, cultivating an Earth-tier cultivation method, was at the sixth layer, while his Fourth Senior Brother, cultivating a Heaven-tier method, was at the eighth layer. The difference in cultivation wasn't just two layers; strictly speaking, it was a full five layers.

This was because a ninth-layer cultivator practicing an Earth-tier method was only equivalent to a sixth-layer cultivator practicing a Heaven-tier method, both having opened 180 orifices.

With such a significant gap in cultivation, if the Heavenly Mechanism didn't provide adjustments and suppressions, a powerful figure like Li Baxian could easily sweep through, and the outer circle cultivators of Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge would be unable to resist.

After waiting for a while, his Fourth Senior Brother finally replied, telling Lu Ye to rest assured and follow the main group's actions. He still had matters to attend to and would seek Lu Ye out once he was done.

Above the vast Chess Sea, streaks of light zipped across the surface like shooting stars. The leading light was a calabash-shaped spirit artifact. Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan sat atop it, both injured. Feng Yuechan leaned against Li Baxian's shoulder, her face pale, occasionally coughing, indicating her injuries were severe.

The number of lights following them was not large, only about a dozen, perhaps around twenty people in total.

After ending the message with Lu Ye, Li Baxian sighed in relief. He had been constantly worried about Lu Ye's safety, and knowing that Lu Ye's situation was now favorable naturally put him at ease.

However, Li Baxian's own situation was not good. Just as Lu Ye had suspected, Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge had arrived with a pre-planned strategy. They wouldn't be satisfied with merely killing some seventh or eighth-layer guardians; they aimed to eliminate key figures of the Grand Heaven Alliance, such as Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan. If they killed enough of them, Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge would surely gain the upper hand in the confrontation between the two factions for decades to come.

In the preceding twenty days, the Grand Heaven Alliance had suffered heavy losses in the inner circle, with even Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan sustaining injuries.

They had previously encountered a group of Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge strongmen. With the enemy numbers being too overwhelming, they had no choice but to flee their Chess Island.

Under normal circumstances, this act would be suicidal, as flying over the sea consumed too much spiritual power. Even Li Baxian and his group couldn't guarantee reaching the next Chess Island before their spiritual energy ran out.

But now, all the Chess Islands were in their final stages of merging, converging towards a central point. So, they took a gamble. With good luck, they might find another foothold before their spiritual energy depleted, provided, of course, that the destination wasn't occupied by Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators; otherwise, it would be a death trap.

"Senior Brother, I'm afraid I can't go on much longer," Feng Yuechan's weak voice whispered, her breath shallow. "Senior Brother, it's been wonderful meeting you in this life."

Li Baxian's expression was solemn as he sighed, "Don't talk nonsense."

"I can feel it... Senior Brother, I want to go back to the sect."

"I will take you back to the sect!" Li Baxian said, lowering his head.

"After we return... *cough, cough*... let's get married!"

*Slap*...

Li Baxian backhanded Feng Yuechan squarely on her smooth forehead.

Feng Yuechan rubbed her forehead, looking wronged. "I'm practically dying, and you're still hitting me?"

Li Baxian glared at her exasperatedly. "Do you think I don't know your mother made you wear a treasure garment before you came?"

Feng Yuechan's face flushed. "I wore it underneath. How did you know, Senior Brother?"

"Oh, look, a Chess Island over there! We're saved!" Li Baxian suddenly exclaimed, his eyes brightening as he gazed in one direction. With his command, the calabash spirit artifact carried him and Feng Yuechan towards that Chess Island, with a dozen streaks of light following closely behind.

A continuous, enormous humming sound echoed. When the entire Chess Island came to a stop, the final merger was complete.

From a high-altitude perspective, the Chess Sea no longer showed scattered small islands; only a colossal continent remained. Across this continent, the assembled cultivators of Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge began to act almost simultaneously. Following their pre-arranged plans, they started clearing the outer regions of the continent. Teams of varying sizes began searching for Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators, moving either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

This systematic search wasn't limited to the outer regions; inner and central Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were doing the same. In an instant, the entire continent seemed to transform into a giant grinding mill, with the Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators providing the force to drive it. Once they located Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators, the grinding power of this 'mill' would crush all encountered enemies.

Before the continent completed its final merger, the three hundred Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators on Lu Ye's Chess Island began to formulate their next plan.

Now, Lu Ye and his group faced two choices. One was to wait where they were. This was, after all, the place Lu Ye and his group had managed for over twenty days. Among other advantages, Hua Ci had made various arrangements there, and Lu Ye had constructed more than ten massive spirit gathering formations, convenient for killing enemies and recovering spiritual energy. Therefore, if they waited there, whether for other Grand Heaven Alliance members to rally to them or for Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge members to walk into their trap, they would have a significant advantage.

However, if they chose this option, the scattered Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators outside would face greater danger. Their team was currently the largest group of Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators. If they remained inactive, other smaller teams would undoubtedly face encirclement and suppression by Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators.

It was unknown how many Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had survived, but it was certain to be more than the Grand Heaven Alliance.

Therefore, the second choice presented to their team was to proactively attack, simultaneously searching for enemy traces while absorbing their own cultivators to strengthen their forces.

All participants in the Spirit Stream Guardian Battle were guardians and deputy guardians from major sects. Even if they hadn't previously engaged in such large-scale operations, they possessed a degree of foresight and insight.

Thus, after only a brief discussion, they almost unanimously agreed.

Their decision was to abandon their current advantages and launch a proactive attack! This was both a rescue mission and self-preservation. Otherwise, once the Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators had cleared the outer areas, they would inevitably attack this location, and then it wouldn't be just one or two hundred people arriving, but possibly one or two thousand.

With the plan decided, the more than three hundred cultivators were divided into over thirty small teams, each consisting of about ten people. They would cooperate and remain closely connected during their operations.

Choosing a direction, the three hundred-plus cultivators set off with a rumble.

Concurrently, messages were sent out, informing scattered small groups of their movement trajectory, instructing them to find opportunities to rendezvous.

Naturally, Lu Ye and Hua Ci were in one team, along with Lan Yudie and Gao Tai, as well as the siblings Lu Yushan. The remaining few were responsible for closely protecting Hua Ci.

Everyone else was sprinting, except for Hua Ci and Lu Yushan's junior sister, who rode on mechanical wolves, appearing relaxed.

These were mechanical constructs of the siblings, powered by spirit stones and some spiritual energy, used for transportation. Their speed wasn't overly fast but also not slow, with the advantage of conserving stamina.

Lu Ye somewhat regretted not bringing Amber with him. Previously, he had considered that bringing Amber might easily expose his identity. However, no one knew beforehand that the terrain for this Spirit Stream Guardian Battle would be the Chess Sea. In such a place, identity exposure seemed less relevant; it was a matter of life and death whenever moving Chess Islands converged and encountered each other.

Hua Ci's mechanical wolf was laden with storage bags, more than a hundred in total. This was despite Hua Ci's efforts to politely decline more; if she hadn't genuinely been unable to carry any more, she might have several hundred storage bags by now.

In this Spirit Stream Guardian Battle, Hua Ci had made a fortune. Not only did she acquire these storage bags, but most cultivators from various sects had also received her medical treatment. What she gained even more was goodwill.

As a rogue cultivator, she had been obscure, but one Spirit Stream Guardian Battle had introduced her to many sect guardians and deputy guardians. Among other things, in the future, wherever she traveled on the Spirit Stream battlefield, she would be able to receive protection from other sects.

Of course, the same applied to Lu Ye. The spirit gathering formations he constructed provided immense convenience for his side's cultivators to recover.

Their gains this time were not due to the legacy of the Verdant Blood Sect but earned through their own abilities, thus bringing honor to their respective sects.

"Thirty li ahead, Grand Heaven Alliance senior brothers are being pursued and are heading our way! All teams, prepare for battle!" A roar suddenly came from the front.

With the continent formed and the sun high in the sky, along with vague positioning and communication methods, cultivators could easily determine each other's locations.

"Let's scare them senseless!" someone shouted.

Immediately after, a rustling sound arose as a group of Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators charged forward like mountain bandits descending a peak.

They didn't have to run the full thirty li. Because they were moving towards each other, after just over ten li, Lu Ye felt the fluctuating spiritual energy ahead, indicating that the pursued Grand Heaven Alliance cultivators were resisting enemy attacks.

As they were being chased, the situation was naturally not optimistic. However, with the arrival of their own cultivators as reinforcements, the tide immediately turned.

The pursuing Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators, realizing the situation was unfavorable, engaged briefly, then dropped some bodies and fled.

The pursuers became the pursued, and the fleeing ones turned into pursuers, making the scene incredibly lively.

Lu Ye gave Hua Ci a quick instruction, then shot out like an arrow, leaping past one friendly cultivator after another. In moments, he caught up to the fleeing enemies. He used spells to clear a path, knocked down his foes, and then slashed them down with his blade. Without even pausing to collect spoils, he continued his pursuit.