Chapter 2174: Ant

In the midst of such fierce fighting, the life force of cultivators on both sides was constantly extinguished, and countless Dao bones were scattered, uncollected.

Zi Ying's arrangements could be described as perfect. After all, going to such great lengths solely to meet and escort Yan Hong's isolated force back was, of course, not particularly difficult.

Just as they were about to break through the enemy's defensive line, Lu Ye's heart stirred suddenly, and he turned his head to look to the side.

In that direction, a mist of blood exploded, and a human cultivator who had been with them instantly vanished without a trace.

Within the blood mist, a Blood Clan figure flashed, appearing directly in front of him, reaching out with a hand. Sharp nails on the fingers gleamed with a chilling light.

Lu Ye threw a punch.

The moment his fist collided with the claw, Lu Ye's expression changed, as the Dao power assaulting him from his opponent was, at the very least, at around fourteen or fifteen levels.

Since escaping the enemy's encirclement that time, he had maintained power at the twelfth level in recent months, and this sudden attack caught him completely off guard.

An intense pain shot through his fist; he was clearly injured.

Fortunately, though there was a gap in their strength, it wasn't an overwhelming difference.

The Blood Clan member who attacked undoubtedly hadn't expected Lu Ye to possess such strength. His original intention was to kill Lu Ye and then launch a sneak attack on Yan Hong, but he failed to achieve his goal with this strike.

Just as he was about to exert more effort to deal with Lu Ye, a long spear thrust back from the front. It was Yan Hong, who had sensed something was wrong and offered assistance.

A fierce look flashed across the Blood Clan member's face, his expression shifting. He ultimately suppressed his killing intent, quickly pulled back, and retreated!

To him, even if Yan Hong appeared strong, he was still only a cultivator at the Dao Enlightenment stage, merely relying on the Dao artifact in his hand. He could easily kill him.

However, he had a more important mission on this trip. If forcibly killing Yan Hong exposed his own existence, the gains wouldn't outweigh the losses.

"Brother Lu!" Yan Hong stole a glance at him amidst the chaos. On this journey back, among the several cultivators at the Ninth Dao level, Lu Ye had provided the most assistance. He also vaguely sensed that Lu Ye possessed a Dao artifact and was by no means a simple Ninth Daoist.

He had always admired people like Lu Ye, who, without a powerful family background, had climbed up from the bottom step by step, and naturally wished to befriend him.

"I'm fine. That Blood Clan member... had about fourteen or fifteen levels of power."

Yan Hong nodded. "That means he possesses a top-grade Dao artifact."

After a brief exchange, they charged forward again.

A moment later, the Alliance Guards finally linked up with the reinforcements. With the two forces sandwiching the enemy from front and back, the enemy forces in that direction were either killed or fled, creating a gap in what was originally an impenetrable defensive line.

"Do not linger in battle, quickly return to Lanhui!" Yan Hong led the way, shouting.

The others followed closely.

A moment later, they finally returned to the Lanhui Battle Star. A quick count showed that nearly a hundred of the six hundred Alliance Guards had died in the recent fierce fighting, and even the reinforcing army that came to meet them had suffered casualties.

The dead were gone. For those who survived, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But the major battle was far from over. As long as the enemy didn't give up attacking the star, the fighting would continue.

"I need to go see Commander Zi Ying. If it weren't for the Commander, it would have been impossible for us to fight our way back. Brother Lu, let's talk later when we have time." Yan Hong didn't greet anyone else. Their journey together had been merely a chance encounter, strangers who had banded together for mutual support. Now that he had brought them back to Lanhui, he felt his duty was fulfilled. He only said something to Lu Ye when leaving, and then exchanged imprints from their waist tokens to facilitate future contact.

"Sure," Lu Ye nodded. Hearing Yan Hong's words, he finally confirmed that this guy had a significant background; otherwise, a Star Garrison Commander wouldn't go to such lengths for him.

Lu Ye was quite willing to befriend such a person. Perhaps when there was an opportunity, he could inquire about a way to leave this place.

After seeing Yan Hong off, Lu Ye turned around, about to ask about Kang Xing and the other two, only to find all three staring at him with astonished expressions.

"What's wrong?" Lu Ye asked.

Kang Xing said, "Brother Lu, did you know Yan Hong before?"

"No," Lu Ye shook his head. "We just teamed up this time."

"I see," Kang Xing understood. "But it doesn't matter. Judging by Yan Hong's demeanor, he values you highly, Brother Lu. Indeed, Brother Lu is a capable person; true gold will always shine. To be valued by Yan Hong, your future prosperity, Brother Lu, is just around the corner. Congratulations in advance!"

Lu Ye said, "This Yan Hong, does he have a significant background?" He had this suspicion, but he didn't know what kind of background the person actually had. Judging by Kang Xing's expression, he seemed to know.

"More than just a background!" Kang Xing said with a sigh. "Brother Lu, you haven't been here long, so you probably haven't heard of the major aristocratic families within the Battle Alliance..."

After Kang Xing's explanation, Lu Ye finally understood that within the Battle Alliance were several top human aristocratic families, who served as its main pillars. The Dao Integration Patriarchs of these families were among the first to be trapped in Banlan back then. For countless years, they had flourished here, each developing into a family.

Among them was the Yan Family!

Yan Hong was a cultivator from the Yan Family, and quite well-known among those at the Dao Enlightenment stage.

Lu Ye didn't have much information about Banlan, so he listened attentively as Kang Xing spoke.

"But even though Yan Hong is powerful, he's not the strongest," Kang Xing clearly knew a lot about this.

Lu Ye's interest was immediately piqued. "Yan Hong isn't even the strongest?"

According to his estimation, Yan Hong probably had around fourteen or fifteen levels of power, similar to the Clawed Blood Clan member he had killed earlier, and the one who had just ambushed him.

However, he then thought of the previous owner of that armor shard... That person was even stronger than Yan Hong, a Dao Enlightenment cultivator who could unleash nearly twenty levels of power. It was utterly astonishing.

"There's a person named Huang Zhihuan from the Huang family, who is the strongest among Dao Enlightenment cultivators. And he's been famous for several hundred years. He is the master of the Dao artifact, the Pifu."

"Pifu?" Lu Ye frowned. "What a strange name."

Kang Xing chuckled. "It comes from the idiom, 'the strength of an ant can shake a tree.' It's the most powerful Dao artifact in Banlan. I heard that Huang Zhihuan, with this Dao artifact, can unleash nearly twenty levels of power!" As he spoke, Kang Xing sighed with emotion, "Nearly twenty levels! That's a level only Dao Integration cultivators possess."

Lu Ye couldn't help but blink. "What kind of Dao artifact is that Pifu...? How can it be so powerful?"

"I heard it's a Dao artifact shaped like an armor shard," Jiang Yuning interjected from the side.

Lu Ye's expression remained unchanged. "Fellow Daoist Jiang, have you seen this Dao artifact?"

Jiang Yuning laughed. "Of course not. There's only one Pifu in the entire Battle Alliance, and it's always been in Huang Zhihuan's possession. Aside from his closest confidants, probably no one else has seen it. You're probably wondering how I know this, aren't you? It's simple: this information is widely known because those aristocratic families intentionally spread it."

"Why is that?" Lu Ye listened with a bewildered expression. "Such a powerful Dao artifact, shouldn't it be kept a secret? Why would they spread the news?"

"Because there's more than one Pifu," Kang Xing continued. "Moreover, Pifu cannot be forged at the current stage; it's an ancient relic from within Banlan. No one knows where they are scattered. If someone saw one but didn't realize its value, wouldn't that be a waste of a divine treasure? That's why this information was intentionally spread."

Lu Ye thought about the appearance of the armor shard on his chest. It was indeed ancient and unassuming. If he hadn't already known its significance, if he had genuinely encountered this thing somewhere, he would have simply thought it was a fragment of some magical treasure and wouldn't have paid it any mind.

"The major aristocratic families have all declared that whoever obtains a Pifu and hands it over will receive immense rewards. Not to mention, it guarantees their promotion to the Dao Integration stage."

Lu Ye slowly said, "If someone obtains such a treasure, I'm afraid they might not be willing to hand it over, right?"

Kang Xing shook his head and said, "Brother Lu, you should know that while this treasure is valuable, it's also a source of trouble. One cannot keep it without some capability. Anyway, if I were to get it, I definitely wouldn't keep it for myself."

There was logic in what he said. As the saying goes, 'an innocent man becomes guilty by possessing a treasure.' The major aristocratic families had the ability to safeguard treasures like Pifu, but ordinary cultivators did not. If it were truly exposed, it might invite a fatal disaster.

After this conversation, Lu Ye unexpectedly gained some insights.

Looking back now, it was because he had killed that Clawed Blood Clan member that the Insect Queen sent a kin with Pifu to kill him. But unexpectedly, he had killed them instead and seized the Dao artifact.

Such a valuable Dao artifact being lost was something the enemy naturally couldn't tolerate, which was why the war zone had been so chaotic for a period afterward.

Thinking of this, Lu Ye couldn't help but be startled again. Could this enemy attack on the star be related to Pifu?

Were they launching a large-scale attack on the star because they couldn't find his whereabouts?

This possibility couldn't be ruled out... If that were truly the case, Lu Ye would be somewhat exasperated. After all, he couldn't have foreseen that such a war had been ignited because of him.

Pifu was indeed powerful, seemingly able to amplify that insectoid's power by ten levels, but this item seemed of limited use to him. Should he hand it over?

But the aristocratic families were powerful, and he had no significant background. If he rashly handed it over, he might not gain much benefit.

Perhaps he could find an opportunity to talk with Yan Hong. As a member of the Yan family, he could certainly represent the aristocratic side.

But there was no rush for this matter; it wouldn't be too late to consider it after the current battle was over.

A Battle Star was like a nail hammered into the battlefield. It was precisely because of this 'nail' that nearby cultivators had a place to rest and recuperate, and could return to the Battle Star for refuge if they encountered danger.

Every Battle Star had various supporting facilities, essentially all that the Battle Alliance headquarters possessed.

Having finally fought their way back to the Battle Star, by regulation, everyone had one day of rest. Kang Xing and the others needed to go to the Merit Hall here to tally their battle merits and exchange for some supplies.

Lu Ye, having nothing to do, went along with them and took the opportunity to convert some of his accumulated useless Dao bones into battle merits.

He didn't dare to take out too many; even so, it astonished Kang Xing and the others beyond measure.

This accumulation of battle merits raised Lu Ye's Alliance Guard rank from Iron Guard to Bronze Guard. He only needed to accumulate a bit more to become a Silver Guard, and then he would be qualified to exchange for Dao artifacts.

Although he already had Pifu, Pifu seemed different from other Dao artifacts. He still needed to exchange for an ordinary Dao artifact for study. If he could truly emulate it, then when he returned to the starry sky, he could try to refine his own.