Chapter 2197: I’m Afraid You’ll Run Away

He casually tossed the short bladed Dao artifact to Yan Xiaowu, who fumbled to catch it, momentarily stunned. This was, after all, a top-grade Dao artifact, worth nearly a thousand Dao bones. He had originally thought about finding a private room with Lu Ye for a more secure exchange, but Lu Ye had simply thrown it over.

Yan Xiaowu fondled the artifact, reluctant to put it down, confirming that it was indeed a top-grade Dao artifact. Only then did he carefully put it away. He then took out a storage ring and handed it to Lu Ye. "Brother, this contains one thousand one hundred Dao bones. The extra two hundred Dao bones are this month's retainer's stipend." The so-called retainer's stipend was just a pretext. Although Lu Ye possessed a retainer's token from the Yan family, both he and the Yan family knew the true nature of that token. Yan Yong had previously promised Lu Ye two hundred Dao bones per month, and now Yan Xiaowu had brought them along with the payment for the artifact.

"Much appreciated!" Lu Ye nodded.

"Take care, Brother. I must report back. Brother Yan Hong said that if such a good opportunity arises again, please remember the Yan family."

"No problem," Lu Ye readily agreed. With this pleasant collaborative experience, he would certainly contact the Yan family again if he had further gains.

He watched Yan Xiaowu depart, then turned to look at someone who had been waiting for a long time. It was Chen Sheng, a member of the Night Owls, who had simply refrained from approaching while Lu Ye spoke with Yan Xiaowu.

Lu Ye walked over to him, retrieved something from a storage ring, and handed it to him. "This is yours."

Chen Sheng was somewhat bewildered. "This is..." He took the storage ring, and a quick scan with his divine sense startled him. "So many Dao bones..." He quickly understood, looking at Lu Ye with shock. "Brother, could it be that you've already..."

Lu Ye nodded without saying much, turning to leave. With so many Dao bones now in hand, he naturally needed to refine them quickly to prevent the loss of Dao power.

Watching him leave, Chen Sheng was speechless. He had reported that intelligence casually, never expecting it to bring him a harvest of eighty Dao bones! This was truly an unexpected bonus. However, a moment later, he thought, to complete the mission and kill a fourteen-dao powerful enemy in such a short time, just how strong was this 'Owl'? It seemed a formidable individual had appeared among the Falcons.

Lu Ye found a secluded spot, set up some simple formations to prevent disturbance, and then took out all the Dao bones. Even after giving eighty to Chen Sheng, the number of Dao bones he had left was still substantial, far more than his previous gains at Crane Wing Camp. This made him sigh with emotion. Indeed, murder and arson brought wealth. Joining the Falcons was a wise choice. If he were to hunt for so many Dao bones on the battlefield, it would take at least two months, but now, from accepting the mission to completing it, only about ten days had passed, and killing enemies during this process also brought additional rewards.

He activated the power of the Talent Tree, and invisible roots extended in all directions, digging into the Dao bones and frantically devouring them. Upon inspection, the golden leaves of the Talent Tree gradually increased, and his mood brightened along with them.

After all the Dao bones were refined, Lu Ye checked his gains, which were roughly as expected. Since achieving Dao Attainment, he had refined many Dao bones and had naturally kept some statistics. On average, one Dao bone could provide him with about twenty units of Dao power. Of course, this was an average; some Dao bones were of higher quality and contained more Dao power, while others were of poor quality and contained pitifully little. Regardless, this refinement, combined with his previous accumulation, meant that the Dao power available for grinding Dao bones had surpassed twenty thousand. Lu Ye had never felt so affluent. Only the Talent Tree could hold such an immense amount of Dao power; no other Dao Attainment cultivator could possibly accumulate this much, let alone a Dao Attainment cultivator – even a Dao Fusion cultivator could not.

His spirits were high as he began grinding Dao bones!

A day later, Lu Ye showed a thoughtful expression. The situation was as he had anticipated; after his strength surpassed forty Dao, the Dao power required to grind Dao bones indeed increased again. It now generally took about two thousand Dao power to succeed once. If this trend continued, one day he might truly need over ten thousand Dao power for a single successful grind.

For a moment, he didn't know whether being trapped in this Banyan was a good thing or a bad one. If he hadn't come here, he wouldn't have had such a rapid opportunity to accumulate Dao power, but being here, he had no way to leave, which was a headache. He decided not to dwell on that for now; currently, he needed to quickly accumulate Dao power and improve his strength.

Taking out his Falcon token, Lu Ye checked the red-level missions again. Last time, he had no experience and just picked one randomly. This time, with experience, he examined them and determined his new mission target. However, before leaving, he made another trip to the Battle Merit Hall. He hadn't yet collected the hundred Dao bones per month from the military affairs office. He had already reported his arrival earlier, so the military affairs office should have sent someone to deliver the Dao bones by now.

A short while later, having collected his Dao bones, Lu Ye soared away from Cloud Fir Battle Star.

Half a month later, in another battle zone, a sea of blood ebbed and flowed. Screams constantly echoed within it, quickly fading, indicating that cultivators were being cruelly killed. As the blood sea was about to recede, a streak of light rapidly approached from a distance, showing no intention of concealment, and crashed directly into the blood sea.

The blood surged, and within the blood sea, a gloomy-looking Blood Race member was momentarily stunned. He had killed countless enemies in this battle zone and was infamous. Both the Human Alliance guards and the Giant Race cultivators viewed him as a monstrous flood. Wherever he appeared, all enemies would retreat far away. This was the first time he had encountered someone actively attacking and charging into his blood sea.

With a thought, he immediately saw the intruder. It was a human youth, holding a short hammer, standing silently there.

"Interesting!" The Blood Race member's voice echoed throughout the blood sea, coming from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint his exact location. "A Falcon?"

The Falcon organization was quite well-known, and the Blood Race naturally had heard of them. In fact, several years ago, a Falcon, confident in his strength, had come looking for trouble, but that battle ended with the opponent's miserable death, while he himself had only sustained minor injuries. The reason he judged the newcomer to be a Falcon was naturally because he recognized the short hammer as a fine Dao artifact. Ordinary cultivators wouldn't dare challenge him; only the Falcons would.

"You dare to barge into my blood sea like this? Aren't you afraid?" The Blood Race member continued speaking. Although he was very strong, he was undoubtedly cautious. Everyone knew the strangeness of the Blood Race's blood sea, and the fact that the newcomer dared to rush in like this clearly indicated he had something to rely on. He wanted to know what his opponent was relying on.

"Afraid..." Lu Ye slowly began, gripping his short hammer, his expression suddenly turning sharp. "I'm afraid you'll run!" His Dao power surged as he unleashed a fierce hammer blow towards a certain spot!

In that direction, a flicker of blood-light, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding blood, suddenly appeared, revealing the Blood Race member's figure. He was precisely behind Lu Ye! At this moment, the Blood Race member's face showed a look of surprise and doubt, unable to understand where he had exposed himself, allowing the enemy to detect his exact location. Without time to ponder, he immediately brought forth his Dao artifact to block. Although exposed, even if the newcomer held a Dao artifact, they could at most unleash fourteen Dao's worth of power, and this was in his blood sea. As long as he blocked this strike, the initiative would still be his.

Seeing his opponent prepare to meet the attack in this manner, Lu Ye's eyes flashed, and he shook his short hammer, changing its direction. There was no other way; if he didn't change direction, and the two Dao artifacts collided, given the power he had just unleashed, the opponent's Dao artifact would surely shatter. This was a treasure; how could Lu Ye bear to destroy it?

The Blood Race member was startled, clearly not expecting Lu Ye's sudden change, but this shift also presented him with an opportunity. He immediately hardened his resolve, his offense becoming even fiercer, determined to heavily wound Lu Ye even if it meant taking some injury himself. His Dao artifact was a longsword, and it precisely struck Lu Ye's body, but the expected scene of piercing Lu Ye's defenses and heavily injuring him simply didn't occur. The Blood Race member felt as if his sword had struck a bronze wall. His proud fourteen-dao power seemed utterly ridiculous at this moment.

"What's wrong?" The Blood Race member instinctively thought Lu Ye had a top-tier defensive Dao artifact, but the feel of it didn't quite match. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what was happening. Lu Ye's attack had already arrived. He frantically poured Dao power into his own protection, and after one swing of his hammer, blood rained down, with only a headless corpse twitching violently.

The blood sea dispersed. Lu Ye silently collected the spoils of war, and incidentally, took the Blood Race member's corpse, quickly leaving the area. Compared to fighting the Insect Race, which required a bit of acting, fighting the Blood Race was much more convenient. Simply unleashing twenty or thirty Dao's worth of power resulted in an instant kill, which was why he had specifically chosen a Blood Race target this time.

On his way back to the battle star, he contacted Yan Hong as usual.

A few days later, Yan Xiaowu's familiar face appeared before Lu Ye. Less than a month had passed since their last meeting, and Yan Xiaowu's face was filled with shock. He hadn't expected Lu Ye to acquire another top-grade Dao artifact in such a short time! He, of course, knew what such a top-grade Dao artifact represented: the life of a top-tier Dao Attainment cultivator. Before coming, he had privately asked Yan Hong whether it was truly so easy for two cultivators, both possessing top-grade Dao artifacts and capable of wielding fourteen Dao's worth of power, to determine life and death.

Yan Hong had not given him a definitive answer, only recounting his own personal experience. On the Blue Water Battle Star, he had once accepted a red-level mission to hunt a fourteen-dao Blood Race member. They had clashed several times without a clear winner, and once he had even been at a disadvantage. If he hadn't escaped the opponent's blood sea in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Therefore, it was clear that it was not so easy for fourteen-dao cultivators to determine life and death between them, unless one of them possessed exceptionally rich combat experience; only then would killing the opponent be possible.