Chapter 2251: The Convenience of the Variegated Lord

Having ventured into the Giant Race's territory to search for Bifu, Yan Xiaowu understood the need for discretion. Consequently, whenever anyone passed nearby, his group would lie low and conceal themselves, resuming their search only after the passersby had departed.

The location was quite remote, so usually, few people would intentionally come this way; those who did were merely passing through.

But this time, the situation was noticeably different. Yan Xiaowu clearly sensed that the approaching individual was heading directly towards their group's hiding spot.

Had they been discovered?

Yan Xiaowu's heart tightened. What puzzled him even more was that the aura felt somewhat familiar.

"Xiaowu!" a voice suddenly called out.

Yan Xiaowu was startled. He quickly reacted, emerging from his hiding spot. He looked towards the source of the voice, and indeed saw a familiar figure: "Senior Brother Lu? How are you...?"

He couldn't understand why Lu Ye was here.

Normally, he and Lu Ye only met in the ruins. He would bring a batch of Dao Bones to Lu Ye, who would then mark the exact location of the next Bifu for him.

"Just passing by, thought I'd check in," Lu Ye replied casually. "Haven't found it yet?"

Yan Xiaowu scratched his head, admitting sheepishly, "Not yet, but we should be close."

The group he brought had dispersed across the dead star, meticulously searching little by little. They had now covered nearly seventy percent of the area.

He was confident that in a bit more time, they would surely find it.

"I'll find it," Lu Ye said, closing his eyes. He silently began to perceive.

Jiuying was dead, so he could no longer rely on Jiuying's power to pinpoint the Bifu's exact location as he had before. However, he had now refined the Splendor Core, which granted him advantages others in this star domain did not possess.

Although his power was insufficient to fully comprehend the entire Splendor, simply scanning this dead star was still very simple.

A moment later, Lu Ye opened his eyes and beckoned, saying, "Follow me!"

Yan Xiaowu quickly followed.

Soon, the two arrived at a specific location. Lu Ye raised his foot and stomped, saying, "Four thousand six hundred feet down from here!"

Yan Xiaowu looked astonished. He couldn't fathom how Lu Ye could give such precise figures. Furthermore, they had indeed not yet had time to explore this particular spot, which meant there was a high probability the Bifu was here.

But on second thought, over the past while, Lu Ye had consistently marked Bifu locations on his star chart. This Senior Brother Lu clearly had a way to perceive the Bifu's presence distinctly.

Yan Xiaowu immediately summoned his team, and they began a thorough search.

In less than an incense stick's worth of time, sure enough, at a depth of four thousand six hundred feet underground, they found a Bifu that had been buried for untold tens of thousands of years!

Now that the Bifu had been found, the next step was to return to the human homeworld, find one of the noble families to exchange it for Dao Bones, and then enter the ruins to hand them over to Lu Ye. Yan Xiaowu had done this many times before and was well-versed in the process.

Bidding farewell to Lu Ye, he led his group toward the nearest wormhole.

Lu Ye watched them depart.

No matter how fast Yan Xiaowu's group traveled, Lu Ye would still have to wait for some time, as travel always took time.

But Lu Ye's need for Dao power was quite pressing.

He needed to find a battlefield to slay enemies and hunt for bones.

Lu Ye suddenly recalled a battle scene he had "seen" earlier in the ruins, in a particular war zone. He quickly turned his head to look in that direction, his vision instantly piercing through spatial barriers and reflecting the scene tens of millions of miles away.

This was likely a minor war zone; he wasn't sure of its exact designation, as his exploration within the Splendor was actually quite limited.

Upon seeing it, Lu Ye was greatly astonished.

The battle, which had been raging there, had actually already seen a victor determined. To his surprise, it was the human side that had suffered defeat. Many human cultivators were fleeing in disorder, their formations broken, as numerous blood seas, large and small, relentlessly pursued them from behind. At this point, the situation wasn't entirely dire; although the humans had suffered a setback, their casualties weren't severe. However, Lu Ye knew deeply that if the situation continued to unfold, the advantage of the Insect and Blood races would continuously widen. Once human morale collapsed, casualties would drastically escalate.

Lu Ye watched with a growing sense of urgency.

This battlefield was too far from his current location. Even if he wanted to rush there to offer support, it would be too late. He could only hope that the Fused Dao Guardian on that side had made subsequent arrangements for reinforcements and interception.

As he thought this, Lu Ye suddenly felt a strange sensation. His mind anchored itself to the location within his sight, and then where he stood, subtly seemed to overlap with that anchored location.

The surrounding space twisted and shifted.

The anchored location in his vision also rippled.

Lu Ye paused slightly, abruptly snapping out of the strange sensation. All the anomalies around him slowly subsided.

He didn't quite understand what had just happened, so he quickly focused his mind to carefully recall the sensation.

Although he hadn't experienced that particular anomaly before, he vaguely felt a sense of familiarity. He had similar sensations when using his clone's positioning for long-distance teleportation.

The reason this sensation had appeared was simply because he had seen the human cultivators at a disadvantage on that battlefield, and had wished to rush over to help.

Corroborating this with everything that had just happened, Lu Ye's eyes slowly brightened. He gradually realized what had truly transpired.

That's right. He had already refined the Splendor Core, becoming the master of this Dao artifact.

Logically speaking, within the Splendor, he should be able to come and go as he pleased, traveling anywhere he wished without needing to journey, simply by thought.

Jiuying likely possessed such an ability, easily traversing any location within the Splendor.

But he was not Jiuying after all, and lacked its formidable power. Therefore, while he could arrive at any location within the Splendor with a single thought, it required him to pay a certain price; it would not be as effortless as it was for Jiuying.

The anomaly he had just experienced was simply because he had subconsciously wanted to rush to that battlefield. Had that feeling not been interrupted, he would have already been there.

But it wasn't too late now!

Lu Ye once again focused his gaze in that direction, his vision settling on the battlefield. His mind anchored itself to a specific location.

The space around him twisted, and his form gradually blurred within this distortion.

After a full thirty-plus breaths, he suddenly vanished. All the distortions subsided at that moment, leaving no trace of his presence.

Tens of millions of miles away, in the chaotic battlefield, Lu Ye abruptly appeared, his face slightly pale.

It was his first time exercising the rights of the Splendor's master within the Splendor. Perhaps due to his insufficient strength, the teleportation had taken a long time, and his mental energy had been considerably depleted.

That wasn't all. Crucially, his Dao power had also been considerably drained.

He had originally reserved two to three thousand units of Dao power as a backup, but this single teleportation had consumed nearly all of it.

Fortunately, it wasn't entirely depleted; otherwise, suddenly appearing on a battlefield like this would have left him completely at the mercy of others.

He secretly cautioned himself: such an ability must be used with caution. It certainly couldn't be used for escape; a delay of over thirty breaths meant that if formidable enemies were truly pursuing him, he would have died countless times over by now.

After all, his strength was still insufficient. Even after refining the Splendor Core, there were still many inconveniences.

The location he had originally anchored to was within the main body of the Insect and Blood races' armies, where he could unleash a massacre upon appearance. However, because he hadn't accounted for the time delay, when he finally appeared, the area around him was completely empty. The enemy armies had long since moved on, relentlessly pursuing their foes. He had landed far in the rear, and looking up, he could only see the backs of the retreating enemy forces.

After slightly calming his agitated vital energy, Lu Ye's figure swayed, and his Talent Tree clone materialized.

He raised a hand and tossed a spare set of clothes from his Small Flower World to the clone. The two figures then darted left and right, chasing forward.

On the other side of the battlefield, within a thick sea of blood where Dao power surged, the Human Fused Dao Guardian of this war zone was locked in a fierce battle with a Blood Race Fused Dao cultivator.

They had clashed many times before, their strengths quite similar, placing them on equal footing.

But at this moment, the Blood Race held a clear advantage, their momentum overwhelming. In contrast, the human guardian was parrying clumsily.

The reason was simple: earlier, the Blood Race Fused Dao had intentionally opened his blood sea, allowing his opponent to witness the developments on the battlefield, thereby disturbing his concentration. The Human Fused Dao, of course, knew what ploy the Blood Race was employing, but watching his own Dao-entered subordinates being miserably pursued and fleeing, he was powerless to intervene. Heartache and self-reproach filled his mind. He knew he should maintain his composure and not be swayed by external events, but he simply couldn't.

He repeatedly tried to escape the confines of the blood sea, but failed each time, instead being injured by his opponent who seized the opportunity.

The situation grew increasingly dire.

To make matters worse, the Blood Race cultivator kept chattering incessantly in his ear, which was incredibly irritating.

His heart sank. He realized he might not escape this time and secretly resolved that even if he perished, he would drag his opponent down with him.

The human race had suffered a great defeat in this battle, but if he could drag the enemy's Fused Dao cultivator down with him, the loss wouldn't be quite so humiliating.

Just as he was preparing to do so, the incessant chattering suddenly ceased. Not only that, the Blood Race Fused Dao seemed to have encountered something incredible; his aura actually showed a flicker of panic.

He didn't know what had happened to his opponent, but this was undoubtedly an opportunity. His entire Dao power erupted, instantly stabilizing the situation on his side.

During the clash, he keenly noticed the shock and incredulity on the Blood Race's face. Even their attacks were no longer as sharp as before.

What sudden change had occurred? Trapped within the blood sea, he knew nothing of the outside world. However, solely from his opponent's change, he could deduce that there had definitely been a shift on the outside battlefield, and it was a change unfavorable to the enemy. Otherwise, his opponent would have no reason to act this way. This greatly invigorated him, and he secretly wondered if the reinforcements he had requested had finally arrived. Yet, their efficiency seemed remarkably high. By his estimation, the requested reinforcements shouldn't have arrived for at least another half-day.

Reinforcements had indeed arrived on the battlefield, but they were not the ones this Human Fused Dao had requested.

Lu Ye's main body and his clone pursued the retreating forces, charging into the armies of the Insect and Blood races. They split up, charging through, and wherever they went, they cleared out swathes of enemies, leaving trails of empty space.

The Insect and Blood Race cultivators left behind were utterly bewildered.

Nobody understood. They were clearly the pursuers, so how had two human cultivators suddenly appeared behind them? And these two humans... were both Fused Dao experts! Every Insect or Blood Race member who came into contact with them almost instantly dissolved into a bloody mist upon impact, leaving behind only Dao Bones that emitted a faint golden glow, which were then collected!