Chapter 2315: Farewell Means Enemy

The female Ghost Cultivator fled desperately. Any Dao Integration cultivator who dared to block her path during this time was shot dead from a distance by the blonde woman.

A moment later, the female Ghost Cultivator's figure disappeared from the blonde woman's sight, and only then did she lower the longbow in her hand.

The exotic treasure that had appeared was already taken away, which also drew away the remaining Dao Integration cultivators. Her mission to protect this realm was considered complete.

It was truly not easy; she had prepared for a fight to the death. The reason she used the Soulmate Knot on Lu Ye was not to drag him into trouble, but because he possessed means to counter her. She had to prioritize eliminating this threat, as many of her abilities would be unusable otherwise.

For her, as long as her secret escape technique was not countered, she would be invincible. And Lu Ye was indeed a good choice, having even offered himself up.

Who would have thought that Lu Ye's Dao power reserve was so vast, allowing her to even borrow from it!

This was the fundamental reason she was able to defend this realm.

"Thank you for your help, Senior Brother," she said, turning to look at Lu Ye. Although her expression was weary, her eyes were very bright.

The many previous killings, even if they didn't consume her own Dao power, involved her directing the Dao soldiers' attacks, which took a huge toll on her mind and energy.

Looking at Lu Ye's previous attitudes and actions, she realized he shared many common aspirations with her. For instance, most other Dao Integration cultivators would not have been willing to partner with her, especially not merely to defend a lowest-level realm, which was undoubtedly a difficult concept to grasp.

Which cultivator who could reach the Dao Integration stage wasn't ruthless? Such a low-level realm meant nothing in their eyes.

"I hope your persistence is meaningful," the clone said, glancing at the adjacent realm and sighing softly. Although this catastrophe was considered over, what about next?

Was this realm to be protected indefinitely? The starry sky fragments were dissolving, meaning it was unsafe to keep the realm here; it would eventually be swallowed by the chaotic mist. However, traveling with such a realm would create many constraints.

"I have arrangements, Senior Brother, don't worry!" the blonde woman said.

The clone nodded, not asking what her arrangements were. It was enough that she knew.

"That female Ghost Cultivator... you noticed her long ago, didn't you? Did you intentionally let her in?" the clone asked.

He didn't believe the blonde woman hadn't noticed the female Ghost Cultivator. For a cultivator like her, who relied on archery, her archery was secondary; her eye power was the most crucial.

Lu Ye had seen her use a strange eye technique before.

Ghost Cultivators' concealment methods were indeed formidable, but since he and she had been guarding this realm together, the blonde woman shouldn't have failed to notice the female Ghost Cultivator approaching.

If she only had that much ability, she would have been ambushed and killed long ago.

Since she noticed but didn't stop her, that meant she condoned it.

"Someone had to take that treasure out," the blonde woman said, implicitly acknowledging it. "I apologize, Senior Brother, that treasure should have been partly yours."

The clone shook his head. "That was an affiliated treasure, useless for this competition!"

While providing Dao power support to the blonde woman, he wasn't idle. He saw clearly when the exotic treasure appeared; although the object wrapped in the hazy light mass wasn't clearly visible, its general shape could still be seen.

So Lu Ye recognized it at a glance: it was an affiliated treasure!

Because he had seen that affiliated treasure in the treasure vault space.

After seeing it then, he specifically went to the treasure vault space to investigate again and found that the affiliated treasure that had originally been there had indeed disappeared.

In other words, the affiliated treasure that appeared here was the one originally in the treasure vault.

Affiliated treasures were indeed significant and powerful, but they required long-term nurturing and would not play any role in this Star Abyss Son competition.

If it had been an exotic treasure, Lu Ye truly wouldn't have missed it; he had clearly seen the power of that purple lightning bolt just now.

"It was an affiliated treasure..."

The blonde woman was stunned for a moment. She had been searching for and killing enemies earlier and hadn't really paid attention to the treasure. If it truly was an affiliated treasure, then losing it was no loss, because it was merely a hot potato.

Suddenly noticing something amiss in Lu Ye's expression, she quickly asked, "Senior Brother, what's wrong?"

The clone's expression was slightly surprised; then he shook his head. "Nothing."

And just three breaths ago, where Lu Ye's true body and Song Weiwei were, his gaze turned to a certain direction—precisely where Ri Yan and Wu Yue had been earlier.

He had long sensed a very strong opponent there, but as they hadn't fought, he couldn't judge their exact strength. When he and Song Weiwei acted, they had deliberately avoided that direction.

But now, that direction was empty. Clearly, the cultivators there had been drawn away by the exotic treasure the female Ghost Cultivator carried.

As he pondered, he suddenly felt a pain in his body.

Lu Ye slowly turned his head to look at Song Weiwei.

Song Weiwei was standing beside him, holding a sharp sword, which was still stained with some blood.

Lu Ye lowered his gaze, seeing a sword wound on his waist and abdomen, with flesh turned out.

Song Weiwei's expression was complex. She glanced at Lu Ye's wound, then looked up at him, and gave a bitter smile. "Senior Brother, why didn't you fight back?"

Lu Ye instantly perceived her intention and sighed, "Why go to such lengths?"

If anyone else had attacked him, Lu Ye would not have been unprepared. But Song Weiwei's attack was extremely sudden, and crucially, she had no killing intent, which was why it didn't trigger his alarm.

The wound looked serious, but it was actually just a flesh wound!

In other words, Song Weiwei didn't intend to kill him at all.

Since she didn't want to kill him, yet suddenly attacked him, her intention was already very clear.

Song Weiwei pursed her lips and remained silent. She suddenly retracted her long sword, turned, and fled into the distance, her voice drifting back to Lu Ye: "Senior Brother, next time we meet, we will be enemies, and I will show no mercy!"

Lu Ye's eyelids drooped slightly. He didn't try to stop her, just watched her go. The flesh wound on his waist was already rapidly healing due to his powerful vitality.

Song Weiwei left. Because of the Soulmate Knot, Lu Ye and the blonde woman were already bound together, so she had no choice but to leave.

Her saying she wouldn't show mercy next time was merely a hope that if they truly met, Lu Ye wouldn't show mercy.

She had even wished just now that under her sneak attack, Lu Ye would instinctively counter-attack and kill her!

Because she knew that with her own strength, she wouldn't be able to reach the end and would eventually die at the hands of some strong cultivator.

Since that was the case, she would rather die by Lu Ye's hand.

At the very least, she could leave a Star Abyss Coin for Lu Ye, as a token of gratitude for his care during these days.

But her plan didn't succeed because Lu Ye had seen through her intention.

How did things come to this? Who did anything wrong?

Was it the blonde woman?

To some extent, if she hadn't used the Soulmate Knot, Song Weiwei wouldn't have become isolated. However, the blonde woman was merely making reasonable use of the exotic treasure on her person; she hadn't deliberately targeted anyone and hadn't even met Song Weiwei before this.

You can't say that in a critical moment, she had an exotic treasure but didn't use it, allowing Lu Ye to restrain and kill her. What would she have done wrong then?

He wasn't wrong either. His partnership with Song Weiwei was a coincidence. Lu Ye was actually quite satisfied with this companion; she was just a bit cold, but that was fine. He wasn't trying to fall in love with her, as long as they could cooperate in killing enemies.

If they were to truly meet again, could they truly bring themselves to kill each other?

Lu Ye's mood suddenly became a little heavy. In fact, all along, he hadn't had a clear feeling about the bloody cruelty of this competition because he was generally on the stronger side. Until now...

Beside the realm, the blonde woman slowly spoke, "I still don't know what to call Senior Brother."

It was quite comical to think about; from enemies to companions, they had met several times, yet truly didn't know each other's names.

"Lu Ye."

"Senior Brother Lu, my name is Su Yan."

"Su Yan..." Lu Ye nodded, inexplicably thinking of Su Yuqing. They shared the same surname, but Su Yuqing was much more mature than her.

In terms of age, Lu Ye was certain that Su Yan was much older than Su Yuqing, but due to their different experiences, Su Yan appeared like a young girl.

"Junior Sister, you're not human, are you?" Lu Ye asked.

Although from her appearance, Su Yan looked very much like a human and had no characteristics of other races, Lu Ye could feel that she was not human, but belonged to another race.

This woman's aura was very noble and sacred.

"My ancestors were human. As for my race..." Su Yan smiled slightly. "Senior Brother will know later."

She kept it a secret, presumably because it wasn't convenient to explain.

Lu Ye didn't ask further. After all, they had just met, so there was no need to pry.

"Senior Brother Lu, let's clear the battlefield first," Su Yan suggested.

Clearing the battlefield meant collecting the Star Abyss Coins left behind by the dead Dao Integration cultivators, because according to the rules of the competition, any cultivator only left this after death.

"You rest, I'll do it," Lu Ye said.

"Then I'll trouble Senior Brother," Su Yan readily agreed.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Ye took out a Dao power bottle from his spatial ring and handed it to Su Yan. "This contains a lot of Dao power; you can refine it to recover."

Since he was already forcibly bound to Su Yan, he could only accept his fate. In any case, Su Yan certainly had strength and could form a perfect synergy with him.

The Dao power liquid stored in the Dao power bottle was not of much use to Lu Ye, so it could be used for Su Yan's recovery.

"Thank you, Senior Brother," Su Yan happily accepted it, increasingly feeling that partnering with Lu Ye was a wise choice, especially after having previously felt the vastness of his Dao power reserve.

Before today, she still didn't have much confidence in this competition, but now, with Lu Ye as her backing, she no longer feared any opponents, even if they were stronger than her.

The clone didn't move, still guarding by Su Yan's side. Although all nearby Dao Integration cultivators were drawn away because the female Ghost Cultivator took the affiliated treasure, who could guarantee that no one was lurking in the dark, secretly observing?

So, it was still best to be cautious.

On the true body's side, he summoned nine precious blood clones and began clearing the battlefield, collecting Star Abyss Coins.

Although Lu Ye had already condensed a drop of Dao blood due to the advancement of his Blood Clan lineage, his previous precious blood had not disappeared and could still condense precious blood clones.

These clones weren't of much use, but they were fine for doing grunt work.