Chapter 25: Sneak Attack

Lu Ye was gently woken by the Sect Master. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Sect Master standing beside him, and he quickly rose.

"Sect Master," Lu Ye said, rubbing his eyes and patting his face, instantly feeling much more awake.

"It's time to disembark," the Sect Master said with a smile.

The more than ten sects of the Haotian Alliance had retreated together from Evil Moon Valley and were now within the Haotian Alliance's territory. Naturally, they were returning to their respective homes; several sects had already departed.

Lu Ye packed his bedding, put it into his storage bag, tidied his appearance, and followed the Sect Master out of the cabin.

A short while later, they reached the deck, where a tall, imposing middle-aged man was waiting.

Lu Ye didn't recognize the man. After a brief glance, he sensed an aura of warfare and martial might about him.

The Sect Master stepped forward and exchanged a few words with the man.

The man suddenly turned to Lu Ye, who was standing beside the Sect Master, and said, "It is your good fortune to join the Crimson Blood Sect. You must cultivate diligently and never bring shame to its reputation."

"Yes, sir!" Lu Ye quickly replied.

The Sect Master clasped his fists and said, "Then I shall take my leave."

"Please!" the middle-aged man gestured.

With a flip of his hand, the Sect Master produced an object from seemingly nowhere and tossed it. Amidst a flash of spiritual light, a two-horse carriage appeared on the deck.

The two horses pulling the carriage were pure white and exceptionally magnificent. They snorted softly, their hooves restlessly pawing the ground.

Before Lu Ye could get a clear look, he found himself involuntarily floating into the carriage. It was the Sect Master, who had enveloped him with spiritual power.

"Open the formation!" the middle-aged man shouted. At his command, a gap opened in the Flying Dragon Ship's defensive array, allowing a fierce wind to whistle through, making the clothes of everyone on deck flap wildly.

The Sect Master and the middle-aged man clasped their fists in farewell. As the two horses pulling the carriage reared up and neighed, clusters of spiritual light erupted around their hooves. They surged through the gap in the defensive array and galloped away into the distance at an incredibly high speed.

After watching the two-horse carriage disappear from sight, the middle-aged man turned and strode towards a cabin, tossing out a command: "Bring that scoundrel Pang Dahai to me!"

"Yes, sir!" several Haotian Alliance cultivators replied, a hint of schadenfreude on their faces. Although they didn't know what Junior Brother Pang had done to anger the Vice Alliance Master this time, judging by the Vice Alliance Master's demeanor, Junior Brother Pang was certainly in for a rough time.

Inside the two-horse carriage, Lu Ye excitedly looked and touched everything, his eyes wide with wonder.

Having been in the Nine Provinces for over a year, only in the past few days had he realized that his understanding of the Nine Provinces was far from the true nature of this world. There were too many things here that he couldn't have imagined.

Examples included the Flying Dragon Ship and this two-horse carriage. This immense gap in his understanding made him truly grasp one thing.

This was a world of cultivation, and joining the Crimson Blood Sect had given him the means to integrate into it. As his cultivation grew, the wonders of this world would gradually reveal themselves.

Otherwise, spending his entire life mining in the ore veins, how could he ever witness such vibrant marvels?

"These two horses... are they not living beings?" Lu Ye asked, standing on the carriage shaft. He reached out and touched the rear of the horse in front, finding no sensation of flesh and blood. Instead, it felt like cold metal.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the two horses indeed lacked the vital essence of living creatures. They were merely too lifelike, creating an illusion of living beings.

The carriage compartment behind him was open-sided, with a large umbrella above it. The umbrella spun with the wind, and threads of spiritual light hung down like silk, blocking the fierce winds from high altitudes.

The Sect Master, seated in the carriage compartment, heard him and chuckled, "These are creations of the Mechanists, used for transportation."

"Mechanists?" Lu Ye asked curiously.

"They are a type of External Cultivator, skilled in crafting artifacts. You'll encounter them if you have the chance in the future."

Lu Ye stopped asking questions and continued to observe with interest for a while longer before obediently sitting down in the carriage compartment.

The compartment was spacious; accommodating three to five people would not be an issue.

Of course, he wasn't so foolish as to sit directly beside the Sect Master. He understood the basic respect for teachers. He sat facing the Sect Master, on the surface of the carriage compartment before him.

"How has your cultivation been going?" the Sect Master inquired.

"Quite smoothly," Lu Ye replied. Through his recent cultivation, he had confirmed one thing: there seemed to be no significant hidden dangers in his method of cultivating by consuming pills.

In the past few days, he had consumed over ten Spirit-Nourishing Pills and opened his third aperture. Regardless of others' cultivation efficiency, it was certainly impossible for them to continuously take spiritual pills as he did.

The accumulation of pill toxins, which the Sect Master had warned could lead to sluggish and unclear spiritual power, had also not appeared.

It was also possible that it was simply not yet time for such issues to manifest, as he had only consumed a little over ten Spirit-Nourishing Pills. This point would require further observation to confirm.

He was contemplating whether to inform the Sect Master about his opened apertures. As he hesitated, he heard the Sect Master ask, "Among the Six Cultivation Paths, which one do you wish to pursue?"

The "Six Cultivation Paths" were undoubtedly the information Pang Dahai had mentioned earlier.

Lu Ye had genuinely not considered this. At present, he had just begun to delve into the world of cultivation and was ignorant of almost everything. How could he have thought about deciding his future path?

So he humbly asked, "What does the Sect Master think?"

Elder Tang stroked his beard and said, "Your physique isn't robust, nor do you possess any extraordinary innate talents, so Body Cultivation isn't very suitable for you. Your primary element is Fire with Metal as a secondary, so Ghost Cultivation and Medical Cultivation are also unsuitable. That leaves only Martial Cultivation, Spiritual Cultivation, and External Cultivation. Speaking of External Cultivation, every cultivator, to some extent, understands some External Cultivation techniques, so it can be considered a supplementary path, not requiring specialization."

Lu Ye understood. "So, the paths suitable for me are only Martial Cultivation and Spiritual Cultivation?"

"That's correct."

"Which path does the Sect Master follow?" Lu Ye asked curiously.

Elder Tang chuckled. "I am a Spiritual Cultivator. You don't need to emulate me. Determining your path is a gradual process; you must consult your true desires. I'm asking you these questions now simply to give you a concept, not to rush you into a decision. Once we return to Ao Mountain..."

Lu Ye was listening intently to the Sect Master's guidance when suddenly, the world spun around him. Immediately afterward, a deafening roar and explosion shattered the air.

As his vision spun, he caught sight of a fierce blaze burning in the air. Focusing his gaze, he realized the burning object was a two-horse carriage. The carriage, attacked by some unknown force, had been torn to pieces, and the two magnificent horses pulling it were also shattered and falling apart.

Lu Ye shook his head, feeling that the burning two-horse carriage looked exactly like the one he had been riding.

He suddenly realized that it *was* the carriage he and the Sect Master had been traveling in, which had just been hit by an unknown attack!

Only at this moment did he notice that the Sect Master had already taken him away from the carriage. He was now floating in mid-air, enveloped in a radiant spiritual light emanating from the Sect Master. With one hand forming a seal, the Sect Master cast a cold gaze around, his expression extremely grave.