Chapter 253: Dividing the Spoils

Furthermore, a few months ago, when Lu Ye's identity was exposed and he was pursued by the Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge, it was the cultivators from the Vast Sky Alliance who, relaying one after another, protected him and ensured his safety. Without those cultivators, whom he didn't know and whose names and origins he would never learn, Lu Ye would have died on the road long ago.

Therefore, even though he had no prior relationship with the cultivators from Silverlight Island, Lu Ye was willing to offer them more benefits, simply because they belonged to the same Vast Sky Alliance faction.

The two major factions were in opposition and conflict; if they weren't genuinely united, they would have been gradually consumed by the other side long ago.

Luo Fu didn't know what Lu Ye was asking for, but he had a vague guess. He was a straightforward person, so after a slight pause, he laughed heartily and said, "Alright, Brother Yi Ye, I, Luo, have found a friend in you."

He immediately added Lu Ye's mark on the spot.

Lu Ye sent out another message. A moment later, accompanied by a rumbling sound, Ying Jiao darted out of the Heavenly Mystery Hall and gradually moved further away, watched by a group of Silverlight Island cultivators.

It had been led away by Yi Yi.

Previously, its relentless pursuit of the Qingtian Sect cultivators, even into the Heavenly Mystery Hall, was all Yi Yi acting on Lu Ye's instructions. As for Ying Jiao, it had no interest in the grievances between cultivators, nor did it wish to bully the weak. For many years, it had lived a reclusive life in its dwelling lake, truly a homebody.

If not for the immense attraction of that scale, it wouldn't have caused such a commotion.

"Brother Yi Ye, please go first," Luo Fu gestured.

Lu Ye no longer declined this time. Instead, he walked into the Heavenly Mystery Hall. Looking around, the once orderly Heavenly Mystery Hall was in disarray. A huge deep pit had appeared in one spot, with a few snake scales remaining beside it.

He approached the Heavenly Mystery Pillar and placed his hand on it. Using his identity as the Bloodflame Sect's garrison envoy, he plundered the Qingtian Sect's blessings.

He clearly felt that many things were continuously being added to his mark, as if they were individual imprints. As he plundered, crackling sounds continuously emanated from within the Heavenly Mystery Pillar, as if it could collapse at any moment.

But Lu Ye knew that this object could not be broken. After all, it was a Heavenly Mystery gift.

This was a reaction to plundering blessings. Similar to purchasing blessings from the Heavenly Mystery Pillar, some intricate structures within the Heavenly Mystery Pillar were related to the density of spiritual energy within the Pillar's covered area. During the process of purchasing or plundering blessings, these intricate structures were altered.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Qingtian Sect's stronghold decreased at a very noticeable rate.

A moment later, Lu Ye walked out and gave Luo Fu a slight nod.

Luo Fu immediately walked in. By the time he came out, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Qingtian Sect's stronghold was almost as sparse as in the wild.

Lu Ye didn't immediately know how much he had gained. Such things could only be known upon returning to the Bloodflame Sect, because plundered blessings couldn't directly convert into merit points; they had to be stored in the Bloodflame Sect's Heavenly Mystery Pillar to be transformed.

Unfortunately, during the plundering process, a large amount of blessings were lost, otherwise, the gains would have been even greater.

The Silverlight Island cultivators were still looting. The Qingtian Sect had its own spiritual fields and medicinal gardens, where spiritual flowers and rare herbs were cultivated. These were all valuable items.

Moreover, the entire area of the Qingtian Sect's stronghold was much larger than that of the Bloodflame Sect. This wasn't a benefit unique to inner circle sects, but rather something the Qingtian Sect had purchased with merit points.

The area covered by the Heavenly Mystery Pillar defined the extent of a sect's stronghold. Initially, every sect was the same. By spending a certain amount of merit points, they could expand the area covered by the Heavenly Mystery Pillar, thereby expanding the stronghold's size.

A larger stronghold, with sufficient space, naturally offered benefits.

So, theoretically, if there were enough merit points, a sect's stronghold could be infinitely vast, even extending its boundaries right next to another sect's stronghold. However, theory is one thing; in reality, no sect had enough merit points to extensively expand its stronghold. Most simply had enough for basic use.

An hour later, the Silverlight Island cultivators reassembled and boarded their ship one by one under Luo Fu's command.

He extended an invitation to Lu Ye. Lu Ye naturally didn't refuse, as it was a good opportunity to accompany Luo Fu to the Silverlight Island stronghold.

This large ship-shaped flying spiritual artifact was clearly very valuable. It was likely purchased by Silverlight Island from the Heavenly Mystery Treasure Vault using their sect's merit points. However, compared to the Flying Dragon Ship Lu Ye had once ridden, it was still far inferior.

The Flying Dragon Ship was truly a formidable weapon for attacking cities and conquering strongholds. In contrast, Silverlight Island's large ship was merely a flying spiritual artifact. It had some defensive capabilities, but no offensive power.

After arranging for Lu Ye to rest in a cabin, Luo Fu went to attend to his duties.

Silverlight Island also sustained some casualties in this battle, but very few. The spoils of war they obtained also needed to be tallied, and half of those belonged to Lu Ye.

As the Silverlight Island cultivators returned by ship, various messages had already been sent through different channels to the nearby major forces.

This was, of course, the doing of the deceased Zou Qi. Before his death, he leaked the fact that Silverlight Island could control Ying Jiao.

His purpose was simple: since his own stronghold had been ruined, he had to warn other Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge forces.

Moreover, after he revealed this news, it was very likely that several nearby Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge forces would unite to encircle and annihilate Silverlight Island.

After all, being able to control a Ying Jiao was too terrifying. If it were a sect in the core circle, they might not be as wary, as there were many strong cultivators there who had cultivated Heaven-tier techniques. However, in the inner circle, a single Ying Jiao against any force was essentially an insurmountable problem.

With such concerns, the nearby Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge forces would likely not rest easy, even in their sleep, fearing that Ying Jiao might attack their strongholds one day.

Of course, there was another possibility: under the deterrence of Ying Jiao, those Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge forces would no longer dare to provoke Silverlight Island.

Zou Qi didn't know how things would unfold, but he was about to die, so he didn't care about so much. He just wanted to reveal the matter of Ying Jiao first.

This led to nearby major forces quickly dispatching personnel to the Qingtian Sect's stronghold to investigate the situation. Among them were not only those from the Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge but also from the Vast Sky Alliance. It was unknown how the news transmitted by Zou Qi leaked so quickly to the Vast Sky Alliance.

Upon arriving at the scene, a group of Ninth-Layer cultivators from various backgrounds all felt a pang of sorrow.

The entire Qingtian Sect stronghold was a mess at that moment, with countless collapsed buildings. There were also traces of lingering fires. Indeed, before the Silverlight Island cultivators withdrew, they had set a fire here, which was truly inhumane.

The flowers and herbs in the spiritual fields and medicinal gardens, whether ripe or unripe, had all been uprooted. Traces of a great battle still remained on the Heavenly Mystery Hall plaza, with fresh bloodstains and scattered corpses visible everywhere.

The entire Qingtian Sect stronghold was utterly devastated. Upon receiving the news that the Silverlight Island cultivators had withdrawn, Qingtian Sect cultivators who had returned from the Nine Provinces to investigate the situation knelt on the ground, roaring at the sky and weeping bitterly.

It was truly tragic!

More and more cultivators arrived to investigate. As a result, a great battle even broke out there, with Ninth-Layer cultivators from both factions fighting fiercely. In the end, no one knew who won.

Half a day later, at Silverlight Island's stronghold nestled among the mountains and fields, Lu Ye disembarked with Yi Yi. Amber lay lazily on his shoulder.

Luo Fu personally led Lu Ye to a two-story building, settled him in, and said they would hold a welcome feast for him that evening. He explained that due to the significant contribution Lu Ye made in breaking the Qingtian Sect's stronghold, he needed to return to his main sect to report on his duties quickly, and thus temporarily had no time to accompany him.

He informed Lu Ye that if he had any needs, he should just tell Hao Ren and his sister.

After Luo Fu left, Lu Ye told Hao Ren and his sister to go rest, instructing them to send him a message if anything came up. Then he went upstairs with Yi Yi.

On the way back, Lu Ye learned from Yi Yi that after she had lured Ying Jiao ten li away, she put the scale into her storage bag. Ying Jiao, however, was bewildered...

It threw a temper tantrum for a while at the spot where the scale's aura disappeared, before dragging its long body away. Yi Yi observed from a distance, noticing that its eyes seemed a bit forlorn.

Judging by the direction Ying Jiao left in, it seemed to be returning to the lake where it had always resided. As for whether it actually did, Yi Yi couldn't be sure, because Lu Ye had already sent her a message telling her to return.

In the room, Yi Yi sat in meditation to recover, while Amber ate spirit pills.

Previously, Yi Yi had been moving underground with the scale, which had consumed a fair amount of energy. So, she naturally needed to recover now.

Lu Ye, meanwhile, examined his spiritual apertures. He was considering whether to advance to the Eighth-Layer realm.

Previously, he considered that killing enemies at the Seventh-Layer yielded more merit points, and he now had the capability to kill enemies two stages higher than himself, so he wasn't afraid even when facing Ninth-Layer cultivators.

But now it seemed, killing a Ninth-Layer cultivator while at the Seventh-Layer still required some effort. It would be better to advance to the Eighth-Layer realm sooner.

Furthermore, the merit points gained from killing enemies were far less than those from occupying enemy strongholds. Most of the merit points he had obtained so far came from the latter, with only a minority coming from killing enemies directly.

It was still important to quickly advance to the Eighth-Layer realm. Cultivation was the greatest guarantee.

"Fellow Daoist Yi Ye," a voice suddenly called from downstairs.

Lu Ye poked his head out of the window for a look. He saw a young man in green robes standing below. Seemingly sensing Lu Ye's gaze, the young man looked up, smiled gently, and clasped his fists, saying, "Pardon the disturbance, Fellow Daoist."

"One moment."

Lu Ye withdrew his head, went downstairs, and opened the door. The young man was standing outside, accompanied by Hao Ren and his sister. At that moment, both were carrying a large pile of storage bags.

Seeing this scene, Lu Ye immediately understood that Silverlight Island had come to give him his share of the spoils.

The efficiency was quite good.

"I am Qi Shi, Deputy Garrison Envoy of Silverlight Island. It is a pleasure to meet Fellow Daoist Yi Ye."

"Fellow Daoist Qi, you are too kind. Please come in."

This small building was likely Silverlight Island's designated guesthouse. The upper floor was for resting, and the lower floor was for receiving guests.

Leading Qi Shi and the Hao Ren siblings inside, Qi Shi said, "These items are half of the gains from Silverlight Island. Senior Brother Luo had an agreement with you earlier, so I took the liberty of bringing them over. Fellow Daoist, where would you like them placed?"

This large pile of storage bags contained at least one or two hundred bags.

"Please take them upstairs."

Yi Yi led the way, guiding Hao Ren and his sister upstairs. After they put down the storage bags, she came back down.

After Hao Ren and his sister left, Lu Ye and Qi Shi chatted. Lu Ye was mainly seeking advice from Qi Shi, as he wasn't very skilled in managing a stronghold. Since Qi Shi was a deputy envoy, he naturally had experience. There was no harm in learning from others.

Yi Yi stood by, brewing tea, while silently listening.

Lu Ye occasionally glanced at her, feeling a bit surprised. He hadn't known Yi Yi possessed such a skill.