Chapter 29: The Situation

Wind Rises in Kyushu

Lu Ye stared intently at the back of his hand, taking a long time to regain his senses.

Recalling everything that had happened, the mark on the back of his hand was undoubtedly related to the sect master having stamped it with that large seal. He didn't know what it was, but there were too many unknowns in this world. The unknown wasn't terrifying; he could only face it calmly now.

The good news was that he had confirmed his location: he was indeed in the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Just by looking at the prefix of the battlefield's name, Lu Ye had a bad feeling. If he wasn't mistaken, this was a battlefield only accessible to cultivators in the Spirit Creek Realm. As a minor cultivator who had only opened three apertures, he was undoubtedly in grave danger in this unfamiliar place. He had just encountered a pack of wolves; what if he encountered a group of cultivators? Since it was a battlefield, cultivators must certainly be present! As for the two warring factions on this battlefield, it was undoubtedly the Haotian Alliance and the Myriad Demon Ridge.

He understood the sect master's original intention in sending him here. Given the circumstances, the sect master couldn't possibly fight others while bringing him along. If they insisted on fighting, he, a minor cultivator, would certainly meet a bad end. The sect master had sent him in out of utter helplessness, trying to find him a path to survival in a desperate situation.

The sect master seemed to have tucked something into his robes earlier. Thinking of this, Lu Ye quickly checked. He soon found a storage bag. Opening it, he pulled out several bottles, some stacks of talisman paper-like items, a few sets of clothes, and then a jade slip. He inspected them one by one.

The bottles contained only two types of spirit pills: Blood Qi Pills and Spirit Nurturing Pills. There were more Spirit Nurturing Pills, about twenty pills in two bottles, while the Blood Qi Pills were fewer, less than ten in one bottle. As for the talisman papers, he had never seen them before, but he vaguely guessed what they were. Sure enough, upon inspection, he found they were spirit talismans. Among external cultivators, there were those skilled in drawing talismans. Spirit talismans could assist cultivators in combat or cultivation, but Lu Ye had never encountered them before, so he naturally hadn't seen them.

The storage bag contained many types of spirit talismans: Vajra Talismans for defense, Fire Serpent Talismans for attack, and even auxiliary talismans like Aura Concealment Talismans and Shadow Folding Talismans for hiding one's tracks. The purpose of each talisman was clearly written, as if fearing Lu Ye wouldn't understand, and there were over thirty of them in total.

Looking at these items, a warmth welled up in Lu Ye's heart. Undoubtedly, these items were specifically prepared for him by the sect master, because neither the spirit pills nor the spirit talismans were suitable for a cultivator of the sect master's level; they were only useful for someone at Lu Ye's stage. The clothes, needless to say, were clearly suitable for a young man. Recalling the days the sect master had been absent on the Flying Dragon Boat, Lu Ye understood that it must have been during those days that the sect master had collected these suitable items from disciples of other sects. Perhaps the sect master had intended to give them to him upon returning to Aoshan, but encountering such an incident midway, he handed them over early.

For someone just beginning their cultivation journey, these items were undoubtedly a huge fortune. Not to mention the bottles of spirit pills, even the spirit talismans felt invaluable to Lu Ye. He hadn't found any spirit talismans at all in Steward Yang's and Zhou Cheng's storage bags, which suggested that spirit talismans must be very valuable. Yet, the sect master had collected over thirty of them, with various uses.

Taking a gentle breath, Lu Ye put the items away and picked up the jade slip. If he wasn't mistaken, this jade slip was likely the one the sect master had taken out while fleeing with him. At that time, the sect master had asked him if he had heard of the Spirit Creek Battlefield. When Lu Ye replied that he hadn't, the sect master took out a jade slip and placed it on his forehead. It probably contained information the sect master wanted to leave for him. The situation had been urgent then, and the sect master had no time to explain, so he could only convey it this way.

Lu Ye channeled his spiritual power into the jade slip, but there was no reaction, which puzzled him. After a moment's thought, he mimicked the sect master, placing the jade slip on his forehead and channeling his spiritual power again. This time, a flood of information rushed into his mind, causing his spirit to momentarily daze. A moment later, he put down the jade slip, his expression complex.

The jade slip indeed contained some information left by the sect master, specifically about the Spirit Creek Battlefield. The Nine Provinces was a world composed of nine major continents, but the Nine Provinces World was not limited to these nine continents. Besides them, there were other spaces. The Spirit Creek Battlefield was one such place. No one knew the exact location of the Spirit Creek Battlefield within the Nine Provinces World. Even cultivators in the Divine Sea Realm had attempted to explore this mystery, but over countless years, no one had obtained any useful clues, and the matter eventually remained unresolved. The conflict between the Haotian Alliance and the Myriad Demon Ridge was not limited to the Nine Provinces World itself; the fiercest battles actually took place in these spatial battlefields.

To enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield, one had to use a Heavenly Secret Pillar, which was the crystal pillar Lu Ye had seen before. Every sect possessed one of these, and even if a sect was destroyed, its pillar would be preserved. Over countless years, innumerable sects in the Nine Provinces World had been annihilated, so the Heavenly Secret Pillars scattered in the wild were as numerous as stars. When cultivators entered the Spirit Creek Battlefield through their sect's Heavenly Secret Pillar, they would appear in a fixed territory. This territory was usually established by the sect as its stronghold in the battlefield, continuously guarded by powerful cultivators to prevent sneak attacks.

However, if a cultivator did not enter the battlefield through their own sect's Heavenly Secret Pillar, they would appear randomly somewhere in the battlefield. Therefore, cultivators generally entered the battlefield via their own sect's Heavenly Secret Pillar. They would rarely use another sect's, unless they received that sect's approval and had an imprint branded on them with a specific grand seal, allowing them to appear at that sect's stronghold. The situation Lu Ye and the sect master faced at the time left the sect master with few choices. Even knowing that sending Lu Ye into the Spirit Creek Battlefield meant risking great danger, he had to take a chance.

After examining the information in the jade slip, Lu Ye understood his predicament. He was currently somewhere in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, but he didn't know where, as the entire battlefield was extremely vast, comparable in size to a continent. The invisible mark on the back of his hand was a battle imprint, which every cultivator entering the battlefield possessed. It recorded the cultivator's origin, cultivation level, and merits. This mark was also connected to his way out. His battle imprint had been branded by the sect master using the Bloody Sect's grand seal. Because of this, the imprint had a connection to the Heavenly Secret Pillar at the Bloody Sect's stronghold. By following this connection, Lu Ye could make his way to the Bloody Sect's stronghold in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, and from there, he would be able to return to the Bloody Sect!