Chapter 361: Good Stuff

At this thought, Lu Ye quickly stood up and beckoned Ju Jia to go deeper into the forest.

A short while later, Lu Ye stood under a large tree, looking up at a bone-white, oval-shaped beehive. He hadn't expected to find a second beehive so easily.

Ju Jia ascended on his artifact, took down the beehive, and placed it into a storage bag.

There were certainly many hornets still inside the beehive, but the space within the storage bag was not suitable for living creatures. If placed directly inside like this, it wouldn't be long before all the hornets died.

As they continued forward, their findings continued.

Lu Ye once again took out his detailed map to check his current location. Only after confirming that this area was not part of a hegemon-level monster's territory did he feel relieved.

He had good reason to worry. Such a large harvest indicated a vast number of hornets in this area. A population with such a massive base would inevitably produce powerful individuals. If a hegemon-level entity were to appear, he'd be in serious trouble.

Fortunately, his detailed map had no special markings, which meant this area was still relatively safe.

After collecting ten beehives, Lu Ye realized with some embarrassment that he didn't have enough storage bags. He had killed many cultivators from the Myriad Devil Ridge before and confiscated a large number of storage bags, but he had generally opened them, taken out the contents to consolidate them, and then discarded the empty ones.

The space inside each storage bag was limited, and their sizes were similar. Each beehive was about a *zhang* in size, some even larger. A single storage bag could fit about three beehives at most.

It was rare to encounter such valuable items, so Lu Ye naturally wanted to collect more. Not only could the honey inside the beehives be used as food reserves to restore physical strength and spiritual power, but if brought back to the sect for new disciples to consume, it could also accelerate their growth.

Not having enough storage bags was easy to solve: he just needed to kill some cultivators from the Myriad Devil Ridge.

Having made his decision, Lu Ye then set up a large Concealment Array on the spot, using the Concealment Spirit Rune as its core, to hide his form and aura. He then quietly lay in wait.

There was no need to deliberately search for Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators. These guys were like persistent pests; he just needed to wait a while, and they would walk right into his trap.

In less than two hours, rustling sounds came from all directions, and a team of over twenty Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators appeared nearby.

The group of twenty-plus cultivators wasn't too concentrated, but also not too scattered. This formation ensured that even if they stepped into an array, they wouldn't be wiped out in one swoop, and could still support each other if attacked.

Everyone in the group looked very wary, as no one could guarantee that Lu Yiye wouldn't suddenly emerge and attack at any moment.

Many Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators had already died in this dense forest, and they certainly didn't want to follow in their footsteps.

In this group, there was one Heaven Tier 9 cultivator, with the rest being Heaven Tier 7 or 8. They subtly revolved around the Heaven Tier 9 cultivator as their core during their movements.

Just as everyone was on guard, a whistling sound of something cutting through the air suddenly rang out.

The Heaven Tier 9 cultivator's expression tightened as a sudden, immense sense of crisis arose in his heart. As he hastily turned his head, he only saw streaks of light attacking him.

Among this group, this person was the strongest, so Lu Ye naturally wanted to deal with him first. Moreover, the distance between them wasn't far, placing him within the optimal range for a sneak attack.

To ensure a fatal blow against this person, Lu Ye unleashed all nine spirit artifacts from his weapon box, almost instantaneously deploying his strongest power.

This person reacted quickly. From his appearance, he was clearly a spell cultivator. As he activated his spiritual power, a thick spiritual energy barrier appeared before him, and he simultaneously dodged rapidly to the side.

A series of thudding sounds rang out as streaks of light from the artifacts, like shooting stars, slammed into the spiritual energy barrier. The spirit artifacts, enhanced with sharp spirit runes, instantly shattered the barrier, followed by a gush of hot blood.

"Enemy attack!" the spell cultivator roared. However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground, a large pool of blood staining the ground.

Being ambushed by Lu Ye in such a position, perhaps only a Heaven Tier 9 body cultivator could have survived.

The remaining Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators quickly retaliated. Streaks of light from artifacts and spells overwhelmingly blasted towards Lu Ye's location.

Lu Ye had already dodged aside, but it was tough for Ju Jia. He didn't have Lu Ye's speed and could only raise an arm. As spiritual power and vital energy surged around him, they transformed into a turtle shell-like barrier, blocking in front of him.

A series of dense impacts rang out as Ju Jia's figure couldn't help but retreat. Even as powerful as he was, he found it somewhat unbearable to withstand a concentrated assault from so many Heaven Tier cultivators.

Countless tiny cracks instantly appeared on the turtle shell-like barrier. Though continuously mended by his vital energy and spiritual power, it was still difficult to maintain.

The whistling sound of something cutting through the air rang out again. While the Myriad Devil Ridge group was attacking Ju Jia, Lu Ye wasn't idle. His nine artifacts transformed into streaks of light, weaving back and forth among the crowd to distract their attention. He himself, holding his blade, charged towards the nearest enemy.

"Kill Lu Yiye!" someone shouted. Everyone quickly changed their targets and launched attacks at him.

Just then, not far from the group, Yi Yi's figure suddenly appeared. As she activated her spiritual power, a massive golden disc, with runes flowing and spiritual power surging, appeared above her head. As the disc spun, golden arcs of energy rained down like a storm.

This wasn't all. Amber, perched on Ju Jia's head, let out a roar towards the densest part of the crowd. The visible impact made the Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators feel as if they had been struck by a heavy hammer. For a moment, they felt dizzy and disoriented, their spiritual power faltering, and their attacks slowed.

Even so, Lu Ye was bleeding and forced to retreat. If he hadn't, seeing the unfavorable situation, quickly formed a defensive spirit rune barrier in front of him, he would have been severely injured, if not killed, by that single blow.

Ju Jia charged forward to meet Lu Ye. The reformed turtle shell barrier only lasted for three breaths before shattering with a crash.

The Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators perfectly demonstrated the saying, "Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them."

A powerful Heaven Tier 9 spell cultivator was killed in a single encounter by Lu Ye's sneak attack. Yet, even with him, Ju Jia, Yi Yi, and Amber working together, they couldn't gain any significant advantage against so many Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators.

After cultivators switched to Heaven Tier cultivation techniques, their overall strength significantly increased. In the inner circle, Lu Ye and Ju Jia combined would have been enough to contend with over twenty cultivators of similar cultivation levels, but in the core circle, it was different.

Ju Jia protected Lu Ye, fighting and retreating. Using the cover of the trees, he blocked attacks from behind and fled deeper into the dense forest.

"Don't let him escape!" a shout rang out, and the Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators quickly gave chase.

"Watch out for traps!" another person shouted. No one could be sure if Lu Yiye had set up any arrays ahead.

One side fled recklessly, while the other pursued cautiously. How could they keep up? A moment later, they lost sight of Lu Ye and Ju Jia.

They stopped, looking disheveled and frustrated. The group exchanged glances, all with faces full of anger and dissatisfaction.

This hastily erupted battle caused them to lose seven or eight people. The leading Heaven Tier 9 spell cultivator died exceptionally fast, almost instantly upon Lu Ye's attack. Although Lu Yiye also seemed injured, no one was sure of the extent of his injuries.

What made them even more helpless was that when they returned to the previous battlefield to investigate, they found that the storage bags of the deceased cultivators had vanished at some point.

The missing storage bags were naturally taken by Yi Yi, who had looted the bodies. While the Myriad Devil Ridge cultivators were chasing Lu Ye, she had quietly run back.

An hour later, beside a mountain stream, Lu Ye took off his blood-soaked clothes, washed himself clean, and bandaged his wounds with Yi Yi's help.

The current situation was somewhat troublesome for him. Being continuously hunted by the Myriad Devil Ridge like this, he was unwilling to simply retreat. However, counterattacking also carried significant risks. Take the recent battle, for instance; if Ju Jia hadn't been strong enough, they would have all died long ago.

Few Body Cultivators at the Spirit Stream Realm could withstand that level of concentrated attack. Ju Jia blocked two rounds, and their eventual escape was also thanks to Ju Jia's protection.

Even so, he sustained moderate injuries.

It must be said, the Myriad Devil Ridge's deployment of a twenty-plus-person team indeed made it difficult for him to break through.

If he had enough array flags and array bases to set up formations, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with them. Previously, with arrays, he could even wipe out seventy people; twenty-plus people were nothing in comparison.

But the array flags and array bases he bought from the Heavenly Mystery Treasury were all used up. He couldn't make bricks without straw.

There wasn't much he could do now. He could only try his best to find good opportunities and inflict as much damage as possible on the Myriad Devil Ridge.

Composing himself, he broke the restrictions on the storage bags, consolidated their contents, rested for a while longer, and then set off again.

Yi Yi brought back over ten storage bags. This didn't mean they had just killed over ten people; it was mainly because some cultivators carried more than one storage bag.

With so many storage bags, it was almost certainly enough.

No matter how many beehives there were here, there had to be a limit.

Half a day later, Lu Ye and Ju Jia, having collected more beehives, were resting when Yi Yi, who had been scouting the vicinity, suddenly returned. "Lu Ye, Lu Ye," she excitedly exclaimed, "I found something good!"

As she spoke, she grabbed Lu Ye's hand and pulled him up.

"What good thing?"

Lu Ye became interested. Yi Yi had been with him all this time and wasn't unfamiliar with the world's treasures. For her to be so excited, it must be something extraordinary. Furthermore, this was deep within Misty Mountain; no one knew what kind of rare treasures might be hidden here.

"You'll know once you see it."

Led by Yi Yi, the group quickly headed in one direction.

Soon, Lu Ye showed a look of surprise because he smelled a very rich floral scent. Moreover, the scent didn't feel like the aroma of a single flower, but rather like the combined fragrance of countless flowers, with incredibly complex layers.

The view ahead suddenly opened up. The dense forest, which had remained unchanged since they entered Misty Mountain, abruptly gave way. Yi Yi led him to a rock face, pointing to a vibrant expanse of colorful flowers below and saying, "Look."

Lu Ye looked down. He saw a vast, undulating sea of flowers filling the valley below, so beautiful it seemed otherworldly.