Chapter 386: Huge Shame

Splashes of blood sprayed, accompanied by flying streaks of light, as screams rose incessantly. Wherever Lu Ye went, a bloody storm ensued, with limbs and flesh flying everywhere. Behind him, with the deaths of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators, tiny red glows emerged, relentlessly chasing his figure.

By the time Lu Ye forcefully broke through the Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators' formation, the red glows chasing him from behind had reached thirty points. Each glow represented the fall of a cultivator; thirty glows meant thirty cultivators, and many more were injured. The glows disappeared one by one, falling into Lu Ye's battlefield mark.

The bodies of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators fell from the sky like dumplings, plunging into the emerald-green poisonous miasma below. Although the losses were not small, compared to the sheer number of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators, they were insignificant.

The sound of swords rang out; the sword cultivators had returned. Streaks of flying swords, radiating brilliant sword light, pierced through the sky. More agile and lethal than the controlled artifacts of cultivators from other schools, they posed a great threat to Lu Ye even before they drew near. The speed of flying swords was incomparable to the speed at which cultivators flew on their artifacts; almost the instant the sword light surged, the flying swords had already reached him.

Lu Ye's figure plunged abruptly downwards, falling directly into the boundless poisonous miasma and vanishing from sight. Streaks of sword light pursued him closely, delving deep into the miasma. However, the sword cultivators soon realized something was wrong: after their flying swords entered the miasma, they quickly became sluggish, and their connection with their swords weakened, causing each flying sword's spiritual essence to diminish.

The potent venom within the miasma had extremely strong corrosive properties, which undoubtedly greatly restrained the spiritual artifacts wielded by cultivators. The situation was grim. The sword cultivators' expressions grew solemn. No matter how numerous or powerful they were, in a battle within the Myriad Venom Forest, the initiative would always be with Lu Ye. Lu Yiye dared to plunge directly into the boundless poisonous miasma. Did they?

Several hundred zhang away, the thick poisonous miasma parted as Lu Ye's figure shot up into the sky. In that direction, some Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators were hovering, observing, and their strength wasn't particularly high. This caught them off guard. Upon seeing Lu Ye appear, they scattered in evasion; however, some were ultimately a bit slower to react. Another round of unstoppable slaughter ensued, as figures screamed and plummeted from the sky.

Dozens of sword cultivators immediately split into two groups: one flew along the edge of the poisonous miasma, blocking Lu Ye's retreat into it, while the other pursued relentlessly. This made it difficult for Lu Ye to re-enter the poisonous miasma, unless he could break through the sword cultivators' blockade.

Lu Ye clearly wouldn't engage these sword cultivators in a direct confrontation; he identified a direction and flew off on his artifact. From all directions, Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators hastily gave chase. The same scene as before reappeared: those with higher cultivation and faster artifact-flying speeds surged to the front, while those with slightly lower cultivation and slower speeds gradually fell behind, their distances widening as time passed.

Seeing Lu Ye make a wide circle and suddenly turn back to attack, the cultivators who had fallen to the rear of the pursuing group immediately changed their expressions. They had been targeted by Lu Ye in this manner before, resulting in the loss of dozens of people. Now that it was happening again, they wondered how many more would die.

Although the sword cultivators were desperately giving chase, their artifact-flying speed alone still couldn't match Lu Ye, who was boosted by the Windwalk spiritual pattern. They could only try their best to keep behind him and not be completely shaken off. The Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators' formation was utterly chaotic. Seeing Lu Ye turn back to attack, those with lower cultivation naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for death. Most scattered and fled, while a small portion grouped together, holding their ground, nervously activating defensive spiritual artifacts and spells.

Lu Ye's figure flashed past not far from them. As nine streams of light from his artifacts shot out, fire phoenixes flapped their wings and flew out. No cultivator's defense could withstand his attack. An attack boosted by twin Sharpness spiritual patterns couldn't be blocked even by a body cultivator wielding a spiritual artifact shield. Moreover, the fire phoenixes swiftly pounced.

The scene suddenly became comical. Large numbers of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators pursued Lu Ye, while Lu Ye chased after scattered fleeing individuals. Those chasing Lu Ye had no good way to deal with him, but those he targeted met with no good end. Bodies continuously plummeted from the sky. Only when more Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators arrived as reinforcements was Lu Ye's frenzied assault curbed.

It should be noted that thousands of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators were gathered around the Myriad Venom Forest. Lu Ye had only seen about a thousand people earlier because that was how many were in his immediate vicinity; more Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators had not yet arrived. Now, thousands of people had converged, and the sky above the Myriad Venom Forest was instantly filled with streaks of spiritual artifacts.

Lu Ye had already fled in one direction. Against just over a thousand people, he could still maneuver and contend with the enemy as he had just done. But with all the Myriad Demon Ridge forces gathered and their numbers skyrocketing, this tactic was clearly no longer effective. Moreover, although the time spent engaging the enemy was not long, his spiritual power consumption was considerable, especially when applying the Windwalk spiritual pattern to his flying artifact, which consumed a particularly large amount. It could be said that 60% of his spiritual power consumption was due to this aspect.

What dissatisfied him was his own lack of agile control over flying with artifacts. Unlike Ju Jia, he found it difficult to perfectly control his flying artifact underfoot while fighting, always feeling a certain sluggishness. Ju Jia, however, did not have this problem; that fellow possessed an uncommon skill in artifact-flying. Compared to most cultivators, Lu Ye was already excellent at artifact-flying, but there was still a gap when compared to Ju Jia. Perhaps this was also a kind of talent.

There was still a large contingent of pursuers behind him, especially those sword cultivators, each as stubborn as the next, impossible to shake off like maggots clinging to bone. Lu Ye had the Windwalk spiritual pattern to boost him, and they also each had some secret techniques. Although these didn't last long, for a short period, they didn't have to worry about Lu Ye shaking them off completely.

For the Myriad Demon Ridge faction, this experience was a colossal humiliation. After patiently waiting for over two months, Lu Yiye finally reappeared. But over a thousand people were led around in circles by him like dogs, and even with all the sword cultivators attacking together, it didn't have much effect. Lu Yiye was safe and sound, having already broken through the encirclement. In contrast, they had suffered a loss of over a hundred people in total.

This filled many Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators with immense resentment. They cursed him inwardly, calling him a bully who preyed on the weak, specifically seeking out lower-cultivation individuals to kill, never engaging higher-cultivation ones in direct combat. What dismayed the Myriad Demon Ridge faction even more was that this fellow had now advanced to Heavenly Eight! Now that he was Heavenly Eight, could Heavenly Nine be far behind? Compared to his previous encounter in Misty Mountain, the Heavenly Eight Lu Yiye had undoubtedly gained significant strength.

In Misty Mountain, Lu Ye primarily relied on pre-arranged formations to kill enemies, but this time, he used no external methods, relying solely on his own abilities. Although he certainly only picked on the weak, from another perspective, being able to avoid the tough ones was also a testament to his ability!

In the past two months, the Myriad Demon Ridge faction had dispatched thousands of people to besiege the Myriad Venom Forest, attracting much attention. Everyone wanted to know what Lu Ye's ultimate fate would be. When today's news spread, many people across the Nine Provinces were greatly shocked. Lu Ye had actually single-handedly fought his way out, breaking through the Myriad Demon Ridge's encirclement. Although many Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators were still in pursuit, everyone knew that Lu Ye breaking out of the Myriad Venom Forest meant the Myriad Demon Ridge's two-month siege had ended in failure.

From now on in the Spiritual Stream Battlefield, it would likely be very difficult for the Myriad Demon Ridge faction to threaten Lu Yiye's life, unless a truly opportune moment arose! The only thing that brought some consolation to the Myriad Demon Ridge faction was that, when dealing with Lu Yiye, they had already lost all their dignity long ago, so they weren't afraid of losing it again. As the saying goes, "many fleas, no itch."

The pursuit continued. Even though most people couldn't keep up anymore, a small number still persisted, especially the sword cultivators; even so, the distance between them and Lu Ye was gradually widening. It wasn't until an hour later that these sword cultivators completely lost track of Lu Ye. Despite their reluctance, the sword cultivators had to admit that they had been outmatched in artifact-flying speed by a blade cultivator! This fellow ran incredibly fast; it was simply unreasonable.

All Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators were currently searching for Lu Ye. Although the pursuit had failed, actions against Lu Ye were far from over. This was an order issued by the high-ranking officials of the major Myriad Demon Ridge sects! Compared to these Spiritual Stream Realm cultivators, those in the True Lake Realm and Divine Sea Realm could better recognize the threat a person like Lu Ye posed to an entire faction. The Azure Blood Sect once produced a Feng Wujiang; they certainly didn't want a second one to appear!

Qin Zheng of the Thousand Feathers Sect had once founded an "Eliminate Lu Alliance" in Misty Mountain with the objective of killing Lu Ye. That was merely a temporary, loosely organized group, and after Misty Mountain, the organization disintegrated. As of today, this organization had resurfaced and become a formal entity. Led by Shi Guang, the current Spiritual Stream Ranking leader from the first-grade Dao Xuan Sect, in just half a day, hundreds of core sects declared their allegiance to the Eliminate Lu Alliance. Almost all Spiritual Stream Ranking powerhouses from the Myriad Demon Ridge faction were included, determined to kill Lu Ye before he ascended to Heavenly Nine!

On one hand, the high-ranking officials behind these sects had issued orders to definitely eliminate Lu Ye in the Spiritual Stream Battlefield. On the other hand, for these Spiritual Stream Realm cultivators themselves, they truly dared not let Lu Ye continue living. This fellow was already so difficult to deal with at Heavenly Eight cultivation. If he ascended to Heavenly Nine, wouldn't he just waltz across the Spiritual Stream Battlefield?

Large numbers of people were dispatched to search for Lu Ye's whereabouts. Countless cultivators of the Eliminate Lu Alliance were on high alert; even the most dedicated cultivators temporarily gave up their training, awaiting any clue about Lu Ye to immediately rush to attack.

A thousand li away from the Myriad Venom Forest was a Heavenly Secret Market. In the outer circle of the battlefield, many markets formed by gatherings of rogue cultivators could still be seen. But in the inner and core circles, they were almost entirely absent, as markets in these areas were primarily established and dominated by the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance.