Chapter 391: High-Speed Progress

As usual, the Imperial Artifacts led the way. Nine streaks of light successively struck the body cultivator’s spirit weapon greatshield. The immense force caused the body cultivator to shake violently, and the luster on his greatshield quickly faded.

The body cultivator was horrified. He knew how strong the defense of his spirit weapon greatshield was, and for it to lose so much spiritual energy in such a short time showed the strength of the opponent's offense.

After the nine streaks of light, Lu Ye had already lunged in front of the cultivator. His Mountain Breaker saber struck down like lightning, chopping directly onto the greatshield. Simultaneously, a Weight spiritual纹 was applied.

In an instant, immense pressure descended from above. The body cultivator felt as if a great mountain was pressing down on his shield. He strained to resist retreating, but his body sank, nearly bringing him to his knees.

He frantically channeled his spiritual power, his face flushed red, and his muscles bulged. With a roar, he thrust his greatshield forward, while simultaneously bringing his hammer down.

The streaks of light from the Imperial Artifacts attacked from the side, striking his hammer and causing his blow to graze past Lu Ye, hitting the Combat Stage with a resounding thud and cracking the ground.

Lu Ye thrust his long saber straight, his spiritual power surging around him. With his Heavenly Eighth cultivation and the empowerment of two Sharpness spiritual纹s, his strike unleashed unimaginable destructive power.

The luster of the greatshield spirit weapon was instantly extinguished, and with a crash, the shield shattered.

Seeing the long saber, ablaze with fire, coming down on him, the body cultivator's expression turned to terror. He instinctively opened his mouth to concede.

However, at that moment, Amber, who had been crouching motionlessly on Lu Ye's shoulder, suddenly opened his mouth and let out a tiger's roar. A visible sound wave swept towards the body cultivator, causing his thoughts to become momentarily chaotic, and the words on the tip of his tongue were not uttered.

The long saber slashed down, and blood splattered!

The body cultivator's burly figure stumbled twice before collapsing heavily, his eyes wide, dying with regret.

He knew he was no match for Lu Ye, but he considered himself a body cultivator and assumed he would at least have a chance to concede. He never expected that final opportunity to be thwarted by Amber. Under the soul-stealing tiger roar, his last chance at life was extinguished.

Yi Yi materialized: "Done already?"

She was displeased!

She hadn't even had a chance to act!

After collecting the spoils, Lu Ye was teleported away by Heaven's Will.

Upon returning to his wooden house, Lu Ye checked the Spiritual Stream Ranking. He was currently ranked ninety-eighth and could challenge up to five ranks higher, meaning his limit was the person ranked ninety-third.

However, he didn't do so. Instead, he chose to challenge the person ranked ninety-fifth. The reason he didn't challenge ninety-sixth and ninety-seventh was, naturally, because those two were from the Haotian Alliance faction.

Ever since he entered the core circle, the Myriad Demon Ridge faction had been relentlessly targeting him, pursuing and intercepting him. If he hadn't been strong enough, he would have died countless times by now.

It was impossible for him to harbor no resentment. In the prime of his youth, who wouldn't have some temper? When he previously fought his way out of the Myriad Poison Forest, one reason was to buy some array flags for future use, and the other was to kill some Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators to vent his anger.

However, confronting the entire Myriad Demon Ridge alone was always risky.

The Spiritual Stream Ranking challenge presented an excellent opportunity. These challenges were always one-on-one, so Lu Ye didn't have to worry about being ambushed.

He decided to kill his way through them, one by one!

He vowed that wherever he passed, not a single Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator's name would remain!

Since he was being targeted, they might as well target each other.

The cultivator ranked ninety-fifth was not as busy. Lu Ye sent a challenge, which was quickly accepted. After Heaven's Will teleported him to the small combat dimension, Yi Yi, as usual, immediately hid, while Amber crouched on Lu Ye's shoulder.

He surveyed his surroundings, finding himself in a vast desert, with a scorching sun overhead and blistering heat. All around him, yellow sand swirled, devoid of other colors. He also couldn't see the gentleman ranked ninety-fifth...

This person was likely a spell cultivator who practiced fire or earth-elemental spells.

Lu Ye concluded this in his mind; otherwise, they wouldn't have chosen such terrain.

He didn't bother searching for the enemy's trace. Instead, he stood still and waited. Moments later, Yi Yi sent a message, having found the person's location. As expected, the opponent was indeed a spell cultivator.

The Myriad Demon Ridge faction was in an uproar.

A large number of cultivators from the Anti-Ye Alliance searched for traces of the "Door-Destroying Leaf," but so far, they had found nothing. No one knew where he was hiding; he seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Yet, on the Spiritual Stream Ranking, Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect's name reappeared.

This fellow actually started climbing the ranks!

Initially, only a small number of people knew this news, but it quickly spread. In an instant, countless eyes focused on the Spiritual Stream Ranking.

They watched, dumbfounded, as his ranking continuously rose. When they first noticed him, he was only ninety-fifth. But in just half a day, he had risen to eighty-second. Another half-day, and he was seventy-third.

By the second day, he was already sixty-fifth!

His speed in climbing the Spiritual Stream Ranking was incredibly fast. He seemed to have no intention of stopping. If it weren't for the fact that challenged opponents often made him wait two hours, his ranking would have risen even faster.

The waiting time for challenges greatly delayed his rhythm.

What angered the Myriad Demon Ridge faction even more was that Lu Ye's challenges were sequential. He did not spare any Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator ranked above him, and none of those who fought him survived; all were slain by him!

This led to a peculiar phenomenon: the twenty people ranked below him were all from the Haotian Alliance faction.

This was something that was previously impossible. Both the Myriad Demon Ridge and Haotian Alliance factions produced numerous talents, and it was generally unheard of for four or five consecutive people on the Spiritual Stream Ranking to be from the same faction.

But once Lu Ye started climbing the ranks, this astonishing phenomenon appeared.

No other reason than this: the Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators who should have been interspersed among these Haotian Alliance cultivators had all been wiped out!

For a time, many Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators were filled with righteous indignation, mixed with a sense of frustration at their own side's failures.

They couldn't understand why these powerhouses, once hailed as future pillars, were so ineffective. Even if they weren't Lu Ye's match in a one-on-one combat, surely there was time to concede? How could Lu Yi Ye have swept them all away?

And Lu Yi Ye's actions were undoubtedly a deliberate targeting, a slap in the face to the Myriad Demon Ridge.

If this ranking list were artificially arranged, it would be easy to handle — just withdraw it to avoid embarrassment. But the Spiritual Stream Ranking was generated by Heaven's Will itself, beyond human interference. Any cultivator in the Spiritual Stream Realm with sufficient strength could connect and view it.

Such a ranking undoubtedly caused the Myriad Demon Ridge to lose face completely. Every Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator who checked the ranking felt a burning sensation on their faces, as if they had been repeatedly slapped.

While Lu Ye's frantic actions brought great humiliation to the Myriad Demon Ridge, the Haotian Alliance was delighted. People constantly spread the changes in the Spiritual Stream Ranking. Every time Lu Ye's rank rose, and the Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator he challenged completely disappeared from the ranking, it triggered a wave of cheers.

On the third day, Lu Ye's ranking had reached fiftieth!

There was no one left to challenge.

This was Lu Ye's biggest feeling from these past few days of climbing the ranks.

No matter what faction the Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators belonged to, no matter what terrain they chose, once Lu Ye found their trace, the battle was usually over in a very short time. Moreover, with Amber present, those people had no chance to concede even if they realized they were outmatched.

Amber now did only one thing: crouch on Lu Ye's shoulder. As soon as a challenged cultivator showed any sign of speaking, he would immediately let out a roar. Under the soul-stealing tiger roar, there was only death!

Inside the wooden house in the Myriad Poison Forest, Lu Ye continued cultivating while allowing the Talent Tree to devour the Earth Core Fire.

These past few days, he had been busy climbing the ranks, consuming only twenty of the forty portions of Earth Core Fire, which had granted him two new spiritual纹s: one for Golden Arc and one for Lightning Attraction...

He checked the specific information of these two spiritual紋s and found that if constructed, they could be cast as spells.

At this point, he was venturing further and further down the path of a spell cultivator.

However, because his spiritual power leaned towards Fire and Metal elements, if he constructed these two spiritual纹s to cast spells, they might differ from normal spells. These two spiritual纹s would be best used to set up killing arrays, which would produce some unique effects.

He had already challenged the person ranked forty-eighth. Although the opponent had accepted the challenge, the battle hadn't started immediately; he probably had to wait another two hours.

Lu Ye took out a portion of Earth Core Fire, letting the Talent Tree devour it, while also dedicating some of his focus to cultivation.

The twenty portions of Earth Core Fire were quickly consumed. Lu Ye looked at the Talent Tree with anticipation, eager to know what new spiritual纹s he would gain.

Upon seeing it, he was slightly stunned.

Because no new leaves had ignited. Instead, a large cluster of leaves in a certain area of the Talent Tree glowed red...

He had experienced this situation once before.

It was when he had devoured the true Phoenix Fire in the Fiery Blaze Land. At that time, when devouring the Phoenix Fire, a large area of leaves had reacted simultaneously. It was only after all the Phoenix Fire was consumed that those leaves completely ignited, outlining the figure of a Vermilion Bird standing on a treetop, which then granted him the Fire Phoenix spiritual纹.

Now, a similar situation had appeared again. This might be another special spiritual纹!

Lu Ye examined it closely and found that this time, the reacting leaves were fewer than for the Fire Phoenix, only about ten or so. Even so, it was extremely remarkable.

Ever since he obtained the Fire Phoenix spiritual纹, Lu Ye had especially anticipated the emergence of such special spiritual纹s, as these special spiritual纹s were far more powerful than ordinary ones.

The arrangement of the red-glowing leaves on the Talent Tree was not chaotic but displayed a symmetrical shape.

Looking it over, if these left-right symmetrical leaves were connected, they looked like a pair of... wings?

Lu Ye's spirits immediately lifted.

Could it be...?

Surely not...?

It's highly likely...

It took a full twenty portions of Earth Core Fire for those dozen or so leaves to glow red. He wondered how much more he would need to consume for them to fully ignite.