Chapter 396: Flying Wing

In the arena, Lu Ye stood on a vantage point, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber. His cheeks puffed out as he chewed on a spirit pill, swallowing it quickly to restore his spiritual power. Immediately after, he took out a large piece of high-quality honey and ate it. The honey, brought from Misty Mountain, not only restored spiritual power but also stamina, making it perfect for the current situation.

The battle raged fiercely within the arena, spanning dozens of feet.

On the field were Yiyi and Amber, fighting against a Heavenly Nine Body Cultivator.

Lu Ye had fought such challenges for half a day, and the exertion was too great, so he simply let Yiyi and Amber take over.

Moreover, Yiyi had not participated in combat before and had long been itching for a fight.

Yiyi alone, with her current abilities, would find it difficult to defeat a Heavenly Nine cultivator. However, with Amber assisting, it was a different story. The spirit and the tiger, being born companions, understood each other perfectly, allowing for flawless coordination. Amber was responsible for diverting the enemy's energy and attention, while Yiyi unleashed her magical attacks.

Even if they couldn't win immediately, the body cultivator had no chance to concede. Should he dare to open his mouth, Amber would unleash a soul-shattering tiger roar. Amber's roar was an innate ability targeting the soul and mind, and having absorbed much soul mist in Xianyuan City, its power had grown considerably.

So far, no Spirit Creek Realm cultivator they had encountered could withstand the mental deterrence of the tiger's roar.

After a prolonged battle, the body cultivator's morale shattered.

He couldn't win, couldn't escape, and didn't even have the chance to open his mouth and surrender.

With Lu Yiye also standing by, watching intently, he felt he was likely to die there.

Why? Challenges on the Spirit Creek Ranking had always been one-on-one. Why was a saber cultivator allowed to bring a beast companion? And even if he could bring a beast companion, what was the deal with the female spellcaster!

What was supposed to be a solo fight had turned into a three-on-one battle for him.

No wonder so many fellow cultivators who had challenged Lu Yiye before had died. In such an environment, fighting outnumbered, who could possibly fare well?

He was filled with resentment but utterly helpless.

He wanted to transmit this information, but this was an arena, and there was no way to send messages outside.

After a full half-hour of fierce fighting, the body cultivator finally stumbled and collapsed, his body covered in the horrific marks of magical attacks, a truly gruesome sight.

Yiyi cheered, stepped forward to collect the spoils, picked up the opponent's storage bag, and held it up like a treasure before Lu Ye, exclaiming, "I won!"

Lu Ye ruffled her hair, took the storage bag, and asked, "Good job. Do you want to fight again?"

"Yes!" Yiyi's gaze was firm.

She rarely had such an opportunity to hone her combat skills. When she had followed Lu Ye previously, they were often besieged by large groups. Now, with cultivators from the Myriad Devil Ridge challenging Lu Ye, this kind of sparring offered her immense growth.

Of course, this was only possible with Amber's cooperation; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to defeat those Heavenly Nine cultivators on her own.

The moment they left the arena, the next challenge arrived. Lu Ye accepted, waited for half an hour for Yiyi and Amber to recover somewhat, and then entered the fighting arena.

This unusual situation quickly caught the attention of the Leaf Extermination Alliance cultivators, including the previous battle!

Since the Leaf Extermination Alliance began continuously challenging Lu Ye, he had always accepted each challenge immediately, entered the arena, and quickly ended the fight…

However, the previous battle had lasted for half an hour, and this time, he had delayed accepting the challenge by another half-hour.

What did this indicate?

This undoubtedly meant that Lu Yiye was greatly depleted and no longer at his peak, which explained his decision.

This gave the cultivators of the Leaf Extermination Alliance hope, and their spirits were inevitably boosted.

Approximately another half-hour later, the battle concluded.

A new challenge began.

After several consecutive battles, Yiyi was exhausted, and Amber also seemed a bit weary…

"Lu Ye, I can't go on. You handle it yourself," Yiyi said before retreating into Amber's body to rest.

Inside the wooden house, Lu Ye fed Amber some spirit pills and accepted the challenge just sent by an unknown benefactor.

He then surprisingly discovered that this time, his challenger was not a body cultivator, but a saber cultivator!

Perhaps too many body cultivators from Myriad Devil Ridge had been killed, or for some other reason.

After appearing, the opponent quickly sized up Lu Ye, then watched as Lu Ye charged at him with overwhelming momentum, his expression changing dramatically.

The situation was not quite as he had expected. Lu Yiye was perfectly unharmed and full of energy, completely unlike the spent force he had anticipated.

A moment later, the cultivators of the Leaf Extermination Alliance were stunned, as Lu Ye had resumed his previous speed of defeating enemies, ending battles almost every few dozen breaths.

All who challenged him were utterly annihilated, and no one knew what his current condition truly was.

The hope they had just found was mercilessly extinguished with a bucket of cold water.

After more than half a day, Lu Ye waited a long time in the wooden house, but no new challenges were sent.

No one dared to challenge him anymore.

In the past two days, over a hundred Heavenly Nine cultivators from the Leaf Extermination Alliance had been lost due to challenging Lu Yiye, with a large majority of them being body cultivators!

Yet, even with such high-intensity challenges, they saw no hope of defeating Lu Ye; any further challenges would only lead to more deaths.

It was only then that the cultivators of the Leaf Extermination Alliance realized that even if their previous actions had been effective in driving Lu Yiye off the Spirit Creek Ranking, what was the point?

They couldn't kill him, and merely forcing him off the ranking seemed to cause him no significant loss.

Thinking this, they suddenly felt that the more than a hundred people killed by Lu Yiye in the past two days had all died in vain…

How tragic!

Currently, Lu Ye's ranking on the list was at the very bottom, at the hundredth position. This position, like the top spot, was extremely conspicuous.

He was not in a hurry to climb higher on the rankings; instead, he took out the twenty portions of Earth Core Flame.

Having been delayed for two days, he finally had time to deal with this matter.

Activating his talent tree, he consumed the Earth Core Flame portions one by one. Lu Ye watched the dozen or so symmetrically arranged leaves with nervous anticipation, mentally calculating their burning progress.

It took exactly eighteen portions of Earth Core Flame for all those dozen leaves to suddenly ignite.

Lu Ye's tense mood relaxed.

After consuming the remaining two portions of Earth Core Flame, Lu Ye focused his consciousness on the dozen or so leaves.

*Boom*…

His mind trembled slightly, and his consciousness rapidly dispersed, feeling much like his soul was leaving his body. Immediately, a vast and complex flood of information uncontrollably poured into his mind, accompanied by an indescribable pain. Lu Ye's face instantly turned pale.

However, he did not pass out.

Perhaps it was because he had previously endured the powerful impact of the Fire Phoenix Spirit Mark, or perhaps his soul was exceptionally resilient, but this time, the shock wasn't enough to make him lose consciousness.

Lu Ye almost wished he had passed out, at least then he wouldn't have to endure this unbearable pain.

After a very long time, he slowly recovered, shaking his head slightly. He felt as though his entire brain was rattling, as if it might fall out of his skull. In this state, his actual strength would be significantly compromised. Unfortunately, no one from Myriad Devil Ridge dared to casually challenge him anymore.

They had all been scared into submission.

Closing his eyes, he focused his mind, digesting the vast and complex information.

A look of growing delight spread across Lu Ye's face.

Having had experience with the Fire Phoenix Spirit Mark, when he first saw the dozen or so symmetrical leaves, he had a feeling they looked like a pair of wings. This was why he was so eager to confirm it, even going so far as to extort twenty portions of Earth Core Flame from Bai Lan.

As it turned out, his hunch was correct.

This newly formed spirit mark was precisely the Flight Wings he had once possessed!

Before the Spirit Creek Defense War, Madam Yun had bestowed Flight Wing tattoos upon his and Hua Ci's backs. These tattoos had remained effective until recently, only fully losing their power in the Blazing Fire Region. They had often been a great help to Lu Ye, allowing him to escape on many occasions.

After the tattoos lost their effect, Lu Ye deeply missed them, especially when he was previously hunted by numerous cultivators from Myriad Devil Ridge.

If he had possessed the Flight Wing tattoos, his speed would undoubtedly have been greater, and his movements more agile, sparing him such a dire predicament.

However, even with Madam Yun's intervention, bestowing the Flight Wing tattoos was extremely costly, requiring the vital essence of a large avian demon. The materials used last time were prepared by the sect master. Lu Ye had originally planned to accumulate more merit points and then check the Heavenly Mystery Vault for suitable large demon blood, before asking Madam Yun to tattoo another pair of Flight Wings for him.

Now, he wouldn't need to.

Lu Ye had now mastered this spirit mark himself and could activate it at any time, which was undoubtedly better than the time-limited tattoos.

He just didn't know how much spiritual power it would consume.

With that thought, Lu Ye flashed out of the wooden house and onto an open patch of ground.

With a slight shift in his thoughts, spiritual power surged around him, and fiery light flowed from his back. In an instant, a pair of crimson spiritual wings, spanning over ten feet, unfurled with a mighty rush.

He turned his head to look. These wings, formed from his own spiritual power, were undoubtedly more magnificent and imposing than the previous Flight Wing tattoos.

The consumption seemed to be greater as well!

Lu Ye thought for a moment, then slightly reduced his spiritual power, and the crimson wings on his back also shrank a little.

The next instant, he transformed into a streak of fiery light, soaring into the sky, flapping his wings to ascend.

He did not leave the range of the poisonous mist, so he didn't fly very high. Wherever his crimson figure passed, it stirred the poisonous mist and barriers.

After a full quarter of an hour, the crimson figure descended from the sky, landing heavily in front of the wooden house. Lu Ye knelt on one knee, and the spiritual wings flowing from his back slowly retracted.

After some testing, Lu Ye gained a deeper understanding of this spirit mark.

In terms of consumption, it was greater than enchanting a flying spiritual artifact for flight. Even though he tried his best to reduce the size of the wings, this consumption was unavoidable.

However, compared to controlling an artifact for flight, using the Flight Wings was undoubtedly more agile and faster.

Previously, when he fought his way out of the Myriad Poison Forest and was pursued by a large group of cultivators from Myriad Devil Ridge, if he had possessed the Flight Wing spirit mark, he would have long since left those individuals far behind.

It could be said that with the Flight Wing spirit mark, as long as Lu Ye had sufficient spiritual power, he would no longer have to worry about being pursued in the future.