Chapter 428: Greedy Lu Yiye

If this were Kyushu, an elder at the True Lake Realm could easily subdue someone at the Spirit Creek Realm like Lu Ye.

However, this was the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Even if he were at the Divine Sea Realm, he would have to consider Lu Ye's reaction before speaking, which was truly exhausting.

"Young friend, no one denies your invincibility in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, but sometimes, personal strength doesn't allow one to do whatever they please..."

"Get to the point!" Lu Ye interrupted his rambling.

The elder didn't seem to mind. After pondering for a moment, he said, "If you are not planning to attack our Purple Gold Sect's stronghold, our Purple Gold Sect is willing to pay for peace!"

Paying to avoid disaster—that was the elder's ultimate goal in approaching Lu Ye.

"State your price!"

Lu Ye's directness slightly surprised the elder, who had prepared a long speech to appeal to his emotions and reason.

"Five thousand contribution points' worth of resources!"

Lu Ye turned to face the elder, his aura gradually becoming dangerous.

The elder felt a prickle on his scalp and quickly said, "Please calm down, young friend. It's true that if you break through our Purple Gold Sect's stronghold, you would gain far more than five thousand contribution points—not even fifty thousand! But as I just said, once our Purple Gold Sect's stronghold is breached, a group of homeless, unfortunate people will emerge. They will certainly unite with others whose strongholds have been breached and collectively attack the Heavenly Alliance's strongholds. You probably don't want to see that happen. Since we're treating this as a business deal, we should both make concessions."

"If you think the Purple Gold Sect stronghold is only worth five thousand contribution points, then there's no need to talk further."

The elder smiled and said, "The Purple Gold Sect stronghold is certainly worth more than five thousand contribution points. Our sect has diligently cultivated it for generations, and the contribution points spent on it are incalculable. If it were just our Purple Gold Sect, we would be willing to pay fifty thousand, let alone five thousand. But have you considered, young friend, how many Myriad Demon Ridge sects are there in the core circle?"

Lu Ye frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It means that if you agree, other Myriad Demon Ridge sects should also be willing to pay to avoid disaster. Five thousand per sect, young friend—think about it, how much wealth can that single transaction bring you?"

Seeing Lu Ye's silence, the elder said, "Let me quickly calculate it for you. Kyushu has nine landmasses, and each has approximately ten First-Rank sects, twenty to thirty Second-Rank sects, and forty to fifty Third-Rank sects. This adds up to a conservative estimate of eighty to one hundred sects per landmass. This is just one landmass. Across all nine landmasses, there are roughly eight hundred to one thousand sects above Third-Rank. If the Heavenly Alliance and Myriad Demon Ridge split them equally, Myriad Demon Ridge would have four to five hundred sects. If each pays five thousand contribution points in resources, you could gain over twenty million contribution points' worth of resources! Considering that, young friend, do you still think it's too little?"

This truly was a revelation; Lu Ye was astonished by the old man's calculation.

What kind of vast and abundant resources would two to three tens of millions of contribution points' worth of wealth represent?

He remembered that his Mountain-Sunderer Saber, purchased from the Heavenly Secret Treasury, cost only 138 contribution points, which was already quite high for a Nine-Forbidden Spirit Artifact.

And the Aptitude-Enhancing Pill, currently 160,000 contribution points per pill, meant two to three tens of millions could buy several hundred of them... Of course, the Heavenly Secret Treasury was almost out of stock, with only a few remaining.

"So, young friend, don't think our Purple Gold Sect is offering too little. Five thousand contribution points is the result of careful consideration on my part. If you demand too high a price, no major Myriad Demon Ridge power would dare to give it to you. At that point, the Myriad Demon Ridge side might prefer to sacrifice their strongholds rather than give out so much wealth and risk nurturing a monster."

"Are you sure other Myriad Demon Ridge forces are willing to pay to avoid disaster?" Lu Ye asked.

The elder stroked his beard and smiled. "Last time, when you caused some trouble in the inner circle, wasn't it this method that Myriad Demon Ridge used to settle the matter? Compared to the loss of a stronghold being breached, what is sacrificing some wealth? You must know that every core circle stronghold is the result of generations, or even a dozen generations, of hard work."

Lu Ye nodded.

Although the elder didn't explicitly say it, Lu Ye vaguely guessed that Myriad Demon Ridge had reached some consensus. The elder seemed to be negotiating on behalf of the Purple Gold Sect today, but in reality, the entire Myriad Demon Ridge stood behind him! His proposed solution of paying to avoid disaster was likely the best option Myriad Demon Ridge could accept at the moment.

It wasn't a bad idea...

Lu Ye had been worried that continuing to capture Myriad Demon Ridge strongholds might lead to an unmanageable situation, potentially implicating other Heavenly Alliance forces. If Myriad Demon Ridge chose to pay for peace, his gains, though significantly reduced, wouldn't cause too much trouble or chaos.

Moreover, the contribution points he currently gained needed to be converted into sect contribution points and could not be compared to the resources usable in cultivation.

The Scarlet Blood Sect's need for contribution points wasn't as urgent now; the spiritual energy of their stronghold had already been maximized. Even with more contribution points, it would only expand the stronghold's辐射范围.

However, if they could acquire cultivation resources, the disciples' growth rate would also accelerate.

It was a good deal.

"Third-Rank sects: 100,000 contribution points. Second-Rank: 200,000. First-Rank: 300,000!"

Since Myriad Demon Ridge wanted to make this a business, Lu Ye wouldn't hesitate to raise his price. He naturally couldn't agree to the elder's proposed five thousand contribution points per sect; those were the conditions set by others, and he had his own.

In fact, five thousand contribution points' worth of resources was already a considerable amount, enough to buy hundreds of Nine-Forbidden Spirit Artifacts like the Mountain-Sunderer Saber.

But compared to the vast contribution points those sects had spent on their strongholds, what were one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or three hundred thousand?

Lu Ye believed his asking price was fair and acceptable to the major Myriad Demon Ridge sects!

"Young friend..." the elder quickly began.

However, Lu Ye gave him no chance. He took out his Ten Directions Map, selected a location, and said, "I will wait for you at Heavenly Sword Peak for ten days. After ten days, any sect that hasn't delivered the required resources will receive a personal visit from me!"

As he finished speaking, he summoned his spirit boat and soared into the sky.

"Young friend!" the elder shouted, but Lu Ye completely ignored him. The elder could only watch as Lu Ye disappeared from sight.

Just a stick of incense later, Lu Ye's terms had spread throughout the major core circle sects of Myriad Demon Ridge.

Many people jumped up and cursed, calling Lu Yiye insatiably greedy.

As the elder had said earlier, if each sect paid five thousand, the Scarlet Blood Sect would eventually receive resources worth two to three tens of millions of contribution points. If they paid according to Lu Yiye's conditions, the value of the resources reaching the Scarlet Blood Sect would be terrifying.

A quick calculation showed that it would be worth five to six tens of millions of contribution points in resources!

Two to three tens of millions of contribution points would be enough to transform the entire Scarlet Blood Sect. What was the concept of five to six tens of millions?

Unthinkable!

Some short-tempered individuals even clamored for Lu Yiye to just break through all Myriad Demon Ridge strongholds, so that everyone could then unite to deal with the Heavenly Alliance strongholds, ensuring no one had an easy time.

But in the end, it was just clamoring...

As the elder from the Purple Gold Sect said, every sect stronghold in the core circle was the result of generations, or even a dozen generations, of hard work. The contribution points spent on them were incalculable. Now, needing only one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or three hundred thousand to avoid disaster was actually acceptable; it was just difficult for some people to accept psychologically.

The twenty-three sects whose strongholds had been breached were on the verge of tears...

How wonderful it would have been if Lu Yiye had proposed this condition earlier! Their strongholds had already been destroyed, and rebuilding them would require years of effort.

No one had ever imagined that a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator could generate such a vast amount of wealth!

If one also counted the previous compensation Myriad Demon Ridge paid to the Heavenly Alliance, Myriad Demon Ridge had lost far too much because of Lu Yiye.

Heavenly Sword Peak, located at the very center of the Spirit Creek Battlefield, also the core of the core circle, stood on the earth like a sharp sword fallen from the sky.

The spiritual peak was a thousand *ren* high, with jagged rocks.

Lu Ye chose Heavenly Sword Peak for his dealings with the various Myriad Demon Ridge forces because its central location ensured that any Myriad Demon Ridge force, no matter their direction, would have ten days to arrive.

If they didn't arrive within ten days, it clearly meant they didn't agree to the method of paying to avoid disaster. In that case, there would be no need to be polite; he would simply visit them and break their strongholds.

Lu Ye spent two days traveling from the Purple Gold Sect to Heavenly Sword Peak.

On the solitary peak, there were actually people.

They were two women, seemingly meditating and cultivating in nature.

Hearing the commotion, they opened their eyes and suddenly found Lu Ye somewhat familiar. After a careful look, they were startled!

It was actually Lu Yiye of the Scarlet Blood Sect!

The two women only regretted their bad luck, encountering this harbinger of death while cultivating on Heavenly Sword Peak. They immediately began to tremble.

The older sister whispered, "Oh no, what should we do now?"

The other woman weakly said, "Should we fight him?"

"We can't beat him. He's killed so many people recently," the older sister shook her head.

"Then what?" the younger sister's voice became tearful.

"How about... you try to tempt him, junior sister?" the older sister suggested.

"Tempt him with... what? His expression looks so scary," the younger sister looked bewildered.

"Idiot, of course, with your chest. I heard he likes women with large chests the most. Do you know Bai Lan from the Spirit Creek Rankings? She escaped him precisely because she was 'large' enough. Junior sister, you're well-endowed; you can definitely do it."

"Huh?" The junior sister had apparently never heard of such a thing and found it hard to accept. Suddenly, she saw Lu Ye turn his head and look their way, her face instantly turning pale.

The older sister quickly patted her back, and the junior sister immediately puffed out her chest.

Her eye twitched, and she forced a smile. Before she could speak, Lu Ye merely glanced at her indifferently and uttered a single word, "Scram!"

Perhaps he had killed too many people recently and felt no murderous intent.

The two women froze for a moment, then quickly summoned their spirit artifacts and soared into the sky, disappearing in an instant.

It wasn't until they had flown a great distance that the junior sister patted her chest. "That was terrifying!"

The older sister said, "Indeed, that guy likes 'big and round'! How annoying!"