Chapter 443: Cloud River Battlefield

An excellent read.

In the Sky Machine Hall, Lu Ye raised his hand and pressed it onto the Sky Machine Pillar, connecting with it mentally.

When he was in the Spirit Creek Realm, this mental connection to the Sky Machine Pillar would only allow him to enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield.

But now that he was in the Cloud River Realm, he had another option.

He could still enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield, but it would cost him three thousand merit points. Furthermore, once inside, his strength would be suppressed to the level of Sky Nine, reverting to his state before ascending to the Cloud River Realm.

For Cloud River Realm cultivators to forcefully enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the merit cost was three thousand points. For True Lake Realm cultivators, even more merit was required. The higher the cultivation, the greater the cost. Therefore, higher-level cultivators generally wouldn't force their way into battlefields that didn't belong to them.

Naturally, he wouldn't enter the Spirit Creek Battlefield. His current objective was the Cloud River Battlefield.

He made his choice but didn't enter immediately. Unlike the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the Cloud River Battlefield had no sect outposts within it. This meant there were several ways to enter.

The first method was to appear randomly in a certain location within the Cloud River Battlefield. With good luck, one would be safe; with bad luck, one might emerge in an area where many enemies gathered or in the territory of powerful demon beasts. In such cases, combat was inevitable, and if one's strength was insufficient, being slain was highly probable.

The second method was fixed-point teleportation.

The Cloud River Battlefield contained Spirit Lands, where spiritual energy was abundant. Most Spirit Lands also had Sky Machine Pillars. If a cultivator could leave their mark on a Sky Machine Pillar in a Spirit Land beforehand, they could directly teleport to that Spirit Land. This method of teleportation was suitable for cultivators who possessed Spirit Lands.

Lu Ye had never entered the Cloud River Battlefield, so he naturally didn't possess any Spirit Lands.

Thus, only the third method was applicable to him.

This was also a fixed-point teleportation, but with many selectable locations.

While there were no sect outposts within the Cloud River Battlefield, there were many Sky Machine Merchant Alliances. These alliances were distributed throughout the battlefield, providing cultivators with supplies and places to rest. Each Sky Machine Merchant Alliance had its own Sky Machine Pillar, and cultivators from any faction could use these pillars to enter and exit the Cloud River Battlefield.

It could be said that the areas around the Sky Machine Merchant Alliances in the Cloud River Battlefield were the most diverse and chaotic places.

Back in the Sky Machine Hall, Lu Ye closed his eyes tightly. As his consciousness connected with the Sky Machine Pillar, various glowing points appeared in his mind, each representing a Sky Machine Merchant Alliance.

He could choose any one of them and then use the Sky Machine Pillar to teleport into that specific Sky Machine Merchant Alliance.

The question was how to choose.

Shui Yuan had told him to find his Fourth Senior Brother, Li Baxian, after entering the Cloud River Battlefield. However, Lu Ye wanted to find Ju Jia first. This simple-minded giant had entered the Cloud River Battlefield a few months before him, and Lu Ye didn't know where he was now or if he had encountered any difficulties.

The glowing points appearing in his mind numbered over a thousand, indicating the vastness of the Cloud River Battlefield.

Compared to the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the Cloud River Battlefield was several times larger. After all, cultivators in the Cloud River Realm could fly, and if the battlefield were too small, cultivators from across the Nine Provinces wouldn't have enough space to maneuver.

After a brief contemplation, Lu Ye selected a glowing point in a central location. This way, no matter where Ju Jia was, he wouldn't be too far from him.

“Amber, are you ready?” Lu Ye asked softly.

Amber, perched on his shoulder, let out a soft cry in response.

Lu Ye smiled, and with a thought, a slight sensation of weightlessness washed over him in the next instant. The feeling came and went quickly, and when he opened his eyes again, he was in a large hall.

Not far from him, another cultivator opened their eyes simultaneously, clearly having just teleported from the Nine Provinces as well. They had made the same choice as Lu Ye, both arriving at this Sky Machine Merchant Alliance.

However, there was no intention of interaction between them.

Lu Ye raised his hand again and pressed it onto the Sky Machine Pillar, attempting to teleport back to the Nine Provinces. The information feedback from the pillar indicated a substantial deduction of his merit points. He immediately understood that the intelligence he had previously heard was correct.

Cultivators who entered the Cloud River Battlefield could not leave freely within a month, unless they paid a sufficient amount of merit.

Although it was his first time entering the Cloud River Battlefield, he had, through various channels, gained some understanding of its intelligence, though it wasn't systematic or comprehensive.

Lu Ye wasn't sure why such a rule existed, only speculating that this type of teleportation by the Sky Machine Pillar also consumed resources. The restriction likely existed to prevent bored cultivators from constantly entering and exiting between the Nine Provinces and the Cloud River Battlefield.

The cultivator who had appeared with him had already turned and left. Lu Ye didn't linger either and followed closely behind that person, exiting the hall.

A bustling atmosphere washed over him. This was a Sky Machine Merchant Alliance, naturally teeming with cultivators coming and going.

Lu Ye raised his hand and touched his battlefield mark, attempting to contact his Fourth Senior Brother, intending to greet him and inform him of his arrival in the Cloud River Battlefield.

To his surprise, the message couldn't be sent.

His Fourth Senior Brother's mark hadn't disappeared, indicating he was safe. If the message couldn't be sent, there was only one possibility: his Fourth Senior Brother was currently not in the same 'heaven and earth' as him.

He then tried to contact Feng Yuechan, and the situation was the same.

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan were always inseparable, advancing and retreating together. If one couldn't be contacted, the other certainly couldn't either.

Lu Ye then sent a message to Ju Jia.

This time, the message went through, and Ju Jia quickly replied.

After a brief exchange, Lu Ye frowned. Ju Jia wasn't clear about his current location, and Lu Ye himself didn't know where he was either. He could only instruct Ju Jia to first find a Sky Machine Merchant Alliance and buy a detailed map, then ended the conversation.

Finding a merchant alliance steward, Lu Ye spent some spirit stones to buy a detailed map and various basic intelligence about the Cloud River Battlefield.

To Lu Ye's astonishment, the merchant alliance steward he traded with was only a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator!

For a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator to appear in the Cloud River Battlefield, it was likely only possible for the Sky Machine Merchant Alliance, which made Lu Ye increasingly realize the alliance's extraordinary nature.

Sitting in the cubicle, Lu Ye examined the detailed map, pinpointing his current location, and then reviewed the other intelligence.

Only after a full hour did Lu Ye put down the jade slip in his hand, processing all the information he had received.

Compared to the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the Cloud River Battlefield was undoubtedly much more complex, with significantly greater competition.

Here, cultivators competed not only with those from opposing factions but also with cultivators from their own faction. However, with sufficient ability, one's cultivation could advance rapidly in this place.

In the Spirit Creek Battlefield, each sect had its own outpost, and the density of spiritual energy within these outposts was closely related to the purchased enhancements. The more enhancements bought, the denser the spiritual energy, and the faster the disciples' cultivation progressed.

However, there was no concept of outposts in the Cloud River Battlefield.

Only Spirit Lands existed!

Spirit Lands were areas where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converged.

Looking across the entire Cloud River Battlefield, the average density of spiritual energy was only equivalent to that of the wild areas in the Spirit Creek Battlefield's core circle.

Such a cultivation environment wasn't very helpful for Spirit Creek Realm cultivators, let alone those in the Cloud River Realm. Cultivating in such an environment would undoubtedly be very inefficient.

Therefore, Spirit Lands became highly sought-after locations for cultivators.

Spirit Lands were similar to outposts in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, with much denser spiritual energy than the wilderness. However, Spirit Lands were not occupied by sects as units. Instead, they might be claimed by a group of three to five friends, or perhaps fifteen to twenty individuals. Generally, the number of cultivators a single Spirit Land could accommodate wouldn't be too many, as increased numbers would diminish the spiritual energy available to each.

Spirit Lands were categorized into four grades: A, B, C, and D, with A being the highest and D the lowest.

The higher the grade of a Spirit Land, the denser the spiritual energy, and the more efficiently cultivators could cultivate within it.

Thus, in the Cloud River Battlefield, it was common to see groups of cultivators gathering to attack and seize others' Spirit Lands.

In the Spirit Creek Battlefield, conquering a sect's outpost was not an easy feat. Once defensive formations were activated, they were essentially impregnable, as Spirit Creek Realm cultivators had limited strength and found it difficult to breach the formations' defenses, unless they possessed means of formation-breaking like Lu Ye.

However, it was different for cultivators in the Cloud River Realm. Their strength increased significantly, and they had more means at their disposal. Consequently, even after occupying a Spirit Land and setting up defensive formations, safety was not guaranteed.

Overall, few individuals could long-term dominate the major Spirit Lands in the Cloud River Battlefield. It was essentially a constant cycle of turnover, where one group would leave, and another would take their place.

Moreover, some Spirit Lands were not permanent. A certain area might be a Grade A Spirit Land today, but tomorrow its spiritual energy could suddenly disappear, causing it to lose its Spirit Land qualification.

Conversely, it was also common for a desolate wilderness area to suddenly gather spiritual energy and transform into a Spirit Land.

The Cloud River Battlefield was vast, with countless Spirit Lands. Yet, there were always some cultivators who lacked the strength to seize others' Spirit Lands. How then were they to cultivate? Relying solely on consuming spirit pills was too inefficient.

Therefore, in the Cloud River Battlefield, apart from the method of occupying Spirit Lands and 'claiming mountains as kings,' there was another way: snatching Spirit Tags.

Throughout the entire Cloud River Battlefield, at any place and any time, Spirit Tags could descend from the sky!

Spirit Tags were divided into five colors: white, green, blue, purple, and gold.

White was the lowest quality, and gold was the best.

When a Spirit Tag descended from the sky, virtually everyone within a hundred-mile radius could see it clearly.

A cultivator who successfully snatched a Spirit Tag only needed to find a safe place, crush the tag, and a large amount of spiritual energy would emerge, available for cultivation and absorption.

To date, no one knew where these Spirit Tags came from; it was only speculated that they were gifts from the Sky Machine.

Every day, numerous Spirit Tags appeared in various locations across the Cloud River Battlefield, benefiting countless cultivators.

However, snatching Spirit Tags was no easy task. Each time a Spirit Tag appeared, many cultivators would scramble for it. To obtain a Spirit Tag, one had to rely not only on sharp eyesight and speed but also on sheer strength.

Those strong enough would naturally compete for golden Spirit Tags, while those with less strength could only aim for white ones.

Therefore, on the Cloud River Battlefield, there was no upper limit to cultivation speed. If one truly possessed the ability, it was possible to break through the Cloud River Realm and advance to the True Lake Realm within one or two years.