Chapter 487: Having a Hammer

From the eighth mining tunnel onwards, Lu Ye began to unearth some high-grade spirit stones. Their quantity wasn't substantial, making up less than ten percent of all the spirit stones found in that particular tunnel. However, one high-grade spirit stone was worth ten mid-grade ones, so even though their number was small, his haul was still significant.

He continued forward, entering a new mining tunnel.

An hour later, Lu Ye swallowed a healing pill and then took out gauze to bandage a wound on his arm that was deep enough to show bone. The fierce battle had just ended, his surging vitality hadn't yet calmed, and nearby lay the corpse of a massive insectoid creature. In terms of strength, this creature was roughly equivalent to someone in the seventh level of the Cloud River Realm. Even with Yi Yi assisting, Lu Ye had to exert considerable effort to kill it, sustaining injuries himself. If it had been a cultivator at the seventh level of the Cloud River Realm, he would have been no match for it.

Although Lu Ye had a deep foundation and could usually defeat enemies two or three levels above him, he couldn't win if the power gap was too large. Dealing with a single-minded insectoid creature, however, wasn't as problematic. After a brief rest, he and Yi Yi resumed mining spirit stones in the tunnel.

While they were mining, the golden light that had been enveloping Lu Ye suddenly extinguished completely. Lu Ye paused, quickly trying to sense what had happened. He had always been curious about the purpose of this golden light, but since entering, he hadn't discovered anything. Now that the light was gone, he expected some change to occur.

However, before he could fully comprehend it, an invisible repulsive force assailed him from all directions. His vision blurred, and when he regained his senses, he was standing in front of the rock face where they had started. Lu Ye froze, and Yi Yi, who was beside him, also stood bewildered. She had been about to collect a high-grade spirit stone just moments before, and now, in the blink of an eye, they were out of the mining tunnel.

"So that's it!" Lu Ye realized. The golden light covering him was actually the key to staying in the mining tunnel! No wonder it had slowly faded over time; the moment it vanished, he was sent out. What a pity, they hadn't finished collecting all the spirit stones...

Yi Yi evidently realized this too, and with a flicker of her form, she plunged straight into the rock face before them. Lu Ye looked up and saw the indentation he had noticed earlier, but the copper coin he had placed in it was gone. Without the copper coin, there was no way to re-enter the spirit stone mine.

Yi Yi reappeared, shaking her head at Lu Ye. "There's nothing inside." She had thought the spirit stone mine was hidden behind this rock face. If that were the case, she wouldn't need any copper coin; she could simply use her own abilities to slip inside. But after a thorough investigation, she discovered there was nothing behind the rock face but solid rock.

"The entrance opened by that copper coin must have a teleportation effect," Lu Ye explained. "The mining tunnel we were in is clearly somewhere else; the true spirit stone mine isn't located here."

His harvest this time was substantial: over ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones and several hundred high-grade ones, enough to support his cultivation for quite some time. After a brief rest, he continued on his way.

His spirit boat whistled through the air. Lu Ye activated his battlefield mark, sending a message to Ju Jia, asking for his current location. Soon, Ju Jia reported his coordinates. Comparing it to the location Ju Jia had given him last time, Lu Ye frowned. He realized that Ju Jia was getting further and further away from his own position... This made no sense at all. He had previously told Ju Jia to buy a detailed map, and if Ju Jia followed the map's markings towards Lu Ye's location, their distance should only decrease, not increase.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Ye messaged him, asking, "Are you following the map's instructions?"

"Yes!" Ju Jia replied.

"Like hell you are!" Lu Ye was certain that Ju Jia had misread the map. Ju Jia wasn't unintelligent, just somewhat simple-minded, so the detailed map might not be effective in his hands. Furthermore, Lu Ye strongly suspected he had a poor sense of direction; otherwise, there was no reason he hadn't managed to meet up with him for so many days.

"Don't move anymore. Wait for me there; I'll come find you!" If Ju Jia continued to wander around like this, who knew when they would finally meet. It was better to have him stay put and for Lu Ye to go find him.

"Okay!"

On a certain spirit peak in the Cloud River battlefield, the burly man, Ju Jia, held the detailed map, examining it repeatedly, while scratching his head with a bewildered expression...

On his spirit boat, Lu Ye sent another message, this time to his Fourth Senior Brother, Li Baxian. His previous attempts to contact him had failed, leading him to wonder if his senior brother wasn't in the Cloud River battlefield or if he had entered some secret realm. This time, the message went through successfully, and soon, his senior brother responded.

"Little Junior Brother is in the Cloud River battlefield?" His senior brother's tone was clearly surprised and delighted, evidently not expecting Lu Ye to have advanced to the Cloud River Realm so quickly.

"I've been here for a while," Lu Ye replied.

"Good, good," Li Baxian replied. "Little Junior Brother, go explore on your own for a bit, stay safe. I'll come find you once I've finished what I'm doing."

"Do you need any help?" Lu Ye asked.

"No need, I'll handle it myself!"

"Then be careful, Senior Brother."

Although Li Baxian didn't elaborate, Lu Ye vaguely sensed that his situation might not be ideal. Otherwise, he would have come to find him immediately instead of saying he'd wait until he finished his current task.

In a hidden location somewhere in the Cloud River battlefield, Li Baxian, a smile on his face, ended the communication and remarked, "That was fast."

"Did you hear some good news? You look so happy," a gentle voice asked. It was Feng Yuechan, who had advanced to the Cloud River Realm alongside Li Baxian.

"My little junior brother has arrived," Li Baxian said with a proud tone.

Feng Yuechan was surprised. "Lu Ye?" In the entire Kyushu, no one else was referred to as "little junior brother" by Li Baxian except Lu Ye. "His cultivation speed is incredibly fast."

"Naturally!"

"But Senior Brother, given our current situation, it wouldn't be convenient for him to come over, would it?" Feng Yuechan had clearly misunderstood something.

"I'm not telling him to come over. I merely said he's arrived in the Cloud River battlefield."

"Oh," Feng Yuechan understood.

As they were talking, Li Baxian's expression suddenly changed. He grabbed Feng Yuechan's arm and whispered, "They're here! Let's go!" Sword light flashed, and two figures rose into the air on their swords. The next instant, over a dozen streaks of light pursued them closely. The leader roared, "Li Baxian, hand over that item!" Li Baxian laughed heartily in response, "If you want it, come and take it yourself, if you're capable enough!"

Earlier, he and Feng Yuechan had entered a secret realm and snatched the greatest treasure right under the noses of a group of powerful cultivators in the eighth and ninth levels of the Cloud River Realm. This act had stirred up a hornet's nest, leading to them being relentlessly pursued by the crowd. Just as Lu Ye had suspected, his current situation was indeed precarious; otherwise, he would have immediately sought out Lu Ye to meet him.

Meanwhile, Lu Ye ended his communication with Li Baxian and proceeded in the direction Ju Jia had indicated. Suddenly, he felt something and looked back. A streak of light was rapidly approaching him from behind. Judging by the speed of their flying artifact and the faint spiritual energy fluctuations, the pursuer was at least in the seventh, if not eighth, level of the Cloud River Realm.

Lu Ye immediately strained his eyes, distantly spotting the figure within the streak of light: a man in his twenties with a faint smile playing on his lips, his hands clasped behind his back, looking completely at ease. From his attire, he was very likely a Sword Cultivator. However, Lu Ye couldn't be certain. Many cultivators employed disguises, making it often difficult to accurately determine their faction based on outward appearance. Just like Pang Dahai, whom Lu Ye had always thought was a Spell Cultivator. But in reality, that fellow was not only a Spell Cultivator but also an extremely powerful Body Cultivator! If anyone naively thought he was merely a Spell Cultivator and used tactics aimed at Spell Cultivators against him, they would certainly suffer. Among cultivators, there were many such cunning and deceptive individuals.

Regardless of the pursuer's faction, given Lu Ye's current strength, he would certainly not fare well against a cultivator in the seventh or even eighth level of the Cloud River Realm. So, after a brief observation, Lu Ye immediately applied Wind-Speed Spirit Patterns to his spirit boat. In an instant, its speed dramatically increased, and he simultaneously steered the boat to fly sideways. As he changed direction, the young man behind him also shifted course.

"Lu Ye, he's chasing us!" Yi Yi also noticed something was wrong. Unless he was deliberately targeting them, there was no reason for such relentless pursuit.

"I see that," Lu Ye replied gravely. What was certain was that he didn't know the other party, nor did the other party know him. The reason for this pursuit was clearly hostile intent. Such incidents were common in the Cloud River battlefield. Therefore, cultivators with lower cultivation levels rarely flew boldly alone, either traveling with companions or avoiding long journeys to prevent being targeted. Being targeted by someone far stronger when alone in the wilderness was undoubtedly a troublesome matter. If they belonged to the same faction, disaster could be averted, but if they were from opposing factions, it inevitably meant losing both life and possessions.

"Friend ahead, stop!" the pursuing young man shouted from behind. "I mean no harm, please don't panic!"

Lu Ye knew better than to trust him. To pursue him so directly and still claim no ill intent was ridiculous; he wasn't a fool to believe such a thing.

"Friend, stop running! If you keep running like this, I'll get angry!" the young man continued to shout. Lu Ye ignored him, yet even with Wind-Speed Spirit Patterns applied to his spirit boat, he couldn't shake off his pursuer. The distance between them was steadily closing. The cultivation gap was too vast, and the speed of their respective flying artifacts differed immensely. If Lu Ye hadn't applied Wind-Speed Spirit Patterns to his spirit boat, he would have been caught long ago.

In fact, the young man behind him was quite surprised. In his view, Lu Ye was merely a cultivator around the third level of the Cloud River Realm, and there was no logical reason for him to be able to fly so fast. His own cultivation was a full four levels higher than Lu Ye's, yet he hadn't been able to catch up. This caused a fervent glint to flash in the young man's eyes. The fact that the other party could fly so quickly was undoubtedly due to the spirit boat, which must be an exceptional flying spirit artifact!