Chapter 503: Unlucky Person

The rogue cultivator could sense Lu Ye's gaze, which indicated considerable strength. However, unable to pinpoint Lu Ye's exact location, he didn't dare act rashly.

A moment later, he quietly moved away from Lu Ye's position, evidently wary or perhaps having misunderstood something.

The five-colored cloud stopped, approximately ten miles away from Lu Ye.

Looking in that direction, Lu Ye felt a wave of trepidation. That spot was precisely where he had been when he first spotted the cloud. In other words, if he hadn't run then, he would now be directly beneath the cloud.

Good thing he ran; otherwise, his current situation would be very awkward.

Wait!

Lu Ye suddenly recalled the last time the Heaven-Bestowed Spirit Charms appeared. The charms flying out of the cloud radiated in all directions; if he were directly below, he wouldn't be able to snatch any.

Which meant... his *current* position was truly awkward.

About ten miles from the cloud was precisely within the charms' radiation range.

Oh, no...

Lu Ye didn't know what to say.

At this point, he dared not make any rash moves, because in this short time, several presences had already appeared around him. They were clearly cultivators who had calculated their distance and position, arriving here to compete for the spirit charms.

The closest individual was only twenty zhang (about 60 meters) away from him, hidden in a large tree, looking up at the sky.

He could only wait and see, acting only when necessary. When the spirit charms started falling, the scene would surely be chaotic; it wouldn't be too late to find an opportunity to leave then.

He remained quietly hidden.

Everyone was waiting, even the powerful cultivators of the eighth and ninth Cloud River layers weren't causing any extra trouble at this moment. At this critical juncture, snatching the spirit charms was paramount.

After about half an hour, a sudden commotion arose around him. Lu Ye looked up and saw the five-colored cloud in the sky trembling. From its center, streaks of light shot out, radiating in all directions.

When the spirit charms first appeared, they didn't show their true colors, so no one knew what color they were. Only after they had fallen a certain distance would their true colors become visible. Then, gold, purple, blue, green, and white would be instantly clear.

The strong naturally rushed towards the higher-quality charms, while the weaker ones could only follow the principle of proximity, vying for the easiest-to-snatch charms closest to them.

This time, the Heaven-Bestowed Spirit Charms attracted an extremely large number of cultivators, so the scene was bound to be very chaotic.

Under everyone's gaze, streaks of light drifted in all directions, quickly revealing various colors. In an instant, almost all cultivators moved, rushing towards their respective targets.

Some formed groups of three to five, while others fought individually. The scene was extremely lively. In a flash, most of the spirit charms had already settled, with the remaining ones still being fiercely contested.

The cultivators near Lu Ye also shot into the sky. Seizing this excellent opportunity, he quickly moved.

He maintained his concealment spirit-array, so his speed was very slow, roughly equivalent to a person's normal walking pace. It wasn't that he didn't want to go faster, but if he moved too quickly, the concealment spirit-array would fail. This was already the fastest speed possible while keeping the spirit-array active.

Behind him, chaotic spiritual energy fluctuations emanated, interspersed with angry curses and roars, as well as cries of alarm and screams.

Without needing to look back, Lu Ye knew that a fierce and lively battle was already underway.

Normally, during Heaven-Bestowed Spirit Charms events, cultivators wouldn't fight to the death. But the situation in the hunting ground was different. Those competing for charms could easily determine if their opponents belonged to the same faction as them. If they were from an opposing faction, they would naturally fight to kill.

As he was stealthily moving away, a miserable shriek suddenly echoed, growing louder as it approached, quickly reaching his ears.

Lu Ye immediately turned his head. He saw a cultivator plummeting from the sky, covered in blood. This individual had clearly lost the recent battle, and it was unknown who had injured him. Judging by the amount of blood, his injuries were clearly severe; otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to maintain his form.

Coincidentally, or rather, unluckily, the person's landing spot was precisely where Lu Ye was standing.

If this impact were to land solidly, Lu Ye mused that even if his physique rivaled a body cultivator of the same level, he definitely wouldn't be able to withstand it.

Without any hesitation, he swiftly darted aside.

This action caused the long-maintained concealment spirit-array to break on its own, revealing his figure.

With a thud, dirt flew up from the ground. The person who had fallen from the sky crashed heavily onto the ground, rolling several times before barely coming to a stop. He tried to force himself up, but after two attempts, he failed. He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, half-knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, his face as pale as paper.

His almost unfocused gaze suddenly fixed on the back of his hand, where a vibrant crimson light was blooming!

Someone! And from the Vast Heaven Alliance!

The person immediately looked up and saw Lu Ye standing not far away, with a slightly helpless expression.

Lu Ye, who only wanted to quietly leave this chaotic place, evidently hadn't expected to encounter such a situation.

At this very moment, a faint blue glow emanated from the back of Lu Ye's hand. The light wasn't strong, but under the shroud of the blood-red barrier, it was extremely conspicuous.

His helpless expression vanished, and his eyelids slightly lowered. Lu Ye pushed off with both feet, lunging forward like a leopard, and his Mountain Breaker Saber roared out of its sheath!

He didn't know the cultivation level of this unlucky person, but the other party was clearly severely injured. Since his presence had been exposed, he couldn't pretend not to have seen it.

Seeing Lu Ye charging, the person gritted his teeth, attempting to stand. However, he was already severely wounded, and had just fallen from mid-air. Not only was his spiritual energy scattered, but who knew how many bones he had broken. How could he possibly stand?

Before he could even get up, Lu Ye had already brushed past him. A fiery red saber gleam traced an arc, cutting across the opponent's neck.

The person's body froze in place, his mouth moving as if to speak, but no words came out.

A red light floated out, landing on the back of Lu Ye's hand.

Another figure descended from the sky. The powerful spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from him clearly indicated that this person was an expert of the ninth Cloud River layer!

Lu Ye turned and stared at the newcomer, then glanced at the back of their hand. His tense feelings relaxed.

Neither of their battle marks reacted, indicating that both were from the Vast Heaven Alliance.

The person looked at the corpse sprawled on the ground, then at Lu Ye, and unhappily blurted, "This brat sure knows how to snatch a bargain!"

Judging from what the person said, the individual who had fallen from the sky was clearly injured by him. The merit and hunting points that should have been easily his were unexpectedly snatched by Lu Ye.

Lu Ye's expression was innocent. He didn't want this either. Who could blame him when the guy fell right in front of him? He could only act first.

Although this Vast Heaven Alliance expert was annoyed that Lu Ye had stolen his spoils, he didn't intend to cause trouble for him. Noticing that Lu Ye was only at the third layer of cultivation, he frowned and said, "This is a place of trouble, leave quickly!"

Lu Ye clasped his fist in greeting, and swiftly darted into the distance. At this point, he didn't bother activating his concealment spirit-array to hide his form.

After Lu Ye left, the man bent down and picked up a storage bag. He then pried open the dead person's hand and took a blue spirit charm from it.

He wasn't trying to snatch Lu Ye's spoils; this was originally supposed to be his.

Turning around, the five-colored cloud trembled once more. Streaks of light shot out in all directions as more spirit charms appeared. The man leaped, soaring into the sky, joining the fray.

Lu Ye ran for nearly a hundred miles without stopping. Turning to look back, he saw that the five-colored cloud had already shrunk to half its original size. He knew that the Heaven-Bestowed Spirit Charms event was nearing its end, and that the golden charms were about to appear. With their appearance, the cultivators from both factions would surely engage in a brutal, bloody fight.

He felt a slight pang of regret. If his cultivation had been a bit higher—not much, even just the fifth Cloud River layer—Lu Ye felt he would have been qualified to participate in such a grand event. He wouldn't aim for the golden or purple charms, but he could at least contend for those below purple.

His third-layer cultivation was still too weak. In such a chaotic situation, and being alone, it was best not to participate.

Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, Lu Ye's eyes fixed on the hunting leaderboard again.

At this very moment, the rankings on the hunting leaderboard were constantly changing. Names would occasionally disappear from the list; those were cultivators who had died in battle, as they wouldn't vanish for no reason.

Some people's rankings suddenly rose, clearly due to killing enemies, while others' rankings were falling.

Lu Ye looked at the fifteenth entry, and the corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch.

Lu Yiye, 370 points, one golden spirit charm.

His previous ranking was in the fifties, and it had been steadily falling as time passed. In less than half a day, he should have dropped off the hunting leaderboard entirely.

Yet at this very moment, his ranking had suddenly skyrocketed from the fifties to fifteenth place. Compared to his previous 120 points, his hunting points had increased by a full 250!

This was insane!

In the hunting ground, he had only killed two people in total, yet he held the fifteenth rank. This didn't mean others were weak; currently, those who could make it onto the hunting leaderboard were generally cultivators above the seventh layer, mostly at the eighth or ninth layer.

His ability to reach fifteenth place on the hunting leaderboard was mainly due to the immense rewards from killing enemies of higher cultivation levels.

The first time, he leapfrogged two layers, killing a fifth-layer cultivator, which instantly added 120 points.

As for the one just now, it directly added 250 points.

Lu Ye did a quick calculation and came to a conclusion.

The unlucky person he had just beheaded with a single saber strike was actually a seventh-layer cultivator...

The base merit points for a seventh Cloud River layer cultivator were 50 points. Leapfrogging four layers meant five times the reward, which was exactly 250 merit points.

A seventh-layer cultivator...

This... Lu Ye truly didn't know what to say.

He had originally thought that his name would soon drop off the hunting leaderboard. Who would have thought that this one action would cause it to skyrocket? Now, he didn't know how long it would take for him to fall off again.

Fortunately, the hunting leaderboard didn't display cultivators' cultivation levels. Otherwise, having a third-layer cultivator amidst a group of eighth and ninth-layer cultivators would be incredibly conspicuous!

Just like back in the Spirit Stream Battlefield, he had entered the Spirit Stream ranking with a Heaven-rank seven cultivation, astonishing everyone in the entire Spirit Stream Battlefield.