Chapter 51: Cause and Effect

Lu Ye channeled his spiritual power into his legs, significantly increasing his speed.

This was a small trick he had inadvertently discovered while traveling to and from Green Cloud Mountain multiple times. A cultivator's spiritual power had many marvelous uses: concentrating it in the eyes allowed one to see things ordinarily invisible; channeling it into the legs enabled faster running; and imbuing it into blades or swords made weapons more lethal.

The mountain forest had complex terrain, filled with ancient trees so large it would take several people to encircle them. The person fleeing ahead was naturally less familiar with the terrain than Lu Ye, and the distance between them was steadily closing.

When Lu Ye finally got a clear look at the person's back, all his doubts vanished.

He realized who was behind everything. This outcome surprised him, as he believed he had no grievances with the person, having only interacted with them once.

"Roar!" A snow-white figure suddenly burst out from ahead, blocking the person's path. It was Big Tiger!

Terrified, the person screamed. Without thinking, they instinctively unleashed a spiritual talisman they had been clutching. The talisman transformed into a crescent-shaped slash mid-air, hurtling towards Big Tiger.

Big Tiger narrowly dodged; the crescent slash passed so close to its body that it cut through the trunk of a large tree behind it, revealing the talisman's formidable penetrating power.

Having missed the attack, the person grew even more panicked, fumbling frantically for something in their storage bag.

A small figure had already silently latched onto her back, emitting a piercing screech.

Lu Ye saw the person's body slump as if pressed down by a heavy weight, and their movements faltered.

This reminded Lu Ye of his first encounter with Yi Yi and Big Tiger in the cave, where he had been ambushed by Yi Yi in a similar manner.

That delay allowed Lu Ye to close in and deliver a swift sword strike.

A flash of gleaming sword light, an arm flew, and blood spurted.

The pain made her scream. Although she was a rogue cultivator, her exceptional figure and appearance had caught the attention of the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance shortly after she entered the Spirit Creek Battlefield. She was recruited into the alliance and had never engaged in combat since, much less sustained such severe injuries.

It would not be an exaggeration to say she was like a flower grown in a greenhouse.

Most people in the Merchant Alliance were of this type; they didn't need to fight others and were spared the hardships and dangers faced by sect disciples training on the battlefield. Their sole focus was on conducting business well.

Big Tiger pounced, knocking her to the ground, its ferocious maw roaring, breath reeking of blood. The stench almost made her faint.

What terrified her even more was the sound of approaching footsteps. She turned her head to see Lu Ye walking steadily towards her, his sharp sword pointed diagonally at the ground, blood still dripping from its blade.

When he reached her, Lu Ye looked down, stating calmly, "Liu Ruyin!"

This woman was indeed the very person who had conducted his first transaction at the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance.

"Don't kill me, please don't kill me!" Liu Ruyin's makeup was streaked with tears as she pleaded incessantly.

Lu Ye lowered his gaze. "Who put you up to this?"

"No one ordered me. I was blinded by greed, tempted by money..." Under immense fear, Liu Ruyin blurted out everything, even haphazardly explaining the entire situation before Lu Ye could ask further questions.

"Is that so..." Lu Ye raised his sharp sword high.

Sensing Lu Ye's killing intent, Liu Ruyin screamed, "Don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want!"

The long sword descended. Big Tiger moved out of the way just in time as the spiritual-power-enhanced blade sliced across Liu Ruyin's fair, slender neck.

A faint yellow light flew from Liu Ruyin's pale hand and darted into Lu Ye's right hand.

The headless corpse twitched, blood gushing from its neck like a fountain, only ceasing after a prolonged moment.

Watching from the side, Yi Yi's eyelids twitched. Everything that happened today completely changed her perception of Lu Ye. She finally understood that Big Tiger had merely been lucky to escape death at his hands earlier; this guy was not someone to be trifled with.

Lu Ye bent down, removed the storage bag from Liu Ruyin's waist, and then patted her down thoroughly. This wasn't to take advantage of her, of course, but to check if she had any hidden storage bags.

He himself had hidden storage bags... Reasoning from his own experience, he figured others might as well.

Unfortunately, Liu Ruyin didn't have this habit. As a member of the Merchant Alliance, she didn't need to fight or venture into dangerous places, so keeping her storage bag openly on her person was quite safe.

Liu Ruyin's storage bag was already open. Lu Ye quickly inspected it and found some useful items.

"Dispose of the body," Lu Ye instructed.

"Huh?" Yi Yi stared at him incredulously, her expression clearly saying, "Are you kidding me?"

Lu Ye then pulled a bottle from Liu Ruyin's storage bag and tossed it in his hand.

"Alright!" Yi Yi readily agreed, winked at Big Tiger, and quickly got to work.

Lu Ye then went back to where he had killed the pale-faced cultivator, picking up his storage bag and weapon as well.

Less than half an hour later, in the cave where they were staying, Lu Ye sat cross-legged, bare-chested, applying healing pills to his wounds.

He had few healing pills left. After using two this time, only four remained.

Reflecting on the day's battle, Lu Ye felt no smugness for having slain a third-level Spirit Creek cultivator. Instead, he critically examined himself. Conflicts among lower-level cultivators primarily involved close-quarters combat; most followed the path of weapon cultivators. Due to insufficient cultivation and short training periods, lower-level cultivators lacked the time and energy to delve into spells. Only after their strength grew would their future path become clear.

His fight with the pale-faced cultivator exposed a serious problem: he completely lacked combat skills. This was unavoidable; he had only truly begun cultivating less than three months ago, and all his energy had been focused on increasing his cultivation, leaving no room to develop combat techniques.

Ultimately, he was able to kill the pale-faced cultivator by leveraging Big Tiger's strength, catching the opponent off guard.

However, he didn't know how to improve his techniques. Without a suitable teacher to guide him, trying to figure it out on his own was undoubtedly futile.

Then there was the issue of his weapon...

He hadn't paid much attention to it before. The long sword in his hand was one left behind after Steward Yang's death. He had used it to kill Zhou Cheng previously, but that fight had been instantaneous.

Only after today's life-or-death struggle with the pale-faced man did he truly notice something: his compatibility with this long sword was severely mismatched. No matter how he wielded it, it felt awkward and unnatural in his hand.

Swordsmanship emphasized agility and technique, but he simply used the long sword for chopping, completely failing to utilize its advantages.

Lost in thought, Lu Ye put his clothes back on and picked up the long sword by his feet, examining it carefully. The blade had numerous nicks and chips from his chopping, especially a rice-grain-sized gash about a third of the way down the blade.

Such damage was severe for a long sword, rendering it unusable.

He then picked up the pale-faced man's long saber, stood up, and swung it a few times, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

Wielding this... it actually felt surprisingly good.