Chapter 513: Lu Yiye Is Teasing Himself

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan's sudden actions drew everyone's attention. The magic cultivator was completely unprepared for someone stealthily approaching from behind. By the time Lu Ye suddenly attacked and he realized what was happening, it was already too late.

His body, which had just lifted off the ground, crashed down heavily. The intense pain in his back made him gasp for breath. As he looked up, countless sabre slashes rained down.

He hurriedly activated a spiritual power barrier to protect himself, but it only lasted three breaths before shattering under the relentless sabre light.

Intersecting sabre glints struck, producing sharp thudding sounds. The magic cultivator's body convulsed violently, enduring countless slashes in that instant. His protective spiritual power completely dispersed.

Immediately afterward, he felt his body lighten, his vision spun upside down, and his consciousness quickly blurred.

After dispatching the magic cultivator, Lu Ye immediately rushed to the other battlefield. At that moment, Feng Yuechan unleashed a barrage of spells, ensnaring the body cultivator and making escape impossible. Li Baxian's flying swords swept through, pinning the other two severely wounded cultivators in place.

Seeing Lu Ye approaching, the myriad sword lights converged and simultaneously attacked the body cultivator.

Before the two severely wounded cultivators could catch their breath, Lu Ye lunged at them. With swift, decisive slashes, he cut them down as easily as slicing vegetables.

Under normal circumstances, with one being a fifth-level and the other a fourth-level cultivator, it would be uncertain who would prevail against Lu Ye. However, they had been ambushed and gravely wounded by Li Baxian, a sword cultivator. They survived only because Li Baxian hadn't intended to kill them. With such injuries, even an ordinary third-level cultivator, let alone Lu Ye, could have dealt with them.

After cutting down two more, Lu Ye looked towards the last remaining body cultivator.

Although only a few breaths had passed, the body cultivator was already covered in wounds. Dozens of flying swords zipped back and forth, launching an unpreventable barrage of attacks. Even with his tough skin and robust physique, the body cultivator couldn't withstand them. Furthermore, Feng Yuechan's spells continuously rained down, causing the body cultivator's body to convulse violently and even knocking the spiritual greatshield from his grasp.

With Lu Ye joining the fray, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.

A few breaths later, the body cultivator's burly form collapsed to the ground. Lu Ye wasted no time, rushing towards the source of the radiating white light. He reached into the light, grabbing something without even seeing what it was, then quickly moved to retrieve the formation flags he had previously deployed around the area.

Meanwhile, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan cleared the battlefield and collected the spoils of war.

A moment later, Lu Ye whispered, "Let's go!"

The three figures quickly darted away, heading towards the cave.

To ensure safety, they naturally couldn't remain where they were. Although the recent battle was brief, its repercussions were considerable. If there were any powerful enemies nearby, they would likely be drawn to the disturbance.

While fighting in one location and then moving to another was somewhat troublesome, it prioritized their safety.

About fifteen minutes later, the three returned to their previous cave and sat down cross-legged.

"Junior Brother, I checked the elimination ranking," Li Baxian said. "The top spot's elimination points increased by 430 this time, which perfectly matches your activity. You are undoubtedly in first place."

Lu Ye had also seen this on their way back.

The four individuals they had killed earlier—three fifth-level cultivators and one fourth-level cultivator—had indeed earned him 430 elimination points.

Since the numbers matched, he was indeed in first place.

Earning over 400 elimination points in a single battle was a considerable haul. To put it in perspective, Xia Liang, who ranked second, only averaged 500 elimination points per day.

This single battle's gains were not far off from Xia Liang's daily total.

Before this fight, Xia Liang's elimination points were almost on the verge of surpassing Lu Ye's, but now Lu Ye had widened the gap again.

Who knew what Xia Liang must be thinking?

In the Cloud River Battlefield, despite the hunting grounds opening many times, a third-level cultivator had never before claimed the top spot on the elimination ranking. Not just third-level, even seventh-level cultivators hadn't achieved this.

The top three positions on the elimination ranking were always held by either eighth-level or ninth-level cultivators, with ninth-level cultivators frequently dominating those spots.

There had been instances where powerful cultivators attempted to exploit the rule that killing higher-level cultivators yielded significant elimination points to climb the ranks. However, implementing this strategy proved to be fraught with difficulties.

Firstly, to effectively use this rule for ranking, the cultivator's cultivation level couldn't be higher than fifth-level; otherwise, it wouldn't be very meaningful.

Yet, even a ninth-level cultivator accompanying a fifth-level one could easily encounter unforeseen incidents.

Most ninth-level cultivators faced opponents of similar strength from the opposing faction. In battle, it was incredibly difficult to fully protect a companion, making them vulnerable to enemy attacks. Should a companion suffer an accident, all previously accumulated elimination points would be forfeited, making the endeavor not worth the effort.

If Lu Ye hadn't met up with Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan this time, and if he hadn't achieved such a strong foundation by topping the elimination ranking with that special golden spiritual sign, he wouldn't have even considered competing for the ranking. The safest course of action would have been to simply hide in the shadows and wait for the hunting grounds to close.

All collected spoils were gathered before Lu Ye, and it was no trouble for him to unlock the restrictions on the storage bags.

Soon, the storage bags were opened one by one. Lu Ye divided the contents into three portions, giving one to Li Baxian and one to Feng Yuechan, while keeping one for himself.

After sorting through the items in the storage bags, they found no particularly valuable treasures this time.

He then examined the fortuitous encounter he had obtained from the white light earlier. Due to the urgency, he hadn't had time to check it and had simply put it into his storage space. Now, taking it out, he saw it was a spiritual flower.

Last time, he had retrieved a white spiritual sign from the white light...

Indeed, the fortuitous encounters scattered throughout the hunting grounds were incredibly diverse, containing all sorts of things.

Lu Ye had no expertise in pharmacology, so he didn't know what kind of spiritual flower it was or what its effects were. He could only vaguely infer that its value wasn't particularly high.

Regardless of what it was, he would take it back to the sect and give it to Shui Yuan when he had the chance.

The previous battle had erupted and concluded quickly, with Lu Ye and his companions expending little energy. Nevertheless, for caution, the three remained in the cave for an hour, ensuring the recent conflict hadn't attracted the attention of any powerful cultivators, before resuming their activities.

As before, the three exited the cave.

This time, they headed in a different direction, traveling over ten miles before finding a suitable spot. Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, and Yi Yi dispersed to keep watch as usual, while Lu Ye began setting up a formation.

Once everything was ready, they patiently waited for a target to appear.

Their previous success was due to the sudden appearance of the white light, which had drawn a group of cultivators from the Myriad Demon Ridge to investigate. This time, they weren't so lucky. They waited for a full day and night. Although some cultivators flew overhead during this time, they were all powerful individuals at or above the seventh level, and Lu Ye's group dared not make any rash moves.

It wasn't until well into the next day that a team of three passed by nearby.

As usual, Li Baxian was the first to act, attempting to draw attention. However, when his figure was revealed, the battlefield mark on the back of his hand showed no reaction whatsoever.

The fierce sword light abruptly receded, startling the three individuals. They reacted hastily, only to realize it was a false alarm.

These three were, in fact, from the Haotian Alliance.

Since they were all from the same faction, there was no need for a life-and-death struggle. Li Baxian offered a brief explanation, and the trio quickly departed.

This "waiting for the rabbit" approach indeed didn't guarantee success. No one knew when a target would appear, and even if one did, there was a fifty percent chance it would be from the Haotian Alliance. Furthermore, even if it was from the Myriad Demon Ridge, they couldn't be sure if they were dealing with a formidable opponent until after engaging in combat.

However, neither Li Baxian nor Lu Ye showed the slightest impatience.

Both were well aware that their cultivation levels were their biggest weakness in the hunting grounds. As third-level and fourth-level cultivators, they were at the absolute bottom. To achieve any gains while ensuring their safety, ample patience and waiting were absolutely essential.

A short while later, another team of three passed by.

Li Baxian struck again. This time, the battlefield mark on the back of his hand reacted, glowing blue. In contrast, the three opponents' marks glowed red.

With a single sneak attack, one of the opponents was gravely wounded on the spot, and the other two were also injured. As Feng Yuechan joined the battle, the situation instantly became one-sided.

Just as Lu Ye had expected, cultivators who traveled in groups generally didn't have very high cultivation levels. Most cultivators above the seventh level tended to operate alone like lone wolves.

All three cultivators from Myriad Demon Ridge were at the fifth level. After being ambushed by Li Baxian, how could they possibly contend with him and Feng Yuechan?

During the intense battle, Lu Ye concealed his presence and stealthily moved in.

Moments later, three corpses lay sprawled, a strong scent of blood filling the air. Lu Ye had gained 360 elimination points.

Elsewhere in the hunting grounds, Xia Liang, wielding a long sabre, looked up at the sky. His eye twitched involuntarily as he gazed at the blood-red banner-like elimination ranking.

He felt that the fellow named Lu Yiye was toying with him!

He had felt this way ever since that person suddenly gained a thousand elimination points and took the top spot on the ranking.

For the past few days, he had been actively hunting, ambushing Haotian Alliance cultivators, and gaining points daily, steadily closing the gap with Lu Ye. However, just as he hoped to surpass Lu Ye, the latter's elimination points would suddenly surge by several hundred, rendering all his efforts futile.

This had happened before, and it was happening again. Previously, he was only a little over a hundred points behind Lu Ye, but now the gap had widened to over four hundred.

How infuriating!

What angered him even more was that he was currently being targeted by a ninth-level cultivator from the Haotian Alliance!

The opponent's ranking on the elimination list wasn't high, only in the teens. It seemed their luck hadn't been good these past few days, and at this rate, they wouldn't make it into the top three.

Therefore, the opponent had adopted a stance of willingly forfeiting their own chance at the elimination ranking, but absolutely denying him his. They remained hidden in the shadows, constantly tailing him.

In a direct confrontation, that person was no match for him. However, with the opponent operating covertly like this, he truly had no effective counter, leaving him utterly frustrated.