Chapter 531: Drag Some People to Accompany the Burial

As time passed and the crimson light pillars erupted once every two hours, more and more Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators gathered around Lu Ye. In just two or three hours, over a dozen Ninth-Realm powerhouses had arrived, along with hundreds of cultivators below the Ninth Realm.

The Ninth-Realm powerhouses spread out, completely surrounding Lu Ye, and were openly discussing how to deal with him, not even bothering to hide their intentions. The current situation was somewhat awkward for these powerhouses, especially for the three cultivators who had initially cornered Lu Ye here. They had originally hoped to claim the bounty solely, but were thwarted by the Golden Body Medallion. Now, with so many people gathered, it was impossible to keep the spoils for themselves; they would definitely have to share some of the benefits.

After a brief discussion, a resolution was reached. Of the bounty obtained from killing Lu Yiye, Tan Sheng would first take twenty percent. This was an unchangeable agreement Tan Sheng had made with many Myriad Demon Ridge powerhouses when he first released the news. Another twenty percent would be taken and distributed among Xia Liang and the other two. Xia Liang and his two companions deserved great credit for cornering Lu Yiye here; without them, Lu Yiye would still be escaping. Everyone acknowledged that taking twenty percent of the benefits was only right and proper. Of the remaining sixty percent, thirty percent would be equally divided among the other Ninth-Realm cultivators present, and the remaining thirty percent would be distributed among the other cultivators. Overall, this distribution plan could not satisfy everyone, but given the situation, there was no better alternative.

Lu Ye had truly become like fish on a chopping block; even before his death, his benefits were already being parceled out and distributed.

With the discussion settled, all that remained was to wait for the Golden Body Medallion's time limit to expire.

Sitting cross-legged at the center of the crowd, Lu Ye continuously swallowed spirit pills to restore his spiritual power. Although he made no attempt to hide his actions, no one from Myriad Demon Ridge tried to stop him. They couldn't stop him because, protected by the Golden Body Medallion, Lu Ye would not be harmed no matter how they attacked. How could they possibly intervene?

After several hours, Lu Ye's spiritual power had been fully restored. He even took out a piece of dried meat from his storage space and began eating it heartily. Looking around with a detached gaze, he noticed a few familiar faces. Tan Sheng, of course, had arrived over two hours ago. He was staring at Lu Ye with a gloomy expression, clearly in a foul mood. He had originally hoped to quickly kill Lu Ye and then contend for the top spot on the hunt list. However, Lu Ye was still alive, his ranking on the hunt list had plummeted, the top spot was completely out of reach, and the benefits from killing Lu Ye had been reduced to twenty percent. What a heavy loss!

Wei Que had also arrived. He stood not far from Tan Sheng, chatting and laughing with people he knew. Among the scattered crowd, Lu Ye also saw the Jiang Liuzi brothers. A crimson light glowed on the back of every Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator's hand. Only Lu Ye, completely surrounded by the crowd, had a different light on his hand, truly standing out like a single blue flower amidst a sea of red.

Noticing Lu Ye's gaze, the Jiang Liuzi brothers looked up. Their eyes met, and Lu Ye nodded slightly at them. Lu Ye's calm demeanor startled the Jiang Liuzi brothers. They wondered if he was truly fearless or just putting on a brave face. A Third-Realm cultivator, surrounded by so many from Myriad Demon Ridge, facing certain death when the Golden Body Medallion's time limit expired—Jiang Liuzi admitted to himself that he couldn't be as composed as Lu Ye if he were in the same situation.

As Lu Ye was surveying his surroundings, a message suddenly came through his battle-mark. He lowered his head to check; it was from Li Baxian.

"Junior Brother," the message read, "hold on! I'm contacting people to save you!"

Lu Ye's predicament had quickly become widely known. Many Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators had heard about it and were rushing towards this location, and naturally, those from the Haotian Alliance had also heard. This had Li Baxian extremely worried. At this moment, he and Feng Yuechan were hiding about twenty li away. But in the current situation, his urgency was useless. Both he and Feng Yuechan were only at the Fourth Realm; it was impossible to rescue Lu Ye from the encirclement of so many powerhouses, so they dared not act rashly. Now, Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan could only try their best to contact more Haotian Alliance powerhouses and ask for their assistance. However, to rescue Lu Ye from such a heavy encirclement, it would be absolutely impossible without fifteen to twenty Ninth-Realm cultivators acting together. Fewer people would only mean certain death, as Myriad Demon Ridge would not be courteous to the Haotian Alliance. If they had enough time, with their connections, contacting fifteen to twenty Ninth-Realm cultivators wouldn't be an issue. But time was urgent now; many people were not nearby, and it would take time for them to arrive.

Li Baxian only regretted not having advanced to the Cloud River Realm earlier. If he also possessed Ninth-Realm Cloud River cultivation now, how could he stand by and watch his junior brother trapped in such a predicament? But then he thought, if he had advanced to the Cloud River Realm earlier, he would probably already be in the True Lake Realm by now and wouldn't be staying on the Cloud River battlefield at all. After much thought, he concluded that he was useless, unable to save his junior brother from peril.

"Okay!" Lu Ye replied simply.

He looked around again and took a shallow breath. He was almost ready; it was time to implement his plan. He was currently surrounded and unable to escape. His only reliance was the indestructible Golden Body Medallion. But the Golden Body Medallion had a time limit, and once it expired, he would die whether he wanted to or not. Unless he could set up a teleportation array and use it to teleport two hundred li away, there was still a slim chance of survival.

Waiting for death was not an option. Even if he couldn't escape and was destined to die here, he would drag some people down with him before he died. Especially that guy Tan Sheng; if he hadn't activated the secret art on the tracking disk, Lu Ye's situation wouldn't be so awkward.

His spiritual power surged violently throughout his body. On his chest, a spirit pattern covering his entire chest quickly formed. Immediately after, the surging spiritual power rapidly poured into the spirit pattern. Such an unusual situation naturally didn't escape the notice of the Ninth-Realm cultivators gathered around. In an instant, pairs of eyes fixed upon him, with expressions of surprise and suspicion. None of them knew what Lu Yiye was doing.

Wei Que spoke up: "Kid, don't try any tricks. You can't escape."

Lu Ye looked up at him calmly, his expression serene. "I'm not trying to escape. Don't be nervous." As he spoke, he stuffed a handful of spirit pills into his mouth. The sight of him swallowing spirit pills so voraciously genuinely stunned everyone. No cultivator consumed spirit pills like that, but considering Lu Ye's current predicament, it was not entirely unexpected.

Wei Que frowned. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I can do?"

This question stumped Wei Que. Indeed, in Lu Yiye's current situation, what more could he do? At most, he could put up a desperate fight. But he was only a Third-Realm cultivator; with so many Ninth-Realm cultivators present, as long as they were careful, he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble. Many shared his thoughts. Therefore, although they noticed Lu Ye's minor movements, they didn't pay much attention to them.

Time passed. Even with a large number of spirit pills replenishing it, his spiritual power continued to drain, all gathering into the spirit pattern on his chest. Although spiritual power was draining, Lu Ye's aura was gradually strengthening. It quickly surpassed the level a Third-Realm cultivator should possess. If one were to estimate his realm based on the spiritual power fluctuations from Lu Ye at this moment, he would appear to be at the Fourth or even Fifth Realm.

This unusual situation put people on alert. Someone spoke up with a low shout: "Lu Yiye, stop what you're doing, or else..."

"Or else what?"

Lu Ye looked up at the speaker. The person he questioned stammered, unable to respond. Indeed, what else could they do? Beat him up? Protected by the Golden Body Medallion, who could possibly harm him? Mere threats were meaningless to Lu Ye, and actually attacking him would just be a waste of effort.

After a moment of silence, the person spoke up. "If you cooperate, you might experience less pain. But if you dare to harbor any ill intentions, I guarantee you'll wish for death but not find it, and wish for life but not attain it!"

Lu Ye didn't bother to respond. He shoved another handful of spirit pills into his mouth. What a pity. The Restful Fruit Wine that Second Senior Sister had brewed was all used up. Otherwise, his spiritual power recovery would be even faster; the recovery effect of that wine was simply incomparable to Prime Spirit Pills.

The spiritual power stored in the spirit pattern on his chest had reached its limit. This wasn't enough. Lu Ye recalled his last experience using that spirit pattern. He secretly decided that this time he would give Myriad Demon Ridge a grand gift.

As spiritual power surged, an identical spirit pattern appeared on his back, and he channeled spiritual power into it. His aura grew even stronger, and Lu Ye's expression also grew solemn. Because maintaining two such spirit patterns required immense mental effort, especially after large amounts of spiritual power were poured into both. If he wasn't focused enough, should the spirit patterns shatter, all the spiritual power channeled into them would explode instantly, and even the Golden Body Medallion might not be able to protect him completely. The Golden Body Medallion could block external attacks, but it might not be able to block internal explosions from his own body. Fortunately, Lu Ye's mental power had always been much stronger than cultivators of the same level. At this moment, maintaining it with full concentration would be fine as long as he wasn't greatly disturbed.

"Something's wrong!" Xia Liang suddenly spoke.

Lu Ye's aura at this moment far exceeded the Third Realm. Judging solely by this aura, no one would doubt if he were said to be at the Fifth or Sixth Realm. Furthermore, as he continued his actions, his aura continued to grow stronger. Even an idiot could tell something was wrong. Immediately, someone roared in anger: "Lu Yiye, stop playing tricks!" Judging by his stern expression, it was as if Lu Ye was about to commit some heinous crime against him. But in reality, Lu Ye was the one trapped and living on borrowed time. Others began to threaten him with harsh words.

Lu Ye ignored them, treating their words as mere farts, and continuously channeled his spiritual power into the spirit pattern on his back. With his posture and the protection of the Golden Body Medallion, the group of Myriad Demon Ridge powerhouses truly had nowhere to exert their strength. They were utterly helpless and seethed with frustration. The Golden Body Medallion had been active for several hours; why wasn't it disappearing yet? As long as the Golden Body Medallion disappeared, any of them at the Ninth Realm, regardless of who made the move, could directly kill Lu Yiye.