Chapter 541: Old Rules

“Run!” Senior Brother Miao’s thoughts raced as he immediately yelled in a low voice.

His junior brothers and sisters looked bewildered. The one who had spoken earlier asked, puzzled, "Senior Brother Miao?"

"That's Lu Yiye, run!" Senior Brother Miao exclaimed. As he spoke, he summoned his spirit artifact and took a defensive stance, clearly intending to stay behind to buy time for his junior brothers and sisters to escape.

It was clear he was very responsible as a senior brother.

Upon hearing this, the others' expressions changed dramatically, and for a moment, they were caught between fleeing and fighting.

Lu Yiye's reputation cast a long shadow.

While Lu Yiye was unknown in the Cloud River Battlefield, it was no exaggeration to say that he was a household name in the Spirit Creek Battlefield. He had recently caused a tremendous stir at the New Moon Sect's stronghold, single-handedly breaching a core-circle sect's base and killing over fifty people. Such an astonishing feat had profoundly impacted everyone.

No one expected that their trip to the New Moon Sect's stronghold to gather information would lead them to encounter this notorious figure.

After a moment of hesitation, it was already too late to escape. Lu Yiye's figure was already hundreds of zhang away.

"Follow my lead!" Senior Brother Miao whispered, secretly channeling his spiritual power.

The others also felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. They hastily summoned their spirit artifacts and stood behind Senior Brother Miao, ready to advance and retreat with him.

A moment later, Lu Yiye swept past them, less than a hundred zhang away, and continued straight ahead.

Senior Brother Miao and his group remained stiffly suspended in mid-air, their expressions grave as beads of sweat trickled down their cheeks.

Only after Lu Yiye had gone far away did they finally breathe deeply. In that instant, they had all thought they were dead, but to their surprise, Lu Yiye had simply left.

Had he not seen them? That was impossible, of course. They were less than a hundred zhang apart, and Lu Yiye wasn't blind; how could he not have seen them?

Since he hadn't failed to see them, it meant he had simply ignored them.

The others were fine, grateful to have escaped death. Only Senior Brother Miao felt both lucky and ashamed—lucky that Lu Yiye hadn't attacked them, otherwise they would all be dead, but ashamed that he had felt such relief...

Lu Yiye was now at the Heavenly Nine Realm, and so was he. At the same cultivation level, though he had the courage to fight, he had no confidence whatsoever in defeating Lu Yiye. To think he was also among the top fifty on the Spirit Creek Ranking...

"Senior Brother Miao..." A junior sister's voice trembled, "He's back again!"

Senior Brother Miao abruptly turned his head. Sure enough, Lu Yiye, who should have left, had turned around and flown back.

Was he still going to attack? Senior Brother Miao's heart hardened. He secretly made up his mind that even if he died in battle here today, he would let Lu the Sect Destroyer know that cultivators from the Myriad Demon Ridge were not to be trifled with!

The flying spirit artifact stopped less than a hundred zhang away from them, a distance that was already within striking range for a Heavenly Nine Realm cultivator.

"From Myriad Demon Ridge?" Lu Yiye asked.

Senior Brother Miao's heart tensed, and he almost launched his artifact in attack. After realizing his mistake, he nodded with a solemn expression. It felt as if he wasn't standing before a cultivator of the same level, but a superior True Lake or Divine Sea Realm expert.

His sense of shame intensified. Facing Lu Yiye, he found that he didn't have the resolve he had imagined, not even the courage to refuse to answer.

"By your expressions, you should know who I am, so I won't waste words," Lu Yiye said. "And don't be nervous. I don't have much killing intent today; I won't do anything to you."

Killing people was too disadvantageous. Previously, killing enemies in the Spirit Creek Battlefield earned merit points, but now, not only were merit points deducted, he also had to spend them to buy core-earth fire to burn away the Soul Destruction Divine Thunder.

Senior Brother Miao and the others' eyelids twitched furiously upon hearing this. He had just breached the New Moon Sect's stronghold and killed over fifty people. And he called that "not much killing intent"?

"What do you want?" Senior Brother Miao asked, bracing himself.

"Go back and deliver a message to all the major sects of Myriad Demon Ridge," Lu Yiye said. "Tell them it's the old rule: within ten days, Sky Sword Peak! If I don't see what I want within ten days, I'll visit each sect door to door."

Having said that, Lu Yiye turned and left, leaving Senior Brother Miao and the others with shifting expressions.

Only after Lu Yiye's figure disappeared did someone finally ask, "Senior Brother Miao, what does he mean?"

Senior Brother Miao didn't answer; he naturally knew what Lu Yiye meant. After all, something like this had only happened a few months ago. That time, the major core-circle sects of Myriad Demon Ridge weren't prepared to cooperate. Who would willingly give away so many resources for no reason, especially to an enemy?

But after Lu Yiye's unprecedented battle with a supreme-level beast, elevating himself to a supreme-level existence as a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator, all the sects that had been unwilling to cooperate had obediently complied. When their strength couldn't match his, and with so many past examples, what else could they do but cooperate? Compared to the resources they paid out, the loss from their sect's stronghold being breached would be unimaginable.

"Let's go!" Senior Brother Miao called out, quickly leading his people toward their own stronghold. He needed to get this news out quickly. As for the rest, it was not something a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator like him could consider; the sect's experts would weigh the options.

About half an hour later, Lu Yiye's demands, reported by Senior Brother Miao, quickly spread to all first, second, and third-rank sects of Myriad Demon Ridge.

Upon hearing this news, the major sects' primary concern was not Lu Yiye's impudent demands, but his current condition. According to the observations of Senior Brother Miao and his companions, there was no sign of purple lightning lingering on Lu Yiye; he was clearly in a normal state.

This baffled countless Myriad Demon Ridge experts. Over fifty New Moon Sect disciples had died at Lu Yiye's hands, and cultivators who had escaped the stronghold had personally witnessed him surrounded by purple lightning. How long had it been? How could the Soul Destruction Divine Thunder, which even Divine Sea Realm cultivators dreaded, have disappeared?

It was only when Senior Brother Miao and his companions took an Oath to the Heavenly Secret that this news was definitively confirmed.

The Myriad Demon Ridge side felt a sense of disorientation. They had originally expected Lu Yiye to succumb to the torment of the soul-destroying thunder, and even if he didn't die, he would be unable to cause any more trouble. But now, it seemed he had somehow suppressed or even eliminated the Soul Destruction Divine Thunder wrapped around him.

The Myriad Demon Ridge side leaned more towards the former possibility, as a method capable of eliminating the Heavenly Secret's punishment seemed utterly inconceivable. They also recalled the woman named Weiyang from the Azure Blood Sect. She had forcibly entered the Spirit Creek Battlefield twice, killing many Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators, and yet, after receiving the Heavenly Secret's punishment, she had also emerged unscathed.

Could it be that the Azure Blood Sect really possessed some special, astonishing method to suppress the Heavenly Secret's punishment? If so, then things were troublesome.

Facing Lu the Sect Destroyer, fighting him was impossible, and defending against him was futile. Apart from obediently cooperating with him and appeasing his anger, there seemed to be no other choice.

Most Myriad Demon Ridge sects felt indignant because none of their own cultivators had troubled Lu Yiye in the hunting ground, yet now they were suffering an undeserved disaster. Lu Yiye evidently didn't know exactly who had troubled him in the hunting ground, so he was simply sweeping everyone in one go. How could they accept this?

A few months ago, they had already paid Lu Yiye "protection money," a humiliation the Myriad Demon Ridge could never wipe away. Now, just a few months later, would this humiliation have to happen again? How was this any different from twisting a knife in a wound and rubbing salt in it?

Most importantly, Lu Yiye belonged to the Azure Blood Sect, and the Azure Blood Sect belonged to the Vast Heaven Alliance. The "protection money" sent by so many first, second, and third-rank sects, when accumulated, represented an enormous sum of resources. This was undoubtedly strengthening the enemy. Last time, the Azure Blood Sect had already received a sum of "protection money," such immense wealth that it was enough to ensure their disciples would have no worries about cultivation expenses for decades to come. People said that the current monthly stipends of Azure Blood Sect disciples were comparable to those of the top first-rank sects in Kyushu, making them truly rich and powerful. Even the treatment of some registered disciples was better than that of many major sects. For a ninth-rank sect to provide such generous treatment to its disciples, it was clear that they were simply draining the lifeblood from the major sects of Myriad Demon Ridge. If this happened again, heaven knew what kind of development the Azure Blood Sect would achieve in the future.

Fortunately, Lu Yiye had given them ten days, just like last time. So, the Myriad Demon Ridge still had room for discussion. To compromise or not to compromise, that was the big question.

For a time, many Divine Sea Realm experts from various sects gathered to deliberate on the matter. Soon, someone raised a crucial question: Why hadn't Lu Yiye killed Senior Brother Miao and the others!

If he simply wanted someone to convey a message, leaving one person alive would have been enough. Furthermore, Lu Yiye could have gone to any Myriad Demon Ridge stronghold and delivered the message himself. Senior Brother Miao and his companions were all unharmed. Lu Yiye hadn't even shown any intention of attacking them from beginning to end, which was very thought-provoking.

Given his powerful methods at the New Moon Sect's stronghold, there was no reason Senior Brother Miao and his companions should have escaped his grasp. Although Lu Yiye had said he didn't have much killing intent at the time and let them off the hook, if one were to delve deeper, that explanation was indeed full of flaws. Lu Yiye must have had some reservations, which was why he hadn't attacked Senior Brother Miao and his companions.

This discovery lit up the eyes of many Divine Sea Realm experts. Someone slowly began to speak: "What we're currently speculating is that the Azure Blood Sect has some special method to suppress the Heavenly Secret's punishment. But what if this method also has some drawbacks?"

"What do you mean, Elder Chen?" someone asked.

Elder Chen stroked his beard. "This old man has lived for so many years, and I've never heard of anyone being able to resist the Heavenly Secret. A method to suppress the Heavenly Secret's punishment certainly sounds absurd, but the facts are before us, so this old man will believe it for now. However, for such a heaven-defying method, the cost must also be immense. It's very likely that Lu Yiye doesn't *not* want to kill, but rather, *cannot* kill anymore!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of many Divine Sea Realm experts lit up.

Immediately, another person nodded. "Elder Chen's words make sense. Perhaps if Lu Yiye kills again, the suppressed Heavenly Secret's punishment will erupt even more fiercely."

"If so, doesn't that mean he's just bluffing?"

"Do you all remember, when he was at the Heavenly Nine Realm, he consecutively breached nearly thirty core-circle sects' strongholds? That's why he forced us to reluctantly comply. But what about now? Half a day has passed; if he still had the ability to breach a second stronghold, why wouldn't he have taken action to apply pressure?"