Chapter 679: Joint Attack

Wind Rises in the Nine Provinces

In the cultivation world of the Nine Provinces, there is a vast array of formation flags, totaling 108 types, a number aligning with the celestial and earthly fiends. Each formation requires different flags, and their various combinations can often introduce unexpected variations to a formation.

Therefore, skilled formation masters possess their own unique insights and experience in using formation flags.

The same formation, when deployed by different formation masters, may exhibit varying power. This depends not only on the master's proficiency but also on their choice and combination of formation flags.

There are many intricacies involved.

Last time, he acquired thirty-two formation flags from challenging the Hundred Formations Pagoda. This time, he gained another thirty-two, bringing his total to sixty-four.

While still not a complete set, sixty-four flags are enough to handle most situations. Moreover, Lu Ye typically doesn't use these special formation flags for his own deployments; he either refines them himself or buys them from the Heavenly Secret Treasury, so he wouldn't mind if they were damaged or lost afterwards.

After inspecting the thirty-two formation flags, Lu Ye carefully put them away. He then began to construct a small spirit-gathering funnel, cultivating while simultaneously studying the vast array of formation insights in his mind.

He had already cleared thirty-three floors of the Hundred Formations Pagoda; there was no next floor. Once his time limit on this floor expired, he would be sent out of the Pagoda.

Vaguely, Lu Ye felt he had forgotten something.

Normally, such a lapse would be impossible for him. However, his spiritual consciousness was currently overflowing, leaving him no spare mental energy to think about anything else. He had even once forgotten to release Amber in advance.

He felt it wasn't anything particularly important... so Lu Ye simply stopped dwelling on it.

Three hours passed in a flash. When the surrounding spiritual energy suddenly dissipated, Lu Ye felt a massive, irresistible repulsive force.

He was about to leave.

He silently assessed his condition; everything was fine except for the immense pressure on his spiritual consciousness.

This challenge of the Hundred Formations Pagoda was a huge success, yielding several times more rewards than his previous one at the Heavenly Evolution Sect.

For one thing, he hadn't experienced the sensation of an overflowing spiritual consciousness during his last visit to the Heavenly Evolution Sect. This indicated that the gifts he received in the Hundred Formations Pagoda this time were far superior to anything he had gained before.

This was despite his spiritual power being countless times stronger than it was back then.

While such gains had greatly enhanced his formation cultivation, he hadn't reached his limit yet. He wondered how much more his formation cultivation would improve once he fully digested and assimilated all the information in his mind.

Additionally, his cultivation had advanced from the fifth to the sixth level. Although it was only a minor breakthrough, his strength had undoubtedly increased significantly.

As the repulsive force surged around him, the space where Lu Ye stood began to distort.

Instinctively, he stored Amber in his spirit beast bag. He then activated his spiritual power to protect himself and placed his hand on the hilt of the Mountain-Shattering Blade at his waist...

He wasn't sure what he was guarding against, but he felt it was the right thing to do.

The next moment, his vision blurred, and he reappeared in front of the Hundred Formations Pagoda's entrance.

The sight that met Lu Ye's eyes stunned him: an immense crowd stretched as far as he could see.

Were there really this many people outside the Hundred Formations Pagoda? He vaguely recalled that when he arrived, there were quite a few people, but certainly not to this exaggerated extent.

The instant he appeared, countless eyes simultaneously fixed on him, each face showing surprise.

Because the Hundred Formations Pagoda had been resonating these past few days, no formation masters had chosen to challenge it. Those who had entered earlier had long since exited.

Therefore, upon seeing Lu Ye suddenly appear, the nearby formation masters were bewildered. No one knew when Lu Ye had entered, or why he was emerging from the Pagoda at this moment.

Among the countless astonished gazes, Lu Ye felt several sharp stares.

He looked up and immediately saw several familiar faces.

Lu Ye suddenly realized, finally understanding what he had forgotten, and what he had been guarding against.

Earlier, in the safe passage leading to the Hundred Formations Pagoda, he had been ambushed by two cultivators from Ten-Thousand Demon Ridge. He had killed one of them, and severely wounded the other, striking him with his blade and sending him flying out of the safe passage, his fate unknown.

Such injuries were severe, but for a cultivator, they shouldn't be immediately fatal.

If the other party recognized him and suffered such a great loss, they would certainly send out messages and summon allies, provided they didn't die immediately.

Thus, his whereabouts were exposed.

In other places, he could hide and escape, but here at the Hundred Formations Pagoda, there was only one exit. As soon as he emerged from the Pagoda, he was bound to be ambushed.

The pressure on his spiritual consciousness had made him temporarily forget about this matter. However, his instincts remained, so even though he forgot, he had still stored Amber in his spirit beast bag and adopted a defensive posture before being repelled from the Hundred Formations Pagoda.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, a sharp blade light already spread across his vision.

Xia Liang and Tan Sheng had been guarding the Hundred Formations Pagoda's exit. The moment Lu Ye appeared, they spotted him. Without hesitation, Xia Liang drew his blade and struck. The few yards between them vanished in an instant, and his strike, charged with surging spiritual power, fully displayed the might of a ninth-level expert.

As Xia Liang attacked, Tan Sheng, standing beside him, also brandished his long spear. The large spear seemed alive, like a dragon emerging from the sea, thrusting directly at Lu Ye with overwhelming might.

A pincer attack by two ninth-level River Cloud cultivators, launched at such close range, would leave an ordinary person no time to react.

“They’ve got him!”

Xia Liang and Tan Sheng roared inwardly at the same time. Their bitter wait of several days here hadn't been in vain; they had actually managed to trap Lu Yiye.

Just as they thought this, Lu Ye also struck with his blade. As he attacked, his body shifted, dodging to the side. Not only that, a solid defensive spiritual rune appeared on his skin.

A cracking sound echoed. The newly formed defensive rune was struck by the long spear. From the point of impact, cracks spread rapidly in all directions, and it shattered with a crash.

The might of Tan Sheng's spear strike was evident.

However, utilizing the brief moment the defensive rune provided, Lu Ye slightly shifted his body. The spear barely grazed his armpit, tearing through his clothes. Lu Ye felt a searing pain on the skin near his ribs.

One could imagine that without the crucial intervention of the defensive rune, the spear would have pierced his chest, leaving him crippled if not dead.

Brushing past death, Lu Ye's eyes became clearer than ever before. At this moment, the immense pressure on his spiritual consciousness seemed to alleviate considerably.

The long blade in his hand perfectly parried the strike Xia Liang had unleashed.

The sharp blade light shattered with a crash, sending sparks flying. Xia Liang's body trembled slightly, and his brows furrowed.

The sensation from that strike made him realize something was wrong.

“This Lu Yiye is much stronger than expected!”

The last time he had fought Lu Ye was in Fox Immortal Valley. At that time, Lu Ye had sought his guidance on blade techniques, and while Lu Ye had seemed stronger than an average fourth-level River Cloud cultivator, he wasn't astonishingly so.

Now, however, the power Lu Ye displayed was astonishing. He had actually blocked Xia Liang's full-powered, long-prepared strike head-on, even with Tan Sheng assisting.

What did this mean? It clearly meant that Lu Ye was now qualified to fight him directly.

In the heat of a life-or-death battle, Xia Liang had no time for deep thought. Since his certain-kill strike failed, he swiftly changed tactics, his long blade sweeping around, brushing past Lu Ye's Mountain-Shattering Blade, and aiming for his neck.

At such close range, this strike was exceptionally dangerous.

The Mountain-Shattering Blade was suddenly raised, preemptively thwarting Xia Liang's intention.

But the next moment, Lu Ye was struck as if by lightning, sent flying sideways.

It was Tan Sheng's spear; having failed to fatally pierce Lu Ye, he had instinctively flicked it as it passed Lu Ye's armpit.

With that flick, the long spear whipped like a whip, its shaft slamming hard into Lu Ye's ribs.

Lu Ye felt his qi and blood churn within his abdomen, and an excruciating pain in his ribs, vaguely accompanied by the sound of cracking bone.

Fortunately, he used the force of the blow to leap up and lunge to the side.

Behind him was the Hundred Formations Pagoda, offering no retreat. In front were Tan Sheng and Xia Liang, so if he wanted to survive, he could only break out to the side.

While Tan Sheng's spear had indeed wounded him, it had also provided him with an opening to exploit.

“Where do you think you're going?!” Xia Liang roared in fury. His blade sang, and he moved with his weapon, swiftly catching up to Lu Ye, thrusting his blade straight at Lu Ye's back.

As a member of the Mad Blade Sect with extensive cultivation experience, he was far more proficient in blade techniques than Lu Ye. The only thing he lacked compared to Lu Ye was experience in life-or-death combat.

It wasn't that he lacked such experience; no cultivator reaching his level hadn't faced several life-threatening situations.

It was simply that Lu Ye had places like the Mirage Realm for training. Ever since acquiring the Spirit Fruit Core, he had died countless times in the Mirage Realm.

Xia Liang, however, did not have this advantage.

Therefore, when facing life-or-death crises, Lu Ye possessed a level of reactive experience rarely seen in others.

His ‘Heart’s Eye’ secret art played a crucial role at this moment. The aura of death clung to him like a shadow behind him. Any other cultivator would have turned to block, but Lu Ye didn't even look back. He simply activated another defensive spiritual rune the instant Xia Liang's long blade reached him.

This defensive rune still failed to block Xia Liang's strike, shattering with a crash as the blade tip pierced it.

The blade tip penetrated three inches into his flesh, almost reaching his internal organs, but it had finally exhausted the full force of Xia Liang's strike.

A surging wave of heat swept through the air. From somewhere in the crowd, two lifelike fire dragons, shaking their heads and tails, roared towards Lu Ye. It was Chu Yun and Zhou Pei attacking together.

As spell cultivators, their reaction speed was slightly slower than Xia Liang and Tan Sheng's. They only unleashed their spell after Lu Ye had engaged in combat with the others.

However, it was perfectly timed.

It was precisely the moment Lu Ye was wounded by Xia Liang and his defensive barrier shattered.

The two fire dragons, one after another, slammed violently into Lu Ye's back. A sky full of flames enveloped Lu Ye, and the immense impact forced a mouthful of fresh blood from him, which instantly evaporated in the scorching inferno.

Then, under the gaze of countless eyes, Lu Ye's flame-enshrouded figure broke through a layer of ripples and vanished without a trace.

The situation was identical to when he had struck down that sixth-level cultivator in the safe passage.