Chapter 84: Can Win

Three days later, on opposite sides of the ruined battlefield, Lu Ye and Luo Ji, separated by dozens of feet, were each recovering.

Over these three days, the two had fought more than a dozen battles, engaging several times each day, yet neither had managed to secure a victory.

Three days of intense fighting left Lu Ye utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. He had barely slept these past three days. He was puzzled by how quickly the guy named Luo Ji on the other side could recover.

In this prolonged contest, both sides had revealed all their trump cards. In direct confrontation, neither could overpower the other. Now it was a test of endurance, so recovery speed had become especially crucial.

Within the same period, whichever side could recover more spiritual power would continuously gain an advantage.

Lu Ye had the assistance of the Gluttonous Feast, doubling his speed in refining spirit pills. During his rest periods, he would also construct Spirit Gathering patterns at his spirit apertures, absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

With these two methods combined, Lu Ye's recovery speed could be said to have reached an astonishing level. Even cultivators in the average sixth-level Spirit Creek stage might not recover as fast as him.

Sharing the same question, Luo Ji was cursing inwardly: "How could this brute recover so quickly?"

Although he was at the second level of the Spirit Creek stage, he had already opened 55 apertures, nearly double Lu Ye's number. Furthermore, the spirit pills he took were not ordinary Spirit Accumulation Pills, but the special Minor Reversion Pills from Boundless Isle.

These pills had little difference from Spirit Accumulation Pills when used for cultivation, but if used solely for recovery, their effect was about 30% stronger than Spirit Accumulation Pills.

He also used spirit stones during his recovery, gripping one in each hand, desperately absorbing the spiritual power from them.

Yet, with these three methods combined, he still couldn't gain any advantage.

He genuinely couldn't understand what was happening.

Compared to Lu Ye, he had even less time to rest, having barely closed his eyes over the three days, because he was constantly harassed by Amber and Yiyi.

In direct combat, Amber and Yiyi couldn't offer much help, but for simple harassment, they were quite effective.

Both had recovered for about two hours. Lu Ye opened his eyes. As was customary, it was time for another round of fighting.

As expected, Luo Ji on the opposite side also opened his eyes, stood up, faced Lu Ye, and slowly walked towards him.

He wasn't trying to engage Lu Ye in close combat; it was just that they were too far apart. He needed to get within spell-casting range.

On the other side, Lu Ye mounted Amber and charged towards Luo Ji, his long saber pointing diagonally towards the ground, poised for action.

Luo Ji stopped, a spiritual glow flickering in his hand as he prepared a spell...

Just then, he suddenly frowned, sensed something, and raised a hand, saying, "Wait a moment!"

Lu Ye frowned but still had Amber stop.

Luo Ji dispersed the spiritual glow in his hand and said, panting, "No more fighting, you win!"

Lu Ye stared intently at him, unsure what tricks this guy was up to.

As if to reassure Lu Ye, Luo Ji voluntarily explained, "The Xuanmen's declaration of war against the Nine-Star Sect has ended. The Nine-Star Sect wasn't their match and has retreated to their stronghold, so I'm leaving."

He was originally invited by the Nine-Star Sect to deal with Lu Ye. Now that the Nine-Star Sect had narrowly lost, there was no point in him staying here any longer.

Lu Ye naturally wouldn't easily believe his words. After several days of engagement, he was increasingly certain Luo Ji was a sly schemer, so he immediately used his battlefield imprint to send a message to Chu Tian to inquire about the situation.

Chu Tian quickly replied, his tone jubilant, confirming Luo Ji's statement: the Xuanmen had indeed achieved final victory in this battle.

This was not surprising. Although the two sects differed by one grade, at the Spirit Creek stage level, the Xuanmen was stronger. The Nine-Star Sect was never their match to begin with. Furthermore, Lu Ye had previously killed many Nine-Star Sect cultivators, further increasing the Xuanmen's advantage.

In the past few days, the Xuanmen had continuously accumulated advantages in a series of small-scale battles, eventually securing a decisive victory, forcing the Nine-Star Sect cultivators to retreat to their stronghold.

Thus, the conflict between the two sects had come to an end.

"Well?" Luo Ji asked only after Lu Ye finished his communication.

Lu Ye nodded slightly, and with a slight push of his legs, Amber bolted forward, rapidly closing in on Luo Ji.

"You..." Luo Ji was greatly alarmed. He truly couldn't fathom Lu Ye's intentions. The battle between the two sects was already over; there was no point in them continuing to fight here. So he didn't understand why Lu Ye was still charging at him.

But there was no time to dwell on it now. Seeing the large tiger carrying Lu Ye rapidly approaching, Luo Ji could only activate an Ice Shard spell in response.

Lu Ye tilted his head, dodging the incoming ice shard, then leapt off the tiger's back, his long saber striking down. A rare, fierce grin spread across his face. "You decided when the fight began; I decide when it ends!"

Luo Ji had suddenly appeared to fight him to the death, engaging for three consecutive days, which had infuriated Lu Ye and also caused significant consumption of his resources. Just a few days ago, he had accumulated quite a few spirit pills, but after these days, only about thirty remained.

Over these three days, he couldn't even cultivate, wasting a lot of time. This kind of loss couldn't be compensated by Luo Ji simply saying, "You win."

Until he vented this resentment, how could he let Luo Ji leave?

Three days of combat had already made them intimately familiar with each other's tactics. Originally, Luo Ji wouldn't have been so easily approached by Lu Ye, but he hadn't expected Lu Ye to be so persistent, and by the time he realized it and tried to retreat, it was too late.

As the long saber struck down, Luo Ji had already slapped a Golden Body Talisman onto himself. The saber, imbued with a Sharpness Spirit Pattern, struck the golden light but couldn't fully pierce it.

Instead, a large seal suddenly appeared, growing to the size of a tabletop, and pressed down towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye quickly retreated. A large pit instantly appeared where he had been standing, and the ground trembled. By the time he regained his footing, Luo Ji had already created a distance of ten feet from him and had even repelled the combined sneak attack of Amber and Yiyi.

Luo Ji didn't dare to activate the power of the great seal a second time, as its consumption was too great.

Seizing this opportunity, Lu Ye pushed off the ground and charged at Luo Ji again, weaving his body to dodge the ice cone attacks, with glimmers of his Guardian Spirit Pattern occasionally flashing on him.

He could win!

With just a few more battles, he could kill Luo Ji.

Although Luo Ji's recovery speed was basically on par with his own, or even slightly better, Luo Ji had consumed too many spirit pills over the past few days...

If a cultivator consumed a large number of spirit pills in a short period, the only consequence was that their spiritual power would become muddled and impure. Especially for a spell cultivator like Luo Ji, impure spiritual power was fatal. The power of his spells would diminish, and his casting time would lengthen.

Lu Ye had clearly noticed this. This was why he insisted on continuing the fight!

He didn't need to kill Luo Ji in this encounter. He just needed to force him to continuously consume spiritual power and take spirit pills for replenishment. Luo Ji would grow weaker and weaker. Eventually, he would be able to cut him down.