Humanity's Great Sage

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The moment he made the connection, the young man flew even faster while yelling, “You will leave behind your goods if you’re smart, boy! It’s the only way you’re going to survive this!”

Lu Ye had clearly figured out his intentions. In that case, there was no need to keep up pretenses any longer.

It was at that moment something unexpected happened. Lu Ye actually tossed a Storage Bag over his shoulders without looking back. It was such an unexpected outcthat the young man actually blanked out for a second.

He had robbed plenty of fellow cultivators in the past, but he had never encountered one who actually succumbed to his demands no matter how he threatened them. Most of them would rather die than give an inch, and the fact was that most of them were killed unless it was revealed that they belonged to the sfaction. Even then, he would force them to cough up a healthy amount of goods before he would let them go. It was extremely unlikely his victims would find out about his identity and background, so they couldn’t get revenge even if they wanted to.

In any case, Lu Ye was the first “cooperative” victim he had ever encountered. It was no wonder he was caught off guard.

That said, he was a responsive person. Without hesitation, he flew toward the Storage Bag, caught it, then chased after Lu Ye once more. He did not know what was inside the Storage Bag—it was sealed by a Restraining Lock, and it wasn’t like he could unlock it right now—but he knew better than to let a cowardly, “cooperative” victim escape his grasp. Also, he still wanted Lu Ye’s Spirit Boat.

“He’s coming back, Lu Ye,” Yi Yi reported while looking behind them and reporting their pursuer’s location periodically.

“Hide.”

Lu Ye did not mind losing one Storage Bag as all of his items were stored in the storage space. In fact, the entire reason he wore a couple of Storage Bags on the outside was to hide the fact that he had a Void Tattoo. He did use one of them to store sfood and water, but that was it. 

Lu Ye had been hoping that their pursuer would be satisfied with the Storage Bag, but the young man proved to be greedier than expected. He would not stop until he robbed Lu Ye blind.

Realizing the severity of their situation, he immediately checked his 10-point map.

Meanwhile, the young man was yelling again, “Giveyour Spirit Boat, and I promise I won’t pursue you any longer!” A few seconds later, he added as if realizing how nonsensical his demand sounded. “I swear on the Heavens!”

[Did he seriously just swear on the Heavens? A robber?] Lu Ye just barely stopped himself from laughing at the irony.

He put away his 10-point map and channeled his Spiritual Power. There was a soft whoosh as a pair of fiery red wings expanded behind his back. It looked absolutely gorgeous under the sunlight. Then, he put away his Spirit Boat, empowered himself with Windwalk, and soared faster than ever before…

The young man was stunned yet again as Lu Ye swiftly pulled away from him. He never expected a mere Third-Order cultivator to surprise him again and again with his prowess. The revelation only fanned his flames of greed higher though. Generally speaking, extraordinary cultivators like Lu Ye were also incredibly wealthy. Robbing him would be like robbing seven or eight ordinary cultivators at once!

The young man tried his best to catch up to Lu Ye, but Soar empowered by Windwalk was too much even for him. He could barely make sure that Lu Ye could not pull away from him.

That was enough though. The young man did not know what ability Lu Ye was using to fly as fast as a Seventh-Order cultivator, but it had to cost him a lot of Spiritual Power. There was no way a low level cultivator could keep this up for long.

He was right. The reason Lu Ye rarely used Soar was precisely because it used far more Spiritual Power than a flying Spirit Artifact, not to mention that he had buffed himself with Windwalk. At this rate, he was going to run out of energy in just a couple of hours.

A couple of hours was enough though.

Four hours later, the young man realized his error. It was one that filled him with incredulity, anger and regret. It was because a city had appeared from the horizon, and it wasn’t long before Lu Ye entered the city and vanished from view.

There were many cities in the Cloud River Battlefield, but unlike the Spirit Creek Battlefield no mortals lived in these cities. In fact, there were next to no mortals in the entire Cloud River Battlefield. Generally speaking, the only ones who frequented the Cloud River Battlefield were, of course, Jiu Zhou Cloud River Realm cultivators.

Most of the cities in the Cloud River Battlefield were founded by the Divine Trade Association, so they did not have a unique nof their own.  Instead, they were addressed as “City of Heaven XXX”.

For example, the City of Heavens Lu Ye just entered was designated as City of Heavens W16; the “W” in “W16” meaning “West”.

The city was built huge as it was meant to serve Cloud River Realm cultivators. Otherwise, the collateral damage alone would have driven the Divine Trade Association into insanity. Each and every building was at least tens or even hundreds of meters away from each other. From the sky, they looked like Go stones on a board. At the center of the city was a massive building owned by the Divine Trade Association.

There were two types of cultivators in the Cloud River Battlefield. The first type were those who owned an Arcane Glade. These cultivators rarely left the confines of their Arcane Glade unless absolutely necessary. They would schedule their departure ahead of time, plan shifts if one or more members had to leave within the stimeframe, and generally ensure that the Arcane Glade was properly protected all the time.

Those who failed to practice proper security measures would most likely lose their Arcane Glade like Lu Ye and Kitty Shen had.

The second type of cultivators were those with no Arcane Glades. As these cultivators did not have a hthey could return to per se, they usually roamed the Cloud River Battlefield alone or in small groups in search of opportunities.

It might seem like a poor decision to roam the Cloud River Battlefield aimlessly, but in fact the world was rife with opportunities. Unless they were exceptionally unlucky, they could always run into Token of Providence events, Hidden Realms and more.

Going by this logic, there should not be cities in the Cloud River Battlefield at all. After all, most of its cultivators were drifters who constantly roamed from place to place.

There were many types of Hidden Realms in the Cloud River Battlefield. Every day, at least one Hidden Realm would appear somewhere in the world. 

There were two types of Hidden Realm that spurred the creation of cities. The first one was a Hidden Realm that opened at a fixed time. The second type was a Hidden Realm that remained open permanently, or at least long enough for a city to take form.

Take the Myriad Beasts Domain for example. If the old man who spoke to Lu Ye was correct, the Myriad Beasts Domain should transform into a permanently open Hidden Realm that cultivators could enter after paying a certain price.

For obvious reasons, the Myriad Beasts Domain was only going to attract Beast Tamers. Even so, it was inevitable that a city would eventually be formed around the entrance to the Hidden Realm.

City of Heavens W16 was one such city. There was a nearby Hidden Realm that would open for five days every month. It was a maze-like Hidden Realm filled with all sorts of traps and opportunities. If a cultivator was lucky enough, they could even obtain Amulets of all colors.

Hidden Realms like these were adored by cultivators as a matter of course. Countless cultivators would gather in the city days before the Hidden Realm was opened. There were even people who chose to settle in the city permanently so they could explore the Hidden Realm every month.

Lu Ye did not actually know that City of Heavens W16 was situated next to a Hidden Realm. He was just looking for the closest available refuge when he was checking his 10-point map.

The city didn’t have too many rules because it took power to enforce them. In-city flight was also allowed because almost everyone was a Cloud River Realm cultivator.

Cultivators could be seen flying up and down the city all the time. It was bustling and lively in a way that was unique to cultivators.

The city’s population was fairly low as a matter of course, but there were at least a thousand cultivators at all times.

There was no such thing as a street as the buildings were set quite far apart from each other. Their architectural styles largely differed as well. There were houses, stores, public structures and more.

Despite the traffic, conflicts rarely broke out inside the city. After all, it was entirely possible for a small scuffle to escalate into a large-scale conflict depending on the situation. Also, they weren’t kids anymore. No one would do something that might anger the public without good reason.

Lu Ye had visited a City of Heaven when he was at the Spirit Creek Battlefield, but the vibe of this city was completely different from what he remembered.

For a while, he simply walked around the city and enjoyed the sights until he found a Spirit Fruit store. He could tell from its traffic alone that it was a popular store. When he stepped inside, he discovered that the Spirit Fruits were as varied as they were fragrant. He wondered if they had any special effects.

When he called over a shop assistant and asked him about it, he learned that the Spirit Fruits were sourced from all over Jiu Zhou. Specifically, they were brought over by the cultivators of the owner’s sect. SSpirit Fruits were more special than the other, but they all restored Spiritual Power to a certain degree.

One thing was certain, these Spirit Fruits weren’t too valuable. They would not be placed out in the open and sold in bulk otherwise.

Lu Ye inquired about the price before paying one hundred Middle Grade Spirit Stones to purchase four to five hundred Spirit Fruits of all kinds. He stored them all in his storage space.

After he left the store, he grabbed two fruits out of his storage space, fed one to Amber, and took a bite from the other. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the flesh tasted juicy, crispy and sweet.

A while later, Lu Ye dropped the core on the floor and looked up at his destination. It was the central building of the Divine Trade Association!

He had frequented the Divine Trade Association many times in the past, but he had never seen a building as large as the one before his eyes. The stairs leading to the entrance alone numbered thirty to forty steps, and the building itself looked like it was forged from literal gold. It was as if they were afraid their customers would miss the fact that they were filthy rich.

He slowly walked up the steps when an aura caught his attention. He turned just in tto see a man in blue clothes looking at him as well. Lu Ye raised his eyebrows in surprise. The guy was none other than Zhou Hai, the sword cultivator he cooperated with a while ago.

He gave Zhou Hai a nod, and the sword cultivator nodded back in return. That was the end of their interaction.

They might have fought side by side in the Myriad Beasts Domain, but outside of it, they might as well have been strangers. It was why the thought of asking Zhou Hai’s help to take out the robber who was probably still prowling outside the city and waiting for Lu Ye to show himself had never crossed his mind. Why would Zhou Hai help him, someone he had no relations with outside of that one temporary alliance?

Lu Ye stepped inside the building. He was immediately greeted by a female attendant.

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