Sage of Humanity

Action failed!

Lu Ye's mind remained tranquil, without the slightest bit of frustration. This was merely an attempt. If he had succeeded, naturally everything would have been perfect, and he could have easily laid down the last Heaven's Augury Pillar without a hitch.

Although the action failed at the moment, there were no losses, so there was nothing to regret.

However, it was time to leave quickly.

Having just breached the Huntian Secret Realm, he had already alerted the Golden Corpse King. Now that his whereabouts were exposed and he was deep within enemy territory, it was wise to retreat first.

So the moment he exited the secret realm, he immediately activated his spirit force. Fiery-red spirit force flowed and wriggled behind him, forming a pair of wings. With a step on the ground, he soared to the sky.

Coming in stealthily, leaving like a thunderbolt.

"Roar!" The Corpse Race roared in pursuit, but Lu Ye's flying speed was such that even the elite Ninth Grade cultivators of Nine Provinces could hardly keep up, let alone these Corpse Races.

The only trouble was the continuous interception from the Corpse Race ahead. Zombies and rotting corpses hidden within the yellow mist, commanding groups of corpses.

The Boulder Mountain Saber was unsheathed, and Lu Ye hurriedly escaped along the way. Where he passed, blood rain followed, and even a large horde of corpses couldn't stop him in the slightest.

"Zing..." Suddenly, the clear sound of a sword's cry came from another direction.

Hearing the commotion, Lu Ye immediately turned his head to look, raising his eyebrows.

From that direction, a whirl of flying swords spinning, sword light emitting high into the sky, as if a sword dragon was charging from there, quickly approaching his direction.

Among the sword dragon's encasement, a figure stood like a sword.

Muk Qingyun!

Nine people came from Nine Provinces, he and Ying Wuji were the first to meet, then they found Lui Qing and Fong Rulie in the Ziwei Dao Palace, and brought Lan Ziyi and Hua Ci out from Mount Sumeru.

The remaining three were unknown whereabouts.

But Lu Ye was not worried about their safety. Those three, whoever they were, each had substantial abilities, self-preservation was certainly not an issue. Ziwei Dao Palace had also started searching for their whereabouts, and soon there would be clues.

Unexpectedly, he encountered Muk Qingyun here.

As the contemporary Sword Heir of Beixuan Sword Sect, and inheritor of Muk Suifeng's true teachings, his strength was naturally extraordinary.

In this generation's Cloud River Realm, if it weren't for Lu Ye and Lan Ziyi emerging out of nowhere, he would undoubtedly be the top of the Cloud River Contenders list.

Strictly speaking, Muk Qingyun represents the pinnacle of Nine Provinces' Cloud River Realm's true strength.

While both Lu Ye and Lan Ziyi, due to each of their circumstances, have exceeded this normal standard.

Muk Qingyun's sudden appearance at this moment was clearly not a coincidence. Lu Ye guessed he had long been hiding nearby. Detecting the commotion from Lu Ye, he appeared to join him.

Though the two didn't communicate, they tacitly fought side by side, moving towards each other.

Moments later, the two had converged.

This added wings to the tiger, with the sword dragon tumbling and the blade gleaming fiercely, the Corpse Races intercepting ahead fell like straw, broken corpses drifting down one after another.

Not until an hour later did the Corpse Races gradually give up pursuit, unable to keep up.

At the portal of Huntian Holy Temple, amidst many hordes of corpses, three Corpse Races with skin color of silver, bronze, and iron roared to the sky, filled with unwillingness.

After fleeing to a safe distance, Muk Qingyun retracted his sword light, standing on his flying sword alongside Lu Ye.

Lu Ye also withdrew his Wings, summoning his spirit ark.

Only then the two had the time to greet each other.

"Junior Brother Lu, it's been a long time!" Muk Qingyun beamed with a smile.

At the assembly in Nine Provinces, they had no time for small talk and were sent here immediately, having had no prior interactions. However, due to their connection through Li Baxian, and both being from the Haotian Alliance, they naturally felt close.

"Senior Brother Muk!" Lu Ye replied, "Why are you here, Senior Brother?"

Muk Qingyun said, "Sent to this domain, my battlefield marking lost its response. I had been searching all over for you all, then came here. I thought regardless of where you are, you would surely come here to deal with the Corpse Race eventually. So I waited, it seems Junior Brother's thoughts aligned with mine."

Seeing Lu Ye come alone, Muk Qingyun assumed Lu Ye shared the same idea.

"I came to investigate the situation," Lu Ye casually explained, "Unexpectedly bumped into Senior Brother."

"Have you seen others?"

"Other than Yang Yuan and Giant Armor, everyone else has joined."

"Oh?" Muk Qingyun raised an eyebrow, "That's indeed good."

After a pause, he asked, "Junior Brother, I don't know much about this domain and am unclear about what to do next. Could you advise me?"

Lu Ye pondered for a moment, honestly saying, "Actually, before arriving here, there were people from Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union waiting on the spirit mountaintop where we gathered. I was the first to arrive, and that person gave me something..."

This matter wasn't particularly confidential, but he was reluctant to explain to Ying Wuji and others. However, facing Muk Qingyun, he found no need to conceal, and shared with him.

Listening to Lu Ye, Muk Qingyun pondered, "Four sealed Heaven's Augury Pillars and four great secret realms... Though the numbers match, how do you confirm that the Heaven's Augury Pillars must be placed in the secret realms? Heaven's Augury doesn't provide clear instructions."

"As Senior Brother hasn't been to the secret realms, naturally you don't know. This Unparalleled Continent is fractured, its nature's spiritual energy exists but is extremely thin. On the contrary, within the secret realms, the spiritual energy is rich and has sustained for years, undoubtedly signifying that there's a Spirit Vein within. Moreover, the Spirit Vein's scale must be considerable."

Though the Unparalleled Continent may seem poor now, it is still a fragment from a domain, harboring deep foundations.

Muk Qingyun lightly nodded.

Being an Cloud River Realm cultivator himself, he naturally wasn't unfamiliar with Spirit Veins.

"To teleport Heaven's Augury Pillars requires consuming spirit force, but while in Nine Provinces, we didn't notice that. To utilize the Heaven's Augury Pillars, they must be placed where nature's spiritual energy is dense, and the four great secret realms are the best, and indeed the only choice."

Muk Qingyun pondered, "Once the Heaven's Augury Pillars are placed, what will happen?"

Lu Ye shook his head, "Not sure, but I think perhaps Nine Provinces' Heaven's Augury could use these four Heaven's Augury Pillars to fully connect with Unparalleled Continent. By then, not only will our battlefield marking resume functionality, Nine Provinces might even send reinforcements through teleportation via the Heaven's Augury Pillars!"

Muk Qingyun's eyes gradually brightened, "So our role is roughly equivalent to a vanguard, mainly establishing the connection between Unparalleled Continent and Nine Provinces!"

"That's what I think; we'll find out soon enough if it's right."

"It should be precisely that! If so, wouldn't Unparalleled Continent become a secret realm for Nine Provinces? Then, everyone from Cloud River battlefield could come here?"

If such a scenario occurs, the corpse crisis here will be insignificant.

How numerous are the Cloud River Realm cultivators from Nine Provinces? The Corpse Race here, no matter how abundant, would barely withstand their hunting.

Furthermore, to motivate the cultivators' enthusiasm, killing the Corpse Race might likely yield merit or battle merit.

Unlike Lu Ye and his group now, fighting without any gain.

By then, this place would become a treasure ground for Nine Provinces cultivators to train themselves, perhaps requiring certain conditions or costs to enter.

Thinking this, Muk Qingyun couldn't help but have a bizarre notion; maybe many of Nine Provinces' secret realms originated this way?

Without delving too much, it was pointless for him to ponder.

But he finally understood why Lu Ye would break into Huntian Holy Temple Secret Realm; though judging by Lu Ye's behavior earlier, it seemed he hadn't succeeded.

"Junior Brother, how many places have you set?"

"Only Huntian Holy Temple remains, yet the situation here... is quite tricky."

Muk Qingyun nodded, "Among the Corpse Race, there are several powerful entities. Earlier I encountered one with bronze-colored skin, quite strong. After briefly fighting, not daring to prolong, I fled."

Muk Qingyun, ranked third in Cloud River Realm, undeniably strong. His evaluation indicated the Corpse Race's strength wasn't far off.

"That should be the Copper Corpse Commander under Golden Corpse King."

Muk Qingyun smiled, "Seems Junior Brother knows much more than I do."

At least, he had no knowledge of the Copper Corpse Commander...

"I'll explain it all to Senior Brother slowly."

They conversed while flying, and after more than four hours, returned to the previous place.

Seeing him return from afar, Pang Huanyin stood to greet, noticing Muk Qingyun beside Lu Ye, she couldn't help but be surprised, "Yiye, this is..."

"This is the third junior brother Muk Qingyun." Lu Ye introduced casually.

On the way back, Muk Qingyun had learned about their ranking, so he wasn't surprised, clasping his fists in salute, "Greetings, Palace Master Pang!"

Pang Huanyin returned the salute, "Before leaving, I had people tracking your brothers' whereabouts, unexpectedly, Yiye found one first, a delightful surprise indeed."

Turning to Lu Ye, she asked, "How was it?"

Lu Ye shook his head, "Large number of Corpse Race, many strong ones, it's quite difficult."

Ultimately, they needed to leverage Ziwei Dao Palace's strength. Otherwise, relying solely on the few from Nine Provinces, it would likely be tough.

"A thousand years have passed, no need to rush." Pang Huanyin comforted, "Let's return to Dao Palace for a rest first."

After waiting another two to four hours, Veteran Siao activated the portal, and everyone returned to Dao Palace.

Ying Wuji led the group to rest at their spirit mountaintop, while Lu Ye stayed behind to converse with Pang Huanyin.

The situation was now very clear. To resolve this issue and achieve the mission's goals, they had to penetrate Huntian Holy Temple Secret Realm.

But such actions would undoubtedly carry significant risks.

Even though Pang Huanyin was willing to trust Lu Ye, without doubting his words, making such a decision wasn't easy as a Palace Master.

This was originally the third condition Lu Ye prepared to propose to Pang Huanyin.

However, after revealing his identity as a Nine Provinces cultivator, the conditions were no longer necessary.

Upon parting, Pang Huanyin sighed, "Give me one night, I'll respond tomorrow."

Lu Ye nodded, "Alright."