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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
From the beginning of his cultivation journey, he had been able to consume Spirit Pills to increase his cultivation without limit thanks to the Tree of Glyphs’ poison-neutralizing effects and the Gluttonous Feast’s support. It was why he was supremely confident in his speed at unlocking Spiritual Points. In fact, he dared to claim that no one in the Jiu Zhou was a match for him.
After all, using Heaven-Grade Seventh-Order Realm as the standard, who else but him could unlock a Spiritual Point a day in this less-than-ideal environment?
That was until he saw Hua Ci.
When Hua Ci had left the Outpost for Mount Ying, she was just an Eighth-Order cultivator. Not long later, she entered the Myriad Poison Forest as a Ninth-Order cultivator.
This didn’t surprise Lu Ye because she had reclaimed her inheritance. He assumed that her inheritance had boosted her cultivation level somehow.
However, it had only been a little over a month since she entered the Myriad Poison Forest. How on earth did she ascend from the Ninth-Order Realm to the Heaven-Grade Seventh-Order Realm in such a short time?
After reaching the Ninth-Order, a cultivator must unlock sixty Spiritual Points to enter the next cultivation level. This meant that she had unlocked one or two Spiritual Points per day.
[There is no way I can compete against that right now.]
Lu Ye wasn’t completely ignorant in regards to Hua Ci’s cultivation method. After all, the woman spent the large majority of her time cultivating outside the wooden building—there was no poisonous fog inside the building because of the wards.
He just wasn’t expecting her unnatural way of cultivating to boost her cultivation speed so much.
Now that they were both Heaven Sevens, it was only a matter of time before her cultivation level surpassed his.
For some reason, the revelation made him feel a surge of competitiveness and tension.
Ju Jia had ascended to the Cloud River Realm before him because the body-tempering cultivator had hoarded an ocean of Spiritual Power in his unique Mutant core. In fact, he was qualified for ascension a long time ago.
If Hua Ci entered the Cloud River Realm before him, then…
[Actually, that’s not a bad thing. After all, it means that her future is bright.]
Just like that, his tension disappeared like it never was.
Another month passed as Lu Ye continued to unlock a Spiritual Point a day. Finally, he shattered the barrier surrounding a Spiritual Point, injected it with his Spiritual Power, and officially unlocked three hundred Spiritual Points!
It had been over two months since he was trapped in the Myriad Poison Forest. Despite this, he still managed to brute-force his way to his three hundredth Spiritual Point.
Now that he had met the requirements, it was time to increase his cultivation level.
He channeled his Spiritual Power and linked the sixty free Spiritual Points together into a new Microcosmic Orbit. When the Spiritual Power in the orbit began circulating on its own without needing his intervention, he officially entered the Heaven-Grade Eighth-Order Realm.
Lu Ye spent the next day solidifying his foundation and making sure that his Circulation System was flawless. Finally, he rose to his feet and left his room.
He went to the courtyard and began planting his ward flags. The frame of a ward slowly took form.
Yi Yi asked while watching him curiously, “What are you making, Lu Ye?”
“A fun ward,” Lu Ye answered carelessly. He wasn’t trying to hide the truth from Yi Yi on purpose, but this would be the first time he created this ward. It would be embarrassing if it failed after he boasted in front of the girl.
After the framework was complete, Lu Ye channeled his Spiritual Power and began constructing the inner structure of the ward. He left the core for last.
The core was none other than the Glyph he had spent over a month studying and practicing tirelessly; the Glyph that was made up of over three thousand Yin and Yang elements.
He had practiced the Glyph until he could create it with a reasonable success rate. It wasn’t one hundred percent—and it never would unless he was constructing a Glyph from the Tree of Glyphs—but the risk was now within acceptable limits.
His first attempt went very well. He was able to form the Glyph at first try.
Yi Yi had accompanied Lu Ye for a long time, so she wasn’t completely ignorant to the Way of Glyphs. Even so, the Glyph at the center of the ward was one of the most complex Glyphs she had ever seen. She clicked her tongue in amazement while asking, “Lu Ye, this Glyph looks really complicated. What is it?”
“Void!”
“Void?”
“That’s right. The name of this Glyph is Void!”
It was a Glyph that was related to space, so it could be used for many different things. If it was constructed at the center of a ward though, then most likely the ward had to be the famous Teleportation Ward!
There weren’t too many Teleportation Wards in Jiu Zhou because the Divine Opportunity Column itself already supported teleportation. Normally, the cultivators simply teleported to their destination or close to their destination using their own or their allies’ Divine Opportunity Column.
Not only that, it required a significant amount of investment and time to establish a Teleportation Ward, not to mention that it needed constant maintenance. On the other hand, the Divine Opportunity Column was an object granted by the Heavens and nearly indestructible.
The Teleportation Ward Lu Ye had laid down was incredibly rough and simple because its framework was made up entirely of ward flags, and the internal structure and core were built using his Spiritual Power. Not only that, Lu Ye had to tweak the Teleportation Ward to gather World Spiritual Qi on its own so that it wouldn’t run out of Spiritual Power and collapse.
He was now proficient enough in the Way of Wards to make such a modification.
Ideally, the Teleportation Ward would be established using a ward nexus. In general, a ward that was built using a ward nexus was more stable. On the other hand, a ward that was built using ward flags was more flexible.
Theoretically speaking, Lu Ye could create any ward he had already mastered using the thirty-two basic ward flags in his repertoire. A ward nexus only worked on a single or several types of ward, which was why it was less flexible than ward flags.
The ward was now complete, but Lu Ye wasn’t sure if it would actually work. Still, nothing could be done if one never dared to take the first step.
Now that he was a Heaven Eight cultivator, he was sure he could break out of the Thousand Demon Ridge’s encirclement if he wanted to. However, what worried Lu Ye was what happened after he broke out. For starters, he would still be hunted all over the Core Circle like a rat. Hiding in an ally’s Outpost would only be bringing them trouble and destruction as well.
He might even go as far as to say that there was almost no safe place for him in the Core Circle at all. That was how much the Thousand Demon Ridge feared him.
That was why the Myriad Poison Forest was a great refuge. Since it was a forbidden area, the Thousand Demon Ridge could gather ten times the number and still not be able to lift a finger against him. If they dared to venture into the forest and search for him, Hua Ci would send them to the afterlife long before they could reach him.
That was why he was going to prepare some insurance before breaking out; an escape route that was always available to him anytime, anywhere. The escape route was the Teleportation Ward he just built, and his refuge the Myriad Poison Forest itself. While the forest’s World Spiritual Qi was undoubtedly lousier than an Outpost’s, cultivation wasn’t a problem as long as he had enough Spirit Pills. At worst, his cultivation efficiency would suffer a little.
Most cultivators required an excellent environment to cultivate their Spiritual Power, but in his case it was almost unnecessary. Sometimes life was just unfair…
After checking the Teleportation Ward again and confirming that everything was in order, he instructed, “Keep an eye on the ward, will you?”
He then went outside of the protective ward surrounding the wooden building.
As with most things, there were more than one type of Teleportation Ward. First, there was random teleportation. The ward would randomly teleport the person to anywhere within a certain range of the ward.
Second, there was directional teleportation. Depending on the configuration, a directional teleportation ward could be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many.
A directional teleportation ward that supported one-to-one teleportation consisted of two connected Teleportation Wards. Usually, the passenger could teleport to and fro both Teleportation Wards.
A directional teleportation ward that supported one-to-many teleportation consisted of one Central Ward and many Sub Wards. The passenger could teleport between the Central Ward and the Sub Wards, but not between the Sub Wards themselves.
Finally, there was many-to-many teleportation. The Teleportation Wards were both Central Wards and Sub Wards.
The arrangement of two Teleportation Wards could differ drastically depending on their intended function.
Lu Ye was currently setting up a one-to-one directional teleportation ward. The Teleportation Ward he had created outside the wooden building was the Central Ward. This meant that he would need to create a Sub Ward to complete the setup.
Nighttime arrived, and Hua Ci returned from her cultivation. When she saw Yi Yi sitting in the courtyard with Amber beside her, she asked curiously, “What are you doing?”
“Lu Ye set up a ward and told me to keep watch,” Yi Yi replied honestly.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
A while later, Hua Ci and Yi Yi were both sitting at the courtyard and staring blankly at the Teleportation Ward.
“Yi Yi, did he tell you what this teleportation ward is for?”
“Nope.”
“He’s as secretive as usual.”
Meanwhile, at a clearing about ten kilometers away from the wooden building, Lu Ye stepped on the Sub Ward he just created and inhaled slightly. When he activated the Sub Ward, he immediately felt it resonating with the Central Ward he had created at the wooden building.
[So far so good!]
The fact that the two Teleportation Wards were resonating meant that it was working as intended at the basic level at least. Now, it was time to test if it would actually work.
As soon as he channeled his Spiritual Power into the Sub Ward, the surrounding space began distorting without warning. The next moment, he felt himself being enveloped by an indescribable power before falling. He felt as if he had suddenly been dropped into a bottomless abyss.
The sensation went as quickly as it came. By the time he came to, he was no longer where he had been.
At the same time, Yi Yi and Hua Ci suddenly straightened up a little. It was because they suddenly heard a weird, indescribable noise from nearby.
“What’s that?” Yi Yi asked curiously.
“Perhaps one of the locals is passing through the area?” Hua Ci replied while tilting his head. If that was true, its size must be pretty impressive to have caused such a loud noise. She reckoned that it was a venomous python or something. She had encountered plenty of boas in the forest, and most of them had gone into her and Lu Ye’s stomach as soup.
“Look! The ward is broken. What happened?” Yi Yi exclaimed in surprise.
The ward before them had begun acting weirdly the moment they heard the weird noise from before, and now the space within the ward had become so distorted they could barely see through it. Finally, its Spiritual Power fell into disarray, and the ward broke completely.
“Yi Yi, is it just me, or is someone crying for help?” Hua Ci suddenly asked while holding a hand to her ear.
“Really?”
“Really. Listen carefully.”
Yi Yi did as she was told. A second later, he expression turned odd, “It… sounds like Lu Ye.”
The two girls exchanged a glance with each other before hurrying toward the source of the voice. A moment later, they spotted a man hanging limply on a tree branch tens of meters away from the wooden building.
“Lu Ye!”
Yi Yi exclaimed in shock before flying up to him and carrying him back to the ground. His clothes were torn up like they had been cut by a million blades, and some of his wounds were deep enough to see the bones within. He was also drenched from head to toe in blood.
Aye, what could go wrong right?