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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Soon, a fragrant scent began to spread throughout the forest. Melted fat dripped onto the bonfire and caused some sizzling noises.
After dinner was finished, Lu Ye continued to read his books until it was over midnight. He then closed his eyes and napped until dawn broke.
The situation did not change even when it was the second day. This was easily the most boring fight Lu Ye had ever experienced in his life. His opponent hadn’t revealed himself yet, and Yi Yi was still unable to find him.
He knew he would win if this situation continued though. He could eat and drink to replenish his stamina any time he wanted, but Gui Yingzi could not because he needed to remain hidden. Any unnecessary movement could potentially expose his location and doom him.
Lu Ye wasn’t going to allow this battle to drag out any longer than it already had though. Gui Yingzi could forgo food or drink for days if he wanted to, and he was more than willing to go up against Lu Ye in a battle of patience. The same could not be said for Lu Ye.
So, he shut the book in his hands and rose to his feet. He then grabbed a couple of ward flags from his Storage Bag and began planting in all four directions of his camp. First, he built the basic framework of a ward using the ward flags. Then, he completed the internal structure with his Spiritual Power. Just a moment later, a ward nearly three hundred meters in diameter was formed.
The ward was just a simple Alarm Ward, so it took far less time and effort to set up than most wards. One of the greatest benefits of the ward was that it covered a wide range and cost very little Spiritual Power.
There was nothing Lu Ye could do against Gui Yingzi if the man refused to show himself. As long as the combatants did not break the Heavens’ rules, practically everything and anything was allowed in the challenge battle of the Scroll of Supremacy.
It might look like Gui Yingzi’s strategy was boring at best and bullshit at worst, but whoever said that a battle of endurance and patience didn’t count as a battle?
Lu Ye was going to flip the table on Gui Yingzi though. Since the battlefield was just eight kilometers in radius at maximum, his plan was to cover the entire battlefield in Alarm Wards. Unless Gui Yingzi was an expert in wards and knew how to avoid triggering an Alarm Ward, it was only a matter of time before Lu Ye drove the bastard out of his hidey-hole.
And so Lu Ye spent the entire second day setting up Alarm Wards and removing Gui Yingzi’s breathing space inch by inch. Of course, this tactic would’ve been impossible if he hadn’t bought a ridiculous amount of ward flags from the Divine Trade Association earlier.
A full day passed, and over half of the battlefield was covered in Alarm Wards. To Lu Ye’s disbelief, the Heavens damned ghost cultivator still hadn’t showed himself. Perhaps he was counting on the slim chance that Lu Ye would not have enough ward flags to cover up the entire battlefield. If that was true, then there was still a chance he could remain hidden and wait for his opponent to finally let slip his guard.
Realizing what his opponent might be thinking, Lu Ye abruptly turned his Storage Bag upside down and dropped every ward flag it had on the ground.
When Gui Yingzi saw the literal hill of ward flags beside Lu Yi Ye’s feet, he knew the combat cultivator did, in fact, have enough ward flags to cover the entire battlefield. If he did not make a move before Lu Yi Ye finished his, then he would surely be exposed by tomorrow at the latest.
Gui Yingzi thought for a brief moment before mumbling something under his breath. An instant later, he disappeared completely from the battlefield.
On the other side, Lu Ye suddenly paused in his tracks. It was because the Heavens informed him that he had won. When he decided to show off how many ward flags he had, he had thought it would simply force Gui Yingzi to attempt an assassination by tonight. He never thought that the ghost cultivator would surrender the battle outright!
Then again, why would the ghost cultivator not surrender? A ghost cultivator’s advantage lay in their ability to approach their target without being detected. While this method was generally effective against most people, Gui Yingzi wasn’t confident it would work on Lu Yi Ye at all, not to mention that the combat cultivator might have set up some sort of entrapment ward around his person. In any case, to attempt an assassination under such disadvantageous circumstances was akin to committing suicide.
Ward cultivators were basically the bane of all ghost cultivators when their cultivation level was low. Of course, that would change when the ghost cultivator’s cultivation level was higher, and they had studied wards enough to slip through the cracks so to speak.
Although Gui Yingzi was gone, Lu Ye and Yi Yi’s woes weren’t over yet. They had to pick up all the ward flags that were scattered throughout the battlefield.
“You absolutely need to kill Gui Yingzi if we ever run into him again in the future, Lu Ye!” Yi Yi complained while packing up the items.
“I agree, but before that, I’m going to beat him within an inch of his life, pass him off to Hua Ci to heal him back to full health, then beat him within an inch of his life again before I finally—” Lu Ye ranted just as furiously. Seriously, he would rather be hunted by thousands and thousands of cultivators than wasting two full days and “win” without even seeing his opponent’s face! As if that wasn’t bad enough, they couldn’t even leave immediately because they had to pack up the ward flags! This was beyond vile!
Outside the battlefield, everyone saw Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect replacing Gui Yingzi as the ninth ranker. It was a feat that stunned the world as a matter of course.
The bastard had done it! He had entered the top ten of the Scroll of Supremacy as a Heaven Eight cultivator, proving that he was truly among the best of the best at the Spirit Creek Realm level!
As if that wasn’t amazing enough, he was just a Heaven Eight cultivator! He could still ascend higher!
That was what truly scared the Thousand Demon Ridge.
Theoretically speaking, Lu Ye only needed to fight one more fight to challenge the champion. However, everyone knew he wasn’t going to do that. The combat cultivator had challenged every Thousand Demon Ridge ranker above his spot since he began his climb, and he wasn’t about to change his policy now.
Lu Ye’s next target was the sixth ranker. Not only had it taken him two whole days to “defeat” Gui Yingzi, he never got to swing his blade even once. To say that he was frustrated and itching for an actual fight would be an understatement. That was why he was planning to vent it all on the sixth ranker.
His challenge request was accepted with little delay. Once his opponent had chosen the terrain, the Heavens enveloped him in its power and teleported him to the battlefield.
Although his vision was still blinded by white light, he could hear the sound of waves and smell a salty scent in the air. It immediately reminded him of his days at the Battle Royale of the Legates with Hua Ci. Unless he was gravely mistaken, the battlefield his opponent chose was most likely on the sea.
He was right. Once his vision recovered, he looked around and noted that he was on an island.
The island was very small. It was thirty meters or so in radius at best.
There was another small island about hundreds of meters away across the sea. Judging from the fact that the two islands looked almost identical, they were probably twin islands.
Standing on the opposite island was a young man in loose robes. He looked to be in his twenties. Although he wasn’t particularly handsome, he wore a look of unswerving determination.
Lu Ye reckoned that the man was a spell cultivator. Not only that, he was probably a Water Attribute spell cultivator. That was the only reason he would choose a battlefield like this.
Everyone knew that Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect was a Fire Type Attribute combat cultivator, and this battlefield both countered him and complemented the spell cultivator’s strength to the fullest.
First things first, Lu Ye had to fly to the other island to get close to his opponent. While he was in the air, his opponent could attack him one-sidedly without fearing retaliation.
Staying on his island wasn’t an option either. He would still be attacked one-sidedly because his opponent was a spell cultivator.
This was the first time Lu Ye entered a battlefield where the conditions perfectly complemented the opponent’s strengths and undermined his. He was actually impressed they managed to find a terrain like this considering that there were hundreds and hundreds of battlefields to choose from.
What surprised Lu Ye even more was the sea itself wasn’t peaceful. Even from the island, he could see all kinds of massive shadows lurking beneath the water surface. The chances he might survive a fall into the waters were slim.
Yi Yi would not be able to get close to the enemy without risking her life either.
“Are you Lu Yi Ye?” The spell cultivator moved to the edge of his island and attempted to communicate with Lu Ye.
The response he got was nine flying weapons rushing straight toward his face. However, the spell cultivator simply stayed where he was and did not move a muscle.
The flying weapons stopped less than ten meters away from the spell cultivator. They shook in place for a second before being withdrawn by Lu Ye. It wasn’t that Lu Ye did not want to attack his enemy, but because that was the maximum range of his telekinesis. If he pushed them further, then he would only be giving his enemy his weapons.
“I have long heard that your skill in the Way of Telekinesis is superb, and that your range far surpasses that of your cultivation realm. I can see that your reputation is well deserved!” The spell cultivator praised Lu Ye without reservation. “However, it is pointless to try and attack me from your island, fellow cultivator. The distance between our islands is almost three hundred meters. There is no way you can reach me from there.”
That was what he said, but he was really shocked on the inside. He had exaggerated Lu Ye’s telekinesis range in his head as much as possible, but it turned out that he had still underestimated the combat cultivator.
If his telekinesis range was just ten meters longer, then he would’ve been able to hit him from the other island!
A ball of water abruptly appeared in the spell cultivator’s palm. With a flick of his wrist, he launched the spell at Lu Ye like an arrow. It exploded into many tiny arrows in mid-air before raining on Lu Ye.
“Spells are different. Spells have a much longer range than telekinesis.”
It was common knowledge that spells had a longer range than telekinesis. That was why most spell cultivators did not refine flying weapons for their own use. Their spells could do anything a flying weapon could do and more.
That was when the spell cultivator saw a Fire Phoenix flying toward him.
The spell cultivator immediately responded. Once again, he launched a ball of water into the air, but this time it took a different form. Sometimes, it transformed into arrows. Sometimes, it transformed into a water dragon. In any case, to guess what the next ball of water would transform into was an exercise in futility.
Lu Ye had to admit that the spell cultivator was the sixth ranker for good reason. Given the right circumstances, he was like a siege tower that could fire all kinds of exquisite spells at high speed.
Lu Ye did not spend much effort on the Way of spell cultivators, but his spell casting speed wasn’t slow either. He did witness the birth and demise of a Sacred Beast when receiving Glyph: Fire Phoenix after all.
His understanding of the Fire Phoenix Technique far exceeded a conventional spell cultivator’s. That was why his Fire Phoenix Technique was at least several times stronger than what they used to be.
Fire Attribute spells were explosive, while Water Attribute spells were manipulative. While the spell cultivator’s explosive power was inferior to Lu Ye’s, Lu Ye’s casting speed and frequency were far inferior to his.
It was the difference between a professional and a casual.
One more thing Lu Ye noticed was that his Fire Phoenix Technique was less effective than usual due to the environment. It was at least thirty percent weaker than it usually was.
“Impressive. Truly impressive.” The spell cultivator grew more and more excited as he dueled Lu Ye. “You are the first combat cultivator I’ve ever seen to hone his spells to this extent! This is meaningless though, fellow cultivator. At this rate, you’re going to lose!”
