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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The reason the spell cultivator was so confident was because Lu Ye had fallen into complete disadvantage in the spell battle.
Lu Ye was dueling a pro as a casual. It would be stranger if he was winning.
By now, the space between the two combatants was completely covered in mist due to the clash between fire and water. Not only that, the spell cultivator had hidden many balls of water within the mist. Due to the environment, Lu Ye’s Fire Phoenix was thirty percent weaker than it should be the second it manifested from his palm. Its power only decreased further as it passed through the thick mist. Finally, it was usually intercepted before it could even cross half the distance to the spell cultivator.
The spell battle was still ongoing, but it was clear that the barrage was pushing closer and closer toward Lu Ye. He was unable to turn the tables even if he went all out.
“You do not need to be frustrated, fellow cultivator. The reason I’m winning is only because I hold the geographical advantage. Had I encountered you outside, I am sure you’d be able to get close to me and defeat me.”
Although the spell cultivator was dominant in this battle, his words were surprisingly humble. It even sounded like he was trying to comfort Lu Ye.
However, the spell cultivator belonged to the Thousand Demon Ridge, and Lu Ye was part of the Grand Sky Coalition. His behavior was anything but normal.
This meant that his comforting words were really deliberate provocation. He made it sound like he would be a helpless chick if Lu Ye could just cross the sea and get to him. It was a bait he didn’t even bother to conceal.
Lu Ye had to admit that the spell cultivator had a silver tongue. He knew exactly how to provoke the enemy into anger in just a few short sentences.
There was currently three hundred meters of distance between Lu Ye and the spell cultivator. The only way he could fight the enemy in melee was to fly to him on his flying Spirit Artifact. However, that was a risky maneuver at best against a spell cultivator who was like an intelligent siege tower. A single mistake would mean the end of his life.
However, Lu Ye could not stay where he was either. If he did not fly over, then this battle was as good as lost.
So, Lu Ye brought out his flying Spirit Artifact and leaped onto it. He then plunged head first into the mist at tremendous speed. By now, the mist had become so thick that he was barely visible from his enemy’s point of view!
However, Lu Ye’s action only caused the spell cultivator to smirk. His expression suggested that he had gotten Lu Ye exactly where he wanted him to be.
He made a series of gestures with his hands. While launching a dozen water balls at Lu Ye, he completed the spell seal and yelled, “Condense!”
The thick mist between the duo suddenly turned viscous. Lu Ye immediately felt himself slowing down considerably.
[So, this is what he’s planning!] Lu Ye thought in realization.
Bai Lan was a Water Attribute spell cultivator, and her spells had a corrosive effect on one’s Spirit Artifact. That was why Lu Ye thought that this spell cultivator’s trap might be the same. From the spell cultivator’s perspective, he would be in deep trouble if his flying Spirit Artifact lost most of its Spiritual Power mid-flight.
His guess was wrong, however. It slowed him instead of corroding his flying Spirit Artifact. As a result, he was crawling at a snail’s pace even though he was pushing his flying Spirit Artifact with all his might. At this pace, he might as well be a stationary target.
The spell cultivator wasn’t going to give him time to think a way out of this either. The water balls he had concealed in the mist a while ago abruptly surrounded Lu Ye from every direction. Then, they exploded into spells of all shapes and sizes and transformed the space Lu Ye was at into a death zone.
“Surrender or die. What would you choose?” The spell cultivator declared proudly while looking at the blurry figure in the mist.
Technically speaking, the spell cultivator wasn’t strong enough to occupy the sixth spot on the Scroll of Supremacy. For example, Yu Lianzhou of the Northern Profound Sword Clan would easily defeat him in a straight fight. The reason the sword cultivator still ranked below the spell cultivator was because he had forced him into the exact same situation Lu Ye was facing right now. Yu Lianzhou had no choice but to surrender the right after being caught in the death trap.
One of the main reasons the spell cultivator could occupy the sixth spot was because there existed a terrain that complemented his skills perfectly. The spell he was using—the Mist Condensation Technique—was something he cultivated specifically to improve his compatibility with this terrain even more. Its effects were profound against any cultivator who could not attack him without getting close such as body-tempering cultivators, combat cultivators and ghost cultivators.
Lu Ye wasn’t going to surrender, of course. A flash of lightning suddenly appeared from the thick mist, and the spell cultivator dropped his smirk immediately. He never heard that Lu Yi Ye cultivated Lightning Attribute spells, so where did it come from?
He was just thinking this when a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck dead center on the mist.
“A Lightning Invoking Talisman Paper?” The spell cultivator exclaimed in shock before feeling every hair on his body standing on its end, and a sudden sense of crisis. Without hesitation, he backed all the way to the edge of the island, dispelled the mist directly in front of him, and summoned his Spiritual Power Shield before he finally felt some security.
The thick mist was basically a lightning amplifier. He would be crazy to get close to it.
The spell cultivator thought Lu Ye had used a Lightning Invoking Talisman Paper, but in reality that wasn’t the case. A Spirit Talisman Paper like that cost a hundred Spirit Stones at least. No, he had just the Invoke Lightning he got from the Tree of Glyphs.
He had picked this up from Bai Lan. Earlier, the woman had caught him off guard by casting a lightning spell at the surrounding mist. Although the spell wasn’t powerful enough to defeat him, it was one of the dicier matches he had fought while climbing the Scroll of Supremacy.
It looked as if the mist had transformed into a thunder cloud or something. It was as deadly as it was intimidating.
Despite the spell cultivator’s quick reaction, he couldn’t avoid the lightning completely. As a result, his hair stood on end, and his body shook like a leaf.
It was then he saw Lu Ye’s figure falling to the sea like a rock. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of something heavy splashing into the sea.
The giant monsters beneath the sea immediately turned restless. Not even a second later, a giant maw abruptly appeared on the sea’s surface and swallowed the object!
[Is he… dead?]
For a few seconds, the spell cultivator could not believe what just happened. [Did Lu Yi Ye really just die to his own Lightning Invoking Talisman Paper? That can’t be…]
[No! Something definitely isn’t right!] Realization hit the spell cultivator like a lightning bolt. If Lu Yi Ye really had perished, then he should have received a notice from the Heavens already. Since he hadn’t, it could only mean that Lu Yi Ye was still alive!
He had just finished the thought when he saw a bright flame flying just above the sea surface and swiftly approaching him! From his point of view, it looked like a pair of wings!
He wanted to reactivate the Mist Condensation Technique and slow Lu Ye down again, but lightning was still rippling across the mist like crazy. There was no way he could condense anything until the energy had dispersed.
The center of his forehead began to prickle as if someone had pressed a blade against his skin. At the same time, his instincts screamed for him to leave before it was too late!
“I surrender!”
The spell cultivator was no stubborn fool. He did not hesitate to obey his instinct and cry for surrender.
As if on cue, Lu Ye appeared in front of him like a divine agent and landed a deadly slash across his throat. There was so much force behind the attack that he was sent sailing across the air.
Luckily for the spell cultivator, he was perfectly unharmed. He surrendered just in time for the Heavens to wrap him in its protective shell and send him away.
The spell cultivator placed a hand to his heart after he returned to the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Thank goodness he hadn’t hesitated, or he would be dead by now!
Meanwhile, Lu Ye was clutching his saber tightly and shaking with anger. This was NOT what he had ordered when he entered this match.
He could forgive Gui Yingzi for wasting two days of his time. The guy was a ghost cultivator, and most ghost cultivators would not make a move unless they were confident of their chances.
But what the hell was that spell cultivator? He could stomach the guy choosing a terrain that maximized his advantage and undermined his opponents. He could stomach the guy taunting him in an attempt to provoke him into recklessness. But after he had overcome all odds and even struck himself with lightning, the bastard had the gall to surrender and deny him his release?
What. The. Fuck!
As if that wasn’t bad enough, he had lost his flying Spirit Artifact as well. The object that fell into the water earlier was none other than Spirit Boat he had shattered with his own spell. The reason he allowed it to fall into the water instead of retrieving it was to fool his enemy into dropping his guard. Unfortunately, it did not succeed in the end.
Sure, he wasn’t wanting for replacements, but he hadn’t come this far by being a wastrel.
Lu Ye was plotting to use this match to unclog the murderous frustration that had been burning inside his heart, but now? It was worse than ever before!
After he was teleported back to the wooden building, Lu Ye looked through his Storage Bags and picked up a suitable flying Spirit Artifact. Then, he began refining it in sullen silence.
Heavens know what kind of weirdo and weird ass terrain he might face in his next match. It would be foolish to challenge his next foe without a flying Spirit Artifact.
Although Soar was an excellent fallback, the reason it was a fallback in the first place was because it cost far more Spiritual Power than a flying Spirit Artifact. He would rather not use it unless absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, the Scroll of Supremacy had been updated to display Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect in sixth place. The entire Thousand Demon Ridge was silent for a time.
Who would’ve thought that even the top ten rankers of the Scroll of Supremacy weren’t strong enough to stop Lu Yi Ye’s climb? As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was just a Heaven Eight cultivator. They were ashamed that a Heaven Eight cultivator had occupied such a high spot in a rank list that was supposed to be dominated by Heaven Nine cultivators.
On a related note, Shi Guang of the Way Profound Sect had already returned to his Outpost to prepare himself. He knew that he and Lu Ye would have a match very soon. If even he, the last gatekeeper, was unable to defeat Lu Yi Ye, then the shame would blemish not just him, but the entire Thousand Demon Ridge as well.
Back in the day, not even Li Baxian was able to become the champion as a Heaven Eight cultivator!
How long had it been since Lu Yi Ye began cultivating? Why was he of all people able to do what was unprecedented?
In any case, the Spirit Creek Battlefield was a much quieter place as of late. Everyone was paying close attention to the Scroll of Supremacy.
Looking at the rank list, Lu Yi Ye only needed to defeat one more ranker—the second runner-up—to challenge Shi Guang.
The second runner-up of the Scroll of Supremacy was a cultivator from a Tier-One sect from Tian Zhou. She was also a woman.
In the wooden building, Lu Ye was responding to his friends’ messages while refining his flying Spirit Artifact. Knowing that Lu Ye was about to challenge the second runner-up very soon, they did not hesitate to share everything they knew about her.
Lu Ye frowned after going through the information he received. His next opponent was technically a combat cultivator, but only in a broad sense. Her faction was so niche in Jiu Zhou that they were even rarer than Golem Masters.
[Heavens, this is going to be another disgusting battle, isn’t it?]
Lu Ye was feeling a little tilted to say the least.
As for how strong his next opponent was, he only needed to look at Li Baxian to have an idea. He was the second runner-up until he regained his honor.
But of course, the Three Tumors in general were pretty special. The current Scroll of Supremacy was nowhere as competitive as the previous one, and this second runner-up could not possibly compare to his fourth senior brother.
Lu Ye wasn’t going to underestimate her though, and he definitely wasn’t going to show mercy just because she was a woman. He had killed plenty of female cultivators while climbing the Scroll of Supremacy, and Bai Lan was the only one who had survived him for obvious reasons.
As Hua Ci would say, Bai Lan only survived for two large, very obvious reasons.