Humanity’s Great Sage

ould be awarded the chance to enter the Dragon Spring?]

 

Lu Ye could not believe his luck.
He had been traveling the wilderness, trying to avoid territories belonging to great families and powerful factions, choosing only to enter towns or hamlets that usually teemed with independent Cultivators if he needed anything. 

 

Ten days had passed since he last stumbled upon a settlement that was filled with independent Cultivators. 

 

While he avoided contact with anyone else, he did not realize that this was the venue of the Dragon Spring Conference.
His initial decision to travel via the One Hundred Peaks mountain range was only because this particular area appeared to be his safest way to travel, being the neutral crossroads leading to the territories of the three most powerful factions in this locale.

 

Little did he realize that his arrival would cause such a ruckus. 

 

That was the same reason that compelled him to choose traveling via the Split Sky Gorge – the border of the fiefdoms held by the Mystic Sect and the Crimson Heart Sect respectively before the former unified both domains under one single rule. 

 

It was a mistake coming here.
He should not have chosen the neutral area which was smack bang in the middle of so many dangerous and powerful parties, with all sides trying to outdo one another and thus making the place chaotic enough.
He should have chosen to travel through territories controlled by the Grand Sky Coalition. 

 

He immediately made a mental note about this. 

 

And from what he gleaned from information supplied by the magical jade slip, the area in the One Hundred Peaks mountain range which he had just passed through was well within the Tai Luo Clan’s circle of influence.
That would explain the relentless pursuit by the Clan’s Cultivators.

 

But Lu Ye noticed one more detail: he had rarely seen any Fifth-Order Cultivators before.
Yet so many had been popping out of the woodwork lately, just to attack him. 

 

He could think of one possible explanation.
According to the jade slip, he had entered the Clan’s territory from the back and the Clan had stationed a few of its most powerful Cultivators mostly at the front lines where most of the conflicts with the rest of the other factions would be.
This was why, as he made a beeline that intersected straight through the entire breadth of the Clan’s territory, more and more powerful Cultivators were roped in to hunt him down. 

 

The Shadow Moon Disc was the only reason he could think of behind how easily the Green Feather Mountain forces tracked him down. All three factions had Ninth-Order Cultivators garrisoned around the Disc and that allowed them to be aware of his whereabouts no matter how hard he tried to hide. 

 

He had the strange feeling that someone had been watching him, especially since the Clan’s Cultivators were able to locate him at every nook and cranny, and the information inside the jade slip confirmed his suspicions.

Seeing how everything made sense, Lu Ye was satisfied with the veracity of the information he now received. 

At any rate, the timely appearance of these riders had thwarted the pursuit of the Clan and that was good enough for Lu Ye to believe that they meant him no ill will. 

“Come with us, my friend.
It’s not safe to loiter around here.”

 

Xie Jin gestured at Lu Ye to follow him.

 

Lu Ye nodded, “Very well.”

 

Lu Ye dug his heels into his mount’s flanks and rode ahead with the escort of Cultivators around him. 

 

Xie Jin struck up a conversation with Lu Ye on the way and the latter called himself by his alias “Yi Ye”.
Oddly enough, Xie Jin did nothing to pry about Lu Ye’s provenance and background. 

 

It was usual for people inside the Spirit Creek Battlefield to not reveal any information about their own background, more so, if the Cultivator is a member of a powerful faction or an influential family on a wandering pilgrimage. 

 

Cultivators from such distinguished provenance would be sorely mistaken if they started waving the names of their sects or families around like a flag and think this would bring them convenience.
If anything, this would only invite more trouble, or more specifically, attacks by other hostile parties. 

 

Having been forewarned by Tang Wu that Lu Ye might be a student from one of the great sects and other militant orders, Xie Jin naturally knew how to avoid offending Lu Ye’s sensitivities. 

 

The company of more than two dozen Cultivators eventually dispersed slowly as they rode further.
The group was made up of Cultivators stationed at nearby garrisons and forts, hence with their current mission successfully completed, they would be expected to resume their posts.
By the end, only Xie Jin and Lu Ye remained.  

 

In the meantime, Han Zhe Yue, with Qin Wan Li assisting her, launched another desperate attack on one of the hills controlled by the Green Feather Mountain forces, piling enough pressure on the Green Feather Mountain forces that the latter had to withdraw and give up the hill that they had just captured not so long ago.
But luckily enough, they managed to prevent many casualties and wounded men. 

 

Xie Jin and Lu Ye made it through a couple of mesas and mounds before they reached a brightly-lit glen – a hive of activity with Cultivators in the hundreds and even thousands scuttling back and forth among scores of tents and canopies. 

 

Seated atop the back of his tiger,  Lu Ye beheld the large campsite and spied that many of the Cultivators were injured and hurt.
Even from his spot, he could make out the assortment of painful groans and cries from inside the tents and canopies that never stopped wafting into the air rank with the stench of blood and sweat. 

 

This must be the field infirmary, Lu Ye realized.
The spot where all Cultivators who were wounded from the skirmishes at the front lines were brought to to heal and recuperate. 

 

Lu Ye rode to the campsite and eyes began to pan his way.
“Splendid performance just now, my friend!” a voice hooted cheerily. 

 

Some began giving him applauding whistles…

 

Female Cultivators started to bat their eyelashes coquettishly at him… 

 

Lu Ye was flabbergasted by the warm welcome the wounded Cultivators threw at him. 

 

“Everyone has heard about what you did, my friend.
You’re a hero right now,” Xie Jin grinned at him. 

 

Only now did Lu Ye understand what was going on here. 

Xie Jin led Lu Ye ahead until they reached a tent.
“Have a rest here, Junior Brother Yi Ye.
I’ll have someone tend to your wounds in just a while,” he said.

 

“All right.
Thanks.”

 

As much as Lu Ye wanted to decline the offer, he did not want to sound impolite and ungrateful.
His wounds weren’t too bad and after his few near brushes with death, he had since developed a greater endurance to pain.

But the same could not be said for his mount Amber.
The Tai Luo Clan Cultivators had been trying to incapacitate him in their attempts to prevent Lu Ye from escaping.
They rained him with spells and Spirit Talisman attacks, to say nothing of the arrows and bolts they managed to wound him with, despite Lu Ye’s best efforts to parry and deflect them away. 

 

“I’ll leave you to rest then,” said Xie Jin.
He was about to turn around and leave, but he stopped short.
“Ah, yes.
I nearly forgot.”

 

He retrieved a Storage Bag from inside his pockets as he spoke.