“I would like to challenge him, senior sister!”
The cultivator who was scolded by Feng Yuechan for taking Feng Yue hostage suddenly pointed at Lu Ye. The guy was currently stuffing his cheeks with Spirit Pills.
“Do you think you can defeat him?”
“I won’t know until I’ve fought him!” The cultivator remained firm in his resolve.
The corners of Feng Yuechan’s lips turned up. “What about you? Do you accept his challenge?” She said while turning toward Lu Ye.
Their eyes met, and Lu Ye raised his eyebrows inquiringly. Feng Yuechan responded with an imperceptible nod.
Their soundless communication ended there. It was then Lu Ye realized that Senior Sister Feng was deserving of her reputation. She had clearly figured out the true reason he had allowed things to “devolve” to this extent.
“I accept!” Lu Ye nodded.
Feng Yuechan then looked at a female cultivator standing not far away from Lu Ye and ordered, “Treat him.”
The woman in question was probably a medicine cultivator and a Heaven Eight cultivator to boot.
“It’s fine!” Lu Ye interrupted before ripping off his tattered shirt, wiping away the blood on his torso as best he could and tossing it on the ground. He then pointed the Inviolable at his challenger and declared, “Come at me!”
The cultivator let out a battle cry as Spiritual Power surged around his body. He shot a flying weapon straight at Lu Ye while following closely behind the Spirit Artifact. He reached Lu Ye in just two or three steps before thrusting his spear forward.
As someone who had witnessed all the techniques Lu Ye had put on display, he knew that he was no match for the young man. That was why he went all out from the get go.
Three “flowers” bloomed in Lu Ye’s vision as the spearman launched his ultimate attack. Not only that, he had to watch out for the flying weapon as well.
Cling! Clang! Two clangs of metal resounded throughout the air, and the flying weapon, the spear and the cultivator himself were thrown back where he came.
Technically speaking, they were both Heaven-Grade Seventh-Order. However, the spearman was unable to withstand even one of Lu Ye’s attacks. Not only did he lose his grip on his weapon, Lu Ye’s attack had split his purlicue and caused it to bleed profusely.
The spearman stared at Lu Ye in complete disbelief as a fellow disciple caught him. His arms were shaking like a leaf.
He knew he was no match for Lu Ye, but he wasn’t expecting the gap to be so huge. He knew that Lu Ye could’ve taken his life if he wanted to.
“Next!” Lu Ye declared while performing a blade flourish. His word of challenge immediately riled up the cultivators of the Devoted Ones as a matter of course.
The way Lu Ye had said it, he was clearly planning to challenge them one by one until no one was left standing! Just how arrogant could he be? If anything, his display of arrogance was even less tolerable than their failure to capture his group.
“I’ll fight you!”
A cultivator leaped out before Feng Yuechan could even say a word. However, he had just stood still when Lu Ye’s face appeared just tens of centimeters away from his in a blur. 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝑜𝑚
Startled, the challenger tried to dodge backward only to receive a powerful kick to his abdomen. It was as if he had been struck by lightning. He was literally launched back where he came like a cannonball.
An expressionless Lu Ye slowly withdrew his leg and stood his ground once more. He looked down on the angry Devoted Ones cultivator and waited patiently for the next challenger to appear.
“How many more losses do we need to see until you realize that Heaven Seven and Heaven Eight cultivators are no match for him, people? Heaven Nine, go!” Feng Yuechan ordered.
A burly body-tempering cultivator pushed his way through the crowd and entered the battlefield. Stopping not far away from Lu Ye, he solemnly produced a Shield Spirit Artifact from his Storage Bag and channeled his Spiritual Power into it. The shield abruptly expanded into a barrier that protected his whole body. Then, he lowered his center of gravity slightly and pushed off the ground with both legs, charging toward Lu Ye like a loose arrow.
Lu Ye inhaled slightly. Right before the enemy was about to come close, the Inviolable abruptly burst into flames and struck the Shield Spirit Artifact three times in a row.
Each time the blade landed against the barrier, the Inviolable would give off a flash. Three hits later, the aura surrounding the shield had dimmed considerably, and cracks were spreading across the shield itself.
Boom! That was all Lu Ye managed to do before the body-tempering cultivator slammed into him. He was pushed back uncontrollably while his feet dug deep into the ground. However, the body-tempering cultivator was unable to follow up on the attack because he felt as if he had slammed into a thick wall. Not only that, he realized in shock that Lu Ye’s physique was on par with his own!
[You call this a combat cultivator?]
He didn’t even manage to finish the thought before Lu Ye rushed him once more. This time, the young man launched a thrust at the Shield Spirit Artifact.
The body-tempering cultivator would have preferred to dodge the attack entirely, but unfortunately he was nowhere fast enough to perform the maneuver. He could only channel all of his Spiritual Power into the Shield Spirit Artifact and attempt to block the attack.
Shatter!
Stunned expressions spread throughout the spectators like a plague as the shield shattered into a million pieces. Not only that, the Inviolable penetrated three inches into his chest exactly where the heart resided.
The smell of burned flesh wafted across many a nose as a dull muffled groan escaped the body-tempering cultivator’s throat. He looked down on the burning Inviolable with trembling pupils.
Lu Ye withdrew his saber, causing the body-tempering cultivator to stagger back and a small shower of blood to burst out of the wound. A medicine cultivator hurriedly caught him and attempted to treat him, but the body-tempering cultivator shook his head to indicate he was fine. If Lu Ye’s saber had sunk an extra inch deeper and pierced his heart, then he would definitely not be standing right now. As it was, he would recover in just a short time.
No one could say a word for a time. They already knew that Lu Ye was incredibly strong when they were attacking him earlier, but this? This was beyond their expectations to say the least.
Generally speaking, the best way for a combat cultivator to fight against a body-tempering cultivator was to fight them at range. Specifically, they were expected to wear down the body-tempering cultivator bit by bit with their flying weapons. The reason for this was because a combat cultivator’s physique was inferior to a body-tempering cultivator’s. To fight a body-tempering cultivator at melee was to play to their strength.
That was not what had happened in this battle, however. Lu Ye, a combat cultivator, had destroyed a body-tempering cultivator’s defensive Spirit Artifact via brute force!
What was a defensive Spirit Artifact to a body-tempering cultivator? It was their dignity! Their pride and honor! And Lu Ye had just hacked it to pieces and mopped the floor with it!
The visual impact of this fight was even greater than the earlier battle.
A short silence later, another Heaven Nine cultivator stepped into the open. His head was slightly dipped, and he was holding a sword. Looking at his attire, he was probably a combat cultivator. Not all sword wielders were sword cultivators after all.
The man didn’t say a word, but his speed kept growing and growing. Just a few steps later, he was zipping around the battlefield like a lightning bolt.
Light surrounded the swordsman as he became one with the sword. Then, a Sword Beam flew straight toward Lu Ye.
The attack did not look very fanciful, but it was one hundred percent an all-out attack. The swordsman’s killing intent—so thick that it might as well be solid—caused every hair on Lu Ye’s body to stand on its end.
This man was definitely a sword cultivator!
The Sword Light arrived in the blink of an eye. Insight appeared in Lu Ye’s pupils as Protection appeared in the Sword Light’s path.
Tink!
There was a soft tink as the sword made contact with his Glyph. Then, it was followed by a seemingly unending cacophony of metallic clanks. Heavens only know how many times the sword cultivator had thrust his sword in an instant.
The Glyph was quickly covered in cracks despite Lu Ye channeling as much Spiritual Power into it as he could. Eventually, Protection shattered into a million pieces, and the Sword Light flashed past Lu Ye at the same time Lu Ye brought down his saber.