Sage of Humanity

In the five-person squad, the leader, Senior Brother Qin, looked around as he spoke, "I remember there's an abandoned mine tunnel nearby, strange, why can't we find it?"

Senior Sister Hu asked, "Could you be remembering wrong?"

Senior Brother Qin insisted, "Impossible. Back when Brother Xie was still at the Cloud River battlefield, he brought me here. I remember it very clearly, it's near this area."

They all had some impression of the referred Brother Xie, who had a much higher cultivation than theirs and who had now advanced to the True Lake Realm and left the Cloud River battlefield.

While speaking, Senior Brother Qin led the group to land and looked around, puzzled, finally fixing his gaze on one spot.

He walked forward, parted the grass that was as tall as a person, and then gently pressed his hand against the wall of stone...

A strange scene unfolded: his outstretched hand clearly touched the stone wall but seemed to press into thin air. As ripples passed over the stone, it swallowed half of his palm.

"Indeed it's here!"

"Is this a Cover-up Array?" Senior Sister Hu noticed something unusual as well.

The existence of a Cover-up Array in such a place undoubtedly indicated some issues, and moreover, this was within the range where Lu Yiye was last spotted. A thought they couldn't suppress suddenly surged simultaneously in their minds.

The two exchanged glances, both invigorated.

Lu Yiye is inside!

The Cover-up Array at the entrance of the tunnel was laid by Lu Yiye himself!

They became excited at once, and Senior Sister Hu whispered, "Senior Brother Qin, what should we do?"

Although they had been searching for traces of Lu Ye before, considering the multitude of cultivators doing the same, they didn't expect to be the first to discover anything.

But sometimes, luck is hard to explain; they were the first to stumble upon a clue.

Even though they hadn't seen Lu Ye, the addition of a Cover-up Array at the entrance of a tunnel in such a location clearly hinted at something.

Lu Ye, severely injured at present, needed a hidden, safe place to heal and recuperate, and somehow, he found this spot, hid inside, and set up the Cover-up Array to conceal the mine's entrance.

If it weren't for Senior Brother Qin's previous visit here and his slight memory of this mine's location, it would've been impossible to detect.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart and steadying his mind, Senior Brother Qin beckoned, "Let's go!"

With those words, he took the lead toward the stone wall, passed through the ripples, and vanished on the spot.

Senior Sister Hu followed closely behind, with the remaining three members stepping in succession.

Once inside the mine tunnel, the dim lighting enveloped them, and under Senior Brother Qin's guidance, they cautiously moved forward.

After covering a distance of barely thirty zhang, Spectral Shadow, at the rear of the group, suddenly felt an alarm go off in his heart, and it started to pound wildly as if a great danger lay ahead.

He quickly whispered, "Senior Brother Qin!"

The voice was not loud, but it was starkly jarring in the silent surroundings. They were all being careful, barely daring to breathe heavily, and were startled by Spectral Shadow's cry of alarm.

Just as Senior Brother Qin was about to turn around, a flash of firelight appeared in his vision, followed by a violent surge of spirit force energy sweeping in from the front.

"Retreat!" He bellowed the command, darting backwards swiftly, but still tumbling through the air as the blast wave rolled over him, ending up in a tangled heap with the others.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Amidst the rising dust, they clumsily got up, feeling stars before their eyes and a buzzing in their ears.

It took some time before they slowly recovered.

"Senior Brother Qin, are you okay?" asked Senior Sister Hu anxiously.

"Cough, cough, fine," Senior Brother Qin covered his chest, his palm soaked with fresh blood, silently grateful. Had it not been for Spectral Shadow's warning, he might already be dead by now.

Because of Spectral Shadow's shout, he instinctively stopped, narrowly avoiding disaster. Though injured, he was not in serious trouble.

"It's an explosion magic array!" Senior Brother Qin quickly concluded, and shouted, "Get out quickly!"

It was certain now, Lu Ye was hiding inside! Both the Cover-up Array at the entrance and the explosion magic array inside the mine tunnel were laid by him.

Since explosion magic arrays typically come in multiples, having encountered one, Senior Brother Qin was no longer willing to take risks.

The group exited the tunnel in disarray, but as soon as they got out, several figures landed in front of them, with numerous flickers of light converging from all directions.

The commotion caused by the explosion magic array had drawn the attention of the many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators searching in the vicinity.

In just a short moment, more than twenty people had gathered here...

Senior Brother Qin sighed with a clenched fist, originally they were the first to discover Lu Ye's whereabouts, and had the chance to enjoy the spoils alone, but now the narrow mining tunnel was rigged with explosion magic arrays, and they had to retreat. It was foreseeable that the news would quickly spread, and by then, more and more cultivators would flock to this place.

Someone came forward to talk with Senior Brother Qin, asking what had happened just now.

Senior Brother Qin didn't want to say, but he knew he couldn't hide this kind of thing and could only share his speculations and what information he had at the moment.

Suddenly, the news that Lu Yiye was hiding in a mining tunnel on the outskirts of the Great Wilderness Mountain spread quickly, and a large number of cultivators gathered toward this location.

The cultivators who first arrived were not highly advanced in their cultivation, all under Level 6.

But as time passed, Level 7 and Level 8 cultivators began to appear, and by midday, the first Level 9 strong cultivator showed up in front of the mining tunnel.

Song Zhui and his group didn't arrive late. As soon as they received the news, they hurried here immediately, disregarding the consumption of their spirit force as they flew.

However, upon arrival, they saw that the place was swarming with cultivators, there were at least eight hundred if not a thousand, and the number was still increasing.

What puzzled him was that although there were many cultivators gathered here, it seemed as if they weren't taking action but just waiting idly.

A faint scent of blood drifted through the air, as if someone had been injured.

Song Zhui saw several familiar faces. He flew straight to one of them, landed in front of them, and greeted with a fist-clasped bow, "Brother Zizai."

This was none other than Ning Zizai, whom Song Zhui had encountered deep within the Great Wilderness Mountain before.

"Brother Song has come too," Ning Zizai returned the greeting.

"What's the situation now?" asked Song Zhui.

Ning Zizai said, "We can be pretty sure that Lu Yiye is hiding inside, but we can't force our way through."

"Why not?" Song Zhui was puzzled. If they were certain that Lu Yiye was hiding inside, with so many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, even if they just charged in, Lu Yiye would surely be doomed.

"Inside there is a winding mining tunnel stretching for several miles, connecting to an excavated cavity, and Lu Yiye has left a large number of explosion magic arrays inside that mining tunnel. Some people have already tried to rush in, but they ended up either dead or injured, even that person over there... didn't succeed." Ning Zizai pointed in a particular direction while explaining.

Song Zhui turned his head to look and saw a man sitting cross-legged on the ground over there. The man had a very robust physique, and even seated on the ground, he was only a head shorter than the nearby cultivators, which made it clear that he would be very tall when standing.

Such a physique, such a build, he was undoubtedly a physique cultivator, and certainly a very powerful one at that. However, at this moment, the physique cultivator was covered in blood, his complexion slightly pale, suggesting that his injuries were not light.

"Wei Zhong!" Song Zhui's eyes narrowed.

Even though he was a cultivator from Yuanhong Hall, a 1st grade sect, he did not dare to underestimate this man named Wei Zhong. He knew somewhat of the latter's strength; one-on-one, he was not certain of victory against him. And since Wei Zhong was a physique cultivator with an undoubtedly strong physique, to have ended up like this after attempting to break through the mining tunnel meant the others' fate would be even worse.

"The narrow space undoubtedly increased the power of the explosion magic arrays; otherwise, it wouldn't have injured a Level 9 physique cultivator to this extent."

Previously, quite a few people had tried to enter the mining tunnel, but each attempt resulted in death or injury until the physique cultivator named Wei Zhong was also forced back, after which no one dared to try lightly.

Therefore, all the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators were now waiting here.

"Continuing to wait like this isn't an option," Song Zhui frowned, "Is there no cover armorer here? We could have a cover armorer control constructs to scout ahead, trigger the Formations, and clear the obstacles."

"We've tried that, it's useless," Ning Zizai shook his head, "The Formations arranged by Lu Yiye are manually controlled, not the trigger type."

If that was the case, the constructs of the cover armorers indeed wouldn't be very useful, and might even mislead the cultivators.

Imagine this: after the constructs have scouted an area, the cultivators might think it's safe enough. But once they step in, the explosion magic arrays suddenly activate, surely causing another batch of casualties.

The situation now was indeed a bit awkward. Lu Yiye, seriously injured, was trapped inside this mining tunnel by many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators, but because of the various Formations he had set up in advance, no one dared to casually venture deeper inside, leading to this standoff.

Although there was no worry about Lu Yiye escaping, dragging this out wasn't the solution either. The longer it was delayed, the more time his wounds had to heal, and by then, killing him wouldn't be as easy.

As if reading Song Zhui's thoughts, Ning Zizai said, "Brother Song, be patient. There are already people on their way."

"Who?"

"Has Brother Song heard of the name Si Nan?"

Song Zhui's brows raised, "Si Nan from Yunlang Sect?"

Ning Zizai chuckled lightly, "It seems Brother Song has heard of him."

Song Zhui nodded, "I have long heard that Yunlang Sect had produced an unparalleled genius in this generation. I have never had the chance to meet him, and here he is nearby. If he arrives, maybe he can match Lu Yiye in terms of the Array Path."

Yunlang Sect was a 4th grade sect, but although there's only one grade difference between 4th and 3rd, the gap was vast. A 3rd grade sect had a Divine Sea Realm strong cultivator presiding over it, while a 4th grade did not.

The structure of the Nine Provinces cultivation world and the way disciples are recruited often lead to one phenomenon: the stronger the strong, the higher the aptitude of the disciples recruited by more powerful sects. Therefore, for any sect, upgrading is not a simple matter.