Zhang Wu, at the Spirit Stream Level 4 cultivation, had much more combat experience than Lu Ye. With dual blades in hand, he dazzled onlookers with his movents. Lu Ye could only manage to block the attack with his longsword, but Zhang Wu's other curved blade was already slicing toward him at an extrely fast pace.
At this point, it was clearly too late to draw his sword to block again. Just when Zhang Wu thought he was about to succeed, a triangular shield-like object suddenly appeared on the surface of Lu Ye's body.
With a clang, the curved blade struck the Defense Spirit Runes, blocking this vicious strike.
Lu Ye shifted his center of gravity, sidestepped, and made a diagonal slash with his longsword!
The sharp blade pulled a long wound across Zhang Wu's arm, flesh flapping open.
Big Tiger also took the opportunity to pounce forward, his tiger roar shaking the heavens while Yiyi's figure flitted about like a specter on the sidelines, distracting Zhang Wu.
Three against one!
Monts later, Lu Ye gasped for air, and his longsword once again pierced through Zhang Wu's chest, this ti targeting the heart. Zhang Wu's head drooped lifelessly, his arms hung by his sides, and his weapons fell to the ground.
This grueling battle finally ended with Lu Ye victorious.
However, he also paid a significant price. Not only was most of his spirit force consud, but he also suffered four deep, bone-exposing wounds, blood nearly soaking his clothes completely red, the area thick with the sll of blood.
The Defense Spirit Runes indeed blocked the opponent's attack, but many tis, Lu Ye simply didn't have the chance to activate them in ti due to the enemy's rapid strikes, a disparity brought by cultivation level and combat experience. Fortunately, none of the injuries were fatal.
For a cultivator at Spirit Stream Level 2 to battle soone at Level 4, and even then only barely managing to succeed after having severely injured the opponent first, made Lu Ye deeply aware of his own shortcomings.
Not only was he seriously injured, but Big Tiger and Yiyi were also not unscathed. Big Tiger's half body was blood-soaked, and Yiyi's figure had dimd considerably.
Hurriedly tidying up the battlefield, Lu Ye collected their storage sacks and didn't forget the Young Master's Mystic Spirit Bell. He mounted Big Tiger's back and barked, "Let's go!"
Big Tiger's figure leapt forward, rushing toward the Sky-Splitting Gorge.
Midway, Lu Ye's vision began to blur, his body nearly collapsing from exhaustion. He felt he might not hold on much longer. He managed to caution Yiyi and Big Tiger, "If you encounter a fork in the road, do not stray. Find a place to hide, and we'll talk about everything else when I wake up."
Before Yiyi could react, Lu Ye's body swayed, almost falling off Big Tiger. She quickly moved forward to support him.
Just half an hour after Big Tiger carried Lu Ye away, a figure suddenly appeared at the earlier battlefield. After surveying the remnants of the battle, he looked up and shouted, "Found them!"
In an instant, two more figures arrived from close by.
Seeing the wrecked battlefield, all three knew that sothing serious had happened.
"What should we do?"
"Let's notify Senior Brother Cao Ye."
One of them said this and sighed, activating his battle imprint to send out a ssage.
After waiting a mont, a tall figure descended, surrounded by intense spirit light, his aura even more powerful than the Spirit Stream Level 5 realm cultivators Lu Ye had previously encountered.
"Senior Brother Cao!" The three of them greeted.
Cao Ye stepped forward, examining the bodies of the four fellow sect mbers, his face gradually darkening.
From the remnants of the battlefield, it seed that Junior Brother Sun had been beheaded, bleeding to death in a short ti, while Junior Sister Yuen had been decapitated, the Young Master had injuries on his thigh, shoulder blade, side of the neck, and had an arm severed, with the fatal wound in the chest.
As for Zhang Wu, he had nurous wounds on his body, clearly having undergone a fierce battle, with the fatal wound also in the heart.
"Useless!" Cao Ye gritted his teeth and cursed.
He was truly baffled by how the Young Master, protected by the Mystic Spirit Bell, could have died! Given that the Mystic Spirit Bell was a low-grade Spiritual Artifact, it had strong defensive capabilities.
In a dangerous situation, just activating the Mystic Spirit Bell for protection could fend off an attacker from the Spirit Stream Level 7 for a mont, and those below Spirit Stream Level 7 would struggle to breach its defense in a short ti.
At the outermost circle of the battlefield, not to ntion Spirit Stream Level 7, it was even rare to encounter Level 6. Cultivators at Levels 6 and 7 were dominant here, normally stationed at their own sect's base and seldom venturing out. He wouldn't have co here if he hadn't received a ssage from Zhang Wu.
Protected by the Mystic Spirit Bell and accompanied by Zhang Wu, at Level 4 Realm, these were the reasons he and Dong Shuye felt reassured to let the Young Master wander outside.
Moreover, this location was still within the reach of the Nine Stars Sect's base…
Yet the Young Master was slain right on his own sect's territory!
How could he explain this to the Sect Master? It could be said that the prestige of the Nine Stars Sect was utterly destroyed overnight. Cao Ye could almost imagine the rage of the old n in the sect when they heard this news.
"Send a ssage back, lock down the area within about 30 miles, search for a young man with a White Tiger. The opponent is around Level 3-4 of Spirit Stream Realm, uses a bladed Spiritual Artifact, background irrelevant. Thirty Spirit Stones for providing clues, five hundred for killing him, and a thousand for capturing him!" Cao Ye's deep voice rose.
The three cultivators were all invigorated, hurriedly accepting the command.
Although Zhang Wu only sent back a simple ssage before his death, which was the young man with the White Tiger at Spirit Stream Level 2.
But Cao Ye had pieced together more details.
Zhang Wu had fought a fierce battle with the assailant before being killed, so Cao Ye deduced that the opponent's cultivation wasn't just at Spirit Stream Level 2, it was very likely at Level 3-4, otherwise, they couldn't have managed to kill Zhang Wu. As for the use of a blade, that was even more obvious, as the wounds on the Young Master and Zhang Wu clearly indicated so.
The opponent likely possessed a rather decent Spiritual Artifact; otherwise, it made no sense for the weaker to triumph over the stronger and slay Zhang Wu.
While deep in thought, Cao Ye suddenly turned his head toward a certain spot and shouted, "Who's there!"
As his words fell, a handso man dressed in a blue robe and exuding grace walked out from the darkness. The man wore a longsword at his waist, his hand resting casually on the hilt, as he walked out calmly, much like a sovereign inspecting his own territory.
At the sight of this man, Cao Ye felt like he faced a daunting enemy, his spirit force quickly stirring up, as he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Wang Yeang!"
No wonder he was so tense. Although he was at Spirit Stream Level 6, the opponent was at Spirit Stream Level 7. Though it was just one level apart, in the Spirit Stream Realm, the gap between Level 4 and Level 7 was a watershed, crossing which greatly boosted one's strength.
In past confrontations, Cao Ye had suffered under Wang Yeang's hands, so seeing this guy appear gave him quite a headache.
He did have the confidence to escape, considering he was a physique cultivator with resilient body, and while he could not defeat Wang Yeang, fleeing was still an option. However, the three fellow sect mbers with him did not possess such skills.
That bastard, instead of staying put at Xuann's base, why had he also co out? Cao Ye cursed inwardly, knowing that the noise on their side must have attracted Xuann's attention.
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