Sage of Humanity

In the blink of an eye, a colorful light burst forth from the ice spike in front of the fair-skinned man as the mottled sunlight shone upon it, refracting a rainbow of colors!

Lu Ye sensed danger immediately.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Just now, he had gathered spirit force in his eyes and clearly saw the aura of light around the attacker's body, deducing that the other was a cultivator of Spirit Stream Level 3, but not yet Level 4.

The other's cultivation was higher than his, and from the way he had inexplicably been struck by the opponent's sword a moment ago, it was clear that their combat experience was also superior to his.

Lu Ye's cultivation journey was short, without rigorous training or guidance from a powerful figure. His swordsmanship was limited to the most basic slashes, thrusts, and feints, lacking any sophisticated techniques or skills.

With lesser cultivation and skill, and facing an opponent who also knew magic and spells... the situation couldn't be worse.

The moment the ice spike took form in the opponent's hand, Lu Ye stomped on the ground and propelled forward with the force of the recoil.

The fair-skinned cultivator was taken aback by Lu Ye's reaction, having expected him to immediately flee; instead, his adversary didn't back down but advanced.

The cultivator drifted backward once more, simultaneously launching the ice spike with incredible speed.

The sharp ice spike struck Lu Ye, blocked by the golden light on his body. Although it didn't wound him, the rebound force caused his chest to feel stuffy, slowing his forward momentum and dimming the golden glow on his body.

After one ice spike was thrown, the fair-skinned man's hands glowed with spirit light again, obviously intending to form a second spike. Lu Ye's eyes twitched; in a fight between low-level cultivators, the one with mastery of spells clearly had a significant advantage.

"How many more can you block?" the fair-skinned man ridiculed while maintaining a safe distance. In their cat-and-mouse game, Lu Ye was hit by three ice spikes in a short amount of time, his body's golden light nearly extinguished, yet he couldn't even touch the hem of the other's clothing.

Such a fight was frustrating for him; he was dying to teach the other a lesson with a Fire Serpent Talisman.

However, he suppressed this urge; he wasn't sure if one Fire Serpent Talisman could kill the other party, given that he was dealing with a cultivator, not the wolves he had killed upon first entering the battlefield, and without the advantageous terrain he had when competing with the big tiger.

He now had a vague plan in mind, yet whether it could be executed smoothly still depended on luck.

After a moment equivalent to the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, when Lu Ye was struck by another ice spike, the golden light on his body finally disappeared. Suffering internal injuries from the barrage of ice spikes, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Shivering from the cold enveloping him, he couldn't help but shudder.

He glared at the fair-skinned man with resentment vivid on his face, and for the first time since the fight began, he spoke, "What grievance do we have between us?"

The fair-skinned man chuckled, "No grievance, no grudge."

Lu Ye remained silent, waiting for what was to come next.

Indeed, the fair-skinned man said, "However, if you tell me where you found all those ores, I might spare your life!"

A fierce light flashed in Lu Ye's eyes as he confirmed the cause; this encounter wasn't by chance—his adversary had come specifically for him! The issue stemmed from the ores he had sold.

Truthfully, Lu Ye had always been careful. He went to the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union three times, each time dealing with different people, and he only ever sold a small portion of ores, daring not to sell in large quantities to avoid drawing attention. Even on the way back, he would take several detours to ensure no one was following him.

But reality showed that someone indeed harbored ill intentions, and all his caution was for naught, unless he chose not to sell at Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

Yet, he needed elixir pills for his cultivation—where else could he go if not to Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union?

What he could be certain of at the moment was that this wasn't instigated by the mercantile union. Such a large entity, priding itself on honesty and fairness, had no reason to target a minor cultivator like him.

So this could very well be some underhanded maneuvers by a few people within the mercantile union, Lu Ye thought about the three cultivators from the union he had dealt with, but couldn't figure out who had set their sights on him.

All three transactions were quite ordinary, the only thing out of the ordinary was the hint given by the woman named Liew Ruyin during the first transaction, but that didn't prove anything.

From the fair-skinned man's words, it seemed that they suspected he had found a mining vein containing various ores, and they wanted to probe for its location.

What they didn't know was that Lu Ye didn't have any mining vein; all his ores were brought from Evil Moon Valley.

Seeing that Lu Ye didn't speak, the fair-skinned man's expression darkened slightly, "Tough guys who don't drink to respect, must drink as punishment!" He resolved to beat Lu Ye half to death and then force out the location of the vein.

With that, he brandished his knife and lunged at Lu Ye.

He didn't use the Ice Spike Technique again, mainly because it was rather draining, and now that Lu Ye's Golden Body Talisman was broken, he was confident that he could knead Lu Ye like dough.

However, Lu Ye, who had just put on a tough façade, turned and ran, his speed astonishingly fast.

The fair-skinned man was amused and angered all at once, looking at Lu Ye's retreating figure and nonchalantly said, "You think you can run away?"

He followed at an unhurried pace, while also taking out a Spirit Stone from his storage sack and holding it in his palm to slowly recover.

He could tell that Lu Ye had been scared out of his wits, and such desperate fleeing would only hasten the consumption of his spirit force. A low-level cultivator, once out of spirit force, wouldn't be much different from an ordinary person, and Manager Yang, killed by Lu Ye's schemes, was a prime example.

So all he had to do was to make sure not to lose Lu Ye.

The two of them, one chasing and the other fleeing, went through a forest of chaotic rocks, crossed a small river, and arrived at a clearing, where the fair-skinned man saw Lu Ye standing there, panting heavily, his complexion pale as paper, motionless.

Exhausted his spirit force so quickly? The fair-skinned man let out a scoff, stepped forward slowly, and twirled his longsword, "Why have you stopped running?"

He stood about ten paces in front of Lu Ye, his face full of mockery.

However, he quickly realized something was wrong because Lu Ye's expression was one of utter horror, looking in a certain direction with his sword-hand shaking violently.

A ferocious wind whipped up, a low growl sounded, and from behind a large tree, a robust, snow-white big tiger took leisurely steps, entering the scene. Experience new stories on empire

Its amber eyes looked towards the fair-skinned man, causing his heart to jump, and suddenly, he remembered a rumor he had heard in the marketplace a couple of days ago.

Could he be so unlucky? He wailed inwardly.

But the thing that plunged him into despair happened, the big tiger opened its mouth and spoke human language, "How dare you disturb Great Tiger King's peaceful dream? It seems you wish not to live!"

The fair-skinned man's forehead was immediately covered with fine beads of sweat, and he finally understood the source of Lu Ye's terror.

It wasn't him that Lu Ye feared, but this big tiger!

Lost on what to do, he heard Lu Ye cry, "Great Tiger King, we beg for mercy, we didn't know this was your territory, and we will leave right now!"

The fair-skinned man nodded like a pecking chicken at those words.

The big tiger roared angrily, "You think you can come and go as you please? Do you take this place for nothing?"