Sage of Humanity

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The steed galloped while Lu Ye sat on horseback as steady as a post.

He had never ridden a horse before, but he had ridden a tiger, and Amber moved much more bumpily than this, so the current situation had no effect on him whatsoever.

After a half-month's healing, his injuries had almost fully recovered. Lu Ye had intended to bid farewell to Hua Ci today, but after last night's misunderstanding, he felt unsure about how to explain it to the sober Hua Ci, so he simply took his leave directly.

He was going to look for Yiyi and Amber.

Half a month earlier, Dong Shuye had pursued him to kill him; in the end, Lu Ye had managed to escape unscathed largely thanks to Amber. Had it not been for Amber carrying Lu Ye and running swiftly, Lu Ye would have had no chance to cross that flat plain.

When they separated, Amber was already injured. Lu Ye didn't know how badly it was hurt or even if it was alive or dead at this moment, but he had to confirm its condition in person, no matter what.

Traveling upstream along the river, sitting on horseback, Lu Ye continued to refine elixir pills and practice his cultivation, while also stimulating his spirit force to nourish the tiny bell spiritual artifact.

A day later, he looked at the waterfall flowing down below and dismounted. He slapped the horse with the scabbard, and, startled, the horse took off running and quickly disappeared from sight.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the mountains, horses were of no use; they had to be set free.

Below the waterfall lay a huge pool, into which the roaring cascade of water fell, splashing up waves. It was here that Lu Ye had jumped from above the waterfall into this very pool, and if he wanted to find traces of Amber, he had to go back to the top of the waterfall.

As he was surveying the terrain, there suddenly came a splash, and when he turned to look, he saw a person emerging from under the pool.

The person also noticed Lu Ye and immediately looked alert.

In the Spirit Stream battlefield, when cultivators who didn't know each other met, it was mostly this kind of reaction, because no one knew which camp the other belonged to. With equal strength, they wouldn't easily reveal their affiliation.

Looking at the person, Lu Ye remembered that when he had jumped into the pool, there was someone below who appeared to be collecting something. However, that person was unlucky and was sliced into pieces by several Golden Arc Slashes from Dong Shuye, which also enabled Lu Ye to narrowly escape disaster.

Arriving here today and seeing another person, it seemed that indeed there were things underwater useful to cultivators; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for so many people to come here.

The person slowly climbed out of the water, eyes still fixed on Lu Ye.

The other was a Level 3 cultivator, and Lu Ye didn't take him too seriously.

He looked again at the top of the waterfall and asked, "Fellow Daoist, if I want to climb up, which way should I go?" The cliffs on both sides of the waterfall were sheer and didn't seem to have any climbable spots.

The man looked intently at Lu Ye for a while and pointed in a direction, "Ten miles away, there's a place to go up the mountain."

Lu Ye nodded, "Thank you!" and went in the direction pointed out by the man.

As they brushed past each other, the man's expression was tense until Lu Ye's figure disappeared from view; only then did he slowly relax.

Half a day later, Lu Ye returned to the top of the waterfall.

He retraced his steps in the direction he came, scouting all the way.

The magic and spells cast by Dong Shuye, a Level 7 magic cultivator, were immensely powerful, so traces of the battle during the pursuit still remained along the path.

Soon, Lu Ye squatted down in front of a crater. It had been blown out by a huge Fireball, and the surrounding trees were reduced to ashes.

It was here that he had separated from Amber.

He recalled the scene at the time, and slowly walked to a position about a dozen yards away.

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He didn't see any bones, which eased Lu Ye's mind somewhat; it seemed Amber wasn't dead.

There were large swathes of dried bloodstains on the ground, which extended in one direction, and that direction surprisingly pointed to the location of the waterfall.

Lu Ye felt a heavy weight in his heart as if he was witnessing the scene from that time.

Back then, he was sent flying off the tiger's back by Dong Shuye's magic and spells, while Amber had also passed out.

He didn't have time to check on Amber's injuries before fleeing because he believed Dong Shuye was after him specifically, and staying together meant death for both. If they separated, Amber might have a chance to survive.

But after Amber came to, it had actually followed the traces on the road to pursue him, obviously trying to find him.

Following the faint blood trail on the ground, he indeed arrived at the waterfall...

There was a large pool of darkened blood on the ground; Amber had clearly lingered here for a while.

Although he had glanced at the bloodstains over here when he had come earlier, he thought they were from his own wounds and didn't pay much attention to them; now he knew they were Amber's.

Lu Ye continued to follow the bloodstains forward, lacking experience in this area. Thankfully, he had become a cultivator, and his visual acuity and insight were much stronger than a normal person's, which allowed him to barely continue.

At dusk, Lu Ye followed the broken trail to the mouth of a cave, where the last bloodstain disappeared.

With an anxious heart, he called lightly into the darkness, "Yiyi, Amber!"

"Roar!" A beastly roar and a fetid draft assaulted him as a black panther sprang out. Lu Ye drew his long knife, and with a flash of the blade, the panther's head flew off, its muscular body collapsing on the ground with fresh blood trickling everywhere.

Lu Ye's face darkened, for he had followed the trail here, yet there was no sign of Amber or Yiyi—only a black panther had emerged...

This gave him a bad feeling.

If Amber hadn't come here on its own, then it was possible it had been dragged here by some other fierce beast.

He sheathed his long knife and stepped into the cave, his spirit force gathering in his eyes, allowing him to see a pile of white bones at the bottom of the cave almost immediately—it only intensified his already unsettling feeling.

Taking heavy steps forward, he crouched before the white bones to closely inspect them.

A moment later, Lu Ye sighed in relief; these were not Amber's bones, Amber's skull would be bigger.

As evening approached, it was impossible to continue the search. Lu Ye had no choice but to rest here for the night.

What could be confirmed now was that Amber wasn't dead at the time and had been to this cave, the bloodshed along the way being the best evidence.

But it must have left quickly. As for where it went, that would have to wait until tomorrow's detailed search.

After nightfall, Lu Ye ate and drank his fill, then continued his cultivation. His spiritual orifice had opened to the 36th orifice. He'd been too exhausted from the day's journey to break through to the 37th orifice's barrier and had to wait until night.

Now, opening orifices was much simpler and easier than when he first started cultivating because he had plenty of spirit force in his body to squander, and his spirit force was very pure, which gave him a natural advantage in opening orifices, enhancing the efficiency.

In just the time it took an incense stick to burn, the barrier of the 37th orifice shattered, and the spirit force flowed into it...

What followed was simple. He only needed to continuously refine elixir pills, assisted by Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes, to fill this spiritual orifice with spirit force, then he could proceed to break through to the next spiritual orifice.

Bestial Gluttony Feast autonomously refined and absorbed the pill energy, and the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes didn't require his distraction either; so Lu Ye took out the tiny bell spirit artifact and continuously channeled his own spirit force to nurture it.