Sage of Humanity

Chapter 320 The Last Three Layers

In the valley, Yooi Xiao and Bai Qian stood side by side, their previous numbness replaced by shock and disbelief.

Lu Ye had been studying Array Path with Bai Qian all this time, and Bai Qian knew very well the level of his array cultivation skills.

He had told Yooi Xiao that, with Lu Ye's level of skill in array cultivation, breaking through ten layers in one go wouldn't be too difficult, considering the first ten layers weren't very challenging. If he could gain enough benefits within the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, it was even possible for him to break through several more layers.

This was a very fair assessment; after all, Bai Qian had many years of experience in array cultivation and was skilled in judging talent.

Yet, the reality was that Lu Ye had crossed thirty layers in just half a month!

It wasn't a misjudgment on his part; the problem was that Lu Ye had acquired too many benefits inside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

Bai Qian found it hard to imagine the immense benefits Lu Ye must have gained in the pagoda to have improved his array cultivation skills so significantly in such a short period.

If Lu Ye's level in array cultivation was considered to be one before entering the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, then the level he exhibited now had reached five, which was a fivefold improvement!

With the immense rewards granted by the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, such a leap in ability shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, Lu Ye triggered the resonance of the pagoda thirty times in succession; not to say that there won't be others in the future, but he is undoubtedly unparalleled in the past.

What puzzled Bai Qian beyond comprehension was how Lu Ye, a Spirit Stream Realm cultivator, could endure it all! Even if he had consumed Soul Cleansing Water before and his psyche was more robust than that of an average Spirit Stream Realm cultivator, it shouldn't have been possible for him to persist.

Such a foundation for his psyche was stronger than even his, a True Lake Level 9 cultivator, and even if he were in the same position, he wouldn't be sure he could have held on until now.

It was quite perplexing.

It had to be said, the old man had really missed the mark.

After repeatedly consuming Soul Cleansing Water, Lu Ye's psyche was comparable to some of those in the Cloud River Realm, but it certainly did not reach the level of the True Lake Realm.

The reason he was able to hold on was that he was willing to spend what it took; every time his mind grew weary, he would consume a drop of Soul Cleansing Water, and his exhausted psyche would instantly rejuvenate.

While he couldn't match the upper limit of a True Lake Realm psyche, he was able to dispel his fatigue with the help of Soul Cleansing Water, something that no one else could replicate.

"What a pity," Yooi Xiao suddenly exclaimed softly. "If Lu Yiye were a disciple of our own sect, how wonderful that would be! With the talent he has shown in array cultivation, he could definitely lead the Tianyan Sect to glory. A 5th grade is nothing; as long as he continues to grow, even a 1st grade is within reach!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Qian knew what Yooi Xiao was regretting and shook his head, "There's nothing to pity. If he truly was a disciple of our sect, our sect wouldn't be able to withstand such turmoil."

Not to mention anything else, just the fact that this young man from the Righteous Blood Sect had visited the Tianyan Sect's headquarters once, and the headquarters had been breached by Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. If he were a disciple of our sect, then the Tianyan Sect might not be able to firmly stand in the Spirit Stream battlefield in the future.

Without access to the Spirit Stream battlefield for our disciples, their pace of cultivation would inevitably slow down significantly.

The strength of a sect has never depended on a single person.

"That makes sense. In that light, it's actually a good thing that the Righteous Blood Sect is only Ninth Grade," Yooi Xiao quickly understood the critical point.

Because they were Ninth Grade, their headquarters was on the outermost perimeter and was not an easy target. Unlike the Tianyan Sect, if several powers of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge launched a full-scale attack, they were basically able to withstand it.

So no matter how much Lu Ye stirred up trouble outside, the headquarters of the Righteous Blood Sect remained as impregnable as ever, not to mention they had a fierce bird standing guard.

Bai Qian was already messaging Zhao Li, with a simple phrase: "Alive or dead?"

Although he felt that it was unlikely for that young man to have just died like that, he couldn't help feeling a bit anxious.

Zhao Li quickly replied, "Alive, Great Elder. I want to go to the area of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda. In three more layers, Brother Yiye will emerge, and when that happens, we won't be able to keep the news of his survival a secret. There's no point in me continuing to hide."

"Then come over."

"Thank you, Great Elder."

Zhao Li replied joyfully and soon appeared in the valley where the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was located.

Seeing him materialize, some cultivators who were unaware of the true situation were taken aback since there were rumors that Zhao Li and that Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect had both been poisoned to death, and the Seal Envoy from the Righteous Blood Sect had made a huge commotion; consequently, the Tianyan Sect suffered a considerable loss of face. But now it seemed that the rumors weren't quite accurate; Zhao Li was clearly alive and well.

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If Zhao Li was fine, what about Lu Yiye? Could he also be alive?

At that moment, a number of sharp-minded cultivators sensed a whiff of conspiracy.

Zhao Li didn't concern himself with others; he merely sought out a few familiar junior brothers and sisters to ask about the situation, then found a place to sit cross-legged, while also sending out messages.

Soon, a group of people gathered around him.

Before attempting the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, Lu Ye had shared some plans with him, so if everything went smoothly, once Lu Ye returned from the pagoda, they would have to act. As the governor of the Tianyan Sect's headquarters, he needed to make arrangements early to avoid any last-minute rush.

And Zhao Li had been looking forward to this for a long time!

As he was discussing with the people around him, a humming sound suddenly filled the air, followed by an invisible force sweeping across the entire valley.

"Level 31!" gasps of amazement arose.

The array cultivators quickly sat up straight, using the resonance of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda to enlighten themselves.

Within the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, Lu Ye took a deep breath.

Although his Array Path skill had improved a lot since he first entered the pagoda, the challenge of Level 31 still posed some difficulties for him. It took him three Shichen just to pass five challenges.

He had thought that he wouldn't receive much in the way of rewards this time, but the outcome was a surprise; he actually received more than before.

This led Lu Ye to faintly suspect whether the amount of the rewards from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was related to his initial Array Path skill level when he first entered the tower.

Based on his initial Array Path skill level at the time of entry, it was absolutely impossible for him to pass the challenge of Level 31, let alone Level 20.

But since he had fought his way here, the Array Path knowledge he demonstrated far exceeded his initial level, so naturally, his rewards would not be inferior.

Verifying this was simple, he just needed to hold back a little in the next level.

In the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, passing a challenge on any level counts as a successful completion. The more times you complete it, the greater the reward will be. If Lu Ye only completes a challenge once on the next level, and the reward does not decrease, then it proves his conjecture is correct.

However, Lu Ye does not plan to do that.

Passing the various challenges in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda is a way to enhance his Array Path skill. With such an opportunity at hand, there is no need to forsake it just to confirm a guess.

Do your best, and leave no regrets.

Half a day later, he passed Level 32, absorbed the rewards granted by the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, used the Soul Cleansing Water to remove fatigue from his psyche, then opened another orifice. When the time limit arrived, he entered Level 33.

This level was the final level of the Tianyan Sect's Hundred Arrays Pagoda. After passing this level, there would be no more challenges. If he wanted to further hone his Array Path skill, he would have to wait until he advanced to Cloud River and entered the Cloud River battlefield.

Looking ahead, Lu Ye was slightly startled.

What appeared before him was a protective array covering a vast area! The scale of the array was comparable to the size of the inner circle sect headquarters. Breaking through such an array was definitely not going to be easy. In fact, this was the largest and most difficult array he had encountered in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda thus far.

Lu Ye did not know whether this was a coincidence or if being inside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda meant his thoughts could be reflected in some way.

The reason he came to the Tianyan Sect to study the Array Path was exactly to break such protective arrays. Only by breaking through the protective array could he take over the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge headquarters and plunder the enhancements from the Heaven's Augury Pillar.

This was indeed a good opportunity to get started.

With limited time, Lu Ye did a quick reconnaissance, planted array banners one after another using their power to sense the direction of the spirit force flow in the big array, thus determining the approximate locations of the array nodes. He then gradually narrowed the search to pinpoint the precise locations of the nodes.

After half a Shichen, the location of the first node was determined. Lu Ye activated the Insight Spirit Runes to confirm there was no mistake before continuing his efforts.

Having located the first node, it was not difficult to find the second. Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the second node was located, followed by the third, the fourth...

After busying himself for more than two Shichen, the positions of all sixteen nodes in the big array were confirmed.

This showed that the array was constructed from sixteen array bases. It was the same as the protective array at the Righteous Blood Sect headquarters, and it was the best array that could be purchased from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault.

However, while the arrays were the same, depending on the concentration of nature's spiritual energy at the array setup location, the power the array could exhibit varied.

Generally speaking, the richer the nature's spiritual energy, the stronger the array's power.

This array's power was undoubtedly several times stronger than the one at the Righteous Blood Sect, unrelated to the concentration of spiritual energy. This was a setup by the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, inherently so.

Lu Ye maneuvered his Flying Spirit Artifact, flying around the perimeter of the big array, placing a banner at each node's location.

After all thirty-two banners were set up, he finally stopped, reached out for a banner before him, took a deep breath, and was surging with spirit force as he poured it into the banner in his hand.

In an instant, the other thirty-one banners all levitated. Spirit light emerged on the banners, all starting to resonate and connect with each other.

As Lu Ye's spirit force continued to pour in, the invisible force generated by the resonance between the banners began to suppress the circulation of the big array's spirit force.

The spirit force of the protective array was always flowing, something Lu Ye had observed before. It was because of this that the protective array could continuously repair itself and provide protection.

To put it simply, the spirit force of the protective array was like flowing water. What Lu Ye needed to do now was to turn this flowing water into still water, completely suppressing the flow of the spirit force. Only then would he have a chance to break the array.

Otherwise, unless the array's stored power was exhausted, he would never be able to breach it under the array's self-repair.

With his spirit force rapidly depleting, Lu Ye did not know if he could break the array on his own. But as this was the last challenge, and as it was closely related to his subsequent plans, he was naturally going to give it his all.