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Amidst the five-man team, the leader known as Senior Brother Qin answered the question while studying his surroundings carefully. “I recall there was an abandoned mine in the area. Strange… Why can’t I find the entrance?”

Senior Sister Hu wondered, “Did you remember wrong?”

He resolutely refuted her words. “Impossible. Senior Brother Xie brought me here once when he still remained on the Cloud River Battlefield, and I remember the trip clearly. It’s definitely somewhere nearby.”

They all had a vague recollection of Senior Brother Xie. Senior Brother Xie was somebody who had much higher cultivation compared to them. Now that he had advanced into the Real Lake Realm, it was only natural for him to leave the Cloud River Battlefield.

While speaking, Senior Brother Qin landed on the ground with his companions behind him. He looked around in bewilderment for a moment, then he finally cast his glance in a certain direction. Taking several steps forward, he brushed away the weeds that were as tall as a man and gently pressed his palm against the rock wall before him…

A strange scene appeared. The hand he reached forward was clearly pressed against the rock wall in front of him yet seemed to be pressing against empty air at the same time. Moreover, ripples spread out across the rock wall and swallowed more than half of his palm.

“I knew it! It was right here after all!”

“Is that… a Concealment Ward?”

Likewise, Senior Sister Hu noticed the anomaly too. For somebody to prepare a Concealment Ward in such a place undoubtedly meant that something unusual was taking place in the area. Not to mention, this area was located in the vicinity of Lu Ye’s last known location.

An involuntary thought that could not be suppressed appeared in their minds at the same time. They exchanged glances with each other, and their expressions tightened with excitement. [Lu Yi Ye is inside! The Concealment Ward at the cave entrance is probably Lu Yi Ye’s handiwork!]

A wave of excitement washed over Senior Sister Hu at the thought. She whispered, “What do we do, Senior Brother Qin?”

Although they had been diligently searching for Lu Ye’s whereabouts previously, there were many other cultivators who were also scouring the area for Lu Ye’s whereabouts. For that reason, they never imagined that they could be one step faster than the others. It was just that matters regarding luck could not be predicted, and they turned out to be the first to discover Lu Ye’s whereabouts.

Even if they had yet to encounter Lu Ye himself, anybody could tell that something was amiss when a Concealment Ward abruptly appeared at the obscure entrance of the mines.

Lu Ye was severely wounded at the moment, so he urgently needed a hidden and secure location to recuperate from his injuries. It would seem that he had somehow managed to find the mine and concealed himself inside. He also placed a Concealment Ward to hide the entrance of the mine from view.

If not for the fact that Senior Brother Qin had been here before and retained a vague impression of the mine’s location, it would have been impossible for them to find this place.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Senior Brother Qin composed his emotions and beckoned toward his companions. “Let’s go!”

While speaking, he took the lead and stepped forward into the rock wall before him. Ripples spread across the wall, and his entire figure vanished from sight. Senior Sister Hu was right on his heels, and the other three companions in their group hastily followed their lead.

Upon entering the mining tunnel, the light inside immediately became dim. Then, they cautiously moved forward under the leadership of Senior Brother Qin. They had walked no more than a hundred meters when Gui Yingzi, who was trailing at the back of the group, suddenly felt a sense of alarm blaring in his heart. His heart simultaneously began racing in terror as though there was an immense crisis waiting for them ahead. Thus, he hastily shouted, “Senior Brother Qin!”

His voice was not loud. Nevertheless, it rang out conspicuously in the quiet environment. His companions had been acting carefully in the first place, barely even daring to breathe too loudly. Hence, they involuntarily jumped in fright at the sound of his warning shout.

Senior Brother Qin was just about to turn around when he abruptly noticed the glimmer of flames out of the corner of his eyes. It was immediately followed by a violent fluctuation of Spiritual Power that came sweeping from the front.

“Get back!” He yelled urgently, hastily making a retreat at the same time. Even so, he was sent flying backwards by the wave of impact that came surging toward him. The people behind him were also thrown off their feet by the force.

“Cough… Cough… Cough…” Amidst the settling dust, they slowly climbed to their feet with stars dancing in their vision and a loud humming sound ringing in their ears. It took some time before they finally recovered from the shock.

“Senior Brother Qin, are you alright?!” Senior Sister Hu asked anxiously.

“Cough… Cough… I’m fine.” Clutching at his chest with bloodied palms, Senior Brother Qin was secretly glad that Gui Yingzi had shouted a warning to him just now. He would be dead by now if not for the warning. After all, it was precisely because of Gui Yingzi’s warning that he reflexively stopped moving for a moment. His actions had in turn allowed him to avoid the catastrophe. Although he was injured at the moment, his wounds were not considered very severe. 𝐑

“It’s an Explosive Ward!” He immediately made his decision on the spot. “We need to leave quickly!”

It could now be confirmed that Lu Ye was hiding inside the mine! Whether it was the Concealment Ward at the entrance or the Explosive Ward inside the mining tunnel, these were definitely his handiwork! Unfortunately, there was bound to be a second following a first when it came to Explosive Wards…

Senior Brother Qin no longer dared to act recklessly after experiencing the incident just now, so the group hastily withdrew from the mining tunnel in distress. To their surprise, several figures landed in front of them as soon as they stepped out of the mine. Countless streams of lights also rushed over from various directions in the distance.

The activation of the Explosive Ward earlier had caused a huge commotion, which attracted the attention of many Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators searching for Lu Ye’s whereabouts in the vicinity. Hence, it only took a short time for more than twenty people to gather at the entrance…

Senior Brother Qin heaved a heavy sigh of regret. As the first ones to discover Lu Ye’s whereabouts, they originally had the opportunity to monopolize the situation. However, they were forced to make a retreat because Explosive Wards had been constructed along the narrow mining tunnel. It could be conceived that this information would soon spread to the masses, then more and more cultivators would gradually congregate in the area.

Several people came forward and spoke to Senior Brother Qin to inquire about the situation earlier. Although he was reluctant to reveal the truth, he knew that he could not keep the incident a secret. In the end, he had no choice but to share his speculations and the information he obtained up until now.

A short while later, the news that Lu Ye was hiding within a mining tunnel located on the outer edges of the Grand Wilds Peak spread to the public like the flames of a wildfire. Then, an innumerable number of cultivators began to converge in the area as a result.

The cultivation of the cultivators who arrived at the beginning was not very high. Most of them were in the Sixth Order Realm and below. Nevertheless, Seventh Order Realm Masters and Eighth Order Realm Masters gradually appeared with the passage of time. The first Ninth Order Realm Master finally appeared in front of the mine approximately half a day later.

The arrival of Song Zhui and his companions could not be considered late. Not only did they rush here as soon as they received the news, but they also traveled without regard for the consumption of their Spiritual Power. Nevertheless, they were greeted by the sight of countless cultivators spread out densely across the surrounding areas when they arrived. At least eight hundred cultivators were gathered here, and their numbers continued to increase with time.

What puzzled Song Zhui was that the cultivators seemed to be waiting around without taking any visible action even though so many of them had gathered in one place. Moreover, there was a faint smell of blood lingering in the air as though there had been casualties previously. Seeing several familiar faces, he immediately flew toward one of them. He landed in front of that person and clasped his fists in greeting. “Brother Zizai.”

That person was none other than Ning Zizai, who previously bumped into Song Zhui when they were in the depths of the Grand Wilds Peak.

“Brother Song, you came too.” Ning Zizai returned the greeting.

“What’s going on?” Song Zhui questioned.

Ning Zizai replied, “We have confirmed that Lu Yi Ye is hiding inside, but we currently lack the means to attack him.”

“Why?” Song Zhui was puzzled. It was confirmed that Lu Ye was hiding inside the mine. With so many Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators gathered here, Lu Ye was bound to die even if they did nothing more than recklessly charge forward without a plan.

“There is a winding mining tunnel that stretches out for several kilometers and eventually connects to a hollowed-out cavern. Unfortunately, Lu Yi Ye has placed large numbers of Explosive Wards along the mining tunnel. Several cultivators have attempted to force their way inside, but they either suffered death or grievous injuries. Even that person over there… failed.” After saying that, Ning Zizai gestured in a certain direction.

Song Zhui turned to look in that direction only to see a man sitting cross-legged on the ground.

The man had a very tall and strong physique. Even though he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, he was only one head shorter compared to the other cultivators surrounding him. One could only imagine how tall and large he would be if he were standing. With his physique and constitution, there was no doubt that he was a Body-tempering Cultivator. In fact, it was extremely obvious to see that he was a powerful Body-tempering Cultivator. Be that as it may, he was completely drenched in blood at this moment. His complexion was also very pale. It was apparent to see that he was heavily injured.

“Wei Zhong!” Song Zhui’s eyes narrowed at the sight. Despite being a cultivator from a First Tier Sect like the Rainbow Temple, he did not dare to underestimate the strength of the cultivator known as Wei Zhong. He had a general understanding of the other party’s might. It was for that reason he did not have the confidence that he could obtain absolute victory over his opponent in a one-on-one fight.

Furthermore, Wei Zhong was a Body-tempering Cultivator. His physique was unimaginably tough. Despite the toughness of his physique, he was in such a miserable state after forcing his way into the mining tunnel. The others must have suffered worse consequences in comparison.

“The narrow space inside the mining tunnel undoubtedly increases the power of the Explosive Ward. Otherwise, a Ninth Order Realm Master would not have been wounded so badly.”

Many people had attempted to enter the mining tunnel, but every attempt had ended with grievous casualties. It was not until the Body-tempering Cultivator known as Wei Zhong was forced to retreat that nobody dared to make another reckless attempt. That was why all the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were simply waiting around at the moment.

“Waiting around like this is not a feasible solution either.” Song Zhui scowled deeply. “Is there no Golem Master present? The Golem Masters can summon their Golems to explore the path and activate the Wards to clear the obstacles in our way.”

“We’ve tried, but that method is useless.” Ning Zizai shook his head. “The Wards that Lu Yi Ye prepared are manually controlled and not triggered automatically.”

If that were the case, then the Golems summoned by the Golem Masters would not be very useful. There was even a possibility of giving the cultivators the wrong impression instead. For example, the cultivators might mistakenly believe that the path explored by the Golems was safe only for the Explosive Wards to be activated without any warning when they stepped foot into the mining tunnel. In such cases, they were bound to suffer terrible casualties.

At the moment, the situation was at an awkward stalemate. Lu Ye was not only severely wounded, but also cornered inside the mining tunnel by countless Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators. Be that as it may, nobody dared to venture deep into the mining tunnel due to the various Wards that he prepared beforehand. As a consequence, both parties were stuck in the current deadlock.

Although there was no need to worry about Lu Ye escaping from this place, allowing the situation to drag out at length was not a feasible solution. The longer they delayed their attack, the more the other party would recover from his wounds. If they waited until he recovered, then killing him would become an increasingly difficult task.

Seeming to guess Song Zhui’s thoughts, Ning Zizai helpfully added, “Calm down, Brother Song. Somebody is already on his way here.”

“Who is it?”

“Brother Song, have you ever heard of the name ‘Si Nan’?”

Song Zhui raised his eyebrows at the question. “Si Nan of the Cloud Gem Clan?”

Ning Zizai chuckled lightly. “Looks like you’ve heard of him too, Brother Song.”

Song Zhui nodded. “I’ve long heard that the Cloud Gem Clan produced an extraordinary genius among the current generation, but I’ve not had the chance to meet him so far. I’m glad to hear he is in the vicinity. If he comes here, then he might be able to compete with Lu Yi Ye in terms of the Way of Wards.”

The Cloud Gem Clan was a Fourth Tier Sect. Although a Fourth Tier Sect was only one Tier away from a Third Tier Sect, there was a world of difference between them. A Third Tier Sect generally had a Divine Ocean Realm Master overseeing the Sect, but a Fourth Tier Sect did not. freewebnøvel.com

The structure of Jiu Zhou’s cultivation world and the method of recruiting disciples would often result in a unique phenomenon where the strong would only become stronger. The more powerful the Sect, the higher the aptitude of the disciples recruited by them. Therefore, it was not a simple matter for any Sect to ascend in terms of their respective Tiers.

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