What was Lu Ye trying to do?
No one knew.
But in the blink of an eyeâthe entire Great Wilderness knew.
Yin-Yang Holy Land.
This place was blessed with clear mountains and flowing waters, picturesque and serene. Two opposing peaks stood tall, one pure white, as if formed from piled-up white jade, the other pitch black, dark as ink and coal.
Two twin lakes rested beneath, resembling the eyes of the Taiji symbol.
The entire sacred land was saturated with profound Dao charm.
Lu Ye arrived.
Same principle as alwaysâif you didnât make a big enough scene, how would anyone know that Lu Ye had left the Grand Dao Sect?
He would take full responsibility for his actions. If the other sects wanted revenge for their fallenâcome find him.
A few gatekeeping disciples noticed Lu Ye floating in midair above the sectâs entrance.
But their strength wasnât high, so they had no idea who he was.
"What do you think youâre doing? You think you can just fly above the Yin-Yang Law Sectâs gates? Get down here immediately and state your businessâor donât blame us for capturing you!"
Even gatekeeping disciples of the Yin-Yang Law Sect had enough backbone to speak sternly to a strong cultivator.
Just like when Master Li Jian had pursued Chu Lingâeven though he was at the Core Shattering stage, he still had to behave when facing a Grand Dao Sect disciple at the Nascent Soul level.
Unfortunately, Lu Ye was no Master Li Jian.
His hands formed a seal. In an instant, the earth trembled and mountains shook. A colossal peak materialized, forged from overwhelming magic power.
Its vast shadow began to envelop the entire Yin-Yang Law Sect.
The two gatekeepers: ???
Boom!
The enormous mountain came crashing down toward the sectâs gates.
The Yin-Yang Law Sectâs protective grand formation automatically activated. Huge boulders shattered upon impact, sending smoke and dust billowing into the sky.
Woooooo...
The deep blare of the Yin-Yang war horn echoed through the mountains.
One by one, powerful auras began to surge from within the sect.
"How dare you attack our Yin-Yang Law Sect! Youâve got a death wish!"
Lu Ye summoned another mountain with a flick of his fingers. The insult mattered far more than the damage.
The boulders werenât all that lethalâbut a giant mountain smashing down from the heavens, stirring up a storm of dust and debris, had turned the once-beautiful sacred land into a complete wasteland.
Even if the grand formation inside remained intact.
The people inside had been roused. Lu Ye pulled out his stone swordâand with one furious strike, brought it down.
In a flash, the swordâs light slammed into the grand formation.
The formation trembled lightly before completely dispersing the sword qi.
A Dao Integration cultivator flew out immediately and finally saw Lu Yeâs face.
"Lu Ye!"
His expression twisted. The moment he recognized Lu Ye, he turned and bolted back inside.
Too fastâLu Ye had planned to kill him with a single sword strike, but the guy ran back faster than Lu Ye could even swing.
So it was true that people could unleash unprecedented strength at the edge of life and death.
"Lu Ye is here!"
A thunderous shout.
The entire Yin-Yang Law Sect exploded into chaos. Even the ancestral elders were startled awake. Tribulation Stage cultivators and Loose Deities swarmed out en masse.
"Lu Ye! You dare show your face at our Yin-Yang Law Sect?! Youâre courting death!"
Anyone with a brain knew that Lu Ye had shown up for [N O V E L I G H T] a reason. There was no way he was actually here just to get himself killed.
But Lu Ye didnât say a word. Fist and sword flew out again and again, making the protective formation tremble violently.
He watched the furious Loose Deities of the Yin-Yang Law Sect charge outâthen sneered in disdain.
Then, without hesitation, he turned and bolted.
Windâs upâtime to scram!
"Careful, it could be a trap! If itâs notâkill him without mercy!"
The Yin-Yang Law Sectâs sect master, Daoist Wuji, shouted furiously.
Lu Ye ran like the wind, using a movement technique called Floating Feather Flight. His body became like a feather, drifting with the wind, erratic and elusive.
But his pursuers were still Loose Deitiesâno matter how he flew, the gap was gradually closing.
Lu Yeâs figure suddenly dropped.
He dove into the ground, and in an instant, his aura completely vanished.
The two Loose Deities halted, carefully scanning the surroundings.
"This way!"
The aura was faint, but it had still been detected.
They continued the pursuitâonly for the aura to abruptly split into nine strands, fleeing in nine different directions.
The two Loose Deities roared in fury, unleashing Yin-Yang divine light toward two of the fleeing traces. The earth trembled violently, enormous craters blasted into the ground.
But inside the cratersânothing.
The remaining seven auras darted away at incredible speed, and within the blink of an eye, theyâd pulled far out of reach.
The two were left dumbfounded. Which one should they chase?
After the seven auras had run a great distance, six of them suddenly vanished at the same time.
"This way!"
The Loose Deities snapped to attention and gave chase again.
Clearly, this kind of aura could only be sustained for a short period of time.
Lu Ye had too many ways to escape. In the cultivation world, the stronger a person was, the more escape techniques they possessed.
Mainly because those with too few escape methods... generally didnât live long enough to need them.
Someone in the cultivation world once joked: âAny emperor can be called the Great Escaping Emperor.â
That was the truth of it.
Even a peerless emperor walking the path of invincibilityâunmatched among their peers, capable of crossing realms in battleâif they came up against someone two or three realms stronger?
No matter how invincible they were, they could still be smacked to death with one slap.
Lu Ye could absolutely shake off these two Loose Deitiesâbut then how would he stir up public uproar?
"Which direction is he running in?"
Chasing and chasing, the two Yin-Yang Law Sect Loose Deities suddenly realizedâthey were near the imperial capital of the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty.
Lu Ye had rushed into the capital. In that moment, he vanished into the sea of people like a raindrop returning to the ocean. His aura disappeared completelyânot a shred left behind.
The two Yin-Yang Law Sect Loose Deitiesâ arrival immediately triggered high alert in the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty. Several of the dynastyâs own Loose Deities awakened and flew out to intercept them.
"Fellow Daoists of the Yin-Yang Law Sect, for what reason have you come to Jiuli City?" one of the Jiuli elders asked coldly.
"Lu Ye ran into your Jiuli City," said the Yin-Yang Law Sect patriarch, Gu Chengzi.
"...What?"
The Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty ancestorâs voice instantly shot up an octave.
At the same moment, a terrifying sword light erupted into the sky.
A monstrous sword will surged upward, so intense it turned the very sky a different color. The massive sword towered higher than the surrounding mountains and pierced through the clouds.
With a single, explosive strike, it slammed down toward the Jiuli Heavenly Dynastyâs imperial palace.
The palaceâs protective grand formation rose at once, and simultaneously, the cityâs external formation activated as well.
Boom!
The earth quaked, mountains swayed.
Countless buildings in Jiuli City collapsed instantly. A flood of terrified screams echoed as citizens scattered and fled in panic.
A large number of powerhouses from the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty rushed outâfour Loose Deities among them.
No jokeâif Lu Ye started a massacre inside Jiuli City, the entire dynasty could collapse.
Tension ran high throughout the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty.
"Itâs fine. His sword strike didnât breach the inner formation. Now that both the inner and outer layers of the Jiuli Grand Array are fully activated, he wonât be able to escape. As long as we search thoroughly, weâll find him!" one of Jiuliâs Loose Deities shouted.
It was trueâthe Jiuli Grand Arrayâs outer layer guarded the city, both defensive and offensive, while the inner layer protected the imperial palace and was utterly impregnable.
Thousands of soldiers flooded through the city, scouring every possible hiding spot and inspecting citizens one by one.
At that moment, Lu Ye had already slipped into the inner formation.
Letâs talk about himselfâafter becoming a Heavenly Venerable for so many years, heâd nearly forgotten what he was best at.
Sure, chopping through someone elseâs grand array was great for public humiliation. But then what? People could just wash the dust off their pride and pretend nothing happened.
But what if you stole their treasury?
You couldnât just toss in some junk and pretend the treasure hadnât gone missing.
Lu Yeâs real target for entering Jiuli Cityâ
Was the royal treasure vault of the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty.