Sage of Humanity

On the stage, Zih An rapidly retreated, but still sustained a wound across his chest and abdomen. Opposite him, Lu Ye closed in for another strike with his saber.

Zih An rolled away like a ground gourd, narrowly avoiding the attack. When he got up, his body was covered with mud dyed red with fresh blood, an extremely sorry sight.

Barely stabilizing his stance, a gust of wind struck from behind. He threw himself forward like a rabid dog, feeling a chill on the top of his head as a large patch of his scalp was sheared off.

Struggling to fall to the ground, Zih An knew he was doomed this time.

He truly couldn't understand; the opponent's Spiritual Artifact was broken, yet it didn't affect its power. His own Spiritual Artifact, once broken, was as good as a decoration in hand...

He couldn't dodge the next strike no matter what, but the pride of hailing from a 2nd grade sect bit back his cry for those two words.

He didn't cry out, but someone did it for him: "I concede!"

It was one of Zih An's Senior Sisters from the Haotian Alliance who, seeing that the situation was dire, knew that if she didn't shout out, her fellow disciple would be dead. Even if she was unwilling and knew that after this shout, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would have no more chances, she couldn't watch her fellow disciple die like this.

Lu Ye, who was in pursuit, halted his advance, looking at Zih An as he struggled to his feet.

Deafening cheers erupted from the Haotian Alliance camp. The clamor and laughter of thousands converged, making the entire Golden Light Peak tremble.

Dizzy and confused, Lu Ye walked back with his broken saber in hand, looking at Li Baxian and Weh Ying, "Is it over?"

The Haotian Alliance's side was jubilant, like they were celebrating the New Year, so his confusion was understandable.

Li Baxian chuckled, "Not yet."

Lu Ye then sat down cross-legged, threw an elixir pill into his mouth, and switched his Cultivation Technique to the Bestial Gluttony Feast to accelerate the refinement of the pill energy.

What's there to be happy about if it's not over yet!

"There's one last match!" Li Baxian's voice came from behind Lu Ye, "See that guy over there with the Raging Flames mark on his brow? He's from the Sacred Fire Order, your only opponent left. But don't worry, everyone from the Sacred Fire Order are magic cultivators!"

In a wild encounter outside, a Level 6 magic cultivator would pose some threat to Lu Ye, but in this limited arena of the stage, the threat to Lu Ye from magic cultivators was greatly diminished.

Li Baxian was extremely relieved that when he made the Heaven's Augury Pact with Ten Thousand Demons Ridge before, they had agreed on the size of the stage.

The magic cultivators sent out by Ten Thousand Demons Ridge before were the ones who died the quickest; with Lu Ye's speed, he could reach them in a few steps. Those magic cultivators often only managed to cast one or two spells, and the more powerful ones could cast three or even four. But Lu Ye had Defense Spirit Runes; and as long as he had sufficient reflexes, he could easily block those spells.

Once he got close, those magic cultivators could only wait to die or concede.

Lu Ye glanced towards Ten Thousand Demons Ridge and indeed saw a Level 6 magic cultivator with the Raging Flames mark on his forehead, standing there and waiting.

It looked like this was his last opponent.

He did not take this lightly, silently checking his own condition. His spirit force was not much left, just over ten percent. Even with one incense stick's time to recover, he could barely get back to twenty percent. Conserving it, this should be enough to cope with the last battle.

"Senior Brother, can we go home after I finish?" Lu Ye quietly asked.

"When it's over, we'll go home!" Li Baxian replied.

"Understood!" Lu Ye lowered his head to recover his strength as much as possible.

The Haotian Alliance side remained jubilant. After Hu Ping and Zih An, both disciples from 2nd-3rd grade sects, were either killed or conceded, the remaining cultivator from the Sacred Fire Order simply could not be Lu Ye's opponent. In the eyes of the Haotian Alliance, Lu Ye had effectively secured the victory beforehand.

In contrast, the atmosphere on Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's side was gloomy, with everyone wearing an unsightly expression.

No wonder they were like this. Throughout these two days of rotational battles, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge had already enjoyed far too many advantages. Besides the first round when a Level 5 physique cultivator went up to test the waters, the rest were all Level 6.

Yet in just two days, this Righteous Blood Sect's Lu Ye had cut through their ranks, leaving only the last remaining member of the Sacred Fire Order, destined to achieve nothing.

It could be said that in this contest between the two big camps, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was utterly defeated. The deaths of those people were actually secondary; competing with the Haotian Alliance was sure to result in casualties. The main issue was that they couldn't explain it to their sects backing them.

Almost all of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators present could imagine the uproar and rage that would follow when the news got back to their sects.

Several powerful figures on the Spirit Stream Ranking from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge now approached the Sacred Fire Order cultivator who was about to fight, quietly asking him something. The Sacred Fire Order cultivator slowly shook his head, making the moods of the inquirers turn even more somber.

An incense stick's time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

Atop Golden Light Peak, Lu Ye stood up for the last time, saber in hand, and walked towards the stage step by step, silently observing the cultivator from the Sacred Fire Order.

The other party stood in front of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge's camp, with his head down and not making any move.

This situation elicited a constant stream of jeers from the people of the Haotian Alliance, some loudly urging Lu Ye to go up and kill him, others telling the Sacred Fire Order person to quickly admit defeat and go home to farm sweet potatoes...

Undaunted in defeat, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, with their more hot-tempered members, began trading insults with the Haotian Alliance, making the scene chaotic.

If not for the constraints of the previously signed Heaven's Augury Pact, the two sides might have engaged in an all-out melee to decide the winner.

Just when Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was growing increasingly impatient, finally, someone slowly made his way onto the stage.

The clamor suddenly died down, and thousands of eyes fixated on the cultivator ascending the platform, yet the person was not the disciple from the Sacred Fire Order originally prepared to fight, but another female cultivator!

Li Baxian's gaze immediately sharpened as he demanded, "What does Ten Thousand Demons Ridge mean by this?"

Without questioning, one could tell this female cultivator, although also a member of the Sacred Fire Order, was not a Level 6 cultivator simply by observing the spirit light on her body.

She was a Level 7 cultivator!

Several strong contenders from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge on the Spirit Stream Ranking were clearly not expecting such a development. The terms of the Heaven's Augury Pact had already stipulated that the highest cultivation level for those accepting the challenge was Level 6, so a Level 7 cultivator stepping forward undoubtedly broke the rules.

Overtly challenging the Heaven's Augury Pact was an audacious act; once Heaven's Augury began to mete out punishment, all the strong fighters who had left their blood fingerprints on the Heaven's Augury Pact and the sects behind them would have to collectively attack the Sacred Fire Order, regardless of whether Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was willing or not.

Ever since the creation of the Spirit Stream battlefield, no one had dared to defy the justice of Heaven's Augury.

Even if the people from the Sacred Fire Order had lost their minds, they should not have committed such an unwise act, as it was tantamount to joking with the fate of their entire sect.

Although Li Baxian's gaze was fierce and his tone frosty, he actually felt a secret sense of joy, because if the Sacred Fire Order really played such a game, it would be advantageous for his side.

He muttered to himself, wondering if these folks had indeed had their wits burned out by their own sacred fire.

The strong fighters from the Haotian Alliance had the same thought, which was why they remained seated quietly here without moving. They would have stopped her the moment the Level 7 female cultivator took the stage.

"What are you trying to do!" On the side of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, a top twenty strong fighter glared at the manager from the Sacred Fire Order and demanded fiercely through clenched teeth.

Even if the Level 6 magic cultivator was no match, they absolutely could not break the Heaven's Augury Pact, or else the consequences would be unimaginable.

Just as his words fell, thunder seemed to rumble in the sky, and dense clouds appeared out of nowhere, gathering above the Golden Light Peak and obscuring the sunlight.

Heaven's Augury had begun to churn…

Everyone from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was shocked, while the cultivators near the Sacred Fire Order scattered in all directions, vacating a large area around the Sacred Fire Order people in an instant.

A sense of impending death pressed down, and the group from the Sacred Fire Order appeared calm and collected. Regardless, such courage to face Heaven's Augury directly did win them some admiration, but it did not change the impending fate that they were about to die.

"Mighty sacred fire, burn my body; as long as the heart's fire endures, even in death I shall not fear!"

The Sacred Fire Order manager with the highest cultivation was bowing his head, softly chanting these words.

On the platform above, the Level 7 female cultivator also bowed her head, chanting the same words, "Mighty sacred fire, burn my body; as long as the heart's fire endures, even in death I shall not fear!"

While she was chanting, she lifted her right thumb and pressed it below a spot on her chest, pushing down fiercely.

"This is..." Li Baxian suddenly realized something, his expression changing slightly.

Thump... A muted pop sounded, akin to a balloon being punctured, followed by that sound, the female cultivator's figure staggered slightly as violent air waves emanated from her center, sweeping out in all directions.

The female cultivator let out a muffled grunt as a flash of pain crossed her eyes; at the same time, her aura weakened drastically.

"Self-destructing her spiritual orifice!" Li Baxian clenched his teeth and exclaimed softly.

All who saw the female cultivator's actions, whether from the Haotian Alliance or Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, were visibly shocked.

Self-destructing one's spiritual orifice was easy to say but hard to do. Once a spiritual orifice was destroyed, it was bound to mean a hopeless future, stuck at the Spirit Stream Realm level forever. Just looking at Li Baxian, one could see how outstanding he was, a figure even the sword master of Beixuan Sword Sect admired.

But with his orifice damaged, he had already been stagnant in the Spirit Stream Realm for over a decade, and his cultivation had also stalled at Level 8 because a damaged orifice made it difficult to form a complete Minor Circumambulation system, preventing the advance to Level 9.

Of course, a damaged spiritual orifice could be repaired, but the cost was tremendous, and few were willing to try.

Right then, in full view of thousands of cultivators from both camps, the female cultivator from the Sacred Fire Order, without changing her expression, disabled one of her spiritual orifices. The act was as casual as plucking a single hair out...

The decisive nature of her self-cruelty made the skin of thousands of cultivators crawl; the fanatics of the Sacred Fire Order were indeed capable of such an act.

After a brief moment of shock, everyone raised their heads to look at the crisis brewing in the sky.

As soon as the female cultivator stood on the platform, Heaven's Augury started to surge rapidly, seemingly on the verge of delivering punishment, with the lightning and thunder within the heavy clouds causing unease and trepidation.

However, as the female cultivator destroyed one of her spiritual orifices and her cultivation fell to Level 6, the dark clouds hovering over Golden Light Peak rapidly dispersed, and the churning Heaven's Augury also vanished without a trace.

Sunshine poured down, and the sky was clear and blue.

The side of Ten Thousand Demons Ridge was all smiles.