Sage of Humanity-Chapter 1782 - 1780: Core World
Almost at the same moment Lu Ye had some expectations, the meteor formed from the core accelerated and chased after him.
Lu Ye felt helpless, the core gave him the impression of being unyielding and indifferent, and it did not respond to his audio transmission in the slightest.
The chase continued, and Lu Ye sadly realized that his speed was not as fast as the core. If this continued, he would eventually be caught, and judging by the power the core had displayed earlier, once he got within a certain distance, he would be directly swallowed into the inner world.
Lu Ye dared not take this risk.
After a brief consideration, he raised one hand, and a drop of treasure blood oozed from his fingertip. With a flick, the treasure blood flew in a certain direction.
He planned to use the Treasure Blood Avatar and Void Spirit Runes to escape the core's pursuit, a technique he had used many times before to escape from formidable enemies.
However, unlike before when he mostly relied on weapon control, using the Treasure Blood Avatar now was undoubtedly more convenient.
Yet he never expected that this action would trigger an even greater change.
As the treasure blood was flicked out, the originally unremarkable core, resembling a common meteorite, suddenly emitted a bright red glow, instantly transforming into a Blood Stone.
If it was just this, it would have been fine, but the key was that after transforming into a Blood Stone, the core emanated a mysterious pressure.
This mysterious pressure wasn't tangible, but felt incredibly familiar to him!
Lu Ye couldn't help but show a look of shock.
Simultaneously, the core, which was already not slow, suddenly surged in speed, closing the distance with Lu Ye in the blink of an eye.
The terrifying devouring force swept across all directions.
Within about 30 miles radius, all dust, meteorites, along with Lu Ye and the treasure blood he flicked away not far, vanished completely in an instant!
The Void returned to tranquility!
The bloody glow slowly faded, the core reverted to its original form, and even if a cultivator passed nearby, they wouldn't see anything unusual about it.
In a daze, Lu Ye felt himself continuously falling into a Bottomless Abyss, endlessly.
The process wasn't pleasant, but he didn't panic, because if his thoughts were correct, he wasn't in too much danger; he had just been swallowed by the core.
In other words, he would probably appear in the core's inner world later!
During this fall, various thoughts surged in his mind, and combining them with his earlier experiences, he suddenly realized many things.
He activated his Mana and reinforced himself with Defense Spirit Runes, protecting his body.
After some time, the previously dark vision suddenly turned crimson, followed by a world's aura enveloping him.
But before Lu Ye could react, he felt a pain in his back and crashed heavily to the ground, creating a large pit.
Fortunately, his physique was strong; this crash didn't cause him any substantial harm.
Dust rose all around, and Lu Ye didn't hurry to get up, instead, he fixed his gaze on the overcast sky.
Being alive meant his previous guess was correct; after being swallowed by the core, he wasn't in danger, just falling into the core's inner world.
His mind was clearer than ever, finally figuring out many previously confusing points.
Earlier, Su Yuqing told him that the core of Mount Fangcun seemed to intentionally avoid the Dwarf Race's Moon Jade, which puzzled him because, logically, if the core of Mount Fangcun truly had spiritual intelligence, it should be close to the Dwarf Race, even if not close, it shouldn't deliberately avoid them.
Now he understood, this intentional avoidance was the core of Mount Fangcun protecting the Dwarf Race, as it didn't want the Dwarf Race to have any contact with his current self.
The root of everything lay in the core's change.
This core... has the aura of the Blood Race!
And it's the aura of an extremely noble Blood Race.
Blood Ancestor!
Mount Fangcun split because the Blood Ancestor coveted this stellar space supreme treasure, so many years ago, he led the Blood Race to attack Mount Fangcun. Lu Ye didn't know the final result of that battle, but judging from the current situation, although the Blood Ancestor shattered Mount Fangcun, he didn't achieve what he desired.
Despite this, the core of Mount Fangcun was tainted by the Sacred Blood of the Blood Ancestor.
This was evident from the moment when the core transformed into a Blood Stone during its pursuit of him, releasing an unmistakable pressure that was incredibly familiar to Lu Ye.
That was the saintliness unique to the Blood Race! Others couldn't sense it, but Lu Ye could detect it, as he had refined much Sacred Blood and possessed a deep saintliness himself.
No matter what kind of Blood Race he encountered before, even if their cultivation was higher than his, in terms of saintliness, they couldn't compare to him.
Take Ma Shangsi, for example, a Peak Moon Jade's saintliness was no match for even a fraction of Lu Ye's, and a drop of treasure blood could make him a Blood Servant!
Yet just now, when the core was a Blood Stone, the saintliness that emanated was beyond Lu Ye's reach; if he were truly part of the Blood Race, under the saintliness, he wouldn't have the strength to move a finger.
His saintliness came entirely from refining countless Sacred Blood through the Talent Tree; is there any Blood Race in this world that can compare to him in saintliness?
Only the source of the Blood Race, the deceased Blood Ancestor, could surpass him in this field!
Mount Fangcun has split, its core tainted by the Blood Ancestor's Sacred Blood, which makes sense, but the core's spiritual intelligence is clearly still present, so the Moon Jade of the Dwarf Race coming here won't discover anything.
The core also fears the Dwarf Race might take it away; if so, once the three parts of Mount Fangcun merge, the entire Dwarf Race would be implicated.
Lu Ye finally understood why there was a distant echo between him and the core, and why the core was actively seeking him.
Because he had the Blood Race's inheritance, only the core tainted by the Blood Ancestor's Sacred Blood could sense his existence.
The core was split by the Blood Ancestor; it should deeply resent the Blood Race, which is why it relentlessly pursued him upon sensing his existence!
The core obviously mistook him for the Blood Race, and as for Lu Ye's numerous audio transmissions before, the core would certainly not believe them under its preconceived judgment.
After figuring this out, Lu Ye immediately realized that the Dwarf Race's plan to retrieve the core and reunite the three split parts would be difficult to achieve.
To accomplish this, he must first find a way to leave this world, and secondly, solve the issue of the Blood Ancestor's Sacred Blood eroding Mount Fangcun.
As for the latter, he might be able to try with the power of the Talent Tree.
So the only problem before him was - how to leave this world.
This matter shouldn't be easy; Lu Ye estimated that throughout the ages, those who unintentionally fell into the Core World were definitely not just him alone, yet there's never been any information leaked out about this place, likely because everyone was trapped here.
He stared fixedly at the sky, shrouded in gloom; crucially, the thick gloom was crimson rather than the pitch-black he was familiar with.
He could even sense the faint presence of the Blood Race from those crimson clouds...
Suddenly, several auras rapidly approached, each seemingly quite formidable.
Sure enough, there were quite a few trapped cultivators within the Core World!
The commotion from his fall from the sky must have startled nearby cultivators to come and investigate.
These cultivators stopped only about 30 miles away from him, without any intention of getting closer—not out of fear of him, but because they were wary of each other.
One by one, Mental Consciousness probed over, investigating his situation.
Shortly thereafter, a robust voice sounded: "Not dead, still alive, probably stunned from the fall."
Another somewhat elderly voice immediately followed: "This child... the old man will take him."
The robust voice promptly sounded again, clearly displeased: "Wang Taisheng, have some shame. Clearly, this place is closest to my cave residence, so why should you take him?"
The elderly voice replied: "Just because the old man is of the human race, and he is human too!"
The robust voice snickered: "Human race? Here, there's only one race. Do you dare say you're of the human race? Go outside and see which human would acknowledge you!"
The elderly voice fell silent for a moment.
The robust voice spoke again: "Let's follow the previous rules; he fell near my cave residence, so he's mine!"
"Following the rules is fine..." a soft and pleasant voice chimed in, probably a woman's, "Our sister's cave residence is also quite close here. Shouldn't it count as ours too?"
The robust voice angered: "You already got one last time, and now you want more? Should we just give all who fall around here to you in the future?"
The soft voice giggled: "If Fellow Daoist is willing, our sisters would be most grateful."
"You're dreaming!"
The elderly voice spoke again: "You two, since he is human, please give him to the old man; the old man would be most grateful!"
The robust voice cursed: "Enough with the human race! You're really after the resources he brought in—are you even interested in him as a person?"
The three parties argued endlessly and noisily.
"Shut up already!"
A slightly displeased voice came from the center of the three parties, causing the arguing cultivators to turn their heads, only to see a young figure slowly stand up from the pit, brushing off the dust.
However, his gaze didn't turn towards them but remained fixed on the sky.
Seeing this, the cultivators understood what Lu Ye was thinking, because when they ended up here, they all had the same thought initially.
The owner of the robust voice crossed his arms, ready to watch the spectacle.
The owner of the elderly voice frowned slightly, tempted to offer some advice, but knowing that without experiencing certain setbacks, there would be no consensus.
Under the gaze of the cultivators, Lu Ye indeed soared into the sky.
"He's Moon Jade Mid-Stage!" The robust voice sounded, assessing Lu Ye's cultivation, his face showing delight, thinking a Moon Jade Mid-Stage's resources wouldn't be scarce.
In their vision, Lu Ye's figure disappeared into the crimson haze.
Soon, from the depths of the haze, came the sound of mana surging.
