Sage of Humanity-Chapter 722 - 720: The Retreat of the Blood Race
While controlling the big array to assist Soaring Dragon cultivators in killing the enemy, Lu Ye was also observing the Blood Race.
Just like the Soaring Dragon cultivators, this was his first encounter with this peculiar race, so naturally, he took the opportunity to observe them closely. After all, they were invaders, and it was inevitable that conflicts would arise in the future. Knowing the enemy as well as oneself was the only way to be ever-victorious.
The physical stature of the Blood Race was generally taller and more slender than that of humans, with the most noticeable characteristic being their exposed skin shining with a bloody luster, as well as a pair of pointed ears.
Their blood Qi had an extremely strong corrosive nature, which probably wasn't due to cultivation techniques, as every member of the Blood Race had this trait.
It was likely an innate ability of their race.
And such an ability, undoubtedly, posed a great challenge for cultivators.
Lu Ye personally witnessed cultivators whose protective spirit force was corroded and destroyed, and then they were killed. He also saw many cultivators' Spiritual Artifacts being eroded, greatly diminishing their spirituality and thereby reducing their combat effectiveness.
The Insect Race lacked spiritual intelligence, bringing only destruction and slaughter.
In comparison, the racial talents of the Blood Race seemed to be specifically designed to counter cultivators.
Furthermore, these Blood Race members were proficient in various Blood Path Secret Techniques, which were incredibly unpredictable and difficult to guard against.
This race was indeed powerful, but it seemed to have conspicuous weaknesses as well.
The chanting of the Buddhist scriptures by the monks from Vajra Temple had a profound impact on their minds. Therefore, the Blood Race often didn't have the upper hand when clashing with the great monks.
Another point was that lightning techniques seemed to cause great damage to the Blood Race.
Not to mention the multiple Lightning Attracting Arrays he had set up in the valley that had worked wonders, there were many magic cultivators in the Soaring Dragon World who cultivated lightning techniques. When these magic and spells were unleashed, the attacked Blood Race often suffered severe injuries.
After lightning, fire techniques seemed to be the second most damaging to the Blood Race, although they didn't have the same degree of restraining effect as lightning techniques, they still inflicted significant harm.
This was undoubtedly valuable intelligence that could provide some assistance to the Soaring Dragon World in its future resistance against the Blood Race.
However, what caught Lu Ye's attention the most was not these aspects, but the fact that among the Blood Race who had broken into the valley, there were about a dozen who seemed particularly powerful.
The strength they displayed was indeed at the Peak Cloud River Realm, but their foundations did not seem to be something the Cloud River Realm could possess.
So even with Lu Ye's secret help, the cultivators who faced these Blood Race members did not have a good outcome.
Lu Ye could only activate the array to trap them, preventing them from coming into contact with the Soaring Dragon cultivators.
These dozen or so Blood Race members... posed a massive problem.
This sensation couldn't help but make him think back to the scene when Sect Master Weh Ying, on Golden Light Peak, massacred her enemies!
Back then, Weh Ying, with her True Lake Level 9 cultivation, forcefully entered the Spirit Stream battlefield. Although the balancing forces of Heaven's Augury only allowed her to exhibit the strength of the Peak Spirit Stream Realm, she inherently had the foundations of the True Lake Realm, so no one was her match.
At this thought, Lu Ye suddenly understood.
The Blood Race members he had been paying attention to were indeed not at the Cloud River Realm level; they were very likely from the True Lake Realm!
But the Soaring Dragon World was no longer capable of supporting cultivators above the Cloud River, so after they invaded this realm, they could only display the strength of the Peak Cloud River Realm.
In other words, it was the entire domain of the Soaring Dragon World that was suppressing the exercise of their strength.
Had it not been for this, the cultivator alliance forces would have likely been utterly annihilated by now.
This was both good news and bad news.
The invaders could only exert the strength of the Peak Cloud River Realm, but with their foundation laid out, they were beyond the capacity of ordinary Cloud River Realm cultivators to contend with.
If these Blood Race members were already so powerful, what about Blood Owl?
From various indications, the Blood Race that had invaded the Soaring Dragon World were led by Blood Owl, and it goes without saying that he was the strongest among them.
"Hm?" Just as Lu Ye's thoughts were swirling, he suddenly caught sight of the dozen powerful Blood Race members simultaneously making an unusual move.
Lu Ye was not sure what wonderful technique they were using, but they suddenly burst open, transforming into clusters of flowing Blood Water.
Then, as if guided by something, the dozen clusters of Blood Water began to draw towards each other.
Lu Ye immediately realized that these dozen powerful Blood Race members had detected something was amiss and were not hesitating to activate some potent Secret Technique to break free.
Naturally, he would not sit idly by and allow such a thing to happen. He immediately channeled the power of the big array to separate the clusters of Blood Water, while simultaneously triggering the might of various killing arrays.
Thunderous booms resonated, and the sea of mist tumbled even more fiercely.
However, no matter what Lu Ye did, he couldn't stop the gathering of the dozen clusters of Blood Water; they seemed to be able to sense each other's locations even within the layers of the big arrays. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
What mysterious technique this was remained unknown.
In just a short while, those dozen balls of Blood Water converged into one, transforming into a gruesome, writhing Blood Dragon.
The Blood Dragon swept across all directions, moving nimbly within the valley's big array; even as Lu Ye unleashed the power of many killing arrays, it was difficult to trap its edge.
Wherever the Blood Dragon passed, the flowers and grass withered away, the vigour of life dissipated, and those Soaring Dragon cultivators who could not avoid it in time were engulfed, dying without a chance to utter even a single cry before they perished.
To Lu Ye's relief, such a secret technique seemed to be only within the capabilities of the dozen or so strongest members of the Blood Race, while the others did not possess this ability.
However, the Blood Dragon was formidable, and one by one, the trapped members of the Blood Race were rescued and merged into the Blood Dragon, disappearing from sight. As those Blood Race members joined it, the Blood Dragon's size also expanded gradually.
Lu Ye's expression grew solemn.
He hadn't anticipated that the Blood Race would have such a countermeasure; in his original plan, he actually had the potential to capture all the Blood Race members who broke into the valley.
Now, watching the Blood Dragon slithering and winding its way through Medicine Valley, Lu Ye knew that he could no longer stop them on his own.
But no matter what this secret technique was, it must have caused great damage to the Blood Race, otherwise they wouldn't have waited until now to use it.
After weighing his options, Lu Ye sighed helplessly and waved his arm, causing the sea of mist inside the valley to swirl incessantly.
In front of the Blood Dragon, the sea of mist actively parted, revealing a pathway that led straight out of the valley!
Lu Ye certainly could force the Blood Dragon to stay, but by doing so, he feared that the number of Soaring Dragon cultivators that would die would significantly increase. The opponent had already shown a do-or-die attitude; if Lu Ye wanted to preserve the lives of Soaring Dragon cultivators, he had no choice but to let them go.
The Blood Dragon seemed to have sensed Lu Ye's intentions, so as soon as the pathway appeared in the sea of mist, it did not hesitate to flee outward, saving many more of the Blood Race along the way.
Only when it burst out of Medicine Valley did it let out an extremely angry and unwilling roar, shaking its head and tail as it quickly vanished into the distance.
Moments later, around a hundred miles away, the gruesome, wriggling Blood Dragon suddenly dispersed, with pools of Blood Water squirming and transforming, revealing the figures of Blood Race members one by one.
However, not all those who merged into the Blood Dragon managed to escape; some Blood Race members were completely turned into Blood Water and couldn't revert to their original form.
Even those Blood Race members who had regained their original form appeared greatly weakened, with their originally blood-red skin now considerably dimmer.
Lu Ye's guess was correct; that race-specific secret technique of the Blood Race, while ferociously powerful when unleashed, also resulted in severe backlash. The Blood Race would not resort to this secret technique unless it was absolutely necessary.
About a thousand of them had escaped Medicine Valley, but now, only around seven hundred were still alive.
The leader, a somewhat elderly Blood Race member, glanced back toward Medicine Valley with some lingering fear: "I didn't expect such a powerful array to exist in this domain."
Another Blood Race member who seemed to be a woman held her chest and said, "After all, it's a place that once produced a Divine Sea Realm cultivator. Even after eight hundred years of depletion, the essence of heaven and earth has diminished, but the record of those higher mysteries undoubtedly remains."
The elderly Blood Race member shook his head: "Even so, there shouldn't have been such a big array. This is not something a Cloud River Realm cultivator could have arranged."
"Talking more is useless. Let's go back and report. Let's just hope that the Blood Owl is not too angry."
At the mention of Blood Owl, the group of Blood Race members shuddered uncontrollably; even to them, Blood Owl was a terrifying existence.
In Medicine Valley, with the strongest batch of the Blood Race having broken free and left, Lu Ye's pressure greatly decreased, and he was better able to focus his attention on harnessing the full potential of the big array.
With his assistance, the Soaring Dragon cultivators also became fearlessly aggressive, killing one Blood Race member after another until the Blood Water pooled into a river.
Half a day later, as the fog blanketing Medicine Valley dispersed, all the surviving Soaring Dragon cultivators looked around. The whole valley had been dyed red, with the corpses of the human race and the Blood Race lying strewn across the land. The number of cultivators still standing was noticeably smaller than when they had first fled into the valley.
But, to everyone's relief, all those who were alive were human race cultivators!
They had won!
What was originally a certain death situation turned into a miraculous reversal after escaping into this valley. The multitude of cultivators couldn't help but acknowledge that their survival, their ability to slaughter the enemy, was all due to the power of this big array and to the merit of the person who had arranged it.
Pairs of eyes looked toward the center of the valley, where, hovering several feet above the ground, Lu Ye landed his figure with a pale face.
Huang Liang hurried over in a rush, his voice filled with concern: "Young friend, are you alright?"
After this battle, he was more certain than ever that Lu Ye was the one bearing the luck of all the world's qi, the savior. Thus, immediately after the battle ended, he sought out Lu Ye, fearing that he had suffered some misfortune.
Lu Ye slowly shook his head: "I've just expended a great deal."
"You should rest for now. I will handle the rest," he said.
Lu Ye nodded his head and then added, "I've captured a group of Blood Race members and have them imprisoned within an array. Please, Sect Master Huang, make sure someone keeps watch over them so they don't escape."
As he said this, he pointed with his hand, revealing a concealed array where the silhouettes of seven or eight captured Blood Race members could be seen. These Blood Race members were clearly severely injured, all of them languishing weakly, and with the array enveloping them, they had no chance of breaking free.
To probe the intelligence of the Blood Race, it was natural to start with the Blood Race themselves. In the later stages of the battle, Lu Ye had the capacity to capture some members of the Blood Race.
As for what information he could extract from these captives, that was up to his own methods. At the very least, he needed to understand what Sky Ravine was all about, how deep the Blood Race's foundation ran, so that he could make targeted plans.
