Sage of Humanity
Chapter 1052 - 1050: Back

Feng Wujiang was the first to be struck by the blood-colored thunderbolt, injured severely, yet his mental consciousness stayed closely alongside the blood-colored thunderbolt, watching helplessly as it weakened through various means, disappearing along with Lu Ye's figure.

This meant that their resistance had not been fully successful. Despite the reduced power of the blood-colored thunderbolt, less than twenty percent of its original strength, whether Lu Ye could withstand it was uncertain in Feng Wujiang's mind.

Feeling something, he turned his head, his brows furrowed even more deeply.

No reason but Dao Thirteen stayed behind!

He had predicted this because the transmission through the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury consumed enormous energy. Lu Ye might have the chance to return to the Nine Provinces, but Dao Thirteen might not.

And now it seemed that the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury indeed did not intend to send Dao Thirteen back; otherwise, he wouldn't have been left behind.

This made Lu Ye's situation increasingly perilous. With Dao Thirteen nearby, there was at least someone to assist, but now he had to rely on himself entirely.

At this moment, within the indescribable passage, Lu Ye felt a dizzying sensation, and though he had already advanced to the Divine Sea Realm, greatly increasing his strength, he couldn't avoid the unpleasant sensations of long-distance transmission.

Even more discomforting was the substantial crisis rapidly approaching from behind.

At the moment his figure disappeared beside the Heaven's Augury Pillar, Lu Ye also saw the blood-colored thunderbolt descending from the sky, realizing it was the Wrath of Heavens hailing from the Blood Refinement World.

He saw his senior brothers and others using methods to resist but failing to fully halt it.

The crisis he felt now was clearly the weakened blood-colored thunderbolt.

With clarity in his heart, he knew that if he could withstand it, he would live; if he couldn't, death was certain.

He forcibly steadied his mind, briefly sensing the intensity of the blood-colored thunderbolt from behind, then immediately abandoned the thought of forcibly resisting; even though it had been weakened by the methods of his senior brothers, its current power was not something he could contend with.

Attempting to resist recklessly would likely result in disaster.

Since he couldn't withstand it, the only option was to keep running. Here, in the passage of transmission, the blood-colored thunderbolt was akin to rootless wood, water without a source after leaving the Blood Refinement World. As long as enough time was delayed, its power would gradually weaken until he could withstand it.

Normally, his speed couldn't possibly outpace such Wrath of Heavens.

But at this moment, during transmission, the speed he demonstrated wasn't his own speed, but it could barely delay, though the distance between him and the blood-colored thunderbolt was evidently closing swiftly.

He didn't know why this transmission was especially prolonged, unlike before, when it almost felt like the transmission completed instantly.

With his mind made up, Lu Ye immediately activated one of the three drops of Essence Blood within him; as his mind moved, the Essence Blood exploded, enveloping him with a layer of blood mist, speeding him up considerably, almost transforming into a streak of blood light.

Blood Escape.

This was the first time Lu Ye had used this secret technique, and using the Essence Blood to do so, the effect was extraordinary.

Originally, the distance between him and the blood-colored thunderbolt was quickly closing, but after using the Blood Escape Technique, although he still couldn't escape entirely, the distance no longer closed.

Without hesitation, he continued charging forward, occasionally using his mental consciousness to sense the situation behind.

As he expected, without the support of the Blood Refinement World, the power of the blood-colored thunderbolt was indeed weakening fast.

As its power diminished, its speed simultaneously slowed, posing less and less threat to Lu Ye.

After one incense stick's time, the blood mist enveloping Lu Ye suddenly scattered, his speed returning to the initial level, with a sense of fatigue flooding him, although it wasn't a significant problem.

This was the most intricate aspect of the Blood Refining Technique.

The Blood Race could refine their own Essence Blood normally, using it as a reserve energy store, to use critically when fighting or fleeing. Since it was reserve energy, the damage to the self wasn't severe provided the body could withstand it.

If normal methods were used to activate the Blood Escape Technique, Lu Ye would have had significant depletion of vital energy at this moment.

By now, Lu Ye had abandoned the thought of turning back and resisting. Since the power of the blood-colored thunderbolt continued to weaken, if he kept running like this, it was bound to disappear eventually, with no need to risk resisting it.

No matter how weak its power became, it was still Wrath of Heavens, one never knew what tricks might lie within.

The slowed blood-colored thunderbolt was already hard-pressed to catch up with Lu Ye, and it continued to weaken; one could say the crisis had passed.

After another incense stick's time, in Lu Ye's senses, the blood-colored thunderbolt behind suddenly shattered and vanished without a trace.

At this point, he finally relaxed his mind.

Immediately afterward, he felt as if penetrating through something, his vision changing sharply from the previous bizarre transmission passage.

As far as the eye could see, Lu Ye was shocked to his core, unable to return to his senses for a long time.

Because what greeted his eyes was an enormous water-blue celestial body, spanning the celestial void as though a dormant beast.

An inexplicable familiarity emanated from the enormous celestial body, surprisingly evoking a feeling of a wanderer returning home within Lu Ye.

Instantly understanding that this enormous celestial body was the Nine Provinces!

He had returned!

Never had Lu Ye imagined that one day he could view the Nine Provinces from this perspective; was this his reward for the expedition to the Blood Refinement World?

Living within the Nine Provinces and observing the entire Nine Provinces World from this standpoint offered a completely different experience, highlighting his insignificance against the grand vastness of the Nine Provinces.

As he journeyed to the Blood Refinement World, he once experienced an elevation of his mental consciousness and witnessed the overall appearance of the Blood Refinement World. However, that experience differed from this one; the former was merely a mental observation, whereas this time, he was seeing it with his naked eyes, making the visual impact even more pronounced.

Watching intently, Lu Ye felt as if his Mental Consciousness was undergoing sublimation.

However, his attention was soon drawn to some presences beside the Nine Provinces because around this massive celestial body, numerous irregular floating lands hovered. These landmasses varied in size, most as small as dust particles. But Lu Ye knew they weren't genuinely that small; it was simply a visual illusion in comparison to the colossal Nine Provinces.

Two of the floating lands were the largest, floating to the left and right sides of the Nine Provinces World, like two grand protectors!

Lu Ye looked toward one of the floating lands and faintly sensed two mysterious connections emanating from it.

He furrowed his brows, unsure of what these two connections could be.

As he pondered, he barreled towards the Nine Provinces World at immense speed, enveloped by a peculiar force, just like when he initially arrived at the Blood Refinement World — a mysterious power enshrouded his body surface then as well.

This should be the protective force granted by Heaven's Augury.

He didn't know what cultivation level one needed to survive in such an environment, but it wasn't something a newly ascended Divine Sea Realm person like him could achieve.

Without this protective force from Heaven's Augury, even a cultivator at Divine Sea Level 9 standing here would quickly perish.

From this perspective, the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury proved to be quite reliable, at least in providing him with safe protection.

As the distance drew closer, the link he felt from one of the significant floating lands became increasingly clear.

Lu Ye finally understood what those connections were.

It was his connection with the Heaven's Augury Pillar!

Innumerable Heaven's Augury Pillars exist across the Nine Provinces, and naturally, Lu Ye had no connection with the typical pillars, but in one particular place, there were two Heaven's Augury Pillars he had requested with merit!

Nominally, those two Heaven's Augury Pillars belonged to him, thereby creating an unbreakable bond.

That enormous floating land, was it the Cloud River battlefield?

On the other side, was the huge floating land the Spirit Stream battlefield?

If so, then the other floating lands around the Nine Provinces World should be the locations connected with various secret realms.

This discovery left Lu Ye amazed.

In the Nine Provinces, whether it's the Spirit Stream battlefield, the Cloud River battlefield, or the Nine Provinces itself, countless secret realms exist. Lu Ye had often wondered where all those secret realm spaces were situated.

Until today did he realize that all these secret realm spaces surrounded the Nine Provinces World.

He didn't know if anyone else had discovered this, but he reckoned that only he had the chance to witness such a sight through the ages.

Approaching closer to the Nine Provinces World, as the vast and immense celestial body rushed towards him, anyone would feel a sense of awe.

As he skimmed past a floating land, Lu Ye turned to scrutinize, straining his Ocular Power to its utmost.

In such an environment, distance assessment became incredibly ambiguous. Perhaps with stronger cultivation, one could judge accurately, but Lu Ye, at this moment, could not.

The floating land appeared close, yet it remained far away.

Even as Lu Ye strained his Ocular Power, he couldn't discern the scenes on the floating land.

In haste, he constructed Insight Spirit Runes to take a deeper glimpse.

However, in the next instant, he furrowed his brow.

He vaguely saw some clawed, sprawling creatures on that floating land, with some being quite colossal.

Could it be...the Insect Race?

He couldn't see it clearly enough to verify because the distance had once again widened significantly from that floating land.

Lu Ye furrowed his brow deeply; the Insect Race was not unfamiliar to the Nine Provinces cultivators. Almost every cultivator faced an Insect Plague in the Spirit Stream battlefield, and in the Nine Provinces homeland, small Insect Plagues occasionally broke out, only to be swiftly suppressed, much like the previous scenario.

In his field of vision, the surging sea of clouds appeared, pristine white like cotton wool.

He could clearly feel the formidable gravitational pull from below, increasing his speed more and more.

Breaking through the sea of clouds, the familiar world came rushing towards him.

At this moment, the protective force that had been enveloping Lu Ye vanished entirely, and he dropped straight downwards like a meteor falling from the sky.

The speed was so high that the friction caused his skin to sting with pain. Lu Ye quickly circulated his spirit force to resist that frictional force.

Yet, he continued plummeting, utterly unable to stabilize himself.

A cultivator's flight isn't without its limits; it has a certain height limit too.

His current position obviously exceeded his limits, making him descend further to stabilize himself.