Sage of Humanity
Chapter 1053 - 1051: 1,000,000 Battle Merit

Falling straight from tens of thousands of feet up, Lu Ye finally managed to regain control over himself.

This height was his limit for flying through the air; any higher, and no matter how much effort he put in, he couldn't ascend, as if some invisible force was restraining him.

Yet Lu Ye continued to let himself fall, merely activating his spirit force for protection.

Because although he could fly at this altitude, it was too strenuous, consuming too much of his spirit force. He needed to find a height that was comfortable and energy-efficient.

That's why cultivators traveling outdoors don't always fly as high as possible, as the higher they fly, the greater the cost to themselves.

Especially when one's cultivation isn't sufficient, they generally don't fly too high, as they might easily encounter someone stronger.

Falling to nearly ten thousand feet, Lu Ye finally stabilized himself. This height was undoubtedly acceptable to him and was generally the height Divine Sea Realm cultivators chose for outdoor travel.

He looked down at the scene below, his heart surging with emotion.

Nine Provinces, I have returned!

This journey took quite a long time, a full two years. When he left, he was at True Lake Level 7; upon returning, he was in the Divine Sea, a massive increase in strength.

Of course, if he were in the Nine Provinces, his cultivation would likely have progressed even faster because he could utilize the spirit fortune stick.

But in cultivation, merely advancing quickly is of little value. In these two years of traveling in the Blood Refinement World, although his cultivation didn't rise swiftly, each level was extremely solid, especially in the months after advancing to the Divine Sea. The gains from the countless trials by older warriors were incomparable to mere cultivation advancements.

Dao Thirteen didn't return with him, which Lu Ye found a bit regrettable. It wasn't that he wanted to abandon him, but the matter of transport wasn't up to him—Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury was at work. If Heaven's Augury didn't bring Dao Thirteen back, Lu Ye was powerless.

He would return to the Blood Refinement World!

The words he spoke before leaving to the elder brother were not spoken lightly.

After the recent Blood Race encirclement, the defense line of the outer islands of Righteous Blood Sacred Land had been breached, and the damage at the Sacred Land was not insignificant. If the Blood Race returned, Righteous Blood Sacred Land might not be able to resist.

He needed to figure out a way to return before the next Blood Race encirclement of Righteous Blood Sacred Land to lend a hand to the elder brother and others.

If he could bring along a batch of helpers, all the better.

Of course, achieving this wouldn't be easy, but since the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury could send him there once, it could send him there twice.

Lu Ye believed Heaven's Augury wouldn't ignore Righteous Blood Sacred Land. Otherwise, there was no need to send him there this time. Heaven's Augury made it very clear: use his abilities to help Righteous Blood Sacred Land fend off the Blood Race army, and he had somewhat accomplished this—whether by commanding Blood Race Dao soldiers or using the As-Close-As-Siblings Array Disc, both played significant roles in this battle.

He couldn't stay on the Righteous Blood Sacred Land side and wait, as he needed to find a way to quickly enhance his strength. Thus, he needed to return to the Nine Provinces, improve himself as much as possible before the next Blood Race invasion, and find a way back, preferably with trustworthy helpers.

There was still some time to plan slowly.

For now, he wouldn't think about these things. Since he was back in the Nine Provinces, the first step, naturally, was to determine his location.

Lu Ye hurriedly took out the ten-part map to check, and the result left him astonished, as he found himself at Liyuan.

Right near the entrance to the Sword Weapon Sect's secret realm.

What a coincidence indeed.

There was no need to look for the Sword Weapon Sect's secret realm anymore, as its foundation had been destroyed and the secret realm had collapsed long ago.

Just as Lu Ye was contemplating how to return to Haotian City, his battlefield marking grew slightly warm.

Lu Ye hadn't sensed any activity from the battlefield marking in two years, so he quickly focused his mind to investigate.

Name: Lu Yiye.

Identity: Disciple of Righteous Blood Sect, Capital Commandant of the Justice Department's Law Enforcement Hall.

Cultivation Level: Divine Sea Level 1.

Location: Liyuan.

Merit: 972,812 points.

Battle merit: 1,000,000 points.

The changes to his battlefield marking were significant, starting with his identity.

He remembered that his former identity was the captain of Team D-9 in the Justice Department's Law Enforcement Hall, following being a disciple of Righteous Blood Sect. Now, it had changed to Capital Commandant.

Was his captain's position revoked?

It made sense. With no news from him for two years, Team D-9 needed someone in charge, and they couldn't wait for him indefinitely. Changing captains was only logical.

Among Team D-9, the third senior brother Xiao Xinghe had the greatest strength, so if nothing unexpected happened, he should have taken over the captain's position.

In terms of merit, there wasn't much change. When Lu Ye went back to the sect during a mission execution, he traded a large amount of materials to the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, accumulating nearly a million in merit, which he hadn't used or had little opportunity to use afterward.

The battle merit had significantly changed.

He couldn't remember the exact number of battle merit he had back then, but he had a rough idea—it was about two hundred thousand.

But at this moment, a full one million battle merits, breaking the record again.

A million battle merits could not come out of thin air. This was clearly the reward from Heaven's Augury for his journey to the Blood Refinement World. At first glance, it's a lot, but if you really calculate it, it's not much.

Because this is what Lu Ye gained after spending two full years.

Moreover, in the encirclement and suppression of the Blood Race's army, the Blood Race Dao soldiers under Lu Ye's command and the As-Close-As-Siblings Array Disc they provided had made great contributions, not to mention he personally killed many Blood Race members, including those in the Divine Sea Realm.

Of course, Heaven's Augury couldn't specifically compile these achievements, because it knew nothing about the situation of the battle at that time. Probably for this reason, the battle merit reward this time conveniently came out to be a round number.

However, Lu Ye was satisfied. Having something is better than nothing, and it was such a large sum of battle merits.

Just as he was examining the battlefield marking, it reacted slightly again.

This time, someone was sending a message.

He had just returned to the Nine Provinces, and someone was sending a message. Without even thinking, it must be Yiyi.

Only Yiyi would react so quickly. It's not that he and Yiyi were telepathic, but mainly because he had a pet contract with Amber, and further bound with the Life Origin Method and Beast Seal Method. As Lu Ye's natal demon beast, Amber would surely sense his return immediately.

And Amber was always inseparable from Yiyi. If Amber knew, then Yiyi surely would too.

Checking the message, sure enough, it was from Yiyi.

"Lu Ye, you're back? Where are you?"

Lu Ye flew downward while replying: "At Ten Thousand Demons Ridge."

"What are you doing there? Where have you been these two years?" Although they could judge Lu Ye's life and death through the battlefield marking imprint, two years without news, and Lu Ye's imprint had always been in an uncontactable state, inevitably caused concern.

"It's a bit complicated. I'll tell you in detail later. Is everyone doing well?"

"Everyone is well, but many things have happened over these past two years. Now that you're back, you must be careful. The Nine Provinces are now swarming with the Insect Race."

Lu Ye couldn't respond in time because he had already seen the Insect Race, a large swarm of mosquito-like creatures flying towards him. The key issue was that each of these mosquitoes looked fierce and terrifying, with unusually large bodies, almost the size of a palm.

Individually, their power wasn't much, vaguely emitting only Spirit Stream Realm aura, but the terrifying might emanated from the gathered insect pall was shockingly at the level of the Divine Sea Realm.

In terms of sheer numbers, there were likely no fewer than tens of thousands.

Lu Ye had never seen such Insect Race creatures, but insects had one trait, they were extremely sensitive to fluctuations in spirit force. It's clear that the traces of his use of spirit force had attracted this swarm.

Dealing with such creatures, weak individually but strong when gathered, the means a combat cultivator could employ were very limited. These Insect Race creatures had a very strong restraining effect on the average combat cultivator.

The strength of combat cultivators lies in one-on-one confrontations. Even if Lu Ye could chop down dozens or hundreds of such insects with one blade, how many more swings could he make once engulfed by the insect pall?

Fortunately, he was not an ordinary combat cultivator.

At this moment, he hadn't realized how terrible the information from Yiyi was. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entertained any thoughts about this swarm.

Raising his hand to grasp the air, spirit force surged in his palm, the Yin-Yang Dual Origins quickly outlined and interlocked, in the blink of an eye an oval-shaped mass of spirit force had gathered above his palm.

At a glance, it seemed like an egg, its surface consumed by roaring flames.

As Lu Ye urged his spirit force, the flaming egg cracked open, a clear and resonant cry sounded forth, and a Fire Phoenix with a wingspan of thirty fathoms shot out, diving towards the swarm of insects.

Faced with such a swarm, the methods of magic cultivators were most suitable.

In the past, when his strength was insufficient, Lu Ye needed to use himself as a foundation to construct the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes, but now having reached the Divine Sea, it was no longer so troublesome.

The enormous Fire Phoenix collided head-on with the swarm. Lu Ye initially thought it would incinerate the entire swarm, but an astonishing scene unfolded.

A large portion of the Insect Race perished, but as they died, they desperately consumed the spirit force within the Fire Phoenix, weakening its power, causing the Fire Phoenix to shrink rapidly.

The Fire Phoenix was shattered, yet about sixty percent of the swarm remained.

Just as Lu Ye was about to strike again, a buzzing sound emanated from below.

Looking down, his scalp tingled with numbness. A massive number of insects rose densely from below, converging towards him, clearly attracted by the earlier waves of spirit force.

The sheer scale was simply unbelievable.

Moreover, during their flight, the insects continuously gathered, enlarging the insect pall and rapidly increasing their might.

In his line of sight, was only darkness, the ground no longer visible.

Lu Ye had no more desire to make a move, given such circumstances, retreat was the best choice!

He caught sight of a direction and transformed into a long rainbow, streaking through the sky with the insect pall in relentless pursuit behind him.

Fortunately, the insect pall's speed wasn't fast. Lu Ye flew for a while and finally managed to shake them off.

A moment later, he found a concealed spot and descended, concealing his aura.