Chapter 25: Sneak Attack
Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Lu Ye was gently awakened by the Sect Master. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Sect Master standing next to him and quickly got to his feet.
“Sect Master.” He rubbed his eyes and slapped his cheeks, which immediately cleared the drowsiness from his eyes.
“It’s time to get off the boat,” the Sect Master said with a smile.
The dozens of Sects that made up the Grand Sky Coalition had departed Evil Moon Valley together, but it was only natural that everybody was returning to their respective homes now that they were back on Grand Sky Coalition’s territory. Several Sects had already left earlier.
Lu Ye gathered up his bedding and stuffed it back into his Storage Bag. Then, he tidied up his appearance before leaving the cabin with the Sect Master.
They soon arrived on the deck. Somebody was waiting there for them. It was a tall and broad middle-aged man with a majestic appearance. Lu Ye did not know this man. Upon a closer look, he felt as though this middle-aged man seemed to be giving off a powerful militant vibe.
The Sect Master stepped forward to speak with that middle-aged man. A moment later, the middle-aged man turned around to look at Lu Ye, who was standing beside the Sect Master. “Being able to enter the Crimson Blood Sect is your good fortune. You have to do your best to cultivate well. Don’t ruin the Crimson Blood Sect’s reputation.”
Lu Ye quickly responded. “Yes!”
The Sect Master cupped his fists. “Then, this old man will be taking his leave.”
“Please!” The middle-aged man stretched out his hand.
The Sect Master turned his palm over and took out something from somewhere. He casually tossed it into the air, and a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage appeared on the deck with a flash of light. The two horses pulling the carriage were completely snow-white and very handsome. Snorting lightly, they shifted their hooves restlessly.
Before Lu Ye could get a good look, his body floated over to the carriage. The Sect Master had picked Lu Ye up with his Spiritual Power.
“Release the array!” The middle-aged man shouted loudly. Following his command, a gap opened up in the Flying Dragon Boat’s Defensive Array. A burst of wind roared in, causing the clothes of everybody standing on deck to flap about wildly.
The Sect Master and that middle-aged man cupped their fists and exchanged greetings. Afterward, the two horses pulling the carriage raised their heads and neighed, clusters of light appearing around their hooves. They then rushed out through the gap in the Defensive Array and sped off into the distance at an extremely fast speed.
Watching the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage disappearing out of sight, the middle-aged man turned around and strode toward the cabin. He left only one sentence behind: “Bring that bastard, Pang Da Hai, to me!”
“Yes!” Several cultivators from the Grand Sky Coalition responded with gleeful smiles on their faces as though enjoying another person’s misery. They might not know what Junior Brother Pang had done to upset the Deputy Coalition Leader, but from the look of the Deputy Coalition Leader, Junior Brother Pang was probably going to lose a few kilograms.
Meanwhile, Lu Ye was excitedly observing and touching anything and everything inside the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage. His eyes were filled with wonder.
He had arrived at Jiu Zhou more than a year ago now, but it wasn’t until recently that he realized that the Jiu Zhou he thought he knew was not the true face of this world at all. There were many things about this world that he could never have imagined.
Take the Flying Dragon Boat for example, or the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage. The huge gaps in cognition had truly driven one point home: This was a world of cultivation. Joining the Crimson Blood Sect had finally given him the capital to step into this world of cultivation. Moreover, the splendor of this world was slowly showing itself to him, bit by bit, as his cultivation continued to increase. How could he have seen such wonders if he had spent his entire life in the mines?
“These two horses… They aren’t living creatures?” He stood on the cowl and reached out to touch the butt of the horse in front of him. He discovered that it did not feel like flesh and blood. Rather, it felt as though he was touching a piece of metal. It was cold and cool to touch. Upon a closer look, he realized that the two horses did not give off the aura a living creature should have. It was just that they were so vivid and lifelike that they gave off the illusion of being alive. On the other hand, the carriage behind him was open-aired. There was a large umbrella on top of the carriage. That umbrella spun in the wind, releasing rays of light that hung down like threads and blocked the high winds when they were traveling through the sky.
The Sect Master was sitting in the carriage. He laughed when he heard those words. “These were created by a Golem Master for transportation purposes.”
“A Golem Master.” Lu Ye was curious. DiiScôver 𝒏𝒆w stori𝒆s on no/𝒗/e()/lbin(.)c/o/m
“It’s a kind of external cultivation. They excel at making tools. I’m sure you will get the opportunity to meet them in the future.”
Lu Ye stopped asking questions. He enthusiastically looked around a bit more before entering the carriage and taking his seat. The carriage was very spacious. It could easily fit 3 to 5 people without issue.
Naturally, he was not so stupid as to sit next to the Sect Master. He was familiar with the basic etiquette of showing respect to his Master. Therefore, the position he took was the seat in front of the Sect Master so that he was facing the Sect Master.
“How did your cultivation go?” the Sect Master asked.
“It went well,” Lu Ye replied. He had confirmed something during that period of cultivation: He didn’t seem to be affected by any major hidden dangers of overdosing on Spirit Pills while cultivating. Over the past few days, he had consumed more than 10 Spirit Restoring Pills and managed to unlock his third Spiritual Point. Leave aside the rate of efficiency for other people when it came to their cultivation; at the very least, it was impossible for them to consume Spirit Pills as continuously as him.
The situation the Sect Master had mentioned regarding Pill Poison accumulation, which would ultimately lead to the clouding of one’s Spiritual Power, had not occurred in him. It was possible that he had yet to reach the threshold. He had only consumed more than 10 Spirit Restoring Pills after all. This point would require further observation before he could form any conclusions.
He was considering whether to mention the fact that he had unlocked his Spiritual Points. While he was hesitating, he heard the Sect Master speaking. “Which path do you intend to choose out of the Six Factions?”
The so-called Six Factions was, without a doubt, the information that Pang Da Hai had mentioned before. Lu Ye had never considered this question before. At the moment, it could be said that he had only just been exposed to the world of cultivation. He was ignorant of everything. How could he decide on the path he wanted to take in the future? Thus, he asked, “Sect Master, what do you think?”
Elder Tang reached out his hand and stroked his beard. “Your body is not that strong, and you do not have any unique talents. Therefore, you are not suited to the body tempering cultivation faction. Out of the Five Elements, your Primary Attribute is Fire which is supplemented by the Gold Attribute. Hence, you are unsuited to the medicine cultivation faction and ghost cultivation faction. The only ones left are the combat cultivation faction, spell cultivation faction, and external cultivation. Speaking of external cultivation… Every cultivator actually knows something or other about external cultivation, so it can be regarded as a supplementary cultivation. There’s no need to specialize in it.”
Lu Ye understood. “In other words, the only suitable paths for this disciple are the combat cultivation faction and the spell cultivation faction?”
“That’s correct.”
“Sect Master, which path did you take?” he asked curiously.
Elder Tang chuckled. “This old man is in the spell cultivation faction, but you don’t need to imitate me. It’s a step-by-step process to determine the path you want to take. You need to ask yourself this question. I’m asking you this question now just to give you an idea. I’m not trying to force you into making a decision in a hurry. Once we return to Mount Ao…”
Lu Ye was listening to the Sect Master’s teachings when he suddenly felt the world spinning around him. Immediately after that, he heard a loud explosion that left his ears ringing. As his vision spun, he saw a ball of flames burning in mid-air out of the corner of the eyes. He looked in that direction and discovered that it was a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage that was on fire. He did not know what kind of attack that carriage had encountered, but it had fallen apart completely. The two horses that were pulling the carriage had also broken into pieces and scattered in the air.
Lu Ye shook his head. He had the feeling that the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage that was burning was identical to the one he had been riding in previously. The realization suddenly dawned on him. [That’s the carriage I was riding in before! It’s just that it encountered an unknown attack!]
It wasn’t until this moment that he discovered he had been pulled out of the carriage by the Sect Master and was currently floating in mid-air. There was a bright light glowing around the Sect Master, and he was enveloped in that light. Concurrently, the Sect Master was casting a cultivation technique and coldly studying his surroundings with an extremely solemn expression.