Chapter 97 - 96: Where There’s Life, There’s Hope

Chapter 97: Chapter 96: Where There’s Life, There’s Hope

"...The other three Elders are at the peak of the Void Refinement Realm. It looks like the Demon Sect is dead set on dragging us back." Lei Wenjie bit his lip, his voice trembling slightly.

His cultivation had progressed rapidly these days, but he was still only at the middle stage of the Void Refinement Realm.

He was a full major realm below Mao Xiu.

And while his realm had risen, the rest of his supplementary Cultivation Techniques were still the same as before. Facing four veteran Demon Sect Elders with rich combat experience, he saw no chance of victory.

"Alliance Leader, when the fighting starts, we’ll cover you while you break out," Qiu Ming said with a grave expression. "Where there’s life, there’s hope. With your abilities, it won’t be long before our cultivation realms surpass theirs."

Qu Hao, Qiu Ming, Meng Mingzhe, and a dozen or so other Void Refinement Realm experts formed a protective circle around Li Ye.

Li Ye was their hope; he couldn’t be allowed to come to any harm.

From the very beginning, no one had taken Li Ye’s combat prowess seriously. After all, he had never fought a direct battle.

No matter how fast his Skill Level improved, he was only at the Divinity Transformation Realm, and his Divine Abilities were purely supportive. He had the foundation but lacked the right Combat Skills to complement it. He probably couldn’t even defeat an ordinary cultivator at the Divinity Transformation Realm.

...

’Harmonization Realm?’

Li Ye looked up at the black-robed Elder across from them. A pressure he hadn’t felt in a long time washed over him once more.

THUMP THUMP THUMP!

His heartbeat quickened slightly. He subconsciously fiddled with his watch. ’I hope this thing comes through for me this time and helps me awaken a combat-oriented Derived Skill!’

Despite the two-realm gap, Li Ye wasn’t particularly worried about this fight.

After all, he still had a game-breaking skill that involved sacrificing a teammate for power. By combining it with his time-reversal ability, he could sacrifice them without any actual loss.

As for the Celestial Dao Thunder Slaughter Array, it was a formation that relied on a central controller.

Once the Array Controller was killed, the formation would be incredibly easy to break.

Li Ye had a photographic memory. In the past few days, he had nearly mastered the Array Formation and Pill Refining Methods of every major sect. All he lacked was practical experience.

You can never have too many skills.

A Time Traveler could only rely on himself. He had no idea what kind of worlds he would travel to in the future, so it was always a good idea to master more skills. That way, if he ever stumbled into a hostile array, he wouldn’t be completely helpless.

"Elder Mao, I’m at the Void Refinement Realm now," Lei Wenjie said, trying an indirect approach. "Senior Brother Qiu is too."

"..."

Mao Xiu didn’t know which one was the Alliance Leader of the Wenda Alliance.

The intelligence Lei Wenjie had sent back claimed the Wenda Alliance was founded by a Mortal from an Otherworld. But then Lei Wenjie himself was exposed as a member of the Wenda Alliance, so Mao Xiu naturally assumed the initial report had been false information.

Therefore, even though Lei Wenjie and the others were protecting Li Ye in their midst, he didn’t believe Li Ye was the Alliance Leader of the Wenda Alliance.

In his mind, the Alliance Leader of the Wenda Alliance had to be at least at the Harmonization Realm, and certainly wouldn’t be so young.

For that matter, even if Lei Wenjie’s initial report had been true, the Alliance Leader was supposed to be a mere fledgling at the Qi Refining Stage, not someone at the Divinity Transformation Realm.

Most importantly, he didn’t believe the Alliance Leader of the Wenda Alliance would personally appear on the front lines.

After all, the Demon Sect’s own Sect Leader spent most of his time commanding from the rear. Even an Elder like him would not be deployed so easily unless it was for a major war between the righteous and demonic sects.

Sending four Elders to capture Lei Wenjie this time was already unprecedented.

It was all about misdirection.

The "Alliance Leader" they were protecting must be a diversion—a Blinding Technique. He had to admit, these Void Refinement Realm cultivators were putting on a convincing act.

’Still, to deploy more than a dozen Void Refinement Realm cultivators and hundreds at the Divinity Transformation Realm just to attack such a small sect... the Wenda Alliance’s ambitions are truly immense!’

"So what if you’re at the Void Refinement Realm? You won’t escape my grasp today. Lei Wenjie, Qiu Ming, abandon all resistance and return to the Demon Sect with me. You’ll suffer less that way."

A ball of black qi rested in Mao Xiu’s palm, and flashes of electricity were faintly visible within it. Aside from his mastery of arrays, his main cultivation path was the Dao of lightning.

What Lei Wenjie was trying to convey was that he had advanced to the Void Refinement Realm in just a few short days after joining the Wenda Alliance.

But to Mao Xiu, it sounded like a threat—a boast about the Wenda Alliance’s power. ’Sending two Void Refinement Realm cultivators to infiltrate the Demon Sect while disguised as being in the Divinity Transformation Realm... you think that makes you look impressive?’

Due to their conflicting perspectives, their conversation had been a complete misunderstanding from the start.

"Elder Mao, what I mean is that it only took me a few days to advance from the Divinity Transformation Realm to the Void Refinement Realm." Seeing that Mao Xiu hadn’t understood him, Lei Wenjie explained further, "The Wenda Alliance has a special method for raising one’s Skill Level. If you Elders join the Wenda Alliance, you can also rapidly increase your cultivation just like us..."

A roar of laughter erupted.

It cut Lei Wenjie off mid-sentence.

"Are you taking me for a fool, Lei Wenjie?" Mao Xiu snorted. "Since you refuse to see reason, it’ll be all the same if I just drag you back to the Demon Sect for questioning."

Before the words had even left his mouth, dozens of lightning bolts shot down from the dark clouds, striking directly at Lei Wenjie and his companions.

Naturally, Li Ye, who was only at the Divinity Transformation Realm, was ignored.

Lei Wenjie and the others naturally fought back, but they also deliberately left their backs undefended. It was a necessary tactical maneuver, creating an opening for their "healer."

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!

Li Ye raised his hand, unleashing a dozen streams of Sword Qi to "viciously" strike his own teammates from afar.

Lei Wenjie and the others reacted as if they had taken a powerful stimulant, their eyes shining with a brilliant light.

Qiu Ming summoned his chessboard, helping everyone block the lightning strikes.

Lei Wenjie’s Black Lotus enveloped him, and innumerable Little Lotuses, like a swarm of drones, flew out to attack the four Elders.

Qu Hao used a Talisman, first protecting Li Ye, before coordinating with Lei Wenjie’s lotuses to strike at their enemies...

...

In an instant, Sword Light, lotuses, black qi, and lightning flooded the entire Mountain Gate of the Snake Shadow Sect.

The mountaintop was leveled, buildings collapsed in swathes, and the forests on the slopes were set ablaze by lightning.

The entire mountain looked like a living inferno.

The junior disciples of the Snake Shadow Sect trembled in fear. Caught in the dense barrage of attacks with nowhere to hide, a huge number of them were killed or injured in an instant...

Dozens of Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators charged out from behind the four Elders, clashing with the Wenda Alliance’s own Divinity Transformation Realm members and leaving the main battlefield to the four Elders.

...

’So this is what a battle between high-level cultivators looks like!’

’The sky and earth are sealed off. There’s practically nowhere safe...’

Li Ye was unlike an ordinary Divinity Transformation Realm cultivator. His physical constitution was extremely robust, and with the help of Demon Qi, his regenerative abilities were also fast.

Furthermore, his perception could cover almost the entirety of Snake Shadow Mountain. Even if Qu Hao and the others weren’t shielding him, he could find openings within the dense barrage of attacks.

Of course, this was also helped by the fact that he wasn’t a primary target.

The four Elders had the same idea: to catch a thief, first catch the king. Once they dealt with the dozen or so Void Refinement Realm experts, the battle would be over. None of them gave a second thought to a mere cultivator at the Divinity Transformation Realm.

...

The flash-cultivated experts at Li Ye’s side were clearly no match for the veteran Demon Sect masters, especially with Mao Xiu, who was an entire realm above them.

Aided by the Formless Thunder Slaughter Array, the lightning could strike wherever he willed.

Thunder and lightning were known to be the ultimate form of attack.

In the very first exchange, Qiu Ming’s chessboard was already on the verge of shattering.

Lei Wenjie’s Little Lotuses couldn’t even get close to the four Elders before being blasted to smithereens by the lightning.

Their Cultivation Techniques, designed for the Divinity Transformation Realm, were completely mismatched with their current Void Refinement Realm. They barely managed to withstand the enemy’s first round of attacks by relying on their raw cultivation base alone.

The group of flash-cultivated Divinity Transformation Realm experts behind them had their cultivation suppressed by the Formless Thunder Slaughter Array, making them even more vulnerable.

In just a few moments, more than a dozen of their people were wounded at the hands of the Demon Sect. The problem was, even if they wanted to escape, they didn’t know where to run. One turn in the swirling black qi and they couldn’t even find their own teammates.

"Alliance Leader, we have to retreat! Forget about the others," Lei Wenjie said. "Where there’s life, there’s hope!"

"Cover me. I’m going to kill Mao Xiu." Li Ye’s gaze locked onto the lofty figure of Mao Xiu, his eyes blazing with the will to fight.

"Alliance Leader?" Lei Wenjie froze, thinking he must have misheard.

"Cover me. Get me within three li of Mao Xiu, and I’m confident I can take him down," Li Ye said.

"Alliance Leader, this is no time for bravado!" Hearing Li Ye’s unreasonable demand, Qiu Ming grew anxious and blurted out, "You’re two entire realms below Elder Mao! You won’t even be able to break through his defenses! If we escape, we can surpass his cultivation in a month at most. Why take such a risk?"

"You don’t understand. The legend of our ’Immortal Golden Body’ can’t be broken," Li Ye said, shaking his head. "The moment we run, the Wenda Alliance is finished. Everyone will turn on us.

We might escape the pursuit of these four Elders, but can we escape the Upper Three Sects?

From the very beginning, we’ve been on a path of no return. We can only win, we can never lose, not until we unite the entire cultivation world."

"Alliance Leader, are you truly certain?" Qu Hao asked, a flicker of resolve in his eyes.

"Qu Hao, are you insane?" Lei Wenjie shouted angrily.

"Can’t you see? We can’t escape," Qu Hao said. "We’ll never be faster than an Elder at the Harmonization Realm. We have to believe in our Alliance Leader. He’s a man who works miracles..."

Qiu Ming fell silent.

"That’s right. The path I walk has always been different from yours. It’s time you all witnessed my second Divine Ability," Li ye said with a smile. ’Send me up!’

"Fine." Lei Wenjie was taken aback by the determination in Li Ye’s eyes. He gritted his teeth and said, "Alliance Leader, don’t worry. The Protective Treasure you’re wearing is strong enough to last for a moment against someone at the Harmonization Realm. We’ll risk our lives to get you back! Brothers, combine your strength and help my Senior Brother! His chessboard can temporarily block the lightning..."

Meng Mingzhe and the others heard Li Ye’s plan. They knew that even working together, they were no match for Mao Xiu.

In a situation like this, their only option was to hope that their Alliance Leader could indeed work a miracle.

Everyone abandoned their attacks, instead working together to channel their Spiritual Power to Qiu Ming.

With the help of more than a dozen Void Refinement Realm cultivators, the chessboard that had been on the verge of collapse instantly stabilized. A ray of golden light descended from the board, enveloping Li Ye within it.

Li Ye shot into the air and charged toward Mao Xiu.

"How reckless." With his profound Skill Level, Mao Xiu had clearly heard their conversation.

He was somewhat surprised that Lei Wenjie and the others truly treated that young man as their leader, but he still didn’t believe Li Ye could be the Alliance Leader of the Wenda Alliance.

’Even if he really is the one, so be it. It’s not like it matters if I kill him. He’s only at the Divinity Transformation Realm.’

Seeing Li Ye charging up under the protection of the chessboard, he shook his head in contempt. Flipping his palm, he drew the Spiritual Power of Snake Shadow Mountain into the Formless Thunder Slaughter Array, sending bolt after bolt of lightning as thick as a water bucket crashing down onto the chessboard.