Sage of Humanity-Chapter 764 - 762: Heaven’s Augury’s Flourish

Thud, thud, thud...

Continuously, the muffled, rhythmic sounds surged dramatically, as if an invisible giant was pounding heavy war drums above the clouds.

The beating of the drums rose and fell, and Lu Ye felt a tumultuous surge of blood Qi in his chest.

Looking around,

Whether it was Li Baxian, Feng Yuechan, Giant Armor, or even Hua Ci the healing cultivator, all of their auras fluctuated wildly, filled with high fighting spirits.

"No need to panic. It seems that before every Cloud River contest, such celestial phenomena occur. This is the operation of Heaven's Augury, meant to boost morale and stimulate the will to fight," Li Baxian's voice rang out.

Only then did Lu Ye relax his mind, as he had thought something had gone wrong a moment ago.

The drums sounded eighteen times.

Afterward, three lingering, long horn sounds melodiously spread out, carrying with them the faint sounds of thousands of horses and armies charging through the air, enveloping the air with an iron-blooded aura.

The entire Cloud River battlefield was bathed in a solemn and deadly atmosphere.

Lu Ye's expression was peculiar.

He couldn't understand why the Heaven's Augury of the Nine Provinces had to put on such a spectacle.

After a while, the sound of the horns gradually faded away.

It was as if there was a giant roaring above the vault of heaven.

"Battle!"

"Battle!"

"Battle!"

Even though Lu Ye had a steadfast mind, this whole spectacle stirred up a fighting spirit within him, making him itch to find a worthy opponent for an immediate battle to relieve the feeling in his heart.

Then Lu Ye saw a ripple suddenly sweep across the Heaven's Augury Pillar, spreading in all directions. As the ripples dissipated, Li Baxian's figure suddenly vanished, followed by Giant Armor, and almost simultaneously Hua Ci and Feng Yuechan disappeared.

At the same time, the battlefield marking on the back of his hand warmed slightly, and a strange pulling force came upon him, blurring his vision.

When he regained his senses, he found himself in a place similar to a combat arena.

"Roar!"

Before Lu Ye could even familiarize himself with the scene before him, a wild roar came from beside his ear. Turning his head, he saw a bull-horned demon cultivator with blood-red eyes staring at him, his nostrils emitting two streams of hot air resembling reality.

He held a supreme-grade spirit artifact big shield in one hand and a broad axe in the other, pointing at Lu Ye: "You there, boy, come and meet your death!"

With just one glance, Lu Ye knew that this demon cultivator had been affected by the Heaven's Augury spectacle too, feeling much like himself—eager for a battle.

What more was there to say?

Lu Ye took a step forward and charged towards the bull-horned demon cultivator, almost dragging an afterimage behind him.

"Well met!" shouted the demon cultivator, taking heavy steps towards Lu Ye. His huge build and large steps brought their figures close within moments.

Lu Ye raised his sword to strike.

The bull-horned demon cultivator advanced with his big shield, the other hand swinging the broad axe menacingly.

Joy filled his heart; in the initial fight, he met a combat cultivator renowned for his stubbornness, which was indeed lucky. Moreover, this combat cultivator seemed to have had his combat intent fully ignited and foolishly used his sword to strike the big shield—it was utterly unwise.

Cultivators have various schools, each having strengths and weaknesses against each other.

Generally speaking, physique cultivators have a certain suppression over combat cultivators because to kill the enemy, combat cultivators need to get close, whereas the superior defense of physique cultivators can naturally weaken various moves of combat cultivators.

Especially since the spirit artifact big shield in his hand was already of supreme-grade quality. Coupled with his Level 8 Cloud River Realm cultivation, it was unlikely he would make it into the top hundred of the Cloud River contest, but aiming for the top three thousand with hard effort was still hopeful.

As he thought this, a loud sound erupted.

Boom...

The moment the sword clashed with the shield, a visibly massive ripple violently spread out, hitting the barriers around the combat arena. The heavy airwaves caused the barriers to flicker with light.

Simultaneously, the bull-horned demon cultivator felt an irresistible immense force descending from above. Even with his strong physique, he was almost forced to let go of his spirit artifact big shield.

He stumbled, half-kneeling on the ground, and the counterattack he was attempting to make came to an abrupt stop.

"Moo?"

The infinite fighting spirit in the demon cultivator's eyes was instantly replaced by astonishment, a single thought surging through his mind.

How... how is this guy stronger than me?

While he pondered, Lu Ye's Boulder Mountain Saber already descended like a tempest.

As a combat cultivator, the best tactic against physique cultivators is naturally to stick close and look for vulnerabilities in their defense to strike, rather than mindlessly slashing at someone's spirit artifact big shield like he was.

But stirred by the Heaven's Augury spectacle, Lu Ye's desire to fight boiled over, needing immediate release.

The bull-horned physique cultivator had terrible luck.

He had yet to get a clear look at Lu Ye's face when, under the storm-like assault, he found himself hiding behind his spirit artifact big shield. With each thunderous impact, his figure shrunk progressively lower, until finally he had no choice but to use his shoulder to prop up his own shield, otherwise he couldn't withstand it.

The spirit light on the big shield flickered wildly.

He watched helplessly as his spirit artifact visibly dimmed.

The confidence of moments ago had vanished completely, his heart nearly bleeding with pain.

This supreme-grade shield had cost him a great deal. He had it custom made by an Artifact Refiner of his sect to maximize his own advantages, specifically for the Cloud River contest.

But given the current situation, even if he continued to persevere, not to mention whether he would survive, his spirit artifact big shield might well be smashed to pieces.

Who was the other party? The horned demon cultivator was filled with sorrow and indignation.

"I concede!" Even though he was reluctant and had not even had the chance to clearly see his enemy, the horned demon cultivator still roared out loud.

If he didn't concede now, it would be too late.

Losing this match didn't matter, as long as his Spiritual Artifact wasn't shattered, he still had chances, but if the Spiritual Artifact was broken, then he would be at a great disadvantage in the following battles.

The combat style of the Cloud River Struggle was similar to that of the Spirit Stream Ranking battles, where one could actively concede.

As the voice fell, ripples spread out, and the figure of the horned demon cultivator instantly vanished.

Lu Ye brought his saber down another stroke, hitting nothing but air, and hastily stopped the blade just an inch off the ground.

A hollow voice arose from an unknown place.

"Righteous Blood Sect's Lu Yiye, victorious!"

As the sound fell, a gentle force enveloped Lu Ye, taking him away from that place.

When he regained his senses, he was back at the original location, but he saw no trace of others around him, presumably because they were still fighting.

Lu Ye didn't mind, and started to check his own battlefield marking.

The marking still recorded various information about him, but the number of battle merits had changed slightly.

Originally, Lu Ye had 3,232 battle merits, a number he remembered clearly, but now it had changed to 3,287.

He had gained an additional fifty-five battle merits.

And a Cloud River Level 8 cultivator represented a basic merit count of fifty-five points.

This meant that on the Cloud River Struggle arena, defeating one's opponent could actually yield the corresponding number of battle merits.

This information had been relayed to him by Hua Ci previously, and now he was checking just to confirm it.

It was for this reason that each time the Cloud River Struggle began, nearly all cultivators in the Nine Provinces of the Cloud River Realm, regardless of their cultivation levels, would participate.

Since the avenues for acquiring battle merits in the Cloud River Realm were limited, participating in the Cloud River Struggle was a chance to obtain them, who wouldn't be tempted?

Cultivators of lower cultivation didn't need to worry. There would always be those with even lower cultivation. Even if one only won a single battle throughout the struggle, they could still gain some benefits.

Of course, for Lu Ye, who had seen grand scenes and could easily amass two or three hundred thousand battle merits, fifty-five battle merits now hardly piqued his interest.

An additional piece of information appeared in the marking.

Right below the battle merit record.

Cloud River Struggle victories: one!

In the entire struggle, the number of battle merits obtained, along with the number of victories, and even the duration of the battles, would all be used as standards for determining the final rankings.

And judging all this was, of course, the high and mysterious Heaven's Augury.

The initial battle was won without any suspense.

The fighting spirit in Lu Ye's heart also eased a lot.

He leisurely raised his hand to press it on the Heaven's Augury Pillar, connected his mind to it, and after a brief moment, ripples once again surged on the pillar.

Lu Ye disappeared on the spot.

The second match, started! freēwēbnovel.com

At the beginning stages of the Cloud River Struggle, within seven days, cultivators could partake whenever they wanted, joining more battles as their abilities allowed, to accumulate their own battle merits and count of victories.

However, the maximum was one hundred matches.

That is to say, even if Lu Ye kept battling relentlessly, he could, at most, fight a hundred battles within those seven days.

After seven days, Heaven's Augury would screen the cultivators based on their performances in the battles and select three thousand individuals.

All others would be eliminated.

Afterwards, it was time to determine the top one hundred among those three thousand.

The entire Cloud River Struggle would last nearly a month.

During this period, not only the Cloud River Realm cultivators on the battlefield were immersed in this, but even the minor sects and big sects throughout the Nine Provinces kept a close eye, hoping that their disciples would achieve good rankings and bring glory to their sects.

For some cultivators, this was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to make a name for themselves. Historically, the top ten in each Cloud River Struggle had very promising futures, and nearly all the Divine Sea Realm strong cultivators in the major sects today had proven themselves in this grand event.

To Lu Ye, the first battle was just a warm-up.

But upon seeing his opponent for the second match, Lu Ye lost even the interest for a warm-up.

The opposing cultivator appeared very nervous. He seemed young and not highly cultivated, being only at Level 5.

Against such an opponent, Lu Ye feared he might accidentally kill him before he could utter the words "I concede."

Uncertain of the opponent's factional alliance, it wasn't appropriate to attack lethally right away.

Lu Ye simply patted Amber on the shoulder.

Understanding the hint, Amber leapt down from Lu Ye's shoulder and with a roar, charged at the Level 5 cultivator, taunting him.

The opponent was clearly confused, but upon seeing Lu Ye casually sit down cross-legged, his face darkened, "Fellow Daoist, although your cultivation might be higher than mine, there's no need to look down on people like this, right?"

Lu Ye's posture clearly indicated his intention for Amber to fight him.

"Beat my pet beast first," Lu Ye casually replied, then closed his eyes to meditate. His mind was still busy with many gifts from the Hundred Arrays Pagoda that he hadn't yet digested, and this sporadic time was just right to attend to that.