Sage of Humanity

Chapter 2070: Chapter 2068: Reasoning or Fists

Even without any prior rehearsal, the cooperation of the three Sun Blaze cultivators was seamless; this was naturally thanks to their rich combat experience.

To grow to their current level of Sun Blaze, which one of them hadn’t been through countless battlefields?

The mouth of the Pocket Sky Net tightened, leaving the Sun Flaming Beast King with nowhere to escape. Lie Huo was like a humanoid fierce beast of flame, pouncing to kill as he blasted out with a punch.

That punch actually struck empty air. At the moment the Pocket Sky Net contracted, the Sun Flaming Beast King had already vanished.

The three simultaneously turned their heads to the side. Over there, they saw Lu Ye quietly standing with the Sun Flaming Beast King—who should have been slain—clutched in his hand.

Obviously, at that critical instant just now, he had rescued the Sun Flaming Beast King.

This was beyond the expectations of Ji Boyun and the other two. Any one of the three of them had cultivation far above Lu Ye’s, yet the speed Lu Ye had displayed in that instant was actually a touch faster than their own full-force outburst; otherwise it would have been impossible for him to rescue the Sun Flaming Beast King under the joint effort of the three of them.

A chittering sound came, and the Sun Flaming Beast King seemed still not to have figured out what was going on. Caught in Lu Ye’s grip, it was still baring its fangs at Ji Boyun, as if it had some deep-seated hatred with him.

In fact, the Sun Flaming Beast King did indeed harbor hatred toward Ji Boyun. On the Sun Blaze level, there had originally been not just it alone among the Sun Flaming Beasts, but another one as well.

But that other one had previously died at Ji Boyun’s hands. This had undoubtedly been etched into the Sun Flaming Beast King’s heart; if not for this, it would not have chosen only Ji Boyun as its target for a sneak attack just now.

It was just that all these events had happened before Lu Ye came here, so he had no idea at all.

"Go!" When Lu Ye casually flung it away, he lightly stirred a trace of the barghest’s power, counting as giving it a warning.

Only then did the Sun Flaming Beast King come to its senses. It fell into the lava and swiftly vanished.

At that, the expressions of Ji Boyun and the other two turned exceedingly ugly...

"Junior, are you determined to make things difficult for this old man?" Ji Boyun’s heart was a mass of anger, like a suppressed volcano that might erupt at any moment.

The original plan had been excellent. If Lu Ye hadn’t suddenly intervened just now, the Sun Flaming Beast King would have been dead without a doubt, and once they killed that Sun Flaming Beast King, they would henceforth be able to cultivate on this Giant Red Planet without any worries.

But now, because of Lu Ye’s rescue, their efforts had fallen short at the last moment.

Although Jeu Se and Lie Huo were not as enraged as Ji Boyun, their expressions were also faintly unsightly.

Lu Ye sighed inwardly, cupped his fists, and said, "Please quell your anger, you three. I ask that you seriously consider what I said just now. If it’s merely for cultivation, there’s no need to wipe everything out. In the future, that Sun Flaming Beast King will absolutely not come to disturb you three again."

He had already said as much before, but none of the three had taken it to heart.

Having gone through what had just happened, Ji Boyun immediately perceived some clues. Forcing down the fire in his heart, he asked in shocked suspicion, "You’re from the beast-taming faction? You can Control that Sun Flaming Beast King?"

If he weren’t from the beast-taming faction, how could he possibly coexist peacefully with a star beast? When this Li Taibai had grabbed the Sun Flaming Beast King just now, it hadn’t resisted at all.

Yet it was still unbelievable. Cultivators from the beast-taming faction could indeed Control beasts, but that generally didn’t include star beasts, because the spiritual intelligence of star beasts was too low, and star beasts on the Sun Blaze level were basically impossible to tame.

But this Li Taibai had done it!

"You can consider it that," Lu Ye couldn’t be bothered to explain too much. Since Ji Boyun had such a misunderstanding, he might as well let it be.

"This truly opens my eyes!" Ji Boyun nodded slightly, his expression also softening, as if he intended to turn hostility into friendship with Lu Ye. But as he spoke, he suddenly stomped his foot; in an instant, the surroundings shook and firelight surged into the sky.

Scorching lava surged and tumbled, and over a vast area, intricate patterns appeared out of thin air, sealing off the inside and outside. In an instant, this thousand-li radius was shrouded by a Formation.

The firelight on Ji Boyun’s body was especially fierce, actually condensing into substance, clinging to him like a Wandering Dragon, making him look incomparably imposing and valiant.

This place had obviously already been prepared in advance by him with Formation.

This was clearly a Formation prepared for the Sun Flaming Beast King. It just hadn’t been used against the Sun Flaming Beast King, and was now being turned on Lu Ye instead.

This sudden turn of events truly caught Lu Ye off guard. Ji Boyun’s attitude had clearly shown signs of softening just a moment ago, so Lu Ye hadn’t expected him to turn his face this quickly.

By the time he came back to himself, Ji Boyun had already rushed up to him. Fierce and pure Soul Power surged, constantly battering Lu Ye’s Psyche Barrier, while the fire dragon coiled around Ji Boyun opened its jaws wide and bit down toward Lu Ye.

Not only that, two more fire dragons appeared out of thin air in Ji Boyun’s hands, transforming into two ropes that shot toward Lu Ye, trying to bind him.

If this had been two years ago, when he had just advanced to Sun Blaze, facing an old-brand Sun Blaze like Ji Boyun, Lu Ye would definitely have suffered losses just from the clash on the psyche level. But over the two years of cultivation in the Soul Race ancestral land, his Soul Suppressing Secret Technique had reached minor completion, and his Psyche Barrier had become much tougher. So although he could feel Ji Boyun’s Soul Power assault at this moment, it did not affect him.

As saber light flashed, Lu Ye’s figure darted away, dodging Ji Boyun’s offensive in an instant, while he slashed out fiercely with a blade.

Ji Boyun instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

He had originally thought that by suddenly making a move, using his Late Stage cultivation to deal with an Early Stage brat, and moreover doing so inside a Formation he himself had laid, the other side would definitely have no power to fight back. Who would have thought this Li Taibai would react so swiftly, and his Soul Power was absurdly strong, to the point that Ji Boyun’s psyche suppression had no effect at all.

In his arrogance, he had almost been injured by Lu Ye instead.

As expected, anyone qualified to gain a foothold on this Giant Red Planet was no simple character!

"What are you dazing for, join hands and take him down! He can Control that Sun Flaming Beast King. With it as the hub, we can control the entire Sun Flaming Beast herd. Sun Flaming Beasts are born with the ability to temper Scorching Sun Essence; this will be a tremendous help to our cultivation!" Ji Boyun roared.

His sudden strike just now had come without the slightest warning, leaving Jeu Se and Lie Huo completely at a loss. Only now, after hearing Ji Boyun’s words, did the two of them react.

Yes, Sun Flaming Beasts have the ability to temper Scorching Sun Essence; they both knew this. In the past they had also thought about using this ability of the Sun Flaming Beasts to speed up their own cultivation, but they could not communicate with the beasts at all. After many attempts ended in failure, they could only kill them, take their Crystal Cores and refine them.

But now it was different. With a cultivator of the beast-taming faction like Li Taibai here, and it seeming that he had already enslaved that Sun Flaming Beast King, then using the beasts’ talent to cultivate was no longer just empty talk, but something that could truly be achieved!

Old ginger really is spicier—neither of them had thought this far, yet Ji Boyun had already made his move. Their minds stirred; they no longer hesitated and lunged at Lu Ye from left and right!

The moment Ji Boyun shouted that, Lu Ye knew things were going bad.

With his current foundation, facing someone like Ji Boyun, a Sun Blaze Late Stage, he did not actually fear him. Though they had only clashed for a brief moment, Lu Ye had more or less gauged his true current strength. Fighting above his level had always been commonplace for him.

But adding Jeu Se and Lie Huo into the mix was different. The cultivation of these two was not much different from Ji Boyun’s. Their strength might not match his, but would not be too far behind either.

Three against one, there was simply no way he could be their match.

Even if Lu Ye wanted to flee, the Formation was now imprisoning all directions; he would have to break the Formation first.

He let out a faint sigh. "Why must you force me?"

He did bear some responsibility for this matter, but standing from different positions, it was hard to judge right and wrong. That was why, at the beginning, he had said he was willing to compensate these three to a certain extent, and could ensure that their future cultivation would not be disturbed.

He was not someone unreasonable.

But in this cultivation world, sometimes reason was utterly useless.

Ji Boyun had taken a fancy to his Beast Taming skill and wanted to capture him and keep him for his own use. Lu Ye naturally could not agree.

As three mighty auras locked onto him, Lu Ye suddenly put away the Boulder Mountain Saber and leisurely brought out the sword gourd.

Since Ji Boyun didn’t want to talk reason with him, he could only compare fists with the man.

The gourd’s mouth opened, aimed toward Ji Boyun. His Mental Consciousness locked onto the man’s figure, and he urged his Mana!

Almost at the very moment Lu Ye brought out the sword gourd, Ji Boyun abruptly felt a sense of great calamity descending upon him. Boundless terror fell; every hair on his body stood on end. In all his years of cultivation he had never felt such horror, especially now that he was already Sun Blaze Late Stage—there were few in this world who could threaten his life anymore.

Until this very moment!

He did not hesitate in the slightest and suddenly bellowed, "With my body as the price, life merges with the Array Amalgamation Technique!"

In an instant, his Sun Blaze Late Stage Mana and Soul Power surged and roiled wildly. His entire person resonated violently with the Formation, and in a flash, the area around him was shrouded in firelight. That firelight twisted and swelled without stop, and in the blink of an eye turned into a Fire Giant that towered between heaven and earth. Moreover, as time passed, it was still growing larger.

This was an array cultivator’s life-risking secret technique, the Array Amalgamation Technique, fusing oneself with the Formation one had laid, body and destiny becoming one, burning one’s own psyche and Mana as the price to gain far greater power for a short time.

It was a secret technique many array cultivators cultivated, but would never lightly use, because once it was used, grave damage to one’s vital energy was the lightest consequence; one careless misstep and it would be psyche and body both destroyed.

But under that fatal threat, Ji Boyun could no longer care about so much.

Even after activating the Array Amalgamation Technique, he still had no sense of safety; instead, that latent deadly aura only grew more intense.

Jeu Se and Lie Huo had long since backed away...

In fact, the two of them had sensed something was wrong almost the instant Lu Ye brought out the sword gourd. Even though Lu Ye had no intention of targeting them, they still felt their psyches trembling and their minds horrified. This prompted them to make the correct choice.

And now, seeing Ji Boyun actually merge himself with the Formation left them utterly shocked.

No one had expected the situation to develop like this. At first, none of them had taken this newcomer Lu Ye seriously at all—he was just a Sun Blaze Early Stage. Even if he had some means to Control the Sun Flaming Beast King, who here didn’t have a few special tricks? For cultivators, it still ultimately came down to whose strength was greater.

There was no doubt that the three of them were all far stronger than Lu Ye. Yet the current situation was clearly not right.