Sage of Humanity

Chapter 2072: Chapter 2070: The Price of Hostility

Lie Huo felt like retreating, but he didn’t dare act recklessly because he couldn’t figure out Lu Ye’s attitude towards him now.

Even though he didn’t sense any hostility, Lu Ye’s earlier decisive killing clearly showed that he was not one to be easily trifled with. This kind of person, who appears calm on the surface and strikes with thunderous force, is actually the hardest to deal with, a fact Lie Huo knew all too well.

He felt a sense of pity for Ji Boyun and Jeu Se. If Ji Boyun had initially agreed to the other’s proposal, he wouldn’t have brought about his own death. But those two, one coveted the method to control the Sun Flaming Beast King and the other the affiliated treasure, ended up dead, leaving Lie Huo in a difficult position.

Gritting his teeth, he spoke up, "Fellow Daoist, this matter has nothing to do with me. Fellow Daoist Ji and Jeu Se are already dead. Let’s leave it at that."

Lu Ye nodded: "Indeed, it has nothing to do with you, but..." He shifted the conversation with a faint smile, "Had I not acted swiftly just now, I suspect you three would have already attacked me together, right?"

His words were quite true. When Ji Boyun acted, he had called for them. Both Jeu Se and Lie Huo were quite tempted by his proposal at the time. After all, they had come here to cultivate using the special environment. If there was a better way, no one would pass it up.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Lie Huo said in a deep voice, "Then what does Fellow Daoist plan to do? Why not just say it straightforwardly!"

The Savage Race is mostly straightforward in nature, something Lu Ye understood, as he didn’t like beating around the bush either. He nodded and said, "If that’s the case, then please stay here and help refine the Scorching Sun Essence. Since you’ve chosen to cultivate here, you should have the means to refine it."

Lie Huo was utterly surprised: "You want me to help you refine the Scorching Sun Essence?"

Lu Ye squinted at him: "In this world, any unfounded hostility comes with a cost. What do you say, Fellow Daoist?"

Lie Huo’s expression turned grim, full of reluctance, but he acknowledged the truth in Lu Ye’s words. If he were in Lu Ye’s position, he wouldn’t let it go either, since he indeed showed some hostility toward Lu Ye earlier, though it didn’t become a fact because Lu Ye acted too fast.

After struggling with his expression for a while, Lie Huo sighed dejectedly: "Fine, I’ll help you refine the Scorching Sun Essence, but there must be a deadline, right?"

Lu Ye said, "How about a thousand Scorching Sun Essences?"

He wasn’t sure about Lie Huo’s efficiency in refining the Scorching Sun Essence, but since he was in the Sun Blaze Late Stage, the refining speed shouldn’t be too slow. A thousand essences might not take too long.

Lie Huo also calculated silently, his eye twitched slightly, but he ultimately agreed: "Okay!"

"Then it’s settled," Lu Ye said happily.

Keeping Lie Huo wasn’t just about needing his Scorching Sun Essence. Any individual in the Sun Blaze Late Stage is likely to have many backgrounds. He killed Ji Boyun and Jeu Se here; if he let Lie Huo leave, this matter could potentially be exposed, causing trouble later.

He came here to cultivate and didn’t want to be disturbed.

The vast Giant Red Planet originally had four cultivators, and now only two remained. Lu Ye collected the storage rings of Ji Boyun and Jeu Se and, upon a quick inspection, found that both were reasonably wealthy, making it a rewarding gain.

Lie Huo sat down not far away and began using his method to refine the Scorching Sun Essence. He had evidently accepted his fate and was also someone who reasoned well. If he had insisted on fleeing earlier, Lu Ye wouldn’t really stop him.

After some consideration, Lu Ye took out the Beast Attracting Incense he had kept and lit it.

The peculiar fragrance dispersed, carried further by the solar wind.

Nearby Sun Flaming Beasts gathered around the incense, inhaling greedily and each showing a look of utter ecstasy.

The Sun Flaming Beast King occupied the best spot.

As time passed, more Sun Flaming Beasts were attracted by the incense, gradually expanding the scale and significantly increasing in number.

Previously, the Sun Flaming Beast King occasionally went out to find its kind and brought them back for Lu Ye to use, but the efficiency wasn’t high. Now that the Beast Attracting Incense was lit, it was much more convenient.

By the time it had burned out, the number of Sun Flaming Beasts had more than tripled.

This likely wasn’t all the Sun Flaming Beasts on the Giant Red Planet, but only a few had probably escaped notice.

With the Sun Flaming Beast King maintaining order, Lu Ye didn’t need to worry too much. Each Sun Flaming Beast spread out and focused on refining the Scorching Sun Essence.

Initially, Lu Ye needed to harvest periodically, but after a few times, finding it too troublesome, he called over the Sun Flaming Beast King and gave it careful instructions.

After a while, he no longer needed to harvest them himself. Any Sun Flaming Beast that finished refining the Scorching Sun Essence would voluntarily bring it to him.

This made it much easier.

Although some Sun Flaming Beasts sneaked off and slacked, it wasn’t a big issue. As long as he controlled the Sun Flaming Beast King, he could indirectly control the entire group of Sun Flaming Beasts.

Apart from the Sun Flaming Beasts contributing, Lie Huo was also adding to the Scorching Sun Essence.

Every three days, he would deliver an extremely pure Scorching Sun Essence to Lu Ye and then return to not far away to continue refining.

Lu Ye realized he had overestimated the speed at which he could refine the Scorching Sun Essence, or rather, Lie Huo had extremely high requirements for the quality of the Scorching Sun Essence he refined, otherwise as someone at the Sun Blaze Late Stage, it shouldn’t take him three days to refine just one.

He could easily refine several in a day... but if he did, the quality of the Scorching Sun Essence would surely be poor.

Unlike now, where the Scorching Sun Essence refined by Lie Huo was almost indistinguishable in quality from that of the Sun Flaming Beast King, and perhaps even better.

One every three days, and he wanted a thousand... even if he refined them without rest, it would still take more than eight years. It was incredible that Lie Huo agreed to this.

But to be honest, eight years isn’t much to someone at the Sun Blaze Late Stage.

Under such circumstances, the efficiency of the fire gourd nurturing uncanny fire increased dramatically, almost averaging three clusters of uncanny fire every two days, all for the Talent Tree to devour.

All Lu Ye needed to do was wait.

He wasn’t idle.

While waiting, he would either refine spirit jade to enhance his cultivation or consume supreme-grade psyche refinement pills to practice the Soul Suppressing Secret Technique.

Although the Soul Suppressing Secret Technique had reached a minor achievement, its cultivation spanned the entire Sun Blaze realm, so he couldn’t slack off.

Day after day, the continuous devouring of uncanny fire caused some changes in the Talent Tree, but Lu Ye didn’t know when it would finally transform. This transformation was thousands of times more difficult than the previous three.

If not for the help of a treasure like the fire gourd, it would have been nearly impossible to achieve, as Lu Ye simply couldn’t find so many fire-type resources comparable to the fire gourd’s uncanny fire for the Talent Tree to devour.

One day, Lie Huo brought over another refined Scorching Sun Essence, watched as Lu Ye activated the fire gourd to absorb it, and hesitated to speak, holding back repeatedly...

Even though he had agreed to Lu Ye’s previous request out of a sense of guilt, anyone would have some resentment in their heart in such a situation. So these days, he hadn’t exchanged a word with Lu Ye, quietly doing what was expected of him like a laborer under Lu Ye.

But he was curious...

Seeing his demeanor, Lu Ye couldn’t help but chuckle, "Does Fellow Daoist Huo have something to ask? Feel free to speak up, since it’s just the two of us here on the Giant Red Planet. I might not stay long, and once I leave, you’ll be all alone with no one to talk to."

Hearing this, Lie Huo thought the same, so he let go of his restraint, sat down in front of Lu Ye, and looked at the fire gourd, "If I’m not mistaken, this is Yiyuan World’s world-stabilizing treasure, right?"

When Jeu Se died, Lie Huo had already suspected as much, and observing for so many days, he was even more convinced that this was the affiliated treasure.

"You have a keen eye, Fellow Daoist," Lu Ye nodded, "This is indeed Yiyuan World’s world-stabilizing treasure."

"Then Fellow Daoist is from Yiyuan World?" Lie Huo asked curiously, as he hadn’t heard of such a figure from Yiyuan World before.

Lu Ye shook his head slowly and, instead of answering, asked a question of his own, "How long have you been cultivating here, Fellow Daoist?"

"Quite a while," Lie Huo calculated slightly, "About twenty years."

That explained it. By the looks of it, Lie Huo was obviously unaware of the changes in the outside world. He probably didn’t realize that the All Phenomena Ocean had already undergone a regime change, and the All Phenomena Galaxy had lost its control over the All Phenomena Ocean.

If he knew about these things, he should be able to guess Lu Ye’s identity since the fact that Yiyuan World’s fire gourd ended up in Lu Ye’s hands was no secret.

The Three Worlds Island wouldn’t announce it, and neither would Jiu Yan want to spread it around, but the news still leaked out, clearly a rumor released by Yiyuan World.

Lie Huo continued, "The treasure gourd you used to kill Ji Boyun looks very similar to this. Could that treasure also be one of the affiliated treasures of the Creation Vine?"

Lu Ye smiled and said nothing, and Lie Huo did not pursue the matter further.

He wasn’t slow by nature; he stayed silent because he was frustrated. Now that the conversation was started, in the following days, the two would occasionally have idle chats, passing some of the boring time that way.

Lu Ye never mentioned Arbuluo, as it was irrelevant; he hadn’t harmed Lie Huo back then out of respect for Arbuluo. If Lu Ye hadn’t identified Lie Huo’s Savage Race identity early on, he might have eradicated him completely.

"By the way, when do you plan to leave, Fellow Daoist? You mentioned you wouldn’t stay long," Lie Huo suddenly asked after some time.

Lu Ye focused his mind, checked the progress of the Talent Tree, and slowly shook his head, "I don’t know."

When he would leave depended on the changes of the Talent Tree, but despite devouring so much uncanny fire, the changes in the Talent Tree had yet to reach a transformative stage, making it hard for Lu Ye to judge at the moment.

Lie Huo said, "Before you leave, could you teach me how to control the Sun Flaming Beast King? Rest assured, I will definitely offer compensation that would satisfy you!"

Over the days, he had seen numerous Sun Flaming Beasts bring refined Scorching Sun Essence to Lu Ye, which made him extremely envious. If he had such skills, he wouldn’t have needed to waste so much time here; he would have achieved great success long ago.