After seeing Ju Jia off, Ji Yan looked back at Lu Ye with a solemn expression on his face, “Brother Yi Ye, I’ll be frank with you. Our situation is pretty bad right now. If you don’t mind me asking, will you stay and assist us in repelling the enemy?”
Lu Ye replied affirmatively, “That is why I have come.”
Ji Yan let out a sigh of relief. Although he knew that Lu Ye would most likely assist them, he could not be assured until he heard a proper answer.
“That is good to hear.” He moved onto his next question, “By the way, did you encounter the House of Wintry Blossoms while you were exploring the city?”
That was putting it lightly. They had clashed so many times there was enough material to compose a full tale.
“Something isn’t right with them.” Ji Yan voiced his worries with a deep frown, “I’ll be honest with you, the only reason we were able to hold on until now is because the House of Wintry Blossoms had not come to their allies’ aid. I mean, they did show up in the end, but it was only a small portion of their forces. I do not know what their main force is doing, and that worries me. There is no way we can hold back Thousand Demon Ridge if they were to meet up with Sunlit Mountain.”
“About that… you don’t need to worry about the House of Wintry Blossoms, Brother Ji. What you saw is everyone they have left.”
“Hmm?” Ji Yan looked at Lu Ye in puzzlement.
The House of Wintry Blossoms had entered the Rift of Fortune with a party of over a hundred, but he had to assume that some of them were caught and jailed by the Xianyuan City Watch right from the get go.
Therefore, Chu Qing’s group could very well be the last remnant of the House of Wintry Blossoms.
Ji Yan was going to ask how they died when he realized that Lu Ye had to have a hand in their demise. He could not have been so sure otherwise.
“Was it your doing, Brother Yi Ye?”
“You could say that.”
Ji Yan was stunned to say the least. To singlehandedly vanquish over two-thirds of a hundred-person party… it was an unimaginable feat even if he presumed that Lu Ye was underplaying Ju Jia’s role in this.
Now Ji Yan realized he had been worrying about nothing. The main bulk of House of Wintry Blossoms had already met up with Sunlit Mountain. It was just that their numbers weren’t nearly enough to pose a real threat.
“Is it because of the apparitions?” Ji Yan immediately put two and two together. There were two reasons he was treating Lu Ye with the utmost respect. One, the Crimson Blood Sect was extremely famous. Two, he had witnessed the apparitions helping Lu Ye in the big battle with his own eyes.
This was especially true for the special apparition who wailed and played the pipa. Without exaggeration, their casualties would’ve been much worse without her presence.
Again, Lu Ye nodded and responded affirmatively. Since he had made up his mind to fight alongside Hidden Light Sanctuary, there was no longer any need to conceal his advantages. At the very least, he should let his allies know what he was capable of so they knew how to maximize his effectiveness.
“Your abilities are truly unfathomable, Brother Yi Ye,” Ji Yan said with admiration.
Lu Ye changed the subject. “What is your plan now, Brother Ji?”
Ji Yan replied, “We will rest and recuperate for the moment. Now that we have you and Ju Jia, Thousand Demon Ridge should not dare to mount another attack without considerable preparation.”
“Have you not considered retaliating, Brother Ji?”
Ji Yan replied, “Of course I have. The Lost City of Xianyuan may be huge, but there can only be one tiger in a mountain. I am sure that Thousand Demon Ridge would return even though your and Ju Jia’s timely assistance have foiled their plans temporarily. After all, the casualties they took weren’t enough to debilitate their overall fighting strength.
“Rather than waiting for them to return and defend passively, I plan to rest for the day and strike back tomorrow. What do you think, Brother Yi Ye?”
“I do not see a problem with that.”
In fact, that was exactly what he wanted to hear. The reason he hadn’t made the suggestion himself was because Hidden Light Sanctuary was the de facto leader of the cultivators of Grand Sky Coalition right now. Since he had thrown in his lot with them, he should at least hear them out before voicing his own opinions.
He was glad to hear that Ji Yan’s plan coincided with his.
“Do you know where I can find more special apparitions, Brother Ji?”
Since the plan was to attack Thousand Demon Ridge, he needed to replenish his Ghost Spirits as quickly as possible. If he could bolster his little army with more special apparitions like Liu Sanbao and Pipa Girl then even better.
He only had two special apparitions right now, but their influence in any battle was more valuable than one or more squads of spectral sentries. Pipa Girl’s effect need not be said. Her cry and her pipa were capable of disrupting the enemy’s concentration to a certain degree and lower their fighting strength.
Liu Sanbao might not stand out as much as Pipa Girl, but that was only because the latter’s skill could affect a massive group. His three dice were far more powerful and flexible than any Ninth-Order cultivator’s Spirit Artifact, spell or technique.
His attempts to search for special apparitions alone had yielded subpar results. He was hoping his search efficiency would improve if he worked with Hidden Light Sanctuary.
Realization flashed across Ji Yan’s features. He immediately said, “You know what? I do know a special apparition. In fact, he is right around the corner. If you are in a hurry, I can send someone to take you there right now.”
“That will be perfect.”
Ji Yan immediately called over an Eighth-Order combat cultivator and gave him some instructions. The combat cultivator immediately nodded and led the way.
The combat cultivator obviously knew who Lu Ye was—he had also witnessed the young man and his Ghost Spirits during the earlier battle—but he was wise enough not to ask about the sensitive subjects. He simply made idle chat with Lu Ye and told him about the characteristics of the special apparition. Lu Ye made sure to remember them all.
Lu Ye would have liked to run into some spectral sentries on their way to the special apparition, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. They soon arrived at a building with a lantern hanging at the entrance and an illegible inscribed board.
After they arrived at the entrance, the Eighth-Order combat cultivator stopped in his tracks and let out a small cough. “This is it, Brother Yi Ye. I will not be accompanying you inside.”
Lu Ye nodded before pushing the door open and stepping inside.
He had barely crossed the threshold when the door slammed shut behind him. Lu Ye looked to the front and saw a scholarly apparition working away at a paper with gusto. It was impossible to tell what he was writing, only that he didn’t notice even after Lu Ye had entered his abode.
Lu Ye strode forward and sat down on the opposite side of the table. He then waited patiently for the scholar to finish his work.
An entire hour later, the scholar finally set down his brush and broke into a wide grin. He examined his own work for a moment before praising it wholeheartedly, “What a work of art you are.”
He looked up at Lu Ye and greeted him like he was an acquaintance, “Perfect timing! Come evaluate my work, will you?”
He then handed the paper to Lu Ye.
Lu Ye did not accept it. He continued to caress Amber’s fur and stare at the scholar in silence.
According to the combat cultivator, the scholar wasn’t a dangerous special apparition. Unlike Liu Sanbao, who wanted all who gambled with him to eventually gamble their lives away, this apparition only wanted to show off his work to outsiders and earn their praise.
The problem was that the scholar’s so-called work of art was so terrible that it hurt to give it any praise at all. It was why the combat cultivator hadn’t accompanied Lu Ye even though it wasn’t dangerous. His conscience suffered to tell such a bald-faced lie.
Lu Ye did not know what kind of ability the scholar possessed, but he could see that his aura was richer than Liu Sanbao’s.
So, he held a finger above Amber’s head and tapped it twice. The Ghost Spirits immediately flew out into the open and surrounded the scholar.
The scholar stared at the apparitions for a moment before holding his brush defensively in front of himself. He then threatened weakly, “A gentleman uses his mouth and not his fists!”
“Makes sense.” Lu Ye agreed. As if on cue, Amber opened its mouth and roared at the scholar…
A moment later, the combat cultivator saw Lu Ye walking out of the building. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the young man was perfectly unharmed despite the earlier commotion.
“Brother Yi Ye, Brother Ji just sent me a message. He told me that the independent cultivators know another two places with special apparitions.”
“Can you take me there?”
This time, the Eighth-Order combat cultivator got to see exactly how Lu Ye was able to control the apparitions. When they stumbled onto a squad of Xianyuan City Watch, Lu Ye immediately instructed Amber to release the Ghost Spirits and captured them all. Then, Amber swallowed the apparitions one by one.
The combat cultivator could not help but be amazed. He wasn’t an inexperienced fledgling, but this was the first time he saw a Spirit Beast with an ability . It was incredible it could control any apparition it devoured.
Two hours later, they arrived at the second location. This time, the Eighth-Order combat cultivator went in with Lu Ye probably because he wanted to further his knowledge. He saw a bunch of spectral sentries flying out of Amber’s body and binding the special apparition with their Spirit Shackling Ropes. After Lu Ye whacked them a couple of times with his blade, and his pet did what it had done to the Xianyuan City Watch earlier.
The entire process was as fluid as it was practiced. It was quite the thought-provoking experience for the combat cultivator.
Two hours later, they arrived at the third building and stepped inside. A short while later, the duo came out side by side.
“Is there anyone else?” Lu Ye asked a bit wistfully. He could get used to this.
“No. That’s it.” The Eighth-Order combat cultivator shook his head. He looked a bit dazed for some reason.
“Let’s look for the Xianyuan City Watch then.”
Special apparitions were rare, but the same could not be said for the Xianyuan City Watch. Although their numbers had dwindled considerably compared to the beginning, it still wasn’t hard to run into one.
A quarter of a day later, Lu Ye finally replenished his Ghost Spirit army in full.
He wasn’t able to gather many sentry leaders; only seven to be exact. However, his number of special apparitions had grown to five. Besides Liu Sanbao and Pipa Girl, he now had a scholar, a blind fortune teller, and a butcher.
It was a strange party, but then again, maybe not. These special apparitions were cultivators of the Lost City of Xianyuan until they met with destruction. Considering how big the city was, it was only natural that there were all kinds of cultivators in it.
Ji Yan welcomed Lu Ye with open arms when they returned to their encampment. Clearly, he had heard of Lu Ye’s exploits from his sect mates.