Sage of Humanity-Chapter 771 - 769: Top 100 of Cloud River

The handover with Master Feather went smoothly, Lu Ye got the Boulder Mountain Saber, and Master Feather received his merit, both sides delighted.

In front of Heaven's Augury Pillar, Lu Ye examined the Boulder Mountain Saber after its upgrade.

The shape, the length, had not changed in the least, but the blade had become even darker, as if it could swallow light itself.

He ran a finger over every corner of the blade, and all traces of the fierce battles that it bore were erased, the whole saber reborn anew.

It wasn't overtly sharp; the Boulder Mountain Saber had never relied on sharpness for victory. Its first impression was always one of solidity.

With the saber in hand, one felt deep and immoveable, like a mountain that would never fall throughout the ages.

When spirit force was poured into it, there was no delay, a hum emanated from the blade, and the saber felt like an extension of his own body.

Lu Ye silently sensed the flow of his own spirit force and the many restrictions within the blade.

Originally, the Boulder Mountain Saber was merely a top-grade spiritual artifact with twenty-seven restrictions, but now, it housed seventy-two restrictions, making it the epitome of a low-grade magic artifact.

The myriad restrictions were seamlessly connected, complementing each other without flaws, showcasing the profound skill of Master Feather in the Path of Artifact Refining.

This also counted as Lu Ye's very first magic artifact in his life.

Spiritual artifacts, magic artifacts—the more complex the restrictions they contained, the greater the power they could unleash, but correspondingly, the greater the toll on the wielder.

Those below the True Lake Realm typically do not use magic artifacts, not because they can't afford to.

The Heaven's Augury treasure vault is right there, and with enough merit, not to mention low-grade magic artifacts, even top-grade magic artifacts can be easily exchanged.

But what does it matter if they can afford it when the consumption is too high? Even with a magic artifact, a cultivator below the True Lake Realm couldn't sustain it for a long duration.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, magic artifacts are more or less exclusive to True Lake Realm cultivators.

Theoretically, a low-grade magic artifact can accompany a True Lake cultivator for a very long time.

Although Lu Ye is currently only at Cloud River Level 8, using the power of a magic artifact entails significant consumption, but compared to other cultivators, his recovery is simple, and he has a spirit energy-storing ring as backup, so the problem isn't serious.

Moreover, at this stage in the Nine Provinces Cloud River Realm, it's unlikely he will encounter an opponent that could force him into prolonged battle.

As long as he can conclude the fight quickly, it doesn't matter if he uses a low-grade magic artifact or even a supreme-grade magic artifact.

After inspecting the Boulder Mountain Saber and confirming that it met and even exceeded his expectations, Lu Ye sheathed the saber and conveniently upgraded his supplies box and weapon control to the class of magic artifacts.

His supplies box and weapon control were only of mid-grade spiritual artifact quality and had long been unable to keep up with his strength improvement in cultivation. He had not dealt with it before mainly because, as his cultivation increased, he used weapon control less frequently.

For most cultivators, weapon control mainly serves as a means to kill enemies at a medium range—a supplementary method, not the main one.

After all, whether you're a combat cultivator, a physique cultivator, or a ghost cultivator, you need to engage in close combat to display your full strength.

This is especially true for Lu Ye. Now, he has achieved a high level of mastery in the path of magic, and to him, weapon control is actually optional.

It's just a precaution.

Magic-artifact-class weapon control and supplies boxes are extremely valuable, each costing tens of thousands of merits. Lu Ye chose one with three weapon controls and spent about 30,000 merits on it.

As a result, he still had over 80,000 merits left.

Without returning to Emerald Bamboo Peak, he simply sat cross-legged in Heaven's Augury Hall, refining the supplies box and weapon control while cultivating and reading.

Although he was eager to witness the origin of the Soaring Dragon World and glimpse the tumultuous lives of those powerful figures who stirred up an era, to extract the essence of their cultivation, some things should not be rushed.

Life is long; there's no need to hurry.

And so, several days passed in such a manner.

When his battlefield marking on the back of his hand stirred, Lu Ye knew that the results for the second round of the Cloud River Contest were out.

He checked his own marking, and in the last column, he saw new words.

Cloud River Contest Ranking: Top 100!

There was no specific rank, but as his consciousness delved into this information, he immediately recognized the names—some familiar, some strange.

A total of one hundred.

These one hundred were the top finalists of this Cloud River Contest.

Any cultivator who had participated in the Cloud River Contest could inquire through their own battlefield markings.

In the list, Lu Ye found his name, Fong Rulie's, Lan Ziyi's, and he saw Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan, even Giant Armor made the shocking entry!

That Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan reached the top 100 was not surprising to Lu Ye; these two had a very solid foundation accumulated in the Spirit Stream Realm. In Fox Fairy Valley, they had also received a baptism bestowed by Heaven's Augury along with him, allowing their foundations to become even more prominent.

Now, what held them back was only their cultivation level.

It could even be said that they were a bit out of luck with the times.

If their cultivation was not at Level 7 but at Level 8, Lu Ye thought that they would definitely be able to make it into the top ten.

But whether they could actually enter the top ten now was something Lu Ye couldn't be sure of.

As for the Giant Armor... this simple-minded individual with exceptional talent possesses a physique so powerful that it's alarming. At the level of the Cloud River Realm, Lu Ye found it hard to imagine anyone who could pose a threat to him.

Whether it was excellent magic and spells or unparalleled swords and sabers, Giant Armor could simply overpower them with his brute strength. In the past seven days, every opponent who faced him in combat could barely describe their bitter struggles.

Because Giant Armor had no particular strategy against enemies, he would just charge headlong, chasing after his opponents around the field until he drained them of their spirit force by sheer persistence, forcing them to concede defeat actively.

It was within expectation not to see Hua Ci's name.

After all, her cultivation was a bit too low. She didn't have a deep foundation like Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan, nor did she have Giant Armor's exceptional talent. Even though her means of poisoning were unfathomably cunning, a battle environment similar to the combat arena in the Cloud River supremacy competition was very disadvantageous for her; such conditions didn't allow her to unleash her full potential.

In the Nine Provinces' Cloud River Realm, talents emerged in great numbers, and once she encountered an opponent who could decide the outcome in a short time, she would surely lose.

The entire Great Reversal Valley Spirit Ground only had five people, yet the Cloud River supremacy's top 100 list included four of them, a staggering achievement.

Like the first two rounds, both the third and fourth rounds would last for seven days.

This made the duration of this significant event nearly a month.

During the first and second rounds, cultivators couldn't choose their opponents but were left to the whims of Heaven's Augury. They were sent into the combat arena without knowing what kind of opponent they would face – it was all up to chance.

Of course, the operation of Heaven's Augury was naturally fair; what kind of cultivators would meet what kind of opponents was something cultivators themselves couldn't interfere with, but Heaven's Augury had its own reasonable arrangements.

However, during the third round, cultivators had the opportunity to choose their opponents.

In the third round of the Cloud River supremacy, theoretically, each cultivator had to fight ten battles. The final ranking would then be determined by the outcomes and performance in these ten battles, combined with the cultivator's results from the first two rounds.

The reason this is theoretical is that it is not absolute.

In the third round, what each cultivator must do is actively challenge five different opponents.

That is, to select and challenge five people from the top 100 list to decide the outcome.

The other rule is to passively accept challenges up to five times! This is to prevent collusion among some individuals specifically targeting one person.

Of course, if you're lucky enough, you might not be challenged by anyone during the entire third round. In that case, you only need to actively challenge others five times, and the other five battles that you were not challenged in would all be counted as victories.

Therefore, in the third round of the tournament, cultivators would fight a minimum of five battles and a maximum of ten.

The emergence of the top 100 list also signified the official start of the third round of the competition.

It wasn't that Lu Ye underestimated his opponents, but with his current strength and perspective, cultivators at the level of the Cloud River Realm were unlikely to pose any threat to him.

Choosing what kind of opponent didn't make a difference to him.

As his consciousness moved across several names, just when he was about to randomly select a lucky Fellow Daoist, his battlefield marking suddenly stirred.

At the same time, a hollow voice rang in his mind.

"Ying Wuji has issued you a challenge!"

Lu Ye's eyebrows raised.

Someone's not afraid of death?

As the voice sounded, ripples emanated from the Heaven's Augury Pillar in front of him. Without giving Lu Ye any time to react, it enveloped him.

His vision blurred, and he found himself within a dense forest!

The first and second rounds of the Cloud River supremacy battles took place in an environment similar to a combat arena, with ample space for cultivators of any school to fully exert their strength, so the competitors could see each other as soon as they entered.

But the third round was obviously different.

This time, the battlefield was not the combat arena, but a small space.

Moreover, this space was chosen by the challenger, allowing them to fully utilize their advantages and gain the upper hand in the terrain.

Having previously learned about the various rules of the Cloud River supremacy competition, Lu Ye was not surprised by this.

The dense forest was quiet, and the rustling trees and grass carried an undertone of murderous intent.

Furthermore, Lu Ye faintly sensed that hidden within this dense forest were formations.

With a thought, he tried to take to the skies, but after ascending thirty feet, it felt as if he were bearing the weight of a vast mountain, preventing him from flying any higher.

The Great Sky Prohibition Array!

The challenger could not only choose terrain that was advantageous and allowed them to leverage their strengths, but they could also tailor specific formation arrays. Of course, these arrays would cover the entire combat field and affect both parties involved in the battle.

Such an environment, coupled with the Great Sky Prohibition Array,

Immediately informed Lu Ye that his challenger must be a ghost cultivator!

The quiet, vegetation-rich forest suited ghost cultivators to conceal their presence and launch surprise attacks. The main purpose of the Great Sky Prohibition Array was to prevent him from taking flight and fleeing.

And thinking of the name Ying Wuji…

Lu Ye felt it sounded somewhat familiar; he seemed to have heard this name somewhere before.

But making it to the top 100 of the Cloud River Realm, every single one came from core disciples of top sects. These people had mostly made a name for themselves on the Cloud River battlefield, so it was normal for him to have heard of them before.