Sage of Humanity-Chapter 594 - 592: Pill Fire
In the Nine Arrays Diagram, as Lu Ye’s long saber fell, the Fox Demon’s corpse was severed, and its vitality was utterly shattered.
He took a deep breath, flicked the blood off the Boulder Mountain Saber, relaxed his mind, and staggered slightly.
The battle with the Fox Demon wasn’t particularly perilous, but the short-term massive consumption of mental power tired him somewhat.
His body was covered in wounds, but none were severe enough to impact his bones or tendons; with his robust physique, recovery wouldn’t be difficult.
"Yiyi, what’s the situation outside?" Lu Ye asked.
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In theory, with the Fox Demon dead, the Psyche Secret Technique it had implanted should self-destruct, but he couldn’t be sure of that.
Yiyi’s voice quickly reached his ears, "Everyone has returned to normal, but a few cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge ran off immediately, including Xia Liang and Tan Sheng."
"Those damn cowards, quick on their feet!" Lu Ye inwardly cursed.
He had planned to eliminate Tan Sheng and Xia Liang after killing the Fox Demon; although he had been cultivating with Xia Liang lately, he never forgot the animosity between them.
If he hadn’t been trapped inside the Nine Arrays Diagram, he could have intervened in the battlefield immediately after killing the Fox Demon, but being inside, he had no way of influencing the outside situation.
Xia Liang and Tan Sheng knew the wolf pack, having recently suffered a significant loss on spirit ground, so the first thing they did after breaking free from the Fox Demon’s control was to flee far away.
Both being Level 9, if they focused solely on escaping, the wolves really had no way to stop them.
Though he felt a sense of regret, there was nothing he could do but accept it.
Lu Ye walked a few steps forward, approached the corpse of the Fox Demon, and fumbled around, retrieving a storage sack.
This was the Fox Demon’s storage sack, always worn on its body, and now naturally it became Lu Ye’s spoil of war.
He wasn’t sure what other treasures it contained, but he knew it included a demonic pill from an Overlord-class demon beast, the one he obtained from slaying the Berserk Giant Ape, which she had stored in the sack.
This was a prize rarely encountered even in a century.
Overlord-class demon beasts on the Cloud River battlefield have rarely been slain historically; just considering the effort made by Fox Fairy Valley this time, if the cultivators attempted to handle it alone, without a group of two to three hundred, success would be impossible, coupled with enormous losses, hardly worth the effort.
Thus, cultivators generally wouldn’t provoke or attempt to kill any Overlord-class demon beasts on the Cloud River battlefield.
This time, killing the Berserk Giant Ape was possible because the Fox Demon was driven by hatred, the cultivators were bound by her Psyche Secret Technique, fearlessly brave, and Lu Ye and Xie Yunhan had set up many formations in advance as aids.
This Overlord-class demonic pill, merely holding it, Lu Ye could feel the robust energy within; entrusting it to Amber for refining would surely be greatly beneficial.
But the spoils of war consisted of more than just this.
Lu Ye reached his hand back to the corpse of the Fox Demon, probed for a moment in silence, and plunged the Boulder Mountain Saber down, extracting another demonic pill shortly after.
This was the Fox Demon’s demonic pill, which, while not as valuable as that of an Overlord-class demon beast, was still quite valuable.
Wiping the blood off the demonic pill, Lu Ye stared at it in his hands, slightly astonished.
The demonic pill was the size of an infant’s fist, exuding a weird pink color, with a faint halo on it, almost as if it were flames burning.
Could this be… pill fire?
Pill fire wasn’t the flame used in Alchemy, but the inner core of fire attribute demon beasts; Lu Ye had purchased many in the Heaven’s Augury treasure vault, all of which he had the Talent Tree absorb.
Thinking about it, the Fox Demon had activated kitsunebi that could impact the psyche during their fight, so indeed, it could be considered a fire attribute demon beast.
In the Heaven’s Augury treasure vault, pill fires had different prices, ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of merits; there was even a strange fire called the Extreme Icy Flames, worth a whopping eighteen thousand merits.
He didn’t know the worth of this Fox Demon’s demonic pill, but it couldn’t be cheap.
Since it was pill fire, it naturally could be absorbed.
Lu Ye thought and a few roots sprouted from the Talent Tree, reaching into the invisible space. The next moment, the luster of the pill fire in his hand quickly dimmed, its energy devoured by the Talent Tree.
Immersing his mind to check the changes in the Talent Tree, this was just a habit, as Lu Ye didn’t expect a single demonic pill to cause much change in the Talent Tree. Yet, to his surprise, as the energy within the demonic pill was absorbed, a leaf on the upper part of the Talent Tree suddenly reacted and visibly caught fire at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Unlike other leaves that caught flames, this one burned with the same pink color as the Fox Demon’s demonic pill.
This was the first time Lu Ye encountered such a phenomenon, and he was momentarily stunned.
Moments later, as the energy in the demonic pill was depleted, it turned to dust and fell, and the Talent Tree added a leaf burning with pink flames, distinct from the others.
Lu Ye faintly felt that he may have underestimated the value of the Fox Demon’s demonic pill.
After all, it was the demonic pill of a Six-tailed Celestial Fox, not something to be taken lightly. Just from the transformation it caused in the Talent Tree, one could tell that the value of that demonic pill was immense.
Lu Ye suppressed the doubts in his heart and did not immediately explore the information carried by the burning leaves.
Currently, he was injured, his mental power severely depleted, and there were many matters outside that awaited his attention; he could not afford to delay.
"Yiyi!" Lu Ye called out softly.
Yiyi understood and activated the power of the Nine Arrays Diagram. The next moment, Lu Ye’s figure was expelled from the Nine Arrays Diagram.
Just as he steadied himself, Amber leapt over from one side and perched on his shoulder.
Amber was very clever. The moment the Fox Demon enslaved the Giant Armor with one glance, it had jumped off Lu Ye’s body and stayed far away, fearing that it might also be enslaved by the Fox Demon.
There were no sounds of battle around. Many demon wolves quietly stood by, and the surviving cultivators of Fox Fairy Valley gathered together, each with a face full of sorrow.
While enslaved by the Fox Demon’s Psyche Secret Technique, they did not feel anything wrong with their actions. But the moment the Fox Demon died and the Psyche Secret Technique was broken, the experiences of these years suddenly flooded their minds. Each of them questioned themselves, "What have I been doing?"
Especially Xie Yunhan, who had stayed in Fox Fairy Valley for a full twelve years, had completely lost contact with his sect and relatives, with hardly any progress in his cultivation, merely wasting his time away.
Although the others had not stayed as long as Xie Yunhan, they had been there for at least one or two years. Thinking about their days in Fox Fairy Valley, they all felt deeply ashamed.
Seeing Lu Ye appear, everyone crowded around him.
"Fellow Daoist Lu," Zhou Yuntian, covered in blood, saluted Lu Ye and asked somewhat apprehensively, "Is the Fox Demon... dead?"
Even though they knew the Fox Demon must be dead when the Psyche Secret Technique was broken, they could not be sure until they received an answer.
The psychological shadow cast by the Fox Demon was indeed too great.
"The Fox Demon has been slain by me; Fellow Daoists need not worry anymore," Lu Ye spoke. Not only had it been slain, but its demonic pill had been swallowed by the Talent Tree. He just did not know whether he could obtain any new spirit runes.
Hearing this, many heaved a sigh of relief, and the tension in their expressions relaxed significantly. Zhou Yuntian saluted again, "We were trapped and blinded by the Fox Demon, unknowingly; we owe Fellow Daoist Lu a great debt for this rescue, akin to being reborn. If you ever have any commands in the future, we dare not disobey."
The rest also solemnly saluted and thanked him.
Lu Ye responded to the salute, "Fellow Daoists need not act this way. I was merely saving myself. It’s just regrettable that many Fellow Daoists have still lost their lives."
Xie Yunhan sighed, "It was time and fate. Brother Lu being able to save so many of us is already quite admirable."
Although the crowd did not know how Lu Ye managed to command such a wolf pack to assist in battle, even if the wolf pack was strong and numerous, facing the flourishing power of Fox Fairy Valley at its peak, they might not have been up to the task.
Lu Ye’s choice to make a move in Fox Fairy Valley after a fight with the Berserk Giant Ape was undoubtedly the wisest. Also, previously, when the demon wolves had surrounded them, they were clearly following prior orders to encircle but not kill them; otherwise, the few who could still stand here would be rare.
"Anyway, we have finally escaped the control of the Fox Demon, which is indeed a fortunate event. There is no need for you all to look so gloomy. Think of your sects, think of your brothers and sisters. From now on, we need not serve as slaves or bow our heads," Zhou Yuntian said.
Someone sadly said, "With Fellow Daoist Zhou mentioning this... I suddenly miss home."
The crowd suddenly fell silent, their eyes filling with longing. In Fox Fairy Valley, under the Fox Demon’s orders, no one dared to make contact with the outside world. Over these years, the friends and relatives of the cultivators from Fox Fairy Valley had been searching and trying to communicate with them. Previously, under the Fox Demon’s control, they did not feel the significance, but now that they were free, a tidal wave of longing surged forth instantly.
"Then... shall we go home?" someone whispered softly.
Zhou Yuntian raised his arm and called out, "If not now, then when?"
Once longing surged up, it was no longer under control; everyone was eager to return to their sects, their homes, to share the sorrows of separation with their long-separated families.
"Go home!" someone called out.
Momentarily, emotions ran high.
Zhou Yuntian turned to look at Lu Ye, "Fellow Daoist Lu, what are your plans?"
Lu Ye pondered for a moment, "My fellow disciple and I just entered the Cloud River battlefield not long ago, so we will not return for now. Moreover, I am still injured and need some time to recover. Fellow Daoists, please feel free as you wish."
Zhou Yuntian initially wanted to persuade Lu Ye to leave with them as this was deep within Great Wilderness Mountain, full of powerful demon beasts. Suddenly remembering that Lu Ye had a wolf pack to protect him and that he was unlikely to be in any danger, he said no more, nodded, and spoke, "If that’s the case, then take care, Fellow Daoist Lu. If you ever need help in the future, just call on us."
The crowd said their goodbyes to Lu Ye and exchanged battlefield markings with him.
Moments later, many cultivators rose on their weapons, and under the watchful eyes of Lu Ye and Li Baxian among others, they rapidly departed. Being such a group of cultivators, each with not insignificant cultivation, as long as they did not encounter an Overlord-class demon beast, they were basically safe.
Almost at the same moment Zhou Yuntian and the others left, Lu Ye suddenly felt a strange sensation. Amidst an undefined sense, something fell from the sky and alighted upon him, and the back of his hand felt slightly warm.
