Sage of Humanity

Exiting the insect hive, Lu Ye sped along the path.

A lone human moving within the territories controlled by the Insect and Blood Races was indeed an eye-catching spectacle.

But with the stone bug from Dark Butterfly, Lu Ye encountered no trouble along the way. To prevent Lu Ye from causing chaos, Dark Butterfly continuously used the stone bug to warn the Insect and Blood Race cultivators they encountered, prompting them to keep their distance.

After a day of travel, he finally arrived at the altar.

This was a very small desolate planet; many Insect and Blood Race cultivators knew there was a relic entrance here, but none dared to recklessly enter, for the relic was perilous; without a giant ant by one's side, entering meant certain death.

Setting foot on the altar, Lu Ye gathered his Dao force and quickly disappeared.

Upon re-entering the relic, Lu Ye observed his surroundings and found that he appeared in the same location as last time, right at that long passage, behind him was a void.

He raised his hand to pick up the stone bug on his shoulder and called out, "Dark Butterfly!"

No response.

The relic indeed had isolating powers, and while inside, Dark Butterfly couldn't use the stone bug to monitor Lu Ye, yet this isolation had no effect on the Chains of Life.

With force in his hands, the stone bug, hard as a rock, was instantly crushed into powder.

The stone bug was alive, and Lu Ye didn't want Dark Butterfly to know what he was about to do, so he had to kill the bug first. As for when Dark Butterfly asked about it later, he would just make up something casually.

Stepping forward, Lu Ye found it strange and asked, "Jiu Ying, what happened to the tests in the passage?"

Last time, many figures blocked the path, yet this time, there were none.

A voice resonated in his mind from Jiu Ying, "These tests were methods I set before I went into slumber. Now that I'm awake, those arrangements are naturally ineffective."

Lu Ye felt regret; he had planned to gain Dao force from those tests, but now his plan was thwarted.

He thought for a moment and said, "Can you arrange them again?"

Jiu Ying was puzzled, "What do you wish to do, young friend?"

"Passing the tests grants Dao force, right? I'm in great need of it!"

Jiu Ying understood, "I apologize, young friend, but in my current state, I am unable to help. Even if I rearrange them, the benefits will be minimal. Those tests' power accumulates over time and cannot infinitely regenerate."

"Then forget it." Lu Ye lost interest immediately, realizing that once those figures were destroyed, they left Dao force residue. This residue couldn't repeatedly appear; the relic was likely a magnificent formation, and the Dao force those figures left behind was accumulated by the formation.

The path ahead was unobstructed.

Soon, he arrived at the first grand hall.

There was also an altar here, and previously Lu Ye had left from this spot. This place was the only way for the latest giant ant possessors to depart the altar, allowing them to return to the desolate planet.

Without pause, he continued forward.

Moments later, he arrived at the second grand hall.

Lu Ye immediately spotted the two halves of a corpse over there, the very Blood Race member sent by Dark Butterfly to rescue him, who was unfortunately killed after Jiu Ying seized his body.

To possess a giant ant, this individual undoubtedly had the best aptitude for the Beginner level cultivation in the entire Blood Race, allowing him to perfectly merge with the giant ant and exert greater power.

The Blood Race surely wouldn't leave his death unaddressed, but Lu Ye didn't know how Dark Butterfly dealt with it.

Stepping forward to the corpse, Lu Ye searched for a moment and found a giant ant in his chest, as expected.

Using Mental Consciousness, Lu Ye detected three corpses inside the giant ant—one from the Insect Race and two from the Blood Race—certainly power sources for him, likely 9th Dao cultivators.

"Jiu Ying, did you create this giant ant yourself?" Lu Ye asked, putting away the giant ant as he spoke.

Jiu Ying replied proudly, "Of course. I will not hide it from you, young friend; I have quite a talent in the Path of Artifact Refining."

"Hehe, I have witnessed it." Lu Ye casually responded and then looked up at the statue in the center of the grand hall.

The statue was enormous, and despite the countless years, it remained lifelike, especially the nine heads, each with a different posture, striking fear into any observer.

According to Jiu Ying, the core of the Banlan Dao soldier was hidden within this statue.

"Young friend, your Beginner cultivation truly cannot refine it. I advise you to practice more and attempt once you reach Dao Fusion, and this is with my assistance; without me, not only in Dao Fusion but perhaps even in Dao Harmony, you may not refine it. I spent tremendous effort nurturing this Dao soldier, so it's best to reach Peak Dao Fusion for the most efficiency," Jiu Ying's voice bore evident pride.

Lu Ye stared at the statue ahead, his expression calm.

Dao Fusion seemed not too difficult to achieve, but he hadn't yet reached the ultimate in the Beginner level, so advancing casually would be too much of a waste.

"Jiu Ying," Lu Ye said, "is there a way to let another Dao Fusion refine it and then transfer Banlan to me?"

He couldn't wait to refine Banlan himself, but Lu Ye didn't want to wait. Dark Butterfly was powerful enough and could certainly refine Banlan; Lu Ye intended to target her.

"Absolutely impossible," Jiu Ying replied decisively, "If someone else refines it, it becomes theirs, unrelated to you."

"What if I have a very close connection with the refiner?"

"A very close connection? How close?" Jiu Ying was a little confused. Although it had fought a battle with the Dark Butterfly before, it truly didn't know what kind of relationship Lu Ye had with the Dark Butterfly.

"I'll tell you more in detail later." Lu Ye did not answer, as this trip wasn't about refining Banlan, but for other matters.

To survive, Jiu Ying had previously told him some interesting things.

"Which door?" Lu Ye asked.

This hall was the deepest part of the relic, where Jiu Ying's soul form had been sleeping within that statue. Unlike the previous hall, there were many doors here, leading in various directions.

Because there was more than one entrance to the relic, the paths leading here were also multiple, naturally corresponding to many doors.

"The third one on your left." Jiu Ying said.

Lu Ye turned and looked in that direction, just about to step forward, when suddenly a creaking sound was heard.

In his view, a door there slowly opened, and two figures rushed in one after the other, their power surging, posing a defensive stance.

Lu Ye was taken aback.

The two figures who suddenly charged into the hall were also surprised for a moment, then their gazes fixed on Lu Ye.

"Brother Lu?" One of them widened his eyes, evidently unable to believe he would encounter Lu Ye here. "How... how are you here?"

Lu Ye smiled: "Brother Yan, long time no see!"

The one who spoke turned out to be Yan Hong.

Since he acquired the giant ant and left the Blue Water Battle Planet, Lu Ye hadn't seen him again. However, before being captured, Lu Ye often met with Yan Xiaowu from the Yan family and learned a lot about Yan Hong from him.

After acquiring the giant ant, Yan Hong had been resonating with this Dao artifact, clearly wanting to better harness the giant ant's power to facilitate exploring the relic.

For him to appear here now, he must have developed the giant ant's power to the limit.

Beside Yan Hong was another person.

A young cultivator, clad in a black robe, with sword-like brows and bright eyes, his appearance was quite remarkable, and he was studying Lu Ye with both curiosity and caution.

Lu Ye glanced at him. Though he had never seen this person before, he could still deduce his identity.

The Huang family, Huang Zhihuan!

Before Yan Hong, the human race's sole giant ant was under his control. To explore the secrets of the relic and find a way to leave Banlan, he had been dormant in the Beginner Realm for hundreds of years without a breakthrough.

And for someone to appear here with Yan Hong, besides this Huang family member, Lu Ye couldn't think of anyone else.

They should be exploring the relic together as allies. Normally, even if they teamed up, they wouldn't have been able to reach here.

But with Jiu Ying's soul form revived, the various trials in the relic had lost their effectiveness, allowing Huang Zhihuan and Yan Hong to proceed unobstructed.

Lu Ye had overlooked this point, nor did he expect to encounter acquaintances here.

"Brother Lu, weren't you..." Yan Hong was hesitantly looking at Lu Ye. As per prior arrangements, the Yan family was supposed to provide Lu Ye with some Dao Bones every month, but after Lu Ye was captured, this matter naturally stopped.

Yan Hong knew what Lu Ye had gone through before.

He hadn't expected that the friend who fought alongside him in Blue Water would be targeted by the Insect and Blood Races, who even exposed a Peak Dao Fusion agent to capture him.

Assuming Lu Ye was already doomed, who would have thought they'd meet here?

"It's a long story." Lu Ye didn't even know how to explain his experience. The confrontation with the Dark Butterfly couldn't be summed up in a few sentences, and even if he explained, others might not believe it.

"Yan Hong, who is he?" Huang Zhihuan spoke, frowning during their exchange.

The human race has only two giant ants, and whoever dared into the relic must be an owner of one. This sudden appearance of someone else, who was acquainted with Yan Hong, naturally perplexed Huang Zhihuan.

He had never seen Lu Ye, but was sure the other wasn't from any noble family.

More confusing was a Blood Race corpse here. Judging by its appearance and the dried bloodstains on the ground, it seemed to have died quite some time ago.

Yan Hong came to his senses and introduced to Huang Zhihuan: "Brother Huang, this is Lu Ye, Brother Lu. I inadvertently obtained my giant ant from Brother Lu."

Then he turned to Lu Ye, saying: "Brother Lu, this is Huang Zhihuan, Brother Huang."

"I guessed as much." Lu Ye nodded.

Huang Zhihuan looked at him: "Lu Ye..." He faintly recalled the name, then frowned: "The As-Close-As-Siblings Dao Runes are your creation?"

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