Sage of Humanity

The Stellar Fruits had long been ripe for who knows how many years; leaving them here, who knew what accidents might occur.

Back then, Jiu Ying had transplanted more than one Stellar Tree, but in the end only this one survived.

After half a day, the Stellar Tree turned into motes of light and faded away.

Before that, the Stellar Fruits on the tree had already been plucked and swallowed by Lu Ye.

He slowly opened his eyes and silently felt his own condition.

The five Stellar Fruits had given Lu Ye another boost of three Daos of strength; two of the fruits had failed to display their proper effect.

Lu Ye wasn't surprised; the Stellar Fruit's effect was to greatly raise the success rate of polishing Dao Bones, but unlike the Star Abyss Blessing's kind of one-shot success, it wasn't guaranteed.

Especially given Lu Ye's current strength, which had long since surpassed the limit of an ordinary Enter the Path cultivator, the Stellar Fruits' effect on him was weaker.

Five Stellar Fruits, three successful attempts—he'd saved nearly twenty thousand Dao force, and Lu Ye was quite satisfied.

Compared to before he entered the ruin, the increase of eighteen Daos of power was undoubtedly immense, especially when added on top of Lu Ye's 100th Dao foundation.

If he'd had this level of strength when he first met Li Qi, Lu Ye definitely wouldn't have obediently followed him back to the insect hive; one could say that only now did he truly have the qualifications to match someone like Li Qi, a 6th Order Dao Fusion cultivator.

With all the benefits in the medicinal garden eaten clean and the sealed Divine Sea undone, Jiu Ying's sigh echoed out.

Though it had already accepted its fate, whenever it thought of all the resources it had painstakingly prepared being taken by Lu Ye, it still felt heartache.

Before leaving, Lu Ye had wanted to go see the Enlightenment Tea Tree again—not for the leaves; he had more than a dozen on hand now, enough for the time being.

He simply wanted to go take a look, spend more time interacting with the tree; maybe he could ease their relationship and have her work for him in the future.

Who knew that the spot where the tree had originally been was now completely empty; she had obviously hidden herself!

Knowing how timid she was, Lu Ye didn't insist. He came to the previous Teleportation Array, activated the Formation, and left the medicinal garden.

Returning once more to the outer Array, Lu Ye pondered a moment and asked Jiu Ying, "Is there any way to make this Array allow only me to enter and exit?"

With the previous upheaval, the arrangements Jiu Ying had left in the ruin had already failed; in other words, any Enter the Path cultivator could enter the ruin and would no longer face much danger.

If someone found this place, they would naturally be able to use the Array to enter the medicinal garden.

The girl shaped from the tea tree had strength, but she was timid; scare her a bit and she'd hand everything over. Lu Ye had no desire to let others gain benefits from the tea tree.

Lu Ye could set up some means to conceal the Array here, but it ultimately wouldn't be secure.

Jiu Ying naturally understood what he meant: "That won't do, but there's another method to keep others from reaching this place."

"What method?" Lu Ye asked.

"Go back to that main hall from before first."

What it meant was undoubtedly the great hall where the statue stood.

A moment later, Lu Ye returned there, standing before the great door leading to the passage to the medicinal garden; following Jiu Ying's guidance, he groped about on the door for a while.

The great door slowly closed, cutting off the path to the medicinal garden.

Unless there was a special way to open it, an ordinary Enter the Path cultivator would never be able to break this door open, and naturally no one would enter the medicinal garden.

After finishing all that, Lu Ye asked again, "Which door is it now?"

"Second on your right!"

Lu Ye followed the sound with his gaze and strolled over to that great door.

This core hall of the ruin had many great doors, but most corresponded to different entrances outside. Only two did not; the places those two doors led to were precisely the reason Lu Ye had come this time.

One of them corresponded to the medicinal garden, which Lu Ye had already visited.

Now the second one…

Lu Ye raised his hand to push the door, but it didn't budge.

Jiu Ying spoke up: "Use the method I just taught you to open it!"

Lu Ye understood. It had to be said, Jiu Ying's nature was indeed cautious; when it arranged this ruin back then, it had already considered all sorts of possible situations, and the methods it left on the doors could prevent many accidents.

That it was now willing to speak heart-to-heart with Lu Ye without concealment was because of the constraint of their oath; in a sense, it and Lu Ye now shared fortune and ruin.

Following the method Jiu Ying had just imparted, Lu Ye acted for a bit, and soon a soft click came from within the tightly shut door.

He raised his hand and pushed forward again.

The great door slowly opened, and a long passage came into view.

This passage was no different from the various ones Lu Ye had walked before, but when he looked toward its depths, his gaze burned with heat.

Because this passage was the only route in all of Banlan that could leave this Yiyuan stellar space!

The fact that a means of leaving was hidden within Banlan was no lie!

This was also the retreat Jiu Ying had left for itself.

It was just a pity that since ancient times, no one within all of Banlan had been able to pass Jiu Ying's trials; no one had reached the deepest part of the ruin, so naturally no one could leave.

He stepped onto the passage and walked forward all the way.

A short while later, a hole appeared in the space ahead, as if a chunk had been dug out of it for no reason, and from within came an aura that made hearts palpitate.

And that hole was precisely the portal for leaving Banlan.

"Is it dangerous?" Lu Ye asked.

"For those who have Entered the Path, very dangerous—basically ten deaths out of ten—but with your strength there should be no problem."

It had crossed blows with Lu Ye before, so of course it knew how bizarre Lu Ye's strength was.

Lu Ye asked no more, nor did he hesitate in the slightest. He plunged headfirst into that hole, Dao force surging over his body, protecting him all around.

A pitch-black void, without the slightest glimmer of light.

Lu Ye could clearly feel that his protective Dao force was being torn at by some inexplicable power. He silently felt it out and found that what Jiu Ying had said was indeed true—if it were an ordinary Enter the Path cultivator, there really would be no chance of surviving. The tearing force all around him waxed and waned; even at its weakest it was near the level of thirty Daos, and at its strongest it reached eighty or ninety. With such tearing force, let alone Enter the Path, even an ordinary Dao Fusion cultivator wouldn't be able to withstand it.

A few breaths later, his vision shifted.

The first thing Lu Ye saw was a multicolored radiance, scattered like stars, as if a stellar space shrunk countless times drifted past right in front of him.

This scene was undeniably very familiar.

Back when he first encountered Banlan, this was exactly what he'd seen.

He was out!

Lu Ye's mood was slightly stirred. Though he knew Jiu Ying had no reason to deceive him, before it was confirmed he hadn't dared pin too much hope on it—after all, sometimes the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

Only now, truly having left Banlan, did the stone in Lu Ye's heart finally drop.

Almost at the instant Lu Ye left Banlan, on Yinshuo Battle Planet, Dark Butterfly, who had been quietly cultivating, suddenly opened her eyes.

Because in that very instant, she actually produced a feeling that Lu Ye had become infinitely distant from her!

This was very abnormal.

Previously, even when Lu Ye entered the ruins, her sense of him had never been severed. Though because of the distance she couldn't perceive Lu Ye's exact state, she could roughly sense his vague location.

But now, that sense had changed drastically!

At present she could only sense Lu Ye, but where Lu Ye actually was, she could no longer tell—it was as if Lu Ye had jumped out of her sensing range.

What is this brat… doing? Dark Butterfly's eyes flickered between light and dark.

If this had been before, she would definitely already be thinking of ways to undo the Chains of Life. But after various attempts during this period, she had come to realize that to undo this Dao Rune really was as Lu Ye had once said: it required both parties to work together wholeheartedly.

Moreover, having witnessed with her own eyes Lu Ye's terrifying potential, she no longer had any desire to undo the Chains of Life.

Now she had only one hope—that when Lu Ye grew to Peak Dao Fusion, he might be able to find a way to leave Banlan.

What exactly had changed within the ruins? Dark Butterfly did not know, but she felt a vague unease.

She pondered for a moment and felt it was still best to hurry up and drag Lu Ye back.

The next instant, a spray of fresh blood suddenly burst from the bloated body of the Insect Matriarch, and a foot-long wound slowly appeared!

She couldn't contact Lu Ye, so she could only use this method to remind him to hurry back; otherwise she wouldn't be polite.

Yet what shocked the Insect Matriarch was that the injury she inflicted on herself showed no sign of being transferred—in other words, it was not being shared by Lu Ye.

The Chains of Life were still there, but they were not exerting the effect they should have!

Dark Butterfly was a bit dumbfounded. Unwilling to accept it, she produced another wound and carefully sensed it. The injury indeed showed no sign of being transferred; only then did she give up, her mood stifled.

Lu Ye had no idea what Dark Butterfly was thinking; at this moment he was still immersed in the joy of leaving Banlan.

Forming the Chains of Life with Dark Butterfly had been an act of helplessness, and it was also his first time using it. So even Lu Ye only half-understood the specific effects of this Dao Rune.

Otherwise, when he'd discovered he could share in Dark Butterfly's cultivation gains earlier, he wouldn't have been so surprised.

He also didn't know that if the distance grew far enough, then even if the Chains of Life still existed, they would lose their function.

Now the distance between him and Dark Butterfly was already far enough, separated by an entire stellar space after all. If Dark Butterfly died at this moment, it wouldn't implicate him, and with Dark Butterfly's death the Chains of Life would be directly undone.

Gazing at Banlan, Lu Ye did not immediately return. Instead, he urged his figure forward, following behind this Dao soldier, drifting along with it.

Banlan's drifting speed in the Star Abyss was not particularly fast; Lu Ye could easily keep up with almost no effort.

If he hadn't encountered Jiu Ying and hadn't been constrained by the Chains of Life, he would definitely have run by now. Having finally jumped out of the trap, he naturally wouldn't go back to suffer.

But the lure of Banlan as a Dao soldier, and the connection between the Chains of Life and the Insect Matriarch, made Lu Ye understand that until he resolved this matter, he couldn't just walk away.

What's more, now that he had mastered the method of leaving Banlan, he could depart whenever he wished and didn't need to rush.

Before that, he had to find a way to refine Banlan, bring this Dao soldier under his control, and then deal with the trouble that was Dark Butterfly—only then could he rest easy.

There was another matter that made Lu Ye feel anxious.

He no longer knew the location of the Star Abyss Gate that led to stellar space.

According to his own original plan, when roaming the Star Abyss he would be recording the surrounding star patterns, so that after a certain time he could retrace his path back.

But after making a trip into Banlan, that record had been cut off.

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