Humanity's Great Sage

Chapter 594: Reward of the Heavens

“So this is Fox Immortal Valley. It’s quite pretty.” Feng Yuechan stood in the air, overlooking the area below.

In terms of scenery, Fox Immortal Valley was indeed good. After all, it was the long-time residence of the Fox Mutant so how could it be bad? However, it still couldn’t compare to the beauty of the Arcane Glade.

Having been accustomed to the beautiful scenery of the Arcane Glade, Feng Yuechan’s evaluation of Fox Immortal Valley was simply that it was quite pretty.

“Little Junior Brother, why did you come back here?” Li Baxian asked.

“There’s a place here that caught my interest,” Lu Ye replied as he led the way ahead.

After a moment, they arrived at a location that was enveloped by a Grand Ward.

Li Baxian was thoughtful. “This is… the restricted area?”

Though he had only spent a little over a month in Fox Immortal Valley with Lu Ye, he had heard of the restricted area. More than one cultivator had mentioned to him that anywhere in Fox Immortal Valley was accessible except for two places.

First was the Fox Mutant’s sleeping quarters, where trespassing was strictly forbidden unless summoned.

The other was the restricted area located deep within Fox Immortal Valley.

There was at least a chance of entering the Fox Mutant’s sleeping quarters, but no one knew what exactly was in the restricted area. Even Xie Yunhan, who was in charge of the Wards all over Fox Immortal Valley, had no knowledge of it because it was explicitly prohibited by Fox Mutant for anyone to set foot there, not even within a hundred meters of it.

Li Baxian understood now why Lu Ye had come back.

To be honest, he was also somewhat interested in this restricted area. The unknown had a way of sparking one’s curiosity.

Lu Ye stood in front of the Grand Ward, then with eyes empowered by Glyph: Insight, he observed the nodes of the Grand Ward and then raised his hand, sending out several Ward Flags.

Last time he came here, he had infiltrated the Grand Ward using his proficiency in the Way of Wards so that he didn’t damage the Ward, but this time, there was no need for such caution.

Strictly speaking, the strength of the Ward here wasn’t high, and for him, disassembling it wasn’t that difficult.

He sent out one Ward Flag after another, embedding them into the nodes. Lu Ye then placed his hand on the Grand Ward and activated it with his Spiritual Power. The flow of Spiritual Power on the Grand Ward’s barrier gradually slowed down until it came to a complete halt.

The weapon holder at his waist hummed, and nine streams of flowing light shot out in succession, blasting directly towards a certain spot on the Grand Ward.

Accompanied by some cracking sounds like that of a cracking mirror, the Grand Ward immediately fragmented into spiderweb-like fissures. After three breaths of time, it was completely shattered.

The area covered by the Grand Ward was now revealed to the group.

In it was a solitary grave and an ancient altar.

“Why is there a grave here?” Feng Yuechan approached it curiously. She saw a gravestone erected in front of a mound with a line of large characters engraved on it.

“Grave of Master Lei Zhengyin?” Feng Yuechan mumbled under her breath.

“This Lei Zhengyin should be the Fox Mutant original Master, but I don’t know why he was killed by that Berserk Giant Ape. For twenty years the Fox Mutant had been planning revenge and has been gathering cultivators until today,” Lu Ye explained casually.

Li Baxian pondered, “Little Junior Brother, have you been here before?”

Lu Ye replied, “Out of curiosity, I sneaked in once and happened to encounter the Fox Mutant mourning here, and I overheard a few things.”

“I see.” Li Baxian nodded.

“This grave was made by the Fox Mutant. There’s nothing special about it. What I’m interested in is this altar,” Lu Ye said as he stepped forward and walked to the altar. “Senior Brother, Senior Sister Feng, can you tell what this altar is for?”

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan approached together and carefully observed it for a while. Finally, Li Baxian shook his head and said, “I can’t tell, but it has four recesses, probably for placing Spirit Stones in. Maybe if enough spirit stones are placed, something can be activated.”

“Activate what?”

“A Hidden Realm?” Feng Yuechan ventured a bold guess.

At that, both Lu Ye and Li Baxian became intrigued. If this altar could truly open some Hidden Realm, then they couldn’t afford to miss it.

Moreover, the Cloud River Battlefield had many Hidden Realms, so Feng Yuechan’s speculation had a high chance of being true.

“Let’s try and see!” Lu Ye was excited.

Immediately, the four of them took their positions, taking out Spirit Stones from their Storage Bags and placing them into the recesses.

A shocking scene unfolded. Each Middle Grade Spirit Stone placed in the recesses was drained of its Spiritual Power in a very short time, turning into rubble.

After absorbing the Spiritual Power from the Spirit Stones, the complex patterns on the surface of the altar glowed slightly, illuminating a small area that only occupied only a tiny portion of the entire altar, but caused the eyes of Lu Ye and the others to light up nonetheless.

Exchanging glances, they took out more Spirit Stones to place in the recesses.

Stone after stone turned into waste, their Spiritual Power sucked dry by the altar as the illuminated area on the altar’s surface grew larger and larger.

Until a certain point, when the four of them had exhausted over a thousand Middle Grade Spirit Stones, the surface of the altar radiated a brilliant light. All of the patterns were completely illuminated.

At the same time, Lu Ye felt a slight warmth on the back of his hand. He quickly lowered his head to look and saw the golden mark on the back of his hand suddenly fly out, turning into a golden radiance and falling into the altar.

In an instant, only dazzling golden light remained in their vision, blinding their sight.

After several moments, when Lu Ye and the others’ visions returned, a golden oval-shaped barrier appeared in front of them.

“Little Junior Brother, what was that just now?” Li Baxian asked, voice filled with uncertainty.

Lu Ye had clearly seen the golden mark on the back of his hand falling into the altar, but he didn’t know what that mark was or why it would land on the altar.

Lu Ye finally realized.

It was the reward bestowed by the Heavens!

He had seen the same golden mark last time in the Carnage Colosseum. He thought he would have to find a Divine Opportunity Column to learn more about the reward, but he didn’t expect that the golden mark was actually used to activate this altar.

In that case, even if the people from Fox Immortal Valley returned here, found the altar, and placed enough Spirit Stones into it, they wouldn’t be able to activate it without that imprint.

“It’s a reward from the Heavens. It was bestowed upon me after I killed the Fox Mutant,” Lu Ye explained briefly.

Li Baxian was extremely astonished. “A reward from the Heavens for killing the Fox Mutant?”

Such a thing was unheard of.

Lu Ye recounted his previous speculations, as well as the words the Fox Mutant said before her death. Li Baxian nodded after listening. “In that case, by killing the Fox Mutant, Junior Brother did eliminate a great calamity in the Cloud River Battlefield, which can be seen as beneficial to the region, so it’s understandable that you received a reward from the Heavens.”

Feng Yuechan’s expression changed slightly. “Since it’s a reward from the Heavens, it must be beneficial. Junior Brother Lu, good people do receive good rewards as expected.”

Lu Ye chuckled. His main purpose in killing the Fox Mutant was to save Li Baxian. If Li Baxian hadn’t been enslaved by the Fox Mutant, he would have secretly escaped by himself long ago. Now, with all these encounters, it could be considered a twist of fate.

Feng Yuechan gazed eagerly at the golden barrier. “I wonder what’s behind it.”

Li Baxian said, “You said it’s beneficial, so it shouldn’t be anything bad. Little Junior Brother, shall we go inside and explore?”

Lu Ye nodded. Then, he remembered something. “Ju Jia, have the wolf pack guard the surroundings.”

Ju Jia nodded, put his fingers to his mouth, and whistled loudly. In an instant, a large group of Wolf Mutants led by the alpha rushed over, creating a formidable presence.

Ju Jia casually drew a circle with his hand and said succinctly, “Keep watch.”

The wolf pack immediately split up and surrounded the area.

Lu Ye looked on in awe. Even though he had a good relationship with the wolf pack before, he couldn’t command them as skillfully as Ju Jia could.

“Ju Jia, lead the way!” Lu Ye commanded.

Even though this was a reward from the Heavens and likely not dangerous, it was still better to be cautious.

Among the group, Ju Jia had the strongest physique, so it was naturally better for him to lead the way.

Without a word, Ju Jia walked forward in a large stride towards the golden barrier. In a few steps, he reached the front of the golden barrier and plunged right in without hesitation.

Lu Ye’s gaze remained fixed. Then, he saw ripples spreading on the golden barrier before Ju Jia’s figure was completely engulfed by it.

Lu Ye followed closely behind Ju Jia, followed by Feng Yuechan, and with Li Baxian bringing up the rear.

After stepping into the golden barrier, they instantly entered another realm. However, this realm was shrouded in mist. Ju Jia, who entered first, was not far ahead, but under the hazy mist, Lu Ye couldn’t see his figure clearly, only a faint outline.

Lu Ye stood still, astonishment glowing in his eyes.

It was because the surroundings felt incredibly familiar to him.

Soon, Li Baxian exclaimed softly from behind, “Divine Baptism?”

Among the four present, besides Ju Jia, who had never reached the Spirit Creek Battlefield’s Roll of Supremacy, the remaining three had all climbed it, and thus the monthly Divine Baptism was naturally familiar to them.

The Divine Baptism granted by the Heavens would lead the cultivators on the Roll of Supremacy to a completely separate and special environment, where their mind and bodies would undergo a certain degree of tempering, thus strengthening them.

It could be said that the future prospects of cultivators who had climbed the Roll of Supremacy were different from those who hadn’t.

That Wei Que was in the Ninth Order Cloud River Realm, as were Tan Sheng and Xia Liang. Moreover, all three of them had advanced into the Cloud River Realm with 360 orifices, but when compared, Wei Que’s strength was still far inferior to Tan Sheng and Xia Liang.

The fundamental reason for that was that Tan Sheng and Xia Liang had climbed the Roll of Supremacy, and their rankings were not low, either.

The Spirit Creek Realm was considered the starting point of one’s cultivation and laid the foundation for one’s entire cultivation journey. The Divine Baptism received from the Heavens in this stage undoubtedly solidified the foundations of the cultivators and made their futures broader. The higher the ranking on the Roll of Supremacy, the greater the benefits gained from the Heavens’ Divine Baptism.

When Lu Ye was in the Spirit Creek Realm, he only killed cultivators who were a single order above him, but once he reached the Cloud River Realm, killing someone two orders above him was not difficult. This was partly due to the disparity in strength among the Cloud River Realm cultivators, but it also had to do with the benefits he gained from being ranked first on the Roll of Supremacy. It should be noted that the higher the cultivation level, the more difficult it became to kill someone of a higher order because the higher the cultivation level, the greater the power increase with each order of advancement.