Humanity’s Great Sage

e?” Lu Ye asked offhandedly.

 

“Eight hundred and eighty-eight!”

 

Lu Ye nearly felt his heart skip a beat.

 

“And how many of these do we need?”

 

“Sixteen!”

 

Lu Ye made a quick calculation.
The sum turned out to be an insanely huge one.

 

Fortunately enough, they had reaped equally huge rewards this time, enough to cover the cost.
Knowing that the defensive ward would be strong enough to keep the outpost safe made it all worth it.

 

“Um, so we just leave this one here?”

 

“There’s no time.
We’ll come back later to bury it or to hide it.”

 

“Surely not.
I’ll have someone come here and guard it.”

 

The ward keystones were not cheap and if left here unguarded, someone might come and steal it away.
Lu Ye sent word and within moments, a group of Cultivators came over from the direction of the Sanctum of Providence, all of them drenched in slick-green hemolymph. 

 

“Two of you, watch this thing and make sure no one comes near it, all right?”

 

“Yes, sir!”

“The rest of you, come with me.”

 

At Feng Yue’s instruction, Hua Ci placed the ward keystones at corners around the outpost’s compound.
At every spot, Lu Ye assigned two Cultivators to keep watch. 

 

When the work was finally done and the ward keystones were all set, the defensive ward was ready to be activated.
At the same time, the rest of the Crimson Blood Sect host had finished ridding the outpost of the insectoids.
More were still coming from outside but to fully eradicate the insectoid threat would require another expedition into the Redoubt of Wrath wormhole to extract the Nucleus of Life from the insectoid nexus there.
Only that would truly solve the problem. 

 

But the extent of the infestation had long passed beyond what outer-ring-area orders and sects could handle.
Even Lu Ye would never dare to recklessly enter the wormhole now. 

 

In the meantime, Hua Ci was holding a tiny jade-hewn disc in her hand.
Barely as large as a saucer, the eldritch power swirled in every notch and groove of the engravings, giving the disc a pulsing luminescence.
That was the ward nexus, the instrument that would enable an individual power and control of a defensive ward.
One could destroy a ward’s keystone and that would only weaken the ward.
But if the ward nexus were to be destroyed, then the ward would collapse.

Feng Yue dutifully explained to Hua Ci the ways of using the ward nexus.
Hua Ci bobbed her head as she channeled her power into the instrument.
All of a sudden, from all corners of the outpost, a loud hum resounded like a gong, and the emanation of Spiritual Power from every point around the perimeter of the outpost where the ward keystones had been placed resonated with each other.

 

Next, the emanation turned into torrents of light from all sixteen ward keystones—separate regurgitation of Spiritual Power that eventually conjoined with one another before spreading upwards into the sky. 

 

All it took was minutes, and the spread of Spiritual Power formed a dome that enclosed the whole compound of the outpost. 

 

It was done.

 

A defensive ward that kept the inside safe from any outside threats. 

 

With its protection, those inside the outpost would not have to worry about being invaded by insectoids.
The infestation might be attracted to the Spiritual Power that sustained the defensive ward, but so long as their numbers were kept below a certain threshold, the dome-like shield of the ward would still be able to repair itself in perpetuity.

 

But Hua Ci intentionally left a few openings in the shield to allow insectoids through.
Those who still wished to slay more bugs could stand together and man the openings and cut down any insectoids they could find. 

 

This also helped to relieve the pressure on the defensive ward. 

 

On the other hand, the rest of the other Crimson Blood Sect Cultivators busied themselves with clearing up the place and getting ready to take turns manning the openings.
Everything was done in a very orderly manner. 

Many of them had been hurt and Hua Ci led her people in helping to heal them.
With just one Medical Cultivator, there really was only so much she could do. 

 

But not that they had Feng Yue…

 

Feng Yue was not liking it one bit.
She was confused with thoughts of how she had a hand in the massacre of her own brethren and how here she was, fraternizing with the enemy faction and helping to heal their wounded. 

 

But Lu Ye had been very good at persuading her.
More so since it was not so much cajolery as coercion with his hand on the hilt of his weapon.
It was this menacing exudation of his charms that finally swayed her to join the sacred vocation of saving lives.
The lives of Crimson Blood Sect Cultivators.

 

The wounded were quickly tended to and given medical attention.
All that they needed then was  to visit the training chambers, and the mess hall for something to eat, and everyone was back in action. 

 

With Chen Yu being made the captain of the defense, the Sixth-Orders all led several squads in dealing with the insectoids and the extermination went on rewardingly. 

 

But that came no closer to solving the problem. 

 

Fresh insectoids were always ready to refill the ranks that kept on filing towards the openings in the ward’s shield. 

 

While all was still peaceful and orderly at the Crimson Blood Sect outpost, the same could not be said elsewhere. 

 

Word began to spread that the Crimson Blood Sect had ignored the insectoid infestation in their area and instead launched consecutive attacks on both the Redoubt of Wrath and Clan Feng outposts.
That was what led the insectoids in both their areas to grow rampantly like an epidemic so strong that no outer-ring-area orders and sects have the power and wherewithal to deal with it anymore. 

 

The Thousand Demon Ridge expressed sympathy and condolences to both the Redoubt of Wrath and Clan Feng, and at the same time, issued threats and abusive language at the Crimson Blood Sect legate and prolegate for what they had done.
Scores of enemy factions thronged as one, complaining that how things were calm and harmonious before Lu Ye’s appearance here at the Crimson Blood Sect outpost had wrecked both peace and order and how the infestation was beginning to threaten even the safety of other outposts in the area, including a few Grand Sky Coalition ones.
Lu Ye should be arrested and punished harshly, if not executed, for his crimes, so they said.

 

Within the Grand Sky Coalition was a rather different atmosphere.
Most of them were exultant at Lu Ye’s performance.
Successful invasions between outer-ring-area forces were often hard to come by, never mind Lu Ye’s victories in capturing two enemy outposts and the slaughter of all their acolytes, leaving just a meager few surviving.
That would imply that the present generation of Spirit Creek Cultivators from both the Redoubt of Wrath and Clan Feng had nearly become extinct.