translator: ahad
Proofreading: shaheer
Humanity’s Great Sage – Chapter 1029: Divine Watch Sea
Sensing the ghost cultivator elder’s ill intent, Dao Shisan flashed forward and planted himself in front of Lu Ye, his gaze heavy and focused, his entire aura coiled and ready to strike.
The ghost cultivator elder halted his steps, slightly surprised.
“They’re not Blood Slaves.” The sword cultivator elder called Jian Guhong slowly opened his eyes and spoke.
“How can you be sure?” The ghost cultivator elder tilted his head toward him.
Jian Guhong’s gaze was sharp as a sword as he looked at Dao Shisan, who stood protectively before Lu Ye. “This man… should be a Dao Soldier.”
“Dao Soldier?” The others were all taken aback and studied Dao Shisan carefully.
After a moment, the magic cultivator woman nodded slightly. “I knew there was something strange about him. So he’s a Dao Soldier. As expected, your eyes are keen, Elder. You saw through him at a single glance.”
The ghost cultivator elder was astonished. “How can there be a Dao Soldier in this Blood Refining World?” He turned to Lu Ye. “Boy, did you refine this Dao Soldier?”
Dao Shisan was a Dao Soldier—this was something Dao Shisan had personally told Lu Ye. But what exactly a Dao Soldier was, Lu Ye truly did not know.
When he first heard this term, he had thought it was some kind of mechanist creation, similar to his master’s avatar, Xiaodie.
But Dao Shisan was no mechanist creation. He was a living, breathing person.
“No,” Lu Ye honestly shook his head.
“Then why does he follow you, and with such loyalty?” The ghost cultivator elder clearly did not quite believe him.
Normally, a Dao Soldier would only obey their master’s every word, utterly and absolutely loyal. But this matter was indeed full of oddities. He also didn’t think a Real Lake Realm cultivator like Lu Ye could refine a Dao Soldier like Dao Shisan.
“Perhaps it’s because he and I are kindred spirits?” Lu Ye naturally could not say it was the Soul Control Glyph’s doing.
“Nonsense!” The ghost cultivator elder was amused by him.
“But how can there be a Dao Soldier in the Blood Refining World?” The magic cultivator woman furrowed her brow, truly unable to figure this out.
In the Blood Refining World, humans did not have a favorable cultivation environment. Even those taken as Blood Slaves by the Blood Race could not possibly cultivate to very high levels, so Divine Ocean Realm Blood Slaves were exceedingly rare.
Let alone an existence like a Dao Soldier. Humans themselves struggled just to cultivate; who would have the ability to refine a Dao Soldier?
“That’s precisely why I brought them along,” Jian Guhong said slowly. “The Blood Refining World may not have Dao Soldiers, but that doesn’t mean other places don’t.”
At these words, the others all jolted.
“Old ghost, you mean…” The ghost cultivator elder’s eyes narrowed. However, Lu Ye could not hear the rest of the conversation; he only sensed the涌动 of divine sense, clearly these people were communicating via divine sense transmission.
As they conversed, their gazes flicked over him and Dao Shisan from time to time.
After a short while, their discussion concluded. The magic cultivator woman nodded slightly. “Verifying whether they are Blood Slaves is simple enough. We’ll certainly encounter Blood Race on the return journey. We’ll test them then.”
So saying, she summoned a spirit boat. “Let’s go.”
The others flashed aboard the spirit boat. Lu Ye shot a glance at Dao Shisan, and the two of them also boarded.
The magic cultivator woman channeled her spiritual power, and the spirit boat immediately transformed into a streak of light, shooting into the sky.
Throughout the journey, the several Divine Ocean Realm great cultivators all seemed preoccupied with heavy thoughts and remained very silent. Although Lu Ye had many questions he wished to ask, this was not the right time to speak up.
Along the way, they happened upon a Blood Race contingent, likely heading to the Starlight Moon Holy Land to muster. Under the magic cultivator woman’s instructions, Lu Ye and Dao Shisan leaped down from the spirit boat and charged into the Blood Race ranks, slaughtering a swath.
This was their method of verifying whether Lu Ye and Dao Shisan were Blood Slaves.
As Blood Slaves, it was impossible to harbor even the slightest intent to harm the Blood Race. In the hearts of Blood Slaves, the Blood Race was supreme and inviolable.
Those who dared slaughter Blood Race so wantonly could not possibly be Blood Slaves.
Having verified Lu Ye and Dao Shisan’s identities as pure humans, the ghost cultivator elder’s attitude toward Lu Ye warmed considerably, and he even began chatting idly with him.
Learning that Lu Ye had actually traveled all the way from the north, intending to seek refuge at the Jade Blood Holy Land, he was quite surprised.
One had to know, this was no short journey. Even with Dao Shisan possessing Divine Ocean Realm cultivation, for two humans to travel south all this way was no simple matter.
“Boy, how exactly did you manage to blend into the Blood Race ranks?” The ghost cultivator elder was most puzzled by this point.
Logically, if Lu Ye and Dao Shisan were not Blood Slaves, it should have been impossible for them to remain safe and sound among the Blood Race. Yet there they were, peacefully situated within an army of several hundred thousand Blood Race.
“This junior has some methods of beguiling the mind, so I made a Blood Race member mistakenly believe we were his Blood Slaves,” Lu Ye explained vaguely.
The ghost cultivator elder understood, glancing at Dao Shisan. “No wonder he’s so loyal to you. Did you use that method on him as well?”
Dao Soldiers generally had low intelligence. Since Lu Ye had the means to beguile Blood Race, beguiling a Dao Soldier was naturally not a problem.
“Yes.”
The ghost cultivator elder then warned: “When we return to the Holy Land, you must not use this method carelessly. If I catch you, I will not let you off lightly.”
Lu Ye readily agreed. “Seniors truly are from the Jade Blood Holy Land?”
“As genuine as it gets.”
Lu Ye’s heart settled.
The spirit boat flew extremely fast. Although Dao Shisan was also at the Divine Ocean Realm, he was limited by the quality of Lu Ye’s flying spirit artifact, so while his speed was not slow, it could not compare to the current one.
In terms of pure speed, they were naturally flying much faster now than before.
The further they advanced, the more desolate and uninhabited the land became.
This was not due to the environment, but because this area was close to the Divine Watch Sea. The human powerhouses of the Jade Blood Holy Land would often venture out of the Divine Watch Sea to roam and observe. What Blood Race would dare gather nearby?
One could say that within a hundred thousand li radius around the Divine Watch Sea, no Blood Race dared set foot casually. Only during the periodic Blood Race army campaigns against the Jade Blood Holy Land would this place become lively.
Several days later, a vast expanse of blood-red color entered their view.
The Divine Watch Sea had arrived.
The sea water was nearly identical to pooled blood, exactly the same as the scene Lu Ye had witnessed back at the Blood Pool. Only, this Blood Pool before him was absurdly, excessively large.
The spirit boat did not stop, flying straight over the blood sea, continuing forward.
They flew for another half a day before clusters of islands scattered like stars across a chessboard appeared ahead. Viewed from afar, these islands stood within the blood sea, as tiny as chess pieces. But upon drawing near, one realized those islands were not small in area at all.
The archipelago was arranged in an elliptical shape, distributed across the blood sea. And at the center of this archipelago, an even larger island stood.
On every outer island, a massive city towered. The city walls were covered with all manner of defensive fortifications. Human cultivators could be seen moving in and out of the cities, busily occupied.
Once again, the time had come for the Blood Race to besiege the Holy Land. Naturally, the humans were actively preparing for war. The many defensive fortifications on the outer archipelago could be said to be the Jade Blood Holy Land’s most solid defensive line. It was precisely by relying on this impregnable defensive line that the Jade Blood Holy Land had been able to repel the Blood Race’s attacks time and again.
But as Lu Ye quietly observed, he couldn’t help feeling that things were not so simple.
From the intelligence he had gathered so far, the Blood Race’s invading army would number at least in the millions. With such a massive force, including Holy Venerables and many Heavenly Venerables, could the Jade Blood Holy Land truly hold them off with just this one defensive line?
Unless… the Jade Blood Holy Land had enough human powerhouses.
Like the squad Jian Guhong was part of.
But could there really be that many such powerhouses? Honestly, Lu Ye was already quite astonished to encounter four such powerhouses at once. No matter how deep the Jade Blood Holy Land’s foundation, the number of such powerhouses couldn’t be too great.
He couldn’t quite figure it out.
But his goal for this journey had already been achieved.
Setting out from Thousand Streams Blessed Land, it had been nearly five months. He had finally arrived at this world’s sole human power.
The answer he sought to uncover would inevitably be here as well.
The magic cultivator woman steered the spirit boat straight toward the large island at the center of the archipelago. That was likely where the Jade Blood Holy Land’s foundation lay.
On the large island, human figures could be seen everywhere. Many had cultivation, and there were also ordinary mortals who had never cultivated. But these mortals did not have to endure the suffering of the humans outside. They lived in peace and contentment, their faces full of joy.
This made Lu Ye, who had witnessed all manner of human suffering since arriving in this world, unable to help but sigh with emotion.
A single Jade Blood Holy Land could only shelter so many humans. Apart from the humans here, the vast majority still lived in deep misery.
Now, the Blood Refining World had gained an additional Thousand Streams Blessed Land. As Lan Qiyue’s strength grew and her territory continuously expanded, the number of humans she could shelter would inevitably grow as well.
Along his journey, he had also enslaved quite a few Blood Race Blessed Land Masters, and even one Heavenly Venerable. Under the rule of those enslaved Blood Race, the humans’ circumstances should also improve somewhat.
But this ultimately could not solve the problem at its root.
The Jade Blood Holy Land was a hope, a single spark that could ignite a prairie fire. If one day, that spark spread and blazed across the entire Blood Refining World, only then could humanity truly cast off its suffering.
The spirit boat halted beneath a spirit peak at the center of the large island.
The spirit peak was not tall, only a hundred zhang. Atop it was a continuous stretch of buildings. Lu Ye surmised this was where the upper echelons of the Jade Blood Holy Land gathered.
“Wait here,” the magic cultivator woman instructed him. She put away the spirit boat and, together with the other three, strode up the spirit peak.
Returning from their mission, they naturally had to report. Although they had failed to kill the Starlight Moon Holy Venerable this time, they had at least roughly ascertained the troop strength of the northern front.
This way, the Holy Land could also respond accordingly.
Until the Holy Master summoned Lu Ye, they could not casually bring him up.
Thus, Lu Ye and Dao Shisan stood quietly in place, waiting. There were no guards stationed here, and ordinary humans wouldn’t approach this area, which made the two of them seem rather out of place.
Having waited for a long time and grown rather bored, Lu Ye glanced left and right and spotted a stone tablet not far away.
He swept his eyes over it, initially paying it little mind. But very quickly, his gaze snapped back, an expression of surprise and suspicion crossing his face. He paced over to the stone tablet and studied it intently.
At the same moment, at the summit, a middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back atop a suspended stone, gazing out over the archipelago.
Jian Guhong and the others walked up behind the man and cupped their fists in unison. “Holy Master.”
The man turned around, revealing a handsome face graced with a warm smile. “You’ve all returned? You’ve worked hard.”
(End of Chapter)