Chapter 2318 - 2316: Next Time We Meet, We Are Enemies

The female ghost cultivator fled for her life, and any Dao Fusion cultivator who dared block her path along the way was all shot dead from afar by the golden‑haired woman.

After a short while, the figure of the female ghost cultivator faded from the golden‑haired woman's sight, and only then did she lower the longbow in her hand.

The newly emerged exotic treasure had already been taken away, and likewise it had drawn away the remaining Dao Fusion cultivators; her task of guarding this domain could be considered complete.

It had truly not been easy. She had already prepared herself for a battle to the death. The reason she used the Lover's Knot on Lu Ye wasn't to drag him into the water, but because Lu Ye had a method that restrained her; she had to cut off this threat first, otherwise many of her methods couldn't be brought to bear.

For her, as long as that escape secret technique wasn't restrained, she could stand in an invincible position, and Lu Ye was indeed a good choice—he even delivered himself to her doorstep.

Who would have thought that Lu Ye's Dao force reserves would be so vast, and that she could even borrow them!

This was the fundamental reason she was able to hold this domain.

"Many thanks for your help, Senior Brother." She turned her head to look at Lu Ye; though her expression was weary, her eyes were still bright.

All the killing earlier—even if the Dao force consumed hadn't been her own, the Dao soldiers' offensive were still driven out by her. This had drained her mind and energy enormously.

And looking at all of Lu Ye's attitudes and deeds before this, she understood that Lu Ye had many like‑minded aspects with her. Leaving other things aside, if it had been some other Dao Fusion cultivator here, most wouldn't have been willing to advance and retreat together with her, and yet this advance and retreat together was actually just for guarding a lowest‑level domain. This was, without doubt, something very hard to comprehend.

To be able to cultivate to Dao Fusion, which one of these cultivators isn't a ruthless and vicious type? A low‑level domain like this, in their eyes, is basically nothing at all.

"I hope your persistence proves meaningful." The Avatar glanced at the domain nearby and lightly sighed. Though this calamity could be said to have been weathered, what about next time?

Was this domain to be guarded like this forever? The stellar space fragment was dissolving, which meant that leaving the domain here was unsafe; sooner or later it would be swallowed by the Chaos Fog. Yet if they took such a domain with them on the road, it would add many shackles.

"I have arrangements, Senior Brother, don't worry!" the golden‑haired woman said.

The Avatar nodded, not asking what arrangements exactly. As long as she had a clear idea in her heart, that was enough.

"That female ghost cultivator… you'd already discovered her, hadn't you? You let her in on purpose?" the Avatar asked.

He did not believe the golden‑haired woman had failed to notice the female ghost cultivator's tracks. For a cultivator like her who stood on her arrow techniques, the arrow techniques were secondary; pupillary power was what truly mattered.

Lu Ye had previously seen her display a strange Pupil Skill.

A ghost cultivator's concealment means were indeed remarkable, but he and her had been stationed by this domain the whole time; the golden‑haired woman shouldn't have failed to sense the female ghost cultivator drawing near.

If she only had that level of ability, she would have been ambushed and killed long ago.

Since she had sensed it yet hadn't stopped it, then that was deliberate indulgence.

"Someone has to take that treasure out." The golden‑haired woman spoke, which was equivalent to tacitly admitting it. "I owe you an apology, Senior Brother. That treasure should have had a share for you."

The Avatar shook his head. "That was an affiliated treasure; it's of no use for this contention."

When he was providing Dao force support to the golden‑haired woman, he hadn't been idle. When the exotic treasure emerged, he saw it very clearly. The item wrapped in that hazy light cluster couldn't be seen in detail, but its general outline could still be made out.

So Lu Ye recognized at a glance that it was an affiliated treasure!

Because he had seen that affiliated treasure in that treasure vault space.

After seeing it then, he had even deliberately gone back into the treasure vault space to check, and found that the affiliated treasure which had originally been there had indeed vanished.

In other words, the affiliated treasure that appeared here was precisely the one that had originally been in the treasure vault.

Affiliated treasures are indeed valuable treasures, and very powerful, but they need a long period of nurturing; in this contention among Star Abyss Heirs, they won't play even the slightest role.

If it had been an exotic treasure, Lu Ye truly wouldn't have let it slip. He'd seen the might of that purple wild thunder just now with perfect clarity.

"So it was an affiliated treasure…"

The golden‑haired woman froze for a moment. She'd been searching and killing enemies the whole time and really hadn't paid attention to the treasure's situation. If it was an affiliated treasure, then losing it wasn't a loss, because this thing was a scalding hot potato.

She suddenly noticed that Lu Ye's expression was a little off, and hurriedly asked, "Senior Brother, what's wrong?"

The Avatar's expression showed a slight hint of bewilderment, then he shook his head. "Nothing."

And just three breaths earlier, at the place where Lu Ye's true body and Song Weiwei were, his gaze had turned toward a certain direction—precisely where Solar Flames and Moonless had previously been stationed.

He had long since sensed that there was a very strong opponent there; as for how strong, since they hadn't crossed blows, there was no way to judge. When he and Song Weiwei were moving, they'd also deliberately avoided that direction.

But now that direction was already empty; obviously the cultivator over there had been drawn away by the exotic treasure the female ghost cultivator was carrying.

Just as he was musing, he suddenly felt a pang of pain on his body.

Lu Ye slowly turned his head to look at Song Weiwei.

Song Weiwei was standing right beside him, sword in hand; there was still some blood on the longsword.

Lu Ye lowered his head, and saw that there was a sword wound on his waist and abdomen, flesh rolled back.

Song Weiwei's expression was complicated. She glanced once at Lu Ye's wound, then lifted her head to look at him and gave a bitter smile. "Why didn't you fight back, Senior Brother?"

Lu Ye instantly Insighted her intent and sighed. "Why put yourself through this?"

If it had been anyone else striking at him, Lu Ye would never have been without the slightest guard. But this strike of Song Weiwei's was utterly abrupt, and the key was that she'd shown no killing intent at all; only thus had it failed to alert his vigilance.

The wound looked serious, but in truth it was only a flesh injury!

In other words, Song Weiwei never intended to kill him at all.

Since she didn't want to kill him, yet suddenly struck at him, her intent was already obvious.

Song Weiwei pressed her lips together without speaking, suddenly she sheathed her Longsword, turned, and fled toward the distance. Her voice drifted far into Lu Ye's ears: "Senior Brother, the next time we meet, we'll be enemies. I won't show any mercy!"

Lu Ye's eyelids lowered slightly. He did not try to stop her, only watched her go. The flesh wound at his waist was already rapidly healing under his powerful vitality.

Song Weiwei left because, due to the Lover's Knot, Lu Ye and that blonde woman were already bound together, so she had no choice but to leave.

Her talk of not showing mercy next time was nothing more than hoping that if they truly met again, Lu Ye wouldn't show her any mercy.

Just now she had even hoped that under her sneak attack, Lu Ye would reflexively counter and kill her!

Because she knew that with her own strength, she couldn't make it to the end; sooner or later she would die at some strong cultivator's hands.

Since that was the case, she would rather die by Lu Ye's hand.

At the very least, she could leave Lu Ye one Star Abyss coin, as a token of gratitude for his care these past days.

But her scheme failed, because Lu Ye had seen through her intent.

How had things come to this point? And who, exactly, had done something wrong?

The blonde woman?

In a sense, if she hadn't used the Lover's Knot, Song Weiwei wouldn't have ended up all alone. But the blonde woman had merely made rational use of the exotic treasure on her body. She hadn't deliberately targeted anyone; before this, she hadn't even met Song Weiwei.

You couldn't say that in such a critical moment, she should refrain from using her exotic treasure and just let Lu Ye suppress and kill her. In that case, what would she have done wrong?

He himself wasn't wrong either. His teaming up with Song Weiwei had been a coincidence of fate. Lu Ye had actually been quite satisfied with this companion—just a bit cold, but that didn't matter. It wasn't as if he meant to court her; as long as they could cooperate in killing enemies, that was enough.

If they really met again, would they truly be able to strike each other down without hesitation?

Lu Ye's mood suddenly grew a bit heavy. In truth, all along he hadn't had a clear, visceral sense of the bloodiness and cruelty of this contest, because he basically belonged to the stronger side. But now…

Beside the domain, the blonde woman slowly spoke: "I still don't know how to address Senior Brother."

It was almost laughable; from enemies to companions, they had already met a good few times, yet in truth still didn't know each other's names.

"Lu Ye."

"Senior Brother Lu, my name is Su Yan."

"Su Yan…" Lu Ye nodded, inexplicably recalling Su Yuqing. Same surname, but Su Yuqing was much more mature than she was.

In terms of age, Lu Ye was sure Su Yan was far older than Su Yuqing, yet because of their differing experiences, Su Yan looked just like a little girl.

"Junior Sister, you aren't of the human race, are you?" Lu Ye asked.

Although from outward appearance this Su Yan looked very much human, with no traits of any other race, Lu Ye could feel that she wasn't of the human race, but of some other race.

This woman's bearing was very noble and holy.

"My ancestors were human. As for my race…" Su Yan smiled faintly. "Senior Brother will know in time."

She kept him in suspense; clearly it wasn't convenient for her to say more.

Lu Ye didn't press the issue. All things considered, they had only just met; there was no need to dig to the roots of everything.

"Senior Brother Lu, let's tidy up the battlefield first," Su Yan suggested.

Tidying up the battlefield meant gathering the Star Abyss coins left behind after those Dao Fusion cultivators had died, because per the rules of this contest, any cultivator who died would only leave this behind.

"You rest. I'll do it," Lu Ye said.

"I'll be troubling Senior Brother, then." Su Yan readily agreed.

Thinking it over, Lu Ye took out the Dao force flask from his breast and tossed it to Su Yan. "This thing has quite a bit of Dao force in it. Refine it first and recover."

Since he'd already been forcibly bound together with Su Yan, he could only accept it. In any case, Su Yan definitely had strength, and she happened to complement him in forming a perfectly coordinated pairing.

The Dao force liquid stored in the Dao force flask wasn't of much use to Lu Ye himself; he could use it to help Su Yan recover.

"Many thanks, Senior Brother." Su Yan received it delightedly, feeling all the more that teaming up with Lu Ye had been a wise choice—especially after having sensed the vastness of Lu Ye's Dao force reserves earlier.

Before today, she hadn't had much confidence in this contest. But now, with Lu Ye as her backing, she no longer feared any opponent, even if those opponents were stronger than her.

The Treasure Blood Avatar didn't move, still standing guard by Su Yan's side. Though the nearby Dao Fusion cultivators had all been drawn away because that female spectral cultivator had taken the affiliated treasure, who could guarantee there was no one lurking in the dark, spying on them?

So it was still better to remain cautious.

Lu Ye's true body here summoned the Treasure Blood Avatar of the 9th Dao and began to tidy up the battlefield, gathering Star Abyss coins.

Although his Blood Race Bloodline had advanced and Lu Ye had already condensed a drop of Dao Blood, his previous treasure blood hadn't vanished because of it; he could still condense Treasure Blood Avatars.

These Avatars weren't of great use, but doing heavy labor was no problem for them.