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Chapter 524: Exposed

The Carnage Colosseum had been on for almost a half month; that would mean that its end could come any time. If that were to happen, there would no longer be any point in trying to capture Lu Ye.

The results of the Carnage Roster would be determined by then, followed by the Heavens’ distribution of rewards. 

Tan Sheng extracted his map and ascertained his location. He was right. This was the place. He sent a message. 

It did not take long for a reply. He read it, murmuring its contents, “Where sun and moon do gently glide; Twin rivers, hand in hand, abide.”

Deep inside, he scowled at the code with scorn, [Some lousy code…]

But as soon as he was finished, two figures stepped out of their hiding spots and came into view. 

His figure vanished with the winds, darting towards them and reappearing right before the two men in an instant.

Jiang Liuzi stepped forward, his fists clasped in salute as he spoke, “Brother Tan Sheng, I presume?” The brothers had not met Tan Sheng before hence they did not know what he looked like, but the secret code match and the Spiritual Power signature he emanated corresponded with what they knew about him. There was little chance for error.

“You presume correctly,” Tan Sheng nodded. “Where is it?”

Jiang Liuzi took out an ancient-looking compass-like object from his Storage Bag. Exuding a timeless aura, the item looked just like any other ordinary object that most would rather just ignore without so much as a second glance. 

Yet this seemingly-mundane compass held the key to accurately track Lu Ye’s whereabouts, a significant opportunity that Jiang Liuzi and his brother had chanced upon.

“Hand it over,” Tan Sheng extended a hand. Though the item matched the descriptions of what he knew about it, he needed to verify it himself.

“We do not have a high cultivation rank, Brother Tan Sheng,” said Jiang Liuzi. “And we have a formidable enemy Cultivator still trying to hunt us down. It is for this reason that we need your help to keep us safe, sir.”

They couldn’t surrender the compass to Tan Sheng. Not without risking him giving them the slip as soon as he got ahold of it and leaving them to fend for themselves. 

There was no need to ask for Tan Sheng’s help to seek revenge for Lu Shu. Jiang Liuzi knew well the realm of impossibility that proposition inhabited. Tan Sheng might be a powerful Ninth-Order but so was the enemy Cultivator who slew Lu Shu. Even if Tan Sheng were to agree to help, it would still be a very difficult undertaking for him to defeat someone of the same rank. Knowing that, Jiang Liuzi deftly refrained from mentioning this matter.

They would take revenge by themselves one day. Both of them possessed exceptional talents and the day where they would finally surpass the enemy in power and strength would surely come and they would make him pay—dearly. Lu Shu’s death would be avenged then

“In addition to our request for your protection,” added Jiang Liuzi, “We would like a four-tenths of the bounty on Lu Yi Ye’s head if this turns out to be a success.”

A cold glint flashed in Tan Sheng’s eyes, “Your appetite is quite voracious, my friend. Are you sure of making such a demand?”

“You know as well as I do the number of bounties offered by all the sects and orders in our coalition,” Jiang Liuzi spoke with confidence, “Such a vast sum of rewards. Even if you were to give us four-tenths of the share, it would still be enough to last you a lifetime.”

Almost every Thousand Demon Ridge sect and order—especially those of Tiers One, Two, and Three—had pledged enough rewards to make the total bounty unimaginably humongous. 

Tan Sheng stared at the brothers pensively for several moments before he finally replied, “Surrender the item and you’ll have my word.”

Jiang Liuzi shook his head, “I think it’s best if we hold on to the compass ourselves.” They needed Tan Sheng to be around. Only that would dissuade the enemy Cultivator from attacking them. If they gave Tan Sheng the compass, he could zoom off without them, leaving them to be helpless sheep ready to be slaughtered. 

That would mean the end of everything they had worked so much for. 

To that end, Jiang Liuzi needed to be firm—even if it meant aggravating Tan Sheng. At the very least, being fellow members of the Thousand Demon Ridge would prevent Tan Sheng from just killing them both and running off with the compass. But Jiang Liuzi was nevertheless prepared for such an eventuality. If Tan Sheng were to have malicious intentions, then Jiang Liuzi would not hesitate to destroy the compass.

Seeing Tan Sheng in doubt, Jiang Liuzi spoke again, “The Colosseum has been open for almost a half-month now, Brother Tan Sheng. Lose any more time and we might not be able to track down Lu Yi Ye in time for you to regain your spot at the top of the Carnage Roster. Especially since the conclusion of the Colosseum would mean that Lu Yi Ye would be free to escape. Even with the tracking ability of this compass, he could be anywhere and we’ll still not find him by then.”

Lu Yi Ye could just as easily slip inside one of the many Divine Trade Association branches to evade capture, or he could just return to the real world of Jiu Zhou. 

Finally, Tan Sheng relented, “Two-tenths, nothing more! You can have that ruddy compass to yourselves but I’ll stay with you both until the end!”

Jiang Liuzi did not like it at all, but he knew better than to argue. Two-tenths of the whole bounty was nevertheless handsome enough for him and his brother. “Very well then,” he agreed.

“Let’s begin,” pressed Tan Sheng anxiously. 

Jiang Liuzi lifted a hand and bit the tip of his finger. With the blood that oozed out, he wrote three large characters “Lu Yi Ye” on the surface of the ancient and rustic compass.

The arterial red trails on the surface of the compass vanished as if the object itself had consumed the blood and it immediately emitted a faint glow. The pointer in the center of the compass began to spin wildly on its spindle until it finally halted, pointing in a certain direction. At the same time, a macabre speck of light, as morbid as claret, shot out of the compass and into the sky, streaking towards where it was pointing like a flaming comet. 

[The compass’ the real deal,] Tan Sheng mused quietly, his eyes alight with anticipation. With the help of this magical instrument, Lu Yi Ye would have nowhere to run!

“Let’s go!”

Tan Sheng beckoned and soared into the air with the Jiang brothers peeling just behind. 

Somewhere on the ground, a lone figure was watching everything in silence. It was the Grand Sky Coalition Ninth-Order who had killed Lu Shu. He had been hunting for the Jiang brothers but they had hidden themselves so well that he could not find them. 

By the time he saw them, it was too late. They were joined by a Ninth-Order elite and that forced him to disabuse any idea of attacking. A Ninth-Order elite whose face he knew well and it was frustrating.

[Tan Sheng,] he hissed quietly under his breath. [Since when have the members of the New Moon Sect and the Sect of Celestial Dominion grown so close?]

Tan Sheng was a member of the former while the Jiang brothers were members of the latter. Both sects commanded tremendous power and influence within the Thousand Demon Ridge coalition.

The Grand Sky Coalition Ninth-Order failed to understand what instigated the sudden relations between the two Thousand Demon Ridge sects. But he wasn’t interested to spend further valuable time trying to kill a pair of Fifth-Orders, so he decided to

leave.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Colosseum, a concealed Lu Ye frowned suddenly. For one fleeting moment, he trembled from an inexplicable sensation that swept through him as if he was being watched. 

A sensation that sent a chill down his spine.

He relied on Glyph: Concealment to hide his presence, a way not dissimilar to how Ghost Cultivators disguise themselves. For all its flaws, it would take at least a Seventh-Order to be near enough to notice him.

Could someone be near? Someone near enough to have sensed his presence?

He focused his spiritual senses—using Glyph: Insight on both his eyes—again and confirmed that nothing unusual was around.

But there was nothing. Not even the slightest trace of anyone being nearby at all. 

He paused to think, then he whispered Yi Yi’s name. She phantasmagorically came into view and at his behest, she sank underground and began reconnoitering the vicinity. 

She came back almost a quarter of an hour later, shaking her head to Lu Ye. Yi Yi had searched the whole place with a fine-tooth comb only to yield nothing. 

But that was not all. Even the strange sensation from before was gone as if it had never existed. 

Lu Ye was both shocked and apprehensive. Was that all just a figment of his imagination?

He sat there quietly once more, regaining his composure before he projected his spiritual senses once more. There really were no signs of anything amiss.

He had to admit that since getting the unique Gold Amulet, his luck had taken a dive. After almost a day, no one had passed by at all.

Lu Ye looked up into the sky. He peered at the morbid red banner hanging high up in the ether. Tan Sheng’s Carnage Points tally had not been changing at all for almost the entire day, giving enough chance for the second-runner-up to catch up. At the moment, all that was needed was a mere hundred Carnage Points to unseat Tan Sheng from the second placing of the Carnage Roster.

Minutes turned into hours and after two, the same feeling came back. Lu Ye could feel that someone was watching him and the foreboding dread was palpably stronger than before!

His expression tensed with solemness. 

[Something is definitely wrong.]

If it was just once, he could have brushed it off as a mere sense of illusion. But for it to happen again was something altogether different.

He probed his surroundings with Glyph: Insight once more. Still, he found nothing. But awash with the growing sense of foreboding, he felt exposed. If anything, it felt like a warning, urging him to leave before danger arrives.

Lu Ye immediately sent a message to Li Baxian, urging him to prepare for a retreat.

Even if it was just him being oversensitive, it was better to be cautious and not leave things to chance.

Just as he was communicating with Li Baxian, three figures were rapidly approaching his location from several miles away, referring to the guidance of a compass that emitted a glow that was slowly turning into a deep crimson as they were closing in on their target. 

“He’s close!” Jiang Liuzi exclaimed, his eyes glinting with delight. Even with the compass, he had anticipated that the hunt across the vast terrain of the Colosseum would take quite some time. But to his amazement, they had managed to reach Lu Yi Ye in just over an hour.

What a fortuitous surprise.

Lu Ye was just finishing his message to Li Baxian and was about to pack up his ward flags to leave when he noticed three streaks of light hurtling toward him.

The leader exuded an incredibly powerful Spiritual Power effusion—unmistakably a Ninth-Order. 

[Since when do Ninth-Orders operate in teams?!] Lu Ye gasped with consternation. Then he realized from the Spiritual Power discharge of the two other Cultivators with the Ninth-Order that they were just a pair of Fifth-Orders. 

[So they might be members of the same sect. Why else would a Ninth-Order be accompanying two lowly Fifth-Orders?]

Lu Ye was half-expecting them to just fly over his head. But before he could exhale with relief, all three men stopped overhead.

Hovering in the sky above, Jiang Liuzi held out the compass, his gaze fixed on the trembling pointer jerking around. He growled, “He’s just below!”

Tan Sheng’s eyes lit up, and he swiftly descended towards the ground, followed closely by the Jiang brothers behind him.

They barely hit the ground when Jiang Chengzi vanished. As a Ghost Cultivator, it was imperative that he remained concealed for tactical advantage. 

Lu Ye was staring at Jiang Chengzi. 

He had met Wei Que earlier, but he did not expect the Jiang brothers to be here as well. What a circus this had become!

But what scared and perturbed Lu Ye the most was the compass Jiang Liuzi was holding on to. The same sense of foreboding from earlier seemed like a form of etheric connection between that compass and him!

For reasons still unknown, Lu Ye couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were here to find him. Why else would they have nearly flown past him only to stop overhead just now? Why of all places had they chosen to land here? The fact that Jiang Liuzi was referring to his compass as if he was looking for something—or someone—specific lent further credence to this theory.