Sage of Humanity-Chapter 1577 - 1575: The Future of the Nine Provinces Depends on You

Number Nine quieted down upon hearing this.

"Come, let me show you something good." As Lu Ye spoke, he took out two fist-sized objects from his storage ring.

Number Nine's attention was immediately captured, and it bounced over to Lu Ye.

"What is this?" Number Nine asked suspiciously, looking somewhat uncertain about this thing, but instinctively sensing that it could be significantly useful for the Nine Provinces.

"Crystal Cores of the World Devouring Beast."

"These are the Crystal Cores of the World Devouring Beast?" Number Nine exclaimed joyfully. It surely knew about the World Devouring Beast but had never seen one before.

"Absolutely genuine." Lu Ye casually tossed the two Crystal Cores over. Number Nine caught them with its paws, tilting its head to examine them closely, growing happier with each look.

Then Lu Ye watched it open its mouth wide and swallowed one Crystal Core at a time, devouring both into its belly.

The rabbit in front of him was merely a manifestation of Number Nine, not a physical entity, just a special energy gathering, so naturally, it couldn't eat things. It only appeared as though Number Nine swallowed the two Crystal Cores, but in fact, it transferred them somewhere else to let the Nine Provinces slowly digest them, enhancing its own foundation.

"Are there any more?" Number Nine looked at Lu Ye with some lingering desire, appearing delighted.

Thinking back to when Lu Ye wasn't strong enough, Number Nine had often secretly looked after him, openly and covertly providing Lu Ye with various benefits. Now that Lu Ye had grown stronger, he knew to bring back good things from the outside.

A sudden feeling of pride grew, like watching one's own child making a mark in the world and now knowing to respect elders.

"No more." Lu Ye spread his hands. World Devouring Beasts are not easy to come across, and he had only encountered them by chance in the Qingfeng World.

While speaking, Lu Ye suddenly remembered something: "By the way, do you recognize this thing?"

Saying so, he took out another item from his storage ring. It was pink, at first glance resembling a pink serpent's body, with quite a fleshy appearance, but it was neither any kind of flesh nor did it have any hint of bloodiness.

This was the item Lu Ye had previously brought back from the nebula tomb mound of the Thousand Mounds Cemetery. The azure bird had swallowed the pink worm-like thing from within the tomb mound, leaving behind pieces several meters long, which Lu Ye had taken after cutting down.

It contained an overwhelming amount of energy, but ordinary refining methods were useless; Lu Ye could only utilize the Talent Tree to devour the energy within. Yet, that would consume the fuel of the Talent Tree excessively.

Bearing such a consumption of the Talent Tree's fuel, he might as well enter the All Phenomena Ocean to cultivate, achieving practically the same effect.

So, for him, this thing was somewhat of a burden.

Lih Shang didn't recognize what exactly it was either, so Lu Ye thought of letting Number Nine have a look to see if it could discern anything.

He threw the piece that looked like pink flesh in front of Number Nine, which circled around the object, examining it as it walked. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Lu Ye gradually realized something was off because Number Nine's eyes sparkled more and more, its demeanor showing an eager appetite, even more obvious than when it saw the World Devouring Beast's Crystal Cores.

And then Number Nine opened its mouth again…

The rabbit's mouth wasn't large, logically it couldn't swallow something so big, but the rabbit form of Number Nine was not a real rabbit, so when it opened its mouth, its entire head suddenly swelled to many times its size, and even its rabbit mouth turned into a gaping maw.

In one gulp, a large chunk of pink flesh disappeared from sight.

Lu Ye was stunned: "Just what exactly is this?"

Number Nine looked at him eagerly: "I don't know!"

"Why are you eating something you don't know!" Lu Ye chuckled helplessly.

Number Nine replied: "Although I don't know what it is, the energy contained within is fundamentally the world's essence, the same type of energy as in the World Devouring Beast's Crystal Cores, and it can aid in the growth of a domain."

Lu Ye was taken aback, then silently retrieved all the pink flesh-like objects from the storage ring.

Number Nine was dumbfounded, then began to cheer joyously, swallowing each piece that Lu Ye brought out.

In just a moment, everything was devoured clean.

"No more!" Lu Ye looked at it.

Number Nine asked: "Where did you get this stuff from? The energy inside seems even more potent than the World Devouring Beast's Crystal Cores."

Thinking for a bit, Lu Ye said: "On the way back, I passed by a stellar marvel called the Thousand Mounds Cemetery. There are numerous nebula tomb mounds there, and this came from one of those mounds."

Number Nine's rabbit eyes shone brighter: "There are many mounds?"

Lu Ye nodded solemnly: "Countless!" He could see clearly what Number Nine was thinking and put an end to its fantasy: "However, those mounds are inexplicably dangerous. It's fine if you don't get close, but once you do, you'll face peculiar attacks. I was able to get these things thanks entirely to an azure bird." With that, he recounted his previous experience.

Number Nine was startled: "That azure bird is probably an ancient species."

"Ancient species?" It was the first time Lu Ye had heard this term.

Number Nine explained: "In ancient times, various ferocious birds and exotic beasts ran rampant across the stellar space, each with enormous unmatched size. However, with the changes and evolutions in the stellar space and the hunts by great cultivators, the number of these ancient species has been dwindling, and now they're very rare."

This made Lu Ye think of Planet Tengu. From afar, Planet Tengu looked like a giant dog. If Planet Tengu is indeed the corpse of a giant dog, then this dog was likely an ancient species in its life, a ferocious beast from the same era as the azure bird.

"Lu Ye, strengthen yourself quickly; the future of the Nine Provinces rests on you," Number Nine said suddenly in a solemn tone.

Such a feeling of knowing there's a treasure mountain but being unable to possess it was quite distressing. If the mounds within the Thousand Mounds Cemetery contained those pink worm-like things, the Nine Provinces would only need to devour a few to gain tremendous growth. By then, advancing to top-tier domains would not be out of reach.

But coveting those nebula tombs in the Thousand Mounds Cemetery was no simple matter. Not to mention that the azure bird treats the pink worms as food, the mounds themselves are filled with great dangers; without sufficient strength, there's no way to break them open and obtain the pink worms inside.

Yet cultivation is not something that can be rushed. Currently, Lu Ye is only at the Constellation Late Stage, with Moon Jade and Sun Blaze stages still ahead. How many more years it will take to reach Sun Blaze is unknown.

Fortunately, the Nine Provinces is now absorbing the foundation of the Blood Refinement World and Unparalleled, gradually growing steadily and not urgently requiring other external forces for the time being.

After lingering for quite some time with Number Nine, Lu Ye reluctantly returned to the Righteous Blood Sect.

On Righteous Peak, Hua Ci and Shui Yuan were huddled together studying something. Seeing Lu Ye return, Hua Ci looked up and smiled at him softly.

Lu Ye composed himself and avoided her gaze, approaching with ease: "What are you two studying?"

Shui Yuan replied, "After the Nine Provinces advanced to a large domain, some exotic flowers and rare herbs have been conceived within the domain that we have never seen before, which hold some medicinal value. My junior sister and I are trying to see if we can research some usable elixir pill formulas based on these exotic flowers and rare herbs."

Lu Ye said, "Stop your research. When we go to the All Phenomena Ocean later, I'll bring someone to teach you a few things."

Learning from someone is more convenient than researching from scratch. Lu Ye had the perfect candidate in mind to recommend to them. That person's alchemy skill was exceptional, suitable to guide Shui Yuan and Hua Ci.

Hearing this, Shui Yuan and Hua Ci exchanged a glance, suddenly feeling that their previously enthusiastic research had lost much of its significance...

Hua Ci's expression turned slightly resentful: "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Seeing something was amiss, Lu Ye quickly changed the subject: "By the way, I brought back some gifts!"

Saying this, he took out two green crystal pieces, one for each of them.

Shui Yuan and Hua Ci examined them curiously, unable to discern much at first.

Lu Ye explained: "These are Crystal Cores from the Wood Spirit Race, very useful for healing cultivators. You'll understand after refining them." These two wood crystals were gifts from the Wood Spirit Clan Leader after Lu Ye helped them and the Spore Race resolve a crisis at the request of the Reincarnation Tree.

He had intended to bring them back for Hua Ci and Shui Yuan, but it had slipped his mind until recently.

Lu Ye then took out many small cloth bags from his storage ring and handed them all to Shui Yuan: "These are various spirit seeds I bought from the All Phenomena Ocean. I'm not too familiar with them, so I just bought some randomly. Some might not be suitable for planting in the Nine Provinces, Second Senior Sister, you'll need to find someone to cultivate them."

This is one of the benefits of aligning with the mainstream of the stellar space. Newly promoted large domains, even if they give birth to some exotic flowers and rare herbs, have limited quantity and quality. However, if aligned with the stellar mainstream, you can purchase spirit seeds like Lu Ye did and cultivate them yourself, buying whatever you want, which is incredibly convenient.

Bidding farewell to the two, Lu Ye found Lih Shang and Yaya in a spot on Mount Ao.

Ever since arriving in the Nine Provinces, Yaya had been playing wildly, and the weary Lih Shang followed her like a nanny up the mountains and down the rivers.

When Lu Ye found them, Yaya was roasting bird eggs she had dug up from who knows where over a fire in the wilds, with a large flock of birds circling noisily overhead, seemingly protesting Yaya's actions.

Lih Shang looked at Lu Ye with a resigned expression: "Finally, you show up."

Even when she was captured and imprisoned, it wasn't as exhausting as taking care of a child. The key was Yaya's spontaneous nature, acting on impulse without any warning.

"I was away for a while, had some matters to handle, thank you, Fellow Daoist," Lu Ye said with a serious look.

"Is that so…" Lih Shang's expression was playful, clearly knowing something.

Yaya handed over a roasted bird egg: "Daddy, eat!"

Lu Ye had noticed before that Yaya seemed to particularly enjoy sharing her cherished things, so it was best to go along with her wishes at times like this; otherwise, she would be unhappy.

Lu Ye accepted the roasted egg without hesitation, peeled it, and ate it, then praised Yaya a few times, making her very happy.

Turning to Lih Shang, he said: "Fellow Daoist, please come with me to a place!"

Lih Shang's expression turned solemn, with a vague awareness of something.