Sage of Humanity-Chapter 1581 - 1579: Departure
The matters of Xianyuan City have been resolved, and after much discussion and quarrel, a conclusion has almost been reached regarding the quotas for the Nine Provinces Constellations traveling to All Phenomena Ocean. Although the result may not satisfy everyone, it is ultimately a result that everyone can accept.
When the Nine Provinces cultivators establish themselves in All Phenomena Ocean later, others can still go over if they wish. A journey of a few years is not much for a Constellation.
In front of the Nine Provinces Governor's Palace, numerous Constellations gathered, with starboats and Tiger Shark battleships hovering in the air. With Lu Ye's command, everyone boarded the ships.
The Constellations who qualified to board were jubilant, while those who didn't were full of envy.
Departing from Nine Provinces, there were a total of seven starboats and three Tiger Shark battleships. Additionally, from the Unparalleled Continent, there were three starboats and two Tiger Sharks waiting. For this long voyage, the Nine Provinces fleet would consist of ten starboats and five battleships.
Originally, Lu Ye bought thirty starboats and ten Tiger Sharks from Unparalleled Island, and only a portion of them were used for this fleet. The remainder was left in Nine Provinces and Unparalleled for use by the home world cultivators to explore the stellar space, saving them time and effort. This way, when they wish to voyage to All Phenomena Ocean in the future, they won't be without usable starboats.
In addition to starboats and battleships, Lu Ye also left five million spirit jade in the Nine Provinces Governor's Palace as a reserve. With such a large sum of spirit jade, the cultivators remaining in Nine Provinces should be able to use it for a long time if they're thrifty. Moreover, they aren't people who just wait to be fed. Usually, they can search in the stellar space for what they need for their cultivation, and only in special situations would they need to use the spirit jade left by Lu Ye.
Lu Ye also left behind a large number of As-Close-As-Siblings Array Discs for the Nine Provinces cultivators to use for teamwork against enemies.
In addition, he left star maps for the Qingli Dao World and All Phenomena Ocean, and even some trunks of the Reincarnation Tree.
With everything ready, Lu Ye looked at the many Nine Provinces Constellations bidding farewell below and clasped his fists saying, "I'll rely on you all to take care of home."
Leading them, Pang Zhen grinned and replied, "Don't worry, with us here, there won't be any trouble at home. But you, when you're out there, you need to endure where you must, don't act rashly. If things truly get difficult, come back early."
It sounded just like how elders earnestly advise their children when they head far away to venture.
Lu Ye nodded, and with a flicker, landed on a starboat, waving his hand, "Set out!"
All starboats and battleships turned direction, heading out of Nine Provinces, gradually picking up speed.
Pang Zhen, leading the many Constellations staying behind, clasped their fists and sent them off, shouting in unison, "May fortune favor you and turn misfortune to good!"
On the starboat, Lu Ye looked down at Nine Provinces, placing his hand on his battlefield marking, his Mental Consciousness surging, "Number Nine, I'm leaving, take care of Nine Provinces."
In the past days while preparing to depart, he sought out Number Nine several times to bid farewell, but Number Nine completely ignored him. Lu Ye, of course, knew Number Nine couldn't possibly be unaware of his call; the reason for ignoring was likely because it didn't want him to leave.
Throughout Nine Provinces, except for Lu Ye, only Zhang Zishan knew of its existence. When Lu Ye wasn't around before, it occasionally chatted with Zhang Zishan. Now that Zhang Zishan has been taken into the Million Souls Banner to be brought to the Soul Race ancestral land, the only one it could communicate with left was Lu Ye.
If Lu Ye left as well, then Number Nine would be left alone to guard Nine Provinces.
It's like a clingy child...
But some things must be done. Staying in Nine Provinces is indeed comfortable, without the numerous dangers outside, but since Nine Provinces has already advanced to a large domain, it ultimately must connect with the stellar space. Only when the home world's foundation becomes stronger can they have enough strength to protect themselves should danger arise in the future.
After waiting a moment without any response from Number Nine, Lu Ye sighed, knowing the child was sulking but didn't press further.
Just then, a voice suddenly came by his ear, "Then next time you come back, you must bring those yummy things!"
Lu Ye was taken aback, then realized the "yummy things" Number Nine referred to were the Crystal Core of the World Devouring Beast he brought out before and that pink strange object from the nebula tomb mound.
"Okay! Next time I'll bring more for you." Lu Ye agreed without hesitation; while the goodies from the nebula tomb mound might be unreliable, he could at least try to find more World Devouring Beast Crystal Cores to bring back. He shouldn't disappoint Number Nine.
Though the Crystal Core of the World Devouring Beast is rare, it's still possible to get hold of some with effort.
"Then it's settled!"
"It's settled!" Lu Ye replied, feeling a sudden intuition. As he looked down, he saw from the hill not far from the Nine Provinces Governor's Palace, a rabbit standing upright, gazing this way.
Lu Ye waved towards its direction, as the starboat surged through the clouds, darting into the stellar space.
When the fleet entered the stellar space, the cultivators piloting the starboats were well-behaved, steering according to the star map. But those assigned to the Tiger Shark battleships were intrigued. After all, none of them had ever handled a battleship before, so they were familiarizing themselves with the various functions of the battleships. This resulted in the escorting battleships behaving like mischievous children, playing tag on the journey, weaving back and forth.
Tiger Shark battleships are small, and can be operated by three to five people. Compared to those expensive large battleships, although their defenses and attacks are weaker, they are more agile.
At first, everyone was not quite familiar, and steering was inevitably awkward, but as they gradually got used to it, the three Tiger Sharks became noticeably more agile.
Lu Ye stood on the deck, quietly observing.
On the starboat he was on, most of the people were those he was relatively close to, including Hua Ci and Shui Yuan, as well as the members of Team D-9.
Amber was crouched by his feet, Yaya snuggled in Amber's arms, with Yiyi and Lih Shang by the side.
Perhaps due to being soul bodies themselves, Lih Shang seemed to have a natural affinity for Yiyi; though they had only met a few days ago, the two quickly became familiar.
Over such a long period of contact, Lu Ye had a general understanding of Lih Shang's temperament. She was not someone who could quickly become familiar with strangers; for example, with Hua Ci and Shui Yuan, Lih Shang would occasionally chat with them, but wasn't close.
But her attitude toward Yiyi was completely different; she genuinely treated her as if she were a fellow clansman.
Lu Ye vaguely felt there might be other reasons too.
After chatting casually for a while, Yiyi called Amber, ready to cultivate. Two years ago, when she ascended to Constellation, Yiyi thought the gap between her and Lu Ye would narrow, but upon returning, Lu Ye was already at the late stage of Constellation cultivation.
The gap in cultivation levels didn't narrow but instead widened considerably.
Thus Yiyi dared not slack off regarding cultivation matters, becoming more diligent than before.
Amber left, while Yaya rubbed her sleepy eyes, sat on the ground, and bewilderedly looked around for a while. She then silently grabbed Lu Ye's pants, climbed up like a monkey, nestled into Lu Ye's arms, found a comfortable sleeping pose, and closed her eyes again.
Holding her in one arm, Lu Ye looked down for a while and said, "Yaya has been quite sleepy lately."
While Yaya had been sleepy before, the situation hadn't been this severe; usually, only after exerting Sun Blaze's cultivation would Yaya fall into a deep sleep, and she was often awake.
But recently, things were noticeably different, especially when staying near Amber. Almost every time she touched Amber, she would fall asleep.
"Perhaps she is recovering, and the sleepiness is merely an external manifestation of that recovery," Lih Shang speculated.
Lu Ye nodded but quickly realized another issue: "Do you think once she recovers, she might harm us?"
After all, Yaya is a Sun Blaze, and with her consciousness impaired, she has mistaken him and Lih Shang for her parents. If she recalls these past events after recovering and gets embarrassed…
What could Lu Ye do to fend it off? At that point, he and Lih Shang would be in trouble together.
Lih Shang said, "Her mental damage is significant and won't recover anytime soon. Besides, the fault doesn't lie with us; even if she does recover, she should know it was her own initiative. Moreover, you saved her life, after all."
"That's a valid point!" Lu Ye agreed, having considered these things when saving Yaya back then.
Lih Shang hesitated briefly and then changed the subject, "Do you know why Yaya clings to Amber?"
Lu Ye thought the main topic was finally coming, for since Lih Shang met Amber, she'd been quite interested in him, partly also causing Lih Shang to quickly get familiar with Yiyi, and instead of answering, he asked back, "Do you know?"
Lih Shang nodded and then shook her head, "I don't know the exact reason, but Yaya ultimately has the essence of Sun Blaze; her clinging to Amber isn't just because Amber is likable, there must be a deeper reason. Perhaps her instincts feel that staying near Amber aids her recovery better." Then, pausing for a bit, she continued, "Amber should have the White Tiger lineage, did you know?"
"I've had suspicions." The White Tiger, among the Four Auspicious Sacred Beasts, is famous; how could Lu Ye not know? The previous Nine Provinces was a top-tier domain, though it's been in decline for 10,000 years, some remnants from the prior Nine Provinces can still be seen in today's Nine Provinces.
Amber's lineage should have been passed down from the era of the previous Nine Provinces.
Lu Ye had encountered many tiger demon beasts, but none of them could transform into a minion spirit like Amber could, so Lu Ye wasn't just guessing blindly about Amber's lineage.
General tiger demon beasts lack such miraculous qualities, and only the legendary White Tiger would possess such abilities.
Though it was speculation, proving such a fact was impossible since he hadn't seen any other White Tigers.
"People say the White Tiger embodies kill, being the most savage of the Four Auspicious Sacred Beasts," Lih Shang's serene voice came, "But few know that the White Tiger has natural benefits for soul bodies."
"How so?" Lu Ye humbly asked, aware that Lih Shang mentioning Amber wasn't spontaneous. Clearly, she'd been watching Amber these days, and since she was saying this now, she'd reached a conclusion.
