Sage of Humanity-Chapter 1618 - 1616: Poaching Talent

The All Phenomena Ocean was as bustling as ever, with a sea of voices on every spirit island, and the silhouettes of cultivators and starboats in constant motion across the sky.

Lu Ye couldn't help but recall the first time he came to the All Phenomena Ocean, how careful and cautious he was during his flight, fearing that he might encounter a powerful individual who might take a dislike to him.

Back then, although he had advanced to the Constellation Mid-Stage, he had only just advanced, and might not have been able to hold his own against a true expert.

Years later, on his second visit to the All Phenomena Ocean, his cultivation had only improved by a small level, yet compared to his previous strength, it was as different as day and night.

Now, even if he encountered a typical Moon-glory cultivator, he might not necessarily lack the power to fight back. After living for several years in the All Phenomena Ocean, he was now familiar with it, no longer being as cautious as on his first visit.

As he maneuvered his starboat closer to Unparalleled Island, he encountered more and more cultivators in the air. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Lu Ye couldn't help but feel puzzled; judging by the current situation, Unparalleled Island was maintaining its former prosperity and seemed to be even more than before. But where had Tang Jun and the others gone?

Several days later, Lu Ye arrived at Unparalleled Island. From a distance, the entire island did not seem to have changed much and was still similar to before.

Outside the spirit island was a light curtain covering it, but this was not the protective array's light curtain; Lu Ye could tell at a glance it was an isolation array.

This was a big array present on every spirit island because only then could it prevent the energy from dissipating from the island. Without such an isolating array, the stellar space energy generated on the island would dissipate, resulting in a waste.

Having the isolation array was different—energy would not dissipate, filling the spirit island, allowing the cultivators to use it for cultivation.

Lu Ye observed from afar for a while before heading in a specific direction.

When he had entered Unparalleled Island from the outside before, he would enter wherever was convenient, and no one would say anything because it was his own spirit island.

In fact, every spirit island had docks, and incoming cultivators needed to enter and exit through them; this was how all spirit islands managed external cultivators.

Unparalleled Island, although not small, was not particularly large either. When Chu Shen created it years ago, he originally planned three docks. Later, as the popularity of Unparalleled Island grew, two more were added to meet the daily flow of people.

Lu Ye was aware of this.

Arriving at one of the docks, Lu Ye put away his starboat and entered directly.

There were cultivators guarding this place, and to Lu Ye's surprise, the one stationed here was a Moon-glory! Judging by the power fluctuations emanating from the person, they were likely only in the Moon-glory Early Stage.

This was evidently unusual. When he left years ago, the only Moon-glory on Unparalleled Island was Tang Jun, and he remembered Chu Shen assigning only Constellation cultivators to the docks.

When did Unparalleled Island gain another Moon-glory?

And that's just the situation at this dock; Unparalleled Island had five such docks!

The Moon-glory sat quietly a short distance away, eyes closed in meditation, unmoving, seemingly indifferent to the comings and goings of the cultivators. In reality, this was because everyone followed the rules very well. If anyone broke the rules, they would certainly enforce them with Thunderbolt techniques.

There were no transit fees collected as on All Phenomena Island, and Lu Ye smoothly passed through the dock into Unparalleled Island.

Setting foot on Unparalleled Island, Lu Ye was momentarily stunned.

He felt that the stellar space energy surrounding him was much denser than when he left years ago...

Knowing that Unparalleled Island had a high visitor rate and the cultivators stopping over consumed the island's energy, it was still remarkable for it to be this dense.

Unparalleled Island… could it have advanced to a top-class Spirit Island?

When he left years ago, Unparalleled Island was only at the mid-class Spirit Island level. Though such islands were not common across the All Phenomena Ocean, they weren't particularly rare either. Essentially, any significant power could occupy a decent mid-class Spirit Island.

After several years, Lu Ye believed that advancing to a high-class Spirit Island would not be an issue for Unparalleled Island, especially with the Small Constellation Palace he had placed beneath it, consistently functioning.

Whether or not it could advance to a top-class Spirit Island was something Lu Ye couldn't determine. Across the entire All Phenomena Ocean, the number of top-class Spirit Islands was limited, no more than twenty, all occupied by powerful forces renowned throughout the Universe.

But once he sensed the slight change within Unparalleled Island, Lu Ye had a vague feeling that even if Unparalleled Island hadn't advanced to a top-class Spirit Island, it wasn't far off.

The gradual transformation wrought by the Small Constellation Palace over the years had transformed a deserted island into the spirit island it had become, an astonishing change.

Unparalleled Island's upheaval was probably linked to this matter. A top-class Spirit Island, after all, was capable of spawning Spirit Jade Veins, a desire many large domains yearned for but couldn't achieve.

"Do not linger here and obstruct others coming and going!"

Just as Lu Ye was sensing the change in Unparalleled Island, the Moon-glory stationed there slowly opened his eyes and scolded him.

Lu Ye regained his senses and hurriedly headed inward.

Soon, he arrived inside Unparalleled Island. Compared to when he left back then, Unparalleled Island was visibly more prosperous. The layout of the shops hadn't changed much, but the number of cultivators coming and going undoubtedly increased manyfold.

Especially many people were heading in one direction. As Lu Ye walked by, he observed and listened to conversations around, trying to see if he could find any useful clues, but without much success.

Cultivators, if they didn't want others to overhear, could completely use Mental Consciousness for audio transmission. Public discussions were all trivial matters of no significance, so naturally, Lu Ye couldn't overhear anything worthwhile.

Following the crowd, he soon arrived in front of a massive building.

Lu Ye raised his eyes to observe and almost thought he had arrived at the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, because from the outside appearance, the styles and layout of this building were almost identical to the All Phenomena Merchants Guild!

However, the plaque above was inscribed with the four characters "Celestial Flames Merchants Guild."

Lu Ye furrowed his brows.

He remembered this building; when he left back then, this largest building was still ownerless because Chu Shen wanted to establish a merchants guild of his own. This place was specifically reserved for that purpose. Chu Shen had quite the talent in business management and dared to think and act. The success of Unparalleled Island back then owed much to him. Of course, it was also somewhat related to his background.

To say he was a notable figure in Cheling World— without Chu Shen's background, Unparalleled Island back then would not have easily succeeded and more likely would have been targeted and attacked.

Chu Shen had openly discussed his plans numerous times before him and was highly expectant of the future guild. Therefore, he kept the largest building on the island reserved, neither rented nor sold it despite other forces offering high prices.

Yet now, with the Celestial Flames Merchants Guild plaque hanging there, it seemed quite unusual.

Lu Ye vaguely remembered seeing the words "Celestial Flames" somewhere...

He took out the star map to check, and indeed, within the All Phenomena Galaxy, there was a Celestial Flames Domain, a local domain.

From this view, the Celestial Flames Merchants Guild was related to the Celestial Flames Domain, clearly a Celestial Flames Domain industry.

Although the All Phenomena Galaxy had the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, it was an industry shared across the entire galaxy. All Sun Blaze forces within the galaxy were affiliated with the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, being the largest force across the All Phenomena Ocean.

However, within the home galaxy, industries were not limited to just the All Phenomena Merchants Guild. Various domains had industries of their own.

Upon entering the Celestial Flames Merchants Guild, the crowd flowed ceaselessly, shoulder to shoulder, and Lu Ye was secretly surprised because even in the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, he'd never seen such bustling scenes; what, then, did this Celestial Flames Merchants Guild possess to achieve what the All Phenomena Merchants Guild could not?

This probably related to the passage fees on All Phenomena Island, a few spirit jades might not be much, yet cultivators without need to go to All Phenomena Island naturally wouldn't waste them.

Unparalleled Island was different, without passage fees; anyone could come and go freely, naturally gathering more people.

Lu Ye stood in the vast hall for quite a while, without anyone paying attention to him. After some time, a female cultivator wearing Celestial Flames Merchants Guild attire approached. Her attire was quite revealing, with large areas of snow white exposed. Critically, she had a charming figure, slender waist, and impressive presence on her chest, drawing many sneaky glances.

She handed Lu Ye a jade slip, spoke crisply: "Esteemed guest, on our grand opening day, we offer discounts on all items in the jade slip. Everything is 10% off; you may wish to have a look. Furthermore, if the items you need are not in the jade slip, our guild can assist in finding them."

Lu Ye finally understood why so many people gathered here.

Discounts, such matters, even cultivators were keen on— after all, saving some spirit jade effortlessly was appealing to anyone. Moreover, without any passage fees on Unparalleled Island, naturally, people came by with or without reason.

Lu Ye took the jade slip, casually looked at it, while asking, "Miss, I haven't been to the All Phenomena Ocean for a long time; I recall there wasn't your Celestial Flames Merchants Guild on Unparalleled Island. When did you join?"

The female cultivator smiled gently: "Esteemed guest, this is not Unparalleled Island now."

Lu Ye appeared astonished: "Unparalleled Island was overtaken? What is it called now?" Generally, Spirit Islands wouldn't change names easily unless they changed ownership!

She did not respond to his first question, only stating: "Our Celestial Flames Merchants Guild now occupies this island, hence it became Tianyan Island."

"Congratulations then," Lu Ye remained expressionless. Across All Phenomena Ocean, many Spirit Island ownerships often fluctuate, with various forces alternating appearances, changing Spirit Island names was common.

Lu Ye's heart sank slightly; though she didn't answer his question directly, through mere clues, Unparalleled Island was indeed taken over!

He previously had such a premonition, otherwise, there would've been no reason for Chu Shen and Tang Jun to be unreachable.

But given Chu Shen's status, Lu Ye could not fathom who would dare to challenge Unparalleled Island, for despite formidable external galaxy forces, Chu Shen had Jiu Yan behind him, deserving some respect.

Now he realized, Unparalleled Island wasn't taken by external galaxy forces, but by another local galaxy force!

This was being undermined by one's own, somewhat defying common sense.