A thread of blood lines linked together, as Lu Ye clenched his hand, they abruptly tightened, resembling a rope, binding Zhang Song firmly.

Blood Spirit Shackles!

A type of Blood Path Secret Technique.

It must be said that many of the Blood Race's secret techniques are extremely strange and mystical, stemming from their bloodline legacy, impossible to perform for those outside the Blood Race.

Lu Ye refined a drop of Sacred Blood, and with it ascended to the Divine Sea, the power of the Talent Tree burned away the bizarre force within the Sacred Blood that could have transformed Lu Ye into a Blood Race, granting him an incomplete bloodline legacy of the Blood Race.

He could also easily perform various blood techniques.

He approached Zhang Song with his knife, lowered his eyelids, and asked lightly, "Why?"

He couldn't understand, this person was clearly from the Haotian Alliance, why would he ambush him.

Moreover, he had only just returned to the Nine Provinces two days ago.

Was it a coincidence?

It didn't seem like it; this person seemed to be coming specifically for him.

But he obviously didn't know that Lu Ye had already ascended to the Divine Sea, which was why he appeared surprised when they met.

Since there was no personal grudge between them, there must be someone behind the scenes.

Counting carefully, on the Haotian Alliance side, those who openly wanted him dead included only one person, Liew Yuemei.

But she was severely reprimanded by the sect master last time, and now she may not have the courage.

Zhou Kui barely counts as half, but Zhou Kui should not have the ability to employ someone of Divine Sea Level 3 cultivation to kill him, it's not that Lu Ye looked down on him, it's just stating the facts.

Other than these two, who else could have a grudge against him?

What made Lu Ye more concerned was whether the bad feeling he sensed was related to Zhang Song.

He had to find out.

In fact, he could activate a bit of Telepathy Divine Runes to investigate the cause, but ever since using this spirit rune once in the Blood Refinement World, Lu Ye decided not to use it unless absolutely necessary, because that feeling was just too awful.

Zhang Song was still struggling, but bound by the Blood Spirit Shackles, and with his psyche wounded, how could he have the strength to escape?

His heart was darkened, knowing that this mission not only failed but also left his fate bleak.

He really hadn't expected Lu Yiye to be so capable, he thought it would be a breeze to capture Lu Ye with his Divine Sea Level 3 cultivation.

As a result, now he himself was captured alive.

In cultivator combat, defeating, killing, capturing alive, are three entirely different concepts, each progressively harder, Lu Yiye's ability to easily capture him alive meant his strength far exceeded Divine Sea Level 3, the hardest part for him to accept was that he didn't even know this person's limits.

Feeling the sharp breath of the long knife against his neck, Zhang Song chuckled quietly, "Want to know why? Ask in Huang Quan."

Lu Ye's face changed, hurriedly activating his Mental Consciousness, turning it into an invisible impact, aiming it at Zhang Song.

Yet it was still too late, with a soft 'puff', something seemed to explode in Zhang Song's mind, following which, his head tilted, losing breath, he fell down limply.

Lu Ye quickly went up, checked Zhang Song's condition, and found he was truly dead.

This scene... seemed familiar. The original source is M|V|L5EMPYR.

It reminded him of the experience in the Chen family at Mount Mi over two years ago.

Back then, the Chen Family Patriarch Chen Tianchui died before him in the same bizarre manner.

Later he was captured by Yu Daiwei, taken to a small unnamed secret realm, where while chatting with Mount Tai, he tested with words, confirming that the Chen family was under Mount Tai.

The person behind the scenes was clear now.

At that time in the Chen family, their group was inexplicably attacked, finally, he unleashed the Dragon Throne, slaughtered all sides, resolving the crisis.

Now just returning to the Nine Provinces for two days, someone came to cause him trouble again for no reason.

It seems Mount Tai already knows he's back in the Nine Provinces.

That's right, he exchanged battlefield marking with Yu Daiwei at that time, the thought was that this could be used to locate Yu Daiwei's position, because he wanted to cause trouble in that small unnamed secret realm, if Yu Daiwei's marking could connect, it indicated she was in the secret realm, and naturally, he had to be discreet.

If Yu Daiwei's marking couldn't connect, it indicated she had left the secret realm, Lu Ye could then act freely without concern.

Unexpectedly, today, it was used against him by the other side.

Yu Daiwei evidently discovered that his battlefield marking was in a contactable state, hence decided that he had returned to the Nine Provinces, but perhaps she couldn't come herself on time, thus sent Zhang Song to intercept.

Only both she and Zhang Song underestimated his strength, leading to Zhang Song's demise here.

This is also common human behavior, two years ago Lu Ye's cultivation was only True Lake Level 5, even if Zhang Song confirmed he had ascended to the Divine Sea upon seeing him, he would certainly not take him, a newly ascended person, seriously, ending up being struck down by Lu Ye like a dead dog after a brief clash.

The situation is roughly clear, but there's still one thing Lu Ye doesn't understand.

What method did Mount Tai use to control Zhang Song, making him prefer death over saying a word.

The people from the Chen family were the same back then.

Dao soldiers might be loyal enough to Mount Tai, but neither the Chen family nor Zhang Song seemed like Dao soldiers.

This kind of method that makes subordinates willing to die is simply unbelievable.

The source should be in the brain, because whether it was Chen Tianchui or Zhang Song, before they died, Lu Ye heard a slight abnormal sound coming from their brains.

He hurriedly crouched down, placing a finger on Zhang Song's forehead, and his Mental Consciousness surged to investigate.

Yet nothing was found.

Zhang Song had died, but that looming feeling of being watched did not disappear; instead, it became stronger.

It seems the source of this feeling was not Zhang Song. If not him, then it was either Mount Tai or Yu Daiwei.

It was most likely the latter. Mount Tai, being the mastermind, had many capable subordinates and couldn't handle things personally all the time.

Did they use a tracking disc? Lu Ye had a revelation.

Although he had been tracked with a tracking disc before, his cultivation was low back then, unlike today, with a Divine Sea Realm cultivation. His powerful foundation made his senses very keen, hence the perception of that elusive trace of tracking.

The stronger the perception became, the closer the other party was to him.

Lu Ye suddenly felt a surge of fighting spirit.

To be honest, he wasn't satisfied with the fight against Zhang Song earlier.

After advancing to the Divine Sea, although he battled daily, it was always a one-sided beating from the seniors. The seniors in the Blood Refinement World understood thoroughly the importance of rigorous tempering, so they didn't hold back when teaching him, making it as brutal as he could endure.

No matter whom he sparred with, Lu Ye always ended up dazed, yet those seniors were careful not to cause any lasting damage. Even if he was severely hurt, it wouldn't affect his ability to take a beating the next day.

Under such conditions, Lu Ye was unsure where his limits lay because he lost every battle.

Upon returning to the Nine Provinces, he consecutively killed two Divine Sea Realm Insect Race members in a single stroke without room to showcase his skills.

The battle with Zhang Song was also swift and decisive.

He urgently needed a suitable whetstone to test his own mettle.

A cultivator unaware of their own limits is not a qualified cultivator. Throughout their life, they would eventually encounter various crises. If they cannot accurately judge their strength, they might easily fall into dangerous situations.

So, if Yu Daiwei really came for him, it would be a fantastic opportunity.

As for whether he could win, it was no longer in Lu Ye's consideration. If he couldn't win, he couldn't win, nothing shameful about it—the cultivation gap was a fact. He was still young. Yu Daiwei, though appearing young, was actually far older than him. He would have his day to surpass her.

Besides, if he couldn't win, he could run. Among the many secret techniques of the Blood Race, the Blood Escape Technique was unparalleled in the world. When executed, Yu Daiwei could do nothing but eat dust behind him.

Having made up his mind, Lu Ye simply decided not to leave.

He collected Zhang Song's belongings and then placed the corpse into the storage sack.

A Divine Sea Realm from the Haotian Alliance turned out to be under Mount Tai's command; this was not a trivial matter and needed to be reported back to Haotian City to inform the sect master.

If there's one Zhang Song, could there be a second, a third?

He did not send a message to the sect master or Qian Wudang. The Nine Provinces were currently chaotic, and those two would undoubtedly be swamped with affairs. There was no need to trouble them unless there was full confidence in capturing someone.

Back in the True Lake Realm, Lu Ye would request assistance from the seniors without hesitation when in danger since his strength was inadequate and there was no other way. But now that he was in the Divine Sea Realm, if he relied on the seniors for everything, what kind of cultivator would that make him?

In less than an hour, a streak of light rapidly approached from a distance.

Yu Daiwei's expression was rather bewildered because the turn of events left her puzzled.

Even though she was of the Divine Sea Level 8 cultivation, flying here all the way from Leizhou took considerable time. During this period, using the tracking disc, she found that Lu Ye was moving, heading directly toward Haotian City.

This forced her to dispatch Zhang Song to intercept halfway, otherwise, if Lu Ye reached Haotian City, she would lose her chance to strike.

Logically, Zhang Song taking action should not have been a problem. What unexpected situation could arise from a Divine Sea Level 3 cultivator capturing someone from the True Lake Realm?

Yet, an unexpected incident happened.

Zhang Song's battlefield marking suddenly burst apart, which undoubtedly meant that Zhang Song had died.

Instinctively, she thought there must be some powerful figure hidden by Lu Yiye's side, or Zhang Song couldn't have died for no reason.

A Divine Sea Level 3 is not so easy to kill.

From afar, she saw a figure standing on a desolate peak, and with full Ocular Power, she observed—it was none other than Lu Yiye.

Yu Daiwei immediately became alert, casting her gaze around warily while her Mental Consciousness swiftly unfurled.

She was searching for the powerful being hidden in the shadows.

Lu Yiye, in this posture, clearly knew someone was tracking his whereabouts with a tracking disc. Despite knowing this, he didn't leave but rather waited in this desolate area.

This was extremely unusual in itself.

Yu Daiwei felt as if this place had already set up a net to trap her.

She immediately halted, stopping ten miles away from Lu Ye.

She couldn't be blamed for being so cautious; it was a precise deduction based on the available information.

On the barren peak, Lu Ye looked up at the approaching Yu Daiwei, his gaze calm.

Everything was as expected. It was this woman who used the tracking disc to track his movements, and Zhang Song was undoubtedly dispatched by her.