In this direct collision between the human race and the Blood Race, the initial probing took less than two days, and the direct engagement lasted just over an hour. However, the subsequent pursuit and encirclement lasted a full five to six days.

In this battle, countless bodies were buried in the Empyrean Sea; the Blood Race army was almost completely annihilated. Except for the very few fortunate Blood Race members who escaped, the rest were either slain by human race cultivators or fell into the Empyrean Sea, where death was certain.

Of the more than thirty Sacred Seeds, only six or seven managed to escape.

Besides the portion initially wiped out by the trio of Lu Ye, Jian Guhong, and Wu Deshao, the remainder were the result of Lu Ye and Jian Guhong's pursuit.

Of course, this also benefitted from the entanglement and encirclement by the human battalion experts from all directions.

Chasing after enemies requires a great deal of energy and is extremely time-consuming. After all, the directions in which the Sacred Seeds fled were not just one, so Lu Ye and Jian Guhong, after finishing their task in one direction, had to rush to the next, which was quite exhausting.

By the end of the chase, both he and Jian Guhong were somewhat exhausted.

Unable to completely succeed, some of the Sacred Seeds still managed to escape, leaving them quite helpless, but there was nothing more they could do.

Each of the Sacred Seeds possessed formidable strength, and with the Nine Provinces cultivators encountering the Blood Race's Blood Techniques for the first time, many things were unfamiliar, inevitably leading to some oversights.

The only regret for Lu Ye was that a Sacred Seed whose saintliness far exceeded his also escaped…

But at this moment, although the saintliness of that Sacred Seed is much stronger than Lu Ye's, it might not be the case the next time they meet.

Having slain so many Sacred Seeds, Lu Ye collected all the Sacred Blood from the slain Sacred Seeds. As long as he can refine this Sacred Blood, his saintliness is bound to surge.

At that point, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he would be the foremost in saintliness in the Blood Refinement World. Lu Ye believed no Sacred Seed's saintliness could surpass his after refining all the Sacred Blood.

After all, even the Sacred Seeds must bear a certain degree of risk when refining Sacred Blood. Their growth in saintliness is limited, whereas he can use the Talent Tree's refinement without any hidden risks to refine the Sacred Blood.

At this point, the nine major battalions of Bingzhou gathered at the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, primarily for some rest and recuperation. After several days of fierce battle, the cultivators were somewhat tired. Since there was no place to stand on the Empyrean Sea, they could only come to the Righteous Blood Sacred Land.

For a time, the Sacred Island and the small islands along the surrounding defensive line were overcrowded!

Since the founding of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, this place had never gathered so many human race cultivators, and each one was quite powerful.

In addition to rest, it was also a large meeting.

Those sects with their elders in the Sacred Land, without exception, eagerly came to greet their ancestors and received a fair amount of encouragement.

Those sects without elders in the Sacred Land didn't need to meet any ancestors, but as guests from afar, they inevitably had to pay a courtesy call to the local host.

As early as the Nine Provinces celebration banquet, when Lu Ye publicly brought up the existence of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, the Nine Provinces experts vaguely realized a problem.

The Righteous Blood Sacred Land is probably not unrelated to the strong individual from the Righteous Blood Sect who stirred the Nine Provinces decades ago.

No one was a fool. Since predecessors like Jian Guhong, Mong Jie, and Lady Moon could establish themselves in the Blood Refinement World, there was no reason why Feng Wujiang, who was dominant decades ago, couldn't do so.

But at that time, everyone was immersed in the joy and anticipation of the subsequent matters raised by Lu Ye, so no one asked that untimely question, also subconsciously ignoring it.

Upon arriving now, it was indeed the case; the Sacred Master of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land was Feng Wujiang. Otherwise, how could the only human Pure Land in the Blood Refinement World be named after Righteous Blood?

When Feng Wujiang established the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, he probably never expected the current situation, or else he would never have named the Sacred Land 'Righteous Blood,' most likely opting for something like 'Nine Provinces Sacred Land' instead…

At this point, there's no need to worry about such things; ultimately, it's just a name.

The Divine Sea Realm cultivators were eager to participate in this expedition because it involved their prospects of ascending to the upper realm. Those below the Divine Sea Realm were keen on the battle merit, each having their own needs.

Feng Wujiang had grievances with many major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. Under his leadership, the Haotian Alliance once had tendencies of unifying the Nine Provinces; many top major sects of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were defeated. In any other scenario, any other environment, meeting each other wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

But this was, after all, the Blood Refinement World, and coupled with the victory in battle, there were some things that were understood without needing to be mentioned.

Compared to the future of the entire Nine Provinces and the future path of the Divine Sea Realm cultivators, past grudges invisibly dulled quite a bit.

It's not about forgetting hatred. Hatred isn't something that can be easily forgotten. The two major camps have been in opposition for so many years, with countless grudges. If past grievances were truly pursued, every sect present was burdened with deep-seated hatred.

Yet under the influence of the Insect Plague, the two factions could still cease hostilities and come to terms. During the expedition to the Blood Refinement World, they were able to cooperate sincerely.

Different periods and different stages see cultivators with different demands.

Currently, within the Nine Provinces, while the two camps haven't explicitly agreed on anything, there's already an implicit understanding that the Spirit Stream battlefield and the Cloud River battlefield will remain as they are, allowing the lower-level cultivators themselves to compete. After all, for cultivators, they can grow better through competition.

Upon reaching above Cloud River, what needed contesting was contested, but there was no longer any need to strictly adhere to faction divisions. It's highly unlikely that the previous situation, where opposing factions were automatically enemies, would occur again.

In the future, there might be situations where the lower-level cultivators are fighting fiercely, while the higher-level cultivators are drinking and conversing cheerfully.

This doesn't seem like a particularly strange occurrence.

The emergence of the two major factions was a natural evolution in the history of cultivation in the Nine Provinces. Now, a metamorphosis is imminent, and the old structures will inevitably be impacted.

With this foundational understanding and after this collaboration, interactions between parties won't be so awkward.

So overall, this large gathering can be considered a success.

During this time, higher-level cultivators discussed the action plans moving forward.

After this great battle, the Blood Race's army suffered heavy casualties, and it's likely that they won't be able to form any large-scale opposition in the short term.

Based on this, it became undesirable for cultivators to act as battalions. Although battalion actions are strong, it's overkill for dealing with scattered soldiers from the Blood Race.

Therefore, they must break into smaller groups, spreading out to swiftly and effectively eradicate the Blood Race's forces, and quickly bring the entire Blood Refinement World under control.

News from the Northern Territory keeps coming over here, where sects take turns as units to capture the Blood Race's gathering points—a quite effective method.

Of course, the strength of the various sects varies. Those with Divine Sea level support in the 3rd grade or above sects can act independently. Without Divine Sea support, sects below 3rd grade acting alone are at risk of heavy losses if they encounter a Divine Sea Blood Race.

Therefore, cooperation between sects is necessary. Like the collaboration between the Righteous Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace, each sect compensates for the other's weaknesses: Ziwei Dao Palace lacks in Divine Sea, and Righteous Blood Sect is lacking True Lake. Together, they can mutually compensate.

Of course, this applies except in areas outside the Empyrean Sea, where there's no need to consider these as all battalion members are elite cultivators, each above True Lake Realm. Each Divine Sea cultivator leads a group of True Lake Realm cultivators to form a mobile and flexible small team.

Less than a day after eliminating the Blood Race army, the nine battalions were mostly rested. They immediately moved under the leadership of each Divine Sea cultivator, with teams flying in all directions from the Sacred Island.

Even cultivators native to the Sacred Island joined them in great numbers.

They had been besieged by the Blood Race on the Sacred Island for decades, and now that there was finally a chance to fight back, they were naturally eager not to miss it. Feng Wujiang had not the slightest intention to stop them.

In less than one hour, the densely packed Sacred Island suddenly became much sparser.

Some people remained, like Feng Wujiang, who stayed to preside over control. After all, there were still many ordinary people living here.

Qiu Min didn't participate in the subsequent expeditions either. The elder sister-in-law, having finally reunited with the senior brother, naturally wouldn't part easily. Being with him was more important to her than earning battle merit through eliminating the Blood Race.

Feng Yuechan did leave, mainly because Li Baxian didn't dare stay.

Even though he had resolved to face it before coming, when he truly saw the senior brother again, he didn't know how to begin and slightly avoided the situation…

Lu Ye had been silently observing this matter, seeing the four senior brothers entangled in sorrow and was powerless to help.

Such affairs cannot be interfered with by outsiders, no matter how close as brothers, the fourth senior brother must take that step on his own.

The remaining cultivators were either those injured in battle or healing cultivators who stayed to care for them.

There weren't many.

But now the Sacred Island no longer needed worry about being attacked, so even with few left behind, it wasn't significant.

Lu Ye found a secluded spot, silently refining the Sacred Blood he had collected earlier, while quietly waiting.

His most crucial role now was dealing with the Sacred Seeds, not only those few who previously escaped but other scattered Sacred Seeds across the Blood Refinement World.

With the suppression from his Bloodline and saintliness, any Sacred Seed he confronts is likely doomed.

So he needed to remain where there were Heaven's Augury Pillars. As soon as news of Sacred Seeds was discovered in any location, he would be the first to head there.

Fortunately, he had a doppelganger, or else he really wouldn't manage.

The doppelganger had already gained three victories. During the ongoing battle at the Empyrean Sea over a few days, news from two more places arrived, and the doppelganger hurried there and joined nearby Divine Sea cultivators to kill the Sacred Seeds together.

However, without the support of a top strongman like Jian Guhong, the efficiency was notably lower.