White Armor Level, Heading to the Front Lines

Boom!

A strange, bloody fragrance burst from the Pill Furnace along with billowing heat. Li Ye changed his hand seals, and ten pills flickering with blood-red spiritual light shot out.

They landed in a jade dish with a clatter. Three pill patterns appeared on one of them; there was one with two patterns and one with a single pattern. Five were ordinary, while the remaining two were dull in color.

Not a single pill was ruined!

"With my skills as a high-grade first-tier alchemist, and having simply given up on using things like Demon Beast meat and Essence Blood, using only a hundred strands of Blood Li Spiritual Essence as the main ingredient, the results really are extraordinary!"

Li Ye gazed at the pills in the jade dish, visibly moved.

Qi and Blood Pills belonged to a category of pills whose tiers varied. Their Pill Formula was relatively flexible, and their tier and effectiveness depended largely on the materials used.

The ones Li Ye had just refined were suited to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.

"The medicinal power is pure and fierce. I'm afraid I couldn't withstand this three-pattern Qi and Blood Pill if I used it to break through my current bottleneck. The one with a single pattern should be enough..."

He had used the panel to break through and then immediately begun refining pills. Taking a pill afterward, breaking through and adapting would take quite some time as well.

The sect's deadline was fast approaching, so he could not afford to waste any time!

After briefly regulating his breathing and restoring himself to peak condition, Li Ye swallowed the Qi and Blood Pill.

Law Power surged forth to refine it, and pure, surging medicinal power filled with Qi and Blood spread from his stomach in an endless stream. Stimulated by it, Li Ye's Qi and Blood, already close to the bottleneck, immediately began to surge like a torrent.

"Hoo, hah... hoo, hah..."

Li Ye stood up, his face flushed red and veins bulging all over his body. Wisps of steam rose from him.

His skin turned blue-gray of its own accord, giving it a thick, tough appearance!

He focused his mind and gathered his Qi, recalling the various key points in Ji Qing's cultivation notes. Following the Elephant Armor Force's breakthrough method, he repeatedly practiced his fist techniques, circulating his Qi and Blood and tempering his body.

Time passed bit by bit. As the Qi and Blood within him rapidly accumulated and deepened, undergoing a qualitative change, the dark gray leather covering his body gradually changed.

It went from dark to light, from gray to white. What had been merely thick and tough gradually began to harden.

At last, the skin covering his entire body was transformed, turning completely ivory-white and giving off a sense of hardness and suppleness in balance!

The second layer of Elephant Armor Force—the White Armor Level!

Aaanng-

Having finally achieved a qualitative change, Li Ye threw a punch that shook the air, letting out a long cry that shot into the sky like a piercing elephant trumpet.

He swept his arms around as he ended the stance, and the thick steam shrouding him instantly dispersed.

Breathing slightly hard, Li Ye seemed to have grown taller and considerably more muscular. The ivory-white skin covering his body resembled a suit of close-fitting leather armor.

When he exerted force, the skin at the corresponding spot hardened into tough plates with the texture of ivory.

He could harden his limbs to strengthen his punches and kicks, or add protection to his vital points.

It combined offense and defense!

When he channeled Law Power into the repaired Blackwood Sword and slashed himself with it, it could cut through the armor plates, but the tough muscle and skin beneath gripped it firmly, preventing it from going any deeper.

"The skin hardens, becoming as tough as ivory. So this is the White Armor Level..."

Excitement appeared in Li Ye's eyes. He patted his Storage Bag, and a piece of crimson half armor appeared in his hand.

"The Crimson Scale Armor, a high-grade Law Artifact... Elder Ji is truly generous. Knowing I was going to the battlefield, he was even willing to give me a defensive Law Artifact he once used himself!"

"Though it doesn't cover my whole body, wearing it on top of the defense provided by Elephant Armor Force will greatly increase my protection... I may even be able to move unhindered among cultivators of the same level!"

With that most important aspect, defense, now accounted for, Li Ye finally felt a little safer, even though he was heading to the battlefield.

"That damned Qi Household, and the Wengs and Zhangs... they're all dog bastards!"

"If it weren't for them, how would we have been screwed over this badly?!"

Standing aboard a giant flying boat, Li Ye listened to the short, thin cultivator beside him curse incessantly, his face full of bitterness. Li Ye looked as though he agreed wholeheartedly.

By now, he had said farewell to his many friends and set out for the front lines.

"That's the Purple Path Forest, one of the areas closest to the fighting on the front lines! With the enemy pushing forward inch by inch, going there means we'll practically be facing the Flying Feather Sect's allied forces as soon as we arrive!"

As the man spoke, his voice began to tremble.

He turned toward Li Ye and reached out to grab his lapel.

But the moment he reached out, Li Ye swayed slightly and dodged him.

The man did not seem embarrassed. His eyes simply filled with tears as he said,

"Junior Brother Li! Ever since I joined the sect, I've spent all my time working in the fields and have rarely fought anyone... I know you've had quite a bit of experience in combat, so if you have a chance when the time comes, you must help me, Old Fei!"

"If you can save my life, I, Old Fei, will be eternally grateful!"

"We spirit farmer disciples should help each other out. Who knows? I might need your help someday too, Senior Brother Fei."

Li Ye gestured for him to put his mind at ease and stop rambling.

The man looked like a complete coward, but the Law Power emanating from him was clearly at the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer. He was not particularly weak.

Now, thanks to the control over his Qi and Blood gained through body cultivation, as well as the Wood Element Cultivation Method's aptitude for concealing one's presence, Li Ye's own Law Power usually seemed to be at around the fifth layer when he was not fighting.

The cultivation levels the two displayed were almost identical, yet the man could still say such things. Li Ye could not tell whether he was genuinely timid or playing the pig to eat the tiger!

Even so, Senior Brother Fei was right.

The Purple Path Forest, where the sect had assigned them, was indeed dangerous.

The place contained a stretch of a small second-tier Spirit Vein. Its soil was rich and its Wood Element Spiritual Qi dense. In the past, it had been a fairly good source of spirit medicines and spiritual wood materials under the Purple Profound Sect, and it even had a marketplace protected by a formation.

It was quite a treasure land for raking in wealth.

But with the Flying Feather Sect's invasion, resource-producing places like this had become its primary targets.

With the dozen or so people aboard their boat being sent there now, there was virtually no chance they would pass their time in peace!

Fortunately, though, if things were bad for them, the other Lineage disciples had fared no better.

As far as Li Ye knew, the areas almost all the disciples had been sent to were the places on the front lines where clashes were most likely to occur.

There was even a method to where the disciples were sent: absolutely none were dispatched anywhere within their Lineage's possible sphere of influence. Instead, their assignments were all mixed up.

They were not being given the slightest chance to connect with their Lineages!

The Li Household contacted me before, unwilling to offer even the slightest benefit, yet still wanted me to get Li Zongyin out.

Now that things have come to this, they haven't said a damned word!

Good thing I never counted on them...

Li Ye cursed inwardly. Suddenly, his expression changed slightly.

The gu insects he had sent out to scout seemed to have encountered something.

Whether they were Demon Beasts or cultivators, their numbers and strength, as faintly sensed through the gu insects, were not quite right.

Moreover, Li Ye's spiritual sense was only slightly stronger than that of others at the same level, so he could not send his gu insects too far away.

At this distance, if the newcomers truly meant harm, an enemy attack was most likely already at hand!

Li Ye looked around. Most of the disciples were awake, and the Late-Stage Qi Refinement disciple leading their group was also on guard.

His expression returned to calm. He placed one hand on his Storage Bag and quietly gripped the Blazing Sun Fireball Talisman in his sleeve with the other.

Whoosh-

Boom!

A sharp sound like a gale tearing through the air suddenly rang out. In an instant, countless blades seemed to fly up from beneath the flying boat, slashing into it with incredible speed!

Li Ye pushed off the deck and leaped straight up before it shattered, narrowly dodging into the air.