Lu Ye, Who Lacked Common Sense (Thanks to Bear Cat for the Alliance Leader Donation)

With Lu Ye's eyesight, he simply could not tell whether this strange young girl was human or ghost. But judging from how she had acted earlier, the chances of her being human were extremely slim.

This girl had appeared behind him without a sound and launched a sneak attack. Her body seemed both solid and insubstantial, and she could freely pass through rock walls. That was clearly not something an ordinary person could do.

It was Lu Ye's first time encountering something so strange, and he could not help becoming even more vigilant, especially since she was obviously in league with that Big Tiger.

Although he currently held the advantage of the terrain, any carelessness could condemn him beyond redemption.

In his view, since he had seized the initiative, it would be best to activate a Spirit Talisman and kill the Big Tiger outright. But he had no idea how to deal with this elusive young girl for the moment, which left him troubled.

Lu Ye's question seemed to put the young girl in a difficult spot. After hesitating for a long while, she finally said, "My name is Yiyi..."

"I didn't ask your name." Lu Ye raised the Spirit Talisman in his hand, the threat plain as day. At the gesture, the Big Tiger lowered its body and gave a low growl.

The girl named Yiyi hurriedly soothed the Big Tiger. At the moment, they were fish on the chopping block. If they wanted to live, they had to cooperate obediently.

"Have you heard of Serve as a Tiger's Accomplice?" Yiyi asked instead.

Lu Ye nodded.

Yiyi said, "As some tiger Demon Cultivators grow, they awaken a divine ability that allows them to transform the souls of the recently deceased into Accomplice Ghosts."

"So... you're an Accomplice Ghost?" Lu Ye frowned. He had heard of Serve as a Tiger's Accomplice, but it had only ever been an idiom. He had never imagined that, in this world of cultivation, the phrase would have such a wondrous explanation.

"No." Yiyi shook her head, her black hair fluttering.

"Are you fooling with me?"

"I really am not." Yiyi grew anxious. "Normally, an Accomplice Ghost is controlled by the tiger Demon Cultivator that transformed it, and it has neither intelligence nor independent thoughts. But I'm different. Look at me—I'm the same as a living person, except I don't have a body of flesh and blood."

"Then what exactly are you?"

"An Accomplice Spirit?" Yiyi tilted her head.

Lu Ye said nothing more. His gaze moved between Yiyi and the Big Tiger as he narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then if I kill this Big Tiger, you'll disperse as well?"

"Yes... no!" Yiyi cried out. She had sensed Lu Ye's killing intent. "Don't kill us! We know we were wrong... We'll pay for our lives!"

The glow on the Spirit Talisman in Lu Ye's hand gradually dimmed. He had nearly activated it. If they truly fought, he was confident he could get rid of the Big Tiger. As for the girl named Yiyi, he had initially been somewhat wary of her, but now that he knew she and the Big Tiger shared a symbiotic relationship, there was no need to pay her too much heed.

Her strength should not have been high. Even when she had ambushed him earlier, she could only use a few small tricks to interfere with his movements and could not actually hurt him.

Still, it would certainly cost him several Spirit Talismans, and he would inevitably be injured in battle.

If the price was too high, then this fight would not be worth it. Especially since he was only one step away from the Spirit Stream First Layer—if he expended too much Spiritual Power, it would undoubtedly delay his advancement into the Spirit Stream.

Yiyi's last words made Lu Ye suppress his killing intent. Raising a brow, he asked, "Pay for your lives? What do you have?" What good things could a Monster Beast living in the Spirit Stream Battlefield and its accompanying Accomplice Spirit possibly possess?

"Wait here! I'll go get it right away!" Yiyi cried. Her figure flashed, and she vanished into a nearby rock wall.

But soon, her head popped back out of the wall. "You can't kill Amber! I'll be right back!"

Amber... Lu Ye glanced at the majestic Big Tiger before him, its imposing aura rivaling a mountain, and his cheek twitched.

Yiyi left, leaving Lu Ye and Amber facing each other from afar. At the same time, he remained wary of Yiyi. Though the girl had seemed sincere enough, you could know a person's face but not their heart. Who knew whether she would hide in the shadows and ambush him?

His cultivation was still low, and he had no effective means of tracking the girl's movements.

Yiyi did return quickly. Lu Ye had waited no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea before the girl appeared again. This time, however, she walked out from behind him.

With his back against the rock wall, Lu Ye watched the girl enter the cave. She held several items in her hands and raised them up. "We'll use these to buy our lives. Don't kill us!"

When Lu Ye saw what she held, he was immediately startled. They were actually several Storage Bags!

Storage Bags belonged to cultivators. It was highly suspicious for them to be in the girl's hands, and there was more than one. She held at least four or five of them.

This spirit and tiger really were no good. They had probably done their share of murder and robbery.

"You misunderstand!" The moment Yiyi saw Lu Ye's expression, she knew what he was thinking. "Amber isn't very strong. You should have felt that when you fought it. The cultivators who appear in the Spirit Stream Battlefield are at least at the Spirit Stream First Layer. Amber can't kill them."

"Then where did these Storage Bags come from?" Naturally, Lu Ye would not believe her so easily.

Yiyi twisted awkwardly. "We tricked them out of them... Those cultivators were very timid. A little scare was enough to make them throw down their Storage Bags."

Lu Ye recalled what he had experienced earlier. If he had not noticed that something was off about the Big Tiger, and if he had actually possessed Spiritual Pills and Spirit Stones, he might have chosen to spend money to avert disaster as well.

Compared to such possessions, one's life was naturally more important.

Of course, the Big Tiger's soul-seizing aura had truly been frightening enough. An ordinary low-cultivation cultivator would lose some of their nerve the moment those amber tiger eyes fixed on them. After being threatened a few more times, how could they still have any will to fight?

Little did they know that the one hiding behind the scenes and speaking to frighten them was merely a delicate young girl.

"Throw them over," Lu Ye ordered.

With a heave, Yiyi tossed the several Storage Bags in her hands before Lu Ye. Lu Ye flicked one up with his foot and examined it briefly, his face immediately darkening.

This Storage Bag was locked...

The second was the same.

So was the third...

After checking every Storage Bag, Lu Ye looked up. "Are you playing me?"

It was not impossible to open locked Storage Bags, but Lu Ye did not have the ability to do so.

Yiyi looked somewhat aggrieved. "Some people ran too fast and threw down their Storage Bags without even opening the Restriction Locks. Others did as they were told and opened them, but we used up all the useful things inside long ago..."

That was the truth. Over the years, Yiyi and Amber had gained far more than just these few Storage Bags in this forest. But the items in the other Storage Bags had basically all been used up, leaving only empty bags, so Yiyi had not brought those over.

Lu Ye lowered his eyes. "If this is all the sincerity you have, then there's no need to keep talking. These things aren't enough to buy your lives."

"How can this be..." Yiyi was nearly in tears. She deeply regretted provoking Lu Ye. Mainly because she had never expected him to be different from the cultivators they had encountered before.

The cultivators who frequented this area were not especially strong. Most were Rogue Cultivators or disciples from small sects, because this place counted as the fringe of the Spirit Stream Battlefield. Whenever these cultivators encountered a Monster Beast that could speak human language, anyone with even a little common sense would be terrified out of their wits.

Because a Monster Beast capable of speaking human language was absolutely not something they could afford to provoke.

Yet Lu Ye was someone without common sense. He had no idea what a Monster Beast capable of speaking human language represented. Without that preconceived notion, he believed only his own judgment.