Chapter 1983 - 1981: Ma Bin Makes His Move

When Lu Ye sensed Yuan Du’s arrival, he had already pushed the island’s protective array to its absolute limit. The Spiritual Energy accumulated over the years was being burned through madly. If not for that, with Black Cloud’s power, the array would probably have been shattered in just two or three strikes.

Even so, the array wouldn’t last much longer. Lu Ye clearly saw the light curtain of the array dimming at a speed visible to the naked eye, and faint hairline cracks flickering in and out of existence.

This was clearly the result of the array enduring an offensive that exceeded its own limits.

Lu Ye frowned, his Mental Consciousness surging as he sent an audio transmission to He Baichuan and the others beside him: "Go!"

Yuan Du and Black Cloud had come on fiercely; things had reached this point, there was no way they’d just let it go. Once the array was broken, everyone here would become meat on someone else’s chopping block.

So they had to evacuate Three Worlds Island before the array was breached.

With his order given, He Baichuan and the others didn’t hesitate in the slightest. They turned and shot downward, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Over at the pill-making room, the portal leading to the Merfolk Territory stood wide open. All the cultivators of Three Worlds Island were evacuating swiftly—tense, but orderly.

But there were too many cultivators, and the portal was only so big, so the evacuation still needed a bit of time.

After a quick estimate, Lu Ye knew that before the array was broken, the local island cultivators wouldn’t have enough time to all get out.

He still had to use the red talisman!

With that thought, Lu Ye no longer hesitated. Crimson light flared around him, and his aura surged upward rapidly.

"A red talisman?" Yuan Du had been keeping a constant eye on Lu Ye’s movements. He’d seen He Baichuan and the others leaving just now and could roughly guess where they were headed. But he didn’t care. All he wanted was to keep his eyes on Lu Ye. In other words, as long as Lu Ye was still here, everyone else was irrelevant.

Once he took Lu Ye, the whole Three Worlds Island, and even the Merfolk Territory, would be his!

But when Lu Ye activated the power of an unknown red talisman at this moment, Yuan Du was still taken aback. He knew Lu Ye seemed to have a good relationship with the Dwarf Race, but he hadn’t expected it to be so good that he even possessed a red talisman.

Just as he was wondering exactly what type of red talisman this was and what kind of power it would unleash, Lu Ye suddenly gave a low shout: "Merge!"

As the word fell, that crimson radiance exploded outward, shooting into the protective array of Three Worlds Island and fusing with its structure. In an instant, the entire protective array turned blood-red. Looking from afar, the garrison area of the local island cultivators seemed to be covered by a curtain of blood.

The protective array, which had been on the verge of collapse under Black Cloud’s assault, suddenly became much more solid.

"You really are kind-hearted." Yuan Du stared at Lu Ye, having already used Insight to see through the red talisman’s power.

It was clearly a defensive red talisman, yet Lu Ye hadn’t used it on himself; instead, he had infused it into the protective array to increase the array’s strength.

Obviously, he was trying to buy time for the other cultivators to escape.

But doing this was utterly meaningless...

"What are you babbling about? Hurry up and make a move!" Black Cloud barked. From the moment he attacked until now, Yuan Du had been coldly watching from the side, even having the leisure to comment on Lu Ye’s actions. Black Cloud simply couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

Did he not understand that the longer the night, the more dreams there are?

The protective array here had been on the verge of being broken, but with Lu Ye’s red talisman reinforcing it, it could now struggle on for a while longer.

If Yuan Du had joined him earlier, they might have already taken Lu Ye down by now. This made Black Cloud extremely dissatisfied.

As Black Cloud’s words fell, Yuan Du stepped forward. Even now, he did not forget to shout loudly, "Blood Race Lu Ye, lurking in the All Phenomena Ocean and occupying Three Worlds Island, harboring ill intent—today, this Sun Blaze governor will capture you and act on Heaven’s behalf!"

As his words ended, he raised a hand and pointed forward. The attack was silent and formless, yet it made the light curtain—already reinforced by the red talisman—shudder violently.

Lu Ye couldn’t help but take a few steps back. With two Sun Blaze experts attacking together, this protective array probably couldn’t even hold for 5 breaths.

It was time to withdraw.

He didn’t run toward the pill-making room, because it was a bit far, and the portal opened by the green sea conch could only last for a limited period. There was no aura left over there now; Lu Ye didn’t know if the portal had already closed.

If he rushed over and found the portal already shut, he’d have nowhere to cry about it.

So his figure flickered and he quickly arrived at the edge of a cliff, below which stretched the pitch-black All Phenomena Ocean.

Out on this All Phenomena Ocean, he had never worried too much about encountering danger, because he possessed a power no one else had—the ability to survive beneath its waters.

When he had first come to the All Phenomena Ocean, Lu Ye had imagined that if one day he encountered an enemy he could not defeat, he would just leap into the sea to escape.

He had simply never run into that situation—yet unexpectedly, now, even at Moon Jade Late Stage, he was being driven to this extent.

He turned around, looking from afar at Yuan Du and Black Cloud, who were fiercely assaulting the protective array. A cold light flashed in Lu Ye’s eyes.

It hadn’t been easy for Three Worlds Island to reach its current state. Under the openly acknowledged rules, no one dared to provoke or offend it anymore. If nothing unexpected happened, Three Worlds Island would surely stand here for a thousand years, ten thousand years, or even longer, providing long-term and powerful support for the development of the Jade Conch Galaxy.

But rules, as it turned out, really were made to be broken.

In the end, his fists just weren’t hard enough!

Back then he had lost one Unparalleled Island, and now he was about to lose Three Worlds Island as well; this made Lu Ye not only furious, but filled with a profound sense of powerlessness.

In the end, only strength that was great enough would work. If his strength were great enough, he wouldn’t have to follow rules set by others—by then, he could be the one who set the rules!

"Not good!" Yuan Du met Lu Ye’s gaze. Though he didn’t know what Lu Ye was going to do, he instinctively sensed something bad, and the power behind his attack involuntarily surged. Under the frenzied assault from him and Black Cloud, the entire Three Worlds Island protective array became like a shattered mirror in a short span of time, countless cracks spreading across it, and the power of the red talisman being completely worn away.

A crisp crashing sound rang out in all directions.

The big array was completely broken.

The two figures almost simultaneously pounced toward Lu Ye’s location to kill him, their speed astonishingly fast.

Lu Ye’s expression remained calm. He only stared coldly at Black Cloud and Yuan Du, as if to etch the ugly faces of these two into the depths of his mind, and then he was about to leap off, plunging into the sea.

But just then, he suddenly turned his head to look toward the pill-making room.

From the location of the pill-making room, which had originally been devoid of any aura, there suddenly appeared a vigorous and mighty presence out of thin air.

This was...?

Lu Ye’s face couldn’t help but change. At this moment, the "Contrary" character the Dice of Fate had rolled out before suddenly surfaced in his mind.

This really was...

It had been more than a year since Ma Bin came to the Merfolk Territory. For this year and more, he had been recuperating by the Spirit Jade Vein here, with remarkable effects. Although he was still far from fully healed, at the very least the injury to his Dao foundation had stabilized and would no longer continue to deteriorate.

As long as he continued to nurse his wounds like this, sooner or later he would recover.

But just today, he suddenly sensed something unusual. The direction where the Divine Conch Hall was located had unexpectedly become extremely bustling, as if many Three Worlds Island cultivators had come over.

In the past, Three Worlds Island and the Merfolk Race here had often had personnel traveling back and forth, but never had so many people come at once.

At first Ma Bin didn’t pay it much mind, but gradually he realized something was wrong.

With how powerful his Mental Consciousness was, a light probe was enough for him to roughly understand the situation.

The Three Worlds Island cultivators had come to seek refuge.

Disregarding the rules, that Yuan Du had personally taken the field, and joined forces with a Zixuan Demon Venerable to aggressively attack the Three Worlds Island protective array. Three Worlds Island had no strength to resist and could only temporarily avoid the sharp edge.

At that, Ma Bin could no longer sit still. He stepped out from his healing place and came to the front of the Divine Conch Hall. After some questioning, he learned that Lu Ye was still at the back of the Three Worlds Island hall, and he grew even more worried.

He Baichuan and the others spoke with absolute certainty, saying Lu Ye had already made arrangements and there was no need to worry about his safety; once everyone on Three Worlds Island had evacuated, he would naturally have a way to get out.

Ma Bin forced himself to wait at the portal...

Waiting...

But he never saw any sign of Lu Ye.

In the end, he truly couldn’t wait any longer. Ignoring the attempts of the others to dissuade him, he stepped out through the portal in one stride, intending to personally go to Three Worlds Island to see the situation.

Lu Ye had taken him in here and given him hope of recovery. As a junior from the Nine Provinces whom he greatly favored, now that Lu Ye was in trouble, how could he possibly stand by and watch?

Although his condition at this moment was not ideal, leaving other things aside, if Lu Ye really faced danger over there, it would be no problem for him to step in and protect him.

The instant his foot stepped into Three Worlds Island was precisely when the protective array was broken. Lu Ye stood at the edge of the cliff, seemingly forced to the point of leaping into the sea in his desperation, while Yuan Du and Black Cloud rushed at Lu Ye like lightning, looking as though they meant to utterly wipe him out.

Ma Bin flew into a rage, the might of a Peak Sun Blaze erupting with a boom as he bellowed, "You’re courting death!"

Boom!

The pill-making room shattered, and Ma Bin’s entire person turned into a streak of rainbow light, slashing in front of Black Cloud and Yuan Du, his Mana surging as it wrapped the two of them within.

Both Black Cloud and Yuan Du were stunned; they had never imagined that such a powerful expert would suddenly appear on Three Worlds Island.

But very soon, Yuan Du’s face changed drastically as he cried out in shock, "Green Demon King Ma Bin?"

How could this be? How could this god of slaughter be on Three Worlds Island? And to jump out at a time like this!

My life is over!

As a Sun Blaze of the local Star System, although Yuan Du had never dealt with Ma Bin personally, he knew full well how formidable he was. After all, the reason he could come to the All Phenomena Ocean to serve as a governor was actually thanks to Ma Bin. If not for a Sun Blaze being forcibly slain by Ma Bin back then, the number of Sun Blaze governors here would never have increased—and his turn would never have come.

He had set his mind on targeting Lu Ye and Three Worlds Island, thinking the situation was firmly in his grasp. Yet today, unexpected variables had appeared again and again, and the current one was the most fatal of all—even the Green Demon King Ma Bin had emerged.

This guy had been hiding on Three Worlds Island all along? But that wasn’t right. Jiu Yan had been sitting in town on Three Worlds Island before. If Ma Bin had been here, how could Jiu Yan possibly have failed to notice?

The two of them couldn’t possibly have any private dealings. Ma Bin had killed a Sun Blaze of the local Star System; if Jiu Yan and he ever met, Jiu Yan would definitely not let it go.