However, the battle did not continue, and halfway through, Luo Ji bellowed, "Buy my life with wealth!"
He had clearly realized his own predicament. Continuing the fight was no solution. Although Lu Ye couldn't kill him in a short time, if he kept dragging it out, his situation would only worsen, and eventually, he would be no match for Lu Ye.
This forceful shout made Lu Ye pause. Pointing his long saber forward, he said, "I want that big seal!" That big seal was definitely a fine Spiritual Artifact, probably even more valuable than the tiny bell he had obtained from the Young Sect Master of the Nine Stars Sect.
Luo Ji chuckled, magic and spells brewing in his hands, "Let's settle this with a fight to the death, right now! Immediately!"
"What can you offer in return?" Lu Ye asked gravely. He didn't necessarily want to kill Luo Ji, but he felt that the three-day long battle had cost him too much. If Luo Ji could compensate for these losses, he would cease fighting.
Of course, the main reason was that if a real fight to the death ensued, even if he managed to kill Luo Ji, he would have to pay a huge price. Luo Ji wouldn't foolishly keep fighting under these circumstances, and he would certainly fight desperately before the situation became irretrievable!
Luo Ji took the big seal out of his storage sack and then held up the bag, "It's all yours."
Such sincerity? Lu Ye was somewhat surprised, but considering Luo Ji's expenditure over these days, there probably wasn't much of value left in that storage sack, at most some Spirit Stones and elixir pills.
Luo Ji being so straightforward, Lu Ye didn't feel right to press further. Continuing would only lead to mutual destruction, so after a brief moment of contemplation, he nodded, "Alright!"
Luo Ji threw the storage sack forward, not even requiring Lu Ye to swear an oath by Heaven's Augury, because in his view, although they came from opposing factions, they were both disciples of top forces and had some credibility.
"I've always wondered, what's your name?"
Luo Ji nodded, deeply looking at Lu Ye, as if he wanted to imprint Lu Ye's figure deep in his psyche, then, dragging his weary body, he turned and walked towards the valley's exit.
Lu Ye did not take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. The opponent appeared completely defenseless, but the big seal in his hand was emitting a faint exhausting light. At this moment, forcing a confrontation would compel Luo Ji to fight him to the death.
Walking a distance, Luo Ji looked up at the sky, his face full of sorrow...
He had suffered a great loss. The contents of the lost storage sack weren't important; as a disciple of Endless Island, he didn't care about those. The key issue was that swallowing too many elixir pills these past days had muddled his spirit force, and without a month of recovery, he wouldn't be able to recuperate.
In other words, he wouldn't be able to cultivate for a month. For a low-level cultivator like him, especially one of his background, this was undoubtedly a significant impact.
But a loss was a loss. He wouldn't blame heaven or others. They were still early in their cultivation journey, and there was always a possibility of encountering each other in the future. Next time, he would regain his ground!
Only when Luo Ji's figure vanished from sight did Lu Ye finally let out a sigh of relief and called out to Amber. He mounted his back and, led by Amber, he found a tunnel to settle in.
This battle had left him mentally and physically exhausted. Though Lu Ye's cultivation journey was short, he had faced quite a few battles, yet he had never encountered such an evenly matched and tough opponent.
At the end, Luo Ji readily conceded defeat when he suggested stopping the battle, but in reality, it was Lu Ye who had lost.
Because he had Amber and Yiyi as helpers, while Luo Ji had always been fighting alone.
In direct confrontations, because he feared the power of the big seal, neither Amber nor Yiyi could play a significant role, but the occasional sneak attack was still possible. Furthermore, with Amber and Yiyi as distractions, Luo Ji hadn't had any sleep over these three days.
Ironically, it was Lu Ye who secretly slept a few times.
It could be said that if Lu Ye were also alone, he would definitely not have had any advantage in this battle.
The cultivators from the big sects were indeed extraordinary, and this confrontation with Luo Ji taught him a lesson—never judge a cultivator's strength by the level of their cultivation alone.
He didn't even have the heart to check Luo Ji's storage sack, Lu Ye just ate some dried meat and fell asleep.
Amber and Yiyi exchanged glances and went to either end of the corridor. Although the battle between the Nine Stars Sect and Xuanmen was over and Luo Ji had retreated, making danger unlikely, it was still necessary to remain alert.
Lu Ye was awakened by the noise in the battlefield marking. He opened his eyes, his brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, feeling unreasonably irritable, the kind that made everything annoying...
After feeling dizzy for a while, he checked the battlefield marking. As expected, it was a message from Chu Tian.
This guy had sent over a dozen messages, asking if he was there...
"Not here!" Lu Ye replied.
At the Xuanmen base, Chu Tian looked baffled, feeling that Lu Ye seemed somewhat upset. After hesitating for a moment, he replied, "Brother Yiye must be joking."
He had previously called him Junior Brother Yiye, but now he changed his address, which undoubtedly was because some news had reached Xuanmen. Knowing for certain that Lu Ye was a disciple from a top sect and had defeated someone like Luo Ji was already a testament to Lu Ye's potential for the future.
"What's it about!" Lu Ye fumbled around figuring out how to block this guy. A moment later, he understood that he just had to erase the mark belonging to Chu Tian in the seal.
Considering this guy was his first and only friend… he decided to give him a break for now.
"Well, it's …" Chu Tian explained, and Lu Ye then learned that Xuanmen had won the battle previously, so they were preparing to hold a celebration banquet to reward those disciples who had performed well. That's why Chu Tian wanted to invite Lu Ye to attend.
After all, in the earlier stage of the battle, Lu Ye had been a great help to Xuanmen.
"No time!" Lu Ye immediately declined. Because of the previous admonishments from the sect master, he didn't want to get too involved with too many people, let alone attend a celebration banquet at Xuanmen.
Moreover, Chu Tian's invitation was probably just out of courtesy...
"Uh…" Back at the Xuanmen base, Chu Tian checked the blunt response from Lu Ye, realizing this person truly was a man of character. He replied, "Since Brother Yiye is busy, I won't disturb you further. Initially, many junior brothers and sisters wanted to thank you in person. Whenever you're leaving, just let me know, and I'll see you off!"
Lu Ye didn't bother with Chu Tian's message anymore and took out Luo Ji's storage sack to check.
As expected, the restriction lock on Luo Ji's storage sack had been opened. After inspecting it, Lu Ye was somewhat surprised.
He had thought that there wouldn't be much good stuff in Luo Ji's storage sack, but it turned out the guy was richer than he expected.
There weren't many valuable items, the rest were elixir pills, Spirit Stones, and a few defensive Spirit Talismans, but these were exactly what Lu Ye needed most.
There were only about thirty or so Spirit Stones, which low-level cultivators didn't consume much of; Luo Ji had them just in case. There were quite a few elixir pills, about ten bottles of Spirit-Nurturing Pills and another three bottles of a different type of elixir pill, totaling nearly a hundred pills altogether.
These items, although not enough to make up for his losses over the past three days, were still better than nothing.