Chapter 112: Magic

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After a night had passed, Lu Ye concluded his cultivation. As he had anticipated, with his cultivation level increasing, the number of spiritual pills required to open an aperture also grew. Now at the fourth level of the Spirit Stream Realm, opening a single spiritual aperture would consume approximately eighteen spiritual pills. Fortunately, the Spirit Gathering spiritual pattern's assistance slightly reduced this cost. As for efficiency, there was little change. Thanks to the auxiliary cultivation technique, Glutton's Feast, his speed in refining spiritual pills consistently remained much faster than an average person's. He had already foreseen the increased consumption of spiritual pills, as the cost had significantly risen when he opened his forty-sixth and forty-seventh apertures previously.

Continuing their journey atop Amber, Lu Ye found Yiyi's companionship prevented loneliness. Yet, ever since they departed Mount Ying, she had grown increasingly mysterious. She would not only vanish abruptly during their travels but also occasionally leave during their nightly rests, always in a secretive manner. Lu Ye had asked her, but receiving no answer, he refrained from pressing the matter.

One day, as they passed through a market town, Yiyi suddenly handed her storage bag to Lu Ye when he entered to replenish supplies.

"Take all of these to sell," she instructed.

"What's inside?" Lu Ye asked, puzzled. He took the storage bag, opened it, and discovered it was filled with various peculiar plants, including strange flowers, herbs, and even some roots or fruits.

"Are these medicinal herbs?" Lu Ye realized, suddenly understanding what Yiyi had been doing all this time. Her frequent disappearances were, in fact, trips to gather medicinal herbs.

"How do you know about these?" Lu Ye asked, curious, as Yiyi had never possessed such knowledge before.

Yiyi beamed proudly. "Senior Sister Huaci taught me, and Lingyu also taught me a great deal," she explained. "Amber can't always rely on you for sustenance. It's eating more and more, and what if it eats us out of house and home one day? So, I asked Senior Sister Huaci and Lingyu to teach me some basic pharmacology. I don't know how many spirit stones these will fetch, but you'll find out once you sell them."

The storage bag contained a wide variety of medicinal herbs, and in considerable quantities. However, it was evident that Yiyi, being a novice, had handled them crudely. The diverse herbs were haphazardly piled together, amounting to roughly twenty to thirty portions in total.

Lu Ye smiled. "Then I'll go sell them," he said.

"Okay," Yiyi nodded, then retreated back into Amber.

Many cultivators in the market town traveled with demonic beasts. However, lower-ranked cultivators couldn't tame overly powerful ones, so most of these beasts served as transportation. Nearly every demonic beast also wore a beast-taming collar around its neck. Most demonic beasts were rugged and ferocious in appearance; truly majestic ones like Amber were rare. Thus, as soon as Lu Ye appeared in the market town, he drew considerable attention from other cultivators. Some even approached Lu Ye, asking if he would sell Amber, but he naturally declined.

After purchasing ample provisions and several sets of clothes from the market, Lu Ye then proceeded with Amber to the Heavenly Secret Alliance. About fifteen minutes later, he emerged and slowly made his way out of the market town.

Riding on Amber's back, Lu Ye chuckled. "Not bad," he said, "they sold for four spirit stones."

Yiyi remained silent, not even showing her head. Four spirit stones wouldn't even cover a single day's worth of Amber's food. The beast was eating increasingly more, almost rivaling Lu Ye's own cultivation expenses, yet its growth was undeniably significant.

Lu Ye tried to console her. "This is actually a good haul," he said. "Rogue cultivators all start this way, accumulating little by little. Four spirit stones can buy four Spirit Nourishing Pills! And this is just the beginning; it will gradually improve once you become more proficient."

Yiyi remained silent, clearly feeling disheartened. She had expected the herbs she painstakingly gathered over the past few days to fetch a good price, but the outcome was a profound disappointment. Seeing that persuasion was futile, Lu Ye said no more. Greater expectations often lead to greater disappointment, and it was natural for a young girl like her to feel a bit emotional.

As he popped Spirit Nourishing Pills into his mouth, allowing Glutton's Feast to refine them, Lu Ye took out the Red Lotus Soaring Sky Art and began to study its inherent spells. He had never learned spells before, and now, with no one to guide him, he had to explore everything on his own. His deep immersion in study led him into a state of intense focus, and his spiritual power gradually surged within him.

"I'll find more and better medicinal herbs in the future!" Half a day later, Yiyi suddenly reappeared, settling in front of Lu Ye and declaring solemnly.

Lu Ye looked up at her, smiling encouragingly. "I look forward to it," he said.

Yiyi clenched her small fists, declaring fiercely, "I'll go look for them right now!" With that, she leaped off the tiger's back and vanished in a flash.

Lu Ye shook his head, deciding not to dissuade her. He knew that trying to stop her now would only backfire. Yiyi's desire to help cover Amber's expenses was well-intentioned, so Lu Ye let her go.

Still on Amber's back, Lu Ye continued to study the spells while simultaneously circulating his spiritual power. The Red Lotus Soaring Sky Art included three spells. The first required a minimum cultivation of the fourth layer. The second demanded a higher cultivation, specifically the seventh layer, while the final spell necessitated cultivating the Red Lotus Soaring Sky Art to its Great Perfection state, meaning all 180 apertures had to be open.

The latter two spells were currently beyond Lu Ye's reach, so he focused on the first, named 'Fire Phoenix.' The deeper he delved, the more astonished Lu Ye became. Casting spells, he realized, bore many similarities to constructing spiritual patterns. Both processes involved using one's spiritual power to construct specific patterns. These patterns functioned like closed circuits, where spiritual power, flowing in a specific sequence, would unleash wondrous effects. Could spells also be a manifestation of spiritual patterns? This question inevitably arose in Lu Ye's mind. Alone for now, he had no one to clarify his doubts and could only immerse himself in further study.

Fortunately, he had previously acquired three spiritual patterns from the Talent Tree. Each time he gained one, a flood of intricate information would merge into his mind, granting him complete mastery of that particular pattern. Yet, lacking systematic training, Lu Ye, despite being able to effortlessly activate those three spiritual patterns and even use them in combat, still found himself in a state where he knew *what* to do but not *why*. It was akin to a chef preparing a dish: Lu Ye, though adept at adding various ingredients based on the information he had received, still produced a delicious meal. However, a master chef with extensive culinary experience would know precisely when to add each ingredient, in what quantity, and how to manage the heat, undoubtedly creating an even more exquisite dish. Nevertheless, it was precisely due to the comprehensive knowledge he had gained from the three spiritual patterns that, after some focused study, Lu Ye realized casting the Fire Phoenix spell seemed surprisingly manageable.