Chapter 1415: Chu Shen Is Very Precious

He felt a slight disorientation, and when his vision cleared, he found himself in a vast expanse of stars.

This was expected.

Lu Ye wasn't sure how many cultivators would participate in this chaotic battle, but with at least ten thousand expected, a single desolate or dead planet would be too small and wouldn't allow cultivators to fully utilize their abilities. Therefore, the venue for these chaotic battles was almost always a vast expanse of stars.

Only such a vast space could accommodate such a large number.

After a day of rest, Lu Ye felt the fatigue from continuous cultivation completely gone. It was time to advance to the third level of the Spirit Stream Realm!

He didn't rush to take the spirit pill. Instead, he first channeled his spiritual power to locate the nineteenth aperture. Now that he was at the second level of the Spirit Stream Realm, his spiritual power was significantly stronger and more abundant than two months prior, making it much easier to locate the aperture.

In less than fifteen minutes, he located the nineteenth aperture.

Only then did he take out a Spirit Nourishing Pill and consume it, refining its medicinal power and guiding his spiritual power to impact the barrier of the nineteenth aperture.

Three days later, after consuming nearly eleven Spirit Nourishing Pills, the nineteenth aperture was fully charged.

This result was expected.

Before reaching the Spirit Stream Realm, he opened an aperture approximately every three days, consuming six spirit pills.

At the first level of the Spirit Stream Realm, the frequency of opening apertures didn't change significantly, but the number of spirit pills required for each aperture increased to about eight or nine.

Now at the second level of the Spirit Stream Realm, the consumption has increased further to eleven pills. The time taken for each aperture remained largely unchanged, mainly because his higher cultivation improved the efficiency of refining spirit pills.

It appears that the higher his cultivation realm, the more spirit pills he would need to open future apertures.

He currently had twenty spirit pills left, which should be enough to open two more apertures.

Lu Ye quietly calculated: if he continued to open one aperture every three days, it would take a full one thousand and eighty days to open all three hundred and sixty apertures!

This calculation secretly astounded him. He didn't know how other cultivators progressed, but he felt his own speed was not slow. Yet, even at this rate, it would still take nearly three years to cultivate to the ninth level of the Spirit Stream Realm.

For the next few days, Lu Ye stayed inside his cave. He only emerged once the last spirit pill was consumed.

The result was roughly as he expected: he had opened twenty-one apertures, but they were not yet fully charged.

To cultivate to twenty-seven apertures, he would need at least seventy more Spirit Nourishing Pills. He now only had primordial magnet ore left from his minerals, as all other miscellaneous ores had been sold to the Heavenly Secret Alliance in his previous two transactions.

This time, he would have to sell two pieces of primordial magnet ore to acquire seventy spirit pills.

Half a day later, Lu Ye entered the Heavenly Secret Alliance. When he emerged, his storage bag contained eighty-one Spirit Nourishing Pills and a few spirit stones.

A slender figure stood by a window on the second floor of the alliance building, watching his retreating back. The person hesitated for a long time before sighing softly and touching the back of her own hand. An insignia immediately appeared there. Unlike the blue battle insignia on Lu Ye's hand, the insignia on the woman's hand was yellow.

She spoke softly, uttering a few words to the insignia, and it faded from sight.

A short while later, she walked out of the alliance building. When acquaintances greeted her, she responded with a smile.

In Mount Qingyun, Lu Ye sped towards his cave. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he had a strange feeling after leaving Qingyun Market.

However, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly felt strange.

Only after circling through the jungle several times did he suddenly notice a figure lurking nearby. However, before he could get a clear look, the figure vanished.

Was he being followed? Lu Ye immediately became vigilant.

He was always extremely careful when entering and leaving the market, especially on his way back. There had been no incidents the previous two times, but this time, he was inexplicably targeted by a cultivator. This perplexed him, as he wasn't sure if the person tracking him was specifically looking for him or if it was a chance encounter.

If it was a chance encounter, then so be it. But if it was intentional, that would be quite intriguing.

Fortunately, the other party's speed wasn't very fast. With Lu Ye exerting his full strength, it would be difficult for that person to catch up to him. From this, it seemed the other party's cultivation wasn't very high either.

Just as he was thinking this, spiritual energy suddenly surged from behind, followed by a chilling sensation. Lu Ye turned his head and saw an ice shard piercing through the air, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

Greatly alarmed, Lu Ye hastily turned, drew his sword, and slashed. As spiritual power flowed, his long sword shattered the ice shard, scattering chilling fragments across his face.

Affected by the ice shard's impact, Lu Ye lost his footing and stumbled backward a few steps. He then rolled with the momentum before regaining his balance, looking utterly disheveled.

However, by the time he got up, the attacker had already lunged close. It was a man a few years older than him, with a pale, beardless face and large, fist-sized earrings dangling from both ears, giving him a somewhat exotic appearance.

The weapon he held resembled both a saber and a sword; it was longer than a typical sword but only half the width of a normal saber blade, looking somewhat similar to the legendary Xiu Chun Dao.

Taking advantage of Lu Ye's just having regained his footing, the pale-faced male cultivator swung his blade down.

In his haste, Lu Ye had no time to activate the 'Sharp Edge' spirit rune to empower his sword; he could only raise his sword to block.

With a clang, sparks flew. Lu Ye's hand went numb, his long sword nearly flew from his grasp, and the force of the strike caused him to crouch, almost kneeling on the ground.

"Oh?" The pale-faced man seemed somewhat surprised, not having expected Lu Ye to block his prepared strike.

Just as he felt surprised, Lu Ye's long sword parried his weapon and thrust towards his chest.

The pale-faced man remained calm. His long blade flickered slightly, and before Lu Ye could even react to what had happened, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. His thrusting sword lost its force, allowing his opponent to easily dodge it.

This missed thrust caused Lu Ye to lean forward. A flash of the blade entered his vision, and a chill ran through his body as he felt the breath of death approaching.

With a clang, the long blade struck Lu Ye's chest, but instead of cutting into flesh, it sent him flying backward.

Looking at Lu Ye again, he was enveloped in a layer of golden light. It was this golden light that protected him, saving him from serious injury! He had realized he was no match for his opponent and had hastily taken out a defensive spirit talisman, slapping it onto himself.

"A Golden Body Talisman?" The pale-faced man's eyes reddened slightly, not out of envy that Lu Ye possessed a spirit talisman, but because this talisman should have been his spoils of war, and Lu Ye had wasted it like this, which pained him.

However, this confirmed for him that the intelligence he received was correct: this rogue cultivator at the second level of the Spirit Stream Realm indeed possessed abundant wealth. Otherwise, how could he have such a spirit talisman? One must know that any single spirit talisman was worth fifteen to twenty spirit stones. It was rare for low-level cultivators to use spirit talismans in battles, as most people lacked the financial means, at most preparing one or two for emergencies.

Looking at the golden light enveloping Lu Ye, the pale-faced man floated back several yards, holding his blade in one hand and forming hand seals with the other. As a sneer appeared on his lips, visible spiritual energy gathered at his fingertips.