Chapter 1420: Sword Cultivation Sisters

The conversation between the two disciples immediately piqued the interest of the surrounding cultivators.

Even Constellations enjoy a good spectacle, especially the cultivators gathered around the Contribution Board. Everyone had come with the intention of watching some excitement, and with such a lively scene unfolding, who wouldn't want to take a closer look?

Soon, under the guidance of the two disciples, a large group of people turned their attention to the battlefield where Lu Ye was.

Listening to the numerous exclamations of praise nearby, Chu Shen was already in disbelief…

Within mere dozens of breaths, the barrier of the ninth spirit aperture broke, and the spiritual energy that had been blocked outside flowed smoothly into it.

At this point, Lu Ye only needed to use his own spiritual energy to connect all nine apertures, forming a small circulation cycle within his body, and he would naturally enter the Spirit Creek Realm!

This was the ultimate goal of his efforts over the past month.

However, Lu Ye discovered that while a significant portion of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect had been consumed, a large amount still remained. If he let it go to waste now, not only might it affect his future cultivation, but at the very least, the remaining efficacy would be squandered.

This fruit was undoubtedly a rare treasure; it would be a great pity to waste it.

So, after only a slight hesitation, he began to circulate his own spiritual energy, attempting to locate the tenth spirit aperture.

The Sect Master had previously only helped him locate the ninth spirit aperture because, in the Sect Master's view, with Lu Ye's limited talent, even with abundant spiritual pills, it would likely take him two to three years to cultivate to the first layer of the Spirit Creek Realm.

It wasn't that the Sect Master looked down on him; it was simply that his talent was too low, making his cultivation efficiency genuinely poor.

But the Sect Master hadn't anticipated that Lu Ye could open nine apertures in just one month, even with a scarcity of pills and medicine. If he had sufficient Spirit-Nourishing Pills, his speed would have been even faster.

By this point, even without external help, Lu Ye's own spiritual energy reserves were enough for him to locate the spirit apertures, though it wasn't as effortless as with the Sect Master's aid.

During this time, Lu Ye had also taken the opportunity to study the 'Golden Cicada Free-Wandering Art,' so he generally knew the locations of the subsequent spirit apertures. As long as his luck wasn't too bad, locating them wouldn't be a problem.

After about half an hour of effort, Lu Ye finally located the tenth aperture. He swiftly guided the remaining medicinal effects of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit towards it. Just like before, the barrier of the tenth spirit aperture rapidly dissolved.

Dozens more breaths passed, and the barrier of the tenth spirit aperture broke. Very little of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect remained.

Lu Ye continued to locate the eleventh aperture.

After more than half an hour, Lu Ye exhaled deeply and opened his eyes. He could no longer feel the medicinal effects of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit, and the warm current in his lower abdomen had completely vanished. The barrier of the eleventh aperture ultimately didn't break, but it had loosened considerably, making it much easier to break through during his future cultivation. Therefore, it wasn't a total loss.

One Barrier-Breaking Fruit allowed him to open two apertures and significantly dissolve the barrier of the eleventh, yielding immense gains.

Lu Ye suppressed the urge to immediately enter the Spirit Creek Realm. He had a faint feeling that while he might succeed now, it would be much easier to achieve the Spirit Creek Realm if he could cultivate the newly opened ninth aperture to its full capacity.

At this point, he was no longer in a hurry.

He walked aside, skinned and cleaned the dead rabbit, built a fire, and roasted it, eating to his heart's content. Over the next few days, Lu Ye extensively hunted nearby beasts, his daily consumption astonishing. Everything he ate transformed into his essence and blood qi, which was then refined into spiritual energy and channeled into the ninth spirit aperture.

Approximately six days later, Lu Ye sat cross-legged in the cave.

Although he had consumed a lot of beast meat these past few days, his body, rather than gaining weight compared to six days prior, appeared leaner. His formerly well-fitting clothes had become slightly loose.

This was the result of refining essence into qi: too much essence and blood qi had been refined into spiritual energy, manifesting physically in this way.

Despite becoming leaner, Lu Ye felt no discomfort. On the contrary, he felt more powerful, with distinct muscle definition throughout his body—'lean and powerful' was the most fitting description.

He had also finally cultivated the ninth aperture to its full capacity.

After so many days of effort, today was finally the season of harvest, and Lu Ye couldn't help but feel excited. Taking a few deep breaths, he calmed his mind. Following the circulation route of the Golden Cicada Free-Wandering Art, he first drew spiritual energy from the Origin Spirit Aperture, channeling it into the second and fourth spirit apertures, and continued this process through the subsequent apertures until the ninth!

The ninth spirit aperture was located near the Origin Spirit Aperture. After the spiritual energy surged into the ninth aperture, Lu Ye guided it back to the Origin Spirit Aperture. In this way, all nine spirit apertures were connected, forming a closed loop—a Minor Heavenly Cycle!

If the spiritual energy previously stored in his apertures was stagnant water, it had now become flowing water. His spiritual energy began at the Origin Spirit Aperture, flowed through the other eight major apertures, and returned to the Origin Spirit Aperture, circulating ceaselessly.

Lu Ye immediately felt a distinct difference.

However, he did not stop there. Instead, he continued to guide his spiritual energy, constantly performing the Minor Heavenly Cycle, cycling again and again.

Within the nine major apertures, the spiritual energy flowed faster and faster until it broke through a limit. In that instant, Lu Ye's ears buzzed and his eyes, though closed, were filled with a blinding white light. Then, the whiteness receded, and his senses became remarkably sharp, as if his entire being had undergone a refreshing sublimation.

A visible wave of air, centered on Lu Ye, powerfully expanded outwards in all directions, kicking up dust and stones within the cave.

The Spirit Creek Realm was achieved!

Lu Ye didn't rush to open his eyes, but instead quietly sensed his current state.

He was no longer actively guiding the spiritual energy flow, yet his spiritual energy continued to circulate ceaselessly within the nine major apertures, flowing like a gentle stream, performing the Minor Heavenly Cycle on its own.

This was the hallmark of achieving the Spirit Creek Realm.

Unless Lu Ye died, or his spiritual energy was completely depleted, or his spirit apertures were shattered, the flow of his spiritual energy would never cease from this moment on.

Slowly opening his eyes, he raised a palm. As he lightly circulated spiritual energy, a faint, brilliant light immediately appeared in his palm—the glow of spiritual energy. Yet, the spiritual energy within him now felt vastly different from before.

While his spiritual energy reserves hadn't increased compared to before, the current spiritual energy was clearly more destructive.

Lu Ye could clearly feel this: his strength had more than doubled compared to before. If he were to fight the great tiger now, Lu Ye was confident he could defeat it without relying on spirit talismans.

After a brief reflection, Lu Ye understood the reason behind it.

Previously, although he had opened many spirit apertures, he could only activate the spiritual energy within one aperture at a time. If the spiritual energy in that aperture was depleted, he would have to activate another, unable to activate two or more simultaneously.

But now that the nine apertures were connected and spiritual energy circulated through the Minor Heavenly Cycle, the spiritual energy he activated was no longer simply from one aperture; he was activating the power of all nine apertures.

Of course, the destructive power wasn't nine times greater, but there was still a noticeable difference. As for the tenth aperture, although it had been opened, that belonged to the second layer of the Spirit Creek Realm. It didn't yet form a cohesive system with the nine apertures of the first layer, so it couldn't provide Lu Ye with a significant immediate boost. At most, it would increase his total spiritual energy reserves in the future.

Ultimately, cultivation in the Spirit Creek Realm is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. When enough spirit apertures are opened, allowing spiritual energy to flow through them and perform the Minor Heavenly Cycle, one's strength experiences a leap-like improvement! Before this, the primary effect of opening apertures was merely to increase one's spiritual energy reserves, not directly enhance combat strength.

This was common knowledge in cultivation; every cultivator would have a master or elder to guide them in the beginning. However, Lu Ye had been stranded in the Spirit Creek Battlefield with no one to rely on, so he had to learn and comprehend all of this by himself.