Chapter 37: Nine Orifices Connected, Spiritual Power Flowing Like a Stream

In mere dozens of breaths, the barrier of the ninth spiritual aperture broke, and the spiritual power that had been blocked outside streamed gently into it.

At this point, Lu Ye only needed to use his spiritual power to connect the nine apertures, allowing the spiritual power to form a minor circulation within his body, and the Spirit Creek Realm would naturally be achieved!

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

However, Lu Ye noticed that although much of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect had been consumed, a significant 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 lost.

This fruit was undeniably a rare treasure; wasting it would be a great pity.

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

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

It wasn't that the Sect Master looked down on him, but rather that his low talent truly resulted in very inefficient cultivation.

However, the Sect Master had not anticipated that Lu Ye could open nine apertures in just one month, and this was even with a shortage of pills and medicines. With enough Spirit Nurturing Pills, his speed would have been even faster.

By this point, even without external help, Lu Ye's own spiritual power reserves were sufficient to locate the apertures, though it wasn't as effortless as with the Sect Master's guidance.

During this time, Lu Ye had also made time to study the Golden Cicada Roaming Art, so he generally knew the locations of the subsequent apertures. As long as his luck wasn't too bad, locating them wouldn't be an issue.

After about half an hour of effort, Lu Ye finally located the tenth aperture. He quickly guided the remaining medicinal effect of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit towards it. The barrier of the tenth spiritual aperture, just like before, rapidly dissolved.

Within another few dozen breaths, the barrier of the tenth spiritual 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 Barrier-Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect, and the warmth in his lower abdomen had completely vanished. The barrier of the eleventh aperture ultimately didn't break, but it had loosened considerably. This meant that when he cultivated in the future, breaking through the barrier would be much easier, so it wasn't entirely without benefit.

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 achieve the Spirit Creek Realm. He had a faint feeling that while he might succeed now, achieving the Spirit Creek Realm would be even easier 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 to the side, skinned and gutted the dead rabbit, built a fire, roasted it, and enjoyed a hearty meal.

Over the next few days, Lu Ye extensively hunted nearby beasts. His daily food intake was astonishingly large, and everything he consumed was transformed into his vital energy, which was then refined into spiritual power and poured into the ninth spiritual aperture.

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

Although he had eaten a lot of beast meat during these days, his body had become leaner rather than heavier compared to six days prior. His once well-fitting clothes now seemed a bit loose.

This was the result of refining essence into energy: too much vital energy had been refined into spiritual power, manifesting in his physical body in this way.

Although he had become thinner, Lu Ye felt no discomfort. On the contrary, he felt more powerful, with distinctly sculpted muscles throughout his body, best described as robust.

He had 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 several deep breaths and calming his mind, Lu Ye followed the cultivation path of the Golden Cicada Roaming Art. He first drew spiritual power from the Origin Spiritual Aperture, guided it into the second spiritual aperture, then drew the spiritual power from the second into the third, and so on, continuously moving through the apertures... until the ninth spiritual aperture!

The ninth spiritual aperture was located near the Origin Spiritual Aperture. After the spiritual energy surged into the ninth aperture, Lu Ye guided it back to the Origin Spiritual Aperture. In this way, the nine major apertures were connected, forming a closed loop—a minor circulation!

If the spiritual power previously stored in the apertures was like stagnant water, now it had become flowing water. His spiritual power began from the Origin Spiritual Aperture, flowed through the other eight major apertures, and returned to the Origin Spiritual Aperture, circulating endlessly.

Lu Ye immediately felt a distinct difference.

However, he didn't stop there. He continued to guide his spiritual power, performing the minor circulation repeatedly, cycle after cycle.

Within the nine major apertures, the speed of spiritual power flow accelerated until it broke through a limit. In that instant, Lu Ye's ears rang and his vision buzzed. Even with his eyes closed, he was enveloped by a brilliant white light. Then, the white light receded, his senses became sharp and clear, and his entire being was filled with a refreshing sense of elevation.

A visible wave of spiritual energy, centered on Lu Ye, erupted outwards in all directions, stirring up dust and pebbles within the cave.

The Spirit Creek Realm was achieved!

Lu Ye didn't rush to open his eyes but quietly felt his current state.

He was no longer actively guiding the spiritual power flow, yet his spiritual power continued to circulate ceaselessly within the nine major apertures, flowing like a stream, cycling repeatedly, performing the minor circulation.

This was the hallmark of achieving the Spirit Creek Realm.

Unless Lu Ye died, or his spiritual power was depleted, or his apertures shattered, the flow of his spiritual power would never stop from now on.

Slowly opening his eyes, he raised a palm. With a slight activation of his spiritual power, a faint radiance immediately emerged from his palm. It was the light of spiritual power, but the spiritual power itself felt vastly different from before.

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

Lu Ye could distinctly feel that his strength had more than doubled. If he were to fight that large tiger now, Lu Ye was confident he could defeat it without relying on talismans.

After a brief contemplation, Lu Ye understood the reason.

Previously, although he had opened many spiritual apertures, he could only activate the spiritual power within one aperture at a time. If the spiritual power in that aperture was depleted, he would have to activate another; he couldn't activate two or more simultaneously.

But now that the nine apertures were connected and spiritual power circulated in a minor circulation, the spiritual power he activated was no longer just from a single 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 increase.

As for the tenth aperture, although it was open, it belonged to the second level of the Spirit Creek Realm and didn't yet form a coherent system with the nine apertures of the first level. It couldn't provide Lu Ye with a significant immediate boost; at most, it would slightly increase his total spiritual power reserves in the future.

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

This was common knowledge in cultivation, something every cultivator learned from their masters at the beginning of their journey. However, Lu Ye had been stranded on this Spirit Creek battlefield, without support, and no one to teach him these things. He could only rely on his own exploration and understanding.