Chapter 48: Pursuit

The Wind Rises in Kyushu

After a day of rest, Lu Ye felt the exhaustion from his continuous cultivation disappear. It was time to advance to the third level of the Spirit Creek Realm!

He didn't rush to take the spirit pill. Instead, he first activated his spiritual power to locate the 19th aperture.

Now that he was at the second level of the Spirit Creek Realm, his spiritual power was much stronger and more abundant than it had been two months ago, making it easier for him to locate the apertures.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he found the location of the 19th aperture.

Only then did he take out and consume a Spirit Nurturing Pill. He refined the pill's energy and guided his spiritual power to impact the spiritual aperture barrier of the 19th aperture.

Three days later, after consuming nearly eleven Spirit Nurturing Pills, the 19th aperture was full.

This outcome was expected.

Before reaching the Spirit Creek Realm, his aperture-opening frequency was roughly one aperture every three days, requiring six spirit pills.

At the first level of the Spirit Creek Realm, the frequency of opening apertures didn't change much, but the number of spirit pills consumed per aperture increased, to about eight or nine.

Now at the second level of the Spirit Creek Realm, the consumption has increased further to eleven pills, while the time taken remains largely unchanged. This is mainly because his cultivation has advanced, and his efficiency in refining spirit pills has also improved.

It seemed that the higher his cultivation realm, the more spirit pills would be needed to open apertures in the future.

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

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

This result left him secretly stunned. He didn't know how other cultivators practiced, but his own cultivation speed should not be slow. Yet, even so, it would take him nearly three years to cultivate to the ninth level of the Spirit Creek Realm.

For the next few days, Lu Ye stayed indoors. Only when the last spirit pill was consumed did he emerge from the cave.

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

To cultivate to twenty-seven apertures, he would need at least seventy more Spirit Nurturing Pills. His current mineral reserves consisted only of magnetic ore; all other miscellaneous ores had been sold to the Heavenly Secret Alliance in his previous two transactions.

This time, he would need to sell two pieces of magnetic ore to buy back seventy spirit pills.

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

A graceful figure stood at the window on the second floor of the alliance, watching him leave. She hesitated for a long time before sighing. She reached out and touched the back of her hand, where a yellow mark, unlike the blue battle mark on Lu Ye's hand, immediately appeared.

She spoke softly to the mark a few words, and then it disappeared.

A quarter of an hour later, she walked out of the alliance, smiling and greeting acquaintances.

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

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

It wasn't until he had circled several large loops in the forest that he suddenly noticed a figure appearing near him. Yet, before he could get a clear look, the figure vanished.

Was he being targeted? Lu Ye immediately became alert.

He was always extremely careful when entering and exiting the market, especially on his return journey. The previous two times had been uneventful, so he was puzzled to be unexpectedly targeted by an unknown cultivator this time. He wasn't sure if this person was specifically looking for him or if it was a chance encounter.

If it were the latter, it wouldn't matter, but if it were the former, it would be quite intriguing.

Fortunately, the opponent's speed wasn't very fast. With Lu Ye's full exertion, it would be difficult for the person to catch up to him. This indicated that the opponent's cultivation wasn't very high either.

This was understandable; cultivators who frequented the outer regions of the battlefield usually didn't have very high cultivation levels.

Just as he was thinking this, spiritual power surged from behind him, followed by a wave of coldness. Lu Ye turned his head and saw an ice shard flying through the air, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

Lu Ye was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly turned, drew his sword, and with a surge of spiritual power, his longsword sliced through the ice shard, scattering fragments of coolness across his face.

Affected by the impact of the ice shard, Lu Ye lost his footing, stumbling back a few steps. He seized the opportunity to roll, regaining his balance, though looking quite dishevelled.

However, when he stood up, the assailant had already lunged close. It was a man a few years older than him, with a fair complexion and no beard, wearing two fist-sized earrings that gave him a somewhat exotic look.

The weapon in his hand resembled both a saber and a sword, longer than a typical sword but only half the width of a normal saber blade, resembling the legendary Embroidered Spring Blade.

Taking advantage of Lu Ye's momentary struggle to stand, the fair-faced cultivator brought his blade down.

In haste, Lu Ye had no time to activate the Sharpness spiritual纹 to enhance his longsword; he could only raise his sword to block.

With a clang, sparks flew. Lu Ye's tiger's mouth tingled, and his longsword nearly flew out of his hand. He was also pushed down by the blow, almost kneeling.

"Oh?" The fair-faced man seemed surprised, not expecting Lu Ye to block his powerful strike.

As he felt this astonishment, Lu Ye's longsword parried his weapon, and he thrust his sword towards the man's chest.

The fair-faced man remained calm. He lightly twitched his long saber a few times. Before Lu Ye could react to what happened, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. His thrusting sword also lost its force and was easily dodged by his opponent.

This missed thrust caused Lu Ye to lean forward. A flash of blade light entered his vision, sending a chill through his body. He felt the breath of death approaching.

Clang... The long saber struck Lu Ye's chest, but instead of cutting into flesh, it sent him flying.

Looking at Lu Ye, he was enveloped in a golden light. It was this golden light that protected him, saving him from severe injury! He had realized he was no match and had hastily pulled out a defensive spiritual talisman and slapped it onto himself.

"Golden Body Talisman?" The fair-faced man's eyes reddened slightly, not out of jealousy that Lu Ye had a spiritual talisman, but because this talisman should have been his spoils of war, and seeing Lu Ye waste it like this caused him pain.

However, from this, he confirmed that his intelligence was correct: this Spirit Creek Realm second-level rogue cultivator indeed had abundant financial resources, otherwise, where would he get a spiritual talisman? One should know that the value of any spiritual talisman was dozens of spirit stones. It was rare for low-level cultivators to use spiritual talismans in combat; most people did not have the financial means, at most keeping one or two for emergencies.

Watching the golden light enveloping Lu Ye, the fair-faced man drifted back several feet, holding his saber in one hand and forming a hand seal with the other. As a mocking smile appeared on his lips, spiritual power visibly gathered at his fingertips.