Chapter 60: Gathering Spirit Energy

The Wind Rises in Kyushu

The Wind Rises in Kyushu

During the day, Lu Ye had cultivated his twenty-first aperture to full capacity. As soon as he broke through the barrier of the twenty-second aperture, he would be one step closer to the third stage of the Spirit Creek Realm.

He did not take any Barrier-Breaking Fruits, although they were remarkably effective at breaking through spirit aperture barriers.

Lu Ye estimated that Barrier-Breaking Fruits were quite valuable. The last time he took one was because he was in a hurry to advance to the first stage of the Spirit Creek Realm. Now, with a sufficient supply of Spirit-Nourishing Pills, he could achieve the same goal with just a little more time. Naturally, Lu Ye wouldn't waste them.

He intended to save these two spirit fruits and consume them at a more opportune moment to maximize their effect.

His internal spiritual power was now incomparably stronger than when he first started, which made breaking through spirit aperture barriers much easier.

In less than an hour, the barrier of the twenty-second aperture was breached, and trickles of spiritual energy flowed into it.

Lu Ye continued to cultivate for a while, completely digesting the pill's energy, before finally stopping.

It had been three days since he last checked the spirit pattern leaves on his Talent Tree. Lu Ye planned to examine the third burning leaf tonight to see what spirit pattern it contained.

Despite having prepared himself mentally, he still felt a little nervous when he was about to do it, mainly because the experience was so unpleasant.

But this was something he had to go through sooner or later. Better short-term pain than long-term, Lu Ye steeled himself, focused his mind, and "looked" at the Talent Tree within his Origin Spirit Aperture.

The burning leaf rapidly magnified. The intricate patterns on the leaf instantly obscured Lu Ye's vision and thoughts, and that feeling of being struck hard by a hammer returned.

His mind felt pried open, a flood of inexplicable information poured in, then was vigorously stirred...

After a long while, Lu Ye gasped and opened his eyes. Beside him, Dahu raised its head, and Yiyi stood by the bed, looking at him worriedly.

Fortunately, having had a similar experience three days prior, Yiyi wasn't overly surprised.

Lu Ye immersed his mind, checking the new information that had appeared in his head.

Spirit Gathering!

This was the name of the spirit pattern carried on the third leaf.

The first spirit pattern was for offense, the second for defense, so was the third for support?

The function of this spirit pattern was self-evident from its name: it was used to gather spiritual energy. Lu Ye activated his spiritual power and constructed this spirit pattern in his palm. As the intricate and complex spirit pattern appeared, the ambient spiritual energy in the room gathered towards his palm, subsequently drawing in external spiritual energy.

Lu Ye waited for a moment and found that the ambient spiritual energy in the room didn't seem to change much. This might be because the spirit pattern he constructed wasn't large enough or didn't last long enough.

If he could construct a spirit pattern large enough to cover the entire room, or even the entire merchant alliance, the effect of gathering ambient spiritual energy should be quite remarkable.

But putting aside whether his spiritual power could sustain such a massive spirit pattern, even if he did, it would be pointless.

His body couldn't efficiently absorb spiritual energy, so no matter how dense the external spiritual energy became, it wouldn't be of much use to him.

Useless!

Lu Ye muttered to himself, feeling somewhat disappointed.

Both Sharp Edge and Spirit Guard offered significant assistance in combat. He had high expectations for this third spirit pattern, but it turned out to be quite useless.

However, compared to Sharp Edge and Spirit Guard, the Spirit Gathering pattern consumed very little energy. For a spirit pattern of the same scale, Spirit Gathering's consumption was only one-tenth of Spirit Guard's. Moreover, it seemed it could be maintained for a long time.

Both Sharp Edge and Spirit Guard had short durations, so Lu Ye had to seize the right moment to use them in combat. They could be maintained for longer, but the spiritual energy consumption would increase.

But Spirit Gathering was different. While gathering ambient spiritual energy, it also replenished itself. So once constructed, it would persist unless Lu Ye actively dispersed it.

Thinking about it this way, it wasn't entirely useless. If a sufficiently large Spirit Gathering pattern were constructed in a sect's outpost, the ambient spiritual energy in that outpost would become increasingly dense.

Yiyi watched this scene from the side, somewhat astonished.

Three nights ago, she had witnessed Lu Ye casually construct an inexplicable spirit pattern. Tonight, she saw it again, and these two were completely different spirit patterns.

Yiyi wasn't sure what the spirit pattern from three nights ago did, but this time, the spirit pattern clearly had the effect of gathering ambient spiritual energy.

Who exactly was this guy? His cultivation wasn't high, yet his understanding of spirit patterns was so thorough. This typically required an immense amount of time and effort.

Given this, he must truly be connected to a prominent figure from a major sect...

It must be said, Yiyi's thoughts were increasingly straying. She was also intelligent, choosing to ignore things she shouldn't ask about. This made Lu Ye feel very relieved; otherwise, he would have to consider whether to continue their cooperation.

Meanwhile, Lu Ye had already dispersed the Spirit Gathering pattern. He then took off his upper garment and began swinging his long saber. Dahu had to huddle in a corner to avoid being accidentally injured...

One slash after another, Lu Ye practiced diligently.

After a night passed, at dawn, Lu Ye came down from the third floor to the first-floor hall. He found a steward from the merchant alliance and traded two pieces of primordial magnetic ore.

He still had fourteen pieces of primordial magnetic ore, all relatively large, with the largest being the size of a washbasin. He didn't trade too many to avoid encountering someone like Liu Ruoyin again.

Anyway, he would encounter many branches of the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance along the way, and selling the ore sporadically would reduce some risks.

When he left Qingyun Market Three previously, if he hadn't been desperate to buy a map of the complete territory, he wouldn't have risked selling over ten pieces of primordial magnetic ore; doing so would have easily made him a target.

Two pieces of primordial magnetic ore yielded 103 spirit stones. This time, he didn't buy Spirit-Nourishing Pills again but saved the spirit stones.

The Spirit-Nourishing Pills he currently had were enough to last him well beyond the third stage of the Spirit Creek Realm, so there was no need to accumulate more.

As for saving spirit stones... it was because he needed to save a large sum for another purpose.

Just as he walked out of the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance, a thin, monkey-faced cultivator approached him, greeting him with a wide smile: "Greetings, fellow cultivator!"

Lu Ye frowned, looking at him. Dahu stepped forward, letting out a threatening growl.

The cultivator's smile instantly stiffened, and he hastily retreated two steps: "Please calm your anger, fellow cultivator, I mean no harm. I just have a business proposition I'd like to discuss with you."

Lu Ye looked at the spiritual light around the man, confirming he was only in the second stage of the Spirit Creek Realm. Moreover, judging by his spiritual light, its purity was below average, indicating his combat strength wasn't impressive.

Seeing Lu Ye and Dahu staring at him, the cultivator's scalp tingled, and he forced a smile: "It really is just about a business deal."

"Move aside!" Lu Ye said faintly, his hand on the hilt of his saber, leading Dahu directly forward. The man quickly moved out of the way but didn't give up. He probably thought Lu Ye wouldn't do anything to him here, so he chased after Lu Ye, saying: "Fellow cultivator, I have a set of cultivation-assisting techniques. If used, cultivation efficiency would increase by at least double. It's perfect for cultivators of your level. Are you interested?"