Chapter 639: Second Fruit Core

**Turbulence in the Nine Provinces**

Lu Ye held a core-like object in his hand. He realized he had one himself.

He took out his own core and placed it beside the new one. They looked almost identical, as if cast from the same mold.

These were Spirit Cores!

Spirit Cores are the inner cores of Spirit Fruits, which are unique spiritual fruits found only in the Chess Sea. The fruit's flesh can quickly restore a cultivator's spiritual power, while the core's effects are varied and strange.

When Lu Ye was at the fifth level of the Spirit Stream Realm, he and Hua Ci participated in the Spirit Stream Defense Battle. With their unique abilities, they led the various sect defenders of the Vast Heaven Alliance to turn the tide, eventually occupying the very center of the Chess Sea. There, they found a Spirit Fruit tree laden with Spirit Fruits.

Because Lu Ye and Hua Ci played such a crucial role in the entire Spirit Stream Defense Battle, one of the Spirit Fruits was given to Lu Ye, while the others were auctioned off.

The Spirit Fruit Lu Ye received was eventually given to Shui Yuan, who used its flesh to brew Spirit Fruit Wine, which has now been completely consumed.

The Spirit Core, however, became his key to entering the Mirage to hone his skills.

Yet, not all Spirit Cores allow cultivators to enter the Mirage. Their effects are indeed quite bizarre. Li Baxian once told him that a sect from the Myriad Demon Ridge once obtained a Spirit Core whose effect was to greatly enhance the power of formations. As a result, one Myriad Demon Ridge sect's outpost in the Spirit Stream Battlefield was impregnable.

Some Spirit Cores have no particular use but can be sold to the Heavenly Secret Treasury, starting at a price of at least 100,000 merit points.

Still others, when carried, can improve a cultivator's comprehension, subtly changing their aptitude over time...

Some Spirit Cores are even linked to rich spirit stone veins.

In short, there's no fixed purpose for these items; any strange use is possible.

When Lu Ye first heard about these, he simply thought Spirit Cores were amazing and didn't dwell on it much.

But as his cultivation and experience grew, he gradually realized something: the strange uses of Spirit Cores were likely not inherent to them, but bestowed by the Heavenly Secret.

Take Lu Ye's own Spirit Core, for instance. It's merely a key. Each time he uses it, he enters the Mirage, allowing him to train without restraint.

Lu Ye's blade techniques were honed partly through life-and-death battles with Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators and partly through training in the Mirage. Each training session there ended in death, and the experience gained from using his own life and body was undoubtedly invaluable.

It was unexpected to find a Spirit Core among the spoils of this battle. Lu Ye wondered which unfortunate soul it belonged to.

"This storage bag." Yi Yi held up a storage bag. Lu Ye glanced at it but didn't recognize it.

Storage bags generally don't have trendy designs; they're mostly similar, though some female cultivators' bags might be embroidered with patterns or motifs. Of course, male cultivators can have them too, usually from female cultivators who admire them.

The storage bag Yi Yi held had no special markings, so Lu Ye didn't know its original owner.

There was no need to delve into that. Lu Ye was curious about the purpose of this inadvertently acquired Spirit Core.

With that thought, Lu Ye picked up the Spirit Core, channeled spiritual power into it, and prepared to investigate. Regardless of its use, since someone carried it, it couldn't be useless.

His mind sank, and his vision blurred. When Lu Ye regained his senses, he was in a confined small space. It was empty except for a large door in front of him, with a clear inscription: "To enter the Mirage, 100 merit points are required."

Lu Ye frowned. Did he pick up the wrong one? This was clearly the function of his own Spirit Core.

He didn't push open the door, because once opened, there was no way out unless he was killed.

Opening his eyes, he picked up the other Spirit Core and channeled spiritual power into it.

Just like before, in the next instant, he appeared in a confined small space, empty except for a large door. On the door was written: "To enter the Mirage, 100 merit points are required."

Lu Ye was stunned, staring intently at the door. He could confirm that he hadn't picked up the wrong one; both Spirit Cores had identical functions, allowing entry into the Mirage for training.

This left Lu Ye feeling a bit flustered. He thought he had found something good, only to discover it duplicated what he already had.

This brought back some unpleasant memories. Back in the Spirit Stream Realm, he once entered this small space and encountered a Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator there. That fellow killed him several times...

After that, Lu Ye was always extremely vigilant whenever he activated his Spirit Core to enter this space, fearing he might encounter that person again.

At the time, he speculated that the other person also possessed a Spirit Core with the same function as his. However, he hadn't yet received the Heavenly Secret's blessing, so the other person's form was shrouded in mist, making it impossible for him to see their appearance. He could only confirm that the person was from Myriad Demon Ridge and much higher in cultivation than him.

Their ability to meet in this small space was clearly due to both activating their Spirit Cores at the same time, a very small probability, which is why Lu Ye had only encountered them once until now.

After being killed several times, Lu Ye secretly vowed to get his revenge one day...

So, was the original owner of this newly acquired Spirit Core the Myriad Demon Ridge cultivator he encountered back then? If so, what a coincidence.

However, Lu Ye wasn't surprised by such an event happening to him. After all, he was favored by the Heavenly Secret, a person with great destiny. Although he sometimes had bad luck, overall, his luck wasn't bad.

The only pity was that Lu Ye didn't know the true identity of the Spirit Core's original owner, so even though he had inadvertently gotten his revenge, it didn't feel particularly exciting.

The fact that the opponent possessed a Spirit Core clearly indicated an extraordinary background, belonging to a major sect. And judging from how the opponent killed him last time, that person was a soldier cultivator.

Thus, the original owner of the Spirit Core should have been a formidable soldier cultivator, definitely at the eighth or even ninth level.

Lu Ye immediately recalled that in the mine tunnel, he had indeed killed a ninth-level soldier cultivator. Under normal circumstances, he would likely not have been the opponent's match, but at the time, that person was corroded by potent poison, greatly reducing their effective strength. Even so, it took Lu Ye a full ten breaths to deal with them.

That was because the person's combat skills were highly refined, clearly honed through countless battles.

It matched.

The original owner of the Spirit Core was likely that ninth-level soldier cultivator who died inexplicably by his hand. That person frequently honed their combat skills in the Mirage, which explained why their performance before dying was better than other ninth-level cultivators, with more refined combat techniques.

However, no matter how many techniques one possessed, they couldn't stand against a single poison bead.

Lu Ye hadn't expected that the feud formed in that small space would be resolved in such a way.

But now having two Spirit Cores with the same function, he could give one to his fourth senior brother if the opportunity arose. Training in the Mirage was very useful, and there was no fear of actually dying, only the momentary pain of death.

Withdrawing his mind from the small space, Lu Ye put both Spirit Cores into the storage space on the back of his hand and continued to work diligently with Yi Yi.

Days passed, until finally, the last storage bag in Lu Ye's hand had its sealing lock broken.

He tossed the storage bag to Yi Yi, stood up, and stretched. He was finally free.

A moment later, Yi Yi pushed nearly a hundred storage bags in front of Lu Ye. Almost every one of these bags was packed to the brim.

Yi Yi had divided the nearly hundred storage bags into three piles. She pointed to one pile and said, "These contain spiritual pills, spirit stones, and demon cores from spirit beasts that you can use."

Then she pointed to the pile in the middle and said, "These can be taken back to the sect." Some items Lu Ye couldn't use, but his junior brothers and sisters in the sect could. These were placed in these storage bags to be returned to the sect and put into the sect's treasury for future use.

Finally, she pointed to the last pile: "These are not of much use; they can be sold to the Heavenly Secret Alliance or the Heavenly Secret Treasury."

With Yi Yi, the skilled organizer and summarizer, around, Lu Ye didn't have to worry about many things, which undoubtedly saved him a lot of time.

Lu Ye nodded, then sat down again, emptying the contents of the first two piles of storage bags one by one and putting them into his own storage space.

His storage space was formed by the Void Sting纹 tattooed by Madam Yun, and it was vast inside. Even so, after accommodating all the necessary goods, there wasn't much room left.

It must be said that the amount of spoils obtained this time was truly astonishing, after all, it was the net worth of over two thousand Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators.

"Please call a manager up for me," Lu Ye instructed, looking at the untouched storage bags on the ground. He couldn't go out himself to avoid exposing his whereabouts, but there was no such concern if Yi Yi went.

Yi Yi acknowledged him and pushed the door open, leaving.

A short while later, Yi Yi led a manager from the Merchant Alliance into the room.

Upon seeing the small mountain of stacked storage bags in the room, the middle-aged manager, who had seen his share of grand scenes, couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his eye.

Generally speaking, it was normal for a cultivator to have two or three storage bags; four or five were considered many. Any more than that usually meant they were spoils of war obtained from killing others.

People who brought dozens of storage bags to the Heavenly Secret Merchant Alliance were rare, perhaps only a few in a year.

But how many storage bags were piled in front of him now? The middle-aged manager had sharp eyes; with just a glance, he estimated there might be four or five thousand storage bags here.

He didn't see a mountain of stacked storage bags, but rather countless dead lives.

He had initially thought it would be an ordinary transaction, but it turned out the scale was beyond imagination.