Chapter 677: Cloud River Sixth Layer Realm

Wind Rises in Kyushu

Wind Rises in Kyushu

Using Soul Cleansing Water to calm the tremors and impacts on his spirit, Lu Ye was being incredibly wasteful. If a powerful cultivator of the Divine Sea Realm knew, they would surely reprimand him.

Without Soul Cleansing Water, Lu Ye would probably only be able to endure three or four consecutive levels at most.

But with Soul Cleansing Water continuously alleviating the pressure on his spirit, he could achieve things ordinary cultivators couldn't even imagine.

The gains were immense!

As he cleared layer after layer, his attainments in array formations improved by leaps and bounds. Compared to two days prior, his mastery of array formations had advanced by a whole level!

Such gains were unattainable for many array masters even over their entire lives, yet for him, it was merely a matter of a day and a half.

This was the Hundred Array Pagoda. The pagoda's mysterious wonders far surpassed the imagination of the world.

Before Lu Ye, no one had ever explored the Hundred Array Pagoda's mysteries to such an extent.

Passing a level's trial in an extremely short time, then gaining enormous benefits, followed by nearly three hours of rest and contemplation, then re-entering the next level at full strength to pass an even more difficult trial and gain more immense benefits... it was truly like a snowball effect, forming a virtuous cycle.

Compared to the gains in array formations, the improvement in his cultivation was secondary.

Lu Ye didn't even pay much attention to this, because every time he passed a trial, he would immediately construct small spirit-gathering funnels and then leave them alone.

He didn't deliberately count how many levels he had cleared. Anyway, as long as he had Soul Cleansing Water, he felt that even if the Hundred Array Pagoda was truly complete with a hundred levels, he could clear them all in one go.

At one point, as Lu Ye was carefully contemplating the gifts he received from the Hundred Array Pagoda, a humming sound suddenly emanated from within his body, like a mighty river rushing, its waves surging.

He immediately snapped back to attention and felt his own body.

Only then did he notice an extremely full sensation from the spiritual power river within him. As the small spirit-gathering funnels scattered around his body continued to work, pure and dense spiritual energy was constantly absorbed into his body, and that feeling of fullness grew stronger and stronger.

He was about to break through.

He understood what was happening and immediately guarded his mind.

The sounds of flowing water became increasingly apparent, and the roaring of the river waves grew clearer. At this moment, the spiritual power river seemed to gain a life of its own, constantly contracting and expanding.

Then, at a certain point, with the sudden expansion of the spiritual power river and violent spiritual energy surges, an invisible wave of air spread outwards from Lu Ye's center. As the airwave diffused, the invisible shackles within his body also broke open, and the feeling of fullness vanished.

All sorts of unusual sounds instantly subsided. The surging spiritual power rapidly flowed and circulated within the river, its speed a few points faster than before.

Lu Ye also inexplicably felt a sense of complete transformation.

Cloud River Sixth Level!

Silently sensing his body, Lu Ye could clearly perceive that the volume of the spiritual power river within him was much larger than before.

When cultivators are in the Spirit Stream Realm, their main goal is to open their spiritual apertures. One by one, spiritual apertures are opened, with the grand completion state being 360 apertures.

Of course, due to varying individual aptitudes, most cultivators cannot open all 360 apertures. Some can only open over 200, while others can open 300.

The Spirit Stream Realm is the foundation for cultivators. At this stage, the number of apertures opened can largely influence a cultivator's lifelong achievements. Naturally, the more spiritual apertures opened, the better.

However, there is always a way. Even if they don't reach the grand completion state, cultivators can still advance to the Cloud River Realm. The minimum requirement, however, is to open 240 apertures and learn a Heaven-tier cultivation technique, because only the energy circulation path of a Heaven-tier technique can connect all of a cultivator's spiritual apertures, forming a spiritual power river!

Only when a spiritual power river forms within the body is a cultivator truly considered to have advanced to the Cloud River Realm.

At the Cloud River Realm, cultivators must continuously expand the volume of their spiritual power river until it covers their entire body. By then, the spiritual power river will no longer be just a river; it will be a spiritual power lake accumulated within the cultivator's body, known as the True Lake Realm.

With spiritual energy covering their entire body, cultivators will achieve a new level of control and mobilization over their spiritual power. Therefore, cultivators in the True Lake Realm are much stronger than those in the Cloud River Realm.

Although Cloud River Realm cultivators can also activate their spiritual power to cover any part of their body, there is ultimately a process of spiritual energy flow. The spiritual energy needs to first flow out from the spiritual power river and then, under the cultivator's control, circulate to the appropriate location.

However, for True Lake Realm cultivators, even a random patch of skin contains pure spiritual energy.

Lu Ye had now advanced to the Cloud River Sixth Level, leaving only three minor levels before reaching the True Lake Realm.

Moreover, he could feel that the improvement brought by this level advancement was significantly greater than any previous ones.

This was rather strange. Each cultivation realm for cultivators is divided into nine minor levels, and generally, levels four and seven are considered thresholds.

Advancements to the fourth and seventh levels usually give a feeling of explosive power growth.

The sixth level, it seemed, had no such reputation.

However, Lu Ye soon understood the reason.

He had previously received a baptism of heavenly fortune in Fox Immortal Valley, which greatly increased his foundation. This increased foundation wouldn't manifest immediately but would slowly reveal itself with subsequent cultivation advancements.

In other words, while other cultivators might also advance from Cloud River Fifth Level to Sixth Level, the growth they experienced would by no means be as significant as Lu Ye's.

For him, this was naturally a good thing. With people from the Ten Thousand Devil Ridge constantly pursuing and ambushing him, greater strength meant more means of self-preservation.

The hidden danger that concerned Lu Ye was also resolved.

Previously, upon returning from Xianyuan City, he had always subtly felt that his physical body could not fully contain his spirit. Now that his cultivation had advanced a level, that feeling had completely disappeared.

Of course, this was only temporary.

He had so much Soul Cleansing Water on hand, and he was continuously consuming it while challenging the Hundred Array Pagoda this time. Although it was meant to alleviate the pressure on his spirit and the impact of vast information, it was also silently strengthening his spirit.

If he continued like this, it was highly likely that the hidden danger he had just resolved would reappear.

Therefore, the path of cultivation was long and arduous. Other cultivators in Kyushu probably couldn't comprehend such "happy troubles."

"Yiyi, how many levels have I cleared?" Lu Ye collected his thoughts and asked.

"Fifteen levels," Yiyi replied, who was meditating nearby.

Fifteen levels, with less than three hours of cultivation time per level. The cultivation environment here was almost comparable to using a spirit token. Calculating it, the time he spent cultivating inside the Hundred Array Pagoda was equivalent to consuming nearly three golden spirit tokens.

Three golden spirit tokens were naturally not enough for him to break through. However, since the Fox Immortal Valley, he had been consuming a large number of spirit pills daily, and over this long period, he had already progressed significantly within the Fifth Level.

The Hundred Array Pagoda had a total of thirty-three levels, meaning there were still eighteen levels left, which could implicitly provide him with a cultivation environment equivalent to three more golden spirit tokens.

It wouldn't be enough to advance him to the Cloud River Seventh Level, but it would significantly increase his cultivation and shorten the time he needed to reach the Seventh Level.

It had some minor shortcomings, but it was still acceptable.

Silence returned to the small space. Yiyi continued her cultivation, while Amber, having swallowed a demon core, was sound asleep beside her.

Lu Ye also re-immersed himself in comprehending the Hundred Array Pagoda's gifts.

Time passed. Only when the surrounding spiritual energy suddenly vanished did Lu Ye stand up, waiting for the next trial.

Outside the Hundred Array Pagoda, there was a sea of people.

Nearly half of Hundred Array City's population had rushed over, and many others, having received the news, were frantically making their way there.

If, at first, some people believed the Hundred Array Pagoda's resonance was man-made, few held that thought now.

Because it was simply too exaggerated.

In five days, there had been a full twenty resonances, averaging one every three hours. This was simply not something human effort could achieve.

After confirming that this resonance was not triggered by a certain array master, most array masters felt much more at ease.

People were like that after all: sometimes they didn't really mind or had already accepted their mediocrity, but if someone too outstanding appeared, they would always feel inferior.

Fortunately, such a thing didn't happen; the resonance of the Hundred Array Pagoda was not man-made.

Only the cultivator surnamed Luo would occasionally look up at the Hundred Array Pagoda in his free moments, his heart constantly churning with immense doubt.

Was that person truly challenging the pagoda? Were these successive resonances really not man-made?

But whether it was man-made or not, he had gained immensely this time. Originally, he had no confidence in passing the fifty-first level's trial, but under the enlightenment of twenty resonances over these five days, he felt his array path had clearly improved, and he was now very confident in clearing the fifty-first level!

He wasn't in a hurry to move because he wasn't sure if there would be more resonances.

He turned to look around, the surrounding clamor and noise making him frown.

When did it get so chaotic outside the Hundred Array Pagoda...?

In the past, while a considerable number of cultivators gathered here, they were all array masters, and when they convened to discuss the Dao, they would be mindful not to disturb others. But now... with so many people, the scene had become chaotic.

The cultivator surnamed Luo shook his head, paying it no mind, and meticulously savored his recent insights.

At this moment, at the safe passage leading from Hundred Array City to the Hundred Array Pagoda, several figures arrived, covered in dust from their journey.

If Lu Ye were here, he would likely exclaim about their persistent hauntings.

No other reason: the individuals who arrived here were precisely those Ninth-Level cultivators who had previously pursued him.

Xia Liang and Tan Sheng, along with Chu Yun and Zhou Pei of the Sacred Fire Sect, were among them.

They had previously pursued Lu Ye to the Pi River, but Lu Ye was rescued by a mysterious woman and escaped via a teleportation array, vanishing without a trace.

Just when they were troubled about where to inquire about Lu Ye's whereabouts, news suddenly arrived that Lu Ye had appeared outside the Hundred Array Pagoda.

Recalling that Lu Ye was an array master, it was reasonable that he would go to the Hundred Array Pagoda. So, these few rushed towards this location in a hurry, fearing they might arrive too late and Lu Yiye would escape again.

They weren't together; they just happened to arrive at the same place, which was a coincidence.