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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The Spirit Peak Yi Yi chose had a massive bamboo forest that stretched from the middle section of the mountain all the way to the top, giving it a flowery and willowy appearance. It was incredibly beautiful.
The Spirit Peak was aptly named Summit of Bamboos, but all the buildings were rundown because it had been decades since anyone lived here.
Lu Ye landed on the summit and walked between the buildings. He could imagine how prosperous his sect had been.
The Spirit Peak was huge, and there were a ton of buildings here and there. For obvious reasons, it wasn’t suitable for living at the moment.
Having confirmed his selection, Lu Ye and Yi Yi returned to the Summit of Fortitude and sought out their second senior sister. He then requested her help to dispatch a mission to fix the Summit of Bamboos.
The Crimson Blood Sect’s Outpost had a couple hundred disciples right now, but they generally had nothing to do besides cultivating. He was sure they would welcome the change of pace and the opportunity to earn more Contribution Points.
His second senior sister had no problems with this. Lu Ye was the one who almost single handedly earned all of the Contribution Points they currently possessed. If he wanted to spend some Sect Contribution Points to rebuild a Spirit Peak, how could she possibly say no to that?
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you about this, but the Spirit Stones and Spirit Restoring Pills you currently have are no longer suitable for you. You should head to the vault and replace them,” Shui Yuan said before passing him the key to the vault again.
The so-called “key” was really a Control Jade that could be used to unlock an enchantment. There were tens of millions of Contribution Points worth of goods in the Crimson Blood Sect’s vault right now, and his second senior sister had requested Lady Yun herself to set up the enchantment. Anyone who tried to enter the vault without the Control Jade would be lucky to survive.
Lu Ye would’ve asked Shui Yuan about it even if she hadn’t brought it up herself. The Spirit Stones Spirit Creek Realm cultivators used were Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and the Spirit Restoring Pills were basic as well. Once a cultivator had reached the Cloud River Realm, they would no longer be beneficial to one’s cultivation.
When Lu Ye was Heaven Eight, he already had to eat dozens of Spirit Restoring Pills every day to cultivate. The mere thought of it made him feel like throwing up the contents of his stomach.
There were cultivation-use Spirit Pills that were made for Cloud River Realm cultivators only. He didn’t know how they tasted, but at the very least he wouldn’t have to eat dozens of Spirit Pills a day anymore.
This wasn’t the first time he visited the vault, so his second senior sister did not accompany him on his short trip. He arrived at a massive door installed into the wall of a mountain and gave the Control Jade a little shake. Once the door swung open, he stepped inside.
The vault wasn’t filled to the brim, but the amount of goods it contained was still very impressive. They had been paid to him by the Thousand Demon Ridge to buy his peace, and they had been placed in different places by their categories.
Lu Ye first placed his remaining Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills at the right locations. It was only then he picked up a couple thousand Middle-Grade Spirit Stones at the Spirit Stone area. He didn’t take too many because he usually procured his cultivation resources by killing his enemies. In fact, he usually earned far more cultivation resources than he spent.
Although he had a Void Tattoo now, he still hung a Storage Bag of food on his waist. The main reason he did this was to hide the fact that he had a Void Tattoo. Cultivators weren’t idiots after all. Anyone could tell he had a Void Tattoo if he wasn’t carrying a Storage Bag.
Amber was also wearing a Storage Bag on its neck, though this one belonged to Yi Yi and Amber. It was because Yi Yi was an apparition and could not carry a physical object as easily and effortlessly as Amber.
He also deposited a couple hundred Middle-Grade Spirit Stones in that Storage Bag.
With that done, Lu Ye went to the Spirit Pill area.
Spirit Creek Realm cultivators consumed Spirit Restoring Pills to cultivate or restore their Spiritual Power. Cloud River Realm cultivators consumed Vital Spirit Pills to achieve the same effect. Of course, a Vital Spirit Pill was far more potent than a Spirit Restoring Pill. A Spirit Creek Realm cultivator would only hurt themselves trying to eat one.
Lu Ye grabbed a bottle of Vital Spirit Pill and poured out a pill. He then tossed it into his mouth and gave it a tentative chew.
He raised his eyebrows. The pill… tasted surprisingly good!
For a time, he was overflowing with emotions. Finally, he did not have to eat a Heavens damned Spirit Restoring Pill anymore. This was easily the most delightful discovery he had made since ascending to the Cloud River Realm.
Speaking of eating, Amber was staring at him with a pleading look on its face. Lu Ye fed it a Vital Spirit Pill and watched it just in case it had any adverse reaction.
There was none. Amber simply stared at Lu Ye again with the same “I want more!” expression.
He should’ve expected this. Amber was a Spirit Beast who could consume even Spirit Stones. Naturally, a mere Vital Spirit Pill wasn’t going to hurt it.
A Vital Spirit Pill was definitely a lot more potent than a Spirit Restoring Pill. The second the pill made it down his throat, he could feel a stream of warm energy spreading inside his stomach and transforming into Spiritual Power. It merged with his river of Spiritual Power and increased its volume.
At a rough estimate, a single Vital Spirit Pill was equal to at least ten Spirit Gathering Pills. Of course, its market price was ten times higher as well.
Lu Ye deposited some Vital Spirit Pills in his Void Tattoo and Amber’s Storage Bag before circling the vault once. He left only after he confirmed that there wasn’t anything else he needed.
Lu Ye returned the Control Jade to Shui Yuan before going back to his room. Instead of cultivating, he took out his Mystic Fruit.
He had just ascended to the Cloud River Realm. Naturally, the first thing he should do was to acclimatize himself with his new power. The best way to do so was to enter the Rift of Illusions and fight.
Last time, he had run into a Thousand Demon Ridge cultivator and got killed seven times in a row. After that, there was a long period where he did not use the Mystic Fruit.
It wasn’t because he was scared of running into the bastard again, of course. He was busy cultivating or fighting the Thousand Demon Ridge during that time. He just didn’t have the time for anything else.
Suddenly, he recalled that the Thousand Demon Ridge elite who killed him at the time was shrouded by mist just like the people in the Vault of Providence. At the time, he wasn’t able to identify his features at all.
Now that he had the Gift of Providence, the mist would not present a problem to him anymore. If he ran into them again, he was going to memorize their face and pay back the humiliation he had received tenfold.
He was actually looking forward to running into the bastard again. If possible, he would like to figure out their identity in one go to save time.
He channeled his Spiritual Power into the Mystic Fruit and found himself in the small space. There was no one here besides himself.
Once he stepped through the door, he would enter the Rift of Illusions.
Something was different this time. When he put a hand on the door, the line that appeared was not exactly the same as before.
[The price went up?]
When he was a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator, he only had to pay fifty Contribution Points to enter the Rift of Illusions. Now, it cost a hundred Contribution Points to do so; double what it cost before!
He wondered if the price would double again when he reached the Real Lake Realm.
That said, he still had ninety seven thousand, nine hundred and fifty Contribution Points left. A hundred Contribution Points was nothing at all.
He passed through the door and looked behind him. Just like last time, the door had vanished as if it was never there, and there was nothing to indicate there was a small space behind him a second ago. It was like he had stepped into a different world.
The “arena” was also different from before. When he was just a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator, he could only see as far as thirty or so meters. Everything else beyond that was shrouded by an impenetrable fog. Enemy insectoids or cultivators would burst out of the fog and usually catch him off guard.
Now that he was at the Cloud River Realm, the fog was much further away. Everything within three hundred meters was as clear as day.
He had just come to a standstill when the fog directly in front of him started writhing unnaturally. The next second, a massive insectoid the length of a human burst out of the fog and rushed toward him. The insectoid looked like a praying mantis, but was covered in a thick black shell. It also wielded a pair of sharp mantis blades. The distance between them quickly shortened as Lu Ye unsheathed the Inviolable and charged the insectoid.
In the Rift of Illusions, the insectoid that appeared initially should match his cultivation level, so the praying mantis was probably on the same level as a First-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator. However, Lu Ye could not possibly compare to a normal First-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator, not just because he was a man who had reached the end of the Spirit Creek Realm, but also because he was the first ever human to reach the level of a Tyrant.
This was a feat not even Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan had achieved. Literally no one was stronger than him at the Spirit Creek Realm level.
Naturally, he was far stronger than the average First-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator as well.
It took Lu Ye only a few breaths to annihilate the praying mantis. The increase in power was so drastic that he could hardly believe himself. His attack was also deadlier than ever before, especially after the Inviolable was upgraded to a Middle-Grade Spirit Artifact.
This time, two praying mantises burst out of the fog. Lu Ye met them halfway and brought down his saber…
Nearly one and a half hours later, Lu Ye finally opened his eyes in the real world. His head hurt a bit after being in the Rift of Illusions for so long, but it was gone almost immediately.
His Divine Soul was far stronger than what it used to be. It got to the point where even the side effects of dying in the Rift of Illusions felt almost nothing to him.
After checking his reserves and confirming that he could still fight, he channeled his Spiritual Power into the Mystic Fruit seed and entered the Rift of Illusions once more.
Another one and a half hours had passed, and he opened his eyes looking as white as a sheet. His mind was doing okay, but his Spiritual Power had nearly hit rock bottom.
He chose to stop here and swallowed a Vital Spirit Pill. He then took out a book on blade technique insights and began studying it.
Now that he had formed a Cosmic Orbit in his body, he was no longer limited by his cultivation technique anymore. This meant that he could circulate any cultivation technique he had learned without disrupting his Circulation System.
In the past, he had had to switch his cultivation technique to the Gluttonous Feast to restore his Spiritual Power. Now, he could just activate it directly to digest the Spirit Pill he consumed and restore his Spiritual Power at an accelerated rate.
The days came and went. When his Spiritual Power was full, Lu Ye would enter the Rift of Illusions to acclimatize himself with his newfound power and hone his skills. When he was resting, he would study the blade technique insights and absorb everything that was useful to him. Thanks to the combination of hard work and practice, Lu Ye’s combat skills and blade techniques grew by leaps and bounds.
