Nine Apertures Connected, Spiritual Power Forms a Stream

In no more than a few dozen breaths, the Aperture Barrier of the Ninth Aperture broke open, and the Spiritual Power blocked outside trickled into it.

At this point, Lu Ye only needed to use his own Spiritual Power to connect the nine apertures, forming a Minor Heavenly Circulation within his body, and the Spirit Stream Realm would naturally take shape!

This had been the ultimate goal of his efforts over the past month.

Yet Lu Ye discovered that although much of the Barrier Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect had been consumed, a large amount still remained. If he simply let it be now, leaving aside whether it might affect his future cultivation, at the very least, the remaining medicinal effect would go to waste.

This fruit was absolutely a rare treasure. Wasting it would be far too regrettable.

So after only a brief hesitation, he began circulating his Spiritual Power, attempting to locate the Tenth Aperture.

The Sect Master had previously only helped him locate the Ninth Aperture, because in the Sect Master's view, with Lu Ye's talent as One Leaf, even with an ample supply of Spiritual Pills, it would likely take him two or three years to cultivate to the Spirit Stream First Layer.

It was not that the Sect Master looked down on him. His talent was simply too poor, and his cultivation efficiency truly was abysmal.

But the Sect Master had not expected Lu Ye to open nine apertures in only a single month. This was even under conditions of scarce pills and medicine; if he had enough Spirit Nurturing Pills, his speed would only have been faster.

By now, even without anyone else's help, Lu Ye could locate the apertures with his own reserves of Spiritual Power, though it was not as effortless as when the Sect Master did it.

During this time, Lu Ye had also found time to study the Golden Cicada Free and Unfettered Art. Thus, he had a rough idea of the locations of the subsequent apertures. So long as his luck was not too poor, locating them would not be a problem.

After working for around half an hour, Lu Ye finally located the Tenth Aperture. He hurriedly guided the remaining medicinal effect of the Barrier Breaking Fruit toward it. Just as before, the Aperture Barrier of the Tenth Aperture rapidly dissolved.

Another few dozen breaths later, the Aperture Barrier of the Tenth Aperture broke open. Very little of the Barrier Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect remained.

Lu Ye continued locating the Eleventh Aperture.

More than half an hour later, Lu Ye let out a long breath and opened his eyes. At this moment, he could no longer sense the Barrier Breaking Fruit's medicinal effect, and the hot current in his lower abdomen had vanished completely. The barrier of the Eleventh Aperture ultimately failed to break open, but it had loosened considerably. When he cultivated again in the future, breaking through the barrier would become much easier, so it was not as though he had gained nothing.

One Barrier Breaking Fruit had allowed him to open two apertures in succession, and the barrier of the Eleventh Aperture had also dissolved considerably. The harvest was immense.

Lu Ye suppressed the urge to immediately achieve the Spirit Stream Realm, because he vaguely felt that while he had a chance of succeeding now, if he could cultivate the newly opened Ninth Aperture to a full state, achieving the Spirit Stream Realm would be easier.

At this point, he was no longer in a hurry.

He walked to the side, skinned and gutted the dead rabbit, built a fire, roasted it, and feasted to his heart's content.

Over the following days, Lu Ye slaughtered the beasts nearby in great numbers. His daily appetite was astonishing, and everything he swallowed transformed into his Qi and Blood Power. He then refined essence into qi, pouring it into the Ninth Aperture.

About six days later, Lu Ye sat cross-legged inside the cave.

Though he had eaten a great deal of beast meat over the past few days, compared with six days ago, not only had he not grown fatter, he had instead become visibly thinner. Even his once well-fitting clothes had become slightly loose.

This was the result of refining essence into qi. Too much of his Qi and Blood Power had been refined into Spiritual Power, and this was how it manifested in his physical body.

Although he had become thinner, Lu Ye felt no discomfort. On the contrary, he felt stronger. The muscles all over his body stood out in distinct, solid ridges; robust and powerful was the most fitting description.

He had finally cultivated the Ninth Aperture to its full state.

After striving for so many days, today was finally the season of harvest. Lu Ye could not help feeling excited.

After taking several deep breaths and calming his mind, Lu Ye followed the circulation route of the Golden Cicada Free and Unfettered Art. He first raised the Spiritual Power from the Source Spirit Aperture and poured it into the Second Aperture, driving the Spiritual Power within the Second Aperture together into the Third Aperture, then driving the Spiritual Power of the Third Aperture into the Fourth Aperture, continuing like this without pause... until the Ninth Aperture!

The Ninth Aperture was located near the Source Spirit Aperture. After the Spiritual Energy entered the Ninth Aperture, Lu Ye guided it back into the Source Spirit Aperture. The nine great apertures were thus connected, forming a closed ring: the Minor Heavenly Circulation!

If the Spiritual Power stored within the apertures had previously been a pool of stagnant water, then at this moment it became living water. The Spiritual Power throughout his body began at the Source Spirit Aperture, flowed through the other eight apertures, and returned to the Source Spirit Aperture, flowing without end.

Lu Ye immediately felt something distinctly different.

But he did not stop there. Instead, he continued guiding his Spiritual Power, repeatedly circulating it through the Minor Heavenly Circulation, cycle after cycle.

Within the nine great apertures, Spiritual Power flowed faster and faster. When it finally broke past a certain limit, Lu Ye's ears and mind buzzed. Even with his eyes closed, his vision was flooded by a sheet of snowy white. Then the white receded, his hearing sharpened and his sight cleared, and his entire being was filled with the exhilarating sensation of ascension.

A visible ring of air burst outward from Lu Ye, sweeping in all directions with a boom and sending sand and stones flying through the cave.

The Spirit Stream Realm was achieved!

Lu Ye did not hurry to open his eyes. Instead, he quietly sensed his current state.

He was no longer guiding his Spiritual Power to flow, yet it continued flowing endlessly through the nine great apertures, trickling like a stream, cycling over and over as it carried out the Minor Heavenly Circulation.

This was the mark of achieving the Spirit Stream Realm.

Unless Lu Ye died, exhausted all his Spiritual Power, or had his apertures shattered, the flow of his Spiritual Power would never stop from this day onward.

He slowly opened his eyes and raised a hand. With a slight circulation of Spiritual Power, a faint Radiant Light immediately surged from his palm. It was the glow of Spiritual Power, yet the Spiritual Power within him now felt vastly different from before.

Although his total reserves of Spiritual Power had not increased compared to before, his current Spiritual Power was clearly far more destructive.

Lu Ye could feel this very clearly. His strength had increased by more than a single fold. If he fought Big Tiger again now, Lu Ye was confident he could take it down without using a Spirit Talisman.

After pondering briefly, Lu Ye understood the reason.

Though he had opened many apertures before, each time he could only circulate the Spiritual Power within a single aperture. Once the Spiritual Power in that aperture was exhausted, he could only circulate that of another aperture. He had no way to circulate the Spiritual Power of two or more apertures at the same time.

But now that the nine apertures were connected and his Spiritual Power was circulating through the Minor Heavenly Circulation, the Spiritual Power he activated was no longer merely that of a single aperture. What he activated was the power of all nine apertures.

Of course, its destructive force was not nine times greater, but it was still more than twice as strong.

As for the Tenth Aperture, although it had already opened, it belonged to the scope of the Spirit Stream Second Layer. It did not yet form a system with the nine apertures of the First Layer, so it could not bring Lu Ye much improvement for the time being. At most, it would increase his total Spiritual Power reserves in the future.

At its root, cultivation in the Spirit Stream Realm was a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. Once enough apertures were opened, allowing Spiritual Power to connect those apertures and circulate through the Minor Heavenly Circulation, one's strength would undergo a soaring leap! Before that, the greatest effect of opening apertures was merely increasing one's reserves of Spiritual Power; it would not directly increase one's strength.

This was common knowledge in cultivation. Every cultivator would have masters and elders to teach them such things at the beginning of their cultivation. Yet Lu Ye had ended up alone in this Spirit Stream Battlefield, with no one to rely on. Who was there to teach him these things? He could only depend on himself to explore and comprehend them.