Spirit Stream Tier Two

At the Heaven's Mystery Merchant Guild, Liu Quan courteously saw Lu Ye to the door. Most cultivators in the outer circle were rather poor, unless they were disciples from great sects.

Transactions worth several dozen Spirit Stones were not easy to come by, and Lu Ye was fairly straightforward in character. Naturally, Liu Quan wanted to become more familiar with him, so Lu Ye might send more business his way next time.

Watching Lu Ye's figure disappear, Liu Quan turned around, only for a fragrant breeze to wash over him. Someone was standing behind him.

"You startled me!" Liu Quan snapped irritably. "Why aren't you attending to customers? What are you doing standing behind me?"

The person said in a delicate voice, "I missed you."

Feeling guilty as a thief, Liu Quan looked around. Only after seeing that no one was paying attention did he lower his voice. "Come find me after work tonight."

"Alright..." the woman replied with a smile.

As though nothing had happened, Liu Quan headed back into the hall to attend to other customers. The woman, however, cast a wistful glance in the direction Lu Ye had left, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

When night came, they naturally indulged in a bout of passion. Afterward, as they chatted idly, the woman intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—steered the conversation toward the day's transaction. Liu Quan was somewhat sleepy, answering her in fits and starts before soon falling into a deep snoring sleep.

Lying in his arms, the woman found it somewhat difficult to fall asleep.

If she had not been mistaken, that customer from the day had been the very one she had attended half a month ago—the man who had sold many ores and bought some Spiritual Pills.

Who would have thought that after only half a month, he had come back to sell ores again?

Judging by the customer's appearance, he was undoubtedly a Rogue Cultivator. A lone, unsupported Rogue Cultivator gathering wealth worth several dozen Spirit Stones in such a short time naturally drew attention.

Working at the Heaven's Mystery Merchant Guild as she did, even counting extra income, she could earn at most twelve or thirteen Spirit Stones a month. It reminded her of her days as a Rogue Cultivator. Comparing the two, she could not help feeling bitter. She lay there lost in wild thoughts for a long while before sleepiness finally came over her, yet she could not sleep soundly no matter what.

Meanwhile, in the cave on Green Cloud Mountain, Lu Ye was cultivating.

After finishing his transaction at the Heaven's Mystery Merchant Guild during the day, he had used his remaining Spirit Stones to buy plenty of food, then hurried back without stopping. Only then had he managed to return before nightfall.

With enough Spiritual Pills on hand, he immediately began cultivating by swallowing pills.

As one Spirit Nurturing Pill after another was consumed, the Spiritual Power in the Fifteenth Aperture gradually filled to the brim before beginning to charge toward the sixteenth aperture.

Twelve days later, Lu Ye sat cross-legged in the cave, calming his breath and focusing his mind.

Today was a momentous day. If all went smoothly, he would advance to Spirit Stream Second Layer today.

Since returning twelve days ago, he had gradually consumed more than thirty Spirit Nurturing Pills and finally opened 18 Apertures. Moreover, he had cultivated the Spiritual Power in the eighteenth aperture to its full capacity.

Recalling the circulation route recorded in the Golden Cicada Free and Unfettered Art, Lu Ye activated his Spiritual Power. Starting from the Tenth Aperture, he passed through the eleventh, twelfth... until finally reaching the eighteenth.

He had done this when he attained Spirit Stream First Layer, so he was now familiar with the process and encountered no difficulties.

His Spiritual Power smoothly passed through the nine great Spiritual Apertures, flowing gently like a stream. Under Lu Ye's guidance, the Spiritual Power coursing through those nine great Spiritual Apertures steadily accelerated, cycling through its circulation again and again.

When it reached its limit, Lu Ye felt his entire body tremble. A wave of air swept outward, and the Spiritual Power flowing from the Tenth Aperture to the eighteenth began circulating on its own.

Spirit Stream Second Layer, achieved!

Having gone through this once before, Lu Ye was not particularly overjoyed. He merely accepted it with the calmness of water flowing into its channel.

He was no longer the minor cultivator with three apertures who had stumbled into the Spirit Stream Battlefield more than two months ago.

If attaining Spirit Stream First Layer had given him the qualifications to survive in the outer circle of the battlefield, then Tier Two gave him the qualifications to travel through it. Of course, he was still inferior to cultivators with higher cultivation, but Lu Ye was already quite satisfied.

Compared to when he attained Spirit Stream First Layer, his advancement to Tier Two had taken even less time. From Opening Three Apertures to the Spirit Stream Realm, he had spent roughly forty days, but from Tier One to Tier Two, he had used less than a month.

The main reason was that his cultivation resources were abundant. Even so, this cultivation speed was still exceedingly terrifying.

One had to know that in the early stages of cultivation, cultivators needed around ten days to open each aperture. This was because their main cultivation method was to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. When their cultivation was not high enough, their efficiency at absorbing Spiritual Energy was low, so their cultivation speed naturally could not be very fast.

This situation only improved slightly after Spirit Stream Tier Four.

In other words, for ordinary cultivators, advancing one tier every three months at the beginning of cultivation was normal. Yet for Lu Ye, he averaged one tier a month. This was the joy of cultivating with pills.

At Tier One, Lu Ye had only one Minor Heavenly Circulation within him, from the Source Spirit Aperture to the Ninth Aperture. But after reaching Tier Two, he had gained another circulation beginning at the Tenth Aperture and ending at the eighteenth. He now had two Spiritual Power circulation systems within his body.

As a result, he could activate more Spiritual Power in a short time, and the destructive power of his Spiritual Power naturally became stronger.

Upon reaching Tier Three, he would have three Minor Heavenly Circulations, and so on. Cultivators at Spirit Stream Tier Nine had nine Minor Heavenly Circulation systems within their bodies.

There were still thirty Spirit Nurturing Pills left. Though Lu Ye very much wanted to continue cultivating, he also understood that haste makes waste.

He first ate something, then walked out of the cave and found a mountain spring to bathe in. After changing into a clean set of clothes, he took out the Golden Cicada Free and Unfettered Art and studied it amid the tinkling of the spring.

Next, he would advance toward Spirit Stream Tier Three. He needed to determine the locations of the Spiritual Apertures after the eighteenth, so that his subsequent cultivation would be easier.

The mountain wilderness was tranquil, broken only occasionally by birdsong and the flutter of insects. Dappled sunlight pierced the screen of leaves and fell across the young man's profile, making the scene seem like something from a painting.

"What are you sneaking around for?" Lu Ye called without even raising his head.

A small head poked out from behind the trunk of a large tree nearby. With her hair hanging loose and disheveled, she would surely have given anyone unaware of the situation a fright.

Yiyi glanced at the reading material in Lu Ye's hands. Once she saw that it was a low-grade cultivation art, she curled her lips in disdain.

"Need something?" Lu Ye asked, tilting his head as he forcefully suppressed the urge to punch her.

"When are you leaving?" Yiyi asked.

Although Lu Ye had not come out hunting again during this time, this was her and Big Tiger's territory. How could one allow another to sleep peacefully beside one's bed? If she had not been wary of the Spirit Talismans in Lu Ye's hands, she would have long joined forces with Big Tiger to drive him away. However, having suffered a loss at Lu Ye's hands once, Yiyi did not dare act recklessly. Moreover, she could tell that Lu Ye was far stronger than he had been two months ago.

Lu Ye closed the book, stood up, and stretched lazily. "I'm sleepy. Going back to sleep!"

"Hey, I'm asking you a question!" Yiyi said angrily. Yet she received no response at all, and could only grit her teeth and curse, "Scoundrel! Stinking bastard! You're really infuriating me, wah yah yah yah..." She clawed wildly at the large tree beside her, sending wood chips flying.