Sage of Humanity

For an initiate who had only opened his 3rd orifice, these things were undoubtedly a huge fortune.

Ores and Spirit Talismans were of no use for the time being. To improve his cultivation, he would have to rely on those Spirit-Nurturing Pills and blood Qi pills.

Lu Ye packed the ores and most of the elixir pills and Spirit Talismans into the storage sack given to him by the sect master. After securing it close to his body, he divided the remaining items into two portions, placing them into the storage sacks belonging to Manager Yang and Zhou Cheng. One portion he tied around his waist for easy access, and the other, he hid close to his chest as a reserve.

He then changed into a set of clean clothes, as his previous ones were already tattered and bloodstained from the scuffle with Manager Yang; he would have discarded them long ago had he had a change of clothes.

With new clothes came a fresh spirit, and Lu Ye felt clear-headed and refreshed.

Once everything was ready, he took out a Spirit-Nurturing Pill, popped it into his mouth, and began to refine its effects.

Soon, a warm current emerged in his lower abdomen—it was the pill energy dissolving, transforming into Lu Ye's spirit force and flowing into his spiritual orifice.

The spiritual orifice, which was not quite filled to begin with, gradually became brimming with energy.

But soon, Lu Ye discovered something odd. There was a peculiar presence around him, invisible and intangible, yet omnipresent. It was only when he calmed his mind that he could sense it.

This reminded him of the time when his talent was tested, sitting upon the round disc Formation.

Is this… Spiritual Energy?

Ingesting Spiritual Energy is one of the primary methods of cultivation for cultivators. Spirit Stones can be exhausted; elixir pills should not be consumed too much for fear of accumulating pill poison; Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion is not very efficient. Hence, most cultivators often inhale and exhale nature's spiritual energy for their practice.

Spiritual Energy is omnipresent between heaven and earth; it's only a matter of concentration.

Since Lu Ye had opened his orifices, he had only sensed the existence of Spiritual Energy during the talent test, a result of the fog of spirit force from the Spirit Stones on the Formation.

Apart from that, he had never sensed any traces of Spiritual Energy.

Until now!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Why did he suddenly start sensing the existence of Spiritual Energy? It certainly wasn't due to an increase in his cultivation—there's not much difference between opening one orifice and three.

Could it be that the Spiritual Energy here is so dense that he was able to perceive it?

Lu Ye focused and discerned that the concentration of Spiritual Energy around him was only slightly less than during the talent assessment. Yet, it was much better than that of Evil Moon Valley or the outside environment.

Is this the unique environment of the Spirit Stream battlefield? In that case, cultivating on the battlefield would clearly be advantageous for cultivators.

Lu Ye vaguely understood the significance of the Spirit Stream battlefield for cultivators.

In fact, his conjecture was correct; the Spiritual Energy within the Spirit Stream battlefield was indeed much denser than in the outside world. And this was just the wilderness of the battlefield. If Lu Ye could go to the encampments of the big sects, he would find that the Spiritual Energy there was even denser.

The higher the grade of the sect, the denser the Spiritual Energy, and the faster the progress for a cultivator's practice.

This was why so many new sects continued to emerge over the years. After establishing a sect, they would obtain a Heaven's Augury Pillar, which would then allow them to establish a base in the Spirit Stream battlefield. Cultivating in their encampment was far more efficient than in the outside world.

Moreover, the big sects could use their encampment on the battlefield for not just cultivation, but also growing Spirit Plants, producing Spiritual Medicines, or other activities.

Essentially, each sect's encampment on the battlefield was the most important foundation for the sect.

At the moment, Lu Ye knew little about the battlefield, only feeling a sense of novelty after discovering the surrounding Spiritual Energy.

However, he did not engage in ingesting Spiritual Energy for cultivation, as the efficiency was simply too low.

Of the numerous methods of cultivation for cultivators, popping pills was undoubtedly the most efficient.

One day later, Lu Ye's 3rd orifice was replenished. After a short rest, he took out some wolf meat he had previously cut off, roasted it, and ate it in large bites.

Wolf meat was not tasty; even roasted, it still had a gamey taste. But Lu Ye knew he must prioritize increasing his strength and naturally did not want to waste time hunting.

He remained dedicated to cultivation, consuming Spirit-Nurturing Pills one after another without stopping.

After half a day, the barrier of his 4th orifice broke open. Three days later, the 4th orifice was full.

Another three days passed, and the 5th orifice was full.

Three more days, and the 6th orifice was full.

The consumption of a large amount of blood Qi pills and Spirit-Nurturing Pills allowed Lu Ye's spiritual orifices to open one by one.

When he had consumed all the Spirit-Nurturing Pills and blood Qi pills, Lu Ye had opened up to the 8th orifice, and only half a month had passed!

In half a month's time, he had opened five orifices, maintaining a pace of opening one orifice every three days. Considering his previous three orifices, Lu Ye had now become a cultivator with eight orifices, just one step away from reaching the Spirit Stream Level 1.

Such a speed of cultivation was staggeringly fast. Lu Ye did not know how fast others cultivated, but it definitely could not be as quick as his own.

That was because in this half-month, he had consumed too many elixir pills.

By now, he had also confirmed one thing: popping pills to cultivate indeed posed no great hidden dangers to him. His spirit force remained as pure as before, and there was no sign of pill poison accumulation or the impediment of spirit force that the sect master had mentioned previously.

With both the Spirit-Nurturing Pills and blood Qi pills exhausted, the barrier to the 9th orifice had not been breached, which made Lu Ye feel somewhat frustrated.

He tried ingesting Spiritual Energy for his cultivation, only to discover that such training was extremely inefficient and that it was difficult for him to draw the external Spiritual Energy into his body.

Of course, it wasn't entirely without effect. Lu Ye estimated that if he cultivated here for three to five months, he might have the chance to break through the barrier of the 9th orifice.

Three to five months was too long and uncertain. Lu Ye needed to achieve the Spirit Stream Realm as quickly as possible to be barely qualified to survive on the battlefield!

He regretted in silence that the sect master had not prepared more elixir pills for him.

It was, however, an oversight on his part. Normally, for a beginner like Lu Ye, the correct way to cultivate would be to consume one Spirit-Nurturing Pill every three to five days. As one's cultivation gradually increases, one could appropriately increase the frequency of consuming elixir pills.

The sect master had prepared twenty pills for him at once, and counting those he already had, it was enough for his practice for a long time, not to mention there were also blood Qi pills.

Who could have known that he would consume pills like eating beans, using up all the elixir pills in just half a month?

No one cultivates like this in the world; for cultivators, ingesting Spiritual Energy or utilizing Spirit Stones is the orthodox and safe way to practice.