NOVPUBAfter exchanging for a battlefield marking from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, Lu Ye's camp affiliation did not change, and he quickly arrived at the first stone platform, raising his hand to press down on it.
He had spent quite some time inside the Hall of Battle Merits, and he no longer wanted to continue looking. The many treasures were indeed tempting, making it hard to resist the urge to exchange for several kinds.
However, what he most urgently needed now was to swiftly enhance his own cultivation.
Even if he exchanged for these treasures, they couldn't become part of his own foundation; at most, they were external forces. He naturally understood what was more important.
Soon, a gold-hued spirit fortune stick was taken out by him, with fourteen thousand five hundred and eighty battle merits deducted from his account.
But after he took out that gold-hued spirit fortune stick, another one appeared on the stone platform out of thin air.
This was as he had expected.
The supply of gold-hued spirit fortune sticks in the Hall of Battle Merits was certainly not limited to a single one, but it was impossible to exchange for too many at once; they could only be exchanged one by one. Although this was somewhat troublesome, it did not matter much.
He repeated this process eighteen times!
He couldn't exchange for any more.
Lu Ye checked his remaining battle merits.
Three thousand two hundred and thirty-two points...
Only a small amount was left.
In a short amount of time, more than two hundred and eighty thousand battle merits had been spent, making Lu Ye feel deeply moved once again.
Battle merits are truly never enough, no matter how much one has.
He is currently only in the Cloud River Realm—if he were to reach the True Lake-Divine Sea, his craving for battle merits would probably be even greater. 𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝒸𝓸𝓶
Having secured the eighteen gold-hued spirit fortune sticks, he stepped out of the Hall of Battle Merits.
"To actually withstand temptation," began the flood dragon on the left side of the wide-open gates of the Hall of Battle Merits. "Boy, you are not bad."
They had been guarding the Hall of Battle Merits for many years and had seen prodigies of various eras come here. Even some of those prodigies, in their younger and weaker days, might not have been able to resist the temptations within the Hall of Battle Merits, often impulsively exchanging for many seemingly precious items that they could not put to immediate use.
Lu Ye only exchanged for two items within the Hall of Battle Merits. Just this ability to resist strong temptation already surpassed many of his predecessors.
"True strength is fundamental, senior flatters me too much," Lu Ye, not clear about the origins of these two flood dragons, nevertheless knew that they were not to be provoked, so he always tried to be as cautious and careful as possible when interacting with them.
However, from the words of this flood dragon, his choices just now were probably correct.
"Hmm." The flood dragon on the left responded indifferently and then lost interest in speaking. As it slowly rotated in sync with its companion, the massive gates of the Hall of Battle Merits closed once again with a thunderous rumble.
Lu Ye bowed in farewell, his thoughts stirred, and his consciousness returned.
Whether in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault or in the Hall of Battle Merits, Lu Ye's consciousness had never been completely absorbed in them, always leaving a trace to guard his surroundings so that he could be prepared for any crises that might arise.
Many Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators held unrelenting hostility towards Lu Ye, and within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, he had many enemies. Although there were powerful individuals keeping the peace within the Mercantile Union and anyone who acted rashly would not end well, who could tell if there were those who cared not for their own lives and would rather die to take him with them.
If Lu Ye had entirely immersed his consciousness in the treasure vault, and someone took that opportunity to make a sudden attack, he would have no chance to defend himself.
Therefore, he had perceived the reactions of the cultivators queuing behind him quite early on.
Many people were growing impatient, as he had indeed stayed a bit too long in the Hall of Battle Merits this time.
It seemed that if he had another chance, he would still prefer to accomplish this in the spirit grounds of Great Reversal Valley or at the sect headquarters of Righteous Blood Sect; conducting such transactions in the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was ultimately somewhat inappropriate.
Ignoring the reactions of the cultivators behind him, Lu Ye continued on his way.
He quickly returned to his room on the third floor.
On the large bed, Hua Ci and Yiyi sat talking, hand in hand—a vision of a gentle big sister and a mischievous little sister. He didn't know what they were discussing, but Lu Ye entered just in time to hear Yiyi's bell-like laughter.
Noticing the movement, Hua Ci turned her head and glanced at him, "You're back?"
She appeared as usual, as if she had already forgotten about the incident before.
"Yeah," Lu Ye responded, asking casually, "What's so funny?"
Immediately, Hua Ci said, "Woman's talk, stay out of it."
Lu Ye glanced at her dismissively, thinking that if she didn't want to say, then he would just ask Yiyi. In front of him, the little girl never had any secrets or things to hide.
"Are we not returning to the Nine Provinces?" Hua Ci asked.
In her view, given the current situation, only by returning to the Nine Provinces could they avoid disaster.
Although she had always stayed in the room and was unclear about the outside situation, now that Lu Ye's whereabouts had been exposed, Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would surely not let it go.
So, without needing to check, Hua Ci knew that within this Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union there must be many enemies eyeing Lu Ye.
Not to mention that earlier she had activated her secret technique, poisoning many cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. If they wanted to cure the poison, they would have to find a healing cultivator.
The Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union was the best choice.
But judging from Lu Ye's stance, he clearly had no intention of returning to the Nine Provinces.
"Go back for what?" Lu Ye answered offhandedly as he took the storage sack hanging from Amber's neck and placed the demonic pills he had bought from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault into it, which made Amber extremely excited and happy.
During the month and a half in the Soaring Dragon World, Amber had been frugal when it came to her rations, fearing that if she ate too quickly and ran out, she would have nowhere to replenish them.
Now that there were new supplies, she could finally indulge herself in a satisfying meal.
"It's up to you," Hua Ci said indifferently.
"Here you go." Lu Ye casually tossed another storage sack to Hua Ci.
"What's this?" Hua Ci caught it, looked inside, and found it was full of demonic pills. Unlike the ones Lu Ye gave to Amber, these were either radiating a purple aura or exuding green vapors – clearly toxic stuff.
"A token of our engagement," Lu Ye quipped.
Somehow, being around Hua Ci, he just couldn't act serious.
Hua Ci didn't mind at all, carefully put away the storage sack, and bashfully said, "Then you'd better come to claim me soon."
Her eyes curved like crescent moons; she was obviously in a great mood.
So many toxic demonic pills, clearly not bought in one go — Lu Ye must have been collecting them with her in mind all along.
The feeling of being cherished was, of course, delightful.
"If you're willing, we can make it tonight!" Lu Ye couldn't let his momentum wane.
"You wouldn't dare!" Hua Ci retorted boldly.
"I wouldn't?" Lu Ye scoffed with a laugh. He was a man who cultivated the Tyrannical Saber Technique; his Saber Intent was unrivaled and fearless. What would he not dare to do? He waved his hand grandly, "Yiyi!"
"I'm here." Yiyi, who had been enjoying the scene, quickly responded.
"Take Amber out to play!"
"Eh? Oh!" Yiyi snapped to, scooping up Amber, who was busy counting the demonic pills in her storage sack, preparing to leave but was caught by the arm by Hua Ci.
She absolutely couldn't let Yiyi go!
Although Hua Ci knew what kind of person Lu Ye was and that he wouldn't actually do anything indecent to her, if she really pushed him with her words, she wouldn't be able to escape a beating.
Her butt was still sore from before... She did not want to endure a second slap.
"Pfft..." Lu Ye chuckled, sitting down cross-legged like a Great General after a victorious battle, his demeanor triumphant.
Hua Ci was left breathing heavily, her chest heaving with indignation.
And so that little episode passed.
Ignoring the whispers of Hua Ci and Yiyi, in a corner, Lu Ye took out the various uncanny fires and pill fires he had bought from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, stimulating the Talent Tree to engulf them.
Simultaneously, he immersed his mind and began to operate the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method.
Since returning from the Soaring Dragon World, he had managed to break out and escape with the guidance of Hua Ci.
During the escape, he felt some changes in his body compared to before and vaguely sensed something more, but he didn't have the time to verify it.
Until now.
As the Cultivation Technique activated, the spirit force within his body flowed faster, rumbling like a river bursting its banks.
Following that, Lu Ye experienced a feeling that was both foreign and familiar.
Spiritual Energy from all directions seemed to be drawn to him, pouring into his body and merging with the spirit force as it cycled through the technique, becoming his own strength.
Foreign because Lu Ye had never cultivated like this before.
A cultivator's methods mainly fell into a few categories.
Inhaling nature's spiritual energy, consuming elixir pills, Essence Refinment-Qi Conversion.
Any cultivator seeking to improve their cultivation would inevitably rely on these three methods as their primary means.
Until now, Lu Ye's main cultivation methods had been consuming elixir pills and Essence Refinment-Qi Conversion.
It wasn't that he didn't want to inhale nature's spiritual energy, but rather… he couldn't!
Whether it was because of his supposedly poor cultivation aptitude or something else, his body wasn't capable of inhaling nature's spiritual energy.
It was as if there was a barrier on his skin preventing the entry of spiritual energy.
So he had to find a workaround.
Creating a small spirit energy gathering funnel at the surface of his body, allowing its tip to pierce through the barrier that separated him from nature's spiritual energy, he could harness its effects. With the help of the funnel, whether it was nature's spiritual energy or the purified energy drawn through spirit fortune sticks, it could be directly injected into his spiritual orifice and the river of spirit force.
But now, Lu Ye was genuinely inhaling nature's spiritual energy for the first time without the aid of any device.
Moreover... the efficiency seemed not too low.
He could sense an affinity with the surrounding spiritual energy of nature, which rushed eagerly into his body with each breath he took, becoming the capital for his strength.
There was no reason for his body to suddenly undergo such a change.
It had to be due to the Heaven-Earth Origin of the Soaring Dragon World!
Lu Ye realized that this transformation must be attributed to the Heaven-Earth Origin of the Soaring Dragon World.
He had already felt it, the last of the Soaring Dragon World's Origin had provided him with more than just a miraculous recovery. It had revitalized his vigor and had many subtle effects he had yet to discern.
At this moment, another thing became clear.
The Origin of the Soaring Dragon World had altered his cultivation aptitude!
