Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The entire process didn’t take longer than several dozen seconds. When the barrier on Lu Ye’s ninth Spiritual Point fell apart, his Spiritual Power that had been blocked out all this time began gurgling into it.
At this point, he only needed to penetrate his ninth Spiritual Point with his Spiritual Power and allow his Spiritual Power to form a Microcosmic Orbit inside his body to break through to the Spirit Creek Realm!
That was the ultimate goal of all of his hard work for the past month.
However, he discovered that there was still a lot of the Barrier Penetrating Fruit’s medical efficacies remaining even though quite a lot had been consumed. If he left that energy alone, the remaining medical efficacies would be wasted. That would be the barest minimum. Who knew what possible side effects it might have on his cultivation in the future?
This fruit was definitely not something that could be obtained easily. It would be a pity to just let the effects go to waste. Therefore, he only hesitated for a moment before he began stimulating his Spiritual Power again to try and locate his tenth Spiritual Point.
The Sect Master had only helped him locate his Spiritual Points up until his ninth Spiritual Point previously. That was because the Sect Master believed that it would take him at least 2 to 3 years to cultivate to the level of a First Order Spirit Creek Realm with his talent of only one leaf, even if he had a sufficient supply of Spirit Pills.
The Sect Master was not looking down on him. It was just that his level of talent was too low, so the efficiency of cultivating was very poor. The Sect Master simply never imagined that he would be able to unlock his Spiritual Points all the way to the ninth within the short span of a month. Furthermore, this situation was only due to a lack of Spirit Pills. If he had enough Spirit Restoring Pills, his speed would have been even faster.
Even without outside help, he could locate the position of his Spiritual Points with his own Spiritual Power reserves at this point. It just was not as effortless as how the Sect Master had done it. During this period, he had been taking the time to study the Golden Liberation Technique. Hence, he had an idea of where the next few Spiritual Points were located. As long as his luck was not too bad, locating the position of his Spiritual Points would not be a problem.
After working hard for an hour or so, he finally located the position of his tenth Spiritual Point. He hurriedly guided the remaining medical efficacies of the Barrier Penetrating Fruit toward his tenth Spiritual Point. The barrier around his tenth Spiritual Point swiftly dissolved just as the previous occasion.
A few dozen seconds later, the barrier around his tenth Spiritual Point fell apart. Unfortunately, not much of the Barrier Penetrating Fruit’s medical efficacies remained. He continued to locate the position of his eleventh Spiritual Point.
More than an hour later, he blew out a long breath and opened his eyes. He could no longer feel the medical efficacies of the Barrier Penetrating Fruit. The current of heat in his lower abdomen was gone too. In the end, he failed to break through the barrier of his eleventh Spiritual Point. Even so, he had managed to weaken the seal by a lot. It would be very easy for him to break through the barrier when he was cultivating in the future, so it was not without gain either.
A single Barrier Penetrating Fruit had allowed him to unlock 2 Spiritual Points and weaken the barrier of his eleventh Spiritual Point. The gains he obtained from this were enormous!
He suppressed the impulse to immediately break through to the Spirit Creek Realm. That was because he had a faint feeling that even though he had a chance to succeed in breaking through to the Spirit Creek Realm, it would be far easier to achieve if he first filled his newly unlocked Spiritual Point to the brim. Now that he had reached this point, he was no longer in a rush to move forward.
Walking over to the side, he peeled and cleaned the dead rabbit, lit a fire, and feasted on the rabbit meat.
Over the course of the next few days, he hunted the nearby beasts on a massive scale. His appetite every single day was extremely astonishing. Everything he ate was transformed into his vitality, which would in turn be refined into Qi and poured into his ninth Spiritual Point.
Approximately 6 days later, Lu Ye sat cross-legged inside the cave. Although he had eaten a lot of beast meat recently, his body was no fatter than it had been 6 days ago. On the contrary, he seemed even thinner than before. Even the clothes that used to be fitting on his body had become considerably looser.
This was the result of refining his vitality into Qi. Too much of his vitality had been refined into Spiritual Power, and those effects were reflected on his body. Be that as it may, he did not feel any discomfort even though he had gotten thinner. Instead, he felt as though he had gotten stronger. The compact muscles on his body were very distinct. ‘Lean and muscular’ were the most apt descriptions for his body.
In addition, he also finally filled his ninth Spiritual Point to the brim.
After working so hard for so many days, he couldn’t help feeling excited now that the day of harvest was upon him. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. Following the training course recorded in the Golden Liberation Technique, he first stimulated the Spiritual Power in his Source Spiritual Point and poured it into his second Spiritual Point. Next, he gathered the Spiritual Power in his second Spiritual Point and poured it into his third Spiritual Point. Then, he gathered the Spiritual Power in his third Spiritual Point and poured it into his fourth Spiritual Point… He repeated this process all the way until his ninth Spiritual Point!
The ninth Spiritual Point was located close to the Source Spiritual Point. Once his Spiritual Qi poured into his ninth Spiritual Point, he guided his spiritual Qi back to his Source Spiritual Point. His Spiritual Qi ran through his Nine Major Spiritual Points and formed a closed circle. That was the Microcosmic Orbit!
If he compared the Spiritual Power stored in his Spiritual Points to a pool of stagnant water, then it now became a flowing stream. The Spiritual Power in his body flowed from his Source Spiritual Point to the eight other Major Spiritual Points and back again to his Source Spiritual Point in an endless cycle.
A different feeling struck him all of a sudden. Even so, he didn’t stop there. He continued to guide his Spiritual Power and unceasingly executed the Microcosmic Orbit in an endless cycle.
The speed of his Spiritual Power flowing through his Nine Major Spiritual Points became faster and faster. It kept increasing until it reached a certain limit. At that moment, a buzzing sounded in his ears and his vision went as white as snow even though his eyes were closed. Immediately following that, the blankness retreated. His hearing and vision cleared up, and his entire being was filled with a sense of invigorating exhilaration.
A wave of Qi visible to the naked eye suddenly spread out in all directions with him as the center, causing sand and stone to fly about inside the cave. He had broken through to the Spirit Creek Realm! ｂｏ𝚟𝚕.
He did not open his eyes in a hurry. Instead, he quietly perceived his current condition. He was no longer guiding the flow of his Spiritual Power at this moment, but his Spiritual Power continued to flow through his Nine Major Spiritual Points. It was gurgling happily like a little stream, unceasingly executing the Microcosmic Orbit in an endless cycle. That was a sign that he had become a Spirit Creek Realm Master.
Unless he died, exhausted his Spiritual Power, or had his Spiritual Points destroyed, the Spiritual Power in his body would never stop flowing throughout his body from now onward.
.
Slowly opening his eyes, he lifted a hand and activated a little bit of his Spiritual Power. A faint but radiant light surged from the palm of his hand. It was the light of his Spiritual Power. However, his Spiritual Power currently gave him a very different feeling from how it had been in the past. His Spiritual Power reserves might not have increased from before, but it was unmistakably more destructive than before.
He was acutely aware of that fact. His strength had more than doubled compared to before. If he were to fight that tiger again right now, he was confident he could defeat it even without the help of a Spirit Talisman Paper.
After pondering over it for a moment, he understood the reason behind it. He might have unlocked many Spiritual Points in the past, but he could only utilize the Spiritual Power in one of his Spiritual Points at a time. Once the Spiritual Power in that Spiritual Point was spent, then he could only utilize the Spiritual Power in another Spiritual Point. He was unable to activate two or more Spiritual Points at a time.
Now that his Nine Major Spiritual Points were connected and his power flowed through the Microcosmic Orbit, the Spiritual Power he could utilize was no longer limited to the Spiritual Power of one Spiritual Point. He was now capable of utilizing the Spiritual Power of all nine Spiritual Points.
While the difference in destructive power might not be as much as nine times more powerful, there was still a two-fold increase in power at least. As for his tenth Spiritual Point… Although he had unlocked his it, it lay within the scope of the Second Order Spirit Creek Realm. It was temporarily not connected to the same system as the nine other Spiritual Points in the First Order Spirit Creek Realm, so it could not give him much of an increase in terms of power. At the most, it would only increase the total reserves of his Spiritual Power in the future.
In conclusion, the Spirit Creek Realm was a process of transforming one’s cultivation from a quantitative change to a qualitative change. Once a person unlocked enough Spiritual Points and allowed their Spiritual Power to penetrate these Spiritual Points and activate the Microcosmic Orbit, their strength would increase in huge leaps and bounds! Prior to this change, the largest effect of achieving Enlightenment was increasing their Spiritual Power reserves. It would not directly increase their strength.
That was basic common sense in cultivation. Every cultivator would have a Senior teaching them in the beginning stages of their cultivation. Unfortunately, Lu Ye had been stranded in the Spirit Creek Battlefield without any support. There was nobody who could teach him all of this. Thus, he could only rely on himself to explore and gain insight into these matters.