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Previously, Lu Ye thought that the worst that could happen while they were gone was a different group moving in and taking over the Arcane Glade. In that case, they would have to fight the invaders and find a way to reclaim it.
The Arcane Glade was just a Tertius-level Arcane Glade, so it shouldn’t be coveted by high level cultivators who were far beyond their ability to fight against right now. Together with Kitty Shen, he was pretty sure they stood a good chance at reclaiming the Arcane Glade.
Unfortunately, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. The invaders hadn’t occupied the Arcane Glade, but they stole the very source that turned it into one in the first place. This was a worse outcome than even the worst case scenario he had envisioned!
“Why would they take the Wisp of Sanctification?”
“To sell it or use it for themselves, of course!” Kitty Shen replied. “Suppose we stole someone else’s Wisp of Sanctification and installed it in this spring. The Spirit Sprout would come back to life. If it was merged with an existing Wisp of Sanctification, then the quality of the Arcane Glade would go up by a certain degree. In fact, most Primus-level Arcane Glades are created that way. There are actually very few natural-born Primus-level Arcane Glades in the Cloud River Battlefield.”
“You can do that?”
“Sure you can. There are a lot of Arcane Glade owners who do this.”
“It’s not necessarily a good thing to own an Arcane Glade then. Without sufficient cultivation and numbers, it’s basically a giant cake everyone wants a piece of.”
“That is correct. That’s why it’s common practice to gather a group as soon as possible when an ownerless Spirit Sprout is discovered. Otherwise, it’s unlikely one could hold onto it for long.”
Kitty Shen hesitated for a second before adding, “Sister Yi Yi is missing.”
Lu Ye assured her, “Yi Yi is fine. She messaged me a while ago.”
Lu Ye turned back toward the dried spring with a grimace. Who would’ve thought that he would lose his Arcane Glade like this? Not only that, most of the ward flags and the ward keystones of the grand defensive ward he left behind had been destroyed.
Sure, he had a couple spares in his storage space, but each set was worth over ten thousand Contribution Points. Not even he could take such a loss without batting an eye.
Now that he thought about it, the reason his Arcane Glade was discovered was probably due to its proximity to the entrance to the Hidden Realm. The number of cultivators in the area must have increased dramatically when news of the Hidden Realm’s appearance spread. It wasn’t like everyone managed to enter the Myriad Beasts Domain either. In any case, one of these people must have noticed the Arcane Glade and decided to take it into their own hands, literally.
There was no need to search for the culprits either. Even if, against all odds, they managed to find the needle in the haystack, they might not be strong enough to take revenge. The opening of the Hidden Realm had attracted plenty of Eighth and Ninth-Order cultivators, and Lu Ye had a hunch that the thief or thieves who stole their Arcane Glade belonged in that group.
The reason he thought this was because his wards had been breached by force. If the thieves had a ward cultivator with them, they would’ve dismantled his wards the proper way so as not to waste the ward flags and ward keystones. This meant that the thieves lacked the insight or skill of a ward cultivator, but were able to see through his Concealment Ward and brute-force their way through his grand defensive ward anyway. The only ones who fit the profile were high-level cultivators.
This incident also reminded Lu Ye of the old man watching over the quartermaster department of the Myriad Beasts Domain. He had said that he was too lucky as of late, and that he might encounter some troubles or lose some possessions because of it…
He did not expect that prediction to come true so soon.
He hadn’t really believed the old man because of his ambiguous manner of speaking. It would seem that he had underestimated him.
The old man also warned him to be careful of the purple energy mixed within his destiny, though he couldn’t even begin to fathom what the purple energy might represent.
In any case, there was no point dwelling on the subject. Lu Ye walked into his house after setting up some simple alarm wards and protective wards. As usual, most of his problems could be solved simply by increasing his cultivation.
He currently had one Gold Amulet, Two Purple Amulets, one Blue Amulet, one Green Amulet, and two White Amulets.
It should be enough to boost him all the way to the Third-Order.
First, he constructed one massive Gathering Spirits. Then, he constructed many tiny ones all around his body. Amber was already sitting beside him and watching him with bright eyes. Yi Yi was also sitting cross legged on the floor and waiting for Lu Ye to begin.
Once everything was ready, Lu Ye took out the Gold Amulet and crushed it.
Just like before, the crushed powder of the Amulet slowly transformed into a vortex, though in this case it was gold-colored because the Amulet was gold. At the same time, a massive stream of pure Spirit Mist poured out of the vortex and cycled around Lu Ye. The Spirit Mist did not spread further once it grew to a certain level.
Every time Lu Ye breathed, the Spirit Mist would be converted into Spiritual Power. The tiny funnels in his Spiritual Points were greedily devouring the Spirit Mist as well. The Spirit Mist was so pure that it was transformed into his Spiritual Power instantly. No refinement was necessary whatsoever.
This was the reason Amulets were so effective at increasing a cultivator’s cultivation level. It was many, many times more efficient than inhaling World Spiritual Qi.
Amber and Yi Yi were sitting on Lu Ye’s left and right side. They too were enjoying growing stronger at an accelerated rate.
Amber and Yi Yi were inhaling the Spirit Mist seriously, but Lu Ye did not need to do such a thing to consume the Spirit Mist around him. At some point, he grew so bored that he decided to study his blade technique insights.
After ascending to the Second-Order and fighting many deadly battles in the Myriad Beasts Domain, his understanding of his personal blade skills had deepened considerably. This was especially true after battling against the sect master of the Black Tortoise Sect, Niu Meng. The harrowing experience had enlightened him on many things, and he had high expectations that he might achieve a breakthrough in the near future.
Time passed bit by bit. It wasn’t until a full day and night had passed that the golden vortex finally vanished completely. They still had many Amulets to go through, however. Without pause, Lu Ye immediately pulled out the Purple Amulet and crushed it. Very soon, a purple vortex appeared where the golden vortex was a while ago, and Spirit Mist began pouring out of it once more.
Lu Ye had briefly experimented with the Amulets, and he could confirm that the quality of the Spirit Mist was the same no matter what type of Amulet you used. The only difference was the duration.
In terms of value, a Gold Amulet was the best, and a White Amulet was the worst as a matter of course. After all, one Gold Amulet was equal to eighty-one White Amulets.
Four hours later, the Purple Amulet had yet to run out, but Lu Ye sensed something that made him put down his book and look into his own body.
His river of Spiritual Power was flowing violently, a sign that it had reached a bottleneck. However, refined Spiritual Power was still pouring into his body at an incredible rate, causing him to feel bloated. The feeling continued to worsen until suddenly, the river churned and grew an entire size. The bloated feeling disappeared, and his river of Spiritual Power returned to calm once more.
Just like that, he was a Third-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator!
Lu Ye blanked out a little. He had had a feeling that he would reach the Third-Order very soon, but he still couldn’t help but feel happy about it.
The Cloud River Realm truly was a miraculous realm. He had ascended to the Second-Order in just half a month. Today, he ascended to the Third-Order just twenty or so days later.
He had never cultivated this quickly back when he was at the Spirit Creek Realm. Each climb to the next minor realm took months of hard work, and each Spiritual Point could only be unlocked one by one.
Of course, the reason he was able to ascend this quickly was because he had used a lot of Amulets. When he was still in the First-Order, he had spent a massive amount of Contribution Points bidding for Amulets in an Amulet auction. Even before that, he had already used up a Green Amulet and a Purple Amulet.
This time, he had earned nearly thirty thousand Battle Points from the Myriad Beasts Domain. He spent them all on Amulets.
Most Cloud River Realm cultivators weren’t nearly as wealthy or lucky as Lu Ye. Take the cultivators who entered the Myriad Beasts Domain for example. Barring those who participated in the crucial operation in the Black Tortoise Sect, even those who survived until the end of the siege had earned a couple thousand Battle Points at most. That was only enough to purchase one Purple Amulet, which wasn’t much for anyone above the Fifth-Order.
In fact, Lu Ye could see that it took far more Spirit Mist to grow from the Second-Order to the Third-Order than it was from the First-Order to the Second-Order. The amount of resources he needed to consume would only increase over time.
Lu Ye still had Amulets, so he didn’t stop cultivating. He wasn’t going to make it to the Fourth-Order of course, but it would still cut down the amount of time he spent on the Third-Order considerably.
Suddenly, Amber broke him out of his reverie by letting out a roar and shining like a golden sun. Not only that, it had uncontrollably manifested its true body. Lu Ye watched it carefully. He could sense Amber’s energy gathering at a certain point in its body.
Thanks to the Bonding Pact, the Life Energy Art and the Beast Imprint Art, Lu Ye figured out the issue immediately. It was the opposite of bad news. The white tiger was about to undergo an ascension!
Yi Yi hurriedly explained, “Lu Ye, Amber is about to create its own Mutant Core!”
For the longest time, Amber had been stuck on the level of a “normal” Spirit Beast. The only reason it could even enter the Cloud River Battlefield was because it shared a Bonding Pact with Lu Ye. Wherever Lu Ye could go, Amber could follow.
Amber had not been slacking off. Every day, it consumed a massive amount of Spirit Pills and the occasional Mutant Cores to grow its strength. Just now, it had been inhaling the Spirit Mist to the best of his abilities as well. Finally, it was time for it to become a Champion-class Spirit Beast.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lu Ye suddenly asked in alarm. It was because Yi Yi was flickering erratically. He had only seen this happening when she was grievously hurt. Not only that, she was drooping as if she was having a hard time trying to stay awake.
Yi Yi forced herself to stay awake as she explained, “I am Amber’s Ghost Spirit. Its ascension affects me as well, meaning that I’m probably going to ascend with it. Lu Ye, I… I can’t stay awake any longer. Please take care of yourself while we’re—”
She suddenly flew into Amber’s body.
The white tiger itself hit the floor with a loud thud.
Lu Ye rushed over immediately to check if they were okay. To his relief, the tiger was just asleep.
He did not know that Amber’s ascension could only be completed when it was asleep. The white tiger was one of a kind, so he did not know if this phenomenon was normal or not. The one thing he could be certain of was that Amber’s energy was still concentrating at a certain point in its body.
When a Spirit Beast ascended to a Champion-class Spirit Beast, it would create a Mutant Core in its own body. Clearly, that was what was happening right now.
Curiously, the Spirit Mist was still pouring into Amber’s body when it was asleep. In fact, it was moving faster than before probably because it was creating its Mutant Core.
This was undoubtedly good news, of course. It would seem that today was the day joy came in threes.
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