Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Amber was eating by the side when it suddenly cowered slightly at those words. Even its eating movements became much more subdued than before.
Yi Yi immediately knew from the tiger’s reaction that it must have done something wrong… Pursing her lips, she asked Lu Ye, “What did Amber do wrong?”
Lu Ye turned and glared at Amber. Then, he briefly explained about how Amber had rashly rushed into the enemy camp when they went to rescue her previously. He added, “Do you still remember the first of the three rules that we agreed upon?”
Yi Yi obediently sat in front of him with her back straight and answered immediately, “You make the final decisions in everything. If there are any disagreements, we will defer to you!”
“Good memory!”
Following that, she turned her head to the side and shouted, “Amber!”
Amber whined softly. Its sturdy body slowly crept over to her. When it arrived in front of her, it lifted its gaze and looked at her pitifully. However, she simply raised her hand and slapped the tiger on its head. “Lu Ye told you not to act rashly. Why didn’t you listen!? You should not have been so impulsive at that kind of time! You should have followed the plan!”
Every sentence was followed by a slap.
Yi Yi was aware that the tiger’s impulsive actions had created more trouble for them. The incident eventually ended with Lu Ye killing those four cultivators and rescuing her from that predicament. However, if Amber had endured a little more, the situation might have ended with better results. Who could say? Perhaps, Lu Ye would not have lost consciousness because of his injuries.
The only reason she could escape back then was all thanks to Lu Ye’s decisiveness. If he had hesitated even slightly back when Amber had rushed out, he would have missed the opportunity and lost his advantage. Therefore, she felt indebted to him in her heart. It was also to teach Amber a lesson that she did not hold back her strength and hit the tiger’s head so hard that loud thuds rang out.
“That’s enough.” Lu Ye interrupted and gave her a stern look. “I don’t want to see this kind of thing happening again.”
They had only just started cooperating recently, so they were still getting used to each other. Although there was a transition period where everybody had to learn how to get along, experiencing something like that once was enough. He could not guarantee that he could come out of the situation unscathed if it happened again. Besides, he did not wish to be killed by his comrade’s carelessness one day.
“Got it!” Yi Yi nodded before turning to look at Amber. “Do you understand!?”
Amber let out a soft whimper that was taken as its response.
After that, she turned back to Lu Ye again and earnestly thanked him. “Thank you!”
This ‘thank you’ of hers was both for Amber and herself. The only reason she could get out of trouble was that he had risked his life to rescue her. Furthermore, this matter was not over yet. They were currently trapped within the Split Sky Gorge, so it was still unknown as to whether they could escape this place safely.
Lu Ye waved his hand dismissively and checked the state of his body. There was no need to worry about his injuries. They would be fully healed after a few days’ rest. On the other hand, he had consumed much of his Spiritual Power in his previous battle. There was a need to replenish his Spiritual Power, but he was astonished to see that the barrier of his 26th Spiritual Point was showing signs of weakening.
During his previous cultivation session, he had cultivated until he filled up his 25th Spiritual Point but did not try to unlock his 26th Spiritual Point. Now it would seem that the surge of his Spiritual Power during the battle with Zhang Wu had impacted the barrier of his 26th Spiritual Point. That was a good thing. It saved him some cultivation time.
Nevertheless, he needed to replenish his Spiritual Power before all else. It was extremely important that he remained in peak condition when he was currently in such a crisis-ladened situation. After all, it was hard to say when they might get attacked by their pursuers. He would not have the time to recover when that happened.
Be that as it may, he was in no hurry to start cultivating. He shot Yi Yi a look. Yi Yi immediately understood and patted Amber on the head. The Spirit and the tiger then split up, each heading toward one end of the tunnel. With the two of them monitoring the front and rear entrances of this tunnel respectively, he would not be caught like a rat in a trap inside. There would be room for them to retreat in case of danger.
Once Yi Yi and Amber left, Lu Ye lowered his head to look at the back of his hand and activated his Spiritual Power. The back of his hand shone with a layer of blue light that transformed into a few lines of words. ‘Name: Lu Ye. Identity: Disciple of Crimson Blood Sect. Cultivation: Twenty-Five Spiritual Points. Contribution: Thirty-Four.’
He stared at the row of words indicating his Contribution in amazement, feeling unsure as to how the number 34 came about. When he killed that fair-skinned man and Liu Ru Yin back at Green Cloud Mountain, he had received 8 points of Contribution. Unexpectedly, his Contribution became 34 after he killed those four people. In other words, those four people had given him a total of 26 points of Contribution.
For the time being, he was still clueless about the function of the Contribution. He had asked Yi Yi about it before, but she did not seem to know much about it. Her memory from before was severely impaired. Consequently, there were some things that she could recall and other things that she was completely ignorant about.
In any case, there must be a use for the Contribution. As for how it was used and where or when it could be used… He had no choice but to slowly figure it out on his own.
Seeing as he could not understand it, he didn’t bother mulling over it any longer. He popped a Spirit Restoring Pill into his mouth and refined it into Pill Power to replenish what he had consumed. Thus, his Spiritual Power slowly recovered.
He had previously discovered that there were great differences between the efficiency of recovery and cultivation, as well as the consumption of Spirit Pills. It would seem that if he was simply recovering, the speed of recovery would be significantly faster than cultivation. The consumption was drastically lowered too.
The most straightforward comparison would be the fact that he had used nearly 200 Spirit Pills in total over a duration of 3 months to unlock up to his 25th Spiritual Point. Having exhausted his Spiritual Power in battle, he now wanted to replenish his reserves. However, it was impossible for him to consume another 200 Spirit Pills or spend another 3 months just for that. If that was the case, then the price a cultivator had to pay for every battle would be far too high.
There was a lot of wastage in cultivation when it came to the Pill Power of a Spirit Pill, not to mention that it also took a lot of effort to hone each Spiritual Point. It was a gradual step-by-step process from unlocking each Spiritual Point to filling up each Spiritual Point. But, once the Spiritual Point was fully cultivated, it became much easier and simpler to recover what was lost.
Time passed. At the same time, Spirit Pill after Spirit Pill was consumed. Lu Ye recovered completely after two days. Unfortunately, he only had slightly more than 20 Spirit Pills left in his possession. There was no news from Yi Yi and Amber, so it would seem that they were in a relatively safe location.
He was in no hurry to leave this place. Seeing as he did not know about what was going on outside, leaving this place rashly would only make the situation more troublesome. Besides, he was only two more Spiritual Points away from advancing into the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm and the barrier surrounding his 26th Spiritual Point was already loose. Since he had enough Spirit Pills on hand, he decided to first increase his cultivation by one Realm before doing anything else.
He had managed to kill off Zhang Wu with Amber and Yi Yi’s help. If he could reach the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm, then his strength would increase even further. That would be extremely helpful for their current situation! What’s more, his injuries had yet to heal completely. It was also a good idea for him to recuperate for a few more days.
Having made up his mind, he continued to consume the Spirit Pills and urged his Spirit Power to slam into the barrier of his 26th Spiritual Point. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.
Another five days later, Lu Ye sat cross-legged in the tunnel somewhere in the mountainside with a serious expression. He had unlocked his 27th Spiritual Point yesterday and spent a few more Spirit Pills to charge up his 27th Spiritual Point until it was full. Hence, today was the time for him to advance into the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm!
With two previous experiences under his belt, he was very familiar with the process by now. His Spiritual Power began flowing from the 19th Spiritual Point, flowing in accordance to the training course to pass through his 20th Spiritual Point, 21st Spiritual Point, and all the way until his 27th Spiritual Point. As his Spiritual Power looped through these Nine Major Spiritual Points in an endless cycle, the speed became faster and faster until he suddenly broke through the bottleneck.
Lu Ye, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, shuddered without warning and his Spiritual Power surged through his entire body.