Sage of Humanity

The pill poison accumulated within a cultivator's body is just like this.

The more pill poison that accumulates, the more difficult it is to open orifices.

Since the day Lu Ye began his cultivation journey, his Talent Tree had been burning away pill poison. Although there was a period of time where the Talent Tree ran out of fuel, leading to a significant accumulation of pill poison, as he replenished the fuel for his Talent Tree, the accumulated pill poison was also burned away.

His spirit force was purer than anyone else's, so during the process of opening orifices, he never felt too much resistance.

Of course, in terms of the speed of opening orifices, Giant Armor was unrivaled, managing to ascend from a 7th Heaven cultivator all the way to the Cloud River. This feat alone, when looking through history, was unmatched by anyone.

But Giant Armor's situation was unique, after all, no other cultivator had the kind of demonic pill that he possessed within his body.

Stimulating his own spirit force, he struck towards the last unopened spiritual orifice.

This spiritual orifice was located close to the Root Spiritual Orifice, almost right beside it. When a cultivator embarks on the path of cultivation, the first orifice they open is the Root Spiritual Orifice, and the last one in the Spirit Stream Realm is also near the Root Spiritual Orifice, so that, looking back upon ascending to the Cloud River, connecting all spiritual orifices would form a Major Circumambulation cycle.
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The spirit force continued to surge, striking time and time again until at a certain moment, the thick spiritual orifice barrier was broken through, allowing the flow of spirit force to fill the newly opened orifice.

Spirit Stream Realm Great Perfection!

At this point, three hundred and sixty orifices spread throughout Lu Ye's limbs and body, so if a cultivator loses an arm or a leg carelessly in combat, it would greatly impact their strength. This impact is not solely from the physical loss but also from the loss of spiritual orifices, the latter of which has an even greater effect.

For the Nine Provinces cultivation world, regenerating lost limbs is too far-fetched, and it has never been heard of someone achieving such a miraculous feat. However, reattaching severed limbs is possible, as long as the severed limbs remain intact, there's a chance they can be reattached.

That requires extremely sophisticated medical skills!

Within the Spirit Stream Realm, opening a full three hundred and sixty orifices signifies Great Perfection. At this level, the cultivation of the Spirit Stream Realm has basically come to an end.

Generally speaking, only cultivators from sects above the 3rd grade have the means to cultivate to the level of Great Perfection.

This is not to say that sects above the 3rd grade have some special methods of cultivation, but when these sects recruit disciples, they take away all those with good aptitude. Those they eliminate and do not want are then taken in by sects below the 3rd grade.

Take for example the recent recruitment ceremony hosted by the Three Saints Sanctuary. As the main organizer, with many minor sects as co-organizers, the most outstanding disciples in the entire recruitment ceremony were taken in by the Three Saints Sanctuary. The rest were left for the other minor sects to choose from.

In this way, through a series of selections, the best talents always appear in the big sects, and the minor sects can only take in those with poor aptitude.

But there are no absolutes in anything; there are always some unremarkable jade stones in their youth, not displaying any brilliance. If the minor sects can pick up such talents, they have a chance to raise their sect's grade.

Any cultivator who reaches the level of Great Perfection is definitely capable of ascending to the True Lake, with an eighty to ninety percent chance of advancing to the Divine Sea—provided they do not die young!

The strife in the Nine Provinces cultivation world is very cruel if one is killed on the path of growth, then there's no talking about ascending to the Divine Sea, even the True Lake is out of reach…

The number of 9th Heaven cultivators that Lu Ye has killed during this time is not small, especially during his efforts to climb the Spirit Stream Ranking, where almost everyone he encountered in the first few days was slain.

With the final orifice opened, Lu Ye stimulated his spirit force, successively piercing through those sixty unsystematic spiritual orifices, performing a Minor Circumambulation.

Waves of energy swept through, his body hummed, and he achieved 9th Heaven status!

In that instant, Lu Ye felt some difference within himself. Although the nine Minor Circumambulation systems within his body were unrelated to each other, when the ninth Minor Circumambulation system was formed, there seemed to be some resonance between them. The speed at which the spirit force flowed within his body also increased significantly, and if one listened carefully, they could even faintly hear the sound of flowing water.

At this time, if Lu Ye wanted to ascend to the Cloud River, he could do so at any time by simply connecting all the spiritual orifices into a Major Circumambulation cycle, without any difficulty.

But why would he ascend to the Cloud River at this time?

Not to mention that the baptism from Heaven's Augury had not reached its limit, even his vendetta with the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge cultivators needed proper settling.

Having been cooped up in the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest for so long, he had been building up resentment. Now that he had finally advanced to 9th Heaven, how could he not vent a little?

Besides, he had some other matters to attend to.

At a conservative estimate, he would still need to stay in the Spirit Stream Realm for another month or two.

After 7th Heaven, the technique he switched to cultivating was the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method, which cost him more than five thousand two hundred points of merit. It was the most expensive technique suitable for him in Heaven's Augury treasure vault.

The quality of a Cultivation Technique depends on the sequence in which the spiritual orifices are connected. Different sequences mean different pathways for cultivating, which in turn means different efficiencies for the flow of spirit force within the body. Thus, the aid brought to a cultivator varies greatly...

The better the Cultivation Technique, the faster the spirit force flows, and correspondingly, the greater the improvement it brings to the cultivator.

Compared to the worst techniques, the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method costs several times more than an average Heaven Rank technique, yet the benefits it provides may only be ten to twenty percent more.

Such a high level of aid is already significant. A technique that can improve one's strength by ten to twenty percent poses a lethal attraction to any cultivator.

Moreover, the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method also had the effect of tempering the body, a process that required no extra effort from Lu Ye, merely the maintenance of spirit force circulating within the body, invisibly slow-strengthening his physique over time.

Lu Ye, however, hadn't noticed it, perhaps because his body was strong enough that the enhancement was not pronounced, or perhaps because the strengthening was gradual and imperceptible.

But this was a product of the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, so it couldn't possibly be a fraud.

Although he had ascended to 9th Heaven, Lu Ye didn't plan on leaving immediately. The newly formed Minor Circumambulation cycle was not very stable, so he needed to consolidate it for a few days to prevent it from ceasing suddenly during combat, which could cause a drastic and potentially disastrous drop in strength.

In the small courtyard, Lu Ye practiced his saber skills meticulously.

Hua Ci had returned from her extrinsic cultivation, glanced at Lu Ye, and said, "Reached 9th Heaven? Congratulations."

Sheathing his saber, Lu Ye replied casually, "There's nothing to congratulate."

Hua Ci had ascended to 9th Heaven over half a month ago! The speed of her cultivation was nothing short of astonishing.

"Are you planning to leave?" Hua Ci inquired. Though Lu Ye had not shared his intentions with her, she could sense that after reaching 9th Heaven, it was unlikely for him to continue staying here.

"In a few days. What about you? Any plans?"

"Me? I don't have any plans."

"You've already reached 9th Heaven, yet you neither strive for the Spirit Stream Ranking nor prepare to ascend to Cloud River. What do you plan to do? Moreover, now that you're at 9th Heaven, how can you continue your cultivation?"

This was something Lu Ye couldn't figure out. Logically, one couldn't increase their cultivation after reaching the 9th Heaven unless they ascended to the Cloud River, but Hua Ci still left early and returned late every day just as before.

Yiyi had gone to check and found that she was still ingesting the poison fog from the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, its purpose a mystery to them.

Moreover, whether it was an illusion or not, Lu Ye had recently felt that the nearby poison fog seemed to have thinned out significantly.

"I have my methods," said Hua Ci with a smile, not going into detail. "I'll go cook. What would you like to eat tonight?"

Lu Ye casually retrieved a large chunk of beast meat from his storage sack and tossed it to her.

Three days whizzed by, and with everything ready, Lu Ye prepared to leave.

Hua Ci straightened his clothes, her tone like that of a kindly mother seeing off her son, "Be careful in all things when you're away from home."

Lu Ye couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his eye. He thought to himself that he wasn't heading to any far-off places, and although he had left the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest several times before, Hua Ci had never given such advice.

"I don't have much to give you, but take this for self-defense," Hua Ci said, and as Lu Ye watched dumbfounded, she opened her mouth and gently exhaled toward him, releasing a green, round bead about the size of a thumbnail from her mouth.

Lu Ye's eye twitched even more violently because, as her breath touched his face, not only did he smell her sweet fragrance, the Talent Tree also ignited with a thick haze...

This woman's breath was now highly toxic!

"What is this?" Lu Ye instinctively felt that the green orb was not a good thing.

"Ten Thousand Poisons Pill?" Hua Ci chuckled lightly, pulled out a wooden box, placed the pill into it, and slapped it into Lu Ye's hand, "If you're surrounded and can't escape, just channel some spirit force and throw this thing."

"What effect does it have?"

After tilting her head and pondering, Hua Ci replied, "Don't know, I've never used it. You try and then tell me the results."

"..."

Lu Ye carefully stored the wooden box in his storage sack, placing it in the most secure position.

"I'm leaving." Lu Ye bid farewell, then called for Amber, who jumped onto his shoulder like a cat. Subsequently, Lu Ye summoned his spirit ark and soared into the sky.

Standing there, Hua Ci watched as Lu Ye departed until the streak of light disappeared from her sight. Only then did she turn around and head toward her usual cultivation spot.

As she moved forward, her previously 9th Heaven cultivation level quickly began to decline, falling to the level of 8th Heaven in just a short period.

Conjuring the Ten Thousand Poisons Pill had clearly taken a toll on her, a loss that took a piece of her own cultivation level!

Such mysterious methods or Cultivation Techniques had never been seen before in the Nine Provinces cultivation world.

At her usual spot for cultivation, she sat cross-legged, and with each breath, a thick poison fog from the surroundings began to gather around her. In just a moment, the fog condensed into a mass in front of her, spinning rapidly, its powerful pulling force attracting even more of the surrounding poison fog. In mere moments, a vortex formed in front of Hua Ci.