"Has the Xuantian Sect never taught you these things before?"
During their first exchange, Elder Tang noticed that Lu Ye had only a superficial understanding of the basics of cultivation, which he found somewhat strange.
Lu Ye couldn't explain the truth and could only say, "In my youth, I was ignorant and had a rebellious nature. Although the elders in the sect taught me, I didn't listen."
Elder Tang smiled and said, "That's no problem. You are still young. Cultivate diligently in the future."
"Yes."
Elder Tang raised his hand and pointed a finger at Lu Ye's lower abdomen. "You currently have one spirit aperture full. If you want to open the second aperture, then focus your mind and feel it!"
Lu Ye immediately sat up straight.
As Elder Tang pointed, Lu Ye immediately sensed an external force entering his body. It was Elder Tang's spiritual energy, but this spiritual energy was very gentle and would not harm Lu Ye in any way.
The force flowed through Lu Ye's origin spirit aperture and slowly gathered at a position near the origin spirit aperture. This position was very familiar to Lu Ye; it was the second spirit aperture of the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique. He had tried to find it several times but had never been able to locate it accurately, but Elder Tang did it effortlessly.
This was the benefit of joining a sect and having elders guide your cultivation. In the early stages of cultivation, it could save a lot of time and effort that would otherwise be spent on self-exploration. The early stages of cultivation were the most precious time for cultivators. Starting faster than others at this stage would undoubtedly give one an advantage in the future.
"This is the second spirit aperture of the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique. Try to guide your own spiritual energy into it," Elder Tang's voice sounded.
Lu Ye immediately complied.
The spiritual energy in the origin spirit aperture slowly flowed into the second spirit aperture under his control, but he clearly felt a barrier blocking the entry of the spiritual energy.
"Each spirit aperture has a spirit aperture barrier. Breaking the spirit aperture barrier is necessary to open the spirit aperture. This is something others cannot help with, so you must do it yourself."
With Elder Tang's cultivation, he could easily help Lu Ye break the spirit aperture barrier, but doing so might cause irreversible damage to Lu Ye's spirit aperture. Therefore, he could only guide the position of the spirit aperture and would not help Lu Ye open it.
Lu Ye had just learned about the existence of the spirit aperture barrier. He had opened the origin spirit aperture with the help of the talent tree. Recalling the situation at the time, he vaguely remembered something breaking inside his body. Now, it seemed that what broke was the barrier of the origin spirit aperture.
Elder Tang's spiritual energy did not linger and continued to flow through Lu Ye's body. Breaking the spirit aperture barrier was not something that could be done in a short time. He had already helped Lu Ye locate the second spirit aperture, and the rest depended on Lu Ye's own efforts.
After a while, Elder Tang withdrew his hand and said, "Following the cultivation route of the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique, I have left some guiding spiritual energy in the next eight spirit apertures in your body. Each time you open one aperture, you will feel the position of the next aperture. When you open the eighth aperture, follow the cultivation route and let your spiritual energy connect the origin spirit aperture and these eight apertures, and the Spirit Stream Realm will naturally form."
"Thank you, Sect Leader!" Lu Ye bowed respectfully.
Elder Tang smiled slightly. "Cultivate well. This return to Aoshan will take some time."
"Yes." Lu Ye responded and began to cultivate right there.
With the Sect Leader present, if he encountered any problems during cultivation, the Sect Leader could help him.
Having determined the position of the second spirit aperture, Lu Ye felt a surge of motivation. He urged the spiritual energy in the origin spirit aperture to impact the barrier of the second spirit aperture.
The barrier was some unknown substance. Lu Ye felt that each impact made the barrier loosen a bit.
However, the feeling of impacting the barrier was not pleasant. Each time he gathered spiritual energy to impact, it felt like a small hammer was striking the position of the spirit aperture.
The first few times were fine, but after many impacts, a slight soreness and swelling appeared at the second spirit aperture.
Moreover, each impact consumed some spiritual energy. Lu Ye finally understood why the Sect Leader said that opening spirit apertures would become relatively easier as one's cultivation improved.
If the spirit aperture were compared to a bucket and the spiritual energy to the water in the bucket, Lu Ye currently had only one bucket of water. If he had two or three buckets of water, he would have more available spiritual energy, and the speed of opening the spirit aperture would naturally be faster, possibly breaking the spirit aperture barrier in one go.
After about half an hour, Lu Ye could no longer mobilize his spiritual energy. The water in the bucket was almost dry.
He took out a bottle of Qi Blood Pills from Zhou Cheng's storage bag and was about to take two.
"Have you been using this to aid your cultivation?" Elder Tang's voice sounded.
Lu Ye quickly replied, "Yes!" Seeing that Elder Tang's expression was not right, he felt a jolt in his heart. "Sect Leader, is there something wrong with the Qi Blood Pills?"
Elder Tang frowned. "Did the people from Evil Moon Valley tell you this was Qi Blood Pills?"
"Isn't this Qi Blood Pills?" Lu Ye was surprised. He had taken this before, and it indeed increased his qi and blood. If it wasn't Qi Blood Pills, what was it?
Elder Tang reached out and took Zhou Cheng's storage bag, flipping through some bottles and jars inside, checking each one, and then placed a bottle in front of Lu Ye. "This is the real Qi Blood Pills."
Lu Ye picked up the bottle and looked at it, noticing that the spiritual pills inside were very different from the Qi Blood Pills he had taken. He had checked these things before but didn't recognize them, so he didn't dare to take them rashly.
Who would have thought that what he thought were Qi Blood Pills were not actually Qi Blood Pills, and the real Qi Blood Pills were something else.
"Then what is this?" Lu Ye pointed to the bottle he was about to take.
"The residue from refining Qi Blood Pills," Elder Tang explained. "Refining spiritual pills is not always successful. If it fails, it becomes residue. Residue generally has no effect, but some residue still retains some medicinal properties. This is the residue from a failed attempt to refine Qi Blood Pills."
Hearing Elder Tang's explanation, Lu Ye's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He had always wondered why he tasted a burnt flavor when taking the Qi Blood Pills. He thought it was the taste of the Qi Blood Pills, but now it seemed it wasn't. He had been taking residue, which naturally had an odd smell.
"Why did the cultivators from Evil Moon Valley bring these things?" Elder Tang was puzzled.
"To give to us, the mine slaves." Lu Ye explained the contribution exchange mechanism at the mine.
Elder Tang understood and put the residue away. "Do not take this. It will affect your future cultivation."
Lu Ye immediately became nervous. "What kind of impact will it have?"
"Medicine is three parts poison. The same goes for the spiritual pills we use for cultivation. The lower the quality of the spiritual pill, the more severe the pill poison. Not to mention the residue from failed refinement, which has the most intense pill poison. While cultivation can be aided by spiritual pills, one should not rely on them too much. If you take too many spiritual pills, the accumulated pill poison in your body can make your spiritual energy sluggish and your spells ineffective. In severe cases, it can undermine your foundation and damage your cultivation."
Lu Ye was filled with anxiety. He had taken two to three hundred of these residue pills. According to the Sect Leader, wasn't he doomed?
He swallowed hard and asked nervously, "Sect Leader, is there a standard for taking spiritual pills to aid cultivation? How can I know how much pill poison has accumulated in my body?"
Elder Tang said, "Look at your spiritual energy. I mentioned earlier that once the pill poison accumulates excessively, the spiritual energy becomes sluggish. The purer our spiritual energy, the more advantageous it is for cultivation and combat. Conversely, it is harmful. When I checked your spiritual energy just now, it was still relatively pure, so you don't need to worry too much."
When he was helping Lu Ye locate the second spirit aperture, his spiritual energy had flowed through Lu Ye's origin spirit aperture, so he was very clear about the state of Lu Ye's spiritual energy.
Hearing this, Lu Ye's mood became somewhat strange.