Regarding the casualties, the Nine Stars Sect was also conducting a tally.
Cao Ye looked at Dong Shuye with a worried expression: "Senior Brother, our casualties are quite heavy. Since the start of the battle, nearly sixty people have been killed."
Dong Shuye was shocked: "So many?" Even if the Nine Stars Sect was not a match for the Xuanmen, it shouldn't have suffered such significant losses in just a few days.
Cao Ye replied: "It's all because of that Overmountain Tiger. He always suddenly attacks when both sides are engaged, and many disciples have died because of him."
"That scoundrel!" Dong Shuye was furious, his face darkening. "What about the Fifth Realm cultivators within the sect?"
"They are all being watched by the other side." Cao Ye was somewhat helpless. The two sects had only a few Fifth Realm cultivators available, and everyone knew each other's strengths, making it easy to be targeted.
"Senior Brother, should I take action...?"
Dong Shuye shook his head: "No, if you act, Wang Yang won't sit idly by. Can you deal with that wench?" The wench he referred to was Xiaozhu.
Cao Ye said with a headache: "I can't defeat her, but she can't kill me either." That wench, though of low birth, was truly powerful. He didn't know what kind of luck Wang Yang had to have a maid grow to such a level.
"What about Luo Ji?" Dong Shuye asked.
Mentioning Luo Ji, Cao Ye's headache worsened: "That guy doesn't take this declaration of war seriously. I don't know where he's gone, and he doesn't respond to my messages."
"He's from the Boundless Island, of course he won't take our declaration of war seriously." Dong Shuye's face darkened, and he gritted his teeth: "He wants the purple-clothed girl, right? Tell him that if he brings me Overmountain Tiger's head, I'll give her to him!"
"Senior Brother!" Cao Ye looked at Dong Shuye in shock.
"Go!" Dong Shuye growled.
"Yes!" Cao Ye reluctantly accepted the order and left the hall, glancing at the purple-clothed girl who was squatting by a flower bed, gently sniffing the flowers.
...
Chu Tian soon received a message. He thought it was a reply from Senior Brother Wang Yang, but upon checking, he found it was from someone who had never contacted him before.
The message was simple, with only two words.
"Chu Tian?"
Chu Tian was confused, but he quickly realized who was sending the message. In his battlefield imprint records, there was only one person who had never contacted him. He immediately replied: "It's me. What's the matter, Junior Brother Yuye?"
"Nothing!" came the immediate reply.
Chu Tian's lips twitched. If there's nothing, why send a message? He thought Overmountain Tiger had something important to discuss with him. After some thought, he sent another message: "If Junior Brother Yuye has something to say, feel free to speak. I, Chu Tian, will do my best to help."
No response, like a stone sinking into the sea!
On the other side, Lu Ye was hiding in a passage, sensing his battlefield imprint, with a strange expression and a peculiar mood.
Was this his first friend in his contact list?
He really couldn't understand what was going on in this world. Since he entered the Lingxi Battlefield, one strange thing after another had happened.
Fortunately, after his investigation, he found that communicating with Chu Tian wouldn't reveal his real name, which put his mind at ease.
Ignoring Chu Tian's reply, Lu Ye took a spirit pill to recover.
This battle hadn't been too draining, so it only took him half a day to fully recover. However, he didn't stop there; he continued to take spirit pills to break through the barrier of a certain spirit acupoint.
He was now at the Third Realm of Lingxi, but he had already opened twenty-eight acupoints.
The extra acupoint was recorded in the Taotie Feast cultivation technique.
He had cultivated the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique to perfection and had no higher-level cultivation technique, so he decided to practice the Taotie Feast.
He bought this technique for three spirit stones. It included fifteen acupoints, most of which overlapped with the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique, with only two acupoints outside its system.
With the thought that he had nothing to lose, Lu Ye began to study the Taotie Feast a few days ago. He had successfully opened one acupoint, and if he opened another, he would be able to glimpse the true nature of this technique.
According to the itinerant cultivator who sold him the technique, it could double cultivation efficiency, but Lu Ye was sure he had been deceived. There couldn't be such an incredible technique in the world, and if there were, it wouldn't be sold so casually.
Regardless, the two extra acupoints were real. By opening them now, he would save time when cultivating higher-level techniques in the future.
Lu Ye was determined to practice this technique without any loss.
Spirit energy surged, repeatedly impacting the acupoint barrier. Compared to when he first started, it was much easier to break through the acupoint barrier now because he had sufficient spirit energy.
As he continued to impact the barrier, it gradually loosened, and a tingling sensation spread from the acupoint. In about an hour, Lu Ye felt the acupoint barrier shatter.
The twenty-ninth acupoint opened!
The next step was simple. To activate a cultivation technique, he needed to make his spirit energy flow according to the technique's path. However, since most of the fifteen acupoints in the Taotie Feast overlapped with the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique, he had to interrupt the flow of the Golden Cicada Freedom Technique to activate the Taotie Feast. He didn't need to interrupt the third small cycle because those nine acupoints were not part of the Taotie Feast's path.
Lu Ye had never interrupted his spirit energy flow before, but after a brief attempt, he found it was actually quite simple.
The small cycle system was formed by the rapid flow of spirit energy through nine acupoints. By slowing down the flow, the spirit energy would return to the acupoints.
Lu Ye tried to make the spirit energy flow again, and in a short moment, it returned to its original state.
Now he was confident and more daring.
He once again calmed the spirit energy flow in the first two small cycles. After all the spirit energy returned to the acupoints, he began to guide the spirit energy through the fifteen acupoints of the Taotie Feast.
One cycle, two cycles... Gradually, the spirit energy flow accelerated until it ran autonomously without his intervention.
Lu Ye suddenly felt an unusual sensation, as if his abdomen was beginning to churn violently...
He quickly took a spirit pill.
In the next instant, the churning in his abdomen became more pronounced, and his entire lower abdomen seemed to turn into a millstone. The spirit pill he swallowed was quickly ground down, releasing its power and converting into spirit energy.
Lu Ye's eyes snapped open, his face filled with shock.
He suddenly realized that the person who sold him this technique, Chen He, might not have been lying. The Taotie Feast really could double cultivation efficiency!