Sage of Humanity

Heaven Rank techniques were actually not scarce, but the easiest way to obtain them was only through the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, so for any cultivator, merit was indispensable.

Each cultivation technique had a different route for channeling spirit force, and with a total of three hundred and sixty spiritual orifices in the human body, these routes could be said to be infinitely variable. The quality of a technique was reflected in its channeling route; a good technique made cultivation and combat more effective and efficient, while the contrary was true for poorer ones.

The linking of spiritual orifices was not arbitrary either, and even two adjacent orifices could not necessarily be linked at will. Rash attempts could very likely lead to extremely dire consequences.

All sorts of cultivation techniques that were passed down in the Nine Provinces had been tested over time and by generations of cultivators. Regardless of their quality, they were all techniques that could be safely practiced.

If one did not follow the prescribed route of a technique to link the spiritual orifices, they might be unharmed if lucky, but there was a high chance it could cause chaos in their spirit force and damage to their spiritual orifices, which was a consequence no cultivator could afford to bear.

Cultivation techniques were important, but they were not the biggest factor influencing a cultivator's strength. Even if one practiced a slightly inferior technique, as long as the cultivator's own foundation was strong enough, they could still exhibit formidable strength.

There were nearly a hundred Heaven Rank techniques suitable for Lu Ye's cultivation in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, with a wide range of prices.

The poorest one cost over thirteen hundred merit points, while the best one required more than five thousand merit points, a difference of up to fourfold.

However, the efficiency difference in practicing these two was not four times greater; in fact, it would not even surpass forty percent. Lu Ye estimated that the difference was at most ten to twenty percent.

In other words, if one chose the most expensive technique, the efficiency in cultivation might be ten to twenty percent higher compared to choosing the cheapest one, and the enhancement in combat power would also be around ten to twenty percent.

This kind of improvement was significant for any cultivator and was the benefit of spending more merit points.

But over five thousand merit points was really too much. Even cultivators from the top sects would unlikely accumulate that much from Level 1 to Level 9.

Take Sima Yang, for example, his goal was actually just to accumulate one thousand five hundred merit points, but he failed to achieve that amount before his death; otherwise, he would have switched to a Heaven Rank technique long ago.

And Phong Yue, the Governor stationed by the Phong family, occasionally used his authority to cook the books for personal gains and only saved up over four thousand merit points, which he ended up donating to the Righteous Blood Sect.

Lu Ye checked his own battlefield marking.

Identity: Disciple of the Righteous Blood Sect.

Cultivation: 155th orifice.

Location: Spirit Stream battlefield.@@novelbin@@

Merit: 5132.

He was around two hundred merit points short of the most expensive technique.

After the previous capture of the Phong Clan and Sky Fiend Hall domains, he obtained a lot of sect merits. Before the enhancement via the Heaven's Augury Pillar, Hua Ci had given him a monthly salary that rounded up his merit points to an even five thousand.

However, Lu Ye soon spent two thousand points to purchase ten portions of Earth's Core Fire, followed by acquiring Cactus, Breath-concealing, and Insight spirit runes.

When he left the Righteous Blood Sect's territory, his merit points were less than three thousand.

Having this much now, the merits from killing enemies were only part of it; the rest was from dealing with spoils of war on Silver Light Island last time.

From the Sky Supporting Sect, he acquired numerous cultivators' storage sacks, many of which included Spiritual Artifacts. Including those empty storage sacks, he sold them all to the Heaven's Augury treasure vault. For some reason, he needed to accumulate a large amount of merit points, so recently, except for the occasional venture into the Mirage Realm, he had been conserving his merit points.

But the merit points for buying a Heaven Rank technique could not be spared, as it related to the ease of his future cultivation and advancement to Cloud River.

Casually taking out a few Spiritual Artifacts from his storage sack and selling them, Lu Ye gathered enough merit points for the technique and made the purchase.

He did not receive a physical object, but a spark of light imprinted onto his forehead and disappeared.

A warm sensation spread throughout his body, and a flood of information entered his mind, revealing the mysteries of that technique.

Great Sun Glazed Glass Method, that was the name of the technique. Unlike the Red Lotus Soaring to Sky Technique, which came with associated magic and spells, this technique had no extras. Yet, practiced to the ultimate level, it held various profound mysteries, which perfectly suited Lu Ye's needs.

From Manager Yang he received the Golden Cicada Carefree Method, then purchased the Red Lotus Soaring to Sky Technique from Xuanmen, and now acquired the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method. Step by step, bit by bit, his growth made Lu Ye reflect a lot.

Of course, his cultivation level had not reached Level 9 yet, so there was no need to switch to this technique for the time being.

Checking his remaining merit points, good, there were only a bit over thirty left, not even enough for one trip into the Mirage Realm.

Looking at the Giant Armor beside him, the fellow was still engrossed in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, presumably overwhelmed by the choices.

Lu Ye nudged him, and Giant Armor finally pulled back his mind, turning his head to look over.

Handing over a storage sack he had prepared earlier to him, Lu Ye instructed, "Keep what you want for yourself, sell the rest, and buy a cultivation technique."

Giant Armor took it and turned to reconnect with the Heaven's Augury treasure vault.

Lu Ye had no idea how much merit those items he gave to Giant Armor could sell for, but he estimated that selling them for around two thousand should not be a problem. In Xianyuan City, a fair number of cultivators had perished at their hands, and their storage sacks were all with Lu Ye, with each cultivator essentially possessing their own Spiritual Artifact.

Once a cultivator's cultivation reached Level 7, the Spiritual Artifacts they used would naturally not be of poor quality, and they could generally sell for twenty or thirty merit points each. Selling dozens or hundreds of Spiritual Artifacts would accumulate a considerable amount of merit.

Not to mention, the storage sacks Lu Ye handed over to Giant Armor contained some Flying Spirit Artifacts, which were even more expensive.

After waiting roughly the time it takes for half a cup of tea to brew, Giant Armor came back to his senses and nodded slightly to Lu Ye, indicating that he was ready.

Lu Ye didn't say much, and led him out.

However, they had only taken a few steps when a soft 'pop' came from behind.

Lu Ye couldn't help but look back at Giant Armor, who had an innocent expression.

After another step, there was another 'pop' from behind.

Lu Ye looked around and quickened his pace.

Giant Armor followed with large strides, the popping sounds unceasing…

To the uninformed, it might seem as if Giant Armor was passing gas, but Lu Ye knew better – those were not the sounds of flatulence, but rather the noises of spiritual orifice barriers breaking.

Previously in Xianyuan City, when Giant Armor showed him that thing resembling a demonic pill, Lu Ye knew that although Giant Armor's cultivation had been stuck at Level 9 for a long time, he hadn't fallen far behind in his cultivation progress because he was still able to cultivate and accumulate spirit force. With the proper Cultivation Technique, he could make a breakthrough in a short period of time.

But what Lu Ye didn't expect was that Giant Armor's breakthrough would be so swift and frequent.

Normally when a cultivator opens a spiritual orifice, there is a process to it, and Lu Ye was no exception. He needed to stimulate his own spirit force to break the spiritual orifice barrier, thus completing the process of opening a new orifice.

When one's cultivation wasn't high enough, this process was not enjoyable, and it also took some time.

Now that his cultivation had improved, breaking the spiritual orifice barrier became somewhat easier, but not like Giant Armor's.

For Giant Armor, the spiritual orifice barriers seemed to be just for show. As spirit force flowed through, they were easily breached. Of course, this was likely related to his sufficient accumulation of spirit force – a dike can hold back the washing of the stream, but definitely not the rush of a river.

On the way back to their residence from Heaven's Augury Hall, Lu Ye silently calculated that there was a total of fifty-nine sounds from Giant Armor's direction.

In other words, in that short time, he had opened fifty-nine orifices!

Being originally a cultivator who had opened 180 orifices, with an increase of fifty-nine, that made it 239, just one short of the next level.

This clearly wasn't a coincidence, but something intentional by Giant Armor.

After returning to their lodging, Giant Armor immediately started his cultivation practice, probably because the "demonic pill" drained too much power and he was eager to replenish it.

He was one of those with both exceptional cultivation talent and the ability to focus on cultivation. Even in Xianyuan City, Lu Ye noticed that whenever there was nothing to do, Giant Armor would always be cultivating, seemingly unwilling to miss any chance to accumulate spirit force. Enjoy new adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

Inspired by him, Lu Ye also took out a book to study while cultivating.

The place where the two of them were staying was a small courtyard with a beautiful environment, presumably used by Surreptitious Palace specifically for entertaining guests.

While the two of them were resting at Surreptitious Palace, Fenghua Courtyard and Illuminating Sun Mountain gradually learned about the various incidents happening in Xianyuan City. When they learned that their sect's members had been annihilated in Xianyuan City, all due to Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect, both sects harbored deep resentment.

Especially Fenghua Courtyard, which already had some enmity with Lu Ye – though that had been limited to the death of a disciple at Golden Light Peak. But now, their grudge had intensified.

Keen on revenge yet with no way to exert their strength, they were frustrated and decided to join forces against the cultivators from Surreptitious Palace. This led to significantly increased conflicts between Surreptitious Palace cultivators and both parties in the last few days. Even Soaring Cloud Palace got involved, and for a while, troops of all sides were fighting back and forth, extremely active and causing injuries to each other.

Several days later, Gu Canyang nodded slightly as he listened to Jik Yan reporting the recent skirmishes between his sect's cultivators and those from Fenghua Courtyard and Illuminating Sun Mountain, "Tell the disciples to be more cautious recently and not to give those two an opportunity to take advantage."

"Yes," responded Jik Yan.

Another youth dressed in white sitting beside him asked, "Brother, isn't there anything we can do about Giant Armor then?"

This person was the Deputy Governor of Surreptitious Palace and usually took charge of any large-scale operations when Gu Canyang led the team, while he stayed back to govern the grounds.

Any sect would find it difficult to reject such a powerful physique cultivator as Giant Armor, but since he had always been with Sima Yang, and now that Sima Yang was dead, naturally, the youth had some ideas. If he could bring Giant Armor into Surreptitious Palace, it would strengthen the sect's power. Apart from anything else, future conflicts with Fenghua Courtyard or Illuminating Sun Mountain would incur fewer losses with Giant Armor at the front.

Gu Canyang shook his head, "Stop thinking about Giant Armor. Brother Yiye has shown kindness to me and to our sect. Now that Giant Armor has chosen to follow him, he is Brother Yiye's man. Attempting to win him over rashly will only cause displeasure."

The white-clad youth said, "But I heard that Giant Armor hasn't yet formally..."

Before he could finish, Gu Canyang stared at him with a stern face, and the young man hurriedly said, "I understand, Brother. I won't target Giant Armor anymore."

"Good," Gu Canyang responded.