Chapter 5: The Plan (Thanks to the Alliance Hierarch Zhuang Sheng Xiao Meng Mi Hu Die a for the reward)

On the Talent Tree, a single leaf bore spirit runes like Sharpness. What about the other leaves? Might they also carry different spirit runes?

If I could light up more leaves, wouldn't I be able to gain knowledge of various other spirit runes?

Thinking of the Talent Tree's massive canopy and the countless leaves, Lu Ye's heart was set ablaze with excitement.

How exactly could he light up the other leaves? Lu Ye had some guesses in his heart, but he couldn't confirm them for now. He would have to wait for an opportunity in the future to explore this further.

For now, what he could do was to open more spiritual orifices as soon as possible, and improve his cultivation.

The first spiritual orifice that a cultivator opens is located at the Dantian; this is the starting point of cultivation, known as the Root Spiritual Orifice. How the subsequent orifices opened would depend on what cultivation technique the cultivator practiced.

Different Cultivation Techniques lead to the opening of spiritual orifices in different locations; the more orifices that are opened, the higher the cultivation.

The Golden Cicada Carefree Method would finally be put to good use!

Lu Ye managed to calm his excited emotions slightly, picked up Manager Yang's storage sack, and started to pack his things. It was then that Lu Ye was shocked to discover that his palm, which had just been imprinted with Sharpness, was riddled with countless tiny holes, as if pierced by numerous needles, and had bled quite a bit.

In his excited state before, he hadn't noticed it at all.

Only now that he was aware of it, did he feel the piercing pain stimulating his nerves relentlessly.

He silently admonished himself. It seemed that if he were to acquire any more spirit runes in the future, he couldn't recklessly use them on himself.

Soon, he finished packing up the items he had taken out and moved away from the range of the origin magnetic field.

Right now, there were two paths before him. The first was to leave the mining vein. Manager Yang had come here to take refuge because the Haotian Alliance had attacked. With Evil Moon Valley's strength on the mining vein, it could not be defended; that's why he had taken refuge here first.

Otherwise, if the mining vein was overrun, his fate as a disciple of Evil Moon Valley would more likely be grim than not.

If he could make contact with a Haotian Alliance's cultivator, he could escape this bitter life and wouldn't have to stay here and be oppressed by others ever again.

But obviously, that was not a wise choice.

Manager Yang had already received the message and sought refuge; there would definitely be other disciples of Evil Moon Valley coming too. At such a chaotic moment, if he could safely leave the mining vein, that would be best, but if he accidentally encountered any disciple of Evil Moon Valley seeking refuge, Lu Ye's fate would surely be the same as the mining slaves who were casually killed by Manager Yang before.

Therefore, he chose the second path, to stay put for the time being, remaining here.

This place was exceedingly hidden; ordinary people couldn't find their way here, and moreover, it was defensible both for advancing or retreating. If by chance any disciple of Evil Moon Valley stumbled in, Lu Ye could make use of the origin magnetic field to outmaneuver them, ensuring he was not completely defenseless.

Furthermore, his injuries had not yet healed, indeed making it unwise to move around too much.

He recalled the words Manager Yang had said to him before. If he remembered correctly, Manager Yang had said this,

The Haotian Alliance is attacking, and we can't hold on to the mining vein for now. The Haotian Alliance won't stay long, but we're looking at a month or two at least.

The implication behind these words was quite clear: Manager Yang believed that even if the Haotian Alliance could overrun this place, they would not be able to hold onto this mining vein for long. So within a month or two, the Haotian Alliance would retreat, and the mining vein would fall back into the hands of Evil Moon Valley.

Combining all the information he had at the moment, Lu Ye had a strategy in mind.

Stay here to heal and cultivate, and leave the mining tunnels within a month to seek out the people of the Haotian Alliance and save myself from this life of suffering!

Having made up his mind, Lu Ye felt much more at ease. The hardest days had passed, and now that he'd successfully opened his spiritual orifice and had a Talent Tree by his side, better days were ahead, so there was no need to hurry at the moment.

He found a suitable spot, took out a blanket from Manager Yang's storage sack, spread it out, and sat down quietly. He then took out the Golden Cicada Carefree Method and studied it in detail.

The mining tunnel was pitch-black, and if it weren't for the success in opening his orifice, he really wouldn't have been able to see anything. Soon, he discovered something interesting: when he concentrated his spirit force in his eyes, he could see things more clearly.

It was a pity that since he had only opened his Root Spiritual Orifice, his spirit force was limited, and he couldn't maintain it for long.

When hungry he ate, when tired he slept; apart from the poor surroundings, there wasn't much else to complain about, and immersed in the excitement of having initially opened his spiritual orifice, Lu Ye didn't have many requirements for his environment.

It was impossible to keep track of time in the darkness, and Lu Ye didn't know how long it had been—it felt like several days.

The wounds on his leg and hand had almost healed, and after becoming a cultivator by opening a spiritual orifice, it seemed his physical constitution had also greatly strengthened. In the past, if he had been stabbed in the thigh, he wouldn't have been able to move for at least ten days to half a month.

Of course, this was also related to Lu Ye taking blood Qi pills every day.

Through studying the Golden Cicada Carefree Method, Lu Ye realized that he couldn't make use of this cultivation technique for the time being. It wasn't that there was an issue with the technique itself, but rather that having just opened his Root Spiritual Orifice, there were certain conditions he needed to meet in order to open the next one.

If a spiritual orifice were compared to a lake within a cultivator's body, then the water in that lake would be the cultivator's spirit force. Therefore, the more spiritual orifices a cultivator opened, the greater the amount of spirit force they could contain within their bodies.

However, to open the next spiritual orifice, the prerequisite was that the previous one had to be filled to completeness—in other words, the spirit force had to fill the orifice to the brim.

In Lu Ye's case, what he needed to do now was to continue cultivating to expand and accumulate the spirit force within his Root Spiritual Orifice. When the day came that his spirit force was brimming in that orifice, he could then open the next one, and that would be the time for him to use the Golden Cicada Carefree Method.

There were several ways to increase spirit force.

The most common was to take elixir pills designed for cultivation, which would turn into spirit force and infuse into the spiritual orifice.

The second method was to absorb Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Energy existed in all environments, though in varying amounts. Once a cultivator had opened their spiritual orifice, they could sense the presence of Spiritual Energy. Through absorption and release, they could refine this energy into their bodies, enhancing their cultivation.

The third method was through the use of Spirit Stones, which Lu Ye had heard of but never seen.

And then there was the last method, Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion.

First, strengthen the blood Qi energy within oneself, then refine this energy into spirit force, which could also achieve the purpose of cultivation.

Each method had its advantages and disadvantages, and it wasn't easy to make blanket statements about them.

Although Lu Ye had never been part of the cultivators before, he had often heard other mining slaves talk about cultivation. They discussed it with longing, hoping to one day soar to the branches and transform from a crow into a phoenix.

From what he had encountered and observed, Lu Ye had picked up some basic knowledge.

Right now, the first method wasn't applicable to Lu Ye since he didn't have any elixir pills for cultivation. Although he was certain that Manager Yang's storage sack must have some, there were so many vials and jars that he didn't know where to begin identifying them, nor did he dare to try them rashly.

As for the second method, Lu Ye had tried it but didn't know if it was because of the proximity to the origin magnetic field, or some other reason, he hadn't felt the presence of any Spiritual Energy and naturally couldn't absorb it.

His only option was Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion.