Sage of Humanity

Chapter 59 The Mystery of the Talent Tree

Lu Ye, when not deliberately probing, would not sense it, but if he deliberately did so, he could clearly perceive the existence of the Talent Tree.

This wondrous tree was rooted within his own Root Spiritual Orifice.

The pill energy from the Spirit-Nurturing Pill spread throughout his abdomen, transforming into spirit force. Lu Ye, while dividing his attention to guide the pill energy into his spiritual orifice, also kept an eye on the Talent Tree.

The spirit force obtained from the converted pill energy was not directly infused into any particular spiritual orifice, but had to first pass through the Root Spiritual Orifice. For example, Lu Ye's 21st orifice was not yet full, so the spirit force transformed from the elixir pill he consumed needed to go through the Root Spiritual Orifice before surging into the 21st orifice.

And if a particular orifice was too far from the Root Spiritual Orifice, it might even require the transfer through several spiritual orifices.

But without exception, the Root Spiritual Orifice was the starting point for receiving spirit force, which was why this initial opened orifice was called the Root Spiritual Orifice and was the most important spiritual orifice for a cultivator.

In Lu Ye's understanding, the Root Spiritual Orifice was similar to the Dantian of those martial arts experts.

However, it is true that the location of the Root Spiritual Orifice is at the Dantian, and the spiritual orifices opened by low-level Cultivation Techniques are all near the Root Spiritual Orifice, so they do not need too much transfer; just passing through one Root Spiritual Orifice would suffice.

In the past, Lu Ye had not scrutinized closely, but with deliberate attention this time, he was surprised to discover that the spirit force transformed from the pill energy of the Spirit-Nurturing Pill... did not seem as pure as his own spirit force. Mixed within it were some indistinct elements that were likely harmful to himself.

Is this pill poison? A thought popped into Lu Ye's mind.

The sect master had mentioned this to him before: all medicines have a toxic side, let alone the elixir pills that cultivators consume. The lower the quality of the elixir pill, the worse the pill poison. Therefore, after taking elixir pills for cultivation, cultivators need to find ways to resolve the pill poison, lest they leave some hidden troubles.

The impure spirit force flowed into the Root Spiritual Orifice, and through the Root Spiritual Orifice's transfer, it entered the 21st orifice. However, something miraculous occurred—the spirit force that flowed into the 21st orifice no longer had any trace of pill poison, becoming as pure as the spirit force in other orifices.

Lu Ye keenly noticed this detail, which confirmed that the change in spirit force occurred within the Root Spiritual Orifice.

He quickly put most of his attention into the Root Spiritual Orifice to observe closely and soon discovered the marvel within it.

The Talent Tree rooted in the Root Spiritual Orifice had grown roots, which seemed to be absorbing the spirit force within the Root Spiritual Orifice. The spirit force then flowed through the tree and was returned, purified. The impure spirit force, after this process, became pure.

During the entire process, a grey mist continually emanated from the Talent Tree's trunk, reminiscent of ashes after burning.

Indeed, the problem lay with the Talent Tree!

Judging from the current observations, the Talent Tree appeared to have a purification effect on spirit force, burning away all the pill poison.

Lu Ye recalled another matter: ever since he began his cultivation after opening his orifice, each cultivation session left him feeling somewhat uncomfortable, as if covered with a layer of dust.

This sensation became even more obvious after he entered the Spirit Stream battlefield and had enough Spirit-Nurturing Pills at his disposal.

On the contrary, there was a period when he ran out of Spirit-Nurturing Pills, and during the Essence Refinment-Qi Conversion cultivation, this phenomenon did not occur.

Piecing everything together, Lu Ye had an epiphany.

The Talent Tree had the capacity to purify spirit force; the pill poison from his elixir pill consumption was burned off by the Talent Tree, ensuring his cultivation bore no hidden dangers. And since the burnt-off pill poison could not vanish without a trace, it was expelled from his body, leading to the feeling of dust covering him after each cultivation session.

With everything now clear, Lu Ye's previous speculations were confirmed, although not overly unexpected.

But having understood all this, he would no longer have too much psychological burden when consuming elixir pills for cultivation in the future.

Relaxing his mind, Lu Ye continued to guide the pill energy in his abdomen, and the spirit force in the 21st orifice gradually increased.

Yiyi was originally watching him tensely, but seeing that he showed no more abnormalities, she couldn't help but fall asleep—Heaven only knows how a Spiritual Body like her could sleep…

She was awakened by the sound of piercing the air, and when she opened her eyes, dawn had broken, the bonfire beside her had long burned out, and not far away, Lu Ye, bare-chested, held a knife in one hand, continuously swinging it. Each movement was measured and slow, but his expression was meticulous.

This guy... is he made of iron? Yiyi's eyes twitched.

In fact, Lu Ye had slept for three Shichen last night. Though the constitution of a cultivator was stronger than that of an ordinary person, rest was still necessary, especially for a low-level cultivator like him, who hadn't completely left the realm of mortals.

However, he was acutely aware of the treacherous road ahead, so he was unwilling to waste time.

By the time Lu Ye had finished his morning cultivation session, Yiyi and the big tiger had already gathered enough firewood and lit it. Lu Ye then took a piece of snake meat out of his storage sack and tossed it to them to handle.

After eating their fill, the group continued on their way.

The journey wasn't as pleasant as imagined. Amidst the rough travel, Lu Ye swallowed a Spirit-Nurturing Pill; he wanted to try cultivating on the back of the tiger. If he couldn't resolve this issue, he would waste a lot of time.

Along the way, they occasionally bumped into some hurried low-level cultivators, but the big tiger always avoided them in advance. Those cultivators, upon seeing the tiger's silhouette from afar, wouldn't come to provoke it if they were sane, let alone catch up to it.

At night, they once again found a suitable place to rest.

Eat snake meat, practice swordsmanship, then pop pills and cultivate.

Today's progress was good. Although Lu Ye still felt the tiger's jolts, at least he could start cultivating. It was just that his efficiency was somewhat low.

At the break of day, Lu Ye took out the ten-part map to check his current position against his starting position and to determine the direction to head in and the nearest target.

After riding the big tiger for two days, they still hadn't left the bounds of Qingyun Mountain, which showed the vastness of this mountain range.

Another day later, by evening, Lu Ye looked at a marketplace not far away and exhaled a long breath—the nearest destination had been reached.

On the ten-part map, this place was marked as Qingyun Marketplace Five.

Lu Ye rode the big tiger into the marketplace, attracting quite a bit of attention.

He had seen cultivators with demon beasts at his side back in Qingyun Marketplace Three, but those demon beasts stirred up dust and stones wherever they went. None were as majestic as the big tiger.

Lu Ye had also considered having the big tiger wait outside for him, but the tiger's strength wasn't very high, and being unfamiliar with the area, there was a risk it could inadvertently wander into a demon beast's territory and suffer for it.

After weighing his options, he simply brought the big tiger with him.

He intended to rest here for the night.

It was undeniable that having the big tiger by his side was quite a deterrent; many timid cultivators kept their distance from Lu Ye.

About half a Shichen later, Lu Ye arrived at the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union of this marketplace. He didn't possess any Spirit Stones, but the mercantile union also accepted elixir pills as payment. After Lu Ye gave them a Spirit-Nurturing Pill, he was led by the union's people to a guest room on the third floor.

The room wasn't very large, but it was quiet. The big tiger lay down on the floor to rest. Lu Ye fed it a Spirit-Nurturing Pill while Yiyi, who had been holding her breath, ran out to get some air.

Lu Ye, meanwhile, sat cross-legged on the bed, guiding the pill energy to strike at the spiritual orifice barrier of the 22nd orifice.