Chapter 48: Ambush

Translator: Asuka

Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys

After one day of rest, Lu Ye no longer felt exhausted from cultivating for days. It was time to attempt breaking through to the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm. He didn’t rush to take any pills. Instead, he activated his Spiritual Power to locate the nineteenth Spiritual Point. ????????????????????????????xt.????????????

He was in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm now, and his Spiritual Power was more ample than it was two months ago, so he found it easier to locate the next Spiritual Point. In just one hour, he found the nineteenth point.

It wasn’t until this moment that he fished out a pill and swallowed it to refine the Pill Power, then he led his Spiritual Power to strike the nineteenth point’s barrier. Three days later, he had consumed eleven pills, and his nineteenth point had become full. This outcome was within his expectation.

Before reaching the Spirit Creek Realm, it would take him three days to unlock one Spiritual Point, and he would need six pills. After reaching the First-Order Spirit Creek Realm, the speed at which he unlocked the points was the same, but he needed eight to nine pills to unlock one point.

Now that he was in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm, the number of pills he had to consume had increased to eleven pills. It still took him the same time to unlock a new point mainly because his cultivation had improved, so he had become more efficient at refining Pill Power. In that case, it seemed that the higher his cultivation was, the more pills he needed to unlock new points. Now, he was only left with twenty pills, which should allow him to unlock two more points.

Lu Ye made some calculations and realised that if he was able to consistently unlock one point every three days, it would take him one thousand and eighty days to reach the 360th point. The revelation shocked him. He wasn’t sure how other people cultivated, but he reckoned that his cultivation speed was pretty quick. Despite that, it would still take him nearly three years to reach the Ninth-Order Spirit Creek Realm.

For the next few days, he stayed inside the cave. It wasn’t until he consumed the last pill that he left the cave. Just like what he had expected, he managed to break through to the 21st point, but it still wasn’t full.

If he wanted to reach the 27th point, it would require seventy Spirit Restoring Pills at the very least. Now, he was only left with Yuan metal ores. The other miscellaneous ores had been sold to the Divine Trade Association in the last two transactions. He reckoned that he would need two Yuan metal ores to trade for seventy pills.

Half a day later, he stepped into the Divine Trade Association, and when he left, he already had eighty-one pills and a few Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag.

A curvy woman was standing beside the window on the second floor of Divine Trade Association. Watching him leave, she appeared to be hesitating for a moment before she heaved a sigh and pointed her finger at the back of her hand, which revealed a mark. Unlike the blue Battlefield Imprint on Lu Ye’s hand, her mark was yellow. Then, she parted her lips and murmured at the mark, then it disappeared.

Fifteen minutes later, she left the Association. Faced with people who greeted her, she would respond to them with a smile.

At this moment, Lu Ye was heading to the cave in Green Cloud Mountain. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or something, but after leaving Green Cloud City, he started having a strange feeling. However, he couldn’t really tell what was amiss.

After circling around the forest for a while, he finally realised there was a figure who had been following him, but before he could make out who the person was, the figure had disappeared. [Is someone stalking me?] He became vigilant.

He was very careful every time he visited the city, especially when he returned to his place. Nothing had happened the past two times, but now, he was being stalked by a cultivator, which puzzled him. He wasn’t sure if that person was looking for him, or that it was just a chance encounter. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was the latter. If it was the former, things would get pretty complicated.

Fortunately, the person’s speed wasn’t particularly swift. If Lu Ye fully used his power, it would be difficult for the person to race after him. It seemed that the person’s cultivation was low. It was understandable as most cultivators who roamed around the outer circle were not powerful.

Just when he was in his thoughts, he felt Spiritual Power surging behind him, and it was followed by a cold sensation. Turning his head, he realised that an icicle broke through the air and reached him in the blink of an eye. A shocked Lu Ye hurriedly swirled around and drew out his sword. As he activated his Spiritual Power, he slashed at the icicle, upon which the broken pieces whisked across his face.

Upon impact, Lu Ye was forced to stagger backwards. He decided to do a back flip to stabilise himself, but he still appeared battered. When he straightened up, he realised that the attacker was already right in front of him. That was a man who was older than him by a few years. His skin was fair with no beard on his face. Two fist-sized earrings were hanging from his ears, which made him look pretty exotic.

The weapon in his hand looked like a mixture between a sword and a dagger. It was slightly longer than the average sword, but it was only half as wide. It looked similar to the legendary ‘Embroidered Spring Blade’. Right after Lu Ye straightened up, the fair-skinned man slashed at him.

Lu Ye had no time to activate his Spiritual Pattern to bless the sword, so he had no choice but to raise his sword to parry the attack. With a clang, sparks could be seen scattering. Lu Ye felt numb in his purlicue, and his sword was almost sent flying away. Upon impact, he was forced to lower himself, and he almost fell on his knees.

“Oh?” The fair-skinned man was surprised as he hadn’t expected that Lu Ye could parry his attack. He had been waiting for a long time before he made the move. While he was stunned, Lu Ye had already fended off his weapon and attempted to jab his sword into the man’s chest.

Unperturbed, the fair-skinned man gently swung his blade. Before Lu Ye even realised what was going on, he felt a pain in his arm, which caused his attack to lose momentum. The other party managed to dodge his sword with ease. The missed attack caused Lu Ye to stagger forward. As the glint of a sword flashed across his eyes, he felt cold all over his body as he waited for his imminent death.

With a clang, the blade slashed right at Lu Ye’s chest, but it couldn’t penetrate his body. Instead, Lu Ye was sent flying backwards. Raising his head, the fair-skinned man realised that Lu Ye was engulfed in a layer of golden light, which protected him from getting severely injured. Earlier, Lu Ye realised that he was no match for the man, which was why he immediately used a defensive talisman paper on himself.

“Golden Body Talisman Paper?” The eyes of the fair-skinned man turned bloodshot. It wasn’t that he was jealous of Lu Ye for having this talisman paper. It was just that the talisman paper was supposed to belong to him, but it was wasted by Lu Ye in such a way, which was why he was heartbroken.

However, now, he was certain that the information he had gathered was right. This amateur cultivator in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm was indeed rich. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have possessed any talisman papers to use. Any talisman paper was worth ten to twenty Spirit Stones. Low-level cultivators would rarely use any talisman papers during a fight. That was because most of them didn’t have enough money to buy it. They would only prepare one to two talisman papers for emergencies.

Gazing at the golden light around Lu Ye, the fair-skinned man flew backwards for several metres as he held his blade with one hand and performed a hand seal with his other hand. Following a sneer on his face, his Spiritual Power could visibly be seen gathering on the tips of his fingers.