Sage of Humanity

After deducting the monthly salaries of two people, only 35,200 merit points remained from the original 44,000.

Lu Ye's hand rested on the Heaven's Augury Pillar, and with a slight movement of his thoughts, he used the sect merits to purchase enhancements. The clicking sounds indicated that something inside the pillar was changing.

It was the same as the last time.

As 1,000 merit points were deducted, the concentration of Spiritual Energy at the residence increased by 10 percent.

Another enhancement increased the concentration by 10 percent, which this time cost 1,500 merit points.

For the third enhancement, 2,000 merit points were deducted.

Each enhancement required an additional 500 merit points more than the last.

When there were only 2,700 merit points left in the sect's account, Lu Ye stopped; he couldn't afford the next enhancement, which would cost 6,000 merit points.

The clicking sounds inside the Heaven's Augury Pillar grew more frequent and intense, signifying a significant transformation within the entire structure.

At the same time, the skies above the residence changed abruptly as a visible vortex of Spiritual Energy formed. Drawn by the vortex, massive amounts of nature's spiritual energy surged towards the residence.

The disciples in name and independent cultivators exploring the residence were astounded at the sight, but when they felt the surrounding Spiritual Energy growing rapidly, they understood what had happened.

Instantly, they were overjoyed and delighted, celebrating the occasion.

The vortex phenomenon lasted for two full hours before disappearing, and by that time the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the Righteous Blood Sect's residence had dramatically increased.

Adding the enhancement Lu Ye purchased a month ago to the current ones, the Heaven's Augury Pillar at the Righteous Blood Sect's residence now boasted eleven enhancements, making the Spiritual Energy inside at least 120 percent denser than outside in the wild!

Such a level of enhancement was terrifying, indicating that cultivating within this environment was more than twice as efficient as doing so in the wild.

Only recently had Lu Ye realized the severe losses a sect would face if their residence was captured. He used to think that even if their residence were taken over, as long as the territory remained, the losses wouldn't be significant—just some facilities destroyed and possibly some disciples killed.

But now he understood that once a residence was captured, all the enhancements on the Heaven's Augury Pillar would be stripped away! Such a loss could wipe out generations of accumulation, an unbearable pain indeed!

He finally understood why Dong Shuye had betrayed the Nine Stars Sect; with the residence overrun by Xuanmen, and the Pillar's enhancements taken, how could Dong Shuye, at Level 7, bear such responsibility? Without betrayal, he would have faced certain death.

Every Spirit Stream Defense Battle was a carnival for the Nine Provinces sects. During such grand events, those sects short on merit could plunder others' enhancements if they were lucky enough.

Take the Righteous Blood Sect, for example; at this stage, tens of thousands of merit points were unimaginably large. If it were not for Lu Ye and Hua Ci's substantial gains during the Spirit Stream Defense Battle, such an increase in the residence's Spiritual Energy wouldn't have been possible—it would have taken the disciples' contributions for ages to reach the current state.

Yet a single Spirit Stream Defense Battle had increased the energy at the residence by more than double, and Lu Ye and Hua Ci had profited immensely.

For any sect, the Spirit Stream Defense Battle was an opportunity to gamble small for big gains, but they also had to be ready to shoulder the corresponding sudden losses—500 merit points for one enhancement wasn't much, but the deaths of the Governor and Deputy Governor were true losses.

Still, that did not dampen the Nine Provinces sects' enthusiasm for participating in this grand occasion.

However, such good fortune did not come often; the Spirit Stream Defense Battle happened only once every three years, and Lu Ye reckoned he would no longer be on the Spirit Stream battlefield in three years' time.

"Oh, right." Lu Ye remembered something and took the Breath Fruit Core out of his storage sack. "Shall we try this thing out?"

"What's the use of this Breath Fruit Core for us?"

"All I can say is it's helpful for cultivation; you'll know once you try it." Lu Ye tossed the Breath Fruit Core over.

Hua Ci caught it and channeled her spirit force into it.

An ominous smile immediately appeared on Lu Ye's face.

After a moment, Hua Ci suddenly opened her eyes, moaning and gasping for breath with a layer of fine sweat on her forehead as if she had experienced something terrifying. She even looked down at her abdomen to ensure it was intact before taking a deep breath of relief.

"Were you scared?" Lu Ye couldn't help but have a bemused smile. He and Shui Yuan had tried the Breath Fruit Core and hadn't reacted so dramatically.

Hua Ci looked up at him with eyes full of silent accusation, and after a long pause, she said, "Give me back fifty merit points!"

"Such a wealthy lady, caring about fifty merit points," Lu Ye retorted.

Hua Ci glared hatefully at Lu Ye, tossed the Breath Fruit Core back to him—although it was a good item, it wasn't suitable for her—and walked out.

At the entrance to Heaven's Augury Hall, she turned back with a smile, "You'd better avoid getting hurt from now on."

Lu Ye's expression darkened, "That's not fun at all…"

After Hua Ci left, Lu Ye stowed the Breath Fruit Core and checked his own battlefield marking.

Name: Lu Ye.

Identity: Disciple of the Righteous Blood Sect.

Cultivation: 86th orifice.

Location: Spirit Stream battlefield.

Merit: Five thousand three hundred and fifty-two.

The number of merits could be considered shockingly eye-catching, amounting to over five thousand. Just the Earth's Core Fire alone could buy more than twenty portions. Of course, this was also related to the four thousand four hundred merit points he had allocated to himself as his monthly stipend.

However, even without those stipends, he still had nearly a thousand merit points.

And all of it was earned in the Chess Sea; his Level 6 cultivation participating in the Spirit Stream Defense Battle was too advantageous. Casually killing a Level 7 cultivator would net him fourteen merit points.

Indeed, a horse will never get fat without night grazing. In the future, he should participate more in such lucrative opportunities.

There wasn't much change in his cultivation; since before participating in the Spirit Stream Defense Battle, he only opened two more orifices. Mainly, in that kind of environment, it was hard to keep his spirit force in a state of Perfection. Without Perfection, he couldn't cultivate; all the spirit force he converted and devoured was used for recovery.

But that didn't matter, as the spiritual energy present at his current station was more than twice as dense as before, so his efficiency in cultivation would surely increase significantly.

Now, Lu Ye could be considered as one of those with vast wealth. There was no need to worry about merit points for the time being. With abundant cultivation resources, he entered Heaven's Augury treasure vault and bought ten portions of Earth's Core Fire in one go, spending two thousand merit points.

It wasn't that he couldn't buy more, but now with the Breath Fruit Core, he had an additional use for his merit points. It was always good to keep some in reserve.

Carrying ten portions of Earth's Core Fire, Lu Ye excitedly headed towards his designated training room.

He encountered many people on the way, all of whom stopped to pay their respects.

Some called him the fifth brother, which referred to sect disciples. Although Li Baxian was a disciple of the Loyal Heart Sect, he always had his place in the Righteous Blood Sect. He was ranked fourth, so naturally, Lu Ye was ranked fifth. Following him were Hua Ci in sixth, Kong Niu in seventh, Yiyi in eighth, and Ruan Lingyu in ninth. Beyond that, there were no rankings.

Others called him Envoy Lu, which referred to those independent cultivators under the sect's jurisdiction.

The station was obviously much livelier, not like before when not even a single person could be seen.

Upon entering his own training room, Lu Ye sat cross-legged, took out the portions of Earth's Core Fire one by one, and let the Talent Tree devour them completely.

With the depletion of the Earth's Core Fire, leaves began to burn on the Talent Tree, with each portion of Earth's Core Fire igniting a single leaf.

When all the Earth's Core Fire was gone, fourteen leaves burned on the Talent Tree. Lu Ye had never ignited so many leaves at once. Up to now, he had only acquired four spirit runes from the Talent Tree.

Looking at those burning leaves, Lu Ye felt a surge of excitement. The contents carried by these leaves were all extremely valuable treasures.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Ye set his gaze determinedly on the fifth leaf.

Surprisingly, this time the sensation was not as uncomfortable as he had expected.

After a short while, Lu Ye opened his eyes with a weird expression.

The situation was somewhat different from what he had expected. Although the fifth leaf also carried a spirit rune, it was different from the previous four. Whether it was Sharpness, Defense, or Spirit Energy Gathering and Bloodstain, they all had clear focuses whether in offense, defense, or support.

But the fifth spirit rune was a very special kind; it couldn't function on its own. In other words, even if Lu Ye constructed it, it would be of no use.

It was a spirit rune with connective qualities. Simply put, it could link different spirit runes together, allowing them to function simultaneously.

Rather than being a spirit rune, it would be more accurate to call it a technique.

Lu Ye had seen such a technique before.

The Boulder Mountain Saber contained nine spirit runes, seven of which were used to reinforce the saber, and the other two to enhance its lethality. These nine spirit runes were connected by a special technique so that they all acted as one, each displaying their respective functions.

He had been quite interested in this clever method, but he never had time to study it, and with his knowledge in the Path of Spirit Runes, even if he did study, it was doubtful he could glean anything significant.

Only now did he realize that, in addition to those spirit runes with various functions, there was also a type that could link different spirit runes together.

After a short rest, Lu Ye began to explore the sixth leaf, which turned out to be another connecting spirit rune, although it was quite different from the one on the fifth leaf. This suggested, it seemed, that different spirit runes required different methods of linking and needed various skills.

It wasn't until the seventh leaf that Lu Ye obtained a spirit rune that could function on its own.
Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

He investigated them one by one, resting when he felt tired, for he didn't need to actively do much while cultivating here. Nature's spiritual energy continuously flowed into his body through the small spirit energy gathering funnel. The elixir pills he swallowed were being ground down by the Bestial Gluttony Feast into spirit force.

In essence, as long as he sat here, switched his Cultivation Technique to Bestial Gluttony Feast and constructed the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes in his own spiritual orifice, his power increased continuously. Of course, he needed to act on his own when it came time to break through the spiritual orifice barrier.