Translator: Asuka Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys Inside the tunnel, the ‘very, very, poor’ Lu Ye was currently taking inventory of all his assets. He only had slightly over 200 Spirit Stones. He did not know if that was enough for him to purchase a set of cultivation techniques. [If that’s not enough…] He took out the small bell Spirit Artifact from his Storage Bag. That was something the Young Master of Nine Star Clan used to own, so it was probably worth quite a lot. In the worst case, he could use this to offset his debt. If that did not work, then he could always use his Yuan Metal ore… He still had the Storage Bag that belonged to the Young Master of Nine Star Clan. There should be a lot of good things inside; it was a pity that he could not open it. [Having said that… Many Mystic Sect cultivators benefited from my actions over the past few days. It’s only reasonable that Mystic Sect should give me a small discount, right?] Chu Tian sent another message to ask about Lu Ye’s Element. Lu Ye answered honestly. There was no need to conceal this. Besides, it was very important for a set of cultivation techniques to match well with his Element. A short while later, Chu Tian sent another message to inform Lu Ye that he would provide the exact details tomorrow at the earliest and the day after tomorrow at the latest since it would take some time for the cultivation technique to be delivered from the base. Lu Ye responded that it was no problem. After that, he ended the correspondence with Chu Tian and got up to get ready for sword practice. Even though he had been fighting continuously these days, he never stopped his sword practice. That was because he could tell that this most basic training had been of great help to him and the success of something like that depended on perseverance. However, before he could draw his knife out of its sheath, the roar of a tiger rang out all of a sudden. He immediately turned to look behind him and saw Amber’s figure rushing toward him in a miserable state. Yi Yi, who had been monitoring the other side of the tunnel, came running over too. She glanced at him before hiding inside the rock wall. Meanwhile, Amber ran over to Lu Ye, turned around, and lowered its body. There was a wound that could not be considered too serious on its body. It faced forward and let out a mighty roar. A figure slowly appeared from there. Lu Ye activated his Spiritual Power to check on the other party’s aura while making a decision in his heart. [If the opponent is a Fifth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master, we’ll withdraw immediately. If the opponent is any lower than a Fifth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master, then I’ll slaughter him with no mercy.] He frowned slightly when he saw the aura surrounding that person. Judging by the luster of the aura, that person was no more than a cultivator in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm… What puzzled him was that the aura around that person was very different from an ordinary Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master. Not only was it extremely pure, but it also gave off a very solid feeling. “It sure wasn’t easy to find you.” That person stood 30 meters away from Lu Ye and smiled. In the darkness of the night, his pearly white teeth stood out conspicuously. That person was not very old. He might even be younger than Lu Ye by a year or two. In addition, he did not have a burly stature. Even so, he made all the nerves in Lu Ye’s body tense in apprehension just by standing there calmly. Lu Ye had fought many battles against the cultivators of Nine Star Clan over the past few days. He might not be able to accurately judge whether his opponent posed a threat to him, but he would get a vague sense of danger. [This Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master must have some sort of unique characteristic for him to make me feel so stressed.] “Mountain Tiger?” That person spoke first. Without waiting for Lu Ye to respond, he went on to introduce himself. “Luo Ji of Infinite Island!” Lu Ye immediately recalled that Chu Tian had mentioned this person to him during the day. He did not question where Infinite Island was at the time, but judging from Chu Tian’s manner of speech, it was probably a very powerful force. A cultivator who came from such a background was bound to have an extraordinary heritage. That was why he immediately leaped forward the moment the other party finished the introduction. The long knife came out of its sheath and he ran toward the man. [Kill first, think later!] He had managed to kill a Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master when he was only in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master. Now that he was in the Third-Order Spirit Creek Realm, why would he be afraid of somebody in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm? His legs that were pumping with Spiritual Power rushed forward at a rapid speed, shortening the distance of 30 meters in an instant. His Spiritual Points made a crackling sound as the Gathering Spirits Spiritual Patterns he previously constructed were all shattered under the violent surging of his Spiritual Power. “Reckless man!” Luo Ji snorted lightly. He raised his hand unhurriedly and pointed at Lu Ye. “White Flare!” When those words left his mouth, a small fluorescent light appeared on his finger. That fluorescent light suddenly expanded and transformed into a glaring white light that fully illuminated the dark tunnel. Lu Ye was instantly blinded by that glaring light and could not open his eyes as a result. At this moment, he felt as though he was staring straight at the sun. Even though he had closed his eyes as soon as possible, it was inevitable that he hurt his eyes. The pain made his tears flow unchecked. [This damned bastard by the name of Luo Ji sure is despicable!] He hurriedly backed away. “Earth Protrusion!” Luo Ji shouted again while simultaneously stomping his foot against the ground. In the next moment, a cone of soil formed on the ground behind Lu Ye without warning and slammed into his waist hard. He was in the midst of backing away when he was struck by the cone of soil, which caused him to stagger unsteadily as a result. His lumbar spine was aching badly. If he had not activated his Spiritual Power defense, he could have gotten seriously hurt. “Icicle!” Cold air swirled and Luo Ji pointed at Luo Ye. A sharp icicle about the length of a chopstick immediately shot toward Lu Ye like an arrow that was released from a bow. Lu Ye had yet to open his eyes. The main reason was that he had been stunned by the bright light that caught him off guard just now. When he felt the cold air coming straight at him, he immediately activated the Protection Spiritual Pattern in front of him without even thinking about it. There was a loud bang. It was as though what slammed into the Protection Spiritual Pattern was not an icicle but a huge rock instead. He was pushed back by the great force and staggered backward again. At the same time, he felt a searing pain across his cheeks. The shattered splinters of the icicle had resulted in numerous small wounds all over his face. “Golden Arc!” Inside the tunnel, a golden crescent-like slash appeared. The attack slashed toward him as he backed away. Compared to all the other Spell Techniques from before, this Spell Technique carried much more lethality to it. Lu Ye once activated a Golden Wheel Talisman Paper. That was something that was created based on the Golden Arc as the foundation. The attacks that came flying out of the Golden Wheel Talisman Paper were numerous weakened Golden Arc Slashes. Just in terms of power alone, the Golden Arc Slash that Luo Ji released was even more powerful than the slashes of the Golden Wheel Talisman Paper that Lu Ye had once used. If a person was caught off guard and received a hit from this attack, that person might end up sliced into two halves. The Golden Arc Slash was extremely fast, appearing in front of Lu Ye in the blink of an eye. The corners of Luo Ji’s mouth curled upward. With a loud clang, the Golden Arc Slash was cut down by Lu Ye. Behind the long knife, Lu Ye’s eyes were narrowed into slits and his expression was extremely solemn. His opponent was only in the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm. Hence, he originally assumed that he could defeat Luo Ji even if there was something strange about the other party. It wasn’t until he exchanged blows with his opponent that he realized how mistaken he was. This Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master was different from all the Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Masters he had ever met! Over the course of the last few days, he had killed many Nine Star Clan disciples. He also witnessed how the Mystic Sect disciples fought. Although there was the occasional Spell Technique, those Spell Techniques had required a lot of time to prepare. None of those cultivators could do what Luo Ji was doing. On the other hand, Luo Ji’s Spell Techniques seemed to be right at his fingertips and could be called upon in an instant. Moreover, he had extremely high attainments in those techniques. It was obvious that he was walking the path of a spell cultivator… What surprised Lu Ye even more was that the Spiritual Power of this Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master seemed to be even richer than his own. He failed to tell from looking at his opponent’s aura just now. But, now that they were fighting, he could see the fluctuations in the other party’s Spiritual Power with just a single glance. That was by no means the Spiritual Power fluctuation that a Second-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master could have. It was even stronger than the Fourth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master he killed previously! Combining all the facts in front of him, he immediately thought of a possibility. [This guy is cultivating a Heaven Grade cultivation technique!]