Free Web NovelChapter 2108: Chapter 2106: Sun Blaze Mid-Stage, Jiuyan’s Troubles
The group of eight settled down, each finding a place to cultivate. Having arrived in the Star Abyss, and with only Zi Ji in the team having forged a Dao foundation, everyone naturally kept to the principle of acting low‑key.
After Lu Ye’s discussion with Zi Ji, the atmosphere within the team also became more peaceful than ever.
Everyone understood their own situation. To the entire Star Abyss, they were the outsiders, so naturally they had to huddle together for warmth and unite everyone’s strength.
Zi Ji was responsible for sitting in town and watching the four directions, guarding against any crises that might arise.
Lu Ye wasn’t idle either. He spent a few days visiting everyone’s seclusion spots, then set up Teleportation Arrays at their locations, and gave them some additional instructions and warnings.
In this way, even if some danger really did appear and Zi Ji couldn’t make it in time to rescue them, these Sun Blaze cultivators scattered about could still use the Teleportation Arrays to leave in time.
The other end of the Teleportation Arrays was where Lu Ye himself was located.
Only after doing all this did Lu Ye begin his own cultivation.
He checked the Dao force carried by the Talent Tree and found that there were just over two hundred left.
One had to know that at his peak, his Dao force had been close to five hundred, but in that final battle the enemies were too many, and the consumption of Dao force had been extremely severe. Moreover, at that time both his true body and the Talent Tree Avatar had been consuming together, so the loss was naturally huge.
Just over two hundred Dao force could barely maintain a 6th Dao level, but couldn’t support a drawn‑out battle.
The most urgent matter was still to first accumulate his own Dao force.
He urged the might of the Talent Tree, constructed many small spirit energy gathering funnels around himself, and as Lu Ye sank his mind into cultivation, he immediately sensed how fast cultivation was in such a place.
This was already the Star Abyss; the Star Abyss ambience was extremely dense, so cultivating here was naturally far more efficient than back then.
In less than two days, another strand of Dao force appeared upon the leaves of the Talent Tree; such efficiency was downright terrifying.
Time passed, the desolate planet remained silent. Occasionally, the aura of living beings swept past nearby, some strong, some weak, but with the Array’s concealment, as long as these Star Abyss cultivators did not delve deeply to investigate, they absolutely would not discover them.
Three months flashed by.
On this day, while Lu Ye was immersed in cultivation and unable to extricate himself, he suddenly opened his eyes. The nearby Teleportation Array stirred; someone should have transmitted over.
He quickly probed the surroundings and, after confirming there was no major abnormality, focused his gaze.
The next instant, Chong Yue’s burly figure emerged from the Array, radiant with energy.
Lu Ye glanced at him and immediately cupped his fists. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist, on entering the Dao Realm and leaping through the dragon gate."
In three months’ time, someone among those six had finally forged a Dao foundation, though Lu Ye hadn’t expected the first to be Chong Yue.
Chong Yue laughed heartily. "Just a fluke, just a fluke. Mainly, this environment is more suited to cultivating the Smelting Furnace Method than the place I stayed before. As per Fellow Daoist’s earlier instructions, I’ve come specially to seek guidance."
Back in the Cover Armor stellar space, although Chong Yue had entered the battlefield, he hadn’t gone very deep. The Star Abyss ambience there wasn’t very dense, so its help in forging a Dao foundation was naturally inferior to the environment here.
Now that he had changed environments and had his deep, profound foundation as a base, everything came together smoothly.
The reason he came over, of course, was because when Lu Ye had set up the Teleportation Arrays for them earlier, he had repeatedly told everyone that after forging a Dao foundation, they were to come find him at once, as there were things he needed to give them.
"I don’t dare claim much; it’s just some common knowledge about the Cover Armor stellar space." Lu Ye handed Chong Yue a jade slip he had prepared in advance. The contents were what Du Qingsha had given him back then. After some organizing and distilling, he kept what he thought would help Chong Yue and the others.
Chong Yue’s expression turned solemn as he picked it up to examine.
A moment later, a look of realization appeared on his face. "So that’s how it is. I have to first determine exactly which Dao level I’m at. Only then can I cultivate in a targeted way."
If Chong Yue was a 5th Dao cultivator, then the subsequent cultivation would be simple. He’d just need to accumulate his Dao force to over two hundred, then he could start polishing his second Dao Bone.
If he wasn’t yet 5th Dao, then he’d have to continue deepening his own foundation, raising himself to 5th Dao.
Right now, with his Dao foundation newly formed, Chong Yue didn’t have a single strand of Dao force, so he naturally couldn’t determine which Dao level he was at.
For a cultivator like him who had just entered the Dao Realm, even though his speed at refining Star Abyss ambience would increase significantly due to having his own Dao foundation, accumulating Dao force would still take some time. Before he had enough Dao force, he didn’t have much combat power.
Chong Yue’s entry into the Dao Realm was just a beginning. Over the next two months, Su Wan and Water Fairy also entered the Dao Realm one after another, and after some time accumulating, Chong Yue finally confirmed that he was a 5th Dao cultivator, which showed how deep his foundation was.
Counting himself and Zi Ji, among the eight there were only three left who hadn’t entered the Dao Realm.
But when it came down to actual combat strength, it was still only him and Zi Ji who really had it; Chong Yue barely counted as half, and Su Wan and Water Fairy couldn’t be relied on in the short term.
It was time to go out once.
Lu Ye silently planned in his heart. If he wanted everyone to gain combat strength matching their realm more quickly, going out to hunt Star Abyss cultivators and obtain Dao Bones was undoubtedly the best choice.
Because refining Dao Bones for Dao force was much more efficient than pure cultivation.
He had already had this plan before, because in clashes between Dao Realm cultivators, when the gap in strength wasn’t too big, numbers often became the key to victory. Helping the others improve their strength would also allow them to better protect themselves in this Star Abyss.
He didn’t rush to set out. Instead, he took out a large number of spirit jades and spirit crystals, scattered them around, and urged the Talent Tree’s power to begin refining.
He felt that he was already not far from Sun Blaze Mid-Stage.
During this period, although he had been constantly refining Star Abyss ambience to obtain Dao force, the Star Abyss ambience also contained a large amount of stellar space spirit energy, so while gaining Dao force, his cultivation was also accumulating.
According to his previous speculation, if he could advance to Sun Blaze Mid-Stage, he should be able to easily control the 6th Dao, and wouldn’t feel that crushing pressure like before.
As the saying goes, sharpening the axe won’t delay the chopping of wood; this bit of time was something Lu Ye could afford to wait.
Spirit jade and spirit crystal were consumed in large quantities, and Lu Ye completely forgot himself, immersed in cultivation.
After a full half month, Lu Ye’s body suddenly trembled, the circulation of Mana in his body abruptly sped up by a level, and a feeling as if some invisible shackle had been broken arose spontaneously.
Sun Blaze Mid-Stage!
He slowly opened his eyes, and just as he was about to verify his earlier conjecture, he suddenly discovered a familiar figure sitting not far away.
"Senior Sister? When did you come?"
The one sitting there was actually Jiu Yan. Just now he had been focused on his breakthrough and hadn’t noticed her arrival. Of course, that was mainly because Jiu Yan harbored no hostility toward him; if it had been Zi Ji coming over instead, he would have sensed it at the first moment.
Jiu Yan didn’t speak, only gazed at him with deep, shadowy eyes.
"Senior Sister, did you encounter some difficulty?" Lu Ye’s heart tightened. He didn’t know what had happened on Jiu Yan’s side, and quickly sent out his Mental Consciousness to probe. There wasn’t much change in Jiu Yan; it seemed she still hadn’t forged her Dao foundation.
Just as Lu Ye was puzzled, she had already stood up, then walked step by step to stand in front of him, looking down at him from above.
Lu Ye raised his head, even more confused. "Senior Sister?"
Jiu Yan’s expression shifted, as if she had made a huge decision, then she lifted a hand, pressed a fingertip to Lu Ye’s forehead, and gently pushed backward.
Completely unprepared, Lu Ye was pushed straight down onto the ground.
His body suddenly felt a weight on it, and when he looked again, Jiu Yan had already sat down. Her head was lowered, both hands braced against her own chest, her body faintly trembling as she whispered, "The Smelting Furnace Method—body transformation furnace, smelt one’s entire foundation, only then can one forge one’s own Dao foundation. In this process, one must be without thoughts, without ideas, without self, without form!"
She slowly lifted her face, looking at Lu Ye with a complicated expression. "I can’t do it!"
Lu Ye was stunned.
Forging the Dao foundation with the Smelting Furnace Method—of course he knew of this. It was just that he had never cultivated this method himself, so how could he know the intricacies within?
Only now, after hearing Jiu Yan’s words, did he finally understand why after so long, Jiu Yan had still not been able to Enter the Path into the Dao Realm.
It wasn’t that her foundation wasn’t enough, nor that her cultivation technique was wrong, but that she had distracting thoughts in her heart—in other words, she had an unresolved heart knot.
And this heart knot...
He hadn’t expected that the accident between him and Ban Ci would become Jiu Yan’s source of trouble at a time like this.
With a sigh, Lu Ye raised a hand to seal the nearby Teleportation Array, then activated all the Formations he had previously arranged, isolating inside from outside. With his other hand he wrapped around Jiu Yan’s slightly trembling shoulders and gently flipped their positions.
Since there was a heart knot, it could only be shattered; this was also the reason Jiu Yan had come looking for him.
...
With the heart knot dispelled, Jiu Yan should have no problem Entering the Path into the Dao Realm. This could be seen just from how, with cheeks flushed but her whole body light and carefree, she left.
Since even Jiu Yan was about to step into the Dao Realm, then he, on his side, even more so needed to go hunt Dao Bones.
Having made up his mind, Lu Ye immediately took action.
He first went to find Zi Ji.
A moment later, Zi Ji stared at him in shock. "What? You want to hunt Star Abyss cultivators to obtain Dao Bones? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?"
He sized Lu Ye up from head to toe, as if wanting to see how much weight Lu Ye really carried.
Lu Ye naturally knew what doubts he held in his heart, so he raised a finger and pointed toward Zi Ji, urging his Dao force. "Demon Venerable, would you like to give it a try?"
Zi Ji frowned and likewise extended a finger to point out. His body then shook, and his face filled with shock. "You actually have Dao force! How many Daos have you opened?"
"The 6th Dao!" Lu Ye didn’t conceal it.
"Impossible!" Even with his having lived for who knew how many years, he still found such a thing hard to accept. "This is absolutely impossible."
But the fact was right in front of his eyes. From that brief exchange just now, Lu Ye’s ability to wield Dao force was indeed above his own.
He, after all, was a 5th Dao cultivator!
Beside shock, his face was full of lingering fear.
Fortunately, back then he hadn’t developed any intent to kill Lu Ye, but instead, after a candid talk, had turned hostility into friendship; otherwise, the one who would have died would definitely have been himself!
This guy hides really deep!
Mainly because no one would ever think that with Lu Ye’s current cultivation he could actually be a 6th Dao. One must know that any 6th Dao, placed in the Cover Armor stellar space, was a powerhouse who presided over a region.
Zi Ji suddenly realized something. "Because of the Dao Tree?"
All the inconceivable things about Lu Ye—if one had to find a single source, it would absolutely be the Dao Tree. This was a Supreme Treasure inheritance; how many mysteries it contained, no one knew.
