Half a month later, a travel-worn Lu Ye appeared before a canyon, looking far more composed than when he had been riding Big Tiger previously.
On the first day of riding Big Tiger, he was jolted so much that he nearly fell apart, with the insides of his thighs chafed raw—these conditions made it utterly impossible to cultivate.
By today, he had achieved his initial expectation: being able to ride on Big Tiger while consuming elixir pills for cultivation, though not as efficiently as under normal circumstances, was still better than wasting time outright.
Over the half month, he had opened three more spiritual orifices. By now, he was a cultivator with twenty-five opened orifices, only two away from reaching Level 3 of Spirit Stream.
If he maintained this pace, in another six or seven days, he would be able to cultivate the Golden Cicada Carefree Method to perfection.
Not only had his strength grown, but Big Tiger had also clearly become stronger.
The snake meat in the storage sack had already been shared between him and Big Tiger, with eighty percent of it having gone to Big Tiger. The snake meat was highly beneficial to a demon beast like Big Tiger, not to mention the two Spirit-Nurturing Pills Lu Ye fed it every day.
In just half a month, Big Tiger seemed to have grown larger, becoming even more majestic.
Lu Ye couldn't judge exactly how strong Big Tiger was now, but he estimated that if he faced Big Tiger in combat, without relying on Spirit Talismans and spirit runes, he would gain little advantage, if any.
And since Yiyi was Big Tiger's minion spirit, as Big Tiger grew stronger, so did she.
Thus, although the average strength of the trio of one man, one tiger, and one spirit wasn't very high, if they joined forces, the power they could exert was not to be underestimated.
This increased Lu Ye's capital when traveling through the Spirit Stream battlefield, making him increasingly feel that bringing Big Tiger and Yiyi was a wise decision.
Along the way, Lu Ye passed through a neutral marketplace where he rested for a night, selling two pieces of origin magnetic ore and obtaining some Spirit Stones.
Now he had over two hundred Spirit Stones in his possession.
Just a bit more, and by the time the next branch of Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union met, he should have about enough.
Jumping down from Tiger's back, Lu Ye scrutinized the canyon ahead, pulling out the ten-part map for comparison.
This was a place called Sky-Splitting Gorge, a terrain fraught with danger, with cliffs rising sharply on both sides. According to the map, to the left of Sky-Splitting Gorge was a sect base called Nine Stars Sect, a subordinate of Ten Thousand Demons, and to the right was a Xuanmen base, under the Haotian Alliance.
Sky-Splitting Gorge lay in between these two sect bases, geographically closer to Nine Stars Sect.
Both sects were of low grade, Xuanmen was 9th grade and Nine Stars Sect was 8th grade—a common grade in the outer circle of the battlefield. Furthermore, since Lu Ye's planned route took a curving path almost skirting the edge of the battlefield, he had crossed the territories of several sect bases along the way, all of which were of 8th-9th grades.
He would not recklessly enter a higher grade sect base, even if that sect belonged to the Haotian Alliance. The sect master's final words before entering the Spirit Stream battlefield still echoed in his ears, and he dared not carelessly reveal his identity as a Righteous Blood Sect disciple, although he did not know what the consequences of doing so might be.
As evening approached, Lu Ye decided not to enter the gorge now. Having traveled for a day, it wouldn't be too late to rest overnight and cross the next day.
"Yiyi!" Lu Ye called out.
"Got it," replied Yiyi's voice. She soon floated up from Big Tiger's head and drifted into the distance.
She was scouting the surrounding environment.
After days together, they had established a tacit understanding. Before resting, Yiyi would always be responsible for scouting the surroundings to avoid hidden dangers.
Being a Spiritual Body, she could come and go without a trace, making this task convenient. On several occasions, it was because of her that they managed to avoid potential crises ahead of time.
However, she and Big Tiger have a symbiotic relationship, so she cannot stray too far from Big Tiger. According to Yiyi, ten miles is manageable, but once she goes beyond ten miles from Big Tiger, she would rapidly weaken. If this state persists too long, she is very likely to dissipate.
Lu Ye then looked for a suitable place nearby to spend the night.
Having wandered outdoors for nearly half a month, he was already well-practiced at this. A suitable place for the night needed to allow for easy access and escape, provide sufficient concealment, and offer shelter from the wind and rain.
After searching for a while, Lu Ye brought Big Tiger to a spot among some scattered rocks. Although not ideal, there were no better places nearby. Given today's weather, which didn't seem like rain, it was okay to make do for one night.
Lu Ye took some pre-prepared firewood from his storage sack and lit it, then took out a large piece of beast meat to roast over the fire, and threw an even larger piece to Big Tiger, who pounced to the side and gobbled it up voraciously.
Watching Big Tiger's fierce eating, Lu Ye felt a bit worried. He had thought that the Spirit-Nurturing Pills he had saved earlier would be more than enough to reach the Spirit Stream Level 3 and have some left over, but now it seemed just sufficient.
Big Tiger needed two Spirit-Nurturing Pills a day, and he needed eleven or twelve pills to open an orifice. Currently, he had only about thirty pills left.
By the time he opened up to twenty-seven orifices, these Spirit-Nurturing Pills would probably be all used up.
Moreover, he faintly felt that as Big Tiger's strength increased, the consumption of Spirit-Nurturing Pills would become greater.
It was troubling! However, this was the price he had to pay for traveling together with Big Tiger and Yiyi. At least, he could still cultivate while traveling, which saved a lot of time.
For a low-level cultivator like him, time in the early stages of cultivation was precious.
The beast meat sizzling on the campfire dripped fat and made crackling sounds. Big Tiger, who was eating the raw meat, suddenly looked up in a direction and let out a low growl.
Immediately, it dashed out towards that direction.
Lu Ye was stunned at first but then realized what had happened—Yiyi was in trouble!
Yiyi was a minion spirit transformed by Big Tiger, and they shared an extremely close bond, which meant Big Tiger could sense any mishap happening to Yiyi.
Big Tiger was very fast. Even though Lu Ye poured spirit force into his legs, he could only follow behind and eat dust. In his urgency, he could only shout, "Amber, don't be reckless!"
He still didn't know what exactly had happened to Yiyi, and rushing over recklessly was not a good idea.
Big Tiger, being somewhat human-like, slowed down a bit. After Lu Ye caught up, he climbed on its back, and only then did Big Tiger speed up.
Shortly after, behind a large rock, a glow of fire caught their eyes.
There were a few cultivators gathered around a campfire, seemingly preparing to spend the night there. In front of the cultivators, there was an upside-down large bell-like object with spirit light flowing on it and intricate, mysterious runes converging into a slowly rotating pattern around the bell.
There were faint sounds of impacts coming from inside the bell.
Yiyi was trapped in there!
Seeing this scene, Lu Ye knew what had happened. Yiyi was a Spiritual Body; ordinary means couldn't possibly trap her—the bell was clearly a Spiritual Artifact!
Fortunately, after Lu Ye's earlier warning, Big Tiger managed to suppress its animal impulses and didn't immediately pounce forward.
Lu Ye stimulated his spirit force and focused it in his eyes to observe the spirit light on the bodies of those cultivators.
Four cultivators: one at Spirit Stream Level 2, two at Level 3, and one at Level 4!