Chapter 59, The Secret of the Skill Tree

Lu Ye had not noticed anything before he began paying attention to this matter in detail. Now that he was explicitly investigating this matter, he could clearly sense the existence of the Skill Tree. That mysterious tree had taken root in his Source Spiritual Point.

The Pill Power of the Spirit Restoring Pill dissolved in his abdomen and turned into Spiritual Power. While concentrating on guiding the Pill Power into his Spiritual Points, he paid close attention to the Skill Tree.

The Spiritual Power converted from the Pill Power could not be directly injected into just any random Spiritual Point. It must first pass through the Source Spiritual Point.

Take his 21st Spiritual Point that was currently only partially filled for example. The Spiritual Power he obtained by consuming the Spirit Pill had to first go through the Source Spiritual Point before it could flow into the 21st Spiritual Point. If any of the Spiritual Points were too far away from the Source Spiritual Point, then the Spiritual Power would need to pass through several other Spiritual Points along the way.

There were no exceptions. The Source Spiritual Point was the entry point for receiving Spiritual Power. That was the reason why it was dubbed as the Source Spiritual Point. It was also the most important Spiritual Point for all cultivators.

Based on his understanding, the Source Spiritual Point was similar to the dantian that all Martial Arts Masters had. Having said that, the Source Spiritual Point was indeed located right at the dantian.

In addition, the Spiritual Points unlocked by low-grade cultivation techniques were generally located close to the Source Spiritual Point. Therefore, there was no need for transfers between Spiritual Points. The Spiritual Power would only need to pass through the Source Spiritual Point.

In the past, he had never bothered to examine the process carefully. After intentionally observing the process, he was astonished to learn that the Spiritual Power converted from the Pill Power… did not seem to be as pure as his own Spiritual Power. That Spiritual Power was mixed with a trace of something unknown. That ‘something’ was most likely harmful to his body.

[Is that the Pill Poison?] A thought popped up in his mind. The Sect Master had once mentioned that all medicine was somewhat poisonous, including the Spirit Pills that cultivators consumed. The lower the quality of the Spirit Pill, the more the Pill Poison. That was why cultivators needed to figure out a way to remove the Pill Poison from their bodies after consuming Spirit Pills during their cultivation. Otherwise, various hidden dangers would remain in their bodies.

That vaguely contaminated Spiritual Power flowed into his Source Spiritual Point, passed through his Source Spiritual Point, and flowed into his 21st Spiritual Point. However, something strange happened during that process. Not the slightest trace of Pill Poison remained in the Spiritual Power that flowed into his 21st Spiritual Point. It had become as pure as the Spiritual Power in the rest of his Spiritual Points.

He became acutely aware of this. From this, he could be certain that the changes in his Spiritual Power had occurred within his Source Spiritual Point. Hence, he hurriedly focused most of his attention on his Source Spiritual Point. Upon a closer inspection, he soon discovered the hidden mystery.

The Skill Tree that had rooted itself in his Source Spiritual Point had grown roots. It seemed to be absorbing the Spiritual Power in his Source Spiritual Point, circulating it through the tree trunk, and feeding it back out. The vaguely contaminated Spiritual Power became pure after going through that process. During the entire process, a grey aura similar to ashes was continuously discharged from the tree trunk of the Skill Tree.

Sure enough; the crux of the matter lay in the Skill Tree! According to what he observed, the Skill Tree seemed to have the ability to purify Spiritual Power. All the Pill Poison had been burned off by the Skill Tree.

Then, he remembered something else. Ever since he achieved Enlightenment, he would feel slightly uncomfortable after every cultivation session because it felt as if he was covered in a layer of dust. That situation had only become more and more obvious after he entered the Spirit Creek Battlefield and consumed a lot of the Spirit Restoring Pills. On the contrary, this situation had not occurred during the period where he refined his vitality into Qi and did not consume the Spirit Restoring Pills.

After combining all of these facts together, he finally came to a realisation. The Skill Tree had the ability to purify Spiritual Power. Thus, all the Pill Poison he accumulated from consuming Spirit Pills while cultivating had been burned off by the Skill Tree. That was why he had suffered no hidden dangers from consuming so many Spirit Pills during his cultivation. Since the burned Pill Poison could not just disappear without reason, it had been excreted from his body. That was what caused him to feel as though he was covered in a layer of dust after every cultivation session.

Everything became clear now. All his previous conjectures had been confirmed, but the results were not that surprising. Nevertheless, he would no longer experience any psychological pressure from consuming Spirit Pills while cultivating in the future after learning the truth.

He relaxed his mind and continued to guide the Pill Power in his abdomen. The Spiritual Power in his 21st Spiritual Point gradually increased as a result.

At first, Yi Yi had monitored him nervously. However, she accidentally fell asleep when she saw that his condition was no longer abnormal. The Heavens only knew how a Spirit could fall asleep…

She was awakened by the sound of something slicing through the air. By the time she opened her eyes again, the sky had already gotten bright and the bonfire next to her had long since died. Not far away, Lu Ye stood topless with his knife in one hand. He was continuously making slashing motions. Each move could not be considered fast but his expression was meticulous.

[This guy… Is he made of steel?] The corner of her eyes twitched at the sight.

The truth was that he had slept for six hours last night. Although a cultivator’s body was stronger than that of an ordinary person, they still needed rest. That was all the more so for a low-level cultivator like him who had yet to completely separate himself from the limits of ordinary men. It was just that he knew how difficult the road ahead was going to be, so he could not afford to waste any time.

By the time he finished his morning training, Yi Yi and the tiger had already gathered enough firewood to start a fire. Therefore, he took out a section of the snake’s body from his Storage Bag and tossed it to them to handle.

After they ate their fill, they continued on their journey.

The journey was not as nice as he had imagined. During the bumpy journey, he swallowed a Spirit Restoring Pill and tried to cultivate whilst riding on the tiger’s back. As long as he could not solve this problem, he would waste a lot of time on this journey.

Along the way, they would occasionally encounter some low-level cultivators passing by in a haste. It was just that the tiger would avoid them in advance. In any case, as long as none of those cultivators were sick in the head, none of them would dare to challenge the tiger that they saw from afar. Besides, they might not even manage to catch up to the tiger.

When night fell, they would find a suitable place to rest as usual. He would then eat some snake meat, practise his swordplay, consume some Spirit Pills, and cultivate. Today’s progress had been fairly good. Although he still felt that riding on the tiger’s back was very bumpy, he at least managed to start cultivating. It was just that his efficiency was rather low.

At dawn, he took out the 10-point map and compared his current position with his starting position to determine the direction of their travels and their nearest destination. Despite riding on the tiger for two days, they had yet to leave the mountain range of Green Cloud Mountain. That just went to show how vast this mountain range was.

Another day later, it was evening when Lu Ye gazed at the city not far away and let out a long sigh. They had finally arrived at the nearest destination. This place was labelled as Green Cloud City No.5 on the 10-point map.

He attracted a lot of attention when he rode the tiger into the city. Although he had seen many cultivators with Spirit Beasts accompanying them during his time in Green Cloud City No.3, those Spirit Beasts had been small and insignificant. None of them was as majestic as the tiger.

At the beginning, he had considered asking the tiger to wait for him outside the city. Unfortunately, the tiger’s true strength was simply not powerful enough. Not to mention that they were unfamiliar with this place. Things might end badly if the tiger ended up accidentally intruding on another Spirit Beast’s territory.

After mulling over it, he decided to bring the tiger along with him. He was planning to rest here for a night. He had to admit that having the tiger by his side was very intimidating for others. Therefore, many of the more cowardly cultivators gave him a wide berth.

About half an hour later, Lu Ye came to the Divine Trade Association in this city. He did not have any Spirit Stones on hand, but the Trade Association also accepted Spirit Pills as payment. Hence, he was led to a guest room on the third-floor by a person of the Trade Association after he paid for his stay with a Spirit Restoring Pill.

The room was not that big, but it was very clean. He fed the tiger a Spirit Restoring Pill. Then, the tiger lay on the floor and rested. On the other hand, Yi Yi, who had been staying hidden for a long time, finally came out for a breath of fresh air. Meanwhile, Lu Ye sat cross-legged on the bed, guiding the Pill Power to penetrate the barrier of his 22nd Spiritual Point.