After a day of rest, Leaf Gray felt the fatigue from days of continuous cultivation sweep away completely. It was time to advance towards the third layer of the Spirit Creek Realm!

He wasn't in a hurry to take the spirit pills. Instead, he first activated his spiritual power to locate the position of the nineteenth aperture.

Now at the second layer of the Spirit Creek Realm, his spiritual power was much stronger and more abundant than two months ago, so locating the positions of his spiritual apertures felt more effortless.

In less time than it takes an incense stick to burn, he found the location of the nineteenth aperture.

Only then did he take out a Spirit Nurturing Pill, refine its power, and guide his spiritual power to impact the barrier of the nineteenth aperture.

Three days later, after consuming nearly eleven Spirit Nurturing Pills, the nineteenth aperture was full.

This result was within expectations.

Before achieving the Spirit Creek Realm, his aperture opening frequency was roughly one aperture every three days, requiring about six spirit pills.

Upon reaching the first layer of the Spirit Creek Realm, the aperture opening frequency didn't change much, but the number of pills consumed per aperture increased to about eight or nine.

Now at the second layer of the Spirit Creek Realm, the consumption had increased again, reaching eleven pills. The time required still hadn't changed much, mainly because his higher cultivation level improved the efficiency of refining the pills.

It seemed that the higher his cultivation realm, the more pills he would need to consume to open subsequent apertures.

Currently, he had twenty pills left, which should be enough to open two more apertures.

Leaf Gray calculated silently: if he maintained the frequency of one aperture every three days, opening all 360 apertures would take a full one thousand and eighty days!

This result made him secretly gasp. He didn't know how other cultivators practiced, but his own cultivation speed shouldn't be slow. Even so, wanting to cultivate to the ninth layer of the Spirit Creek Realm would take nearly three years.

Over the next few days, Leaf Gray stayed indoors without leaving the cave. It wasn't until the last spirit pill was exhausted that he walked out of the cave.

The result was similar to what he had anticipated: his spiritual apertures had opened to the twenty-first, but they were not full.

To cultivate to the twenty-seventh aperture, he would need at least nearly seventy more Spirit Nurturing Pills. The only ores he had left now were the Metamagnetic Ore; all the other miscellaneous ores had been sold to the Providentia Merchant Alliance in the previous two transactions.

This time, he would need to sell two pieces of Metamagnetic Ore to buy seventy spirit pills.

Half a day later, Leaf Gray walked into the Providentia Merchant Alliance. When he came out again, his storage bag contained eighty-one Spirit Nurturing Pills and a few spirit stones.

A graceful figure stood by the window on the second floor of the Trade Union, watching his departing back. The person hesitated for a long time, then sighed, reached out, and touched the back of her hand. A mark immediately appeared there. Unlike the blue battlefield mark on Leaf Gray's hand, the mark on the woman's hand was yellow.

She spoke softly into the mark a few words, and the mark disappeared from sight.

The time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, she walked out of the Trade Union. When acquaintances greeted her, she responded with smiles.

In Jade Mountain, Leaf Gray rushed back towards the direction of his cave. He didn't know if it was his illusion or what, but after leaving the Jade Market, he had a strange feeling.

But exactly what was strange, he couldn't say.

It wasn't until he took several large detours in the forest just now that he suddenly noticed a figure appearing near him. However, before he could get a clear look, the figure disappeared.

Was he being targeted? Leaf Gray immediately became alert.

He was always extremely careful every time he entered and left the market, especially on the return journey. The previous two times had been uneventful, but this time he was actually targeted by an unknown cultivator. This puzzled him; he didn't know if the person chasing him was specifically looking for him or if it was a chance encounter.

If it was the latter, then so be it. But if it was the former, then it was somewhat thought-provoking.

Fortunately, the other party's speed wasn't very fast. With Leaf Gray going all out, it was somewhat difficult for that person to catch up with him. This indicated that the other party's cultivation level wasn't very high either.

This wasn't hard to understand. Cultivators active in the outer circles of the battlefield generally weren't very highly cultivated.

Just as he was thinking this, spiritual power suddenly surged behind him, followed by a chilling sensation. Leaf Gray turned his head to look and saw an ice spike shooting through the air, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

Leaf Gray was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly turned around, drew his sword, and slashed. With spiritual power activated, the long sword split the ice spike, scattering freezing coldness all over Leaf Gray's face.

Affected by the impact force of the ice spike, Leaf Gray lost his footing and stumbled backward several steps uncontrollably. He used the momentum to roll over before regaining his footing, looking extremely disheveled.

However, by the time he got up, the ambusher had already closed in. It was a man a few years older than him, with a fair complexion and no beard. Two fist-sized earrings hung from his ears, giving him a somewhat exotic flavor.

The weapon in his hand resembled both a knife and a sword. It was longer than an ordinary sword but only half the width of a normal blade, looking somewhat similar to the legendary Xiuchun knife.

Taking advantage of Leaf Gray just getting up, the fair-skinned male cultivator swung his knife down.

In his haste, Leaf Gray had no time to activate the sharpness spirit pattern to enhance his long sword. He could only raise his sword to block.

With a clang, sparks flew. Leaf Gray's tiger mouth (the web between thumb and forefinger) went numb, and the long sword in his hand almost flew out. He was also pressed down by this knife strike, his body sinking low, nearly kneeling on the ground.

"Oh?" The fair-skinned man seemed somewhat surprised that Leaf Gray had blocked his well-prepared strike.

Just as he was feeling astonished, Leaf Gray's long sword had already parried his weapon and thrust towards his chest.

The fair-skinned man remained calm in the face of change. His long knife trembled lightly a few times. Before Leaf Gray could react to what was happening, he felt a pain in his arm. The thrusting long sword lost its strength and was easily dodged by the other party.

This missed thrust caused Leaf Gray to lean forward. A gleam of knife light entered his sight, sending a chill through his entire body. He felt the aura of death rushing towards him.

With a clang... the long knife struck Leaf Gray's chest, but it didn't feel like it hit flesh. Instead, it sent Leaf Gray flying.

Looking at Leaf Gray again, a layer of golden light enveloped him. It was this layer of golden light that protected him, saving him from the fate of severe injury! He had realized he was no match and hurriedly taken out a defensive spirit talisman and slapped it on himself.

"Golden Body Talisman?" The fair-skinned man's eyes turned somewhat red. It wasn't out of jealousy that Leaf Gray had a talisman to use, but because this talisman should have been his spoils of war. Seeing Leaf Gray waste it like this made his heart ache.

However, this confirmed that the intelligence he received was correct. This second-layer Spirit Creek realm rogue cultivator indeed had substantial financial resources; otherwise, how could he have spirit talismans to use? It must be known that the value of any random spirit talisman was ten or twenty spirit stones. It was rare for low-level cultivators to use talismans in fights; most didn't have the financial means, at most keeping one or two for emergencies.

Looking at the golden light enveloping Leaf Gray, the fair-skinned man floated backward several zhang (1 zhang ≈ 3.33 m), holding his knife in one hand and making hand seals with the other. As a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth, visible spiritual power gathered at his fingertips.