Leaf Gray wasn't in a hurry to consume the Barrier Breaking Fruit. He didn't know if it was genuine or not, so how could he rashly take it?

The battle with the big tiger, though brief, was extremely dangerous in that fleeting moment of confrontation, and he was injured. Previously, he had been in a standoff with the big tiger and hadn't had time to check his wounds.

Now, taking off his clothes, he saw that the flesh on his chest was a bloody mess, with several deep claw marks across his entire chest. The blood had long since dyed his clothes red below the chest.

Fortunately, he was no longer an ordinary mortal. During the standoff with the big tiger, he had deliberately circulated spiritual power to block the wounds, so the bleeding wasn't too severe, though the injury looked quite gruesome.

He moved his muscles and bones, confirming there were no fractures, and breathed a sigh of relief. If it was just superficial wounds, they were easier to handle.

He still had eight Healing Pills left, which were quite effective for healing.

Taking out the bottle containing the Healing Pills, Leaf Gray poured one out and swallowed it. He took another one, crushed it with his fingers, and evenly applied the powder to the wounds on his chest.

A sharp, teeth-gritting pain followed.

After finishing this, he put his clothes back on, sat down cross-legged, and began refining and absorbing the medicinal power of the Healing Pill.

By the next day, Leaf Gray felt much better. The wounds had begun to heal and scab over, and he believed they would recover fully in a few days.

In the meantime, he finished eating the remaining part of the big snake he hadn't finished before, replenishing his strength.

At daybreak, Leaf Gray went to a water source a few miles away, easily caught a fat rabbit, and carried it back by its ears towards the cave.

A short while later, Leaf Gray sat cross-legged in the cave, holding the Barrier Breaking Fruit. He took out his long sword, gently shaved off a layer of the fruit's flesh, then pried open the rabbit's mouth, stuffed the fruit flesh inside, closed the rabbit's mouth, and shook it vigorously for a while.

Ensuring the rabbit had eaten every bit of the flesh, Leaf Gray then released it. Perhaps too frightened, the rabbit crouched on the ground, not moving at all.

Leaf Gray ignored it, blocking the cave entrance to prevent its escape, and began inspecting the several storage bages that Evie had brought over. Yesterday, when Evie and Amber left, they didn't ask for these storage bages back, mainly because they had restriction locks and were useless to them.

The storage bages were covered in mud, as if they had been dug out of the ground.

Picking up one storage bag at random, Leaf Gray channeled spiritual power into it. However, he clearly felt that his spiritual power couldn't penetrate the pouch, blocked by a peculiar force.

That was the restriction lock. Each storage bag had its own restriction lock, and the key to unlocking it was the spiritual power of its owner, the cultivator.

Leaf Gray originally had three storage bages: one from Manager Miller, one from Ryan Carter, and one given to him by the Sect Master.

The one from Manager Miller had a restriction lock, but before Manager Miller died, he had opened that lock to take a sword out of the pouch. The situation was critical then, and Manager Miller simply didn't have the spare energy or the mind to relock the storage bag, so the contents inside ultimately benefited Leaf Gray.

The storage bag from Ryan Carter had its restriction lock forcibly opened by the Sect Master for him.

These two storage bages had remained in an unlocked state.

The storage bag given to him by the Sect Master was brand new. After Leaf Gray obtained it, he nurtured the restriction lock within the pouch with his own spiritual power, allowing his spiritual power to seep into the restriction. This enabled him to freely open and close the restriction lock.

If his storage bag were accidentally lost, even if someone else obtained it, they couldn't easily open it unless they had some special unlocking technique.

Leaf Gray naturally had no special unlocking techniques; he was merely attempting it out of casual boredom.

Spiritual power slowly seeped into the storage bag. Feeling the presence of the restriction lock, Leaf Gray continuously surged his spiritual power, impacting against the restriction lock.

Once, twice... upon the third time, the restriction lock suddenly vanished without a trace.

Just as Leaf Gray was stunned, the storage bag in his hand abruptly burst into flames, burning fiercely. He hurriedly threw the pouch away, watching helplessly as it burned to black ash in an extremely short time...

It could do this? Leaf Gray frowned.

Only then did he understand that the restriction lock wasn't just for protecting the storage bag and preventing strangers from taking its contents; at critical moments, it could even destroy the entire storage bag.

This had a bit of a "rather be a shattered piece of jade than an unbroken tile" flavor to it.

It seemed that without special unlocking techniques, one really couldn't act recklessly. Destroying the storage bag was a minor issue; what if those restriction locks concealed some dangerous prohibitions? He might even get injured because of it.

Leaf Gray put away the remaining storage bages and went to check the rabbit's condition.

No problems, it was still alive and kicking, looking quite cute.

Grabbing the rabbit's head, he gave it a sharp twist. Crack. Such a cute rabbit must taste delicious.

Confirmed. Even if the Barrier Breaking Fruit didn't have the effect of breaking through barriers, it at least wasn't poisonous.

Leaf Gray completely set his mind at ease. He walked to his cultivation spot, took out a meditation mat, sat down cross-legged, then took out the Barrier Breaking Fruit and took a bite.

Juice overflowed, leaving a fragrant taste in his mouth—unexpectedly sweet. Leaf Gray raised an eyebrow and quickly devoured the entire Barrier Breaking Fruit.

The fruit had no pit, similar to a small tomato.

Savoring the taste for a moment, Leaf Gray closed his eyes and concentrated, quietly sensing.

Initially, there was no change, but soon a stream of heat surged in his lower abdomen, similar to the feeling when he previously took spirit pills for cultivation. The difference was, when he took spirit pills before, their medicinal power would transform into spiritual power or vital energy. However, the heat generated by the Barrier Breaking Fruit was neither spiritual power nor vital energy; it was a type of power Leaf Gray had never felt before.

The heat accumulated in his abdomen. Leaf Gray tried to guide it into his Origin Spiritual Aperture.

Very smoothly...

The heat flow passed through the Origin Spiritual Aperture into the Second Spirit Aperture, then immediately flowed into the Third Spirit Aperture, the Fourth Spirit Aperture...

In a short while, it passed through the Eighth Spirit Aperture and continued to impact towards the Ninth Spirit Aperture.

The next moment, Leaf Gray felt the spirit aperture barrier at his Ninth Spirit Aperture rapidly dissolving, like snow under the scorching sun!

This discovery shocked him. He remembered the great effort required to open each previous aperture, repeatedly guiding spiritual power to impact the spirit aperture barriers. Moreover, the feeling during the impact was extremely unpleasant, as if someone was tapping the location of the spirit aperture with a small hammer. After many times, a sore and swollen sensation was inevitable.

But now, there was no impact, nor any discomfort. Where the efficacy of the Barrier Breaking Fruit reached, the spirit aperture barriers rapidly dissolved.

Comparing the two, the Barrier Breaking Fruit was simply a boon for cultivators opening apertures.

No wonder when he previously asked Evie about the use of the Barrier Breaking Fruit, that woman looked at him strangely. Now it seemed the Barrier Breaking Fruit was certainly not an unknown item; probably every cultivator knew about the existence of this spirit fruit.