For a minor cultivator who had only opened three apertures, these items were undoubtedly a massive fortune.

The ore and spirit talismans couldn't be used for the time being. To improve his cultivation, it all depended on those Spirit Nurturing Pills and Vermillion Dawn Pills.

Leaf Gray placed the ore and most of the spirit pills and talismans into the storage bag given by the Sect Master, then kept it close to his body. He then divided the remaining items into two portions, placing them into Manager Miller's and Ryan Carter's storage bages. One portion he tied at his waist for easy access, the other he hid inside his chest area as a backup.

Afterwards, he changed into a set of clean clothes. The ones he wore before were already tattered and still had bloodstains from the fight with Manager Miller. If he hadn't lacked a change of clothes, he would have discarded them long ago.

New clothes, new atmosphere. Leaf Gray immediately felt refreshed and clear-headed.

Once all preparations were complete, he took out a Spirit Nurturing Pill, put it in his mouth, swallowed it, and began refining the medicinal efficacy.

A warm current soon arose in his lower abdomen; it was the pill's potency dissolving, transforming into Leaf Gray's spiritual power and surging into his spiritual apertures.

The originally not-quite-full apertures gradually became saturated.

However, Leaf Gray soon noticed something strange: there were some peculiar existences around him. These existences were invisible and intangible, yet omnipresent. Only when Leaf Gray calmed his mind could he sense them.

This reminded him of the time when his aptitude was tested, sitting on that disc-shaped formation.

Is this... spiritual energy?

Drawing in and refining spiritual energy was one of the primary methods for cultivators to practice. Spirit stones could be depleted, spirit pills shouldn't be consumed too frequently lest pill toxins accumulate, and refining essence into qi was not very efficient. Thus, often, cultivators practiced by drawing in and refining the heaven and earth's spiritual energy.

Spiritual energy existed everywhere between heaven and earth, only in varying amounts.

But ever since Leaf Gray opened his apertures, he had only sensed the presence of spiritual energy during the aptitude test, and that was due to the vaporized spiritual power from the spirit stones in the formation disc.

Other than that, he had never detected any trace of spiritual energy's presence.

Until now!

Why could he suddenly sense the presence of spiritual energy? It definitely wasn't because his cultivation had increased; there wasn't much difference between opening one aperture and opening three.

So, did that mean the spiritual energy here was dense enough for him to perceive it?

Leaf Gray calmly focused his senses and discovered that the concentration of spiritual energy in the surroundings was only slightly less than during the test environment, but it was far better than in The Lunar Blight or the outside world.

Was this environment unique to the Spirit Creek Battlefield? If so, it seemed cultivators could clearly benefit more from practicing within the battlefield.

Leaf Gray vaguely began to understand the significance of the Spirit Creek Battlefield for cultivators.

In fact, his conjecture was correct. The spiritual energy within the Spirit Creek Battlefield was indeed much denser than the outside world. And this was just in the wilderness of the battlefield. If Leaf Gray could go to the strongholds of the major sects, he would find that the spiritual energy there was even more concentrated. The higher the sect's grade, the greater the spiritual energy density, and the faster a cultivator's progress in practice.

This was also why, over the years, new sects kept springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. Because after establishing a sect, one could obtain a Providentia Pillar, and then possess a piece of land in the Spirit Creek Battlefield belonging to one's own sect. Practicing within the stronghold was far more efficient than in the outside world.

Moreover, the strongholds of the major sects in the battlefield weren't just for cultivation; they could also be used to cultivate spiritual plants and herbs, or for other purposes.

It could be said that each sect's stronghold in the battlefield was the most important foundation of that sect.

Currently, Leaf Gray didn't know much about the situation within the battlefield. He just found it novel after discovering the spiritual energy around him.

However, he didn't attempt to draw in the spiritual energy to practice; that method was inefficient.

Among the several major methods for cultivators to practice, consuming pills was undoubtedly the most efficient.

One day later, Leaf Gray's three apertures were full again. He rested briefly, took out the wolf meat he had cut off earlier, roasted it, and ate it hastily.

The wolf meat didn't taste good; even roasted, it had a gamey, pungent smell. But Leaf Gray knew deeply that his current priority was to enhance his strength, so he naturally didn't want to waste time hunting.

He practiced almost without stopping, consuming one Spirit Nurturing Pill after another.

Half a day later, the barrier of the fourth aperture was broken. Three days later, the fourth aperture was full.

Another three days later, the fifth aperture was full.

Yet another three days later, the sixth aperture was full.

The massive consumption of Vermillion Dawn Pills and Spirit Nurturing Pills allowed Leaf Gray to open his apertures one by one.

By the time all the Spirit Nurturing Pills and Vermillion Dawn Pills were exhausted, Leaf Gray had opened eight apertures, and only half a month had passed!

In half a month, he had consecutively opened five apertures, basically maintaining a pace of opening one aperture every three days. Combined with the previous three apertures, Leaf Gray was now an eight-aperture cultivator, just one step away from the first level of the Spirit Creek stage!

Such a cultivation speed was astonishing. Leaf Gray didn't know how fast others cultivated, but it was absolutely impossible for them to be as fast as him.

Because over this half month, he had swallowed far too many spirit pills.

By now, he had finally confirmed one thing: practicing by consuming pills indeed held no major hidden dangers for him. His spiritual power remained as pure as before, without the spiritual power becoming sluggish or pill toxins accumulating, as the Sect Master had previously mentioned.

Both the Vermillion Dawn Pills and Spirit Nurturing Pills were completely used up, and the barrier of the ninth aperture hadn't been broken yet, which made Leaf Gray feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He tried drawing in spiritual energy to practice, but frustratingly found that this method was extremely inefficient; he had great difficulty drawing the external heaven and earth spiritual energy into his body.

Of course, it wasn't completely ineffective. Leaf Gray estimated that if he practiced here for three to five months, he might have a chance to break through the ninth aperture's barrier.

Three to five months was too long, with too many variables. Leaf Gray needed to reach the Spirit Creek stage as soon as possible to barely have the qualification to survive on the battlefield!

He secretly regretted that the Sect Master hadn't prepared more spirit pills for him.

This, however, was a misconception on his part. Generally, for beginners like Leaf Gray, the correct way to practice was to take one Spirit Nurturing Pill every three to five days. As cultivation gradually increased, the frequency of taking pills could be adjusted accordingly.

The Sect Master had prepared twenty pills for him at once, plus what he originally had, which should have been enough for him to practice for a long time, not to mention there were also some Vermillion Dawn Pills.

Who could have known that he would consume pills like eating beans, using up all the spirit pills in just half a month?

No one in this world practiced cultivation like this. For cultivators, drawing in spiritual energy or using spirit stones were the orthodox and safe ways to practice.