Sage of Humanity

The great hall had unknowingly opened a dark tunnel leading underground, and cultivators one by one entered into it, their hollow footsteps echoing from the depths below.

Everyone followed the secret path spiraling deeper, walking for about one incense stick's time before reaching a large bronze door.

The door was heavy and ancient, exuding a sense of time-worn decay, and a lifelike dragon was carved on it, as though it were alive.

The door was already open, with a faint red mist swirling behind it.

The cultivators who arrived here did not pause, but surged into the red mist and disappeared, making the open bronze door and swirling red fog seem like an invisible beast dwelling within, swallowing the cultivators one by one.

Lu Ye was right behind Xie Jin, following him into the red mist.

However, as he stepped inside, he suddenly felt weightless. The sensation came quickly and faded just as fast. By the time Lu Ye regained his bearings, Xie Jin's figure had vanished, not just him but all the cultivators who had entered before were nowhere to be seen.

Lu Ye did not panic. On the way here, Qiao Qiao'er had asked him some questions about Dragon Spring, and Xie Jin, not being secretive, had shared quite a bit. However, since his cultivation was not very high, what he knew was mostly hearsay.

One point he did share was the peculiar experience upon entering this place—everyone who entered appeared in a solitary chamber with no one else.

As to why this was the case, Xie Jin could not explain. He mentioned that some senior members of the door speculated it might be related to the secrets of space.

Lu Ye turned to survey his surroundings. The faint red mist was not thick enough to completely obscure the environment. After observing for a while, he found himself seemingly inside a chamber, at the center of which was a spring the size of a bowl gushing water. The gushing water did not flow outward but quickly seeped into the ground, and with the spring's gushing, faint red mist dispersed.

This chamber was not large, with each side roughly ten meters in length, and aside from the mist-enthused spring, there was nothing else.

The current situation struck Lu Ye as novel. He did not know where the others had gone but assumed they were like him, each confined within a solitary chamber.

This place must be hiding some secrets. Lu Ye had no interest in exploring; the local powers that had occupied this area for many years surely must have already unearthed any secrets.

Time was of the essence. Lu Ye walked to a corner of the chamber, took out a meditation cushion from his storage sack, and sat down cross-legged, calming his breath and focusing his spirit.

Xie Jin had mentioned that one only needed to meditate normally here. As one breathed, the faint red mist would temper the cultivator's body.

Lu Ye somewhat worried. His entire path of cultivation had never been normal.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

After trying, indeed, meditating brought no effect; the faint red mist swirling around his body was not drawn inside at all.

This mist was the crucial factor for tempering the cultivator's body. Without pulling it inside, naturally, it would not have the desired tempering effect.

He was prepared for this. Lu Ye began creating Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes in his spiritual orifice...

Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes could transform into a tiny funnel, bringing nature's spiritual energy into his spiritual orifice. If he regarded the faint red mist here as nature's spiritual energy, then the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes should work similarly.

Soon, a Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune was formed, and Lu Ye immediately felt different. Under the rune's influence, the mist gathered, passed through the funnel-shaped spirit rune, and surged into his spiritual orifice.

The sensation was unlike normal cultivation; when the mist entered his spiritual orifice, Lu Ye immediately felt a slight pain. It was not intense—it felt as though someone had gently poked him with a needle.

That reassured him because Xie Jin had mentioned this was a normal phenomenon. Body tempering was not a pleasant experience; everyone would feel pain here.

This was also why Tang Wu had warned everyone to measure their own abilities. The higher the cultivation talent, the greater the benefits received here, but correspondingly, the more intense the pain they had to endure.

As the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune continued to operate, the faint pain persisted.

This pain was almost negligible to Lu Ye, who began constructing a second Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune; after waiting for a moment, a third, a fourth...

Until he had formed thirty Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes, Lu Ye lightly grunted.

By that point, as the faint red mist continued to surge in, the pain became quite noticeable. It no longer felt like gentle pinpricks but as though several long needles were continuously moving through his limbs and body.

Lu Ye temporarily stopped constructing spirit runes, feeling that he could not keep up much longer.

The pain grew increasingly intense until it reached a peak, and Lu Ye suddenly felt an all-encompassing heat, as if his entire body had caught fire. His muscles bulged alarmingly, and veins popped on his forehead, giving him a fierce look.

The intense pain caused his sweat to pour forth, soaking his clothes.

But then, the pain began to subside, though it did not disappear completely, it was much better than before.

Lu Ye steadied his spirit and began constructing Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes again.

Thirty-one, thirty-two... He stopped at forty.

He reached another limit, and the same sensation came again: his body started burning internally, the pain lessened...

He constructed spirit runes for the third time.

Until all his spiritual orifices were enhanced with Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes, totaling fifty-four.

Pale red mist swarmed around him, engulfing Lu Ye as he clenched his fists, enduring the ordeal with great difficulty; his body trembled continuously.

Suddenly, two huge blood-red pupils appeared in his mind, staring at him from mid-air. The sight of those blood-colored eyes filled with chaos and a murderous aura made Lu Ye feel bone-chillingly cold.

It seemed like an instant, yet also like eons had passed when Lu Ye suddenly opened his eyes to find nothing in front of him.

His expression uncertain, he didn't know whether it was just an illusion or something else, but under the gaze of those blood-colored eyes, he distinctly heard an ancient voice saying something that Lu Ye couldn't clearly hear.

At some point, the pain in his body had completely vanished, and a rumbling sound came from his stomach—a feeling of intense hunger he had never experienced before.

Pfft...

A strange noise sounded as Lu Ye looked carefully and saw something flat being expelled with the spring water from the fountain at the center of the chamber.

His expression unsure, he watched for a moment and attempted to retrieve it, but just a few steps out, he felt something was off.

His body... seemed imbalanced, not the dizzy type of unbalance, but one where he couldn't quite control his own body.

He wanted to walk towards the spring, yet within a few steps, he had crossed over it to the other side of the chamber, nearly colliding with the wall.

He hastily stopped, closed his eyes, and silently examined himself.

His blood Qi felt more than twice as abundant as before, and his flesh had become stronger and more powerful; he felt a massive force surging just from gently clenching his fist.

His physique had gained a tremendous boost! This was the root of his inability to control his body, as his strength and speed had increased too much in such a short time, yet his mind had not yet adapted to these enhancements.

When he calmed his mind, even the surroundings seemed to slow down.

Could the Dragon Spring Body Tempering really have such great benefits? Lu Ye was somewhat skeptical.

It shouldn't be, if the Dragon Spring Body Tempering really had such significant benefits, then the top big sects would have long monopolized this place, and there would be no chance for Qingyu Mountain and Tailuo Sect to host the Dragon Spring Meet. Although the top big sects' residences are in the Core Circle, they only needed to send some people over.

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Xie Jin had mentioned that tempering in the Dragon Spring indeed had benefits, but they were not substantial enough to transform a person completely. As compared to the Body Refining treasures monopolized by the top big sects, the Dragon Spring was significantly inferior, so he advised Lu Ye and the others not to have too high expectations but simply to do their best.

Besides the body tempering benefits, the Dragon Spring had another function, which was the reason why the big sect disciples came to share its benefits.

But at this moment, Lu Ye distinctly felt a transformation akin to being reborn.

He took a deep breath, slowly calming his mind, and then turned around to start walking slowly around the chamber.

It wasn't easy at first, and he resembled a toddler learning to walk, occasionally bumping into walls, but after several rounds, he adapted to the change in his body and things got better.

Only then did he see that the pale red mist that had previously filled the area had completely disappeared; the spring still gushed water, but no mist was drifting out.

The hunger grew even stronger, as if he hadn't eaten in many days.

Lu Ye temporarily ignored the mysterious object ejected from the spring and continued walking around the chamber while taking some dried meat from his storage sack to eat.

After eating more than ten jin of dried meat, he finally felt full.

Clang...

A clear sound resonated, Lu Ye was startled at first, then he realized what it meant.

Clang, clang...

The sound picked up in urgency.

Xie Jin had said that when the bell rang three times, it signaled that time was up and everyone had to leave.

Three days had passed? Lu Ye was somewhat surprised; he felt as if he had only spent half a day here.

Before the final bell rang, he quickly walked to the spring, grabbed the object that had earlier erupted from it, and stuffed it directly into his storage sack without even having time to check what it was.

That feeling of being weightless came again, and Lu Ye only saw a blur before he was standing in front of the great bronze doors.

The area was bustling with people, clearly everyone had been sent out; a foul smell spread, making Lu Ye involuntarily frown as the intensely pungent odor seemed to come from several sources, even causing a number of women to emit retching noises.

"Get out, get out, it stinks!" someone shouted, leading the way back the way they had come.

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