He had been cultivating for an entire day. The spirit stones were all used up, yet his cultivation had only increased by a tiny amount. He remained at the absolute peak of the Earth Fate Realm, and breaking through into the Heavenly Fate Realm seemed impossibly far off.
The rewards from the Sacred Spirit Rankings wouldn't be available for another month. Without enough spirit stones, climbing higher would be even harder.
He had to find another way to get spirit stones!
In the Dragon Ruins Domain, without spirit stones, your cultivation would be far slower than everyone else's — no amount of talent could make up for it. Absorbing the Heavenly Dao force from a single spirit stone was equivalent to half a month or more of ordinary cultivation! Golden Egg was also watching him from the side with eager, pitiful eyes.
As the soul imprint grew deeper, Golden Egg was on the verge of becoming Nie Li's spirit beast. Nie Li needed more spirit stones! As for the Goddess of Plume Flame, she had been cultivating in his room these past few days, and her cultivation was advancing rapidly. But she faced the same problem — not enough spirit stones.
*Knock, knock, knock.* There was a knock at the door outside.
"Come in," Nie Li said.
It was
Xiao Yu looked at Nie Li and smiled faintly. "It hasn't been that long since we last met, and you've already caused another big commotion?"
Nie Li shrugged helplessly. "I didn't go looking for trouble. Trouble just keeps finding me. That woman
Xiao Yu regarded Nie Li with an amused half-smile. "Are you sure Long Yuyin isn't interested in you? Why does she only pick on you?"
"You're overthinking it. That woman thinks far too highly of herself and can't stand anyone being better than her, so she keeps provoking me over and over. I had no choice but to fight back — otherwise she'd really think no one could put her in her place!" Nie Li said calmly. He didn't have the slightest bit of goodwill toward Long Yuyin.
"Still, you'd better be more careful lately. You've stirred up a lot of people now, and it's not just Long Yuyin. I've heard some news — the geniuses from the Eastern Hall have also noticed you! Before, their attention was focused on Long Yuyin, but she's from the Dragon Seal Family, so they can't do anything to her. Then you came into their sights, and you don't have any powerful backing..." Xiao Yu warned Nie Li.
"I know." Nie Li nodded. He had been prepared for this from the start. In the Heavenly Spirit Academy, as long as the suppression didn't threaten his life, it was fine. What storms hadn't he weathered in his previous life? He had survived near-death situations countless times. A bit of rivalry within the Heavenly Spirit Academy? That was nothing.
"So are you still going to the Trial Grounds?" Xiao Yu asked, looking at Nie Li.
"Since I've already made up my mind, how can I back down? Of course I'm going!" Nie Li said firmly. Completing trials in the Trial Grounds always came with rewards — either spirit stones or other valuable items. He had to claim every last one.
Every single spirit stone was precious now. One more spirit stone, or even a spirit stone essence, could be the key to his breakthrough!
Nie Li told the Goddess of Plume Flame to keep cultivating where she was, left Golden Egg at home for her to watch over, then called
The second Trial Grounds they were heading to was called the Ghost Ruins. It had been opened by one of the Ancestral Founders of the Divine Feather Sect. Massive numbers of demon spirits would appear inside. Each person could stay for two days at a time, and for every demon spirit slain, they would receive one soul scale. The more soul scales collected, the more treasures could be exchanged for them.
However, soul scales would completely dissipate once brought outside. They couldn't be stored in a space ring either — they could only be carried in cloth bags. So after each trial, all soul scales had to be exchanged right away.
The Ghost Ruins could only be entered once per month.
There was also a ranking board in the Ghost Ruins, tracking the number of demon spirits slain within two days. Long Yuyin, ranked tenth, had killed thirty thousand demon spirits in two days. The first-ranked
Of course, Murong Yu was a genius from the previous generation. Long Yuyin was a newcomer of this one.
Nie Li checked the numbers. Killing a thousand demon spirits earned thirty spirit stones. That meant Long Yuyin had earned nine hundred spirit stones in just two days inside. Besides that, the soul scales could be exchanged for all kinds of other items — numerous demon spirits, spirit stone essences, magical weapons, and more.
"Nie Li, that woman Long Yuyin got thirty thousand soul scales! You can't be any worse than her, right? We're going to be rich!" Lu Piao exclaimed excitedly.
"But you all need to be careful. The Ghost Ruins are far more dangerous than the Sacred Spirit Realm. All sorts of things can happen — someone might even ambush us on the way out. Plus, we'll be teleported to different parts of the Ghost Ruins and won't be able to help each other, so watch yourselves!" Xiao Yu cautioned.
"Understood," Nie Li and Lu Piao both replied. They were both curious about the Ghost Ruins.
The entrance to the Ghost Ruins was a strange, swirling vortex guarded by two powerful sentinels.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Nie Li and the other two plunged into the vortex and vanished from the entrance of the Ghost Ruins.
Not long after the three of them entered the Ghost Ruins, a group of people appeared at its entrance.