At the same time, the fire energy was nourishing and improving Leo’s physique. The pressure from the fire energy did not cause Leo much discomfort. It seemed that cultivation at the Spirit King level could fully withstand this kind of fire energy pressure.
Feeling reassured, Leo stepped onto the second step, then turned back to Violet and said, “Come on up.”
Violet had a Fire Spirit Physique, which allowed her to absorb fire energy and improve her cultivation. Although Violet’s cultivation was far inferior to Leo’s, she felt much less pressure from the fire energy.
Violet easily stepped onto the first step and followed Leo step by step.
Soon, Leo and Violet reached the final step. The pressure from the fire energy suddenly lightened, and they arrived at the third level of the Azure Dragon Shrine.
When they saw what was inside the third level, both Leo and Violet couldn’t help but show expressions of surprise.
The third level was filled with a mountain of Spirit Stones!
The rich spiritual energy emitted by the Spirit Stones filled the entire third level.
“Leo, I can’t believe there are so many Spirit Stones here!” Violet exclaimed in surprise.
Leo felt excited and thrilled. With so many Spirit Stones, his time to break through to the lower stage of Spirit Saint would be greatly shortened.
Leo quickly stepped forward to the Spirit Stones. Using a control technique, a Spirit Stone flew into his hand.
The Spirit Stone was a crystalline white color, indicating it contained abundant spiritual energy. On its surface were faint red streaks.
This was a High-Quality Spirit Stone!
Low-Quality Spirit Stones were grayish-white, Medium-Quality Spirit Stones were light white, and High-Quality Spirit Stones were crystalline white.
Typically, a Medium-Quality Spirit Stone contained at least as much spiritual energy as one hundred Low-Quality Spirit Stones. Similarly, a High-Quality Spirit Stone contained as much spiritual energy as one hundred Medium-Quality Spirit Stones. Thus, one High-Quality Spirit Stone contained as much spiritual energy as ten thousand Low-Quality Spirit Stones.
Spirit Stones had a peculiar characteristic: whether high, medium, or low quality, they could only be divided into pieces the size of a baby’s fist, known as the basic size of a Spirit Stone. If divided smaller than this basic size, the Spirit Stone would become unstable and crumble into powder, releasing its contained spiritual energy.
The conversion between different qualities of Spirit Stones was based on this basic size.
To Leo, the piles of High-Quality Spirit Stones before him was like an ordinary person seeing a room full of valuable gold.
These High-Quality Spirit Stones had been in the Azure Dragon Shrine for a very long time. Leo could clearly feel that the Spirit Stones had been infused with pure fire energy.
“Leo, let’s take these Spirit Stones with us,” Violet suggested.
Leo nodded, took out a Void Storage Talisman and a Storage Sack, and began to pack the Spirit Stones.
Even after filling both the Void Storage Talisman and the Storage Sack, they had only packed half of the Spirit Stones.
Looking at the remaining half of the Spirit Stones, Violet said, “Leo, when we run out of these Spirit Stones, we can come back for more.”
Leo nodded and turned his gaze to the staircase leading to the fourth level. He wondered what treasures awaited them on the fourth level.
Noticing Leo’s gaze, Violet asked, “Leo, should we check out the fourth level?”
“Of course,” Leo replied as he walked towards the staircase.
As they approached the staircase to the fourth level, they could see dense fire energy with their naked eyes. Leo could clearly feel that the pressure was more than twice as strong as at the entrance to the third level.
Leo activated his Nine Heavens Star Chart and protected himself with spiritual power as he stepped onto the first stair. The powerful fire energy immediately forced him to stagger back several steps.
“The fire energy on the fourth level is too strong; we can’t go up,” Leo shook his head and said.
Although he had anticipated this outcome, Leo still felt a bit disappointed and even more curious about what lay on the fourth level.
“When you advance to Spirit Saint, maybe you’ll be able to go up,” Violet said with wide eyes.
Leo smiled and nodded. Being able to enter the third level and obtain so many High-Quality Spirit Stones made this trip worthwhile.
“Violet, you should stay on the third level and break through to mid-stage Spirit Master,” Leo suggested.
The third level had abundant fire energy and plenty of High-Quality Spirit Stones with rich spiritual energy. It was the perfect place for Violet to advance her cultivation.
“Okay,” Violet replied with a smile.
“Train well. I’ll return to the sect first,” Leo said as he gently pinched Violet’s soft cheek.
Violet obediently nodded her head.
As he flew back to Seven Stars Sect on his sword, Leo felt confident. “Sophia, wait for me. I’ll come for you soon!”
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, six months had passed. During this time, the spatial rift above West Sea neither expanded nor closed; it remained in a relatively stable state.
Although no Demonkin or Cultivators had come through the spatial rift to Earth in these six months, a Planar Conduit leading to Earth had been noticed by Cultivators from a certain sect in the cultivation world.
In the cultivation world, every newly discovered secret realm or spatial rift represented a powerful opportunity. Cultivators inherently believed that secret realms usually contained abundant cultivation resources.
One day, three powerful Cultivators entered through the spatial rift on the vast grassland. They passed through a small frozen space world and arrived on Earth.
West Sea.
In the vast blue sky, white seagulls flew and occasionally let out clear cries. Below the sea surface, waves sparkled as numerous marine creatures frolicked in this sea area.
After six months, research vessels reappeared in the waters surrounding the spatial rift. Although researchers knew that powerful beings or monsters might emerge from the rift one day and take their lives, some things were more important than life itself-such as scientific research and monitoring the activity of this spatial rift.
Today, just as researchers were starting their day’s work, three figures flew out from the spatial rift.
“This is actually a low-level world with thin spiritual energy. Interesting…” Among them, a tall man stood in mid-air. As he released his divine sense to scan everything in sight, his lips curled into a slight smirk that gave him an air of wickedness.
To him, this world likely had few strong individuals; they might become its rulers. In other words, they could plunder everything here at will.
“Tristen, Lawson, this world probably doesn’t have any powerful cultivators. We can split up to investigate,” said the tall man.
“Yes, Saul.”