「Two years later.」

Jade Dew Island, Xuankong Peak.

Inside the cave-abode.

Su Ye sat cross-legged, his eyes slightly lowered.

He circulated a Magical Power Circulation, devouring spiritual energy like a great whale drinking the sea. The Spiritual Qi, like a tidal wave, was so dense within the cave-abode that it was almost tangible!

This cave-abode was situated at the point of highest Spiritual Energy Concentration within Jade Dew Island’s Spirit Vein!

A peak Tier Four Spirit Vein!

Before this, the cave-abode had belonged to Qinghe.

But now, Qinghe was permanently stationed at the Fog Sea Gray Wall and was swamped with duties.

Therefore, based on the principle of not letting things go to waste,

Su Ye had shamelessly and openly taken over the magpie’s nest.

He moved into the cave-abode to cultivate!

Compared to Canghai Mountain, the Spiritual Energy Concentration on Jade Dew Island was a full tier higher!

"Haaa..."

"A peak Tier Four cave-abode... the effects are truly impressive."

Su Ye opened his eyes.

A flash of azure spiritual light flickered in them and was gone!

His Magical Power had progressed once again during this period of seclusion!

He had taken a solid step toward the Late-stage Crystal realm.

"Heh..." Su Ye chuckled lightly.

’Enjoying a high-tier Spirit Vein ahead of schedule to speed up my cultivation... I guess this counts as a unique advantage of mine, huh?’

After all, for a normal cultivator, once the basic requirements for cultivation were met, the marginal utility of upgrading to a higher-tier Spirit Vein was very noticeable.

For example, if a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s environment was changed from a Tier Two Spirit Vein to a low-grade Tier Three Spirit Vein,

their cultivation speed would increase.

However, continuing to raise the Spirit Vein’s tier—

for instance, changing to a mid-grade Tier Three Spirit Vein—would yield a much smaller boost.

Going even higher, to a high-grade Tier Three Spirit Vein, the increase in cultivation speed would be almost imperceptible!

A cultivator’s ability to absorb Spiritual Qi had its limits.

In fact, a Spirit Vein of too high a tier could even become a burden to the cultivator.

It could flood their physical body and cause harm!

This was why even sects led by Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t let their core disciples cultivate on a Tier Five Spirit Vein in the early stages of their training.

However,

for Su Ye, this limitation did not exist!

’With the cultivation acceleration from the Ghostly Flood Dragon, my speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi is several times that of a cultivator with a Celestial Spiritual Root!’

’And my Tier Three Late Stage Body Refining realm means my physical constitution has no fear of the impact from the Spiritual Qi...’

The combination of these two factors

meant that

back when Su Ye was in the Early-stage Crystal realm,

he had been able to adapt to the peak Tier Three Spirit Vein on Canghai Mountain!

Now that he had entered the Mid-stage Crystal realm, adapting to a peak Tier Four Spirit Vein was no problem either!

As a result, his cultivation progressed rapidly, and his Magical Power accumulated and improved at a swift pace!

...

"Haaa..."

Having finished this round of cultivation,

Su Ye retracted his power, stood up, and cast a Dust Purification Spell for a quick clean.

He walked outside the cave-abode and down a flight of stone steps to the quiet area behind the mountain. An open-air hot spring paved with marble had been built there, its steam rising in white plumes!

Seeing this, Su Ye smiled, thoroughly pleased.

He had specially ordered this open-air hot spring to be built after he moved into the new cave-abode.

"Ahhh..."

He slipped off his black robe.

The hot spring water enveloped his skin.

Su Ye’s eyes narrowed slightly in pure comfort.

The mental fatigue from his long period of seclusion began to fade away.

The path of cultivation was about balancing work and rest; pure ascetic training could easily breed inner demons!

As he enjoyed the soothing warmth of the spring and splashed idly in the water, Su Ye thought to himself.

’This period of seclusion lasted a full two years.’

’Let’s see... am I over fifty now?’

Su Ye summoned a water mirror.

The person in the mirror looked the same as he had decades ago.

His face was like carved jade, his bearing handsome and graceful—the very picture of a beautiful young man!

The passage of time

seemed to have had no effect on him.

"That’s true," Su Ye chuckled.

’For a Crystal-realm cultivator, fifty years... is but a brief one-tenth of their lifespan.’

’What’s more, I’ve cultivated the Frost Jade Dao Body. My bones are like jade, and my lifespan is superior to others of the same realm, reaching a full six hundred years!’

At his current stage,

Su Ye wasn’t worried about his dwindling lifespan.

His cultivation progressed far faster than his life was passing!

With such a rapid advancement speed,

even though he had never taken any life-extending or Youthful Appearance Elixirs,

he still maintained his ageless face and youthful appearance, his fair, delicate skin glowing with a warm, jade-like quality!

It was a manifestation of his vibrant life force!

Su Ye took a moment to admire his own perpetually youthful, handsome face.

Then, he began to take stock of his gains from the past two years of seclusion.

First, the panel!

His [Pastor of the Sea] level had increased!

[Class: Pastor of the Sea Lv. 6 (10,021/60,000)]

[Class Attribute Bonuses: Damage +51, Defense +31, Evasion +18, Mystery +18]

His two Pioneer Certificates provided Su Ye with over four thousand experience points per year.

In the three years since returning to Yaoguang, relying on the Pioneer Certificates and other experience-grinding activities, Su Ye had easily replenished the experience consumed by purifying the Eternal Hunting Divinity.

He had also raised his [Pastor of the Sea] level to Lv. 6!

Next was Su Ye’s Cultivation Realm!

’Right now, using this peak Tier Four Spirit Vein as my cave-abode...’

’At my current cultivation speed, I should be able to advance to the Late-stage Crystal realm in about six or seven years!’

Such an astonishing speed!

It was completely unheard of, even among cultivators with Celestial Spiritual Roots!

If word got out, how many cultivators’ eyeballs would pop out in shock?!

However,

even so,

Su Ye still revealed a hint of dissatisfaction?

’A pity...’

’If I could absorb a Spiritual Spring Origin, my cultivation speed would probably be even faster...’

Su Ye’s face showed a trace of regret as he recalled it with a touch of nostalgia.

By absorbing the Aino Spiritual Spring,

he had skipped five years of cultivation time in just half a month to reach the Mid-stage Crystal realm!

This just went to show how efficient it was!

’The Holy Spring Spirit Liquid seems to be classified by the panel as a type of cultivation resource.’

’As a result, under the panel’s cultivation acceleration, its effects are multiplied several times over, making my refinement of the Holy Spring Spirit Liquid far more effective than it would be for an ordinary cultivator...’

This was something Su Ye had realized over the past two years.

’So, as long as there’s a Spiritual Spring Origin for me to absorb and refine,’

’I might be able to reach Crystal Perfection in a very short amount of time!’

However, this was no easy task.

Every city-state was protected by a deity.

Pillaging a Spiritual Spring was risky.

Wary of these deities, Su Ye was still quite cautious about starting a war!

—He had almost died at the hands of the Eternal Hunter Incarnation!

If not for his [Evasion] attribute kicking in, he would most likely have met a grim fate...

’Unless... I can find a Tier Four combatant to act as cannon fodder for me and test the deity’s strength.’

’Otherwise, I’d rather cultivate until the Late-stage Crystal realm, when I’m completely confident, before provoking a war to obtain divinity and a Spiritual Spring!’

’After all, six or seven years... for me, that’s a perfectly acceptable wait.’

So Su Ye thought.

He didn’t mind waiting.

After all,

even setting aside his cultivation, there was another very important matter.

His Quasi-Techniques were still on cooldown!

Thanks to the Glazed Golden Patterns extending over his Magic Power Crystal, the recovery speed of the god-seed was a bit faster than he had imagined.

But it still required five years.

And right now, at the absolute most, only about three years had passed.

’Waiting is necessary.’

It’s just that...

the trees may crave stillness, but the wind will not cease!