Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 163

This had nothing to do with who the murderer was, but rather with the demonic path nature everyone understood.

Such a good excuse gave him the right to exploit.

You say it has nothing to do with guilt? Even if innocent, there is still guilt. On this point, Deacon Xu, who had once been detained and stripped of all his possessions, had deep experience.

“The City Lord is magnanimous. For the Guan family’s juniors to take the City Lord as their master is their blessing. May I ask if there is a number limit? Our Guan family still has a hundred juniors cultivating at home.”

“The Jiang family also has a hundred who can be offered for the City Lord’s selection.”

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow.

“No need to rush. The matter of opening the residence and accepting disciples will be arranged half a month later. Two from each clan will suffice.”

After saying this, he looked toward the representative of Cloud Dream Pavilion.

“Before I entered the city, I met your Pavilion’s Daoist Friend Chao. She helped me greatly.

“The northern district will temporarily trouble your Pavilion to maintain order. When the official documents and structure are in place, the proclamation will be announced.”What, me?

The Cloud Dream Pavilion’s representative was a petite beauty, a delicate type, her cultivation only at Foundation Establishment second layer, equal to Wang Yu’s level, likely a subordinate beneath Chao Yunniang.

To suddenly receive such favor and authority from the new City Lord brought her joy, yet also fear.

Because Wang Yu had openly declared that Chao Yunniang had helped him before entering the city. How did she help? Thinking of Cloud Dream Pavilion’s business, one could instantly guess it was intelligence.

Once this spread, Cloud Dream Pavilion would be seen as boarding Wang Yu’s lone boat in a storm.

To accept or not accept? That was the question.

But she… seemed to have no choice.

The young woman sighed bitterly in her heart but kept a joyous expression. “Xiangxiang thanks the City Lord for his trust. I will certainly not fail the task and will maintain order in the northern district.”

After all, too many minor mountain lords in the north had perished. These small forces had at most a single Foundation Establishment cultivator, all now dead, which would surely cause a wave of chaos.

“Since this is the case, I shall not keep everyone longer. In half a month, please come here again.”

Only then did everyone realize with a jolt: we still need to come again?

Once the formations were activated, this place was a death trap. Would that not leave them at his mercy? Their hearts were uneasy, though their mouths readily agreed.

Wang Yu understood. Next time, they would at most send a representative. No one would dare come personally.

It was all that cursed Tuoba Lei’s fault, dragging them into disaster even in death. Damn him.

The storm within the City Lord’s mansion ended, but outside it would continue for quite some time. Wang Yu sent the crowd away, closed the gates tightly, and prepared to take inventory of the mansion’s wealth.

Summoning the Three-Tailed Snow Fox, he ordered.

“Snowjade, freeze all this flesh and corpses, pile them in that corner.”

“Yoo~”

With no subordinates left, he had to clean up himself.

Over five hundred storage bags piled into a small hill before Wang Yu. Checking them one by one was exhausting, but in the end, the harvest replenished his dried-up purse.

“More than one hundred ten thousand spirit stones. Over six hundred first-rank magical artifacts. Eighteen second-rank artifacts, mostly lower grade. Only Tuoba Lei and the Bai family head carried second-rank upper grade artifacts.”

One was the horse-slaying saber just seen, the other a sword.

After inspection, Wang Yu found it inferior to the Azure Water Sword he had taken from Old Lan. After all, that was a product of the Sword Sect, far more refined than common blades.

As for cultivation methods and techniques, there were plenty.

This was the largest single haul of his cultivation journey so far.

Azure Dragon Linked City Technique, Blazing Fire Incineration Manual, Green Wood Nurturing Essense Method, Pure Heart Jade Maiden Scripture.

These came from the fallen Foundation Establishment leaders of the northern district. The cultivation methods were complete, but supporting spells, secret arts, and artifact legacies were incomplete.

By the standards of the Blood Reversal Sect, these did not count as full inheritances. But for rogue cultivators, as long as there was a functioning method path, it was already complete enough.

Different vision, different standards.

They were of little use to him personally, but could enrich the City Lord’s collection and be used to train subordinates later. Foundation Establishment methods already had good value.

Among the spells, only one was useful to him.

Pure Heart Mantra. As its name suggested, this mantra had the effect of calming the mind and focusing the spirit. Just right for him, as he intended to use the Evil Soul Devouring Body ordeal to temper his divine sense.

With this mantra assisting, it would be even safer.

Ultimately, these enemies were too low in level and carried little of worth. The Bai family head and Tuoba Lei had no legacy jade slips in their storage bags.

The Tuoba clan had risen from rogue cultivators and only developed quickly in the last century. Their foundation was poor, and they had few good treasures.

Having inventoried the loot, it was time to examine the City Lord’s mansion itself.

Treasury of treasures, storage rooms, scripture library, high-grade medicine garden.

These four were the most important. With the City Lord’s Token, Wang Yu had supreme authority in these areas and could enter anywhere.

The herb garden within the mansion had been the Tuoba family’s private property. It held mostly ordinary second-rank spiritual herbs, with only three or four rare ones, sufficient for Wang Yu’s daily needs.

Not bad.

The storage rooms contained supplies prepared by the Tuoba clan for family members and retainers. There were many items, covering magical artifacts, pills, talismans, formation flags. Everything was there.

Unfortunately, all were first-rank items, useless to him.

Ordinary.

The treasury of treasures, however, was the Tuoba family’s true collection of precious items. Only the two Foundation Establishment elders had access. When Wang Yu entered, the dazzling spiritual light almost blinded him.

Crates crafted with storage bag refinement methods had their internal space expanded. Each crate had the capacity of a house, and all of them were filled with spirit stones. Not only were there low-grade stones, but also mid-grade spirit stones.

After carefully counting, Wang Yu discovered there were one million three hundred and sixty thousand in total. Even if converted into mid-grade spirit stones, it would still amount to more than one hundred thirty-six thousand.

Perfect.

After his excitement, Wang Yu calmed down again.

“No, these are tribute offerings to be handed over to the Blood Reversal Sect.”

That was it.

The territory of the Blood Reversal Sect spanned four entire prefecture. How many spirit veins had been used to build cities? Far more than ten thousand.

According to the grade of the spirit vein, a tribute was required once every five years. A first-rank spirit vein required one hundred thousand spirit stones, while a second-rank spirit vein required five hundred thousand spirit stones.

As for Jade Spirit City, which was founded upon a third-rank spirit vein, one million spirit stones had to be offered every five years. At first glance, this seemed like a lot, but in truth, when distributed across places like Jade Spirit City, it was quite easy to gather.

“In other words, out of this one million three hundred and sixty thousand, only three hundred sixty thousand belong to me. Still, better than nothing.”

Wang Yu calculated with his fingers. This year marked the end of another five-year cycle. No wonder so many stones had piled up in the treasury. With the Tuoba Clan completely destroyed and no men left under him, who would he send to deliver them this year?

That was a problem.

There was no time to dwell on it, as more treasures were waiting to be examined.

Besides spirit stones, there were naturally other collections. Rows of shelves embedded into the walls were linked with restrictions derived from formation methods.

All still under his control. One by one, Wang Yu examined them and was delighted once more.

Third-rank treasure material: Blood Dragon Essence.

It was said that when a flood dragon with exceptionally strong bloodlines died, the essence blood within its body would spontaneously condense into a gem. Entirely crimson, it carried a faint dragon might.

For his Nether Yin Demonic Flood Dragon Spine, this was a supreme treasure to strengthen its foundation, and it could also forcibly elevate his cultivation in the body refinement path.

This piece of Blood Dragon Essence was the size of a fist. Just scraping off a bit of powder was enough to refine a Dragon Blood Secret Elixir. Wang Yu carefully stored it away.

Next item.

Third-rank spiritual herb: Golden Qi Root.

This item was rare, born only in a land where metallic Qi was extremely concentrated but had long since lost its sharpness, leaving the energy in a dormant state.

Its applications were narrow. With the Tuoba Clan’s resources, they likely had not known how to use it, so they stored it in the treasury.

But Wang Yu happened to know of an ancient pill formula.

Its name was Exquisite Treasure Pill, and the Golden Qi Root was one of its primary ingredients. He had found this formula recorded in a pile of secret ancient texts exchanged at the Law Enforcement Pavilion.

He only had rough information. To acquire the complete formula, he would need to return and exchange again. This treasure too he stored away.

After that, nearly everything left in the treasury was second-rank spiritual items.

Wang Yu left one million spirit stones inside, and the rest he claimed for himself. As he departed, he muttered.

“So poor… truly poor.

“To think the city lord’s mansion of an entire region has nothing at all.”

Turning, he entered the Scripture Repository.

Inside were not only the Tuoba Clan’s century-long accumulation, but also the collections of cultivation methods and secret manuals obtained during Zhuo Kuangsheng’s tenure. There were many, though not too many.

Mostly first and second-rank. Not a single third-rank.

However, one escape technique made Wang Yu suddenly enlightened. Its name was Purple Dragon Earthwalking Art. From the name alone, it was clearly a legacy of Purple Dragon Mountain.

No wonder Zhuo Kuangsheng had once dueled with the Purple Dragon Mountain Lord.

The so-called purple dragon referred to loaches. This earthwalking art was the secret impartation of Purple Dragon Mountain, equivalent to a true inheritance, and was a rather advanced earth-escape technique.

It allowed one to burrow through earth, pass through walls, and swim through rock. A versatile all-purpose technique. With Wang Yu’s Earth Spiritual Root, he too could cultivate this method without being hindered by mismatched attributes.

Thus, the background of the City Lord’s mansion was fully accounted for. Mixed with the Tuoba Clan’s accumulation, Wang Yu’s personal wealth had soared to nearly five hundred thousand spirit stones.

Though the number seemed large, when converted into mid-grade stones, it was only fifty thousand. If converted into high-grade stones, it would be equivalent to just five hundred. Still poor.

The difference between low-grade and mid-grade spirit stones was only tenfold.

But between mid-grade and high-grade, the difference was one hundredfold.

Moreover, high-grade stones circulated only between the Core Formation and Nascent Soul realms. Only cultivators of these levels could “handcraft” them. Generally, they served as an equivalent step in the hierarchy.

Almost never would mid-grade or low-grade spirit stones be directly exchanged for high-grade ones.

Afterward, Wang Yu went to the archives of the city lord’s mansion.

He pulled out the ledgers of income and expenditures from past years, as well as records of Jade Spirit City’s development and the distribution of nearby resources.

This portion naturally belonged to the Blood Reversal Sect.

Wang Yu, as city lord, was essentially a manager responsible for handling these industries. The sect required one million spirit stones every five years as the standard. Anything beyond that was naturally his own to keep.

The income was divided into three main categories.

1. Taxes.

These included the three great clans within the city, the five district markets, local cultivators, itinerant cultivators, trade caravans, and more.

They covered commodity tax, offering tax, security tax, administration tax, and toll tax. Five major taxes.

This alone brought nearly three hundred thousand spirit stones in revenue to the city lord’s mansion each year. Over five years, that would be one million five hundred thousand. But the accounts could not be calculated so simply, as there were also many expenditures.

City maintenance, formation maintenance, staffing costs, unexpected losses, and more. None of these were small sums.