Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 170

Just returning from the Bai Residence, he still had a large batch of assets waiting to be tallied. It looked like a lot, but in truth, it was not much.

Because the Bai clan’s fixed assets were more significant.

For example, the vast spiritual fields outside the city where they cultivated Blood Fang Rice, the thousands of Spirit Farmers under their command, and the shops within the city… These were the true bulk of their wealth.

Whether these could be absorbed or not depended on whether the remaining two clans in Jade Spirit City would cooperate.

On the way back to the main hall, he made a stop at the martial arena.

At this moment, the place was densely packed with young people. Those with better talent sat closer to the front, while those who knew they would become Spirit Farmers in the future voluntarily sat at the back.

The formation looked as if a small group was being surrounded.

Wang Yu stepped forward, appearing in midair at the very front. Everyone was startled and quickly bowed.

“Greetings, City Lord!”

“Mm.”Wang Yu looked at the crowd, his divine sense sweeping over them. When he noticed that the youth with dual spiritual roots had already broken into the first layer of Qi Refining, he immediately revealed a satisfied smile.

“The City Lord’s Mansion is built upon a third-rank middle-grade spiritual vein. This may be the best cultivation environment you will ever encounter in your lives. Whether you become members of the City Guard or Spirit Farmers in the future, you will all be serving the City Lord’s Mansion. Therefore, no one is permitted to delay their cultivation. If anyone is discovered, execute!”

Having just killed a group of people, the murderous aura around Wang Yu had yet to dissipate.

When he spoke in such a terrifying tone, the young people were so frightened that their legs trembled violently, nearly wetting themselves.

After some thought, since he would soon be entering seclusion for a few days and would have no time to handle their daily matters, he pulled out a roster scroll from his storage pouch.

Ever since these people had been recruited, their backgrounds, parents, and past experiences had all been thoroughly investigated by the Jiang clan, who had delivered him a thick stack of records.

Now he took it out to assign responsibilities.

“Xu Nianzhou, Wang Ling, the two of you will be responsible for managing the ordinary storerooms. Inside are mortal-use items such as gold, silver, jewels, rice, and grains.”

“Yes!”

“Ma Da, Yang Erlang… Kang Liuer, the three of you will work in the kitchens, preparing food for everyone. On ordinary days, you may withdraw funds and supplies from the common storerooms.”

“Yes!”

Wang Yu continued assigning positions in one breath.

Gatekeepers, managers, procurement staff, patrol squads, cleaning crews… all were arranged in turn. Those given authority were generally the ones with three spiritual roots. Whoever progressed faster in cultivation would receive the higher position.

Menial tasks were left for those destined to become Spirit Farmers.

This was only an initial arrangement and would be adjusted later. Snowjade would supervise them for several days. Once the current disturbances spread, wandering cultivators of real ability would come seeking refuge.

At that time, some of the authority could be delegated, allowing him to ease his burdens.

Everything was moving toward order.

With that, Wang Yu’s figure disappeared, returning to the main hall atop the three hundred and sixty jade steps, where he began tallying the Bai clan’s wealth.

…

…

“Just over two hundred thousand lower-grade spirit stones. Did the Bai clan’s ancestor take away part of the treasure?”

Leaning on his lounge chair, Wang Yu recalled what he had seen in the Bai treasury. A large portion of it was empty. The second-rank spiritual items were about the same as the Tuoba clan’s, but the overall foundation was clearly off.

Either the collection had been divided into multiple treasuries, or a portion had been taken away. They must have had some foresight about today’s outcome.

Perhaps?

As for third-rank spiritual items, he had obtained two kinds.

[Blood Soul Gold] and [Earthheart Spirit Milk]. The former came from the south of Jade Spirit City. Beyond the three-thousand-li Reed Marsh lay the largest black market of the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain—[Yanluo Ghost Market]!

The Ghost Market’s master, titled “True Lord Yanluo,” and his dao companion “Lady Yanfu” were both Nascent Soul cultivators, renowned and feared.

Rumor had it that they shared some ties with the Yellow Springs Monastery.

Further south was the [Desolate Desert], one of the absolute death zones of this world, and one of only two desert regions. Blood Soul Gold was produced there.

Legend said it was formed from filthy blood and souls left behind by countless corpses, refined over thousands of years of wind and sand into small pieces of metal. It was a typical demonic treasure.

Moreover, it was a universal material. Most demonic magic treasures could use it. It was considered hard currency.

[Earthheart Spirit Milk] was more ordinary. It was a common third-rank item that could immediately restore over eighty percent of a Core Formation cultivator’s spiritual power.

It could also be refined into spirit pills to achieve an even better effect. The yield this time was about fifteen drops.

Counting all his recent gains.

Wang Yu’s assets had swelled to four third-rank spiritual items, hundreds of second-rank items, and six hundred seventy thousand lower-grade spirit stones. How long had it been? One Tuoba clan and one Bai clan had fed him to this level.

Truly a fertile land, overflowing with wealth.

If he had remained in the Blood Reversal Sect, obtaining such resources would have been impossible unless he slaughtered an entire peak of Core Formation cultivators. Otherwise, he could never have accumulated so much wealth in this lifetime.

It was indeed time to spend some effort digesting it.

As for the seized magic tools, Wang Yu selected one defensive-type second-rank superior-grade magic tool, a cauldron, to replace the Earth Origin Cauldron.

The over one thousand first-rank tools and over a dozen second-rank tools were placed into the storerooms. Later, when recruiting wandering cultivators, they could be used as high-level rewards.

This concluded the physical spoils.

As for books and records, those were plentiful. A large part of the Bai clan’s deep foundation came from the completeness of their inheritance.

The several cultivation methods their clan specialized in were compatible with most spiritual root attributes, and all had reached second-rank superior-grade, sufficient to support cultivation up to Core Formation.

Some inheritances self-destructed after their restrictions were broken, but he still obtained three complete techniques. These he intended to place in the City Lord’s Mansion scripture repository for cultivating subordinates.

Among them, the one that interested him most was a broken cultivation method.

—[Wind and Thunder Treasure Scroll]!

It was a third-rank inheritance. The accompanying spells, secret arts, pill recipes, and methods for refining magic treasures were all there.

But more or less, some portions were missing.

Most frustrating of all, the circulation route for cultivation was incomplete, which was simply suffocating.

Wang Yu did not know whether the Idle Slot could deduce it into completion.

But he mainly cultivated the dual attributes of Yin and Ice. Wind and Thunder were too far from him and useless. The most valuable thing in this inheritance for him was a burst-type secret art: Wind and Thunder Spirit Mark.

As the most complete among the Five Elements Spiritual Roots, Wind and Thunder were also a mutation that derived from the Five Elements. In theory, he could cultivate it.

It would not weaken its power, nor would it increase the difficulty of cultivation.

The key lay in thunderstorm weather, absorbing the vast amount of Wind and Thunder spiritual qi scattered in nature, and constructing a set of spirit marks on the surface of the body.

Once activated, it could greatly increase the user's speed. Attacks could also carry devastating thunderbolts. Whether fleeing or attacking, it was extremely useful.

It could also provide some improvement to the physical body.

A third-rank secret art meant that even after Wang Yu broke through to Core Formation, he could continue to use it. If it perfectly matched his late Foundation Establishment divine sense and his Soul Dao inheritance, all his abilities could absolutely rise to the level of late Foundation Establishment, truly allowing him to stand firmly in Jade Spirit City without having to shrink like a turtle within the city walls.

This thing must be cultivated, and he would even push it ahead in line.

After sorting through his storage bags, Wang Yu felt a bit of regret. Even with several high-grade storage bags, he felt it was not enough. Above them were spatial rings, also storage-type treasures.

They were generally standard for Core Formation cultivators. Even a low-grade spatial ring had the capacity equivalent to six combined football fields. That was a true treasure.

Next.

Wang Yu reached toward his left arm. Only a few strands of True Essence threads, controlled with delicate precision, were keeping it attached so that it would not fall off.

Earlier at the Bai Estate, in order to break free from the Golden Ring’s bindings, he had torn it off again. Afterwards, he had only crudely reattached it.

Counting from the beginning of his Body Refining and Foundation Establishment, it had already been broken several times. Once it had even faced the risk of being scrapped. This time, injured again by the aftermath, even the Corpse Demon Secret Technique could no longer save it.

“In the end, it is wasted.”

Looking at the Idle Slot showing the time needed to restore the Corpse Demon Secret Technique, Wang Yu sighed helplessly. It had been his life-saving trump card when he was weak.

Actually, it was quite similar to now, only the trump card had been replaced with the perfected Mysterious Yin Hand.

Both possessed destructive power far surpassing his realm, but in other aspects he lagged far behind. Speed, defense, recovery, in these he was not even equal to late Foundation Establishment, sometimes even worse.

Only in extreme attack power and divine sense did he hold a slight advantage.

Originally, it would have been best if he could have acquired a third-rank corpse-arm before coming here, as it could have seamlessly bridged the gap until the Corpse Demon Secret Technique was restored. Unfortunately, he did not dare to take anything from True Disciple Jiang’s belongings.

“Without a trump card of death energy, the ancestors of the Guan and Jiang families will still need to be given face. Even if they have taken longevity treasures, in less than ten years they should still pass away.”

This was both a dangerous period and a honeymoon period.

It all depended on how Wang Yu would make use of it.

The empty left arm left him somewhat unaccustomed. His strength was reduced, especially physically, and the feeling of weakness was very obvious.

Forming a hand seal with one hand.

A deep-blue crystalline arm condensed from true essence ice was transparent. Following the template of his right arm, Wang Yu temporarily created an Ice Arm that would not melt.

Wearing a wide-sleeved robe, wrapping it with bandages and then a glove, as long as divine sense was not used to probe, or one did not touch closely, there would be no visible problem.

Even though it was an Ice Arm, it still moved with flexibility.

“For now, this will do.”

He went into seclusion to heal.

……

Five days later.

“City Lord, those people are still waiting outside today.”

“I know. You may leave.”

“Yes.”

Aside from his left arm, Wang Yu’s injuries had mostly recovered. It was time to meet those people, especially the Guan and Jiang clan heads.

The Bai family had been annihilated in one night, leaving Guan and Jiang in the most uncertain position.

The longer he delayed, the greater the pressure upon him. He indeed had to meet them to dispel their doubts. If they could not endure the pressure and suddenly exploded against him, then it would truly be disastrous.

His divine sense swept across most of the City Lord’s residence and reached the gates.

“Enter.”

Soon, the crowd arrived outside the main hall. Besides those old acquaintances, there were also four youths, only thirteen or fourteen years old, who had already begun cultivation.

All were first-level Qi Refining seedlings of great potential.

They must have used some kind of special spiritual medicine for cleansing, allowing mortals to step into contact with spiritual qi ahead of time. This was far more refined than Wang Wu’s crude method of forcing growth in the past.

It would not affect their future. Instead, it gave them more cultivation time than ordinary people. Their potential was naturally far greater.

“Wang... City Lord.”

As expected, the first to speak was the Guan clan head, that weathercock.