novelraw Chapter 178
Chapter 178
After this matter, Lord Wang’s authority would suffer some damage, but that was only in the eyes of outsiders.
For the forces that had lingered in the city for a long time, the city lord’s ability to turn his hand into clouds and cover his hand into rain was suffocating. Who knew if he might suddenly reveal more hidden trump cards.
For stabilizing allied interests, this incident actually produced a strange effectiveness.
Although the crowd was dissatisfied, they were mostly still at the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment stages. Such backlash was something he could easily bear.
As for Core Formation, City Lord Wang’s secret art of Mountain Searching and Hunting Demon was about to be perfected. From now on, he would regularly sweep the city, and if any Core Formation cultivators were present, he would not step outside the city lord’s manor again.
“You must take responsibility.”
Just after resolving the major incident and arriving at the manor to discuss follow-up plans in detail, Jin Miaoshan was suddenly caught off guard by Wang Yu’s words.
“You… what do you mean?”
“The literal meaning. Because of you, I will not be leaving the mansion for a long time. All cultivation resources must be delivered directly to the city lord’s residence by Golden Abundance Tower.”
“This…”“Of course, I will pay the spirit stones as required.”
Jin Miaoshan gritted her teeth. She could not even remember how many times this had already happened today. Her teeth itched with anger… she could not hold it in.
“I understand. This is the honored guest token of Golden Abundance Tower. The treatment is equal to that of a Core Formation cultivator. Even if I leave the Jade Spirit branch, the new branch master will still act accordingly.”
“Many thanks.”
Wang Yu accepted the token without ceremony, spreading his hands.
“My spiritual item.”
“… Give me one year.”
“So long?”
“Do you think I am a wishing star, that whatever you want will appear instantly?”
“Fine.”
Wang Yu did not continue to press her. He knew the difficulty. With the Nether River Contract in place, the deadline could not exceed ten years, otherwise it would count as a breach.
One year was nothing. He could wait.
Seeing the matter settled, the two stared at each other in silence for a long time. At last, Jin Miaoshan asked.
“Did you plan everything from the very beginning?”
“How could that be possible?”
Wang Yu said helplessly.
“It was your subordinates who would not let me leave. What could I do? A late-stage Core Formation cultivator wanted to kill me, and I was not allowed to run? Daoist Friend Jin, you think too highly of yourself.”
“Sigh… I understand.”
With a long sigh, Jin Miaoshan’s gaze flickered. She suddenly invited him. “Brother Wang, would you join me in exploring the Eastern Extreme Capital?”
“Hmm?”
This time Wang Yu was truly surprised. Even though the two of them had signed a Nether River Contract that prohibited harming each other by any means for the next hundred years, such an invitation was far too rash.
Had she really not realized?
“You had better not enter. Go back quickly. When today’s incident spreads, you will surely be held accountable. Daoist Friend Jin, it would be better to consider how to escape punishment.
“As for the Eastern Extreme Capital… countless people are waiting for you there.”
Saying this, Wang Yu headed toward the main hall of the city lord’s manor. The corpse of the Core Formation elder that had been hanging outside for a short time was also carried away by him. Unfortunately, the storage ring had already been taken by Jin Miaoshan.
Thus, today’s incident ended in a rather anticlimactic way. Yet for Cloud Ridge Prefecture, the Jade Spirit City incident was enough to be recorded as a Jade Spirit classic, especially aided by the timely phenomenon of the Eastern Extreme Capital anomaly.
If this link had been missing, merely stirring up the crowd would have been difficult, since they knew they could not break through. But with Core Formation cultivators involved, the situation became completely different.
That it could still end with a narrow escape was also due to the presence of Core Formation cultivators. Their goals were stronger, and they understood much better the weight of a Nascent Soul overlord.
Many factors led to the retreat, and there were countless details worth endless discussion. Some enthusiasts even regarded every word spoken by City Lord Wang as sacred instruction.
They recited it daily, trying to grasp the meaning hidden behind each character.
Reading comprehension became a study of its own.
Of course, although the Jade Spirit City affair ended, the troubles of Golden Abundance Tower were far from over. To hope demonic cultivators would keep silent was wishful thinking.
All they had left was their mouths, and there was no way to seal them. The rumors would only grow more outrageous as they spread farther.
Especially since an image projection had been broadcast in the skies above Jade Spirit City, and some busybodies had secretly copied it and sold it to the Heaven Treasure Pavilion.
As expected, Heaven Treasure Pavilion spent a huge price to acquire it, then endlessly duplicated it. The recorded images and accompanying audio spread throughout the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.
This greatly harmed the business of Golden Abundance Tower. Never before had such a severe setback occurred in its commercial rivalry.
Wang Yu then cooperated with Jin Miaoshan to record another set of images.
They claimed that all previous events were illusions, that someone had disguised as him in order to deliberately slander Jin Manlou’s reputation and provoke conflict between the powers behind them.
Unexpectedly, this conspiracy theory found an even wider audience.
Golden Abundance Tower also activated senior spies within Heaven Treasure Pavilion. Identical slanderous recordings likewise spread throughout the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain, leaving Heaven Treasure Pavilion seething with rage.
Barring unforeseen events, the coming months or even years would see both sides fiercely attacking each other, desperately blackening each other’s names.
These matters.
For the time being had little to do with Wang Yu, yet he was still affected.
For example, in Heaven Treasure Pavilion, he could no longer use his real face to enter.
“With nothing else to do, I should focus on cultivation. Disciple… go buy some spirit medicine for your master.”
…
…
Three months later, in the 16th year and 2nd month of Wang Yu’s career as a Deacon.
Morning light faintly shone.
The golden warm sun streamed in through the window, falling on the silhouette of a figure seated cross-legged. Spring was gradually arriving, and the cold aura between heaven and earth was lessening.
【Idle Slot 3: Cold Chi Pill Alchemy Technique / second-rank ↑】
“Cold Chi Pill Alchemy Technique (0/100): 48 refinings a day, Master in 120 years.”
“One hundred and twenty years…”
Wang Yu’s pupils slightly contracted. It made sense. Beyond this was the level of third-rank perfection in pill refining. For others, reaching perfection within one hundred and twenty years was impossible.
The higher the grade of supreme-grade pills, the rarer they became, and the higher their added value. Sometimes even an ordinary third-rank supreme-grade healing pill could help a third-rank alchemist refine his skill.
And an alchemist capable of refining third-rank supreme-grade pills would not find it difficult to refine fourth-rank pills for Nascent Soul cultivators, though the grade might not be high.
Such a level of skill was exceedingly rare. In the demonic path, which was poor in production, such talents were even fewer.
The Cold Chi Pill Alchemy Technique itself was originally a third-rank pill refining inheritance, though badly incomplete. The Idle Slot’s supplementing could not conjure all the pill recipes out of thin air.
From beginning to end, it contained only a few fire-controlling techniques, refining methods, pill-conceiving formulas, and so on. Wang Yu had supplemented them step by step, and it went smoothly.
It was like leveling up. The only thing attached, the [Cold Chi Pill Recipe], changed significantly. It now required several more spirit herbs, enhancing the cold flame’s pill-refining effect.
This had marvelous effects on ice-attribute pills.
“Ten-thousand-year Profound Ice, Extreme Cold Jade, third-rank demon core… tsk tsk, not cheap at all.”
If he could acquire third-rank cold flame ahead of time, that would serve as a hidden trump card. It would not be weaker than his perfected Mysterious Yin Hand. After all, his Flame Forming Art was already at perfection.
For this kind of offensive technique, flame was the key to power.
Since the Cold Chi Pill Alchemy Technique had advanced, Wang Yu placed the [Ice Spirit Pill Recipe] into the slot. As a second-rank cultivation-type pill recipe, its placement time was much shorter than that of techniques or spells.
Perhaps because the content was simpler, Ice Spirit Pill required only one year to reach perfection.
Of course, even without perfection, Wang Yu could already attempt to refine supreme-grade Ice Spirit Pills, though the success rate remained uncertain.
When both pill refining art and pill recipe reached perfection, it meant a ninety percent success rate. With only one perfected, he could still try to refine, though it would cost more spirit stones.
And Wang Yu, at present, lacked nothing more than spirit stones. His reserves exceeded three million. That was plenty.
He summoned his errand disciples and tossed the honored guest token of the Golden Abundance Tower to Jiang Li and Jiang Chuan, speaking kindly.
“Go. Take these spirit herbs and have the tower deliver them to me.”
Jiang Li and Jiang Chuan: “…”
A master’s command could not be disobeyed.
Since their clan had already explained the circumstances, their expectations of Wang Yu had been very low. Now, occasional guidance and pill rewards were already a blessing.
Moreover, they could cultivate using the resources of the City Lord’s Mansion. This was not inferior to their clan, even better, for they had no rivals here.
Over time, their cultivation improved rapidly.
It was estimated they could reach late-stage Qi Refining within five years. Looking at them, Wang Yu recalled something.
After the Golden Abundance Tower delivered ten sets of Ice Spirit Pill spirit herbs, Wang Yu summoned sisters Ying Dong and Ying Xue as well. All four of his disciples had now grown into adults.
“These past few months, the accompanying mineral veins of the underground spirit vein have almost recovered. You should return to your clans and notify your patriarchs to come.”
The spirit vein was of great importance. The formation core of the City Lord’s Mansion lay within it. When spirit stones were mined, Wang Yu would personally guard inside to prevent accidents.
At most within a year, the derived spirit stones would be mined down to a thin layer, requiring another ten to twenty years of recovery.
Such matters were best left to veterans. His City Lord’s Mansion was filled with newcomers, whose clumsy hands easily caused accidents. It was safer to let the Jade Spirit City and Jiang clans handle it.
After arranging this, he continued having the Golden Abundance Tower prepare more Ice Spirit Pill herbs. Since he planned to enter the spirit vein land for closed-door cultivation, he would need plenty.
He also commissioned them to purchase a third-rank Corpse Refining Technique.
The corpse of the Old Liu still retained considerable vitality and life force. Wang Yu had sealed it in an ice coffin and stored it within the City Lord’s Mansion treasury.
That was a top-notch material for refining a zombie.
In the past, Wang Yu had sold many corpses to Heavenly Corpse Peak. Now this late-stage Core Formation living corpse, he wished to keep for himself, to refine into a helper.
As planned, the three-tailed snow fox, Snowjade, was his main battle partner for now. They shared the same attribute, with perfect coordination, unleashing immense power.
Unfortunately, the enemies he faced were difficult, while Snowjade’s cultivation realm was insufficient and its progress slow.
During his closed-door pill refining, he could also refine a batch of supreme-quality Snow Fox Pills, while collecting more spirit beast-cultivating pills.
He did not believe that feeding Snowjade all kinds of supreme-quality pills in turn would fail to raise its strength.
This preparation, along with the time needed for the Guan and Jiang clans to gather experienced miners, took about a month and a half before everything was ready.
City Lord’s Mansion, underground.
It was said that heaven and earth had their veins. Heavenly veins were rare, nearly impossible to find through the ages. Earth veins were common, including spirit veins, dragon veins, and five-element veins, all evolved from earth veins.
Volcano terrains had many fire veins. Rivers, lakes, and seas had many water veins. Famous mountains and great rivers often birthed dragon veins. Lush ancient forests had many wood veins. Areas with abundant gold and iron mines often formed metal veins.
These five-element earth veins, with distinct attributes, often carried multiple spirit veins. Sometimes they even birthed spirit treasures condensed by heaven and earth.
But such treasures mostly came from dragon veins.