Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 203

In shock and terror, the corpse demon found its body uncontrollably spreading open in a cross shape. Crows cried, winds howled, and a dense cloud of black crows completely engulfed it.

Soul-Devouring Cry of the Shadow Crow.

This spell was only one step away from advancing into a divine ability. In the future, if there was no suitable dual Yin-Soul divine power, it would be a good choice to use an Idle Slot to evolve it upward.

Unfortunately, each spell, cultivation method, or slot could only be advanced once. If they could be endlessly upgraded, that would be defying the heavens itself. Moreover, its power was based on Wang Yu’s own foundation.

The stronger his comprehension, the faster the contents placed in the Idle Slots could progress.

Looking from another angle—

Those secret arts and divine abilities that required twenty to thirty years, or even three hundred years of sleepless, relentless cultivation, could only be perfected through such brutal persistence.

Along the way, there were countless challenges: fatigue, bottlenecks, boredom, emotional strain, and difficulties in comprehension. There was also the realistic issue of depleted true essence that needed time to recover.

Even if he were given double the idle cultivation time, it still might not be enough to reach perfection in the real world.

“The Great Dao is arduous; the only path forward is to open it up myself.”Emerging from the darkness, Wang Yu struck out with Soul-Shattering Finger, completely crushing the newborn demon soul of the corpse demon. This time, the demon’s cultivation was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

It was far weaker than the corpse fiend he had encountered last time, but even so, the harvest was considerable. The two supreme-grade materials he gained were of first-rate quality. Even if he did not refine them himself, they would serve as top-tier trading resources.

To exchange them for spirit stones would be a waste.

Throwing the corpse fiend’s body into the Yin Corpse Nurturing Coffin, Wang Yu gazed into the distant darkness of the ruins and recalled the Artisan Academy and the Imperial City.

After a short pause, he decided to depart toward the surface. The harvest from this trip was already more than enough. He would wait until his strength grew further before exploring the deeper mysteries.

The next day.

On the outskirts of the Eastern Extreme Capital Ruins, Wang Yu stretched lazily after emerging from underground. Patting his waist, he released a small flying boat and headed happily toward Jade Spirit City.

Meanwhile, several cultivators skilled in concealment whispered through secret voice transmissions.

“Foundation Establishment mid-stage. The target just came out of the ruins. Judging by his direction, he’s heading toward Jade Spirit City.”

“Perfect target. Move, follow him.”

Aboard the flying boat.

Wang Yu tilted his head slightly and smiled faintly. This familiar feeling—this was the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain, after all. In this line of work, rogue cultivators died in droves, yet their kind never went extinct.

Especially around open ruins like this. There were always people lying in wait.

Wang Yu was unafraid.

Still, he reflected upon himself. When he arrived, he had used Invisibility Technique combined with Silent Spell, but when leaving, he hadn’t. Whether the enemies were strong or not didn’t matter—it was about attitude.

He had grown too comfortable, his power too great,

and so he had lost his cautious edge.

Reflect! Reflect hard!

The journey back to Jade Spirit City wasn’t long—just seven days. If he was willing to spend extra spirit stones, he could fly even faster. Along the route lay a marshland, a perfect place for an ambush.

Wang Yu simply watched these men set up their trap.

Two days later, passing through the swamp—

“Die!”

Two mud dragons, each over ten meters long, burst out from the swamp and lunged at him. Wang Yu flicked his wrist, and the Ghost-Weeping Flute appeared in his hand.

Heart-Shattering Wail Blade!

The grayish transparent sound blade sliced through the air like an invisible wire, distorting the air and sending ripples outward. In an instant, it cut the spell-formed mud dragons cleanly in half.

The spellcaster, a rogue cultivator, was suddenly overcome with grief. He felt an overwhelming sadness, tears streaming uncontrollably as he tried to raise his magic tool, only for his hands to tremble helplessly.

Then—

Splat!

His body split vertically in two and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Just one exchange, and this Foundation Establishment fourth-layer cultivator was dead. The other two who had just finished setting up a barrier array looked at each other in terror.

“This target is tough—run!”

“Run?”

Wang Yu shook his head. Behind him, Frostmoon Wings unfolded. This perfected second-rank high-grade movement technique completely compensated for his previous speed disadvantage, enough to handle ninety-nine percent of battles.

A flash of cold light—Wang Yu appeared behind one of them.

He simply punched forward, channeling the strength of his dragon spine. His blood energy condensed into a shadowy Nether Demonic Flood Dragon that roared forward with his fist. He could even feel the pressure of the compressed air.

The ambushed cultivator, a Foundation Establishment sixth-layer, should have been able to react instantly with his combat experience.

But instead, as if seeing some horrifying illusion, he froze in place.

Boom!

His defensive true essence shattered instantly under Wang Yu’s violent strike. Without even managing to resist, his body was smashed into fragments like tofu.

Lesser Asura Slaughter Fist—a killing art that, besides pure offense, carried Asura killing intent, capable of shaking the will and mind of weak-hearted enemies, making them feel as if surrounded by mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Even if one managed to break free from the killing illusion, they would still be suppressed by the oppressive aura. Their body would feel cold, their true essence sluggish, as if a blade were held to their throat.

With such fear gnawing at the heart, their strength could never be fully unleashed.

After experimenting with this divine ability on that person, Wang Yu gained a deeper understanding of its nature. However, to fully unleash the power of this divine art, he had to break through to the Core Formation stage.

But that was not all to this killing fist.

The last Demonic Cultivator who fled three hundred meters away was completely soaked in sweat, terrified beyond belief.

“Obviously, he’s only at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. Three against one shouldn’t have been a problem… how could there be such a powerful fellow?

“No… could it be he was pretending? Fishing for prey? Playing the pig to eat the tiger?”

Before his pitiful little mind could think further, a spinning ice wheel suddenly descended from the heavens, flashing across hundreds of meters in an instant and slicing cleanly through his neck.

“This—”

The third Demonic Cultivator’s head rolled from his shoulders, his body collapsing straight to the ground. From start to finish, he had no power to resist.

Second-rank high-grade spell: Ice Wheel Technique.

After mastering the Mysterious Yin Hand, this became Wang Yu’s second offensive trump card. It had reached the Great Accomplishment stage, though still some distance from Perfection.

However, since it shared the same attribute, the power it released in Wang Yu’s hands was even greater. After all, his main cultivation art, Heavenly Cold Yin Blood Technique, was primarily ice-aligned, with yin as its secondary attribute.

That cultivation art had reached Perfection years ago.

Except for lacking the special effect of improving aptitude, its cultivation speed was nearly identical to that of the Cold Blood Spirit Ascension Technique.

Its only unique feature—was the divine manifestation that appeared after reaching Perfection, known as Heavenly Cold Blood.

Besides further lowering Wang Yu’s body temperature, it could greatly enhance his ice-attribute spells and slightly strengthen his yin-attribute ones. It was not impossible for their power to reach the supreme-grade level among all spells below the third rank.

Supreme-grade had always been an exceptionally special tier.

For pills, it held a unique position—prices soaring tenfold or more, nearly unobtainable on the market. Even master alchemists could not guarantee the refinement of a supreme-grade pill of the same level.

For magical artifacts, only those that had failed to advance into spiritual treasures could be considered second-rank supreme-grade artifacts. Such items required the integration of third-rank materials.

For spells, it meant the strongest of their rank.

A powerful cultivation art could grant a cultivator greater strength precisely because of these divine transformations, akin to the metamorphosis achieved through breakthroughs. Weakness was simply impossible.

After reclaiming the corpses, Wang Yu first retrieved the storage pouches, then devoured their souls to nourish his Evil Armor. Next, he drained their blood into the Yin Corpse-Nurturing Coffin. Finally, the dried husks left behind had little value.

However, they could still be refined into second-rank zombies. Three of them together could be sold for over ten thousand spirit stones.

He continued flying his spirit boat back toward Jade Spirit City. This time, he activated both the Invisibility Technique and the Breath Concealment Spell. With his mastery at the Perfection stage, even the Flying Cloud Boat itself was rendered invisible.

Aside from a faint, misplaced gust of wind, nothing was unusual.

“Cultivation techniques, secret arts, spirit stones… hm? This one is good.”

While sorting through the spoils, Wang Yu picked out a flawless second-rank mid-grade artifact. After refining it, he learned its name.

“Defensive artifact, Vajra Shield. Its resistance to physical impacts isn’t inferior to that of a high-grade artifact. Perfectly suitable for someone at my current realm.”

As for the rest, there was nothing worth mentioning.

...

Five days later.

After half a month away, Wang Yu quietly returned to the Jade Spirit City Lord’s Mansion without alerting anyone. The mission had gone perfectly.

He did not rush to leave again. Instead, he reassembled the Killing Intent Cultivation Chamber dismantled from the Suppression Prison, attaching it beneath his original secret room.

He would enter this place when practicing the Lesser Asura Killing Fist, to prevent damaging the fragile floor tiles during ordinary cultivation.

Less than two days later, Guan Yingdong came to report.

“Master, Tower Master Ye has arrived. He said he came to deliver something to you.”

Only then did Wang Yu slowly emerge from seclusion.

The materials for one thousand portions of Soul Essence Pills had arrived. This was his next major cultivation project. His Ancient Soul Art was still several years from Perfection, but once he achieved the divine manifestation of Ancient Soul, he could use the pills’ power to hit the early third-rank Spiritual Sense Realm.

After reaching the limit of his current cultivation art, even though he could not advance further to mid third-rank, he could still accumulate and increase the upper limit of his divine sense strength. He had ample experience in this—his body refinement path had progressed the same way.

Moreover, divine sense represented the strength of the cultivator’s soul. If it exceeded the body’s capacity too much, there was the risk of abandoning the physical shell and becoming a pure soul entity.

Solving this issue would free up another Idle Slot.

He planned to perfect all his miscellaneous techniques using this slot, and afterward, place the Yin Nether Demon Flood Dragon Technique there, so he would no longer need to swap techniques repeatedly.

If his divine sense could break through, it might even enhance his control over the Lunar Fiend Corpse seals and allow him to command more zombies—entirely possible.

With a rumbling sound, the stone gate of the secret room opened, and Wang Yu followed Guan Yingdong to the reception hall.

A short while later—

“Tower Master Ye, I trust you have been well.”

“Uh… City Lord must have forgotten, we met just over ten days ago.”

“In cultivation, time flows differently. To me, it feels as if it has been a while.”

Ye Qing sighed helplessly in response.

The Jade Spirit Branch Tower was practically under Wang Yu’s command now, tasked with gathering all kinds of spiritual materials for him.

Even if something was unavailable, it would be transferred from other branches or even the main Tower—by the lady’s personal order. Ye Qing could only feel a pang of resignation.

Such treatment was unheard of, not even among the core true disciples of great sects.

Could it be…?

Shaking his head to dispel those thoughts, Ye Qing collected himself and said respectfully, “This was sent by the young lady, with instructions to hand it to the City Lord.”

Receiving the item, Wang Yu said, “Contact Daoist Friend Jin. Tell her I have a way to help her. She should prepare her treasures and let me choose.”

Ye Qing: “...???”