Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 215

The auction hosted by Wang Yu was drawing to a close. Qingyang still felt regretful that he lacked the capital to bid for the treasures he desired.

At the same time, in Jade Spirit City, another grand drama was about to unfold.

The renowned Master Tianshui, having heard about the discovery of a Deep Sea Sinking Silver Ore vein, had hurried over from the distant Golden Toad City. After resting for a day, just as he was about to continue his journey, the Jade Spirit branch master, Ye Qing, came to visit him personally.

Ye Qing deliberately exaggerated and distorted the truth, emphasizing how arrogant and disdainful City Lord Wang was, while belittling Master Tianshui to an unbearable degree. He even misled him on matters concerning spirit stones.

However, Master Tianshui remained unexpectedly calm. Smiling, he said, “You are Ye Qing, right? Subordinate of Miaoshan. I’ve heard her mention the City Lord of Jade Spirit before. Though she described you as arrogant and temperamental, you were not said to be without wisdom. Tell me, who ordered you to do this?”

Ye Qing immediately broke into a cold sweat, stammering without a word.

Master Tianshui was a peak Core Formation cultivator, only one step away from Nascent Soul. With his skill in artifact refining and his position in the great organization Golden Abundance Tower, famous across two regions, he could have easily exchanged his contribution points for a Nascent Soul Pill long ago. Yet, he had not done so.

Instead, he was accumulating a foundation of craftsmanship. He intended to refine a fourth-rank magic treasure while still in the Core Formation stage. In doing so, when he later broke through to the next major realm, he would seize that moment of transformation and elevate his refining skills to a level infinitely close to mid-fourth rank.

This was called making full use of the opportunity granted by a major breakthrough, a common method used by great powers to cultivate multi-talented masters. Some geniuses also chose this path, using every chance to strengthen themselves.

Faced with such a formidable individual, barely over five hundred years old—Ye Qing felt unbearable pressure.Master Tianshui sighed softly.

“Young man, double-dealing never ends well. Though Miaoshan is currently imprisoned, she has not yet reached her limits. Whether you side with Jin Lin, Jin Chixuan, or Jin Xuanxuan, none of you will live long.”

“Shut up!” Ye Qing’s expression turned twisted. Deep down, he knew these words were true. But what choice did he have?

Miaoshan was in closed-door seclusion and could not protect her weaker subordinates. When Jin Lin’s men came to recruit him, what leverage did he have to refuse? His Ye family also lived in Golden Toad City!

Jin Miaoshan had suffered a loss at Wang Yu’s hands and was punished by the Tower. Furthermore, due to complications with the Eastern Extreme Capital inheritance, she had shut herself away.

For her subordinates, maintaining absolute faith had become nearly impossible.

At that moment, Ye Qing activated the command token Jin Lin had given him—it controlled his death warriors. The top of the branch building once again became the storm’s center of Jade Spirit.

In an instant, nine death warriors wearing iron masks and shrouded in black mist surrounded Master Tianshui, who sat calmly in his chair. Each emitted the aura of Core Formation ninth layer cultivators.

Since Jin Lin intended to deal with Master Tianshui, he naturally dispatched his elite forces. Death warriors of this level were difficult to cultivate—losing even one was a major loss.

Seeing this, Master Tianshui laughed heartily.

“Attacking an artifact refiner? This is no different from storming a formation master’s domain. If these men die, Jin Lin will have to hide for quite some time.”

“Heh.”

Ye Qing, at this point, had already resigned himself. He sneered.

“Miaoshan has already lost once in Jade Spirit City. If such a thing happens again, the losses suffered by Golden Abundance Tower will make her lineage pay penance for three thousand years!”

Saying this, he crushed a small pearl in his hand.

Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, True Personage He Gu, disguised as Wang Yu, sat arrogantly upon the City Lord’s throne. When he sensed the signal, unease stirred within him.

The plan was not unfolding as intended. By logic, Tianshui should have died inside the City Lord’s Mansion—it would have fit the sequence better. He was, after all, the key figure meant to trigger the coming massacre of the tower.

But now the situation was out of order. Still, the arrow was nocked and had to be released. The pieces on this critical thread had already begun to move. Even if things went awry, there was no turning back.

“Buzz…”

As if replaying the past, True Personage He Gu’s chosen method struck directly at the heart. He conjured an image of Wang Yu’s upper body, a hundred meters tall, each eyelash clearly visible, and his voice echoed across the entire city.

“Jade Spirit City, hear my command! Under the banner of the Exalted Sect, those who honor the name of the Reverent Blood Reversal Sect, heed my decree: annihilate the Jade Spirit Branch Golden Abundance Tower! All spoils belong to the victors. Wang guarantees—none shall be reclaimed!”

This proclamation was nearly identical to the one Wang Yu himself had once made years ago. Feeling triumphant, True Personage He Gu soared into the air above the City Lord’s Mansion, full of pride and vigor.

He slashed his hand through the air. Silence followed.

He Gu froze, sweat trickling down.

What was going on?

Why could the real Wang Yu command them, but he could not? Or rather—why could the former Wang Yu, but not the current one?

The reason was simple.

Jade Spirit City’s defense army and patrol forces had grown significantly. None of them moved. The northern district was still, the Guan and Jiang families did not respond, the shopkeepers remained quiet, and even the three Core Formation sects stationed in the city stayed still.

Moreover, this was a low tide period for the Eastern Extreme Capital exploration.

The number of Core Formation cultivators in the city was very limited. Anyone committing a major crime could easily be traced. Even with the “famous” City Lord Wang leading them, few dared to act recklessly.

That was the practical reason.

Psychological factors also played a role. For instance, the last time Wang Yu had gone back on his word and even helped Golden Abundance Tower spread rumors across Cloud Ridge Prefecture, blaming everything on “temporary workers.”

The failure of the Fragrant Gathering had also greatly damaged his authority. The streets before the City Lord’s Mansion had only just been repaired—everyone still remembered.

With both psychological and practical reasons combined, plus Wang Yu’s prior instructions, even those few weak shouts that had begun quickly faded.

As True Personage He Gu hung frozen in midair, unsure what to do next—

A thunderous explosion shook the city.

“Boom!”

Not far from the City Lord’s Mansion, in the middle district, the Jade Spirit Branch Tower, beside the Heaven Treasure Pavilion—was obliterated under immense force.

Ye Qing’s life aura vanished completely.

Nine figures moved in perfect coordination. Each held a crescent moon blade and slashed out streaks of black lines filled with eerie corrosive power. The cutting marks spread across the sky and earth, covering nearly a quarter of the central district.

The nearby Treasure Pavilion was about to suffer from the resulting disaster.

The Pavilion Master, Han Jia, hastily lifted the entire Treasure Pavilion into the air. Under his control of magic power, it rose quickly into the sky. Looking toward Wang Yu (True Personage He Gu), his eyes were full of astonishment.

He seemed to be the only one unaware of what was happening.

Amid the ruins, Master Tianshui sat calmly on a stool. A parasol-shaped magic treasure spun rapidly above his head, radiating golden light that shielded him completely.

Those black slashes hidden with killing intent lingered in the air for a long time but could not shake the golden barrier in the slightest.

Master Tianshui took a sip of tea and said helplessly,

“So, Jin Lin actually passed down to you all the divine ability ‘Shadow Ghost Prison’. That is the inheritance of the Shadowless Dark Lord. How presumptuous he has become.”

As he spoke, his gaze crossed the distance and fixed directly on the True Personage He Gu.

“I do not like you, and Jin Lin has gone mad. He harms the internal interests of his own pavilion just to eliminate his competitors, even using the external pressure from the Blood Reversal Sect to his advantage.”

“Even if he manages to get rid of Miaoshan, so what? Can he really compete with Jin Chixuan or Jin Xuanxuan using such methods?”

At that moment, True Personage He Gu realized the situation was beyond control.

He dropped his disguise and approached Master Tianshui.

“Senior,” he said, “Young Master Jin Lin’s order was clear. We are to act without hesitation. Whatever the consequences, Young Master alone will bear them. We are only the executors.”

“No matter which young master or lady of the Jin Clan eventually takes power, we remain the clan’s sharpest blades.”

Master Tianshui sighed softly.

“When one grows old, one tends to complain more. Tell me, are you still determined to kill me? There is still time to stop now.”

He Gu shook his head.

“The order to halt has not been issued. No matter the cost, the plan proceeds. Senior Tianshui, you will not last long.”

Watching the nine death warriors, whose silent shockwaves were destroying a corner of the central district, and the golden barrier that remained immovable, He Gu felt a growing unease in his heart.

Master Tianshui began explaining proudly, introducing the masterpiece crafted by his own hands.

“You truly do not understand. A well-funded artifact refiner always prepares countless treasures for himself. Would you like to guess how many I have?”

He He Gu thought for a moment.

“Five, perhaps? Even if you possess many treasures and can adapt to all kinds of battles, your spiritual power is still limited.”

“It seems you still do not understand.”

Tianshui pointed toward the parasol above his head.

“This is the third-rank supreme-grade magic treasure, the Celestial Net Parasol. It was a failed product from my attempt to craft a Nascent Soul treasure. It should have been suitable for tribulation crossing.”

“Unfortunately, its immunity to lightning was lost, leaving only pure defensive power. Do you see the bead chains hanging from the parasol’s edge? Each bead is equivalent to a Golden Core.”

“They are external cores refined from the Golden Cores of death warriors like you. Would you like to count how many there are?”

He Gu True Personage was shocked and began counting seriously.

“One… one hundred and eight…”

“Hahaha, correct.”

With such an enormous supply of spiritual power and a supreme-grade defensive treasure, unless a Nascent Soul cultivator came personally, they could bombard him until their energy ran dry and still fail to break the barrier.

This was the true power of a master artifact refiner. With abundant resources, one could forge an invincible existence within the same realm.

Master Tianshui was not skilled in direct combat, so he had strengthened his life-preserving methods to the extreme. What he showed now was only a small part of his strength. If he chose to flee, he could display astonishing and unbelievable speed.

True Personage He Gu’s expression grew complicated.

“Young Master Jin Lin never told us about your capabilities.”

“He does not know much himself.”

Master Tianshui’s expression turned serious. He turned his palm over, revealing four pitch-black pellets crackling with lightning, each containing terrifying destructive power.

“Young man, this is your final chance.”

True Personage He Gu smiled bitterly and summoned his life-bound magic treasure.

“Senior, please make your move.”

In the next instant, thunder exploded. It was as though a heavenly tribulation had erupted throughout the city. The defensive formation of the City Lord’s Mansion activated automatically, but the entire central district was wiped out by lightning.

Even the eastern and northern districts nearby were half-destroyed.

Fortunately, the city guards were numerous. As soon as the disturbance began, they started evacuating the citizens and cultivators. Even so, many were still caught in the storm of lightning and perished within the sea of thunder.

When the thunderstorm finally dissipated, Master Tianshui, covered in soot, crawled out from the ruins. Looking at the ashes and scorched debris around him, he muttered to himself,

“The Thunder Tribulation Pellets are still too destructive. Not a single spoil was left behind. A total loss, and even the Celestial Net Parasol cannot guarantee absolute safety.”

“Senior.”

Xu Ruzhou landed nearby, trembling as he looked at the kind-faced old man before him. That single explosion had killed at least tens of thousands.

Master Tianshui turned his head and smiled.

“Convey my thanks to your City Lord.”

“Yes, sir.”