Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 226

Matters involving two great powers are always like this. The negotiations alone took four years, and it will still take a long time before the compensation is received. In the end, the majority of the compensation went into the hands of Cloud Ridge Prefecture City.

Only a very small portion was allocated to Jade Spirit, and that was merely because Wang Yu was directly involved. Had he not been quick-witted and sought assistance in time, he would not even have made it to this stage.

The greater likelihood was that the Yellow Spring Monastery had long slipped away.

As for the purpose of Daoist Dizang, perhaps elder Xuan Yan knew, but Wang Yu had not been informed. It seemed to involve some secret regarding the land of Cloud Ridge Prefecture.

Though he did not know, he could still guess.

The opponent’s attempt to seize the sect offerings was merely to lure him out of the city, to capture Wang Yu alive, and thereby seize control of Jade Spirit’s secrets.

Therefore, this matter must be connected to Jade Spirit. What could possibly be nearby? Only the Ancient Ruins: Eastern Extreme Capital.

He suspected that during the previous battle over the Spirit Transformation inheritance, Daoist Dizang had discovered some hidden secret. After the cession of territory and the loss of a city, the border expanded toward Secluded Prefecture.

Further east, several cities originally belonging to the Yellow Spring Monastery had appeared. This caused Jade Spirit’s uniqueness to be gradually diminished, as cultivators seeking to explore ancient ruins now had more choices.

Staying away from the center of the storm might not be a bad thing.After all, the geographical advantage still remained. Whatever happened in the Eastern Extreme Capital Ruins would never escape Wang Yu’s eyes and ears.

Of course, all this was only his speculation.

If his guess was wrong, Daoist Dizang would certainly not give up after a single failure and would continue plotting against Jade Spirit in the future.

At that time, it would serve as a good chance to verify Wang Yu’s suspicions.

For now, there was little need for concern. The negotiations had just concluded, and it was a sensitive period. The Blood Reversal Sect’s surveillance of the Yellow Spring Temple would only increase.

It would be a rare moment of peace.

Such an excellent opportunity.

Wang Yu placed the long-prepared plan for the Jade Spirit Market at the top of his agenda. Choosing an auspicious day, he gathered all the allied forces of shared interest and declared the market open.

He reorganized Jade Spirit’s entire industrial layout. The central district would no longer house mortals but would instead be fully converted for cultivators, including the City Lord’s Mansion itself.

He constructed twenty third-rank cave dwellings, three hundred second-rank dwellings, and one thousand eight hundred first-rank dwellings, distributed across the inner, middle, and outer rings.

This would mark the beginning of his Cave Dwelling Rental Business.

The eastern, western, and southern districts were once controlled by the three Jade Spirit clans. After the Bai Clan perished, their properties were divided between the Guan and Jiang families, but their influence could hardly cover an entire district.

Scattered shops, even those in prime locations, were of little value. The opening of Jade Spirit Market was inevitable, and separating cultivator and mortal management was even more so.

Only through concentration could population flow be gathered. The reconstructed central district perfectly fulfilled this function. The convergence of shops there greatly increased the value of the land.

Formation setups, residence construction, spirit-gathering formations, and relocation all proceeded simultaneously.

Many of the smaller factions from the northern district were also moving toward the center. In particular, the Cloud Dream Pavilion’s business, from which Wang Yu received generous tribute each year, was given a prime location.

Although Madam Chaoyun had gone to Sanmao City to ambush Luo Chen, Xiangxiang still remained. She was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, capable enough to maintain the basic operations of Cloud Dream Pavilion.

The Blood Saber Gang had completely become his secret hand. With the Blood Saber Master gone, only a few underlings were left, and he had settled them properly.

As for the Violet Golden Merchant Chamber, it had been fully absorbed by the City Lord’s Mansion. Wang Yu assigned Daoist Qingyang to oversee it temporarily, maintaining business connections with the Yanluo Ghost Market. Even if it meant losses, that network had to remain.

The former northern district was transformed into a massive workshop base. Alchemy rooms, crafting workshops, talisman paper tanning, monster hide processing, the Guan family’s inkstone and writing tool factories, spirit stone polishing, and formation flag production—there were too many workshops to count.

Among them, the alchemy and artifact workshops were the most numerous, and they were open for leasing to independent cultivators.

The Jade Spirit Market would become the main source of spirit stone income in the future.

Wang Yu also invested heavily in formation arrays. Labor was cheap, as the city guards had been repurposed into a construction team, which at least justified the salaries he paid them.

If the spirit stones were not enough, then working harder would suffice.

Having been the city lord for years, he was gradually learning the proper ways to direct subordinates effectively.

Taking advantage of the market’s grand opening, Wang Yu conducted a full census of the city’s cultivator population: over one hundred twenty thousand in total. Qi Refining cultivators accounted for 99 percent, mostly at the early stage.

Among them, only about half actually owned residences in Jade Spirit, mostly ancestral homes. The rest were transient residents.

For various reasons, these cultivators had settled temporarily in Jade Spirit, staying from a few months to several years, some even over a decade.

With the opening of the market, they all came to join the festivities, gathering the restless ones together.

This, in fact, made management easier and reduced patrol expenses. It also allowed Wang Yu to dismiss some of the early-recruited wandering cultivators and promote the loyal ones.

However, the sheer number of transient cultivators exceeded his expectations.

He immediately ordered the continued construction of first-rank cave dwellings, estimating that at least ten thousand more would be needed to meet basic demand. If the central district lacked space, then they would build upward.

It was still not enough, so they decided to build downward into the ground. At worst, those living in basements could have part of their spirit stone rent reduced.

These people also qualified to operate shops within the marketplace.

For temporary stalls, Wang Yu had specially planned three streets reserved for them. The daily rent only cost a few spirit stones, yet it still added up to a considerable income.

There was another advantage to placing the entire marketplace under unified administration: no matter how small a transaction was, it could not escape the eyes of the City Lord’s Mansion—all of them had to pay taxes.

Before the marketplace even officially opened, most of the fixed shops had already been sold, making City Lord Wang immensely wealthy. His reserve of spirit stones skyrocketed, and the entire central district remained firmly under his control.

Not only did the loose cultivators have to pay taxes, but the members of his alliance of interests were no exception. However, since this was the key direction for the development of Jade Spirit City, the alliance members willingly gave up their own district shops.

They chose to fully cooperate with him, though naturally, he had to offer them significant discounts. The eastern, western, and southern districts had now completely become residential zones for mortals. Every year, they merely needed to conduct the spiritual root testing ceremony.

Through this round of land sales alone, Wang Yu amassed a total of five million spirit stones in a single sweep. This success was closely tied to his prior management efforts.

The duel between Golden Abundance Tower and Heaven Treasure Pavilion, his own policy of smaller profit margins, and the surge of outside funds brought by the exploration craze in the Eastern Extreme Capital—all of these made Jade Spirit City far wealthier than before.

Harvesting profits at this time was simply too comfortable. And this was even with him trying to restrain himself.

From the day Jade Spirit Market opened, it was bustling with prosperity. Various discount promotions lasted for an entire month. Heaven Treasure Pavilion also cooperated with Wang Yu’s operations. The future looked bright for everyone.

……

……

The thirty-first year of his service as Deacon, third month.

That day.

Wang Yu was within his Niwan Palace, condensing the thirty-third Soul-Gouging Evil Boat. This soul-searching secret art, relying on his powerful divine sense, had already reached the Minor Mastery stage, capable of searching souls and seizing memories.

This technique had faintly formed a resonance with the Heavenly Soul One Qi secret art, as though the two naturally complemented one another. His progress in cultivating it was unexpectedly fast.

“City Lord, there is an esteemed guest who has arrived. Please proceed to the Yingsong Hall for a meeting.”

“An esteemed guest? Could it be a messenger from the Yellow Spring Monastery?”

Wang Yu ceased his cultivation and opened the door.

Outside stood Xu Ruozhou. As a rare dual spiritual root cultivator, supported by the City Lord’s Mansion’s resources, he had now reached the peak of the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

He was expected to attempt breaking through to Foundation Establishment within ten years. Once successful, he would become the first Foundation Establishment cultivator truly belonging to the City Lord’s Mansion. By then, Wang Yu would be able to supply him with higher-level resources suitable for the Qi Refining stage.

Resources for Foundation Establishment, including the Foundation Establishment Pill, were not something an ordinary official stipend could cover.

He would have to rely on himself, or give more effort, to earn higher-grade resources from Wang Yu. Simply running errands would not suffice.

Facing the question, Xu Ruozhou shook his head and said,

“It is not someone from the Yellow Spring Monastery, but rather a female cultivator with an unfamiliar aura. Her cultivation is at the early Core Formation stage.”

“Oh?”

Now Wang Yu was truly puzzled. He could only go to Yingsong Hall and see for himself.

Before long, a veiled woman appeared in his sight. Her grooming was exquisite, her eyes a glistening crimson that seemed to hold countless unspoken words. Her hair was a mix of black and white, and her robes—black with silver patterns, tightly fitted around her waist and wrists—gave her a capable appearance. Her chest was full and her fair collarbone faintly visible.

Though her aura was unfamiliar, Wang Yu immediately sensed a surge of familiar killing intent emanating from her. His Taiyin Nether Eyes silently activated, revealing a thick crimson mist within which a spark of spiritual light stood firm, protected by the Spirit Platform.

Wang Yu smiled.

“Fellow Daoist Jin, it has been a long time.”

Indeed, the visitor was none other than Jin Miaoshan, whom he had not seen in years. The last meeting felt like a lifetime ago.

Their relationship could not be called friendly, yet they had long laid aside their life-and-death enmity. After the incident involving the Heavenly Soul Sect’s inheritance exchange, Wang Yu had unilaterally acknowledged their “friendship,” intending to extract more benefits from her.

Unfortunately, Jin Miaoshan had been plagued by troubles, spending long periods in seclusion, and even suffered another round of schemes from Jin Lin.

Compared to before, the once proud and commanding aura around Jin Miaoshan had greatly diminished. Up close, one could even smell a faint trace of blood on her.

Her expression was calm, devoid of joy or sorrow—a complete change in temperament.

The influence of the Asura Slaughter Scripture made Wang Yu extremely cautious. A Divine Transformation inheritance was indeed terrifying.

Fortunately, his own Lesser Asura Killing Fist was not nearly as extreme, nor was it a pure spiritual-path divine ability. It was derived from the killing intent stone slate and contained both restraint and limited release of emotion.

This likely had much to do with the self-binding state of the Asura Venerable when he left behind his inheritance.

When Jin Miaoshan heard him address her, she remained silent for a long moment before sighing softly.

“In just a dozen short years, it feels to me as if I have lived an entire lifetime. I still have not thanked you for what you did regarding Master Tianshui.”

Wang Yu’s smile was gentle. His handsome face radiated warmth.

“No need to be polite, Fellow Daoist Jin. Ruozhou.”

“Your subordinate is here.”

Xu Ruozhou quickly presented a recording jade, then retreated and closed all the hall doors behind him.

“This is…”

“Fellow Daoist Jin will understand after watching it.”

Inside the projection was the scene of Tianshui using the Thunder Tribulation Pellets to destroy the central district—followed by the ruins.