Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 262

To be honest, when Jin Miaoshan handed him the Earth-Net Ghost Mask, she did not say much about the assassin organization known as the Moluo Horde.

She only explained enough to dispel his concerns, giving him reasons why it would not cause any trouble.

The information was not much, yet not too little either.

Considering the other party had already been to the Heaven Treasure Pavilion, it was unlikely that she had missed anything important. After all, that pavilion was in no way inferior to Golden Abundance Tower.

Yet she still came all the way to the Heaven Demon Bone Forest to find him. He had spent quite a long time within the ruins of the Heavenly Soul Sect—could it be that she came not for intelligence, but for another reason?

A spark of insight flashed in Wang Yu’s mind as he fixed his gaze on her.

“What is it you want me to help you with?”

“You guessed it, fellow Daoist. That makes things easier.”

The charming and delicate young girl quietly revealed her plan and the reason she was in Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.

“I am here to find an old acquaintance.“More than a hundred years ago, when I was still young, there was a senior sister in my sect with whom I shared a deep bond. But due to certain circumstances, she was expelled from the sect.”

Wang Yu had already guessed as much. Seeing that she had no intention to go into detail, his interest immediately waned.

“The Moluo Horde was founded by this senior sister of mine.

“She swore to rescue the suffering mortals and cultivators living in the lower regions of Crimson Kite, and bring them to the Taihu Spiritual Domain. Thus, the Moluo Horde was born.”

Wang Yu’s expression turned strange. Clearly, what she described was a conjecture based on intelligence gathered from the Heaven Treasure Pavilion, colored with strong idealism.

If it were truly as she claimed, he could only say that the organization had been eradicated very cleanly. Of all things, they had chosen human trafficking to act upon. Over the past thousand years, Crimson Kite had changed immensely.

Its population had grown from one or two hundred million to over a billion—proof that their methods of “learning” had indeed been effective.

The noble lady from Taihu continued:

“My senior sister gathered a group of like-minded individuals. Under the guise of an assassin organization, they operated within the territory of the Joyous Union Sect, targeting leading demonic cultivators and killing them before transporting the rescued people back to Taihu.”

Between the righteous and demonic domains lay the South-North Severing Boundary Mountains. The closest territories were those of the Blood Reversal Sect and the Joyous Union Sect. The Heaven Refining Demonic Sect was also not far away.

However, it was obvious that she did not dare to provoke them.

“The plan went smoothly at first, until they killed the son of the Yin-Yang Demon Lord. From then on, everything began to unravel. Still, it shows that the common people in Crimson Kite yearn deeply for Taihu.”

At that point, Wang Yu had already guessed her intention.

He found it rather unbelievable.

The girl then spoke with righteous conviction.

“Since Sister Mu has perished, I shall inherit her will, rebuild the Moluo Horde, and continue her cause.

“Fellow Daoist, you still hold to your bottom line and have not been corrupted by this realm of slaughter and betrayal. I wish to invite you to join the new Moluo Horde.”

So it was just as he thought.

But young lady, are you not being too frank with someone you barely know?

Moreover, how could he possibly devote himself to such a cause? In Crimson Kite, perhaps mortals were mostly good, but among cultivators, even those of the lower ranks—evil outweighed sincerity nine times out of ten. Even True Personage Qingyang, whom he trusted deeply, had betrayed the Ink-Water Sect Master who had favored him.

There was no one here to whom one could entrust their back completely.

Interest was the one unchanging theme of Crimson Kite.

He and this noble lady from Taihu had met only once, completing a transaction that had earned him a great profit. And from that, she concluded he was a good person?

How amusing.

“Apologies. I have no wish to take part in your idealistic pursuit. Since this Old Demon was slain by you, the spoils are yours. Let us part ways here.”

“Wait—”

Wang Yu’s expression darkened. Out of respect for the Heavenly Thunder Talisman Treasure, he had always treated her courteously. But that did not mean he was without temper.

If she continued to press on...

“Fellow Daoist Zhuo, I understand that you cannot yet place your trust in me. Here, this is the new Moluo Token. I intend to continue my activities within the Joyous Union Sect’s territory.

“If you ever find yourself cornered with nowhere to turn, you may come to me.”

After saying this, she did not even take the corpse of the Five Poisons Old Demon. She tossed out a jade token, then retreated into the dense forest and disappeared.

Wang Yu hesitated only briefly before storing the token in his Sea Heart Ring. Having more allies meant more paths to survival.

Though he had little faith in her ideal, such a connection could still be useful.

That had been his original view of Long Yiran as well.

By a twist of fate, he had now formed this peculiar connection with the direct descendant of the Thunderfire Temple.

“Could it be that I truly possess some kind of ‘good-person aura’?”

After musing to himself, he took the storage ring from the Five Poisons Old Demon. Judging from its style and markings, it was clearly not a creation of this era. The inner space was no smaller than a supreme-grade Sea Heart Ring.

He tossed the corpse into the Fiend-Nurturing Coffin and began examining the contents of the ring.

“So that’s how it is.”

This Old Demon indeed possessed an extraordinary inheritance—it originated from an ancient hegemonic power even older than the Heavenly Soul Sect, known as the Myriad Insect Sect!

This sect had established itself through mastery of poison and gu.

The Five Poisons Old Demon had inherited a fourth-rank poison technique titled [Five Poisons Scripture], which contained over a thousand poison formulas and methods for breeding venomous insects. It was accompanied by thirty-six complementary spells covering various aspects of the craft.

There was also a third-rank gu technique titled Gu Transformation into Pill Art, recording numerous methods of cultivating gu insects and several curses that used gu as a medium.

However, the Old Demon had never practiced that art himself—he had merely learned some of its secret techniques and ordinary spells, raising a few gu insects.

No wonder the Listening Wind Pavilion’s intelligence described him as proficient in poison, gu, and curse alike.

Unfortunately, Wang Yu had not witnessed these skills in action.

It was common knowledge that ancient inheritances were far superior to those of the present age. Too many dynastic collapses and severed eras had occurred throughout history.

Other than the scattered techniques of rogue cultivators, few such arts still existed.

The harvest from the spirit stones was also considerable: one hundred and twenty thousand mid-grade spirit stones and more than three hundred high-grade ones. This amount of wealth was no less than Jade Spirit’s yearly income.

High-grade magic treasure: Five Poisons Silver Bell.

Mid-grade magic treasure: Serpent Staff.

There were also the corpses of five slain life-bound poisonous beasts, a small pouch of Core Formation powder, and various gu insects and poisonous beasts—miscellaneous items.

These items did not suit Wang Yu’s cultivation path. Most would likely be sold off, though the magic treasures could be kept. They could serve as currency for high-level transactions or be used occasionally.

After taking inventory, he took out the corpse of the Five Poisons Old Demon.

Using the Hand of Pill Extraction technique, he removed the Old Demon’s core and confirmed that no hidden dangers remained before putting the corpse away.

Refine another corpse puppet? Wang Yu thought not.

He already had too many zombies on hand, far more than he could manage, and there was still a demonic corpse waiting to be born. Rather than waste time refining another one, it was better to enter secluded cultivation.

Although the Five Poisons Old Demon’s body was of high rank, its foundation was weak.

From his appearance alone it was clear that his poison cultivation had gone awry. This was, in truth, a common problem faced by rogue cultivators—their foundations were unstable.

Even if they were fortunate enough to obtain a Nascent Soul inheritance, their own shallow knowledge and lack of grounding often led to unpredictable accidents. Sometimes even disciples of great sects could not avoid such outcomes.

Take Liu Jinxian for example—she had even cultivated until her own nose disappeared.

This corpse could not be refined into a variant type and was not worth much effort. Wang Yu decided to find an opportunity to sell it;

there were plenty of demonic cultivators who would want it.

After handling these matters, Wang Yu continued traveling toward You Prefecture.

He remembered that You Prefecture was territory controlled by the Jin Lin's lineage.

There was a deep enmity between them.

If he “accidentally” revealed himself in You Prefecture, they might send assassins to kill him—or perhaps they would ignore him entirely.

However, Jin Miaoshan would surely hear of the matter through her spies.

Separated by the Jin Lin’ influence, she would probably not suspect that he had anything to do with the incident at the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins.

Yes, that would do nicely.

...

...

Several months later.

You Prefecture, Ancient Fang City.

This was a city not far from Chasing Moon Prefecture, nourished by a third-rank inferior spiritual vein. Its city lord was a Core Formation cultivator from the Yellow Springs Monastery.

In the Vegetarian Cuisine Pavilion, Wang Yu, now under a new disguise, had altered his Earth-Net Ghost Mask into a half-mask that revealed his mouth and nose so that he could freely enjoy the taste of medicinal cuisine.

He had been staying there for over a month.

While cultivating and refining his own system, he also gathered news about Chasing Moon Prefecture and the Blood Reversal Sect.

The former could be set aside for now.

The latter was a spectacle. Only a few days after Wang Yu had withdrawn from the Demonic Bone Forest, the Blood Reversal Sect had assembled several Nascent Soul ancestors and engaged in a great battle against the Blood Demon Medicine Kings.

That battle was expected to quickly suppress all chaos.

Yet unexpectedly, two late Nascent Soul cultivators from the Yellow Springs Monastery appeared and forcibly snatched the Blood Demon Ginseng from the sect’s grasp.

The Exalted Sect was enraged. From the top of the Nine Peaks, the foremost peak, Blood Nether Peak, sent out three late Nascent Soul experts:

Blood Axe Demon Lord, Blood Spring Demon Lord, and Blood Origin Demon Lord.

The three brothers had grown up together and forged innate Blood Spirit Roots through the Blood Spring Evil Method. At only about twelve hundred years of age, they had reached the eighth layer of Nascent Soul and possessed the potential to ascend to Spirit Transformation.

They were also the strongest cultivators among the Nine Peaks of the Blood Reversal Sect on the surface.

After leaving seclusion, both sides fought at the ruins of the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect. The Yellow Springs Monastery was unprepared and suffered a crushing defeat.

The ruins were completely taken over by the Blood Reversal Sect.

In that battle, one Nascent Soul cultivator was captured alive, two more lost their physical bodies and barely escaped with their Nascent Souls, and the Blood Demon Ginseng was recaptured.

The blood demon power contained within those Medicine Kings was evidently of great importance to the Blood Reversal Sect;

otherwise, they would not have acted with such intensity.

Because of this, the Yellow Springs Monastery was furious, but knowing they had touched upon the Blood Reversal Sect’s taboo, they did not dare to start an all-out war. Other powers took advantage of the situation.

Thus, in Chasing Moon Prefecture, they secretly used underhanded methods.

Six of the nine city lords were killed in one sweep, while the remaining three were severely wounded, leading to a disastrous loss for the Exalted Sect.

Although one side had suffered a setback, overall the Blood Reversal Sect had profited. As a result, the Chasing Moon Prefecture conflict was suspended once more, and both sides entered another long negotiation phase.

All of this Wang Yu had slowly gathered through his own investigation. Undoubtedly, many details were still hidden.

In particular, the handling of the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins and the fate of the poisonous beasts in the Heavenly Demonic Bone Forest remained unclear.

In any case, none of it concerned him much. It was enough to be aware of it.

Aside from gathering intelligence, he also made some gains.

While frequenting the Heaven Treasure Pavilion across several cities in You Prefecture, he finally collected the spiritual herbs needed for two third-rank pill recipes. One of them could help him further refine his divine sense.

The preparations were currently in place.

After long last satisfying his appetite, Wang Yu revealed a contented expression.

“Refreshing.”