Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 267

The atmosphere remained silent for a long while.

Seeing that Wang Yu’s expression seemed off, Wei Hao hesitated. He could not tell whether he had said something wrong, or whether Wang Yu simply had no particular desire for the Earth Spirit Fruit.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Wang Yu still felt that Wei Hao was a good partner to work with. Even if the other man sometimes spoke without restraint, he was indeed someone worth serious consideration.

Moreover, Wei Hao was a former personal disciple of Heavenly Corpse Peak. His expertise complemented Wang Yu’s own corpse-refining techniques perfectly.

To be honest, ever since Wang Yu had raised the Lunar Yin Corpse and Thunder Corpse, he had discovered that the yet-unawakened Demonic Corpse already exceeded the limit of what his divine sense could control.

After all, those two were also about to advance. They could not remain at the early third rank forever. Once they reached the mid stage, the strain on his divine sense would increase tremendously.

This was precisely the limitation of not cultivating a specialized corpse path technique.

The Demonic Corpse might as well be sold to Wei Hao. The man’s life-bound corpse had been refined by True Inheritance Disciple Jiang into a Corpse Leader, leaving him currently without one.

With a bit of nurturing, the Demonic Corpse could advance to the third rank.

If the two of them joined forces, together with the Wei Clan’s Core Formation experts, they might indeed have a chance to compete for the Earth Spirit Fruit.Thinking this through, Wang Yu immediately produced a Nether River Contract.

Wei Hao, confused, asked, “City Lord Wang, what do you mean by this?”

“Come,” Wang Yu said calmly. “Let us first make a trade. I need spiritual medicines that can directly increase my true essence capacity. The quantity does not matter, as long as the total increase amounts to one thousand drops of true essence.”

Wei Hao was bewildered and replied helplessly, “A thousand drops worth of true essence capacity? Brother Wang, you must be joking.”

Wang Yu shook his head solemnly. “Trust me, you will be satisfied. It is something you urgently need. With it, you may even have a chance to turn the tables against that fellow surnamed Jiang.”

Wei Hao fell into thought, recalling his earlier judgment of Wang Yu. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Very well.”

“Brother Wei is indeed magnanimous,” Wang Yu smiled. “Rest assured, you will not regret this. In addition to the spiritual medicine to increase true essence, after we seize the Earth Spirit Fruit, I shall have the right to claim one extra fruit.”

The rest of the terms were basic—such as not harming each other and so on.

When Wang Yu saw Wei Hao trying to add more clauses, the latter began to lose confidence.

“What exactly is this thing that’s so valuable?” Wei Hao finally asked.

Wang Yu only smiled without speaking. Once Wei Hao signed the contract, Wang Yu took out the Demonic Corpse, ready to be awakened—from the Corpse-Nurturing Coffin.

“How about it?”

In an instant, Wei Hao stepped closer, trembling slightly as he reached out to touch the corpse. “This… this… this is a Demonic Corpse refined through Corpse Fiend Active Refinement! It only lacks the reversal of vital breath to come alive!”

The man clearly recognized its worth. This Demonic Corpse was only a base model. Depending on the type of fiend energy used in refinement, it could evolve into various specialized types of Demonic Corpse.

Each one was a rare variant.

Given how rare Corpse Fiends were, such a specimen could only be found in places like the Eastern Extreme Capital. Yet Wang Yu had dispersed its demonic soul and refined it into a living corpse, truly a supreme-grade treasure.

To a corpse path cultivator, a supreme-grade zombie was no less precious than the most perfect Dao companion.

This Demonic Corpse even surpassed Wei Hao’s previous life-bound corpse.

He even began to feel glad that he had lost the Corpse Fighting Tournament earlier, otherwise, how could he have changed his life-bound corpse so easily?

“Excellent! Truly excellent!”

“That Brother Wang is willing to part with such a priceless treasure—Wei is most satisfied.”

“As long as you’re satisfied,” Wang Yu replied. “If I were a disciple of Heavenly Corpse Peak, I would never sell such a thing. Now, Brother Wei, how long will it take you to prepare for the matter of the Earth Spirit Fruit?”

Wang Yu deliberately left his sentence unfinished, hoping to hear whether Wei Hao’s sudden change of mind was due to new developments.

Upon hearing this, Wei Hao gradually regained his composure.

Spiritual medicines that increased true essence…

“Just now, Brother Wang mentioned going to Tao Prefecture to seek the Purple-Gold Peach. My family happens to have some stored. Why not trade using that?”

“Agreed,” Wang Yu replied.

“As for the Earth Spirit Fruit, I heard that something happened in Huangbai City. I have only now been able to redeploy my subordinates. Brother Wang, rest assured, we can wait a few days before setting out.”

Seeing that he had matters under control, Wang Yu temporarily stayed at the City Lord’s Mansion of Wanglong City. His plan was to break through to the ninth level of Foundation Establishment before the contest for the Earth Spirit Fruit began.

At that time, he could use the fruit’s power to reach the peak of Foundation Establishment and, upon returning to Jade Spirit, immediately begin his Core Formation attempt—saving thirty to forty years of cultivation time.

Such spiritual items that directly boosted cultivation were exceedingly rare.

Wang Yu had only encountered the Ghost-Eyed Spider and Black Sky Cordyceps before. The Earth Spirit Fruit was an even more ancient spiritual treasure, found only in relics of antiquity.

Chasing Moon Prefecture was far from his sect, and the Wei Clan’s territory lay within Blood Abyss Prefecture, so transferring such spiritual materials would take time.

However, since the Nether River Contract had been signed, the Demonic Corpse was already in Wei Hao’s hands. He was now preparing to refine it as his new life-bound corpse. Whether he would immediately cultivate it to third rank depended on whether he dared to face the lightning tribulation.

The third-rank lightning tribulation was not overly dangerous—only three strikes of lightning. The fourth rank, however, was truly deadly, consisting of nine bolts, each doubling in power.

With Wei Hao’s second-layer Core Formation cultivation, he would not rush in unprepared.

While waiting for the spiritual items to arrive, Wang Yu used his entry-level Golden Vision of Qi Observation to stroll outside the city, collecting the terrestrial qi from all directions.

Such energy was quite easy to gather. Wherever there were lofty mountains, strong earth veins were present. Fertile plains carried soil veins, and great rivers contained both water and earth veins.

As long as the source was not cut off, terrestrial qi, like spiritual qi, flowed endlessly.

With this, he now lacked only Black Copper to forge a feng shui compass with functions such as positioning, geomancy analysis, formation breaking, divination, and vein tracing.

This would not only remedy one of his major weaknesses but also serve as an auxiliary aid to his main cultivation path.

Day by day, time passed.

Information regarding the Earth Spirit Fruit grew increasingly detailed, and Wang Yu gradually understood why Wei Hao was in no hurry at all.

So it turned out that the cultivator had been trapped by the local tyrant of Cloud Ridge Prefecture, the He Clan of Luofu Mountain, a top-tier Golden Core family renowned for cultivating demonic sword techniques.

During that period of continuous battles, the cultivator carrying the Earth Spirit Fruit fled in panic and accidentally broke into the Luofu Mountain sword formation while being pursued. He died, leaving his storage pouch behind.

Of course, there were also rumors saying that this person was the illicit lover of a female cultivator from the He Clan, and that he had gone there seeking protection.

But since the man was already dead, no one cared much about that joke anymore. The Earth Spirit Fruit still attracted enormous attention.

The He Clan of Luofu Mountain wanted to monopolize all the Earth Spirit Fruits for themselves, but before they could do so, they were caught up by the cultivators chasing from behind.

Most of these people were Core Formation cultivators, some were rogue cultivators, and some came from local forces within Cloud Ridge Prefecture. Among them were several peak Core Formation cultivators from the border of You Prefecture.

The two sides faced off against each other. No one was allowed to enter the sword formation to seize the storage pouch. It was said that every day they fought with spells, though no one had died yet.

They claimed they were still negotiating a distribution plan.

Hearing this, Wang Yu grew anxious. The longer it dragged on, the further the news would spread, and the more competitors would come. Surely, the He Clan of Luofu Mountain understood this simple truth as well.

However, two fists cannot defeat ten hands, and in this case, they faced not ten, but twenty.

How could a single Golden Core family compete with so many Core Formation cultivators? Even if they wanted to delay, they might not be able to. Once the number gap widened enough, they would certainly be attacked by force.

Wei Hao and the others were waiting for precisely this moment.

Fifteen days after arriving at Wanglong City, the Purple-Gold Peach, a true essence spirit treasure that Wang Yu had long yearned for, was finally prepared. There were a total of eleven peaches, and each one could increase the upper limit of true essence by one hundred drops.

It was comparable to a second-rank supreme-grade spiritual pill.

“Junior Brother Wang, how is it? Are you satisfied?”

“Satisfied, of course satisfied.”

Gazing at the plate of spiritual peaches before him, Wang Yu saw that each one was plump and glistening, its whole body a rosy red with a purple-gold tip. The rich fragrance made one’s mouth water.

However, Wang Yu asked, “Senior Brother Wei, why are there eleven peaches?”

At this, Wei Hao laughed. “Junior Brother Wang, since you were willing to let me have that supreme-grade corpse, the demonic corpse, this extra one is my gift in return for your trust. When the Chasing Moon Prefecture struggle ends, if I’m still alive, I will certainly visit your Jade Spirit City to strengthen our friendship.”

“Well said, well said.”

Clearly, Wei Hao had taken a liking to him. The Wei Clan had a Nascent Soul ancestor, giving them considerable influence. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Wang Yu went into seclusion once again.

The eleven Purple-Gold Peaches were enough for him to reach a new height.

Entering the cultivation chamber that Wei Hao had prepared for him, Wang Yu wiped a peach clean and took a bite.

Spiritual energy billowed forth, and the juice was abundant.

The taste was purely sweet and refreshing. Not only was it a spirit item for increasing true essence, but also a rare delicacy.

In just a few seconds, he had finished one whole Purple-Gold Peach. He saved the pit;

although it was difficult to grow another tree of the same kind, planting it in the City Lord’s Mansion of Jade Spirit City would at least provide more varieties of spiritual fruit. Wang Yu had always been thrifty and disliked wasting anything.

During the refinement process, Wang Yu discovered that his third-rank perfected cultivation method greatly enhanced his ability to refine the spiritual energy.

It was far easier to refine than a supreme-grade pill. In just one day, he had completely digested it.

“In other words, it will only take ten days. Ten days to increase a thousand drops of true essence. These second-generation heirs of great families are truly wealthy. With top-level resources like this to feed on, no wonder they break through so quickly.”

Thinking of this, the images of the Three Young Masters of the Blood Reversal Lineage appeared in his mind. Given their status, they should not have lacked such spiritual resources.

At most, they would be stuck at the third, sixth, or ninth layers, not at the fourth. Yet Zhuo Shouqing was revealed to have the Foundation Establishment fourth layer cultivation.

Could one’s cultivation of true essence actually get stuck like that?

He felt that the man was hiding something from him, as well as from Zuo Qiuming and Yu Xing.

“Anyway, since things have come to this, I’ll just eat the peaches.”

And so, eleven days passed in the blink of an eye.

“Foundation Establishment ninth layer!”

Having consumed all eleven Purple-Gold Peaches in one go, Wang Yu refined them continuously for eleven days without moving a muscle. The result was gratifying.

With the help of these peaches, his true essence increased by another eleven hundred drops, surpassing what he had achieved in six years of effort. Thinking of that made his heart ache a little.

His total true essence now reached six thousand one hundred and fifty drops, entering the final and longest stretch of the road.

Once his true essence reached nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine drops, he could reach the Foundation Establishment peak, condense the Sea of True Essence, and begin to attempt Core Formation.

Normally, this would still take quite some time, unless fate granted him another chance.

As he pushed open the stone door of the cultivation chamber, Wang Yu looked up at the sky.

“A third-rank lightning tribulation? That’s the Demonic Corpse!”