Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 443

The underground palace appeared vast but was actually quite small. As soon as the three thousand phantom bodies appeared, they filled everyone’s field of vision. Under such circumstances, trying to judge with the naked eye was no different from fantasy.

The more experienced ones had long since released their divine sense to observe.

However, Wang Yu had nearly perfected this technique. His true body had already used the cover of the phantom bodies to charge straight toward the entrance of the underground palace and rushed upward!

His primary goal was to leave this place.

However, putting themselves in his shoes, the others could also guess his intentions. For these old monsters with treacherous minds, this was not difficult.

In the field.

The only mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator summoned a jade ruyi scepter. It swayed in the wind and blew out a freezing current. A thick layer of ice rapidly sealed the entrance of the underground palace at a visible speed.

Wang Yu’s expression remained unchanged. He even took the initiative to crash into it.

Indestructible spiritual light flashed across his skull, showcasing his extreme stubbornness!

With the double enhancement of Silver Blood Divine Strength and the Force Domain, he spun on the spot like a drill and forcefully bored through the ice layer. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

“How is that possible… Snow Like Jade is a fourth-rank high-grade magic treasure…”

Before they could pursue further, the three thousand illusory phantom bodies Wang Yu left behind exploded simultaneously. The brilliant seven-colored aurora acted like a flashbang, nearly blinding everyone present.

Yin Gui Demon Lord seized the opportunity. Transforming into a streak of yin thunder escape light, he shot through the passage Wang Yu had broken open and rushed to the surface.

His heart was beating extremely fast. He didn’t know whether Wang Yu had done this intentionally or was simply very loyal to their agreement, even helping him on his way out.

But he soon realized it was intentional.

After all, this was a win-win situation for Wang Yu. It not only disrupted the pursuit and gave him a chance to escape and conceal himself, but also allowed Yin Gui to break free.

Yin Gui Demon Lord’s intelligence was average, but fortunately his methods of harming others were quite ordinary. Compared to cultivators of the same age, he seemed almost naively innocent.

Even more valuable was that his combat strength was quite decent.

After the experience at the Heavenly Yin Water Pool, Wang Yu had also discovered one of his own weaknesses: insufficient combat power!

Solving this was simple: just raise his cultivation.

But if he wanted to gain more benefits from the Eastern Extreme Capital ruins, he needed to gather some forces around him. In this regard, the Gui Water Demon Palace was one of the subordinate forces of the Blood Reversal Sect.

They were simply not under mandatory command. Once he revealed his identity, they would become true partners. The greatest benefit from the Heavenly Yin Water Pool trip was already in his hands.

Sharing one Heavenly Yin Divine Pearl was really nothing.

Of course, Nascent Soul cultivators from the Blood Reversal Sect itself would be more suitable for cooperative exploration. For example, the Dark Demon Barbarian Lord and the Dark Tiger Demon Lord. Cooperating with them was very pleasant and smooth.

It was just that he hadn’t had the chance yet.

Outside the underground palace, in a residential house far away from the four-sided small courtyard.

Wang Yu tossed a Heavenly Yin Divine Pearl to Yin Gui. According to his inspection, there were four of these in total. Their value was comparable to a Nascent Soul Formation Pill, similar to attribute-compatible Core Formation spiritual items.

In the hands of cultivators who mainly cultivated water, yin, or ice attributes, they were ready-made treasures for condensing a Nascent Soul.

Yin Gui still hadn’t fully processed what had happened. After obtaining the long-desired Heavenly Yin Divine Pearl, he subconsciously licked his lips.

He bowed deeply and said,

“I still don’t know Daoist Friend’s name.”

“Wang Yu. Perhaps Fellow Daoist is more familiar with my title — Supreme Law Profound Pill Demonic Lord.”

Yin Gui indeed showed an expression of sudden realization. His Demon Palace was located in Cloud Ridge Prefecture, so he had no choice but to participate in the war against Yellow Springs Monastery and had studied intelligence regarding the entire righteous-demonic war.

If not for the emergence of Eastern Extreme Capital this time, he would most likely still be fighting on the battlefield against Yellow Springs cultivators.

“Daoist Friend Wang, thank you very much for this.”

“No need. You also contributed genuinely. Everyone in the world knows that I, Wang, am the most trustworthy.”

“Indeed, indeed!”

This was pure flattery. He had heard of Wang Yu’s reputation, but not to such a detailed extent.

Since his goal had been achieved, he wanted to take his leave first.

He planned to digest the benefits he had obtained before doing anything else. As for the Heavenly Yin Dragon Pearl, he still didn’t know its exact function, so he didn’t think too much about it.

“Fellow Daoist, there’s no need to leave in such a hurry.”

Wang Yu saw through his thoughts and directly tried to persuade him.

“The emergence of the Eastern Extreme Capital ruins will attract a massive number of Nascent Soul cultivators. We from Cloud Ridge Prefecture and the Blood Reversal Sect are geographically close.

“As the saying goes, those nearest the water tower get the moonlight first. If we become satisfied with small gains now, by the time we come out of seclusion, the entire Eastern Extreme Capital will have already been explored by others. That would be a huge loss!”

Upon hearing this, Yin Gui indeed began to hesitate.

Logically speaking, with the Heavenly Yin Divine Pearl in hand and combined with the Yin Thunder Water Lotus he had found a few years ago, he had a seventy percent chance of breaking through to late-stage Nascent Soul.

Becoming a renowned great cultivator would also greatly elevate the status of the Gui Water Demon Palace, finally giving them the qualifications to negotiate properly with the Blood Reversal Sect. They would no longer have to rely solely on him and his disciple Lian Yan as the only two Nascent Souls.

After all, during the many years Eastern Extreme Capital had been buried underground, the local forces of Cloud Ridge Prefecture had explored it quite thoroughly. Many of the collapsed buildings had been their doing.

Inside the Gui Water Demon Palace, there were records of past generations of cultivators’ explorations and information about the ruins. These were all advantages.

If they didn’t make use of them now to gain more benefits, it would truly be a pity if others snatched them away.

Greed was humanity’s greatest weakness. Those who achieved Nascent Soul were the greediest among the greedy, but they also knew exactly when to be greedy, and when to go all in.

Moreover… the person in front of him was a Nascent Soul from the Blood Reversal Sect!!

When it came to understanding Eastern Extreme Capital, the information recorded within the Blood Reversal Sect should be even more detailed and comprehensive.

Thus, Yin Gui Demon Lord subconsciously asked, “Does Daoist Friend Wang have a second target?”

“Of course.”

Wang Yu replied with a calm and casual expression.

“To be precise, this was always the first target. The trip to the underground palace was purely an accident.”

“In that case, I shall follow Daoist Friend’s suggestion.”

…

…

Wang Yu was not lying.

During the years he served as City Lord of Jade Spirit City, his strength had been insufficient, which was why he had never made a move on the Eastern Extreme Capital ruins that lay right under his nose. The place was simply too dangerous.

Yet he had always collected every piece of information about it. Even without this full emergence, he would definitely have entered to take a look once he became strong enough in the future.

The secrets these ruins involved were simply too important.

He did not want Spirit Transformation to mark the end of his own cultivation path. The Taiyin Nether Eye seemed like a fallback route, but he still felt it was somewhat unstable.

Even if the Idle Slots pushed it to the fifth rank, it still felt like something was missing. After all, the sixth rank that corresponded to the Void Refinement realm was the true stage where one could wield the power of space.

Leveraging the lower to pry open the higher was not completely impossible.

It was just that the probability was rather low. Therefore, he would not pin all his hopes on the Taiyin Nether Eye alone. Finding a more stable second path was also one of his long-term goals.

And to do that, he needed to learn more ancient secrets before he could make a truly thorough plan.

Thus, after receiving the news from Withered Prosperity Elder.

He refined the Black Demon Thunder while hurrying on the road, rushing over in the shortest possible time.

Back to the main topic.

According to the records of the Scripture Hall, during the era of the ancient immortal dynasty there had existed a special longevity medicine vault reserved exclusively for the Human Emperor, collecting countless rare spiritual herbs and precious medicines from across the world.

It was listed as the place with the most treasured medicines in the Ice Prison Realm, no less than the Ice Phoenix Holy Palace, and possibly even richer.

The Eastern Extreme Capital here was not the capital city of the ancient period.

Therefore, the stock of longevity medicines here was not high, and it was protected by countless restrictions and formations that were difficult for Nascent Soul cultivators to break through. It would probably require those Spirit Transformation Venerables to personally arrive and crack them.

So Wang Yu’s first target was actually the Immortal Officials’ Medicine Vault in the palace city. What he sought was merely a divine sense secret medicine that could assist him in breaking through to late-stage Nascent Soul with his divine sense.

His short stay in the outer city area had merely been an unexpected incident.

The inner city area was even more dangerous, and it also contained many cultivation residences belonging to ancient great clans. The top-tier ones among them similarly stored treasures useful to Nascent Souls.

At this stage, most Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators were active in the inner city, breaking into one well-preserved ancient cultivator residence after another.

Sometimes they would reap a bountiful harvest, sometimes they would return empty-handed.

It was mostly a matter of luck. With good intelligence support, the chances of obtaining rewards would be much higher.

After Wang Yu and Yin Gui simply changed their appearances, they followed the “safe route” straight into the palace city.

At the end of what used to be the street of official residences, the Hundred Crafts Courtyard actually bordered the edge of the palace city. Wang Yu was very experienced in this regard. Along the way he even passed by sensitive areas such as the Jingzhao Town Evil Prison.

He also saw cultivators from the Ink Painting Sect, the Scent Perceiving Sect, and Purple Dragon Mountain, but he had no intention of greeting them at all and headed directly to the end of the official street.

In front of the Hundred Crafts Courtyard.

Yin Gui looked left and right. Wherever Wang Yu stepped, he followed exactly, their footprints overlapping perfectly, terrified of accidentally triggering any restrictions.

At this depth, every single restriction was extremely dangerous.

Especially inside the palace city, which was filled with immortal official mansions, royal residences, princess palaces, and other critical locations built by the Immortal Dynasty. One wrong step could lead to utter ruin.

This applied even to Nascent Soul cultivators.

Of course, They still had some room to resist. Although the palace city was highly dangerous, it did not have restrictions or formations capable of instantly killing Nascent Souls. That would be too exaggerated. After all, this was not the core imperial palace.

“Fellow Daoist Wang, have you been here before?”

“A Core Formation senior once came here. This way.”

Wang Yu walked in front, showing no intention of exploring the Hundred Crafts Courtyard. Those unorthodox inheritances of strange techniques did indeed far surpass ordinary cultivation arts outside of pill, artifact, talisman, and formation paths. They were quite good for pleasing the Human Emperor, but they were not suitable for him.

This area was dangerous and flight was prohibited.

The maximum height one could leave the ground was one zhang. Any higher would trigger the restrictions and force one down. If one was unlucky enough to trigger chained restrictions, being wiped out in one go was not impossible.

Therefore, both of them walked firmly on the ground, not in a hurry at all.

Half an incense stick of time later.

Yin Gui stared dumbfounded at the small hole at his feet, then looked around. This was indeed the “largest” “door.”

His mouth twitched as he looked at Wang Yu.

“Fellow Daoist Wang, is this the safe passage you mentioned? The two of us, dignified Nascent Soul cultivators, actually have to crawl through a dog hole?”

“Not at all.”

Wang Yu shook his head.

“Calling it a dog hole sounds too unpleasant.

“Look at this palace wall. It is connected to the palace city’s grand formation. The entire structure is perfectly smooth and flawless, cast from azure-red jade stone. Could a wild dog have dug out such a hole?

“It’s probably something dug by an exotic beast raised by some Human Emperor. It’s not a dog hole.”

Even though he said that, the feeling it gave people was exactly the same.

Seeing this, Wang Yu added fuel to the fire.

“Would you rather not take the shortcut and go through the main gate of the palace city instead? The ones gathered there are all top experts among Nascent Souls. The number of great cultivators alone exceeds both hands.

“Since we know about this secret passage, it would be a shame not to use it. By the time they break through from the front, you and I will have already filled our pockets to bursting.”

The words were crude but the logic was sound. Yin Gui gritted his teeth, stuck his butt out, and squeezed inside while cursing under his breath.

“This hole is too small. And after so many years of disuse, why is it still so damp?”

Wang Yu paid it no mind and replied casually.

“It’s humid, that’s all. After all, it has been underground for so many years. There’s just some accumulated water. After you go in first, don’t move at all to avoid triggering any restrictions.”

“Understood…”

Yin Gui replied in a muffled voice, clearly in a bad mood.

Wang Yu, however, secretly laughed in his heart. This path was information recorded in the personal notes of the Ink Painting Sect’s founding ancestor. Only he himself and the Daoist Qingyang who later found his remains knew about it.

Later this information had also been passed to Wang Yu. It did not come from the ancient texts of the Blood Reversal Sect.

Because of this, it was extremely well-hidden and very few people knew about it.

The benefits of exploring the palace city one step ahead needed no further explanation. Once Yin Gui finally crawled through.

Wang Yu turned into a streak of escape light.

With a whoosh, he directly appeared in front of the other party.

Yin Gui Demon Lord: “…”

Any slightly advanced third-rank escape technique could allow a cultivator to break free from the limitations of the physical body and fly as a fist-sized escape light. Otherwise, it was very difficult to exceed the speed of sound.

Even if it did exceed it, the flying experience would be extremely poor.

This was an intelligence test, indirectly confirming the guess that Yin Gui’s intelligence was indeed not very high.

Wang Yu calmly observed the palace city separated by only one hole. The place they were standing was beside a corridor. Due to the no-flight restriction, they still needed to find a landmark building to further confirm their position.

There was no map of the palace city, but records of some key buildings could be found in the ancient texts of the Blood Reversal Sect.

Due to the passage of time, only the most top-tier preservation methods could keep things perfectly intact. Therefore, every treasure worth fighting over was undoubtedly a heavy treasure.

Those of ordinary value had most likely turned to dust over the long years.

“Fellow Daoist Wang, which way now?”

Yin Gui asked with a face full of frustration and an indecipherable dark red tint, directly asking Wang Yu for directions.

As it happened.

He could not do it earlier, but that did not mean he could not now.

He took out the feng shui compass. The Water Ancestral Token embedded on it activated once again.

The ancestor of earth masters had personally arranged the Ancient Immortal Dynasty’s feng shui mystical formation. In this palace city, the ancestral token was the best support. Although he could not overlook the entire layout.

He could still deduce the most “auspicious” direction.

The layout that produced the most spiritual medicines required the presence of water. It could preserve medicinal efficacy while also using the water formation to nourish the herbs, allowing them to undergo subtle improvement. It had extremely high compatibility with the Water Ancestral Token.

Therefore, ignoring the direction of the imperial palace, he only needed to find the most water-generating feng shui position within the palace city.

It was most likely the Immortal Officials’ Medicine Vault!

Along the way, Wang Yu avoided danger multiple times.

He discovered that the most direct danger in the palace city actually came from the stone lions placed everywhere to guard residences and ward off evil. These were array stone puppets modeled after the exotic beast Azure Lion.

The materials were extremely special and possessed very high resistance to mana and demonic essence. The most suitable way to deal with them was using brute force.

As long as one did not get too close, these stone monsters would not activate.

Wang Yu and Yin Gui basically walked straight down the center of the main road, strolling all the way to the Immortal Officials’ Medicine Vault as if they were shopping. The journey was so smooth it was almost suspicious.

Wang Yu had been the one contributing the entire way.

Now, it was Yin Gui’s turn.

“Fellow Daoist, please!”

The other party said with a confident expression.

“Brother Wang, just leave it to me.”