Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 444

The exterior of the Immortal Official Medicine Vault had a rather peculiar shape. It looked like a giant building modeled after a pill furnace, with the main gate positioned exactly where the furnace’s fire intake would be.

Such an irregular structure was distinctive in design, yet not particularly neat or orderly. In theory, it should not have been suitable to exist as a standalone building within the palace city.

Unless it served a special purpose.

According to what Wang Yu knew, there existed within the heavenly formations a supreme feng shui array called the [Ninety-Nine Earth Furnaces Nurturing Immortals Formation]!

The Earth Mother Scripture recorded that this formation was said to help a person ascend to immortality in broad daylight.

Simplifying it from ninety-nine earth furnaces into a single water-nourishing furnace for nurturing spiritual herbs and precious pills would naturally make it a top-tier feng shui mystical formation.

Arranging it through human effort would turn it into a man-made formation. A man-made formation was not necessarily inferior to an earth formation; it was simply very difficult to compare with a heavenly formation.

Nature was a cultivator’s best teacher. “Learning from nature” also carried this subtle meaning. Many feng shui secret arts and peculiar formation arrangement methods were almost all learned from heaven and earth.

The yellow-brown building before them, which closely resembled a pill furnace, not only had excellent effects but also possessed extremely strong defensive capabilities.

“We feng shui earth masters never use the main gate. That is left for fools. Go to the Li position. This place counters fire, so the Li position has the weakest defenses. You can slowly erode it with yin thunder divine abilities.”

“Understood!”

Yin Gui Demon Lord carried out Wang Yu’s “suggestion” without the slightest hesitation. Along the way, the other party had already proven his ability more than once.

Since the two of them were truly cooperating, if he did not show some real skill, would it not mean he was unworthy of sharing the medicine vault’s treasures?

Moreover… he had discovered that following Wang Yu seemed to bring even greater gains. This was different from the wariness he had shown inside the underground palace. There was no need to test him any further.

And so, Following Wang Yu’s instructions, Yin Gui left the “fire intake” and moved to the somewhat rounded Li position on the “furnace wall.” Mud-like yin thunder surged out from his sleeve.

With a sticky splat it adhered to the furnace wall. Crackling electric light began to flicker. Taking advantage of the moment while the yin thunder eroded the wall, Yin Gui turned his head curiously and asked,

“Since this was built imitating a pill furnace, there should be more than one entrance, right? For example, the top treasure lid, the fire outlet, the side opening for adding spiritual herbs…”

“Correct.”

Wang Yu nodded to confirm his words, then teased,

“Care to guess whether this pill furnace can actually be lit?”

Yin Gui was instantly rendered speechless.

If it really could be lit, would they not be easily refined by the restrictions once they went inside? These entrances were all rather sinister. Aside from the fire outlet which seemed to correspond to an actual door, the other entrances on the pill furnace were clearly not meant for people to walk through.

After an awkward laugh, he said no more. He focused his mind and poured all his effort into eroding the “furnace wall,” preparing to open a gap here. Wang Yu also sat down cross-legged nearby, seemingly adjusting his condition in silence.

In truth, he was using high-level divine sense techniques to begin sensing the divine sense markers he had left behind. He secretly probed the divine sense points he had placed at every intersection along the way.

The various high-level divine sense application techniques developed by the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect had all helped him greatly, especially in matters of detail.

They far surpassed the current cultivation world’s methods of using divine sense.

Therefore, even though his divine sense secret arts had not kept pace in rank (he only possessed the fourth-rank Soul-Extinguishing Death Light after it was completed), divine sense remained an extremely high-potential tool.

For him personally, it was also the easiest to improve.

Those divine sense markers left outside were like countless surveillance cameras, allowing him to grasp exactly when and how the others entered the palace city.

This would determine his plan for this window of free time.

One incense stick of time later, the passage of years had ultimately left its mark on Eastern Extreme Capital. Yin Gui suddenly spoke.

“Erosion complete!”

The moment his words fell, the “furnace wall” with only a slight curve abruptly turned to ash, revealing a person-height doorway.

“I’ll go in first.”

Wang Yu stopped Yin Gui, who was about to rush inside. He took out the feng shui compass, activated the power of the Water Ancestral Token, and walked in first.

Yin Gui felt an itch all over his body. That was a treasure of their Gui Water Demon Palace!

What a shame.

After the two entered, Wang Yu used an illusion technique to conceal the doorway. The view inside was completely refreshed. Although the Immortal Official Medicine Vault looked like a pill furnace from the outside, the interior was still arranged like a normal building.

At most, the placement of objects had some particular meaning. The entire medicine vault was roughly divided into nine floors. The first floor was rather empty. The floor made of phoenix tree wood was spotless and gave off a faint warmth.

The phoenix tree was the legendary roosting tree of the phoenix.

It carried the powerful symbolism of nirvana and rebirth, with astonishing vitality. It was supreme-grade material for building a medicine vault. In feng shui mystical arts, the symbolic meaning of objects often held greater value than their raw power.

This was also related to the concept of “positional rank” in the unseen world, though the specifics were beyond his knowledge.

“What rich medicinal fragrance.”

Yin Gui could not help taking a deep breath. His spirit was greatly lifted. He wanted to go search for treasures, but as a veteran Nascent Soul he knew it was unwise to move around recklessly in a place like this.

So he could only turn his gaze to Wang Yu, waiting to see what he would say.

Wang Yu pondered for a long time.

“The Immortal Official Medicine Vault is ultimately not as good as the ancient Human Emperor’s Longevity Medicine Vault. The good items here are not as many as imagined, though there are quite a few healing treasures.”

As for how he judged this, it could only be said that alchemists possessed a unique perception and judgment toward spiritual herbs and precious treasures. Just from scent alone he had already obtained plenty of information.

“Let’s go. Straight to the third floor. Most of the boxes on the lower floors have already decayed.”

The Immortal Official Medicine Vault may have looked like a pill furnace, but it was actually a nine-story pavilion. Each floor had medicine cabinets carved from high-grade spiritual jade. These spiritual jade cabinets combined to form white jade walls.

Inside each drawer was a batch of ancient spiritual herbs.

The restriction formations were relatively intact, but many of the jade boxes contained only empty shells. Opening them rashly would cause the spiritual herbs inside to instantly turn to powder.

The power of time’s passage was simply too overwhelming. At least for cultivators of the Ice Prison Realm, hundreds of thousands of years was far too long; history itself had already been severed.

This also left Wang Yu feeling deeply regretful.

He thought to himself, “Looks like in the future when exploring relics, it’s best to choose ancient relics. They tend to be better preserved.”

On the third floor of the pavilion, Wang Yu walked straight to the ninth medicine cabinet. The Water Ancestral Token released a faint blue spiritual glow that coiled around his fingers.

With a simple push and pull, the jade box opened, revealing a pill resting on yellow silk.

“Ancient spirit pill?”

Yin Gui was somewhat stunned at the sight.

“Isn’t this the medicine repository? How could…”

“Pills are also medicine. The completed spirit pills here are far more numerous than the raw materials.”

Wang Yu’s answer made him frown deeply.

“Then how do we determine its medicinal properties?”

“Have you forgotten this lord’s title, fellow Daoist?”

Yin Gui suddenly understood.

“Profound Pill Daoist, please.”

Wang Yu nodded calmly. With one hand he formed a pill formula. A small tongue formed from demonic essence “licked” the spirit pill in a circle. Yin Gui immediately showed a look of disgust.

“I don’t want this thing anymore.”

Wang Yu laughed heartily in his heart. This was deliberate on his part. Whether scraping off some pill powder or normally using the pill-testing formula, one could detect the medicinal effects.

The extra step was nothing more than testing Yin Gui.

This guy had basically ridden on his information to get in. Now the entire Immortal Official Medicine repository was wide open to them. If he was greedy, he could kill Wang Yu and take everything as his own harvest.

If he played by the rules, he would naturally choose to split evenly and would not care about the gain or loss of one or two spirit pills.

In fact, he had already gotten a great bargain.

While Wang Yu appeared to be at a loss, the real place where he needed Yin Gui’s help was not in the medicine repository. It was easy to enter but difficult to exit. A lone traveler who obtained an opportunity would have everyone wanting to step on him.

Having a companion was different. At the very least, he could help share half the firepower.

So even though Yin Gui could take quite a bit right now, the dangers he would have to bear later were equally numerous. None of those great cultivators at the palace city entrance were easy to deal with.

Calculating the time, it was almost time to break through the formation protection of the palace city gates.

Though his mouth said he didn’t want it, Yin Gui couldn’t help his curiosity.

“What is the effect of this spirit pill…”

“It restores life force and can restore damaged physical bodies. Fourth-rank supreme-grade. The specific name is unknown.”

“Hiss—”

An undoubtedly good item.

Watching Wang Yu properly preserve it with the pill-sealing secret technique, Yin Gui opened his mouth but ultimately held back.

“Next, which floor?”

“Fourth floor, seventh medicine cabinet, third column, fourth row.”

The Water Ancestral Token paired with Wang Yu’s divine sense could precisely determine which jade boxes contained something. They could just open them one by one.

The guaranteed harvest in the Immortal Official Medicine Vault was fourth-rank supreme-grade. From the third floor to the eighth floor, they obtained a total of sixteen well-preserved spirit pills and four types of raw materials.

Wang Yu obtained nine spirit pills and two types of supreme-grade pill-refining raw materials, including the one he needed that could assist divine sense in breaking through realms.

And on the ninth floor, there were fifth-rank spirit pills!

This was also the moment that truly tested the two of them. If the other party was not sensible, he would have no choice but to let Yin Gui Demon Lord taste what it felt like to be refined.

Wang Yu had already made preparations when he had him destroy the furnace wall.

Did he really think that destroying a corner of this place with brute force would have no reaction at all? The Water Ancestral Token had extremely high authority in a place like the medicine vault. If it were the Wind, Fire, or Earth Ancestral Tokens instead, there would be no such effect.

Simply put, he had already been marked by the medicine vault.

Once Wang Yu released the restriction of the Water Ancestral Token, the medicine vault could burn Yin Gui to ashes on the spot.

The effect of this Ancestral Token was at its greatest right now.

Ninth floor of the Immortal Official Medicine Vault.

This floor did not have medicine cabinets. Instead, it used shelves similar to offering tables with nine compartments. Eight of them were empty boxes. The spirit pills inside had not dissipated due to the passage of time.

Rather, they had been taken and used before Eastern Extreme Capital had sunk underground. Wang Yu estimated that this floor should have been fifth-rank Spirit Transformation treasure pills.

The only remaining one should have a rather niche effect; otherwise it would have been exchanged by the powerful ministers of that time.

The two arrived together at the final shelf.

Wang Yu pressed the Water Ancestral Token onto the restriction light screen. Immediately, visible ripples arose. He reached in and took out the special jade box used for storing pills.

He opened it.

A rich yin-yang qi suddenly surged out, transforming into the true spirit forms of a black dragon and a white phoenix. They intertwined and merged, ultimately forming a black-and-white treasure pill.

This time there was no need for Wang Yu to test it.

Yin Gui Demon Lord’s deep voice suddenly spoke.

“Yin-Yang Dragon Phoenix Treasure Pill!”

This pill was extremely famous. It was a fifth-rank supreme-grade treasure pill. Legend said that the first-generation ancient Human Emperor relied on this path to bed three thousand jade maidens in one night, ascending to Void Refinement through the way of yin-yang harmony.

In the end he followed the Immortals back to the Upper Realm and was never heard from again.

But it made no sense for the Immortal Official Medicine Vault to have a treasure pill of this caliber. Therefore Wang Yu did not jump to the same conclusion as Yin Gui.

After telling him to calm down, to ensure the judgment was accurate enough, he scraped off a bit of pill powder and tasted it in his mouth.

After a long time he shook his head and said:

“It is not the Yin-Yang Dragon Phoenix Treasure Pill. It should be the Flood Dragon Luan Treasure Pill. Fifth-rank low-grade. Nascent Soul cultivators can also use it. After consumption, dual cultivation of the physical body and demonic essence with a suitable partner can bring enormous growth.”

Yin Gui showed a look of doubt, only to see Wang Yu reactivate the treasure pill’s phenomenon with a pill formula. Only then did he realize that the so-called black dragon and white phoenix were actually a black flood dragon and a white luan.

Though disappointed in his heart, he still asked hesitantly: “This spirit pill…”

“Mine.”

Wang Yu was not polite at all. He took the entire box and put it into his Seaheart Ring. This made the corner of Yin Gui’s mouth twitch. After a long silence he still smiled.

“Fellow Daoist Wang contributed the most. It should indeed belong to you. I have no objections.”

“Truly?”

“Of course.”

Wang Yu slowly nodded, then added as if casually:

“Next I will cultivate inside the medicine repository for a period of time and completely digest all the usable spirit pills. Will you stay with me, or leave first?”

Yin Gui thought Wang Yu did not trust him and quickly said: “I will go to the first floor to refine the spirit pills.”

Not only had Wang Yu gained something; he had also obtained spirit pills that could be taken directly. Even if he could not break through realms immediately, it would greatly strengthen his foundation and smooth the path to late-stage Nascent Soul.

Wang Yu had the Water Ancestral Token and could directly hide inside the restriction to refine them. There was no safety issue.

On the other hand, Yin Gui would face some danger.

Seeing that the other party was not leaving, Wang Yu did not drive him away, though he felt a slight regret in his heart. According to the divine-sense images he had left at certain intersections in the palace city, great cultivators had already entered.

If Yin Gui left first, he might help draw away a large wave of attention.

Eastern Extreme Capital was an ancient ruin, and the Ancient Immortal Dynasty had been destroyed extremely suddenly. It was not a deliberately arranged inheritance site by powerful experts.

That was why everything had gone so smoothly.

This was also because he had chosen the right direction and applied the right force. Otherwise he would have run into walls everywhere.

The Water Ancestral Token was only highly effective in the medicine vault and feng shui layouts. In other places it might not be so useful.

Feng shui earth masters emphasized earth, fire, water, and wind.

Formation masters emphasized metal, wood, water, and earth. The two shared common points, but at their root they were still different. Heavenly Formation masters could also hold a huge advantage here.

He needed to be especially vigilant about this point. Since Yin Gui had not turned against him for profit, it proved the man was worth associating with.

But Wang Yu still maintained a considerable degree of caution.

Next, one sat cross-legged in a small compartment on the ninth floor, the other sat cross-legged on the phoenix-tree wooden floor of the first-floor hall. The two tacitly began refining the harvested spirit pills.

After Wang Yu swallowed a fourth-rank supreme-grade spirit pill that helped break through the divine-sense bottleneck, he temporarily changed all seven idle slots to the Ancient Soul Art.

This divine-sense technique was only a tiny bit away from perfection.

The opportunity he sought was right now!

As the medicinal power of the spirit pill began to rise, the divine sense accumulated in his Niwan Palace surged violently. The bottleneck that had held him back for some time shattered silently under the effect of the medicine.

The divine-sense pressure belonging to a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was suddenly released.

Yin Gui looked up in alarm.

It was as if he had seen Wang Yu’s vast divine-sense true form. He muttered in his heart: “Late-stage Nascent Soul… no, how could such an old monster possibly cooperate with me.”

“And he is only two hundred years old. Truly unbelievable.”

And this!

Was only the beginning of the breakthrough!