Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 481

“No rush, no rush. We can talk in detail once we arrive.”

The Five Colors Holy Lord was mentally calculating Wang Yu’s bottom-line price and thinking about how to extract even more benefits from him. A fourth-rank supreme-grade alchemist.

Whether in the Crimson Kite or Taihu, such a person was extremely rare.

The highest-level alchemists in the two domains were:

- One was the Sword Sect’s Dan Chen Venerable, a fifth-rank mid-grade alchemist who could occasionally refine top-grade treasure pills. He often needed years of preparation for each attempt, and the results were unstable.

- The other was the Heaven-Refining Demonic Sect’s Wuji Demon Venerable, the foremost expert in blood-pill dao and human-pill dao demonic alchemy techniques, a fifth-rank high-grade alchemist.

He did not refine pills often. After all, it was rare for a Venerable to be used as raw material. He mostly relied on quantity to produce quality, frequently hunting demonic beasts on Vermilion Bird Divine Mountain for ingredients.

In the Five Colors Holy Lord’s eyes, Wang Yu clearly had the potential to become the third powerhouse in the Ice Prison Realm’s alchemy field. After all, at such a young age he already possessed this level of skill. Becoming a fifth-rank alchemist in the future was entirely possible.

Whether now or in the future, he could bring enormous benefits to the Northern Demon Race, and the share the Holy Lord could claim would also be substantial.

If he successfully broke through to Spirit Transformation later, having a fifth-rank alchemist by his side could also assist his cultivation and grant him even greater strength.

Therefore, no matter what the Five Colors Holy Lord’s plan was.

Wang Yu’s existence held great value.

This also laid a solid foundation for the upcoming discussion. When the two of them arrived at the Heavenly Roc Clan’s territory, the Heavenly Roc King—wearing a golden cloak and possessing a majestic, solemn appearance—personally received them.

The alchemy cooperation was settled without any issues. The conditions and fee standards Wang Yu proposed were accepted by both parties. On the other hand, refining only one furnace per year remained his personal rule.

Once that matter was concluded, the Heavenly Roc King naturally brought up another issue.

He had repaid the favor owed to the Old Monkey and the Hound King.

Now it was time for the Heavenly Roc King to collect the favor owed to him, and the matter was related to the native beings of the Ice Prison Realm.

“—Ice Clan entering the border?”

“Correct.”

With the Five Colors Holy Lord’s silent approval, the Heavenly Roc King had a corpse brought forward. Its appearance was identical to a human, but the spiritual power it cultivated carried a unique cold qi from birth.

Its meridians were also transparent and icy, like crystal.

Wang Yu had seen this kind of being once before, during his second trip to Blackbone Mountain, he had personally witnessed it among the batch of Black Bone bandits. Their cold resistance was abnormally strong.

Later, on the way to the Endless Ice Plains to break through to Nascent Soul.

He had sensed that this matter was connected to the final Ice Clan gatekeeper tribe and vaguely felt the surging undercurrents beneath the cold currents. That was the Ice Clan’s ambition!

But following the principle of “one less problem is better than one more,” he had focused on breaking through. Pretending he had seen nothing, he broke through on the spot and left the Frost Demon Sealing Grounds. By now, seventy or eighty years had passed.

He had not expected that the mixed-blood Ice Clan beings nurtured by this special secret technique would appear in the Northern Demon Race’s territory.

“Heavenly Roc King, feel free to speak plainly about what you want this Wang to do.”

The Heavenly Roc King smiled.

“The origins of the Ice Clan need no explanation from this king. Fellow Daoist Wang surely knows even more, since Cold Blood Peak has a generational alliance with the Ice Clan’s last inheritance tribe.”

Cultivators who practiced the Frozen Demonic Dao mostly had to personally visit the Endless Ice Plains to break through to Nascent Soul. The stakes involved needed no further elaboration.

“The matter is actually very simple. This king wants Fellow Daoist Wang to contact the cultivators of Cold Blood Peak and send someone to the gatekeeper tribe to investigate whether a being known as the Ice God’s Son truly exists.”

“Ice God’s Son?”

Wang Yu felt that the title carried deep meaning. After a brief moment of thought, he nodded and agreed.

It was nothing more than sending someone to investigate. He could simply contact Heavenly Frost Demon Lord or the Ice Soul Fairy and have them dispatch people. There was no need for him to take the risk himself.

Repaying this favor was relatively easy.

However, the solemn expression on the Heavenly Roc King’s face made Wang Yu feel there was more to the matter. Perhaps some hidden value he had not yet discovered was concealed within?

“Ice Clan… Ice God’s Son… Ice Prison Realm natives…”

While pondering, a flash of insight suddenly appeared.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes.

He instantly sensed a faint clue: Holy Lord Heavenly Palace!

There were still a hundred years until the palace opened.

But he had already obtained the Holy Token for entering the palace from true disciple Jiang at Heavenly Corpse Peak. He also knew that the Heavenly Palace secret realm had been created by the Demon Race’s first-generation Holy Lord, Ice Phoenix.

Later he learned that Ice Phoenix was actually an Ice Clan being. Born in the form of an ice phoenix and resembling a demonic beast, she had used some unknown method to become the Demon Race’s Holy Lord.

After the fall of the ancient Immortal Dynasty, the Demon Race had ruled the Ice Prison Realm for a period under this Ice Phoenix Holy Lord. Later, for unknown reasons, they declined, and the Taiyin Sect gradually rose.

This matter was among the deepest secrets, recorded only in the unknown black tablet’s ancient history. Wang Yu did not know how many people were aware of it.

But… the Ice Clan sending mixed-blood clansmen into the Northern Severed Boundary Mountain Range was very likely for the sake of the Holy Palace tokens. These tokens had always been under the Demon Race’s control, with only a tiny portion leaking out.

To a certain extent, this was the Demon Race’s “exclusive” secret realm.

However, the Ice Clan people who knew the inside story would not see it that way.

Especially the gatekeeper tribe. Knowing that it was a foundation left behind by the Ice Phoenix Holy Lord for the Ice Clan, they would naturally be desperate to reclaim it.

The logic connected perfectly.

As for the Five Colors Holy Lord and the Heavenly Roc King, they were not like the ancient Demons who had been kept in the dark. They could obtain hints from ancient historical records or relics left by predecessors and sages.

They might have already noticed something.

Asking Wang Yu to direct Cold Blood Peak’s people to investigate was also a subtle way to avoid making the Ice Clan suspect that the Demon Race had discovered anything. Moreover, the appearance of mixed-blood Ice Clan members.

Meant they could now step out of the Endless Ice Plains. This force would also affect the current righteous-demonic war. Exactly how to handle it and how the situation would develop in the future.

Due to the lack of intelligence, Wang Yu could not deduce further.

But he could be certain his guess was not wrong. Only in this way would the favor truly show its real value. Otherwise, the Northern Demon Race could simply send some of their own people to investigate the Ice Clan.

The key point of this matter still lay with the “Ice God’s Son.”

The existence of such an Ice Clan being had made even an old fox like the Five Colors Holy Lord feel uneasy.

No matter how many layers of thoughts he had in his heart.

On the surface, Wang Yu agreed quite readily. He did not even ask any extra questions. This cooperative attitude also put the Five Colors Holy Lord and the Heavenly Roc King at ease.

Once the serious business was finished.

It became a casual chatting session. Mature men’s topics always revolved around the current situation and politics, just as gossip attracted women.

“I heard that the cultivators of the Northern Suppression Tower also cultivate the ice-frost dao. Although their numbers are small, every member is an elite, with the lowest cultivation at Core Formation. They train year-round in the Endless Ice Plains.

“If this force joins the Ice River Pass campaign, can Cold Blood Peak still win?”

The topic returned to the righteous-demonic war.

This was a question born of the Heavenly Roc King’s curiosity. He was purely pondering which side—righteous or demonic—was stronger when both cultivated ice-frost power.

On this point, Wang Yu could answer with certainty.

“If the Northern Suppression Tower does not possess a Spirit Transformation technique, then Cold Blood Peak is definitely superior. After all, their inheritance originates from one of the ancient demons—‘Frost.’ From the very root, they hold an innate advantage.”

“That may be so, but who in the Ice Prison Realm doesn’t know the situation? If the Northern Suppression Tower joins the Ice River Pass campaign… I’m afraid it will be uncertain.”

At this point, it was no longer simple rebuttal.

It carried a meaningful reminder.

Wang Yu merely smiled indifferently.

“The Fire Crow Army of the Blazing Sun Sect is now stationed on the other side of Kuangmei Mountain. Doesn’t the Northern Demon Race’s Fire Crow King have any thoughts on that?”

As he spoke, Wang Yu took out an item from his Seaheart Ring.

It was the life-bound magic treasure he had seized from Demon Lord Tangyang—the sword wings that matched the Fire Crow bloodline. This kind of niche magic treasure had low versatility.

Moreover, being a life-bound item, its only value was to be melted down into raw materials. Because those raw materials were Tangyang’s Fire Crow wings, its value dropped even further.

However, the Demon Refining Artifact Art could perfectly utilize it.

Wang Yu used the object as a metaphor: “The mixed-blood Ice Clan can bypass the rules set by the Upper Realm immortals precisely because of this mixed-blood secret art. The demon attendant secret art shares some similarities with it.”

And the birth of any secret art always left traces.

His words were actually probing whether the Demon Race had any information or conjectures on this matter.

The birth of demon attendants carried taboos of human ethics and propriety.

Using humans as breeding beds was something the Taihu cultivators absolutely could not tolerate.

The Heavenly Roc King pondered for a moment and said, “Mixed-blood secret arts are simply the product of mating between two races. The true profundity lies in the way of harmonization—how to extract the essence and discard the dross. That is far more difficult than mere words.

“Back then, the development of the demon attendant secret art was abandoned precisely because the beings born from human-demon unions, which combined the advantages of both races, were impossible to control artificially. One could only rely on coincidence and the effects of powerful spiritual pills.”

The moment these words were spoken, Wang Yu instantly understood.

If demon attendants were developed in the direction of living weapons, then the mixed-blood Ice Clan had been developed in the direction of bypassing rules. They did not need a perfect individual that harmonized the advantages of both races.

In that case, the threshold for developing this secret art was very low.

Wang Yu suddenly said, “In Ice Plains Prefecture or Maple Prefecture, there seems to be very little information about missing women.”

These were the two prefectures in Taihu and the Crimson Kite closest to the Endless Ice Plains.

If no incidents had occurred, it was either because the local higher-ups had deliberately covered it up, or the original source of materials for the Ice Clan secret art was not in these two prefectures.

An answer quietly surfaced in Wang Yu’s mind.

Northern Suppression Tower!

It and the Azure Cloud Sect were the two sects in the Taihu Spiritual Domain closest to the Endless Ice Plains. Wang Yu was extremely familiar with Maple Prefecture. During the time he had mingled in the Maple Prefecture capital, he had noticed nothing unusual.

That alone was enough to prove that the most mysterious of Taihu’s Seven Righteous Sects—the Northern Suppression Tower—had a problem.

The hidden riddles and subtle hints were fully received.

Wang Yu did not linger any longer. For a very long time in the future, he would reside in the side hall of the Five Colors Holy Lord’s palace. This would make it convenient to refine pills and tend to the furnace at any time.

Of course, the main purpose was still closed-door cultivation—to slowly digest the gains from ambushing the Azure Cloud Sect, continue practicing his frozen demonic essence and divine abilities, upgrade his magic treasures, and handle various other miscellaneous matters.

After he left, the Heavenly Roc King spoke slowly.

“It seems he has understood what we wanted to convey. Now we’ll see whether the demonic path will take action.”

The Five Colors Holy Lord immediately smiled with absolute certainty.

“They will.

“The demonic path is different from those hypocrites in Taihu. If we tell them the Northern Suppression Tower has a problem, they will most likely drag their feet for centuries with only self-investigation and never suspect the entire tower.

“The demonic path’s true villains are completely different. Especially the Heaven-Refining Demonic Sect’s sky-high ambition types. The righteous-demonic war involves their fundamental plan. They will not allow the Ice Clan to interfere at this time.

“Just wait and see. The entire Ice Prison Realm is about to enter an even more chaotic phase. At that time, opportunities for our race will also emerge. The next hundred years will be extremely important.

“What did the White Tiger Demon Venerable from the Southern Demon side say? Any definite response?”

The Heavenly Roc King helplessly shook his head.

“There was a response, but he refused to have much contact with us. He only said that on the day the Holy Lord Heavenly Palace opens, the White Tiger Demon Venerable will personally enter while concealing his identity.”

“So that’s how it is. He is indeed a bit smarter than expected.”

…

…

Several days later.

Snowjade and Dou Zhao “graduated” from the Ancient Beast Ancestral God Mountain. The former’s cultivation had risen rapidly, reaching the second layer of Nascent Soul. The opportunities on the divine mountain were clearly more beneficial to the demon race.

The gains were actually quite good, and the influence of her heavenly-grade bloodline also played a part.

Dou Zhao had stepped into the third layer of Foundation Establishment. Her gains were far smaller than Snowjade’s, which was closely related to the fact that she had not cleared all the way to the mountain summit.

Their arrival.

Caused Wang Yu to set aside time to spend warmly with them.

He worked tirelessly for nearly a month.

On this day.

Wang Yu spoke privately with Dou Zhao. He took out several prepared treasures and handed them to her, while also clearly stating his arrangements for her future.

Aside from some spiritual pills and talismans, the most valuable items were several magic treasures—or rather, blood-flesh demonic artifacts forged with the Demon Refining Artifact Art.

These demonic artifacts, because their refinement method was simple, were slightly weaker than same-rank magic treasures, but they also possessed advantages that ordinary magic treasures could not match.

“This is the Flame Demon Sword Wings, a fourth-rank high-grade magic treasure. It contains three strands of my divine sense. When activated in a critical moment, it is enough to instantly kill an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. How you use it is up to you.

“This is the Return to Void Concealing Heaven Talisman. It can be used three times, each lasting the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Even late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivators will be unable to detect your traces.

“This is the Great Teleportation Talisman. Under normal circumstances, one talisman can instantly send you ten thousand li away. It is in no way inferior to a Nascent Soul’s teleportation technique and is for saving your life.”

All these preparations were even stronger than the trump cards Wang Yu had when he was weak. If Dou Zhao still died unexpectedly under such conditions, it could only be said that her fate was sealed.

Seeing Wang Yu prepare so thoroughly.

Dou Zhao’s eyes instantly turned red, a fragile feeling of tears about to fall.

“Master… are you… abandoning Zhao’er?”

Wang Yu’s expression remained cold and emotionless.

“A fledgling eagle must eventually leave the wings of its parent and soar through the heavens alone. In the future, this lord will be in closed-door cultivation within the demon race for a hundred years. During this time, you will go to Taihu to gain experience.

“If after a hundred years you still cannot break through to Core Formation, then there is no need to return.”

Dou Zhao immediately held back her tears and looked at Wang Yu pitifully, speaking in a soft, timid voice: “Zhao’er understands.”

She was pretending.

Her true personality hid a very strong and ambitious side. Wang Yu knew this clearly, so he was not affected by this outward display at all.

“This divine sense jade slip records quite a few demonic path secret arts that should be helpful to you.

“Additionally, go to the Moluo Horde and deliver this sealed letter to their leader, Lei Yao.”

The letter contained information related to the Northern Suppression Tower.

The Moluo Horde hoped to rescue all suffering women. Investigating the Northern Suppression Tower was naturally something that could be left to them—it was a perfect match for their expertise.

If Lei Yao could stir up forces in Taihu regarding this matter.

The demonic path’s corresponding actions would face far less resistance. It was laying the groundwork in advance.

On the other hand.

Wang Yu would personally make a trip to Kuangmei Mountain to discuss this matter with the Ice Soul Fairy and invite her to use that fifth-rank treasure pill together.

Whether she agreed or not was another matter.

Demonic cultivators were all refined egoists. Even if she refused, she would not become overly angry. After that, the situation in the outside world would have nothing to do with him.