Chapter 169: Wind and Thunder Treasure Volume

Upon returning from the Bai Residence, he still had a large number of assets to inventory. What seemed like a vast sum was, in reality, quite small, because the Bai family’s fixed assets were much greater.

For instance, the extensive spiritual fields outside the city where "Bloodfang Rice" was cultivated, their thousands of spiritual farmers, and the shops within the city—these were the main assets.

Whether he could fully acquire these depended on the cooperation of the two remaining families in Guiling City.

On his way back to the main hall, he made a detour to the training grounds.

The grounds were densely packed with youths. Those with better aptitudes sat closer to the front, while those who knew they would become spiritual farmers in the future proactively sat at the very back.

The formation made it look as if a small group of people were surrounded.

Wang Yu stepped out, appearing mid-air at the very front. Everyone was startled and immediately shouted, "Greetings, City Lord!"

"Hmm," Wang Yu responded.

Wang Yu looked at the crowd, his divine sense sweeping over them quickly. When he noticed that the dual-spirit root cultivator had already broken through to the first level of Qi Refining, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"The City Lord’s Mansion is built upon a high-grade third-tier spiritual vein. This might be the best cultivation environment you will ever encounter in your lives. Whether you become city guards or spiritual farmers in the future, you will all be serving my City Lord’s Mansion. Therefore, no one is allowed to hinder anyone else’s cultivation. Once discovered, you will be executed!"

Having just killed a group of people, Wang Yu’s murderous aura had not yet receded. Speaking with such a deterrent tone, he immediately made everyone’s legs tremble, and they almost wet themselves.

After some thought, he realized he would need to seclude himself for a few days and wouldn't have time to deal with the daily trivial matters and living issues of these people. So, he pulled out a scroll of names from his storage bag.

Since these people were recruited, their backgrounds, parents, and pasts had all been thoroughly investigated by the Jiang family, who had sent him a thick stack of dossiers.

Now, taking them out was naturally for assigning tasks.

"Xu Nianzhou, Wang Ling, you two will be responsible for managing the ordinary storerooms from now on. They contain gold, silver, jewels, and grains for mortals."

"Yes!"

"Ma Da, Yang Erlang... Kang Liuer, you will work in the kitchen, responsible for preparing meals for everyone. You can withdraw funds from the ordinary storeroom as needed."

"Yes!"

Wang Yu assigned tasks in one go.

Gatekeepers, managers, procurement staff, patrol teams, cleaning teams, and others—all were assigned their duties. Those with authority were generally triple-spirit root cultivators, and positions were given based on cultivation progress.

The miscellaneous chores were given to those who would become spiritual farmers in the future.

This was just a preliminary arrangement; adjustments would be made later. Xueyu would oversee things for a few days, and once the news of this incident spread, capable rogue cultivators would come to offer their services.

At that time, by delegating some authority, he would also be able to relax considerably.

Everything was moving onto the right track.

With that, Wang Yu disappeared, returning to the main hall atop the 360 jade steps to begin inventorying the Bai family's assets.

"Just over 200,000 low-grade spirit stones. Was a portion taken by the Bai family's old ancestor?"

Wang Yu, leaning back in his reclining chair, recalled what he had seen in the Bai Residence's treasury earlier; a large part of it was empty. The second-tier spiritual items were similar to those of the Tuoba family, indicating that the family's true reserves were clearly not what they seemed.

This suggested either multiple treasuries or that a portion had been moved, implying they had anticipated today's outcome.

As for third-tier spiritual items, he acquired two types.

Soul-Blood Gold and Earth Core Milk. The former originated south of Guiling City. After crossing three thousand *li* of reed marshes, one would pass through the largest black market in the Scarlet Kite Demonic Domain—the Yama Ghost Market!

The Ghost Market’s masters, known as "True Monarch Yama" and his Dao companion "Lady Yanfu," were both Nascent Soul stage cultivators, with formidable reputations.

Rumor had it that they had some connection to the Yellow Springs Temple.

Further south was the Dead Silence Desert, one of the few places where living beings could not survive in this realm, and also one of only two desert landscapes. Soul-Blood Gold originated from this very place.

Legend says it was a small piece of metal formed from the defiled blood and souls of countless corpses, enduring a thousand years of wind and sand—a typical heavy treasure of the Demonic Path.

Moreover, it was a versatile type, usable in most demonic magical artifacts, making it a hard currency.

Earth Core Milk was relatively common, a readily available third-tier spiritual item that could immediately restore over 80% of a Core Formation cultivator's magical power.

It could also be refined into spirit pills to maximize its effects. He obtained about 15 drops.

Considering all his gains during this period, Wang Yu’s assets had swelled to four third-tier spiritual items, hundreds of second-tier spiritual items, and 670,000 low-grade spirit stones. How long had it been? One Tuoba family and one Bai family had fed him into this state.

Indeed, it was a land of plenty, truly wealthy.

If he had remained in the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect, acquiring these resources would have been extremely difficult, perhaps impossible in his lifetime, unless he had massacred a Core Formation peak.

It was truly time to consolidate for a while. As for the captured magical artifacts, Wang Yu selected a defensive, high-grade second-tier artifact, also a type of cauldron, to replace the Earth Elemental Cauldron.

The thousands of first-tier magical artifacts and dozens of second-tier ones were used to replenish the treasury. They would later serve as valuable rewards for recruiting rogue cultivators.

That concluded the physical items.

As for books and ancient texts, there was no small amount. A significant reason for the Bai family’s deep foundation came from the completeness of their inheritances.

The several main cultivation techniques practiced by their clan were suitable for most spirit root attributes and had all reached high-grade second-tier, sufficient to support them in breaking through to the Core Formation stage.

After some restrictions were broken, the inheritances self-destructed, but he still managed to obtain three complete cultivation technique inheritances, which he planned to place in the City Lord’s Mansion's scripture pavilion for training his subordinates. Among them, he was most interested in a fragmented cultivation technique.

—The Wind-Thunder Treasure Scroll!

This was a third-tier inheritance, complete with matching spells, secret techniques, pill formulas, magical artifact refining methods, etc.

However, more or less, some parts were missing.

Most frustratingly, its cultivation route was incomplete, which was simply maddening.

Wang Yu wondered if his system could fully derive it.

However, he primarily cultivated Yin and Ice attributes, and Wind-Thunder was too far removed from his path to be useful. The most valuable aspect of this inheritance for him was an explosive secret technique—Wind-Thunder Spirit Mark!

As a five-element spirit root with the most comprehensive attributes, Wind-Thunder, a mutated spirit root, also originated from the five elements. Theoretically, he could cultivate it.

It would neither reduce its power nor increase the difficulty of cultivation.

The secret lay in absorbing a large amount of overflowing Wind-Thunder spiritual energy from nature during stormy weather to construct a set of spirit marks on the body's surface.

Once activated, it could greatly enhance the user’s speed, and attacks could be imbued with devastatingly powerful lightning, useful for both escape and offense.

Furthermore, it offered a certain level of aid in improving physical prowess.

A third-tier secret technique meant Wang Yu could continue to use it even after breaking through to Core Formation. If perfectly combined with his divine sense at the late Foundation Establishment stage and his soul cultivation inheritance, his overall stats would undoubtedly leap to the late Foundation Establishment stage, allowing him to truly establish himself in Guiling City instead of being forced to cower within the city like a tortoise.

This technique was essential and needed to be prioritized.

After organizing his storage bags, Wang Yu felt a slight regret. Even with a collection of high-grade storage bags, he felt they were becoming insufficient. Above these were spatial rings, also a type of storage treasure.

These were typically standard equipment for Core Formation cultivators. Even a basic spatial ring had a capacity equivalent to six football fields combined, truly a treasure.

Next, Wang Yu touched his left arm, which was only held together by a few fine strands of true essence extended through precise manipulation, preventing it from falling off.

Earlier, at the Bai Residence, to break free from the golden ring's restraint, he had torn it off again, and afterward, he had just hastily reattached it.

He tallied it up: since he began body refining and Foundation Establishment, it had been broken several times, and once faced the risk of being completely crippled. This time, it was damaged by the aftershocks, and even the Corpse Demon Secret Art couldn't save it.

"It's crippled after all…"

Looking at the time needed for his Corpse Demon Secret Art to be completed, Wang Yu sighed helplessly. This was his trump card for survival during his weaker days.

It was actually quite similar to his current situation, except the trump card had changed to the perfected Profound Yin Hand.

Both possessed destructive power far exceeding his cultivation level, but were far inferior in other aspects. He was not as good as a late Foundation Establishment cultivator in speed, defense, or recovery, even significantly worse.

Only his extreme offense and divine sense held a slight advantage.

In fact, obtaining a third-tier armored corpse arm before coming would have been ideal, as it would perfectly bridge the time until the Corpse Demon Secret Art was completed. Unfortunately, he dared not take anything from Senior Disciple Jiang.

"With one less death-qi trump card, I suppose I should show some respect to the old ancestors of the Guan and Jiang families. Even if they've consumed longevity-extending treasures, they should pass away within ten years."

This was a dangerous period, but also a honeymoon period.

It depended on how Wang Yu utilized it.

His empty left arm made him feel unaccustomed for a while, and his strength would also be somewhat reduced, especially physically. The feeling of weakness was very obvious.

He formed a hand seal with one hand.

A deep blue, transparent ice crystal condensed from true essence. Following the template of his right hand, Wang Yu temporarily created an ice arm that wouldn't melt.

Wearing a wide-sleeved robe, wrapping it with bandages, and then putting on a glove, as long as one didn't probe with divine sense or touch it up close, there would be no visible issues.

Even as an ice arm, it remained remarkably flexible in its movements.

"This will have to do for now."

He entered seclusion to heal.

Five days later.

"City Lord, those people are still waiting outside the gate today."

"I know. You may leave."

"Yes."

Aside from his left arm, Wang Yu’s injuries had mostly healed. It was time to meet those people, especially the heads of the Guan and Jiang families.

With the Bai family’s annihilation overnight, they were undoubtedly the most bewildered.

The longer he delayed, the greater the pressure on them. He really ought to meet them to dispel their worries. If they couldn't handle the pressure and suddenly rebelled, it would be a complete disaster.

His divine sense stretched across most of the City Lord’s Mansion, reaching directly to the gate.

"Enter."

Soon, the crowd arrived outside the main hall. In addition to the familiar faces, there were four more young people, only thirteen or fourteen years old, who had already begun cultivating.

All were promising talents at the first level of Qi Refining.

They must have used some specialized spiritual medicine to help mortals come into contact with spiritual energy ahead of time. This method was far more sophisticated than Wang Wu’s method of rushing growth back then.

It wouldn't affect their future; on the contrary, it would give them more time to cultivate than ordinary people, naturally increasing their potential.

"City Lord Wang—!"

As expected, the first to speak was Patriarch Guan, the opportunistic fence-sitter.