Chapter 177: Alchemy Advancement

This incident would somewhat damage Wang's prestige, but only in the eyes of outsiders.

For the factions long established in the city, Lord Wang's ability to manipulate situations at will was suffocating. They couldn't know if he would suddenly reveal more trump cards. On the contrary, this had a surprising effect on solidifying their alliances of interest. Although the crowd harbored much dissatisfaction, their cultivation levels remained at the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment stages. He could bear this backlash. As for Core Formation cultivators, Lord Wang's Demon-Hunting Secret Art was nearing completion. In the future, he would regularly sweep the city, and if any Core Formation cultivators were present, he would simply not leave the City Lord's Manor.

"You must take responsibility."

Having resolved the major affair, Jin Miaoshan had just arrived at the City Lord's Manor, intending to discuss the follow-up in detail, when Wang Yu's sudden remark caught her off guard.

"You... what do you mean?"

"Literally what I said. Because of you, I, Wang, won't be able to leave the City Lord's Manor for a long time. All cultivation resources must be delivered to me by your Golden Pavilion."

"This..."

"Of course, I'll pay the spirit stones I owe."

Jin Miaoshan gritted her teeth. She couldn't remember how many times this had happened today; her teeth were itching with irritation... she couldn't help it.

"I understand. Here's a VIP token for the Golden Pavilion. It grants benefits equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator. Even if I leave the Guiling branch, the new pavilion master will act accordingly."

"Thank you."

Wang Yu unceremoniously took the token and spread his hands. "My spiritual item."

"...Give me a year."

"That long?"

"Do you think I'm a wishing star? That I can get whatever I want?"

"Alright."

Wang Yu didn't press the matter further. He knew the difficulty involved. With the Styx Pact in place, it couldn't exceed ten years, or it would be considered a breach of contract. Just one year; he could afford to wait.

Seeing that there was nothing else to be done, the two stared at each other for a long time in silence before Jin Miaoshan finally asked, "Did you plan this whole thing from the start?"

"How could I have!" Wang Yu said, speechless. "It was your subordinate who wouldn't let me leave. What could I do? A late-stage Core Formation cultivator was trying to kill me, and I wasn't allowed to escape? Fellow Daoist Jin, you think too highly of yourself."

"Sigh—"

"I understand."

Jin Miaoshan sighed deeply, her eyes flickering, then suddenly invited, "Brother Wang, would you like to explore Dongjijing with me?"

"Huh?" Wang Yu was truly surprised this time. Even though they had signed the Styx Pact, forbidding either of them from harming the other by any means for a hundred years, such an invitation was still too reckless. Did she truly not realize?

"You'd best not go in. Go back quickly. Once today's events spread, you'll surely be held accountable. Fellow Daoist Jin, you should think about how to clear your name instead. As for Dongjijing... countless people are waiting for you there~"

With that, Wang Yu walked towards the main hall of the City Lord's Manor, taking the corpse of the Core Formation elder, which had been hanging for a short while, with him. Unfortunately, the elder's storage ring had been taken by Jin Miaoshan.

Today's events ended anticlimactically, but for Yunling Province, the Guiling Incident could certainly be called a textbook classic, further aided by the auspicious appearance of Dongjijing! Had this crucial element been missing, merely inciting everyone would have been difficult because they knew they couldn't break through. Having Core Formation cultivators changed everything. The perilous conclusion was also due to the presence of Core Formation cultivators, whose objectives were clearer and who better understood the true value of Nascent Soul overlords. Despite various factors, they still retreated. Many details remain worth discussing, and some busybodies even held Lord Wang's words from that day as golden rules. They read them daily, seeking to understand the meaning behind every character, turning it into a comprehension exercise.

Of course, while the Guiling City incident concluded, the Golden Pavilion's troubles were far from over. Expecting demonic cultivators to stay silent was wishful thinking. They only had their mouths to babble, and they wouldn't be silenced at all; in fact, their claims would become increasingly outrageous with distance. Especially since a projection had been displayed over Guiling at the time, some busybodies even recorded it a second time and secretly sold it to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Unsurprisingly, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion acquired it at a high price, then proceeded to endlessly duplicate it, spreading this set of recorded visual and audio evidence throughout the entire Scarlet Kite Demonic Domain. This severely impacted the Golden Pavilion's business; their previous encounters in the market had never resulted in such a significant defeat.

Then, Wang Yu cooperated with Jin Miaoshan to record another video. This new recording claimed that the previous events were an illusion, that someone had impersonated him to deliberately slander the Golden Pavilion's image and provoke conflicts between the overlords behind them. Believe it or not, this conspiracy theory found a wider audience. The Golden Pavilion also activated its high-level spies placed within the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, spreading identical slandering videos throughout the Scarlet Kite Demonic Domain, which infuriated the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, both sides would fiercely expose each other's scandals and smear each other relentlessly for the next few months, if not years.

These matters, for now, were unrelated to Wang Yu, but he was ultimately affected. For example, he shouldn't expect to enter the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion with his true face.

"Since there's nothing else to do, I'd better cultivate. Disciple... go buy some spiritual herbs for your master."

Three months later, February of Wang Yu's 16th year as a deacon.

Dawn was breaking. The golden, warm sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the figure seated cross-legged. As spring advanced, the chill in the air was receding.

Slot 3: Cold Drake Alchemy / Second Order ↑"Cold Drake Alchemy (0/100): Forty-eight refinements per day, perfected in 120 years."

"120 years..." Wang Yu's pupils contracted slightly. On second thought, this was indeed reasonable. The next level would be perfected Third Order alchemy, and others couldn't even achieve perfection within 120 years. The higher the grade, the rarer the premium elixirs and the higher their added value. Sometimes, even an ordinary premium Third Order healing elixir could help a Third Order alchemist refine their skills. An alchemist capable of refining premium Third Order elixirs would not find it difficult to refine Fourth Order elixirs for Nascent Soul cultivators; at most, the quality might not be high. Skills at this level were quite rare, and in the demonic path, which was not adept at production, such talents were even scarcer.

Cold Drake Alchemy was originally a Third Order alchemy inheritance, albeit severely incomplete. The completion by the placement slot couldn't conjure all its elixir recipes from scratch. From start to finish, it involved those few fire-control hand seals, extraction methods, pill-congealing techniques, and so on. Wang Yu's path to completing them had been very smooth. Like an upgrade, the sole accompanying Cold Drake Elixir recipe underwent significant changes, adding several spiritual herbs that enhanced the refining effect of the cold flame. It was particularly effective for ice-attributed elixirs.

"Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice, Marrow-Chilling Jade, Third Order demonic cores... Tsk tsk, truly not cheap." If he could acquire a Third Order cold flame in advance, it would be a significant trump card, no weaker than his perfected Profound Yin Hand. His Flame Form Art was already perfected. For such offensive arts, the power primarily depended on the flame.

Since Cold Drake Alchemy had advanced, Wang Yu placed the Ice Spirit Elixir recipe into the slot. As a Second Order cultivation elixir, its placement time was much shorter than that of cultivation techniques or spells. Perhaps because its content was relatively small, the Ice Spirit Elixir only required one year to perfect. Of course, even if this recipe wasn't perfected, Wang Yu could still attempt to refine premium Ice Spirit Elixirs; only the success rate would need further verification for now. When both the alchemy technique and the recipe were perfected, it meant a ninety percent success rate. If only one was perfected, he could still try to refine, it would just cost more spirit stones. He, Wang, had no shortage of spirit stones now; he had over three million in reserve, which was plenty.

He summoned his errand-running disciples, Jiang Li and Jiang Chuan, and kindly handed them the Golden Pavilion's VIP token. "Go now. Have the pavilion send these spiritual herbs to me."

Jiang Li, Jiang Chuan: "..."

A master's command was hard to defy. Since their families had explained the situation beforehand, their expectations for Wang Yu were actually quite low. Now, occasional guidance and elixir rewards were already satisfactory. Moreover, they could utilize the City Lord's Manor's resources for cultivation, which was no worse than their clan, perhaps even better, as they had no competitors! Over time, their cultivation improved rapidly. Estimating they could advance to late-stage Qi Condensation within five years, Wang Yu was reminded of something as he looked at them.

After the Golden Pavilion delivered ten sets of spiritual herbs for refining Ice Spirit Elixirs, Wang Yu called in the sisters Ying Dong and Ying Xue as well. All four of his disciples had grown into adults. "In the past few months, the auxiliary mineral veins of the underground spiritual vein have almost recovered. Go back to your families and inform the heads of both clans to come."

The spiritual vein area was very important. The core of the City Lord's Manor's formation was located there. When mining spirit stones, Wang Yu would personally enter the spiritual vein to guard it and prevent accidents. In at most a year, the generated spirit stones would be mined until only a thin layer remained, requiring another ten to twenty years for recovery. It was best to entrust such matters to experienced hands. His City Lord's Manor was full of novices who were prone to making mistakes, so he had to let the Guiling clans handle it.

Having arranged this, he continued to have the Golden Pavilion prepare more spiritual herbs for refining Ice Spirit Elixirs. Since he was going to enter the spiritual vein area for seclusion, he should prepare ample supplies. Then, he commissioned them to acquire Third Order corpse refining techniques. The corpse of the elder surnamed Liu still retained considerable vitality and life force. He had sealed and preserved it in an ice coffin, placed in the City Lord's Manor treasury. This item was a premium material for refining zombies. Wang Yu had previously sold many corpses to Heavenly Corpse Peak, but now, he wanted to keep this late-stage Core Formation living corpse to refine it into a helper for himself. As planned, the Three-Tailed Snow Fox, Xue Yu, was currently his combat partner. With their matching attributes and perfect synergy, they could exert immense power. However, the enemies he faced were a bit troublesome, and Xue Yu's realm was insufficient, making rapid cultivation difficult. While in seclusion for alchemy, he could refine a batch of premium Snow Fox Elixirs for it, and also collect more elixirs for cultivating spirit beasts. He refused to believe that feeding it various premium elixirs wouldn't eventually raise Xue Yu's strength.

This preparation, along with the Guan and Jiang families preparing experienced miners, took about one and a half months to finally gather all the necessary personnel.

City Lord's Manor, underground.

It is said that Heaven and Earth have veins. Heavenly Veins are rare, nigh impossible to find through the ages! Earthly Veins are common, including spiritual veins, dragon veins, and Five Element veins, all of which are mutations based on earthly veins. Volcanic terrains often have fire veins, rivers, lakes, and seas have water veins, famous mountains and great rivers have dragon veins, lush ancient forests have wood veins, and places where metal and iron mines converge have metal veins. Such Five Element earthly veins with distinct attributes are often accompanied by multiple spiritual veins, and sometimes even give birth to spiritual vein treasures condensed by heaven and earth. However, these treasures are mostly found within dragon veins.