Chapter 202: Full Load Return

Soul-Devouring Raven's Cry!

This spell was just one step away from advancing to a divine ability. In the future, if a suitable divine ability of both Yin and Soul attributes were lacking, it would be beneficial to use the placement slot to further develop and upgrade it.

Unfortunately, each spell, cultivation technique, or placement slot could only be upgraded once. If it were possible to continuously upgrade them, it would be too extraordinary. Moreover, its effectiveness depended on Wang Yu himself. The stronger his comprehension, the faster the progress of the placed contents.

To look at it from another perspective, secret techniques and divine abilities that typically took twenty, thirty, or even three hundred years to master would require him to practice ceaselessly, abandoning all other activities, and train to exhaustion for years to achieve perfection. Additionally, there were challenges related to fatigue, bottlenecks, boredom, and comprehension, as well as the practical issue of insufficient true essence requiring recovery. If he were to practice in the real world, even with twice the allocated time, he might not achieve perfection.

"The Great Dao is arduous, one can only forge ahead."

Emerging from the darkness, Wang Yu unleashed his Soul-Shattering Finger, completely destroying the nascent demon soul of the corpse demon. This particular corpse demon was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage. It was far inferior to the corpse ghoul he encountered last time, but any gain was good. Even if he didn't refine them himself, these two premium materials were top-tier trade items. It would be a significant loss to trade them for spirit stones!

After throwing the living corpse demon into the Grand Yin Corpse-Nourishing Coffin, Wang Yu gazed into the deep darkness of the ruins, remembering the Craftsman Institute and the Imperial City. After lingering for a moment, he decided to head towards the surface. His current gains were sufficient, and he would explore deeper secrets once his strength was greater.

The next day, on the outskirts of the Eastern Capital ruins, Wang Yu emerged from underground, stretched, and then patted his waist to release his small flying boat, heading cheerfully towards Guiling City.

In the shadows, a few cultivators skilled in concealment rapidly transmitted messages: "Mid-Foundation Establishment stage. The target just came out of the ruins and appears to be heading towards Guiling City."

"The target is suitable. Let's go, follow him."

On the flying boat, Wang Yu glanced sideways, feeling a familiar sense of kinship after a long time. This was the nature of the Red Kite sect. Cultivators who engaged in robbery died in droves, yet they never went extinct. Especially near public ruins like this, there were always people watching, without fail. Wang Yu, of course, was not afraid. However, he should reflect on himself. He knew to use the Invisibility Spell and Breathless Charm when he arrived, and he should have done the same when leaving. It wasn't about how strong the enemies were; it was an issue of attitude! After all, he had been comfortable for too long, and his power had grown. He had lost his cautious nature.

—Reflect! Reflect intensely!

The journey back to Guiling City was not far, only seven days. If he was willing to spend spirit stones, he could fly even faster. Along the way, there was a swamp perfectly suited for an ambush. Wang Yu simply "watched" as these individuals made their arrangements. Two days later, he passed through the swamp.

"Die!"

Two mud dragons, over ten meters long, leaped from the swamp and fiercely attacked Wang Yu. He flicked his hand, and the Ghost Cry Flute appeared in his grasp.

Heart-Rending Wail Blade!

The translucent, greyish Sound Aura Blade, like a line capable of severing anything, twisted the air, creating ripples as it rapidly advanced, splitting the magical mud dragons in two. However, the cultivating robber who cast the spell felt enveloped by grief. He desperately wanted to cry! He instinctively tried to summon his magical artifact, but his hands trembled, and tears streamed down his face.

Immediately after, the corpse, vertically sliced in half, fell to the ground.

With just a single encounter, this Foundation Establishment Layer 4 cultivating robber was dead. Afterwards, the other two, who had just finished setting up their isolation array flags, exchanged bewildered glances.

"Not good, he's a tough one, run!"

"Run?" Wang Yu shook his head, and Frost Moon Wings appeared on his back. This perfected top-tier second-grade escape technique significantly compensated for his lack of speed, sufficient for 99% of battles.

With a flash of cold light, Wang Yu appeared behind one of them. He simply threw a straight punch forward. With power from his dragon spine, the Infernal Demonic Flood Dragon, formed from qi and blood, surged forward with his fist. He could even feel the air being compressed. The cultivator who was suddenly attacked was at Foundation Establishment Layer 6. With his extensive combat experience, he should have reacted instantly. Instead, he froze completely, as if witnessing some terrifying illusion.

*Boom*

His protective true essence barrier was utterly unable to withstand Wang Yu's furious assault. Without any means of resistance, the cultivator was shattered by a single punch, like tofu.

"The Minor Asura Killing Fist, in addition to its offensive power, is accompanied by 'Asura Killing Intent,' which can deter enemies with weak wills or clouded minds, making them feel as if they are in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Even if they manage to break free from the killing intent illusion, they will still be suppressed by this power, feeling cold all over, their true essence sluggish and difficult to mobilize, as if a blade is held to their throat. They will constantly feel a terrifying dread, making it impossible for them to fully exert their strength."

Having tested this divine ability on the man, Wang Yu gained a deeper understanding of its characteristics. However, to fully unleash its power, he needed to break through to the Core Formation stage. And this was not the full extent of this killing fist technique.

The last cultivating robber, who had fled three hundred meters away, was drenched in sweat, entirely from fear. "He's clearly only at the Mid-Foundation Establishment stage; three against one shouldn't have been a problem... How can he be so strong? Wait, is he fishing? Playing the pig to eat the tiger?!" Before his poor little mind could conjure more possibilities, a smoothly rotating ice wheel, as if from beyond the heavens, traversed hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye and sliced through his neck. "This—"

The third cultivating robber's head rolled from his neck, and his body plummeted to the ground. He had offered no resistance from beginning to end.

Second-Grade, Top-Tier Spell: Ice Wheel Technique.

This was Wang Yu's second trump card for offense, after the Profound Yin Hand. It was currently at the Grand Accomplishment stage, still a considerable distance from perfection. However, as a spell of the same attribute, it unleashed even greater power in Wang Yu's hands. After all, his primary cultivation technique, the *Heavenly Cold Yin Blood Art*, focused mainly on the ice attribute, with the yin attribute secondary.

Speaking of this cultivation technique, he had perfected it a few years ago. Aside from lacking the special effect of improving aptitude, its cultivation speed was essentially the same as the *Cold Blood Spirit Ascension Art*. The only unique aspect was that upon perfection, it gave birth to a cultivation technique anomaly similar to a realm anomaly, named — Heavenly Cold Blood! Besides causing Wang Yu's body temperature to drop further, it could also significantly enhance the power of Wang Yu's ice-attribute spells and slightly boost his yin-attribute spells, potentially allowing them to reach the premium grade below the third tier.

The premium grade had always been a very special tier. In elixirs, it held a special status, with prices skyrocketing by more than tenfold, and almost no channels to purchase them. Even grandmaster alchemists couldn't guarantee refining premium-grade spirit elixirs of the same tier. In magical artifacts, only those that failed to be refined into true artifacts could be called second-grade premium magical artifacts, and they required the incorporation of third-grade materials to achieve this. In spells, it signified the strongest within the same tier! Powerful cultivation techniques could grant cultivators greater strength due to various unique anomalies, akin to the transformations brought by breaking through realms. It was impossible for them not to be powerful.

Collecting the corpses, Wang Yu first took their storage bags, then used his Soul-Devouring Malign Armor, after which he drained their blood into the Grand Yin Corpse-Nourishing Coffin, finally leaving behind shriveled bodies, whose value was greatly diminished. However, they could still be refined into second-grade zombies. All three combined could likely fetch around ten thousand spirit stones.

Continuing his journey back to Guiling City on the flying boat, this time he fully deployed both the Invisibility Spell and the Breathless Charm. With his perfected mastery of these spells, even the flying cloud boat became invisible. Aside from a slight breeze moving in an unnatural direction, there was nothing unusual.

"Cultivation techniques, secret arts, spirit stones... Hmm? This one's good."

As Wang Yu tallied his spoils, he picked out a flawless second-grade mid-tier magical artifact. After refining it, he learned its name.

"The Vajra Shield, a defensive magical artifact, offers defense against physical impact that is comparable to top-tier artifacts. It's perfectly suited for someone at my cultivation stage."

As for the rest, they were hardly worth mentioning.

Five days later, after being away for half a month, Wang Yu quietly returned to the Guiling City Lord's Mansion without alerting anyone. This trip, laden with gains, had gone quite perfectly! He was not in a hurry to go out again. He waited until he had reassembled the killing intent cultivation chamber he dismantled from the Demon Suppression Prison, expanding his original secret chamber to include another. He would enter it again to practice the Minor Asura Killing Fist, so as not to damage the fragile stone slabs during his regular cultivation.

In less than two days, Guan Yingdong came to report. "Master, Pavilion Master Ye is here. He said he has something to deliver to you."

Only then did Wang Yu leisurely emerge from his seclusion.

The materials for a thousand Soul Essence Pills had arrived! This was his next major cultivation project. His *Ancient Soul Art* was still a few years from perfection. Once he cultivated the Ancient Soul Anomaly, he could use the power of the pills to push for the early third-tier Divine Sense realm. Although reaching the limit of the cultivation technique wouldn't allow him to break through to the mid-third tier, he could still accumulate and increase the upper limit of his Divine Sense power until it reached the early-tier maximum. He was experienced in this, as his body cultivation path had been similar. Furthermore, Divine Sense represented the strength of a cultivator's soul and could not exceed their cultivation realm by too much, or there would be a risk of abandoning the physical body and becoming a soul entity. Solving this problem would free up another placement slot. He planned to use this placement slot to push all his miscellaneous techniques to perfection, and then finally settle on the *Infernal Demonic Flood Dragon Art*, eliminating the need to constantly switch. If his Divine Sense could break through, it would also help him strengthen the magical imprints used to control the Grand Yin Corpse Ghouls, and possibly even control more zombies.

As the stone door of the secret chamber opened with a rumble, Wang Yu followed Guan Yingdong to the reception hall.

A moment later, "Pavilion Master Ye, I trust you have been well."

"Uh... City Lord, I'm afraid you've forgotten, we only just met a dozen days ago."

"For cultivators, time holds little meaning. To me, it truly feels like a long time ago."

Ye Qing could only respond helplessly. The Guiling Branch seemed to be almost entirely at Wang Yu's command, dedicated to collecting various spiritual resources for him. Even if resources weren't available locally, they had to be transferred from other branches or even the main headquarters, all by Miss's command. Ye Qing felt a momentary sense of melancholy. Such treatment was unheard of, even for direct disciples of major sects. Could it be...

Widening his eyes, Ye Qing dismissed his wild thoughts and said with renewed spirit, "This was sent by Miss; she instructed me to deliver it to the City Lord."

With the items in hand, Wang Yu said, "Contact Fellow Daoist Jin and tell her I have a way to help her. Have her prepare her treasures for me to choose from."

Ye Qing was dumbfounded.