Chapter 375: Blood Axe Opportunity Land

Dragonfall Valley, when viewed from the outside, resembles a winding serpent deeply embedded in the earth, with the valley's true center located in its belly.

There are two ways to enter: either by descending directly from the air or by entering through the "tail tip" and gradually exploring inward.

Wang Yu already knew that Dragonblood Vine Monsters inhabited this place. Naturally, he chose to start from the "tail tip" to test the strength of these creatures. Rushing directly into the center risked falling into an ambush or trap from which there would be no escape.

Moreover, given that a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator had visited before and found nothing, it suggested that obtaining the opportunities within the valley required not only the strength to overcome dangers but also strategic thinking.

"Let's test them out, Xueyu," Wang Yu said.

The little fox, noticing that there had been a lot more activity lately, became excited at the prospect of battle. Its body rapidly expanded from a small fox to a massive snow fox, thirty to forty meters long. As its five tails wildly swayed, a spherical artifact, transformed from its life-bound demonic treasure, the Snow Fox Cloak, floated amidst them.

A hazy, dreamlike blue light suddenly erupted. This was the Ice Enchantment Orb, one of the five transformed states of the demonic treasure. The radiant, icy beam possessed powerful hallucinatory capabilities, affecting both mind and body. Simply put, it not only cast mental illusions but also stimulated the target like a hallucinogen, causing them to lose control. Using it in this passage was one way to bait the enemy and reveal their weaknesses.

According to intelligence, the Dragonblood Vine Monsters were adept at ambushes. It was only natural to lure them out first.

As the light beam from the Ice Enchantment Orb probed forward, after several breaths, the ground suddenly began to tremble. Cylindrical, dark green vines, thick as water vats, burst forth from the ground and rock walls. Most bizarrely, the blood-red calyxes at the top of these vines contained fleshy dragon-head cores with crimson eyes, all hissing in unison towards Xueyu. They resembled lines of vine dragons; it was impossible to tell how much of them remained hidden underground, but they displayed extreme aggression.

Rings of crimson light shot out from the dragon heads, completely knocking the Ice Enchantment Orb away.

"Master, each vine blood dragon is at the peak of Core Formation," Xueyu said, her voice pained.

"I can see that," Wang Yu replied. "Transform into sword form and try to sever them from the roots. I have a use for these corpses."

Hearing this, the Ice Enchantment Orb swiftly transformed into a three-foot-long blue-green blade. This sword, named Heavenly Fox Sword, had a slender blade with blue ice patterns, making it look more like a ceremonial object than an offensive weapon. However, its power was considerable; the Heavenly Fox Sword Aura it projected could transform into a sword-qi snow fox, possessing a freezing effect. Among Core Formation cultivators, it was considered quite skilled.

Of course, due to its inherently low cultivation level, facing so many Dragonblood Vine Monsters simultaneously was still extremely difficult, even perilous.

After observing for a while, Wang Yu extended his hand, and the surging Ice Flood Dragon Flame erupted, forming a pillar of fire that shot out. The Dragonblood Vine Monsters besieging Xueyu seemed to be at the peak of Tier 3, but their methods were identical, as if cast from the same mold. Wang Yu had the impression of mass-produced products; their abilities were mediocre in all aspects, lacking even demonic treasures or divine abilities. In terms of combat strength, they could only intimidate rogue cultivators, and were no match for sect disciples, let alone Wang Yu.

He twisted the pillar of fire in his hand, sweeping it horizontally, turning the entrance of Dragonfall Valley into a fiery domain. One by one, the dark green vines were incinerated into charcoal, while vast areas of ice crystals simultaneously condensed around them.

A single move virtually swept clear all the Dragonblood Vine Monsters at the entrance.

Before he could even catch his breath, the ground tremors suddenly intensified, as if the earth itself was about to be torn apart. A massive number of vine monsters erupted from underground like earthworms, pressing against each other in a hair-raising spectacle. Even if their individual quality was low, they were still peak Tier 3, and such numbers were truly exaggerated. Dragonfall Valley's spiritual vein grade was not high enough to sustain so many demonic creatures. Furthermore, this was just the entrance; if he were to truly delve deeper, would there be tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Absolutely impossible!

While contemplating, Wang Yu changed his incantation, and the pillar of fire transformed into an ice dragon. With one claw, it scooped up the little fox, who was still hacking away, and abruptly rushed out of the Dragonfall Valley's tail tip, grabbing a few Dragonblood Vine Monsters along the way. This exploration showed him that a direct forceful assault was not realistic. He needed to revert to his old trade: stealth, which offered the only chance to safely penetrate to the core of Dragonfall Valley.

Once he was far from the entrance, the wildly thrashing Dragonblood Vine Monsters gradually calmed down. With remarkable intelligence, they moved all the shattered rocks and earth back into place, spewing yellowish muddy currents from their dragon-head cores. Astonishingly, the damage was repaired, and the entrance reverted to its original state, indistinguishable from when Wang Yu first saw it. The charred corpses were all retrieved, and everything returned to peace, as if Wang Yu had never been there.

This behavior reminded him of two creatures: bees and ants.

"Could these Dragonblood Vine Monsters merely be like ant soldiers? Is there a queen-like creature deeper in the nest?" he thought rapidly.

Wang Yu meticulously examined the few snatched vines but found no core like a demon core. However, the dragon's blood, which resembled spiritual plant sap, contained abundant vitality energy. It was superior to the dragon's blood he had used in making secret elixirs before, second only to the effect of a Jiao Dragon's inner core. Moreover, it was more geared towards repairing and replenishing physical vitality, making it ideal for extreme training.

As the situation became clearer, Wang Yu decided to cultivate here for a period. He sent Xueyu to dig a temporary cave dwelling, resuming his life as a caveman.

However, he immediately encountered a problem. His three-year-old body, while fine for fighting with divine abilities, which hardly affected Wang Yu's combat power, was ill-suited for physical training. With short arms and legs, battling thick Dragonblood Vine Monsters made it difficult for Wang Yu to experience the satisfying feeling of "punching to the flesh." A day of training could only be described as frustrating.

Thus, Wang Yu began to improve his Demonic Dragon Fist. He concentrated the blood qi dragon generated by the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art onto his limbs, transforming them into extensions of his body. This allowed his Mountain-Tossing Divine Strength to be fully utilized.

Every few hours, Wang Yu would charge into Dragonfall Valley. He engaged in close-quarters combat with the seemingly endless Dragonblood Vine Monsters. This sense of a single person fighting countless enemies intensified his group combat skills. The vines whipping his body would leave red marks; while they didn't draw blood, repeated strikes would cause purple bruises. Sometimes, being bitten by a dragon-head core would even result in poisoning. When using only his physical cultivation, the deeper Wang Yu went, the greater the pressure he faced. Even for batch-produced peak Tier 3 monsters, their basic strength was still quite formidable.

Having so many perfect sparring partners ignited Wang Yu's fighting spirit. Each time, he would pull back some of the thickest Dragonblood Vine Monsters, drain their blood, and use it to create a pool of Dragonblood Secret Elixir to heal his physical wounds. Starting from the third day, a slight increase in his physical strength was noticeable—he was fully in the zone. Wang Yu then took out the remaining Blood Fiend Crystals from the two corpses and used them to further intensify his training. He drew down Celestial Lunar Fiend energy to mercilessly temper his body.

The inexhaustible Dragonblood Vine Monsters became his free source of dragon blood. Even if a single vine could only yield one or two drops of essence blood, the sheer numbers meant he was constantly satiated. He would then endure repeated lashings from the vines, achieving a balance between injury and the operation of his cultivation art. Through this simple cycle of damage, repair, and strengthening, his physical strength continued to increase.

During this process, the divine marrow filling his dragon spine became increasingly condensed, developing threads of silver light. The essence of this substance was Wang Yu's condensed blood qi, the very foundation of his body cultivation. It influenced every aspect, especially as the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art and the Corpse Demon Secret Art, which produced "Heavenly Yin Blood" and "Corpse Demon Bones" respectively, had undergone a fusion reaction. This new cultivation art was born from that very foundation. The name "Yin Nether Demonic Dragon" was derived from these two elements, and describing it as a "Corpse Dragon" was not inaccurate. If body refinement truly broke through to Tier 4, this cultivation art would become somewhat insufficient. The best path forward would be to complete the Corpse Demon Secret Art to Tier 4, using it as a guide for the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art, or even completely fusing the two into a single, inseparable entity!

As time passed, the divine marrow within his dragon spine became even more condensed, emanating threads of silver light. Body refinement at Tier 4 also had another name: Silver Blood Spirit Bone!

The divine marrow transforming into a silver color would cleanse all limbs and bones, dramatically increasing a cultivator's total blood qi, much like a blood transfusion, thereby giving rise to a new, extraordinary realm ability—Silver Blood Divine Strength! This was considered an advanced version of Mountain-Tossing Divine Strength. Its most core function lay in an invisible "force field" that could diffuse pure brute force into a domain. This allowed one to flatten an area of a hundred li with a single stomp or lift a towering mountain with two fingers! Every part of this force field felt like Wang Yu's full power, enabling various incredible effects. It could even be concentrated into a single point, forming an explosive strike far exceeding the physical body's limit, representing a culmination in body refinement. The improvement was even more dramatic than previous breakthroughs. Moving mountains and filling seas was no longer imagination, but a true reality.

The so-called Spirit Bone was the second extraordinary realm ability, an advancement from the Vajra Body, fully named the Immortal Bone! From blood to bone, the ultimate goal was to forge an indestructible body; strength was merely a bonus on this path, far from the ultimate objective. The Vajra Body allowed the soul to reside within flesh and blood. Initially, the Immortal Bone could only condense in one bone, but as the body refinement realm improved, it would gradually spread to all bones, achieving complete evolution. Its enhancement lay in vitality and the power of immortality. Even if severely wounded to the point of being a mere skeleton, the Immortal Bone's effect would allow flesh and blood to regenerate, returning one to their peak! Its effect was very similar to the Corpse Demon Secret Art, making Wang Yu suspect that this secret art might have been created by the Heavenly Cripple Elder, using Tier 4 body refinement as a blueprint. From this perspective, the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art could indeed pave the way for merging with the Corpse Demon Secret Art and evolving into a Tier 4 body refinement cultivation art.

For now, Wang Yu merely entertained the thought. To truly achieve it, he first needed to complete the Corpse Demon Secret Art to Tier 4. He found the current refinement speed too slow and not cost-effective, so he decided to postpone it until after breaking through to Nascent Soul. At that time, his life essence would undergo another evolution, bringing a comprehensive improvement to his basic attributes, and the time required for refinement would naturally be greatly reduced.

The abilities of Tier 4 body refinement, whether Silver Blood Divine Strength or Immortal Bone, were highly desirable, serving as a carrot on a stick that continuously motivated Wang Yu. They were visible and tangible. With effort, he could truly achieve them. This strong feedback spurred Wang Yu to work even harder, and the sight of the young child fiercely battling numerous Dragonblood Vine Monsters became a common one.

In the blink of an eye, a year passed. Frequent battles and injuries caused Wang Yu's physical strength to rapidly increase, quickly reaching the new limit opened by the Innate Demonic Embryo. Dragonfall Valley was truly a treasure trove, perfectly suited for Wang Yu's cultivation and perfectly compatible with his Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art.

Simultaneously, the tempering of battle also impacted his mana. Although he had slowed down the consumption of Human Core Pills, after a year, his mana still surged to eight thousand strands. The mana, which should have become unstable, was forcefully tempered by him. His Sea of Qi gradually filled up, nearing the peak of Core Formation Ninth Layer.

One day, Wang Yu briefly left Dragonfall Valley to retrieve messages from Wang Zhenghong and others. While cultivation was paramount, staying informed about the outside world was also necessary to avoid being suddenly caught in major events.

Over the past year, the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect had sent two pieces of intelligence to Feng Province, both concerning the eastern and southern battlefields. The southern battlefield was too far from Feng Province, so the reports merely mentioned battle achievements, deliberately omitting any failures; everything was "good news." For example, a certain Nascent Soul Patriarch of the Joyful Demon Sect, renowned in Scarlet Kite, was defeated by the Saint Sect, and how much lost territory was reclaimed, or how commando raids achieved success. There was absolutely no useful information regarding the number of high-profile kills. This easily led to negative conjectures: if no significant figures were eliminated, the situation would remain a stalemate, and the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect.

The eastern battlefield involved the Yellow Spring Temple, with the main conflict in Cloud Ridge Province, specifically the area around the New Zhuiyue Province, centered on the struggle for the site of Dongji Capital. Guiling City, where Wang Yu had been relieved of his City Lord position, was also in the heart of this battlefield. This area was very close to Feng Province, so the Saint Sect had made arrangements, ordering the Feng Province Prefecture City to dispatch patrol teams to strictly guard the border regions and eliminate anyone who dared to cross. However, orders were one thing, and their actual execution was another; with Feng Province Prefecture City's cumbersome administrative system, efficiency was negligible. It lacked a decisive commander.

The Saint Sect naturally took this into account, stating that Black Sky Talisman Lord and Savage Ghost Peak's Earth Savage Old Demon would be dispatched to oversee the overall situation together. This indicated that the situation on the eastern battlefield was also not optimistic. The blitzkrieg strategy had failed, requiring an adjustment of countermeasures, especially regarding precautions against the Northern Broken Boundary Mountains, and more personnel needed to be assigned to various passes. The two cultivators dispatched to Feng Province were both Nascent Soul third-layer cultivators. Black Sky Talisman Lord was a given, and Earth Savage Old Demon was also a direct member of the Zhuo clan, seemingly indicating that the Zhuo clan of Ghost Fang was exerting its influence.

But for Wang Yu, Black Sky Talisman Lord's arrival in Feng Province meant: what about Nine Evil Sword Lord? He had to be wary!

"I need to speed up," Wang Yu thought. His physical body had become several times stronger than before, with more silver threads appearing in his divine marrow. This made him feel an urge to break through immediately. However, upon careful consideration, he decided to first secure the opportunities within Dragonfall Valley. With breakthrough-aiding spiritual items, the success rate would be higher, and even if he failed, he would have a way to save his life. Taking risks when weak was a necessity, but when strong, having the capital to increase the success rate was something he couldn't pass up.

"Xueyu, back into the Human Seed Pouch."

"Coming!"