Chapter 401: Closed Retreat for Twenty Years, Perfection of All Dharma (End of Volume)

I read a book about cultivating the demonic path, starting with a waste spiritual root!

Divine abilities, mystical insights, alchemy, and cultivation technique deductions would all receive a significant acceleration. While the placement slots themselves would not receive the Dao Platform's blessing, his main body would. Combining the two would be one of the most effective ways to utilize the placement slots.

With all preparations complete, Wang Yu began his secluded cultivation.

Just over six years had passed since he formed his Nascent Soul. His demonic essence had naturally increased considerably, standing at around 138 drops before his seclusion.

This was with all three placement slots working together.

He could cultivate 150 strands daily, which converted to 1.5 units. In six years and two months, he had accumulated around 33 drops, with the extra few drops cultivated by him personally.

Judging by the cultivation rate during the Nascent Soul stage, it would take even him 350 years to accumulate over two thousand drops of demonic essence and break through to the second layer of the Nascent Soul stage.

This was illogical.

After all, he possessed spiritual body aptitude, accelerated cultivation from his placement slots, and the augmentation of a nine-inch Heavenly Nascent Soul. If even he needed that long, wouldn't other Nascent Soul cultivators spend their entire lives stuck in the early Nascent Soul stage? Therefore, aside from conventional methods like pills, the problem might lie with supreme-grade spirit stones.

As Wang Yu pondered with a frown, he took out a supreme-grade spirit stone.

He began circulating his cultivation technique to absorb the refined spiritual energy within, quickly discovering the real issue, realizing he had guessed wrong…

“It's the cultivation technique!”

Wang Yu slapped his forehead. The Ice Soul Saint Demon Scripture had not yet been deduced and promoted to the fourth tier; even with all three placement slots working simultaneously, the deduction progress bar was still at two-thirds completion.

He had almost forgotten about this. Ever since he formed his Nascent Soul and noticed a tenfold increase in his efficiency of absorbing and refining spiritual energy, he hadn't paid much attention to it.

Now it seemed that the influence of cultivation techniques on high-level cultivators was enormous.

Another issue was the frozen demonic energy.

Although conversion through the demonic Nascent Soul was feasible, it was too slow. Much of the refined spiritual energy was wasted in this process, resulting in very little demonic essence being obtained.

The placement slot's ability to "create something out of nothing" was based on the content of the cultivation techniques placed within. For example, the Secret Art Heavenly Lock required spatial power for cultivation, so the placement slot provided pure spatial power.

The Ice Soul Saint Demon Scripture was essentially a cultivation technique for cultivating magic power. Using it to cultivate demonic essence naturally resulted in a huge disparity. Normally, breaking through one cultivation layer every one or two hundred years was considered reasonable.

Without external aid, a Nascent Soul cultivator relying purely on natural cultivation could not reach the peak of the Nascent Soul stage unless they possessed heaven-defying aptitude.

Otherwise, why would cultivators seek auxiliary items like spiritual items, spiritual pills, and formations? It was only now that he realized the problem, all because the placement slots provided too much feedback.

He had thought it was all cultivated by him personally.

No… it *was* cultivated by him personally. The instinct of being able to control it as if moving his arm couldn't be false.

Otherwise, Wang Yu wouldn't have always felt as though there was another him within the placement slots, tirelessly cultivating for twelve hours every day.

Sitting on the Heavenly Enlightenment Dao Platform, he took out some small items given by his demon race friends, sat cross-legged on the Ice Heart Meditation Cushion, and lit a Mystic Truth Inspiration Incense. He held two True Enlightenment Stones inscribed with mysterious ancient texts in his hands.

His spiritual sense transformed into tentacles and brewed a cup of Enlightenment Tea to drink.

Under multiple layers of augmentation, Wang Yu felt a burst of inspiration. His thoughts seemed to have an acceleration cheat, and insights from countless cultivation techniques flowed freely in his mind, combining at will, thereby sparking more flashes of inspiration.

“—Amazing!”

His primary goal was to deduce the Ice Soul Saint Demon Scripture. When he encountered a problem, he had to solve it immediately, otherwise, it would be a waste of time. Fortunately, he discovered it early.

Things had been constant in recent years, preventing him from calming down and cultivating properly. Now, he would address all the issues, including promoting the Guanghan Divine Ability to the fourth tier, and so on.

It was good to enter seclusion for a while. Wondering why he had been in such a rush, he inwardly chided himself. In May of Wang Yu's 66th year as an elder, he completely immersed himself in the profound mysteries of enlightenment.

Meanwhile, in the outside world…

After the elders of the Heart Beast Pagoda finished studying the Human Desire Art, this cultivation method was sent to the newly ascended Five-Colored Saint Lord of the Northern Demon Race, and a copy was also sent to their respective clans.

The Five-Colored Saint Lord, Lu Ming, immediately summoned Heavenly Peng King and others to discuss this matter. The Human Desire Art held extraordinary significance, as it could gradually improve bloodline purity through gentle dual cultivation.

However, its name and the requirement to dual cultivate with humans were too bizarre. It had to be discussed by the Four Upper Clans together to decide how to handle it.

On this day, in the recently established Saint Lord's Palace, Lu Ming distributed the spiritual sense jade slips to the three Demon Kings and said succinctly,

“This is the inheritance that Grandmaster Alchemist Wang obtained by ascending the Ancient Beast Ancestral God Mountain. What do you think?”

Ascended?

Heavenly Peng King, Thunder Qilin King, and Fire Crow King exchanged glances and began to observe silently. They soon put down their jade slips and started discussing.

Fire Crow King said, “This should be the inheritance of the Joyful Demon Sect. The Ancient Beast Ancestral God Mountain has always been rumored to have the Beast God Assembly pass down harmony methods, and past records also confirmed this.”

“Indeed, that's the logic,” Heavenly Peng King said, “but why would the Beast God have such a method? Does it hide a deeper meaning?”

Clever people tend to think this way and complicate matters.

The Five-Colored Saint Lord shook his head, “The current key is the cost of spreading this inheritance, and whether the Northern Demon Race can bear it.”

Thunder Qilin King, always rash, now had a furrowed brow.

“This King believes this matter doesn't depend on us. The elders of the Heart Beast Pagoda come from various clans. With their insight, they will surely recognize the issues involved, but also know the advantages of this method.

“Given more time, countless talented descendants of the Northern Demon Race will emerge, giving birth to more powerful cultivators at the Transformation-level Great Demon stage.”

All fell silent. This time, Thunder Qilin King had hit the nail on the head.

What they should be thinking about now was how to deal with it, rather than whether to spread it.

“Those with gentle dispositions will naturally befriend humans, and our subsequent plans will be stillborn. Those with radical dispositions might treat human cultivators as tools or cauldrons, releasing more malice.”

The reaction from the human race at that time was unknown. The rift between humans and demons was both serious and not serious; the key still lay in the attitude of the Soul Transformation Venerables.

“By the way, what is the current situation with those half-demons?”

Half-demons, as the name implied, were products of human and demon hybridization. They naturally possessed human wisdom and the bloodline advantages of demons, seemingly combining the advantages of both races.

However, due to their hybrid status, they were not tolerated by either race.

And the further they cultivated, the more they had to choose: to cultivate a human Nascent Soul or a demon's Demonic Nascent Soul. They could not have both. In other words, should they cultivate demonic energy or spiritual energy?

The number of half-demons was extremely small. High-level cultivators already found it difficult to produce offspring, let alone when the races were different. Most of these beings were in the Southern Rupture Mountain Range. Part of the North-South conflict among the demon race was because the Southern Demon Race accepted half-demons, whom those who considered themselves orthodox regarded as traitors.

If the Beast God's inheritance was seen as an ancestral hint, it would mean the Southern Demon Race was correct. How could they accept that? On a deeper level, if they were to take the path of cooperation, would humans willingly divide territories for demons to use?

If it could truly be that smooth, they wouldn't need to live in seclusion in the Northern and Southern Rupture Mountain Ranges. The beast tides of the past were both a form of resistance and conflict, and also purposeful, to consume the excessively prolific lower-tier demons.

How to deal with this truly gave the demons a headache.

“This Grandmaster Alchemist Wang truly brought out a big problem. If we had known this, we wouldn't have signed the contract. We would rather not have this inheritance.”

“What's the use of saying that now?”

“Lu Ming, have you notified the Azure Dragon Ancestor?”

“A message was sent, but as before, there was no response.”

—What a headache!

The Northern Demon Race already faced many problems in their ambition to rise, and now there was another issue with the Human Desire Art. As for how to solve it, the Five-Colored Saint Lord gradually formed an idea in his mind.

“I will handle this matter. Wuyan will continue to be responsible for contacting the Fire Crow clan branch of the Blazing Sun Sect. As for Grandmaster Alchemist Wang… this person's identity is a bit problematic.”

“What do you mean?” Heavenly Peng King looked puzzled.

“Lei Yao, the legitimate daughter of Thunderfire Abbot, went to the Heavenly Demon Bone Forest years ago. The matter of the Ancient Heavenly Soul Sect ruins happened during that time. Wang…”

Lu Ming paused suddenly as he spoke.

“Never mind. This person's identity might be rather special. Have you asked Yu Qiu?”

“We asked him. He said he didn't know.”

“That scoundrel! Still thinking about the Ancient Blood Demon Scripture. If he can truly transform into a Blood Sea Demonic Dragon, he should instead be thinking about how to help the demon race rise.”

The three kings fell silent one after another.

Many of the mountain-protecting demon beasts of various sects were dispatched by the Azure Dragon Ancestor. Besides cooperation, there were naturally their own goals and ambitions mixed in.

The truth about the Ice Hell Realm was not a secret among top cultivators.

But matters have priorities. Since they hadn't yet reached the peak of this realm, it was too early to consider breaking free from the cage.

“In another 160-plus years, the Saint Lord's Heavenly Palace will open. The gate-keeping division of the Ice Race contacted the Demon King of the Ice Python Race, and they seem to be planning something as well.”

“It's a period of many troubles…”

“Let's deal with the present first. Taihu and Chiyuan might get serious this time, and this is our chance. Thunder Qilin King, do you have any progress on your side?”

“The Poison Dragon Demon Venerable of the Bone Forest is unwilling to help, but can lend us an army of poisonous beasts. Its foremost demon general, Hundred-Eyed Centipede, is willing to lead three million poisonous insects to act first and drag Yunling Province into a poisonous fog.”

The conversation among the four demons shifted from the Human Desire Art to Wang Yu, and then to the current situation. Except for not touching the Southern Rupture Mountain Range, they were almost everywhere, recruiting aid, doing everything they could.

“Now it remains to be seen whether the Venerable of the Sword Sect and the Venerable of the Heavenly Refining Demonic Sect are willing to act. Their plans might also be entering the final implementation stage.”

This discussion lasted for three days and three nights, perfecting various details, before they disbanded and departed.

And as time flowed on…

The chaos in Maple Province, suppressed by the Ice Demon Child, gradually became more rampant and chaotic. The Yellow Springs Sect's invading squads repeatedly committed acts of city slaughter.

The Yellow Springs Ghoul Flag, a characteristic magic treasure of wartime, began to emerge. The Māra Host also entered the Maple Province stage, openly abducting people. All were sent into the Northern Rupture Mountain Range, which caused the number of mortals taken in by the Demon Cat Clan to gradually reach its limit.

Among the Seven Orthodox Sects of Taihu, currently only Thunderfire Abbot, Moon-Gazing Palace, and Emerald Cloud Sect were participating in the war and were at the forefront. Some teams had already advanced deep into Maple Province.

The southern battlefield of the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect was suppressed by the Blood Demon Sect Master, allowing Grand Cultivators to be mobilized northward. At the same time, the Five Yin Peak and Heavenly Corpse Peak among the Nine Peaks and One Hall began to shine brightly.

The disappearance of Wang Yu also gradually attracted the attention of the Cold Blood Peak internal members.

The situation was rapidly changing, with many developments each year. Victories continued to pour in from the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's eastern front, yet the battle lines were contracting.

People from the Nether Mountain Cult began to appear, actually allied with the Yellow Springs Sect, attempting to tear off a significant piece of flesh from the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect.

Under these circumstances, Wang Yu's seclusion continued. Thus… twenty years passed in a flash.

In the first year of his seclusion, under the augmentation of multiple enlightenment treasures, Wang Yu thoroughly comprehended numerous pill recipes. Aside from cultivating and refining pills to complete his transactions with the Northern Demon Race, he was almost completely immersed in enlightenment.

In the second year, the Cold Dragon Alchemy successfully advanced. Wang Yu's alchemy skills advanced by leaps and bounds, sufficient to refine fourth-tier supreme-grade spiritual pills. If not for material limitations, he would even have some confidence in attempting fifth-tier spiritual pills.

At this point, the potential of this alchemy skill was exhausted. In the future, besides his own research, he would only be able to seek higher-level alchemy inheritances.

In the third year, the Aurora Evasion Technique reached Grand Perfection.

In the fourth year, the Blood-Killing Heart Sword achieved Minor Accomplishment.

In the fifth year, the Ten Directions Frozen Demonic Fist reached Grand Perfection, becoming his second strongest trump card after the Twelve Phases of Guanghan.

In the sixth year, the Ice Soul Divine Light reached Grand Perfection.

In the seventh year, the Earth Mother Scripture, Earth Resentment Puppet Master Scripture, Insect Refining Secret Art, and other various miscellaneous studies with varying progress, were cultivated by him to Grand Perfection.

Except for the fourth-tier inheritance, the Five Poisons Scripture, of which he had only comprehended the Gu worm section, he had basically completed all the miscellaneous studies he possessed.

In the eighth year, the Ice Soul Saint Demon Scripture was successfully deduced, officially becoming a fourth-tier cultivation technique, directly reaching the Grand Perfection realm. Wang Yu's speed of absorbing supreme-grade spirit stones and accumulating demonic essence greatly increased.

The efficiency of the three placement slots increased from "150 strands/day" to "50 units/day," an efficiency increase of over thirty times—truly terrifying!

At this rate, he would be able to break through to the second layer of the Nascent Soul stage in ten years, accumulating over two thousand drops of demonic essence. His strength would be completely different.

It was evident that his spiritual body aptitude and various augmentations were held back by his cultivation technique. Now, due to the placement slots, advancement meant perfection, which instead became his advantage. Even without the threefold cultivation speed, he could still advance one cultivation layer in thirty to fifty years. This might be the normal advancement speed for spiritual body aptitude.

After all, the advantage of spiritual body aptitude in the Nascent Soul stage had not yet been exhausted, and it was even somewhat beneficial for breaking through to Soul Transformation, so it naturally wouldn't be too simple.

After all the cultivation techniques and secret arts he possessed had been successfully advanced, in the same year, Wang Yu set up a new corpse-nourishing geomancy formation to help the Thunder Corpse reach the fourth-tier level.

In the ninth year, the number of ancient exotic insects, Ice Flame Butterflies, reached a certain base. They were raised by Wang Yu in the Glazed Ice Heart Pagoda. He selected a Butterfly Emperor and ruthlessly sacrificed the Pure Jade Toad. This creature was slow to lay eggs, and refining it himself was less beneficial than using it to enhance the potential of the Butterfly Emperor. A large number of Ice Flame Butterflies could also become a trump card for him in the Nascent Soul stage. After it transformed into a cocoon and metamorphosed, he no longer bothered with it.

In the tenth year, the Corpse Demon Secret Art was completed to the fourth tier, restoring its full text. The integration and deduction with the Netherworld Demonic Dragon Art officially began. This was also the most time-consuming goal.

This enlightenment lasted for ten years.

Consequently, during this seclusion, Wang Yu completely exhausted the Dao charm of the Heavenly Enlightenment Dao Platform he possessed in one go. The result was naturally gratifying.

In June of Wang Yu's 86th year as an elder, he emerged from seclusion!