Chapter 406: Four-Level Thunder Corpse, Tripartite Meeting

If Jin Miaoshan arrived in time to lend him a hand, it would be a brilliant move.

As the secret Heart Power technique made contact, Wang Yu slowly opened his eyes in the cave dwelling. His aura surged for a moment before he vanished from the dwelling in the blink of an eye.

At the foot of Mount Xiaoling, Wang Yu frowned, looking at the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat. His divine sense swept across the area, revealing that the entire Demon Cat clan territory was empty. A quiet anger arose in his heart, only to be quickly suppressed.

He sighed, "Brother Hei, you have betrayed my trust." At such a moment, he could not bring himself to call him 'worthy brother' anymore.

"Master Alchemist Wang, there were reasons for this, and it was not my intention, but Heilu is my daughter after all. I will give you a satisfactory explanation for this matter."

"Then why did you move all your clansmen away?"

The Two-Tailed Shadow Cat did not wish to fight Wang Yu, but he was also uneasy about Wang Yu's identity as a Chiyuan demonic cultivator, unwilling to gamble the lives of his clan members. He said in a deep voice, "I can compensate you. Name your terms; as long as I can provide it, I will!"

"It's meaningless." The implication was clear: "Are your paltry offerings what I lack?"

He had originally intended to capture Heilu and use a soul-searching secret technique to confirm if Jinlin was truly the instigator. Now that she was gone, it meant she was being harbored. His initial good intentions in befriending them had been wasted. The Infant Transformation Pill, even if only mid-grade, was a rare and great opportunity in the world, something countless people desired but could not acquire.

Just as the tension between them escalated, a sudden clap of thunder reverberated. Wang Yu spun around. The aura of the Thunder Corpse was rapidly expanding, having successively devoured two Nascent Soul bodies and been infused with that Grade 4 Thunder Fruit. The Thunder Corpse, already exceptionally talented, had finally reached the threshold of Grade 4 after years of cultivation, and was about to undergo another crucial breakthrough.

This was the advantage of the paths of corpse refinement and puppetry. As long as resources were sufficient and raw materials had enough potential, it far surpassed methods like cultivating spirit beasts. If the Thunder Corpse could advance to Grade 4, coupled with methods like the Underworld Earth Resentment Puppet and the Ice Flame Royal Butterfly, he would even have the confidence to defeat a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. His foundation was slowly accumulated in this way. The only issue was that the grade of his Corpse Refinement Art was falling behind. He needed higher-grade secret corpse refinement arts, otherwise he would only be able to deduce and advance the Yin-Fiend Corpse Refinement Art himself.

With this sudden turn of events, Wang Yu coldly glanced at the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat and stated concisely, "Notify the Sky Roc clan. I'll settle accounts with you regarding Heilu later."

For some reason, the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Yu was very strong; he had known this all along. The Nascent Soul artifacts displayed at the treasure exchange meeting were the most powerful proof. But when truly confronting him, he found himself breaking out in a cold sweat despite possessing a cultivation of the fourth layer of Nascent Soul, which was truly perplexing.

'Is it because I witnessed him comprehending a rudimentary form of Dharma Intent last time...?'

Soon after, Wang Yu arrived at the foot of Mount Xiaoling and lightly stomped his foot. The earth immediately split open with a huge crevice, from which the lightning-wreathed Thunder Corpse suddenly leaped out, standing suspended in mid-air, roaring towards the sky. Lightning crackled from both of its sharp fangs. Dense fiendish aura and thunderous might intertwined, as if it wore lightning armor. Its aura continued to rise, and the lightning-engraved runes on its body were evolving to a higher level.

'A Grade 4 Armored Corpse is an Unbreakable Bone Corpse, and a Grade 4 Fiend Corpse is a Flying Yaksha.' These two pieces of information were generally known to any cultivator who practiced corpse refinement. However, what lay beyond that was a secret among corpse cultivators.

Wang Yu hailed from the Rebellious Spirit Blood Sect. During his time as an elder on Cold Blood Peak, he had slowly perused all of the million-volume collection in the Scripture Pavilion. He happened to know this secret.

For ordinary zombies, reaching Grade 3 Golden Armored Corpse or Flying Zombie was the limit. Advancing further typically required an anomalous type. Unbreakable Bone corpses possessed invincible physical defense and the strength to uproot mountains. Flying Yakshas possessed divine corpse arts, capable of devouring souls and spirits, making them extremely effective against soul cultivators. The two types seemed to represent extremes of the physical cultivation path and the spell-casting path, typical divergent progressions.

If an Unbreakable Bone corpse could advance to Grade 5, it would be called a Ba! The most typical example was the Drought Ba. If the Thunder Corpse had such an opportunity, it would become a Thunder Ba! This would already be equivalent to a Soul Transformation Venerable's body. In the corpse path lineage of the Ice Prison Realm, a Ba was one of the peaks.

Further advancement for a Flying Yaksha distinguished between Silver-Winged and Gold-Winged. Silver-Winged Yakshas commanded fiendish qi and possessed unparalleled curse abilities. Gold-Winged Yakshas, building on this, had a fiendish qi body, making them almost immortal and indestructible. They also possessed the ability to command and control other zombies. If a zombie king emerged among wild zombies, it would most likely be a Gold-Winged Yaksha. Their combat power would be slightly weaker than a Ba, but their diverse methods were no less formidable than those of cultivators. They were extremely rare!

Wang Yu still had some confidence in cultivating the Thunder Corpse into a Thunder Ba. After all, the raw material for this corpse was an ancient corpse demon, certainly extraordinary in life, surpassed only by the Thunder Spirit Corpse found in the Lightning Descent Abyss. That entity was suspected to be a sentient Corpse of a Soul Transformation cultivator, and he had already given it to Lord Leihou. Its potential was actually greater than the Thunder Corpse's, but his strength was insufficient at the time. He could only yield that opportunity.

In his mental ledger, the name Elder Xuanyan was still noted. Sooner or later, he would seek him out to demand an explanation. This person was only at the early Nascent Soul stage and should currently be stationed in Yunling Prefecture City. Being in such a dangerous place, it was uncertain whether he was still alive.

The Taiyin Fiend Corpse in his possession also had the potential to advance to Grade 4, but ultimately, it was too low-grade. Its raw material was merely Jin Miaoshan's protector from earlier years. With a mere late Core Formation cultivation, its physical body was aged and frail. If not for the Taiyin Moon Fiend, this potential would never have belonged to it. The problem lay precisely here: the Taiyin Fiend Corpse had potential, but it was far inferior to the Thunder Corpse. If the same advancement materials were prepared, the Thunder Corpse could improve, but it could not. This was the gap in aptitude.

Currently, the Thunder Corpse was about to trigger a Nine-Layered Thunder Tribulation.

As Wang Yu approached, he waved his hand, casting out several blank formation flags. Ever since he had fully comprehended the Earth Mother Scripture, his attainments in Feng Shui arts had reached new heights. Under the guidance of the Feng Shui compass, the blank formation flags quickly became covered in mysterious patterns. This was a Feng Shui array designed to aid in refining lightning. This path was similar to formation arrays but utilized profound and intricate layouts. It was still very different from true formation arrays.

"Boom—"

Thunder exploded, and tribulation clouds, carrying majestic heavenly might, rapidly gathered. As the Thunder Corpse's master, Wang Yu was connected to its energy, but he could not overtly bear the tribulation for it. Even though he coveted the opportunity presented by the thunder tribulation, he could not directly seize it. He could only cast out corpse-controlling seals, continuously strengthening their master-servant relationship. His powerful divine sense also directly extended, using high-level techniques of the Heavenly Soul Sect to deeply penetrate the Thunder Corpse's mind. He had previously considered using the Thunder Devouring and Lightning Spitting secret technique to directly devour the heavenly tribulation and transform it into a thunder seed, thus acquiring lightning spirit root aptitude. Unfortunately, it was just a thought. The correct course of action was to honestly follow the guidance of the incomplete Thunderfire Map and seek out the treasure left by the first Thunderfire Abbey Master.

As the thunder tribulation descended, Wang Yu controlled the Thunder Corpse to actively meet it. As a naturally extraordinary Thunder Corpse, devouring thunder and controlling lightning were its instincts. Its resistance to lightning was even higher than Wang Yu's own body. A mere Nine-Layered Thunder Tribulation was nothing to it!

Under the roaring thunder tribulation, the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat voluntarily retreated further away, fearing being targeted and affected by the tribulation. Watching the Thunder Corpse undergo the baptism of lightning, its pupils widened. 'I didn't expect Master Alchemist Wang's Thunder Corpse to be so powerful, already on the verge of advancement. He's a Chiyuan person... how could he not have demonic cultivation methods?' He murmured to himself. He had actually sensed that Wang Yu was cultivating a corpse before, but he hadn't expected it to advance so quickly. He used a voice transmission jade slip to inform the envoy from the Sky Roc clan. He didn't know how things would develop afterward. To resolve Heilu's offense, he was already prepared for a significant loss. If the Sky Roc clan acted as a judge, considering they were all demon races and the Shadow Cat was a key subordinate, they wouldn't overtly favor Wang Yu, but compensation would definitely be required. The Five-Colored Sacred Lord's primary spiritual pills hadn't been refined yet.

However, if he revealed that Wang Yu would be leaving soon, the Sky Roc clan might favor him and perhaps even choose to imprison Wang Yu. The problem was, offending an alchemist... could his refined spirit pills still be consumed safely?

"Troublesome..."

Getting back to the main topic, the Thunder Corpse's tribulation proceeded as smoothly as predicted, with no unexpected incidents. In less than half a day, the tribulation clouds rapidly dispersed.

At the foot of Mount Xiaoling, Wang Yu sensed the Thunder Corpse's state. Innate abilities such as Thunder Summoning, Heavenly Lightning Dharma Aura, and Lightning Escape Technique had all significantly improved. Although the Thunder Corpse was an anomalous type, it was still categorized under Armored Corpses and Fiend Corpses. Its physical body leaned more towards the characteristics of an Armored Corpse. Thus, upon reaching Grade 4, it gained lightning bones, possessing the zombie trait of an Unbreakable Bone Corpse: even if its flesh and blood were pulverized, it could rapidly recover by absorbing blood. Zombies did not have a concept of forming a Nascent Soul; they were naturally without a soul. In addition to common divine abilities like immense strength, iron-like physique, and regeneration through blood absorption, it also developed unique boundary-specific divine abilities related to Unbreakable Bone Corpses and Thunder Corpses.

Just like the Nascent Soul's spatial shifting ability and demonic essence, it now also possessed two new abilities: Unbreakable Bone and Thunder Embodiment, both divine abilities granted by its new realm.

The former was understandable; every Unbreakable Bone Corpse possessed it. Its effect was similar to the Indestructible Bone obtained through body cultivation, imbuing the bones with an unyielding quality, making them difficult to completely destroy. This alone was enough to cause the Thunder Corpse's physical strength to skyrocket.

Thunder Embodiment, however, was its exclusive trait as a Thunder Corpse. As the name suggested, it could transform its body into a pure lightning form, greatly increasing the power of its lightning-path divine abilities. It also became immune to most physical attacks and significantly boosted its resistance to divine sense secret techniques. The effects were remarkably comprehensive. Coupled with the various innate divine abilities it gained upon reaching Grade 4, it was more than enough to crush an ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, even immediately after its advancement.

Combined with the Underworld Earth Resentment Puppet and Wang Yu's own combat power, he could be considered to have firmly established himself in the Nascent Soul realm. Wang Yu controlled the Thunder Corpse to perform various intricate movements, finding no delay and his divine sense able to suppress its ferocity. Only then did he gradually feel at ease.

'Before the Yin-Fiend Corpse Refinement Art advances, the Thunder Corpse should not be further improved. Otherwise, if the corpse-controlling seals become insufficient and it breaks free, it will be troublesome.' Making this decision, he summoned the Taiyin Fiend Nurturing Coffin, threw the Thunder Corpse inside, and re-hung the coffin on his hair-binding jade hairpin.

'The Fiend Nurturing Coffin is only mid-grade Tier 3. It seems not just the alchemical furnace, but also the coffin and insect vats need an upgrade. Fortunately, the Dragon Blood Demon Tree's corpse is large enough; I can try out the intricacies of the Artifact Chapter of the Demon Refining Art these next few days.' If so, he would need many demon corpses to assist him. The materials he possessed were mostly metal and iron objects with Yin and Ice attributes, sufficient as auxiliary materials. However, if used as primary materials, they wouldn't suit the flesh and blood refining method of the Demon Refining Art's Artifact Chapter, which was a less orthodox method of artifact refinement.

He had thought that twenty years of secluded cultivation would have given him sufficient means. Now it seemed the problem still lay with the 'placement slots' – not enough, simply not enough!

The Demon Refining Art contained great secrets. Even if the Formation Chapter was so fragmented that only one sentence remained, making it impossible to deduce and repair, the Alchemy Chapter, Artifact Refining Chapter, and Talisman Chapter could all be restored. Currently, only the first two had been restored to Grade 3. To fully restore them to Grade 4 would require at least twenty years. Additionally, his Blood Pill Art and Human Pill Art would also need to be deduced and advanced to Grade 4 to complete his demonic sect's alchemy methods.

While his divine sense searched for materials within his Sea Heart Ring, Wang Yu reappeared before the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat. His expression unreadable, he asked, "Have you notified the Sky Roc clan?"

"Yes, I have. Given their speed, they should arrive in half a month at most."

"Then I'll settle accounts with you then." With that, Wang Yu's figure paused slightly. "In ten days, a friend of mine will come to find me. Clan Leader, please help entertain them for a bit."

"Alright." The Two-Tailed Shadow Cat understood that a rift had formed between him and Wang Yu. The latter no longer trusted him at all. However... a friend? He wasn't sure who that would be. Recalling what his daughter, Heilu, had told him, he prepared to send someone to investigate the name 'Wang Yu'.

After the brief exchange, Wang Yu returned to his cave dwelling on Mount Xiaoling. As for the Demon Cat clan, their relationship had ended here. Considering the issue with the Nine Evils Sword Lord, and that he still needed powerful demon cultivators to help him eliminate that person, he couldn't completely fall out with the Two-Tailed Shadow Cat. The world of adults was always filled with interests and compromises. Furthermore, since he hadn't suffered severe losses, Wang Yu intended to settle this score with Jinlin and Heilu. As for the Demon Cat clan, extorting a sum from them would be enough. Once Jin Miaoshan arrived to support him, and they stood on equal footing, he would show these beasts the true meaning of insatiable greed.

When he sat down again, a pill bottle had appeared in his hand. Inside was precisely the Taiyin Demonic Essence Pill! A Grade 4 cultivation-enhancing spirit pill, it was from a commission by the Heavenfrost Demonic Lord. He had helped the other party refine pills to ease their relationship, and conveniently pocketed a portion. It counted as reasonable 'fire consumption' loss.

He hadn't consumed it before for two reasons: firstly, upon his breakthrough, he only had a hundred drops of demonic essence, and a high-grade Taiyin Demonic Essence Pill could increase it by nearly three hundred drops, making digestion somewhat strenuous. Secondly, while meditating on the Heavenly Enlightenment Dao Platform, his main body hadn't cultivated much, and he was still refining pills, relying entirely on the feedback from the 'placement slots' for growth, so he hadn't had the time to refine the spirit pill.

This pill's potency was extraordinary; it would take at least two years to refine it. He had nothing else pressing to do recently besides completing the Demon Refining Art and alchemy, so it was a good time to refine it and enhance his strength.

Thus, ten days later, Jin Miaoshan arrived at the Demon Cat clan territory in the North Severed Realm Mountain Range, bringing with her an elder master cultivator with whom she had a close relationship, via Golden Full Tower's secret teleportation array. Wang Yu sensed their arrival with his divine sense but did not meet them directly. Instead, he waited several more days until the Roc Clan envoy arrived. Only then did he emerge from his cave dwelling to hold a tripartite meeting in the Demon Cat Clan's council hall.

Meeting in the Mind Lake space was completely different from meeting in reality. It had been a century since their last meeting. Upon seeing him again, Jin Miaoshan had cultivated to the ninth layer of Core Formation, not far from its peak. Yet, when she saw Wang Yu, she was so shocked that her mouth hung open.

"Nascent Soul! You've broken through to Nascent Soul?!"