Chapter 422: Yellow Springs Demon Sword 2.0 Version

Shocked by Wang Yu's displayed strength, they were also alarmed by the schemes and stratagems hidden in his heart. His meticulous planning had been leading up to this final step: the complete downfall of these two Sword Sect Nascent Souls.

The most perfect effect of feigning weakness is the information asymmetry during the first encounter.

Even his two allies had been deceived.

He had even pre-arranged a space-sealing secret technique in the void, showing that killing intent was ingrained in his very being. Unlike him, they had not initially harbored such intentions.

After all, Nascent Soul cultivators' lives are precious—their own and their enemies'.

Unless absolutely necessary, there was no need to go to such lengths to eliminate them.

Now, the perfect killing opportunity created by Wang Yu immediately stirred desire and greed in the hearts of Savage Demon Lord Youmo and Underworld Tiger Demon Lord, for the lifelong accumulation of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Even if not all of it was carried, it was still a very substantial sum, especially two Nascent Souls. The Heaven-Refining Demonic Sect had long spent great sums collecting these.

That Blood Pill Master, renowned as the master of human alchemy in this realm and the foremost alchemist in Chiyuan, was indeed the reason the Heaven-Refining Demonic Sect was collecting Nascent Souls.

There were also magical treasures, resources… a lifetime's accumulation.

With myriad thoughts flashing through their minds, the two old devils acted without hesitation. Even a slight pause would have been a sign of disrespect to Wang Yu.

The Chains of Heaven sealed the space, and two demonic lights arrived simultaneously.

Youmo snapped off one of his own fingers, transforming it into a dark blood nail, which he directly embedded into the Nascent Soul of Reverend Bagua's crown chakra. Dense black runes spread rapidly.

The Nascent Soul's aura rapidly faded, yet a faint trace of vitality remained.

Underworld Tiger Demon Lord's actions were similar.

However, he didn't know the flesh-and-blood secret technique of Savage Ghost Peak. Instead, he used a method from the Yin Beast Path, spitting a mouthful of "old phlegm" onto Reverend Linen's Nascent Soul's face, which instantly condensed into a thick layer of Yin shell.

Capitalizing on the rigid state caused by the failed teleportation spell and the confinement of the Chains of Heaven, neither of them missed this excellent opportunity.

They exchanged glances, and with an unspoken understanding, pocketed the Nascent Souls.

Seeing this, Wang Yu took the two storage rings and two damaged physical bodies, also showing no intention of sharing.

This mutual understanding was self-evident.

The interception mission was successfully completed.

"What's next?"

Watching coldly as the demonic cultivators slaughtered the Sword Sect disciples, in less than half an hour, nothing but a few bloodstains would remain here.

Savage Demon Lord Youmo pondered for a moment and said.

"Logically, with the mission complete, we should return to Black Mountain Pass. Before that, though, I'd like to hear Fellow Daoist Xuandan's thoughts. What do you think, Brother Underworld Tiger?"

Having just made a huge profit, Underworld Tiger Demon Lord was in a good mood.

Hearing this, he also nodded.

"Brother Youmo speaks sense. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Xuandan?"

When out in the world, one's status is self-defined.

In Chiyuan, strength was everything. As a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator, Wang Yu's display of such formidable power indicated his extraordinary talent, assuring his future as a Grand Cultivator.

The balance of power naturally shifted, and when Wang Yu could bring them benefits, this shift became incredibly smooth.

And when Nascent Soul cultivators led teams on external missions, they still retained the right to make their own decisions.

The decision-making power was handed to Wang Yu.

As he pondered, his divine sense swept over the two Nascent Soul storage rings. Several items within made his eyes light up, and he then considered the current situation as he spoke.

"Regarding Black Mountain Pass, the sect has actually resolved that it must be taken. My stance remains the same: contact the Sacred Sect to dispatch reinforcements, and we will take Dry Leaf City."

"If we move fast enough, we can coordinate with Qifeng Pass to annihilate the Taihu army stationed in Iron Pillar Forest. Then, by flanking them from the rear and besieging Black Mountain Pass, this stronghold will surely fall."

The tactic was sound, following a blitzkrieg strategy.

How much they could achieve depended on their efficiency, but there were also problems.

Namely, what about the benefits?

The premise of serving the sect was that this vast entity of collective interests could provide enough resources for the Nascent Soul cultivators and support them in their pursuit of immortality.

This was the core demand!

Contributing to the war between righteous and demonic factions was essentially a struggle for territory. More blessed lands and grotto-heavens naturally brought greater cultivation resources.

But this kind of return was delayed and dependent on the final outcome. A temporary victory or defeat was not enough reason for them to risk their lives.

This was also a problem that demonic cultivators inherently faced.

—Short-sightedness!

Compared to long-term benefits, they valued immediate gains more, and were perfectly willing to rush things or kill the goose that lays the golden eggs for them.

Did they not know the advantages of long-term development?

They did!

But such was the environment in Chiyuan: if you didn't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, other demonic cultivators would. Gradually, a peculiar "involution" mindset formed: if you didn't do it, others would.

It was better to do it themselves, to avoid unforeseen circumstances and ending up with nothing.

This was the change the Chiyuan environment brought to people.

The environment compelled cultivators to act this way. For countless years, only in this current era had Chiyuan emulated Taihu's strategy and begun to intentionally cultivate mortals.

Establishing 'Child-Giving Temples' to expand the population.

Otherwise, Chiyuan's population would peak at one or two hundred million. Taihu's population of tens of billions could unleash too profound a war potential.

There was a reason Chiyuan repeatedly lost battles yet kept fighting. If not for the powerful Divine Transformation Venerables of the Heaven-Refining Demonic Sect, the situation in the Ice Prison Realm would be hard to predict.

The Joyous Union Demonic Sect had experienced generational gaps, partly because the war between righteous and demonic factions always ended in the defeat of the demonic path.

To stabilize the two old devils, sufficient benefits had to be offered.

Then Wang Yu sadly realized.

Although he understood this point, why should he worry about it? Why should he find a way to satisfy the interests of the two old devils? Why should he attack Dry Leaf City?

Besides the benefits to the Reversal Spirit Blood Sect, what about his own?

Given a Nascent Soul cultivator's resource needs, an ordinary spirit vein city wouldn't satisfy his appetite, unless he could conquer a provincial capital or a major city of similar scale.

Suddenly, his motivation vanished.

His sadness stemmed not from personal gain, but from an inexpressible, complex feeling about how the environment had changed him.

Seeing Wang Yu remain silent, Youmo and Underworld Tiger exchanged glances.

They more or less understood what Wang Yu was thinking.

Those who could advance to the Nascent Soul stage were all exceptional individuals, one in ten thousand. They did not come from clans of the same caliber as the Yu, Zhuo, or Zuoqiu.

Thus, they had also experienced these kinds of thoughts.

Savage Demon Lord Youmo sighed, "Fellow Daoist Xuandan, you needn't worry. For people like us, cultivation is all that matters. Back then, the Wei clan rose from obscurity by following the same path."

"When the price isn't right and the benefits are unclear, prioritizing one's own needs is the top priority. Who cares about some war between righteous and demonic factions?"

Though Underworld Tiger Demon Lord beside him remained silent, his meaning was clear: for how much money should I risk my life?

If Black Mountain Pass remained stuck, then so be it. He'd live his own carefree life.

Regarding the term "demonic path."

At this moment, Wang Yu gained a new understanding.

"Acting as one pleases" is easy to say but hard to do. It's actually an act of breaking tradition and rules, a disruption of the order among all beings. It's no wonder it's considered demonic.

"Alright then. Send word to the Sacred Sect and Black Mountain Pass, and let them decide. The task of negotiating for resources and benefits falls to Fellow Daoist Youmo."

"Don't worry, I'm good at this."

"Then we'll return to Dry Leaf Marsh and lie low, awaiting the second command. If there's no news after a month, we'll withdraw to Blood Abyss Province."

"Understood."

With their minds made up, they set off again with the demonic cultivators.

With the "Gate of Hell" spell dispersed, only a devastated landscape remained, filled with lingering demonic energy, making it clear it was the work of the demonic path.

Deep within Dry Leaf Marsh.

In a hidden valley, after setting up a concealment formation using array flags, the group temporarily remained there, awaiting a reply from the Sacred Sect and Old Ancestor Xiehun.

Wang Yu, the newly appointed "slacker," was adapting to his role as a minor slacker in the war between righteous and demonic factions, attending to his own affairs.

Originally, he had taken this war very seriously.

After his sudden enlightenment, his focus completely shifted.

The storage rings of Bagua and Linen were of a higher grade than the Sea Heart Ring, and after erasing their spiritual imprints, they contained several exceptionally valuable items.

A Tier 4 spatial material: Black-Threaded Meteorite Iron.

It was like a fissure on a pure white sheet of paper, bringing a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional world, resembling a three-foot black line, straight and sharp.

Legend had it that this treasure descended from beyond the heavens, like a sword tearing apart the canvas of the world. Though its name was unremarkable, it was a top-grade spatial material.

This single spiritual object alone was priceless!

This item came from Reverend Linen's storage ring; it was likely prepared to be fused into his life-bound Iron Sword. Alas, fate was cruel, and he encountered Wang Yu and his ruthless companions.

In addition, a well-preserved piece of tattered beast hide also possessed rare spatial properties.

During his stay in Dry Leaf Marsh,

Wang Yu planned to use the Yellow Spring Demonic Sword as a base, incorporate these two new materials and three Tier 4 demon corpses, and use the Demon Refining Artifact Art to forge a new flesh-and-blood demonic sword.

With this treasure as a foundation, the power of his Blood Slaughtering Heart Sword would become one of his frequently used trump cards, and his Asura Dharma Intent perfectly complemented this divine ability.

The combined power unleashed by these three would not be inferior to the Twelve Aspects of Guanghan, and would be more focused on single-target instant kills.

At the same time,

The large number of storage rings he had quietly accumulated over the years could also be melted down and reforged into a batch of spatial materials, allowing him to reforge the Sea Heart Ring once more.

After all, as time passed and his cultivation improved, the space within the high-grade Sea Heart Ring, which was once sufficient, gradually became inadequate. The corpses of transformed demon kings often exceeded a thousand meters.

Those with special bloodlines would be even larger, and his needs in various aspects were gradually increasing.

While they entered a phase of preparation and recuperation after a major battle, Black Mountain Pass, several thousand miles away, suffered another significant defeat.

After Old Ancestor Xiehun used his life-bound magical treasure, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the army of evil spirits he unleashed still failed to capture Black Mountain Pass, and the spirits in the banner suffered heavy casualties.

Two of the nine Tier 4 Ghost Kings were also lost.

They were slain by the Sword Head of Grand Righteousness under his Righteous Qi Sword. The price he paid was merely one arm's essence blood being drained, leaving him weak for a few days, after which he could fully recover with spirit pills.

Ghost Kings comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators were not easy to cultivate; each one cost Old Ancestor Xiehun immense effort and was crucial to the advancement path he designed for the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

It pained him to the point of being unable to breathe.

The battle results were decent, however: almost all the disciples defending Black Mountain Pass were wiped out, with all Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators killed. Only twenty-plus Core Formation cultivators and two Grand Perfection cultivators remained to hold the fort.

As for Demon Lord Youdao, his performance was utterly dismal.

Aside from expending most of his demonic essence, not a hair on his head was out of place. Compared to his rogue-like image of breaking down and cursing under Old Crone Silvermoon, he now stood in the main hall of the flying ship, as cold as an iceberg.

He looked incredibly imposing!

Old Ancestor Xiehun cast a dark, gloomy glance at him, and the thought that this fellow was faking his effort arose in his mind once again, though he didn't voice it.

He thought, "Still putting on an act..."

He muttered inwardly.

Xiehun formed hand seals and chanted a spell, and two shadowy ravens emerged from the void. This was a secret communication technique used specifically during wartime, primarily managed by disciples of the Ominous Gaze Peak.

They could summon shadowy ravens from the Netherworld, use their bodies as vessels to record information, send them back to the Netherworld, and then summon them again from the other end to achieve ultra-long-distance communication.

This secret technique greatly depleted the disciples of Ominous Gaze Peak, easily draining their spiritual energy to the point of death, hence it was only used during wartime.

After checking the messages within, Old Ancestor Xiehun's confidence soared.

Two pieces of good news.

Soon, the sect would dispatch five thousand Sacred Sect disciples and a mixed army of thirty thousand from affiliated clans, sects, and rogue cultivators to support the Black Mountain Pass campaign.

Battles between cultivators could not be entirely equated with mortal warfare; there were vast differences, especially concerning sieges.

The attacking side often had to pay a greater price.

The casualty rate was far more severe than in mortal sieges. Moreover, Black Mountain Pass was a stubborn stronghold. After repeated attempts to breach it, the first wave of personnel who had arrived with Xiehun and Youdao was almost completely depleted.

This was another difference between cultivators and mortals: under the threat of death, regardless of morale collapse, a commander who was also a Grand Perfection cultivator would never retreat before death.

Attacking the city offered a glimmer of hope; fleeing meant leaving no remains.

Alternatively, they could be ensnared by mind-controlling soul spells, forcibly sent to their deaths, their bodies then refined into zombies and their souls into evil spirits, using one life as three.

This was the reality for cultivators; this was the cannon fodder in the cultivation world.

The second good piece of news, naturally, came from Wang Yu: the Sword Sect's reinforcement team had been completely annihilated. This meant that the new batch of reinforcements would arrive sooner than Taihu's.

Seizing this time gap, they could tie down the two Grand Perfection Nascent Soul cultivators. Once they gained control of Black Mountain Pass's formation core, they could drive those two out.

Even Old Ancestor Xiehun hadn't intended to take their lives. Nascent Soul cultivators were already difficult enough to kill, let alone Grand Perfection cultivators with their mastered techniques.

Life and death were hard to distinguish, and victory or defeat remained uncertain.

But they could be made to retreat in the face of difficulty. This was a higher-level gamble, where those who died were always the mid-to-low-level cultivators, a practice common to both Chiyuan and Taihu.

In the main hall of the war-spirit ship, Xiehun shared this good news with Youdao, then quietly meditated to recover his state, awaiting the next opportune moment to act.

Meanwhile, the Taihu garrison at Black Mountain Pass was shrouded in gloom.

The casualty figures, nearly all wiped out on paper, sufficiently demonstrated the Reversal Spirit Blood Sect's determination, which worried both the Sword Head of Grand Righteousness and Old Crone Silvermoon.

Meanwhile, on another front:

In just half a month, thanks to the potent effects of the Demon Refining Artifact Art, coupled with his perfected mastery and a flawless demonic sword base, the Yellow Spring Demonic Sword 2.0 version was freshly forged.

The Taihe Blood Cauldron, capable of both alchemy and artifact refining, highlighted its dual purpose. The new version of the demonic sword seemed to be composed of flesh and blood.

A black line in its center resembled an abyss devouring all things.

It exuded an extreme sharpness.

That was the power of space!

"It's a Tier 4 high-grade artifact. Its toughness and hardness are slightly inferior to others of its tier, but with the lethal advantage provided by spatial cutting, it's enough to dominate its peers!"

Calling it the Yellow Spring Demonic Sword again would be somewhat unfitting.

Naming was never Wang Yu's strong suit, so he put it aside for now.

As a byproduct, the Sea Heart Ring's internal space greatly expanded with the integration of more spatial materials. Based on its grade, it was now roughly equivalent to a Tier 4 mid-grade artifact.

He had only used one-third of the storage rings he had collected. These treasures, capable of being melted down into spatial materials, would be of great use in the future, so he wouldn't use them all at once.

With the new weapon dealt with, the next matter was Changxi. He had a bold idea, pending Xueyu's cooperation.