Chapter 52: Purifying Spiritual Power

The region around Mysterious Bone Mountain is located in northern Fengzhou, close to the boundless ice plains. Its rocks and soil are dark, and much of the barren land supports no vegetation.

Most of these caves are unique geological formations carved by the constant howling northern winds, open at both ends. How then could these monsters and strange insects emerge from them?

Upon noticing this anomaly, Wang Yu traced its origin and ultimately discovered that these creatures all came from underground, from beneath Mysterious Bone Mountain!

This discovery immediately brought to mind Gu Zhengshun's unusual behavior.

He wasn't in a hurry to report it. If he could discover it, Liu Jinxian's group, with more people, would surely know, and perhaps had already sent people to investigate the depths of those caves.

His most important task now was to experience the effects of the Profound Essence Flower to see if it was as good as Gu Zhengshun had claimed.

After harvesting the flowers, Wang Yu had nine second-tier Profound Essence Flowers and nearly three hundred first-tier Profound Essence Flowers. He carefully stored them in jade boxes and jade bottles normally used for pills. This quantity was more than enough for his personal use.

The Profound Essence Flower was snow-white, resembling blossoming peach flowers, with delicate bone-like patterns growing on each petal, similar to the markings on the Corrosive Venom Bees.

He took out a first-tier Profound Essence Flower, swallowed it, and began to cultivate his internal energy.

This gentle external energy permeated the spiritual energy mass in Wang Yu's dantian. As he circulated his cultivation technique, it flowed in circles with his spiritual energy, completing a grand cycle through his meridians before returning.

While a few of the hundreds of spiritual energy strands he manipulated diminished, their quality significantly improved.

At this rate, three hundred first-tier Profound Essence Flowers could help him complete his second spiritual refinement, breaking through the bottleneck from the mid to late stage of Qi Condensation, consolidating his spiritual energy from "strands" into "streams"!

One "stream" of spiritual energy was equivalent to a hundred "strands" from before, merely a difference in unit.

However, he was currently only at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. While he could refine his spiritual energy early, there was no rush.

Yet—

"Three hundred first-tier Profound Essence Flowers just to help someone break through the late-stage Qi Condensation bottleneck? Isn't that too much?"

According to Gu Zhengshun, ten flowers were enough for a Qi Condensation cultivator to achieve the transformation from "strands" to "streams," yet Wang Yu felt he needed three hundred.

If the other party wasn't lying, the only difference between them was—

"Spiritual roots!"

Realizing this, Wang Yu's expression grew somewhat grim. He swallowed another Profound Essence Flower and, while cultivating, released a large amount of spiritual sense to perceive subtle changes within himself.

A moment later.

He ended his cultivation with a heavy heart, sighing inwardly.

"It's indeed because of my spiritual roots."

When the Profound Essence Flower's efficacy took effect, more than half of it leaked out, dispersing into minor collateral meridians and then being expelled from his body.

His five-element deficient spiritual roots were too short, limiting the medicinal efficacy they could convert. This wasn't only apparent in his absorption of the Profound Essence Flowers.

It was the same with elixirs, but because he had only consumed top-grade spiritual pills, he hadn't noticed the issue with his spiritual roots.

In fact, he should have noticed the problem when he first purchased the high-grade Cold Blood Pill. However, at the time, he was preoccupied with many matters, had little time to digest the medicinal effects, and his cultivation progress was poor. He had simply attributed it to a lack of diligence on his part.

"There's a good reason why top-grade spiritual pills are priced far beyond other grades. Their medicinal properties can be fully absorbed even by someone with my aptitude—they are truly extraordinary!"

That's why Gu Zhengshun only needed ten flowers to break through to the late stage of Qi Condensation, and only ten second-tier Profound Essence Flowers to achieve the semi-essence transformation of spiritual energy.

As for him, he would need three hundred!

This meant that high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, which others coveted, would be largely useless to him. Only top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills could increase his success rate in establishing his foundation.

No wonder there had been no historical accounts of cultivators with deficient spiritual roots successfully establishing their foundation.

He should have struggled even to break through to the mid-stage Qi Condensation, yet he had cultivated to the fifth level in just a few years, entirely thanks to the "placement slot" ability.

To defy fate and change one's destiny, how incredibly difficult it was!

Based on the situation within the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect, top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills were simply unheard of. This wasn't a matter of merely refining a low-grade Blood Reversal Pill into a top-grade one.

Foundation Establishment Pills, Core Formation Pills, Nascent Soul Condensing Pills... these types of elixirs, which aid in breaking through major cultivation realms, have different formulas depending on the specific heritage of each sect.

The low-grade one was called Blood Reversal Pill, the mid-grade was Blood Spirit Pill, and the high-grade was Mortal Transformation Pill. While all were Foundation Establishment Pills, their refining methods and formulas were entirely unrelated to each other.

The Spirit Reversal Blood Sect simply did not possess a formula for a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

Therefore, he either had to prepare three hundred high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, consuming them like candy to compensate with sheer quantity, or acquire a demonic secret art that could reverse one's aptitude, fundamentally changing everything.

As for the formula for a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, no sect seemed to possess it.

"Perhaps only the method of seizing spiritual roots is the most reliable."

As for whether the "placement slot" could help him overcome this hurdle, he actually wasn't sure, as he had never tried it.

Theoretically, it could.

How long it would take, he didn't know, for the "placement slot" was like another him, cultivating something twenty-four hours a day, essentially his complete equal.

However, due to the effect of the "placement slot," every attempt yielded some gain, and by this rule, he could indeed forcefully push through.

A heavy burden weighing on his heart, Wang Yu stood silently before the stone house, composing himself and awaiting news from Liu Jinxian's side.

No matter what, he would overcome any hardship, no matter how great, and then... return to Stone Lake City!

Thus, after most of the day passed.

A disciple from Gu Poison Peak flew over and knocked on the outer layer of the formation.

"Senior Brother Wang, Senior Sister Liu summons you."

"Coming."

There was no time to lament these difficulties; all he could do was forge ahead. The depths of Mysterious Bone Mountain held unknown opportunities, and he was determined to explore them.

Another incense stick's worth of time passed.

In front of an unnamed cave about ten li from Mysterious Bone Mountain.

Liu Jinxian, accompanied by eighteen late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, was waiting. Seeing Wang Yu arrive, she called out directly.

"Let's go."

Gu Zhengshun's formation could not be breached, and Situ Hong was unwilling to intervene. But when she shifted her attention from Mysterious Bone Mountain to the hidden secrets underground, she naturally discovered that the bee swarm and bone lions were emerging from the ground!

There might be a connection between the two.

Among the crowd, Su Qingshan smiled amicably at Wang Yu. Wang Yu returned an odd smile; both were well aware of Xu Jiaojiao's situation.

As for how to deal with it, Wang Yu was more inclined to kill this villain.

If Zhao Shang was a venomous snake still in hibernation, then Su Qingshan was a cuckoo occupying another's nest—petty and malicious, undoubtedly plotting against him.

At this moment, Su Qingshan's heart leaped with joy upon seeing Wang Yu.

Five months ago, after learning that Wang Yu had taken control of two layers of Mysterious Bone Mountain, Su Qingshan made a calculation: Wang Yu had just harvested the flowers and surely hadn't had time to refine them yet.

Hundreds of Profound Essence Flowers, along with a large number of second-tier ones, were enough for him to risk a gamble.

Considering Xu Jiaojiao's death at Wang Yu's hands, bringing a few more helpers to ensure safety and then equally dividing the profits would be a good business. There would certainly be many opportunities on this trip.

Little did he know, Wang Yu was thinking the same thing. Seeing the disciples of Gu Poison Peak with bulging money bags from consuming the resources of the two mountains, he figured he might be able to gather even more second-tier Profound Essence Flowers.

Soon after.

Deep inside the unnamed cave, a pit about a zhang wide and seemingly bottomless came into view. A disciple stepped forward and said,

"Senior Sister Liu, those monsters came out from in here."