Chapter 557: Extinguish a Clan, Seize the Inheritance, Transforming God Level Three

There are currently eight known Ancient Demons: Life, Blood, Gu, Desire, Kill, Frost, Yin, and Ming!

Apart from the unknown sealed locations of the Yin and Ming Ancient Demons, and the fact that no followers have emerged from them to cause trouble, Wang Yu is quite familiar with the other Ancient Demons. Their husks, stripped of their primordial spirit consciousness, are left with only bodily instincts. The demonic corruption they unconsciously emanate is actually terrifying. Only cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage can resist it to some extent; those below this realm are easily affected by the demonic corruption, turning into fanatical worshippers of the Ancient Demons, loving and revering them from the bottom of their hearts.

Their personalities are subtly warped. This ability is both sickening and powerful; only through cultivation of the mind can its effects be dispelled. He suspects that the Demon Refining Secret Art of the Heaven Refining Demonic Sect might be a lineage of mind-power secret arts.

This time, he once again journeyed to the Frost Demon's sealed location. The path was familiar to him, like an old friend. His last visit, over a hundred years ago, was to collect pure Frost Demonic Qi to form a demonic Nascent Soul. He wondered how the situation there had changed since then.

Five days later.

The Gatekeeper Tribe, the last orthodox heritage site of the Ice Clan.

The Great Priest and two mid-stage Nascent Soul Ice Clan elders stood inside a large, circular, flat-level ice house, where numerous transparent, hollow ice pillars were densely arranged. The modulated creatures that were supposed to be there had been almost completely used up. Most had followed the Seventh Generation Son of the Ice God, Bing Li, and a large portion had died in the war against the human race. The remaining ones had accepted cultivators who defected from Zhenbei Tower and established a new force in another area of the Endless Ice Plains, calling themselves — the Ice God Palace! They leveraged the appeal of being the "Son of the Ice God."

In terms of numbers, they were not bad, even leaning more towards an elite model than Zhenbei Tower's structure. The modulated half-blood Ice Clan members possessed incredibly strong potential for rapid growth. They could form an Ice Dao Nascent Soul within just a few centuries. The problem was that this was also their limit; like the demon race, they were restricted by the modulated bloodline within them, making it difficult to break free from their shackles. Moreover, rapid cultivation methods ultimately affected their combat power. They were considered relatively weak among those of the same realm.

The results the Great Priest had painstakingly achieved, which were almost completely annihilated outside the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm, did not mean they were entirely meaningless. In fact, he was largely successful. The mass-produced half-blood Ice Clan Nascent Souls would be very useful consumables. They wouldn't lose when facing even multiple dominant forces, addressing the Ice Clan's shortage of powerful cultivators. The problem lay with the top-tier powerhouses. Without a Soul Transformation cultivator to oversee them, they were ultimately mere ants. Furthermore, due to their identity as foreign races, they were subjected to even greater hostility and scrutiny from human Soul Transformation Venerables. No matter how many rapidly cultivated Sons of the Ice God were produced, they could not compare to a single Soul Transformation Venerable! Years of hard work had ultimately gone to waste.

The Great Priest felt a sudden wave of discouragement, muttering to himself, "No matter how we modulate them, to possess the potential for rapid Soul Transformation, the foundation must be laid from the very beginning of their gestation. We... are powerless." The foundation he spoke of was, in fact, the 'golden quality' or divine essence possessed by the primordial spirit. The half-blood Ice Clan members were too thoroughly fast-tracked, and their souls were inherently a weak point. How could they be further sublimated on this basis? It was all for naught. Indeed, the deeper he delved, the more profound the difficulty and the complete halt in progress indicated that this path was blocked. Over the past few centuries, every opportunity for progress had failed due to various accidents, even giving him the illusion that the Heavenly Dao disapproved.

Seeing their clan's pillar, the only Peak Nascent Soul cultivator, so dispirited, the two Ice Clan elders, who had provided substantial genetic material, their black eye circles deeply etched, trembled and said, "Great Priest, you need not worry. Bing Li has already integrated Zhenbei Tower, and our Ice Clan now has an external force. The fact that those mixed-blood clan members can circumvent the Immortals' rules and leave the Ice Plains is already a success."

The other also chimed in. "He's right. Being able to leave the Endless Ice Plains has already laid the foundation for the Ice Clan's legacy for ten thousand generations. As long as we can influence the outside world, the long passage of time will surely bring opportunities for our rise. Great Priest, you need not trouble yourself."

Though they said this, things could not be viewed so simply. Their rash participation in the war had already crossed a red line with the human race. If not for the Heaven Refining Demonic Venerable, whose power was terrifying, having a larger plan, they would have been purged long ago. Once that side finished dealing with their main affairs, whether the Ice Clan could continue its lineage would be a question.

"Alas..." The Great Priest sighed deeply.

"Great Priest, why the sigh~"

Just then, a voice suddenly echoed from the void, putting the three present on high alert.

"Who's there?"

"Who dares intrude?"

A figure, clad in snow-white robes with silver hair cascading freely, loosely tied with a light blue hair tie, and possessing sharp, defined eyebrows and bright eyes, suddenly appeared, having traversed space. Who else could it be but Wang Yu?

"This Venerable is Jifa. Has the Great Priest heard of me?"

Upon hearing this, the Gatekeeper's Great Priest's pupils contracted sharply. This name was more than just 'heard of'; it was legendary. Even if one were to trace back for several millennia, no cultivator more talented than Wang Yu could be found. A chaotic era indeed gives rise to monstrous talents, and none more so than him. Furthermore, everyone speculated that he possessed great fortuitous encounters; otherwise, how could he have grown to his current standing from a well-known spiritual slave with a useless spiritual root?

He quickly stopped the two beside him, fearing they might offend Wang Yu, and bowed his head, saying, "I am Bing Fei, respectfully greeting Venerable Jifa."

When Wang Yu broke through to the Nascent Soul stage years ago, though they hadn't met face-to-face, they had actually reached a tacit understanding of non-interference from afar. Otherwise, that breakthrough wouldn't have been so smooth. Of course, another reason was that their modulation secret art had just matured then, and they were working overtime to create the Sons of the Ice God. To prevent being discovered by the people of Cold Blood Peak, they deliberately avoided contact. According to the alliance between the Gatekeeper Tribe and Cold Blood Peak, the two parties had actually maintained a stable cooperative relationship for nearly ten thousand years. Although unpleasant incidents had occurred during this time, they remained allies.

Wang Yu surveyed the scene inside the house. Under the scan of his divine sense, he discovered piles of female cultivator corpses buried in a corner, and his expression quickly turned cold. These were all tools for the Ice Clan's surrogacy. The abduction of people from Taihu Lake was not solely the work of demonic cultivators; leveraging the convenience of Zhenbei Tower, they found it simple and quick to acquire suitable female cultivators to cultivate the embryos of the Sons of the Ice God.

Although Wang Yu was also a demonic cultivator and committed all manner of evil, including murder and arson, some things ultimately touched his bottom line. Killing without reason was the act of a madman, and involving infants in cultivation was something only a tiny minority of even demonic cultivators would do. This was the principle of 'grieving for one's own kind.' Wang Yu considered himself a relatively normal person. He showed no mercy to mentally mature individuals but was exceptionally compassionate towards young creatures. Oh, except for naturally evil Heavenly Demons.

Therefore, he overturned his original plan. Since the Ice Clan harbored such great malice towards humanity, it was better for them to be utterly annihilated, lest further complications arise in the future.

"These... are all your doing?"

The Great Priest's heart leaped in shock as he watched the bones continuously churning up from the ground. He said urgently, "Venerable, we are allies with Cold Blood Peak; they condoned this matter."

"—Lies!" Wang Yu's gaze sharpened. He was from Cold Blood Peak; how could he not know whether they did it or permitted it? Back in Ice River Pass, he had even been ambushed by the Ice Clan. Reaching a secret understanding was even more impossible.

Therefore, the Great Priest was merely trying to buy time. Since that was the case, there was no need for further words. A white bone demonic sword, shaped like a spine, suddenly appeared in his palm. Wang Yu lightly swung it. The extreme cold demonic essence, adhering to the sword qi, unleashed an unparalleled divine might that truly shook heaven and earth. A fifth-grade low-tier demonic treasure, coupled with the Ice Soul Sacred Demon characteristic granted by his perfected cultivation art, even though his cultivation hadn't broken through during his ten years of secluded cultivation, his strength had still advanced to a new level compared to the past, significantly increasing his normal combat power. In the Great Priest's eyes, the swiftly arriving sword light was like the collapse of heaven and earth. A deadly crisis came from all directions, inescapable and unstoppable!

The extreme cold sword light swept through. In a single strike, it sliced a Peak Nascent Soul cultivator and two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators in half. Wang Yu then activated the Glazed Pagoda, drawing the six halves of the three individuals into its second layer of seals.

This feeling of effortlessly crushing ants was particularly captivating. Immediately, his divine sense was no longer restrained. It precisely enveloped the entire valley where the Gatekeeper Tribe was located. The perfected Ice Prison Demonic Seal abruptly pressed down, like a mountain toppling or the sea overturning... the entire valley was flattened under the seal's crushing power. Thus, the Gatekeeper Tribe was wiped out!

Afterward, Wang Yu collected the spoils of war and went to the Ice Clan's heritage site. Using the Heavenly Demon Myriad Transformations, he directly seized the Ice Clan bloodline, instantly transforming into a pure-blooded Ice Clan member, preparing to steal all of their heritage.

The Ice Clan had a long history. They were special creatures native to the Ice Prison Realm, possessing an innate talent equivalent to a Heavenly Ice Spiritual Root. Their forms were various naturally occurring ice sculptures. There were beasts, birds, scaled creatures, and forms of mountains and plants. Humanoid Ice Clan members were also quite numerous.

According to ancient historical records, in its early days, the Ice Clan only possessed rudimentary spiritual energy refining cultivation methods. After immortals descended to preach, they cultivated a group of Ice Clan cultivators to serve as jailers. That was the origin of the Ice Clan's heritage. When it came to the Dao of Ice and Frost, regardless of righteous or demonic paths, the Ice Clan's mastery was undoubtedly the highest. This was determined by their innate talent and the source of their heritage. The Gatekeeper Tribe, as the last orthodox branch of the Ice Clan, was vastly different from the wild Ice Clan creatures born randomly from absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, akin to the difference between a civilized society and primitives.

Moreover, the Ice Clan's heritage mostly required activation through bloodline. Wang Yu had anticipated this. Furthermore, the Ice Clan form he had assumed using Heavenly Demon Myriad Transformations, due to his cultivation reaching the Soul Transformation stage, was more qualified to receive the heritage from the Legacy Divine Hall than any current Ice Clan member.

The Gatekeeper Tribe's collections were all within the Ice God Hall. As an ancient faith, whether the Ice God truly existed was beyond investigation, but the ecclesiastical ideology of this worship had still been passed down. Hence, the heritage was passed down in a temple-like manner. When he entered the Divine Hall, its guards had already been suppressed and killed by his demonic seal, leaving only shattered ice and ice liquid on the ground. Any valuable items had long since been collected by him. Towards the back of the center of the Divine Hall stood a divine statue. The elevated platform in front of it was the place of heritage. Wang Yu stepped onto it without hesitation. The moment he met the statue's gaze, his consciousness was drawn into an illusion. Immediately, more divine statues appeared before him, varying in height and undulation.

At this moment, he was within a massive long corridor, with dense rows of divine statues lining both sides. Smaller statues contained lower-tier heritage. Larger statues contained more advanced heritage. Touching a divine statue allowed one to acquire its heritage, but it also required triple validation based on bloodline, potential, and strength to determine if one was qualified.

Wang Yu had previously acquired a good deal of Ice Clan heritage through soul-searching secret arts, but the appearance of such a complete and extensive heritage site before him was an excellent opportunity for him to refine his accumulation in the Dao of Ice. Thus, he touched every single statue, acquiring their heritage to accumulate a deeper understanding of the Dao of Ice. The more knowledge he gathered in this area, the easier it would be for him to create his own cultivation methods in the future. It served as a supporting database.

"Icy Blood Rain Art, Extreme Frost Breath Spell, Coiling Dragon Ice Shield Art... Ice Mountain Soul Suppression, Ice Heart Spell, Nine Arrogant Snow Blade Arts..."

Touching one statue after another, Wang Yu acquired a vast number of mid-to-low-tier spells. While their practical combat value was limited, they could supplement his foundational understanding of the Dao of Ice and Frost. After passing the initial and middle sections, a plethora of secret arts, divine abilities, and unique techniques that could help Wang Yu refine his own methods and combat system appeared as if in bulk.

Ice God's Eye — a pseudo-Dharma Idol fifth-grade divine ability, capable of condensing a massive Ice God's Eye to inflict divine might, extreme cold, illusions, and other effects upon targets. Wang Yu had seen this divine ability several times before but had never found it particularly useful. However, after truly acquiring its complete heritage, he discovered its greatest effect was its ability to combine with other divine abilities. By gazing, offensive techniques could be instantly applied to the target. This combination even extended to Wang Yu's unparalleled divine power. This meant instant-kill Dragon Emperor Fist or instant-cast Twelve Lunar Phases; he had too many techniques that could be used in conjunction with the Ice God's Eye. Those who had fought him had never grasped the essence of this divine ability.

"Good stuff!" Wang Yu naturally accepted it without hesitation.

Ice Heaven Divine Concealment — a fifth-grade auxiliary combat secret art that generates an indissoluble ice and snow storm with great magical power. Within it, Wang Yu's Ice Dao divine abilities would be enhanced by 30%. Furthermore, it could completely conceal his figure and aura, making it more suitable for use in combat than the Returning Void Concealment Spell. Xue Yu could also coordinate with it. Or rather, this secret art was perfect for Xue Yu to learn.

Then there was the Ice God Dharma Idol, which he temporarily skipped. Its only value was to help him further refine his Lunar Demonic Dragon Dharma Idol.

Ice God Sealing Art, as its name suggested, could address the issue of Wang Yu's sealing art mastery gradually failing to keep up with the intensity of combat. It could work with his innate magical artifact to better suppress spoils of war for future use.

Frost Heaven Moon Ring — a fifth-grade spirit treasure refining method, skilled in defense and counterattack. Its offensive power was also considerable, capable of compensating for his shortcomings in defense.

The gains of numerous fifth-grade divine abilities, secret arts, and even artifact refining diagrams left Wang Yu with a full harvest. Although there wasn't enough time to cultivate them before the Sword Sect War, he could gradually learn them later, allowing for significant improvements in all aspects of his being, turning him into a true hexagonal cultivator.

Satisfied, he left the Ice God Hall. This place was also mercilessly destroyed by Wang Yu, who then proceeded directly into the Frost Demon's sealed location behind the valley.

However, something unexpected happened. Unlike the previous time he entered, when he merely felt a sense of being watched, the Frost Demon's husk directly locked onto his presence. The boundless, pure Frost Demonic Qi pervading the surrounding area formed a funnel-shaped storm, pouring wildly into Wang Yu's body. His magical power began to surge significantly, reaching the threshold of the third layer of Soul Transformation and effortlessly breaking through it.

"I... I broke through?" Wang Yu was utterly bewildered.