Chapter 578: Five-Level [Undying Nether Dragon Skill], The Path of Killing

"Island Master Tianmeng, come out!"

The Venerable One's oppressive aura swept across the world. The Island Master, who had been leisurely savoring wine on his island, trembled as if a towering giant was glaring intently at him. This was the terrifying illusion caused by the pressure from a Primordial Spirit, exerting an extremely high deterrent effect on cultivators of lower realms, making it difficult for them to even contemplate resistance.

The Island Master tremblingly flew out. The moment he saw Wang Yu's true form, he immediately lowered his head and asked nervously, "Senior, I am merely the master of an remote island. I don't know… how I could have offended you."

"You have not offended this Venerable One," Wang Yu said, extending his hand. "Three *hu* of Huangliang Wine, hand them over."

Hearing this, Island Master Tianmeng showed a wry smile. Treasures were always tempting; even the exalted Venerable One coveted the opportunity granted by the Huangliang Dream. "I understand," he said. There was no resistance, no struggle. Given the absolute disparity in strength, as long as his life wasn't at stake, a few rare treasures were easily relinquished. This was the essence of the cultivation world—the strong prey on the weak!

Three days later, on a deserted island in the Ancient Chaotic East Sea, Wang Yu swiftly carved out a cave dwelling and began another period of secluded cultivation. His actions during this time had been somewhat crude, but the results were gratifying.

Holding the Bodhi Seed in his palm, the Seven-Heart Treasure Wheel Marvelous Tree in his Heart Lake began to radiate sacred light, helping to stabilize his mind. With this, he took out a *hu* of Huangliang Wine and drank it all in one gulp! As the wine took effect, Wang Yu's consciousness became increasingly clear, yet he struggled to control his wildly drifting spiritual sense. It was like… a conscious descent.

Within the Huangliang Dream, starting from this point, Wang Yu's comprehension soared after his secluded cultivation ended. He achieved all his cultivation goals, successfully comprehended four types of intent, and even merged them. The unprecedented surge in his Primordial Spirit's strength also accelerated his cultivation, allowing him to break through to the late-stage Soul Transformation realm in just twenty years. It was an incredibly smooth process. At the same time, he ventured alone to explore the Void Dao Repository, acquiring a large number of profound arts and inheritances related to the Dao of Space.

However, because he was in a dream, he couldn't perceive the true forms of things he had never possessed, and thus couldn't acquire these inheritances through the dream.

After his journey to the Dao Repository, Wang Yu returned to Golden Toad City. Leveraging the resources provided by the two major merchant guilds, he rapidly accumulated demonic essence, reaching the peak of the Soul Transformation realm within another ten years. In thirty years, he achieved what others would accumulate over a thousand.

With beautiful confidantes by his side, he lived a joyous life until one day, a divine being descended from the heavens, intending to seal demons and destroy the world. Wang Yu resolutely stepped forward to fight him, but he was no match at all. Finally, on the verge of death from severe injuries, he suddenly comprehended a profound Void Grand Art, forcibly taking his female companions and friends across realms. Within the cosmic sea, he grasped the mysteries of space, immediately breaking through to the Void Refinement stage. Without hesitation, he killed his way back.

Thus… the second defeat arrived. This time, relying on the realm-breaking secret art, he escaped again, finding a small realm near the Ice Prison Realm as a foothold, shedding all his burdens. After three hundred years of arduous cultivation, his cultivation soared to the peak of the Void Refinement realm.

However, what awaited him was not victory, but a third defeat. This time, he wasn't so lucky, ultimately perishing at the hands of a Dao Integration grand expert.

The Huangliang Dream concluded!

In the temporary cave dwelling, Wang Yu's expression was dazed. Now awake, he couldn't help but lower his head and look at his hands. That powerful sensation felt as if he had truly possessed it. The feeling brought by the Huangliang Dream made him feel as though he had returned to a specific point in his past. Though a dream, it was more convincing than the real world.

"So that's how it is," he let out a soft sigh. Most of the experiences in the dream were things he wanted to do but hadn't yet had the chance to. Everything went smoothly, exceptionally smoothly, just like after this period of secluded cultivation. He would then use the Void Stele gifted by Venerable Tai Xu. He would go to the Void Dao Repository to obtain inheritances, which should provide a way to counter the methods of the Prison King Spirit Official. Indeed, he had done so in the dream.

But there were also some of his plans that hadn't been revealed, which seemed somewhat crude. It was precisely this 'crudeness' that allowed his normally meticulous self to emerge from the feeling of reality. Although his dream self resembled his true form, it was definitely not him!

Huangliang Wine could only be consumed once per person; drinking more was useless. Wang Yu began to assess his gains from this experience. Having experienced several hundred additional years of life, the gains were substantial. The most direct feedback was that the time required for his 'Placed Items' to break through their limits had been reduced from eighty years to sixty years—a considerable improvement.

After three days of meditation, having fully comprehended and adapted to all his gains, Wang Yu took out the Life-Death Ephemeral Gu and placed it under his tongue, activating the miraculous effect of the Ephemeral Dream. This time, he became an insect egg on the water's surface, his self-awareness completely dim. Ignorant and muddled, he proceeded to hatch, shed his shell, spread his wings, and mate. Finally, he died on the water's surface, having lived a life that began and ended within a single day. At the very end, his self-awareness would slowly resurface, becoming deeply immersed in enlightenment. Although the Ephemeral Gu's effect could be reused, it also caused some damage to the Primordial Spirit. Using it continuously was forbidden, as any lost consciousness might not be recovered. It could easily cause severe damage to the Primordial Spirit, requiring cautious use.

After this experience, the time for his 'Placed Items' to break through their limits was further reduced from sixty years to forty-five years. This time, he rested for a full half-month before fully regaining control of himself.

Then, he employed the Boundless Mortal World Secret Art! This art's enhancement was gentler, so the effect of each improvement wasn't obvious, but it excelled in longevity and stability. Cultivating it once every few years could reduce the 'placement' time by five years. The insights gained from these enlightenment methods would all enhance his comprehension, making the 'self' in the 'Placed Items' stronger and more efficient. This, in turn, indirectly achieved the goal of reducing the deduction time.

Less than half a month into his secluded cultivation, his gains were already considerable. Next came the most crucial step: the combined application of the Enlightenment Tea Leaves and the Bodhi Seed. Back then, when he used the Heavenly Enlightenment Dao Platform, he had verified that temporary enlightenment states could not be synchronized to the 'Placed Items.' Therefore, his main body had to exert the effort. When his main body's efficiency surpassed the 'Placed Items' effect, it could likewise override it, reducing the deduction time. The influences between the two were reciprocal.

When Wang Yu refined the first tea leaf with his spiritual sense, it transformed into a drop of vibrant green liquid that settled on his glabella. A three-year period of enlightenment formally began, and the misty spiritual light emanating from the Bodhi Seed in his hand also enhanced his comprehension. Thus, three years passed, leading to a complete transformation.

As time flowed, one thousand one hundred days passed. It was May, in the 223rd year of his Old Ancestor career.

Wang Yu, in secluded cultivation, abruptly opened his eyes. The light of wisdom almost extended three feet, and unseen streams of information seemed to flow through his pupils.

**Placed Items 8: Undying Nether Dragon Art (Fifth-tier/Body Cultivation)****「Undying Nether Dragon Art (100/100): Nine practices a day, can advance a tier in fifty years.」**

During his secluded cultivation, Wang Yu primarily focused on deducing this cultivation art. First, the Corpse Demon Secret Art successfully advanced to the fifth-tier in just half a month. After grasping its true essence, he then integrated it with his body cultivation inheritance. Three years passed, and the completely transformed Undying Nether Dragon Art was finally born.

Most importantly, this art received recognition from the 'Placed Items' system, which deemed it no longer the same cultivation art as the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art, thus granting it another opportunity for deduction and advancement. It was indeed entirely different from the previous art. This cultivation art had forty-five layers. With his previous foundation, and since the art was his own creation, it instantly reached the perfected realm upon its birth. Its techniques were fully optimized, and the true essence of the art was mastered by heart.

The perfected effect of this art was named—Undying Nether Dragon!

Based on the demonic dragon formed by vital essence and blood previously, it could condense nine nether dragons to protect the body, almost like a physical divine ability, possessing the same undying and unperishing effect as a Dharma Idol. As long as his vital essence and blood did not dry up, the nether dragons would not perish! Moreover, its defense was formidable, and its brute strength unparalleled. It fully inherited Wang Yu's physical base attributes. When the art was activated, he could gain the protection of nine dragons, integrating offense and defense. It could even be combined with divine abilities and secret arts, allowing his body cultivation to be fully utilized!

With the art perfected, his path of body cultivation had no more shortcomings. Wang Yu did not rush to use the second Enlightenment Tea Leaf. Instead, he took out the Azure Dragon Demonic Venerable's corpse and extracted its flesh and blood essence for body cultivation. This would not only help heal the injuries sustained during the Battle of Heaven-Burying Platform, but also allow him to truly begin breaking through his body cultivation realm. Thus, another seven years passed. Each year, he would use the Boundless Mortal World Secret Art and the Ephemeral Gu's effects once, continuously increasing his comprehension.

Concurrently, the accumulated cultivation from the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art was entirely transformed into cultivation for the Undying Nether Dragon Art, causing his body cultivation realm to repeatedly break through. Combined with potent body cultivation resources like the Azure Dragon demonic corpse, and aided by supplementary cultivation artifacts such as the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, in seven years, Wang Yu's body cultivation soared to the mid-stage of the fifth-tier, roughly equivalent to the progress of a fifth-level Soul Transformation cultivator. This was a tremendous improvement!

The strength of his Force Control domain increased ninefold, powerful enough to cover an entire continent. This meant Wang Yu could, by brute force, uproot an entire continent, or concentrate his power to a single point and shatter anything! This unparalleled feeling of power, combined with his orthodox cultivation, should be enough to easily defeat his ten-years-ago self. His true combat strength, after fully unleashing it, should now be comparable to a peak Soul Transformation cultivator.

His Undying Body had also been initially forged. The immortal spiritual light, originally confined to his bones, gradually permeated into his flesh, blood, and meridians, forming a layer of 'black membrane' unique to the Undying Nether Dragon Art. In body cultivation, due to different inheritances and cultivation methods, each body cultivator's Undying Body possessed individualized characteristics. This layer of black membrane was the embryonic form of Wang Yu's Nether Dragon Undying Body. When his cultivation reaches grand completion one day, the black membrane will form runes, deeply branded into his cells. Only then would his path as a fifth-tier body cultivator truly be complete. As for how to proceed beyond that… he would only know once the cultivation art was deduced and advanced.

Ten years passed. Wang Yu divided his attention to contact Jin Miaoshan, both to understand the outside world's situation and to inquire about the Void Dao Repository. This Dao Repository had always been mysterious, with no records in ancient histories. It was very likely an inheritance from outside this realm, having only entered the Ice Prison Realm in the current era. Wang Yu suspected it had drifted from the cosmic sea. Its location was also not in normal space, but rather in an intermediate layer between the chaotic layer and real space, in a void where there was no concept of up, down, or four directions. Its spatial coordinates corresponded to the vicinity of the Sword Sect's mountain gate in the real world. This was also why it was controlled by the Taihu Sect. The Heavenly Lock and Guixu Hidden Heaven Charm that Wang Yu possessed both originated from the Void Dao Repository. Considering the abilities of the Prison King Spirit Official, a trip to the Dao Repository inheritance was necessary, but… not yet.

Wang Yu continued his secluded cultivation, comprehending intents. The supply of Enlightenment Tea Leaves had never ceased. The remaining nine leaves were theoretically enough to support his secluded cultivation for twenty-seven years; this was merely a minimum, as he wouldn't constantly maintain an enlightenment state. There were also other divine abilities and cultivation arts that needed practice.

Another two years passed like this. As his demonic essence continuously accumulated, Wang Yu's cultivation also continued to advance. His four 'Placed Items' were not slow in exerting their effects, and his mastery of Law Intent became increasingly profound. Twelve years had passed, and half of his progress towards the fourth-level Soul Transformation realm was complete.

On this day, a layer of fine blood threads spread out from where Wang Yu sat cross-legged, swiftly covering the entire deserted island. The crimson threads wriggled ceaselessly like living organisms. Bone-chilling, surging killing intent erupted from within Wang Yu, vaguely forming the phantom image of a blood sword.

Killing Intent, Asura Law Intent! The combination of the two eventually gave birth to an Intent power named Path of Slaughter. Before he could further comprehend its true essence, Wang Yu's Primordial Spirit began to stir restlessly. His golden, god-like Primordial Spirit was tainted by the blood threads. A black and red treasure sword appeared behind his Primordial Spirit. Its shape bore a slight resemblance to Jin Miaoshan's top-grade spirit treasure, the Asura Divine Sword, but this one was formed from the Intent Wang Yu had comprehended. The Intent was called Path of Slaughter! The sword that condensed was the manifestation of the Path of Slaughter's power: severing heaven, severing earth, annihilating souls, executing demons, capable of killing gods and devils, and even slaying immortals! When cultivated to its extreme, nothing was immune to its slaughter.

Awakening from his enlightenment, visible delight appeared in the corners of Wang Yu's eyes. "Comprehended from the Asura Law Intent, eh? It already has the embryonic form of a Dao. Good, very good!"

The greatest power of the Path of Slaughter actually lay in its restraint over immortal arts. It could help Wang Yu destroy the Dharma Idols of Soul Transformation cultivators, breaking their undying and unperishing characteristics. The significance of this effect was extraordinary—a groundbreaking advancement! The emergence of the Path of Slaughter meant that Soul Transformation cultivators weaker than him would be like chickens and dogs, their Dharma Idols swiftly shattered by him, leading to ultimate swift kills. Against powerful cultivators, or indeed any type of immortal art, it would be effective, seemingly born for rooting out trouble. Escaping from his grasp would become incredibly difficult.

"The Intent of the Path of Slaughter…" Wang Yu murmured to himself, quickly becoming immersed. His Primordial Spirit subsequently entered a state of transformation, requiring a period of dormancy to complete a rebirth-like change, which would take at least several months to about a year. The emergence of this Intent meant that he no longer had any bottlenecks to breaking through to the late-stage Soul Transformation realm. As long as he completed the accumulation of demonic essence and smoothly passed the Divine Transformation Tribulation, he could successfully enter the late-stage Soul Transformation realm. There was no difficulty whatsoever.

Concurrently, he could begin the next step of his cultivation: continuing to comprehend and expand his Intent, transforming it into runes to integrate into his Dharma Idol. This was the threshold for breaking through to the peak of the Soul Transformation realm. However, Wang Yu's ambition was greater. The Asura Law Intent had transformed, but three other Law Intents—Yellow Springs, Aurora, and Guanghan—still awaited breakthrough. Once all four Intents were born, he would need to expend significant effort to merge them. Only then would he reach what Wang Yu considered the Grand Completion state. As for what Intent would ultimately be born, he currently had no direction or judgment. He could only take it one step at a time. If by any chance he were to fail… then so be it. In any case, he would not give up on pursuing a more powerful path.