Chapter 74: The Last Two Years of Xuangushan

This spell was useless against him. More on that later.

Half a day later, as night fell, Wang Yu carried Liu Jinxian back to the foot of Mount Xuangu, calling out loudly and unceremoniously:

"Situ Hong, Gu Zhengshun, come out and get her!"

The sudden sound startled the two, who had been discussing countermeasures. They were even more astonished when they realized it was Wang Yu's voice.

"How did he come back...?"

"That person was looking for him, and Liu Jinxian ended up helping him."

"Let's go, let's see."

However, upon stepping outside, they were dumbfounded. They anxiously approached to check Liu Jinxian's condition, their expressions grim.

Circumstances had changed. With the underground palace dispute settled, they, like Wang Yu, were the last people who wanted anything to happen to Liu Jinxian, given her profound and incomparable background. Their concern deepened after witnessing the methods bestowed by her father.

Situ Hong urgently asked, "What happened? What's going on?"

Wang Yu replied, "She fought that Foundation Establishment cultivator and was ambushed. Her spiritual consciousness is likely damaged, and her soul is weak, but it's nothing major."

"That's good, that's good." Situ Hong and Gu Zhengshun sighed in relief, then grew curious: "What happened to that Foundation Establishment cultivator...?"

"He's dead, killed by Senior Sister Liu."

Hearing this, Gu Zhengshun looked at Wang Yu with considerable interest.

"The body is with you?"

"Yes."

"That person invaded Mount Xuangu, first slaying the Bone Lion King who dominated the area, then loudly declared he was looking for you. Do you know him?"

Wang Yu's expression was utterly bewildered upon hearing this.

"How is that possible? You shouldn't make such baseless claims."

"Heh heh—"

Gu Zhengshun rubbed his hands, pulled Wang Yu aside, and whispered, "A Foundation Establishment cultivator's corpse... name your price to sell it to me."

Wang Yu remained silent.

For disciples of Heavenly Corpse Peak, the corpses of powerful cultivators were rare and invaluable opportunities. Using their corpse-refining methods, cultivating one for several years could transform it into a formidable combatant. This was also why Gu Zhengshun made a beeline for the graves once he entered the underground palace. Even though he helped him acquire a Tier 2 divine power corpse arm, that item was a defective product, a remnant limb completely damaged in battle and beyond repair. Compared to a complete Foundation Establishment corpse, it was on an entirely different level. However, since the corpse was of no use to Wang Yu anyway, he indifferently said:

"I can sell it to you, but you name a price first. I'm not particularly short on spirit stones right now."

This statement stumped Gu Zhengshun.

"Perhaps you should tell me what you want first, Junior Brother."

"Simple. A Tier 2 cold-attributed demonic core from a serpent-type monster, plus five thousand spirit stones. How about that?"

Gu Zhengshun frowned slightly. "Let me see the goods first."

After inspecting Deacon Xu's dark, pus-oozing corpse, he haggled, "The damage is quite severe. Deduct two thousand spirit stones."

"Deal!"

Selling it to anyone was fine with Wang Yu. He felt it was a good deal if he could get a useful demonic core in return, especially since as a Qi Refining stage disciple, he could only access the sect's Tier 1 treasury. There were no Tier 2 demonic cores there at all, much less ones with a cold attribute.

"We'll return to the sect in two years. You can prepare the items then, and we'll complete the trade."

"Agreed."

After that, the two returned to their original positions, causing Situ Hong to glance over occasionally and subtly distance himself by ten steps, finding them too cunning.

All three remained silent for a long time, until Wang Yu finally broke the deadlock.

"I'll leave Senior Sister Liu to you two. I'm heading to Mount Xuangu for secluded cultivation."

"Ah, well..."

"I'm going into secluded cultivation as well."

Gu Zhengshun followed closely behind Wang Yu, diving into the Earth Yin Corpse Puppet Array and disappearing.

Situ Hong was left with a helpless, wry smile. This person truly couldn't be left here, and certainly couldn't die, or he wouldn't be able to report back!

Peaceful days always flowed like water, slipping through the fingers in an instant. Winter gave way to spring, and summer nights cooled into autumn. Before they knew it, the seasons had turned twice more.

The five-year period had now drawn to a close. The first three years had been fraught with constant incidents and heavy casualties, but the last two, with only four people remaining, were incredibly quiet. They only met in May or June each year, during the blooming season of the bone wood, to harvest a batch of Profound Essence Flowers to bring back to the sect and sell to their fellow disciples. The quantity was significantly less due to insufficient manpower, making it difficult to fully clear the three Xuangu Mountains. However, they each managed to mine a batch of bone wood for submission to the sect. The quantity of bone wood amounted to a five-hundred-person quota, and the work was complex and done intermittently. It was a consensus that the sect's quota could not be shorted, and the task had to be completed, no matter whose share was lacking.

Since waking, Liu Jinxian had been silently recuperating. She only met Wang Yu once, and thanks to his life-saving grace, her attitude had improved considerably. However, their relationship wasn't particularly good. According to Liu Jinxian, if he were willing to have a Gu worm planted in him, he could become her bed companion and male favorite, ensuring he wouldn't lack cultivation resources. Wang Yu respectfully declined this kind of "gratitude," subtly refusing by mentioning the name of True Disciple Su. As for the spoils of war, she did not demand them, presumably fearing he might act irrationally.

It was early January of Wang Yu's eighth year as an outer disciple.

Having just finished his cultivation, he was planning his next steps. During this period, he had cultivated a total of 4880 strands of spiritual power, and had just finished refining his fifth top-grade Cold Blood Pill. Rounding up, that amounted to 49 units of spiritual power. With 149 units of spiritual power accumulated, he needed 300 units to break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining, still half short. His progress was already quite rapid.

Currently, Wang Yu had only one immediate course of action: Refining the "Cold Flood Dragon Pill" using the special effects of Cold Flood Dragon Alchemy to reconstruct and enhance the top-grade Cold Blood Pills, thereby accelerating his cultivation through elixirs. Secondly, he could investigate formations, talismans, spiritual food, and other areas to see if any methods could aid his cultivation. Now that the Mount Xuangu mission was over, he could return to complete the trade with Gu Zhengshun, then focus on his elixir-related goal. Conveniently, one of his placement slots had also become free in the past two years.

Placement Slot 4: Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique (Perfected)

「Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique (100/100): Fifty-two practices a day; fifty years to perfection.」

Because he absorbed two large portions of a Foundation Establishment specter's soul, a significant amount of time was saved. Furthermore, this mystical art was unique, unlike conventional spells. It was consequently easier to perfect. Once this art was perfected, the black fiend armor patterns covering Wang Yu's skin receded beneath, ready to be activated with a mere thought, making it convenient and swift. In terms of defense, it was particularly effective against spiritual consciousness attacks. Against normal physical attacks, energy impacts, Five Elements, and so on, its defensive capabilities were comparable to a low-grade Tier 2 defensive spell. Its only drawback was its high consumption. In the past two years, Wang Yu had only encountered one instance of yin soul backlash, which targeted his soul but wasn't too powerful. After all, he had only devoured a soul once. His Grand Yin Nether Eyes could draw upon the power of Grand Yin Moon Essence, nourishing and purifying his soul while strengthening his spiritual consciousness. Moreover, alchemy also had the effect of training and enhancing spiritual consciousness, so he easily withstood it.

For this mystical art, the placement slot indicated fifty years, more than double the time required for the Corpse Demon Secret Art—which was simply outrageous.