Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation Chapter 28

The strength of a cultivator consists of three components:

Realm, divine abilities, and magical tools.

All three hold critical importance. In the past, he was too poor to afford them, but now, after working for two months and becoming well-fed, he could naturally consider equipping himself in all aspects.

At the same time—

At the Xu Family’s Pill Shop, after Wang Yu left, the Zhu family’s grandfather and grandson huddled together. The arrogant and domineering young master from earlier now looked slightly nervous as he spoke to Elder Zhu.

“Grandfather, can that Wang Yu really take the fall for this?”

“He can’t.”

Elder Zhu shook his head, his eyes chillingly cold.

“Find a few more alchemists and have them take the blame together.”

“If it weren’t for me offending that figure from Evil God Peak, you wouldn’t have had to take such a risk.”

“What are you saying? There’s no need for such words between grandfather and grandson.

“Besides offering a large amount of spirit stones to reduce your sentence, someone has to take the fall here at the pill shop too. Otherwise, we still won’t be safe.

“Stay away from the pill shop for now. If anything goes wrong, leave the sect as soon as possible and try to sneak across the borders of the two regions.”

The Zhu family had already embezzled a great deal from the newly opened Xu Family Pill Shop, using it to pay off their own criminal penalties.

This crime-cleansing system was one of the unique features of the Blood Reversal Sect.

Aside from crimes like betrayal of the sect, nearly all other offenses could be offset with spirit stones. They were essentially using one crime to cover another. The difference was that Foundation Establishment stewards were easier to manipulate, and there were always ways to shift the blame onto others.

This was the real reason behind the high wages offered through hiring contracts, not because of any kindness from Deacon Xu.

During the day, Zhu Xiaosun had mocked Wang Yu in public, hoping it would make him back off. After all, a Qi Refining third-layer alchemist embezzling tens of thousands of spirit stones sounded far too absurd. Who would have the guts for that?

No one would believe someone like that could take the fall. So he was desperate to get Wang Yu out before things blew up.

Unfortunately, Elder Zhu had his eyes on Wang Yu. The old man was sly as a fox. Pinning such a large sum of embezzled spirit stones on a single person was a bit unreasonable.

After all, restitution would eventually be demanded. The larger the group involved, the smaller the individual payouts would be, and the less precisely each spirit stone needed to be accounted for. That gave them room to manipulate the books.

When it came to accounting, he was a professional.

The next day.

Wang Yu hummed a little tune as he strolled lazily to work at the Xu Family Pill Shop. No longer under the oppressive life of a spirit slave, working now meant earning money for himself. His entire mindset had changed.

“Elder Zhu, how’s business today?”

Around 9 a.m., just as the hour of the snake began, Wang Yu stepped into the shop. Elder Zhu was behind the counter, copying something down. Wang Yu was about to walk over and chat.

But Elder Zhu immediately said, “Alchemist Wang, you’re here. The furnace in the Earthfire Room is already heated. There’s a boy at the door to deliver ingredients.”

Wang Yu paused mid-step, a sense of suspicion rising in his heart. Sending him off to refine pills right away with no small talk—what was the meaning of that?

Just then, a customer brought over a bottle of Spirit Recovery Pills to pay.

“Shopkeeper, I’ll take this bottle. Hurry up, I have to head out on a mission.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Seeing this, Wang Yu headed toward the Earthfire Room in the back, but the more he thought about it, the more something felt off. In the end, only five words remained in his mind—this is a demonic sect.

Suspicion, vigilance, decisiveness—these were all fine virtues of a demonic cultivator. He was gradually developing these instincts. Elder Zhu clearly had issues. Whether minor or major, he had to stay alert.

For now, he buried the matter in his heart and decided to think it over after work.

The contract had already been signed, and the daily work still needed to be completed. Operating with only one arm was difficult, which meant Wang Yu had to complete each fire control seal and pill condensation seal using just one hand.

Refining pills consumed even more of his mental focus. Each time he refined two furnaces, his spiritual energy was still sufficient, but his divine sense would be completely depleted. He would need a short rest, entering a state of empty thought in order to quickly recover.

This actually had its benefits. When divine sense was pushed to its limit and then recovered, it was like physical training: muscles grow stronger through repeated tearing and repair, and divine sense followed the same principle.

Its intensity, limits, and fine control all improved steadily with each cycle of depletion and recovery. Even if the growth was minimal each time, it was still progress.

Without accumulating small steps, one cannot travel a thousand miles; without gathering small streams, one cannot form rivers and seas.

It was precisely through such unintentional persistence and accumulation that a seed could eventually grow into a towering tree. Because of his Wasted Spiritual Roots, Wang Yu cherished every improvement in himself.

Realizing that pill refinement could temper and grow his divine sense, he devoted even more focus to it and gradually became fully immersed.

Before he knew it, the day had passed.

He refined five furnaces of Spirit Recovery Pills and five furnaces of Fasting Pills. From the former, he produced 32 pills; from the latter, 29 pills. Wang Yu only submitted mid-grade pills. Any high-grade pills that emerged went directly into his own pouch.

He had about one bottle’s worth now. These were considered a reasonable portion of fire-loss compensation.

If not for the fact that these were simple first-grade spiritual pills with nearly no risk of furnace explosion, he could have pocketed a few extra sets of ingredients. A real pity.

He meditated briefly to calm his breath.

Only then did he leave the Earthfire Room and enter the front hall of the pill shop. By now, the crowds had dispersed. Elder Zhu was speaking with three cultivators. Seeing Wang Yu emerge, he quickly called him over.

“Alchemist Wang, come here. These three will be joining the Xu Family Pill Shop. Come meet them.”

A man in a blue scholar’s robe and square cap introduced himself with a scholarly air. “I am Zhou Tao, Qi Refining Layer Eight, first-rank high-grade alchemist, outer sect disciple of Five Yin Peak.”

Wang Yu immediately understood. With cultivation still in the outer sect, this was clearly a self-made cultivator with no backing, trying to rise through the ranks to become a steward or elder.

As for Five Yin Peak, it was the seventh peak of the Blood Reversal Sect. Their specialty was ghost-binding and god-cursing techniques—strange and hard to guard against.

The other two appeared more ordinary, but they shared one thing in common: no background.

“I am Huang Kai, Qi Refining Layer Six, first-rank mid-grade alchemist, outer sect disciple of Blood Underworld Peak.”

“I am Luo Pinghu, Qi Refining Layer Five, first-rank mid-grade alchemist, outer sect disciple of Heavenly Corpse Peak.”

Zhou Tao, Huang Kai, Luo Pinghu. Wang Yu gave Old Zhu a glance, then gave his own standard self-introduction.

When they learned he was only at Qi Refining Layer Three and still refined pills with a single arm, they were all shocked. They originally wanted to invite him to a tavern for a meal to discuss alchemy, but he declined.

There was no time to waste. It was better to head out and investigate as soon as possible.

Considering all possibilities, he decided to personally pay a visit to Deacon Xu. The pill shop had been open for several days, and he still had not seen the real boss. It was unacceptable.

Deacon Xu was currently posted at the Evil God Market. Normally, one would be stationed at a market run by the same peak they originated from. For outer sect disciples, most such postings were nominal, providing only a title and basic benefits.

In most cases, they would be dispatched outside the sect to guard certain resource sites occupied by the sect.

Only when inner sect disciples were promoted would they be given real posts, such as Deacon of the Hall of Law Enforcement, the Hall of Teachings, or the Mission Hall. With the sect’s full support, they lacked nothing and remained very safe.

There was also another group that was stationed in various cities under the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain’s control.