Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation Chapter 33

"Alright."

Wang Yu had great foresight and had Huang Kai and the others handle the official credentials. With that, Zhao Shang’s inclusion in the Ice and Snow Pavilion’s official records became a matter of course.

"Then, happy cooperation."

He extended his hand to shake Wang Yu’s. Zhao Shang's feelings were complicated. He had managed to suppress his inner desires and was willing to cooperate, even ceding a portion of the profits.

A person like this, even with Wasted Spiritual Roots, could absorb every bit of nourishment and slowly grow stronger.

Wang Yu, as familiar as ever, patted Zhao Shang on the shoulder and said warmly, "Past grudges are written off. From now on, we're friends. I won’t be staying in the pavilion's room anymore. Come to this address three days later, I’ll introduce you to a few friends."

"Alright."

Thousands of words condensed into a single one.

After wrapping up these matters, Wang Yu returned to his residence in the Evil God Market. Only then did he have time to take out the High-grade Cold Blood Pill he had bought for five hundred spirit stones.

According to the description of its effects, this pill could assist cultivators of the Cold Blood Technique in gaining forty strands of spiritual power, and its effects could last for a whole year.

These characteristics didn’t mean the pill was highly efficient, but rather that it had immense medicinal strength and was extremely difficult to refine.

Given Wang Yu’s current cultivation speed, he could only refine a single strand of spiritual energy every two days. That meant, at most, he could refine 18 strands a year. And this was only because he had an Idle Slot helping him. On his own, being able to condense even 1 or 2 strands would already be quite good.

He took the pill and began Qi Refining.

As the icy blue pill entered his body, a cool and refreshing sensation spread from his dantian to every corner of his limbs and bones. Wang Yu felt extremely comfortable.

Using his spiritual sense to observe his body, he could see the pill in his dantian being slowly refined within a cloud of gaseous spiritual energy. The pill was shrinking at a rate almost imperceptible to the naked eye. It was indeed very difficult to refine.

After a long time, a full circulation of his energy was completed, and his cultivation had clearly improved. However, the refining of the pill’s energy was something only he could do.

For the next year, he would have to spend a great deal of time on this.

Three days passed quietly like this.

At the agreed-upon shop, Wang Yu introduced Zhao Shang to Zhou Tao and the other three members of the Alchemist Association. They finalized the types and quantities of the first batch of pills and went their separate ways to purchase a large number of low-cost spirit herbs.

Because Huang Kai and Luo Pinghu were short on funds and couldn’t afford many materials, Wang Yu lent out all of his remaining five hundred spirit stones, and Zhou Tao chipped in another one thousand to help the brothers complete the first round of herb procurement.

These spirit stones would have to be repaid once the transactions were completed.

The scale of the three alchemists’ operation was not very large, and the profits they could gain were limited. Wang Yu chose not to participate for now. He planned to wait and observe.

However, Zhao Shang felt that the numbers were a bit low. Wang Yu had to reassure him that once the number of alchemists increased, the amount of spirit stones they could earn would naturally rise as well.

That wasn’t a lie, but the growth of the Alchemist Association had to be very discreet. If Wang Yu were to join later, it would only be for the purpose of tempering his spiritual sense.

So the pace would be very slow. Even if Zhao Shang was dissatisfied, there was nothing he could do. Once aboard a pirate ship, it wasn’t so easy to disembark.

As for the Alchemist Association, now that they had access to the Ice and Snow Pavilion’s channels, Wang Yu’s earlier promise had been proven. He truly knew how to get things done.

Huang Kai and Luo Pinghu were thoroughly convinced. Even though their cultivation levels were the lowest, they now held a greater respect for him. Only Zhou Tao remained more scheming at heart.

Over time, he might bypass Wang Yu and connect directly with Zhao Shang.

Wang Yu didn’t mind. Zhou Tao wouldn't amount to much. As long as he could help earn spirit stones, a few small issues were tolerable, so long as they didn’t cross Wang Yu’s bottom line.

Thus, the affairs of the Alchemist Association came to a temporary close.

Day 385 of Outer Sect Life

It had been over a year since Wang Yu was promoted to the outer sect, and he was finally approaching his first major turning point in cultivation.

Cold Blood Technique reached perfection today.

Inside his residence at the Evil God District, Wang Yu was quietly sensing the changes in his Spiritual Roots. According to the manual, when this technique reached completion, it could slightly enhance a cultivator's aptitude.

This improvement was almost negligible, but for Wang Yu, it was extremely significant. After all, there was no aptitude worse than Wasted Spiritual Roots. Any worse, and cultivation would be impossible.

"This feeling…"

In some vague spiritual sense, Wang Yu seemed to perceive his own Spiritual Roots. All five elements, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—were present, but each was less than an inch long, pathetically short.

This manifested in his cultivation as extreme difficulty in refining the ambient spiritual energy, low affinity, and a struggle to sense and capture Qi.

But now, as his cultivation method reached perfection, a thread of ice-blue spiritual light emerged from his bloodstream and attached itself to his Water Root.

It visibly grew longer, by nearly half its previous length. Among the five elements, it now stood out quite prominently. Wang Yu’s eyes widened.

"This isn’t…"

"This is supposed to be a slight improvement? It’s almost grown by half!"

But thinking it through, any cultivator who could push Cold Blood Technique to perfection was at the peak of Qi Refining. Their aptitudes were usually Three Spiritual Roots.

Compared to them, the increase would naturally be minor. In fact, due to their already high aptitude, the slight enhancement might barely show. For Wang Yu, whose foundation was poor, the improvement was far more noticeable.

"So actually, the improvement seems large because I'm weak, not because the technique is exceptionally effective..."

With this realization, Wang Yu continued his observations.

He noticed that his Water Root not only lengthened, but also showed signs of crystallization.

No—To be exact, it was becoming ice crystal-like.

"Ice Root?"

The standard attributes of Spiritual Roots were the five elements, but on that foundation, mutated roots could appear—ice, lightning, wind, void, blood, yin, yang, and so on.

They were unpredictable, as if guided by fate.

This discovery stirred more thoughts in Wang Yu. Perhaps he could attempt to actively mutate his Water Root into an Ice Root. While five-element roots placed no hard restrictions on cultivation paths, they lacked the synergy and benefits that came with aligned attributes.

Any advantage was worth pursuing. Every small gain in aptitude was extremely precious to him. Especially when applied through an Idle Slot, such advantages would be amplified dozens or even hundreds of times.

[Idle Slot 1: Cold Blood Technique]

Cold Blood Technique (100/100): 72 session times per day, master in twenty years.

Twenty years… That implied that a second-rank Foundation Establishment technique evolved from the Cold Blood Technique would offer an even greater boost to aptitude.

Wang Yu had no plans to remove it. Though the technique was perfected, the cultivation feedback it returned remained vital.

The number of daily cultivation cycles had also increased significantly.

The next day.

After experiencing the efficiency boost from the perfected technique, Wang Yu was overjoyed. Previously, each Idle Slot technique could only refine one wisp of spiritual energy every two days. Now, it could do so once per day.

Currently, he had accumulated about 35 wisps of spiritual power in his body. He had completed roughly one-tenth of Qi Refining Layer Four. At this rate, he would reach Layer Five in just over seven years.

That was nearly twice as fast as his original estimate of more than ten years. And this was only counting the efficiency of one Idle Slot.

If he used two Idle Slots, plus the effect of a high-grade Cold Blood Pill...

The pace would be even faster.