Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation Chapter 52

The Blackbone Mountain region lies in the northern part of Maple Province, close to the Endless Icefield. The rocks and soil are dark as black basalt, most of the land is barren and lifeless.

Most of these caves were formed by the howling northern wind blowing all year round. They are open from front to back, yet how could demonic beasts and strange insects emerge from such places?

After noticing this anomaly, Wang Yu investigated thoroughly and eventually discovered that these creatures all came from underground, beneath Blackbone Mountain.

With such a discovery, he immediately associated it with Gu Zhengshun’s abnormal behavior.

He did not rush to speak up. Since he could discover it, then Liu Jinxian’s group, which had more people, surely would have noticed as well. They might have already dispatched people to explore the depths of those caves.

What mattered most to him now was to personally experience the effects of the Xuan Essence Flower, and see if it was as effective as Gu Zhengshun claimed.

After harvesting the flowers, Wang Yu held nine second-rank Xuan Essence Flowers and nearly three hundred first-rank Xuan Essence Flowers. All were properly stored in jade boxes and pill-holding jade bottles. Such a quantity was more than enough for his personal use.

The Xuan Essence Flower was snow-white in color, resembling a blooming peach blossom, petal by petal, with exquisite bone-patterns on them, quite similar to the patterns found on the Venom Bee’s body.

He took out a first-rank Xuan Essence Flower and consumed it while circulating his cultivation technique.

Out of the hundreds of spiritual threads being circulated, some had diminished, but the quality had clearly improved.

At this efficiency, three hundred first-rank Xuan Essence Flowers could help him complete his second spiritual refining, breaking through the bottleneck from mid-stage Qi Refining to late-stage, condensing his spiritual power from “path” into “streams”.

One Stream of spiritual energy is equivalent to a hundred Strands, a difference in measurement.

However, he’s currently only at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. While refining his spiritual early is possible, there’s no rush.

Still—

“Three hundred first-rank Xuan Essence Flowers to help someone break through the late-stage Qi Refining bottleneck… isn't that too much?”

According to Gu Zhengshun, ten flowers should be enough for a Qi Refining cultivator to complete the transformation from “path” to “stream”, but Wang Yu felt he would need three hundred.

If Gu Zhengshun was not lying, then there was only one difference between the two.

“Spiritual Roots.”

With this thought, Wang Yu’s expression grew grim. He swallowed another Xuan Essence Flower and, in addition to circulating his technique, released a large amount of divine sense to observe the subtle changes in his body.

A moment later.

He ended his cultivation session in a troubled mood and sighed in his heart.

“It really is due to the spiritual roots.”

As the flower’s medicinal effect activated, more than half of it leaked away, dispersing through some minor meridians in his body and eventually being expelled.

His Five-Element Wasted Spiritual Roots were too short. The amount of medicinal power he could convert was limited. This limitation wasn’t unique to the Xuan Essence Flower.

The same applied to elixirs, though he had always used supreme-grade spiritual pills, which masked the problem, so he never noticed his root deficiency.

In fact, he should have noticed the issue when he first purchased a high-grade Cold Blood Pill, but he was overwhelmed with matters at the time and had little time to digest the medicinal energy. His poor cultivation progress back then led him to think he simply wasn’t diligent enough.

“Supreme-grade spiritual pills are far more expensive than other grades for a reason. Their potency can be fully absorbed even by someone like me with poor aptitude. They are extraordinary.”

That is why Gu Zhengshun only needed ten flowers to break through the late Qi Refining stage, and ten second-rank Xuan Essence Flowers to begin partial transformation of his spiritual power into pseudo-true essence.

But for Wang Yu, he needed three hundred.

This meant that even high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, which others would fight over, were practically useless to him. Only supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pills could increase his chances of forming a foundation.

No wonder there were no records throughout history of anyone with Wasted Spiritual Roots ever forming a foundation.

By all rights, he should have barely reached mid-stage Qi Refining. Yet in a few years, he had already reached the fifth level of Qi Refining. It was all thanks to the Idle Slot function.

To defy heaven and change fate, how difficult it is.

Judging by the state of the Blood Reversal Sect, there was no record of any supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. It’s not just about refining a low-grade Blood Reversal Pill into a supreme-grade one.

Foundation Establishment Pills, Core Formation Pills, Nascent Soul Pills—these types of pills that aid in major realm breakthroughs all differ depending on a sect’s lineage. Their pill recipes are not the same.

The low-grade version is called Blood Reversal Pill, the mid-grade is Blood Spirit Pill, and the high-grade is Mortal Shedding Pill. All of them are Foundation Establishment Pills, yet their alchemical methods and formulas share not the slightest connection.

The Blood Reversal Sect does not possess the formula for a supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill at all.

Therefore, he had only two choices. Either prepare three hundred high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills and consume them like candy, relying on quantity to prevail, or obtain a demonic secret technique that could reverse one’s natural aptitude and change everything at its root.

As for a supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill formula, no sect possesses it.

“Perhaps the method of seizing spiritual roots is the most reliable.”

As for whether the Idle Slot could help him overcome this difficulty, he was not sure himself, since he had never tried it.

In theory, it could.

But how long it would take, he had no idea. After all, the Idle Slot was like another version of himself, cultivating a single thing for twelve hours every day, completely equal in essence to him.

It’s just that due to the Idle Slot’s special effect, every attempt would yield some result. By this logic, he could brute-force his way through.

With a heavy burden on his heart, Wang Yu quietly stood before the stone house, calming his mind while awaiting news from Liu Jinxian.

No matter how many hardships and dangers lay ahead, he would push through them, and then... return to Stone Lake City.

Half a day later.

A disciple from the Gu Poison Peak flew over and knocked on the outer layer of the formation.

“Senior Brother Wang, Senior Sister Liu has summoned you.”

“I’m coming.”

There was no time to dwell on these difficulties. All he could do was forge ahead. There were unknown opportunities beneath the Blackbone Mountain. He had to explore them.

Another incense stick's time passed.

Roughly ten li away from Blackbone Mountain, in front of an unmarked cave.

Liu Jinxian was already waiting with eighteen late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Seeing Wang Yu arrive, she called out directly.

“Let’s go.”

Gu Zhengshun’s formation could not be broken. Situ Hong was also unwilling to intervene. But once her attention shifted from the surface of Blackbone Mountain to its underground secrets...

Naturally, she discovered that the swarm of spirit vultures and the Bone Lion had come from below ground.

These two groups might very well be connected.

Within the group, Su Qingshan gave Wang Yu a friendly smile. Wang Yu returned a strange smile. Both of them were well aware of Xu Jiaojiao’s situation.

As for how to deal with it, he leaned toward killing the scoundrel.

If Zhao Shang was like a venomous snake still lying in wait, then Su Qingshan was like a cuckoo occupying another’s nest. He was petty and sinister, clearly plotting something.

At that moment, Su Qingshan was inwardly delighted at the sight of Wang Yu.

Five months ago, after learning that Wang Yu had taken up two floors of Blackbone Mountain, he did the math. Since the recent flower picking, Wang Yu certainly had not yet had time to refine them.

Hundreds of Xuan Essence Flowers, including many second-rank ones, were enough to make a risky move worthwhile.

Considering Xu Jiaojiao died at Wang Yu’s hands, bringing a few more helpers to ensure everything went smoothly, then splitting the gains afterward, had become a profitable venture. There would definitely be opportunities this time.

Little did he know Wang Yu thought the same.

He saw the disciples from Gu Poison Peak with bulging pouches, having consumed resources from two mountain layers. With some luck, he might be able to gather even more second-rank Xuan Essence Flowers.

Soon after.

Deep inside the nameless cave, a pit more than a zhang wide and seemingly bottomless appeared before their eyes. A disciple stepped forward and said.

“Senior Sister Liu, those demonic beasts came out from here.”