Since the end of that incident, Wang Yu’s side became completely quiet. There were only six years left before the Blood Abyss trial concluded.

The further it went, the faster time seemed to pass.

Gradually, everything returned to the previous rhythm.

Secluded cultivation, going out to hunt, secluded cultivation, going out again. For a period of time, Yan Ling no longer came by to exchange visits. Even when she did come occasionally, those once familiar expressions never appeared again.

Wang Yu guessed that her impression of him had turned negative. That was understandable, after all, he had personally killed such a delicate beauty.

Yan Ling could not help but project herself into the situation. Considering their upcoming cooperation to replace Jiang Mingxin, it was only natural for her to worry that he might turn on her and seize everything. He himself did not really mind.

He believed his temperament was cold and thin, with almost no merits other than keeping his word.

On Crimson Snow Mountain, the number of people gradually decreased.

Song Yun ultimately led a group to the Blood Demon Sea. This trip was truly unpredictable in fortune and disaster. As a result, aside from a few of Yan Ling’s subordinates, Crimson Snow Mountain was nearly empty.

In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.

On this day, news arrived from the Blood Demon Sea and was delivered to Yan Ling. Out of courtesy, she also sent a copy to Wang Yu.

At first glance, it was simply shocking.

At present, Wang Yu was no longer the most notorious butcher in the Blood Abyss. Xie Xie’an had taken over that reputation and was called the Rakshasa Great Demon.

The matter had to begin with the final battle over the Blood Infant Fruit.

About half a year ago.

Someone tracked the matter to Xie Xie’an. The Blood Infant Fruit was, after all, an opportunity for forming a Nascent Soul, something rarely seen under heaven. The cultivators wandering within the Blood Abyss rushed toward him like dogs seeing filth or cats spotting mice.

The source of this information was hard to say as being reliable.

Whether it was deliberately released by those old monsters, or Xie Xie’an personally spreading the news, Wang Yu was too far removed to see clearly.

However.

After the first battle, Xie Xie’an revealed cultivation at the sixth layer of Core Formation. In a single fight, he wiped out more than a dozen mid stage Core Formation cultivators. His fame skyrocketed, and in the end he escaped under the protection of a mysterious demonic bell.

Over the following months, he fought repeatedly and retreated again and again.

On the surface, he seemed to be steadily driven back, yet he never truly suffered defeat. Instead, he seized massive resources from the cultivators hunting him. His storage rings were filled to the brim.

The strangest thing was that every time, his whereabouts would be discovered.

After being “forced” to counter kill some of them, he would continue to flee using the power of the demonic bell. In a little over half a year, he killed more than a hundred Core Formation cultivators. Under combat of such intensity, his potential was greatly stimulated, and he even broke through to late Core Formation.

If one also counted those killed by Wang Yu, as well as others who died to the Blood Abyss environment and mutual slaughter, then out of the thousand people who entered this Blood Abyss trial, fewer than five hundred likely remained.

And to cultivate a single Core Formation genius required at least two hundred years.

With such an extreme death rate, it had already far surpassed previous Blood Abyss trials. There were simply too many killers, and even the grassroots had been stripped clean.

But true gold is refined by raging fire. This generation would certainly produce more Nascent Soul cultivators than any before.

The news that the Blood Infant Fruit was in Xie Xie'an’s hands had already spread.

There would still be plenty of killing left in the Blood Abyss.

Wang Yu was somewhat tempted. After entering the Blood Abyss for more than twenty years, the cultivation resources he had prepared were basically exhausted. If he could take some from other cultivators, that would not be bad.

However, just as this thought arose, Wang Yu suppressed it.

Continuing to kill would be hard to clean up in the end. Better to let Xie Xie’an shoulder it. Wang Yu estimated that at least another hundred would have to die before the matter was settled.

There were also those fishing in troubled waters. Casualties would only grow more tragic. It was better not to get involved.

Putting down the intelligence jade slip, Wang Yu went out and headed west of the Blood Prison Ice Plains. According to the detailed map, there should be a solitary dragon shaped blood beast there.

…

…

On this day.

Below a tall mountain in the western ice plains, Wang Yu extended his divine sense and saw the massive dragon shaped blood beast coiled atop the mountain peak.

Blood beasts were not demon creatures and did not possess demon cores.

But they shared some similarities, for example, blood beast crystal cores.

Wang Yu already had plans to prepare for forming a Nascent Soul. Reserving the Nascent Soul Forming Pill formula, as well as subsequent alchemy arrangements, were all placed at the forefront of his plans.

But to make the preparations as perfect as possible, the Ice Chi Pill Flame also had to be upgraded. This was a pill flame nurtured through elixirs, sustained by years of mana nourishment and the tempering of various ice attribute heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Its power was not inferior to combat oriented heaven and earth spiritual flames.

It had long been nurtured to the peak of third rank. Based on past experience, ice attribute demon cores containing dragon blood were the most suitable primary materials for advancing the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

And the blood beasts of the Blood Prison Ice Plains just happened to possess ice attributes.

Moreover, they were born in dragon form. It was very likely that dragon blood had been mutated by blood demonic power, giving rise to this kind of blood path monster. Upon seeing it now, and sensing the faint dragon might emanating from the Ice Blood Flood Dragon, Wang Yu immediately confirmed his guess. It was worth deploying the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet for this battle.

Thinking about the harvest before fighting was indeed not a good habit.

But since he had come proactively, there was no need for restraint. If he could not win, he could just run. Against mindless blood beast monsters, there was no need for the same scheming used against demon creatures or human cultivators.

“Go.”

With a thought, the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet went forth, while Wang Yu’s true body concealed itself in the shadows.

In no time, the great battle was triggered.

Two Yellow Springs giant hands slapped down from the sky. A resonant dragon roar erupted as blood red snowflakes fell in torrents, blood light and icy radiance flashing.

The power erupted by the Ice Blood Flood Dragon was actually stronger than that of the Blood Scorpion King. It seemed that even among blood beasts, there were distinctions of strength.

No matter where it was, dragon shaped beings were always synonymous with power.

The colossal dragon tail swept down. Though its own body was battered until blood flowed freely, it scattered all the Yellow Springs hands. Then the Yellow Springs bone spear thrust out.

A dragon claw wrapped in clouds surged upward.

It forcibly twisted and shattered the Yellow Springs bone spear. Seeing this, Wang Yu realized this would not do and seized an opportunity to attack personally.

Soul Extinguishing Death Light descended from beyond the heavens and struck the Ice Blood Flood Dragon fiercely. It let out a howl and crashed toward the icy mountain, smashing out vast cracks.

There were signs the mountain might collapse.

The Immobilization Mirror was cast simultaneously. A flash of white light restrained the Ice Blood Flood Dragon for a single breath. At the same time, the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet clasped its hands together as Yellow Springs ghostly mist surged upward.

A mountain sized white bone demonic sword plunged straight down.

The mountain was cut open in the middle like a gourd and toppled to both sides. Amid dragon roars and wails, cold blood dyed the surrounding area red.

Waving away the dust and smoke, Wang Yu’s pupils shrank.

The Ice Blood Flood Dragon, almost severed in half, soared into the sky once more, shattering the giant bone sword. A dragon claw grabbed the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet.

Squeezing it until it creaked loudly. Even after using its ultimate move, it was still overpowered.

This made Wang Yu quickly recognize the puppet’s true strength. Words aside, the Earth Resentment Puppet’s combat power among early fourth rank was indeed ordinary.

Any early Nascent Soul cultivator could probably handle it with ease.

It could only bully these mindless creatures. When encountering truly powerful opponents, it would naturally fare poorly.

Wang Yu could not possibly sit by and watch as the trump card he had painstakingly refined was destroyed just like that. With a gesture of his right hand, the Yellow Springs Demonic Sword followed the Yellow Springs Hand and slashed out, releasing a towering wave of sword fiend qi.

He focused all attacks on the wound of the Ice Blood Flood Dragon.

Under normal circumstances, such an attack could not truly injure the Ice Blood Flood Dragon. After all, it was a fourth rank existence. Wang Yu’s methods were not mere tickling, but they were only equivalent to light tapping.

However, this spot had already suffered heavy damage.

Light tapping on an open wound was no different from sprinkling salt on it.

The pain made the Ice Blood Flood Dragon convulse repeatedly. Wang Yu’s eyes shone brightly as he seized the opportunity and formed hand seals. The Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet immediately erupted with even denser ghostly fog.

The fog transformed into strands of black silk that slipped out from between its fingers.

The puppet’s head was the first to restore itself. The Yellow Springs curse inscriptions carved upon it burst forth with brilliant light. As they merged with the surging ghost fog, tens of thousands of Yellow Springs ghost heads were instantly born.

They howled as they rushed toward the Ice Blood Flood Dragon like a tidal wave.

This was the Yellow Springs Evil Ghost Curse.

One of the innate divine abilities of the demonic bone body, likely a perfected divine ability refined into the bones by its master during his lifetime. Its power was terrifying when unleashed in such a mass assault.

The Ice Blood Flood Dragon opened its jaws wide and spat out a beam of red and blue intertwined light, freezing and annihilating the first wave of Yellow Springs ghost heads. However, their numbers were simply too great.

It could not deal with the harassment at all. These evil ghost heads did not deal much damage individually, but each carried Yellow Springs attributes. The corrosive power tormented the Ice Blood Flood Dragon, leaving it in unbearable agony.

It was like a thin skinned college student thrown into a nest of mosquitoes.

Each bite was not fatal, but when they accumulated, it was enough to make one pass out.

Seizing this opportunity, Wang Yu acted again.

He released the Lunar Yin Fiend Corpse to cast a distant curse. The effect was minor, but it still weakened the target slightly. At a time like this, every bit of power mattered.

The curse was cast and withdrawn in one motion, barely costing any time.

His figure then transformed into auroral light and shot straight into the sky. The Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art was pushed to its limit, fully merging with the Demonic Dragon Fist.

At this moment.

As qi and blood surged continuously from his body, Wang Yu seemed to truly transform into a Yin Nether Demonic Dragon, ferociously plunging downward from the sky.

Unstoppable, he stomped down on the Ice Blood Flood Dragon’s head, shattering bones and snapping horns, kicking it straight into the mountain on the left and completely destroying it.

The exploding mountain rocks kicked up rolling clouds of dust, which were then blown away by a violent cold wind. Countless particles condensed into ice crystals and fell from the sky, creating an exquisitely beautiful scene.

The Ice Blood Flood Dragon struggled to rise. Its powerful vitality would not allow it to die easily. Its blood red dragon pupils locked onto Wang Yu as it charged again.

Yet it was stopped by the Yellow Springs Earth Grievance Puppet, which braced itself with a single palm and held back the long dragon body like an indestructible wall, firmly standing between Wang Yu and the Ice Blood Flood Dragon.

In the surrounding void, giant bone spears hundreds of meters long continuously drilled out.

Empowered by the Yellow Springs Dao, each one was adept at breaking techniques and shattering artifacts. They fired instantly, piercing straight through the Ice Blood Flood Dragon sideways. More than ten spears were embedded before they finally stopped.

With each spear strike, the dragon’s wails weakened by several degrees.

Until they became barely audible.

The continuously surging Yellow Springs mana rapidly extinguished the Ice Blood Flood Dragon’s vitality. This battle had been somewhat difficult, but victory was ultimately achieved.

The Ice Blood Flood Dragon’s blood beast crystal core was now his prize.

After Wang Yu extracted it, the corpse dissolved into a puddle of black blood with no remaining value. This was the difference between blood beasts and true demon beasts.

Aside from the crystal core, they were basically worthless.

They were merely servants shaped by Blood Demon power, with no real treasures. This crystal core would also need purification before it could be used, and Wang Yu had no intention of handing it over to the sect.

After collecting the spoils, Wang Yu looked at the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet with a headache. This round had left it covered in injuries, and repairing it would consume a considerable amount of spirit stones.

To fully replenish it would likely require over a million spirit stones.

If it were allowed to recover by absorbing natural spiritual qi on its own, the efficiency would be far too low. In the Blood Abyss, he still needed it to ensure his safety, and after leaving, he would need the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet to continue serving him.

There was no time to let it slowly recover, so this expense could not be avoided. The spending over this period had caused Wang Yu’s net worth to drop rapidly.

However, if he thoroughly processed the storage rings he had stripped from others, he should be able to refill his reserves and even come out with a surplus.

“Let’s do it this way. What can be sold, what cannot be sold, and what I keep for my own use all need to be carefully sorted.”

After leaving the place where the Ice Blood Flood Dragon had fallen, Wang Yu filled the Blood Evil One Origin Gourd with Myriad Spirit Blood Essence. Only then did he return to Crimson Snow Mountain for secluded cultivation.

This time, he should be able to break through to the eighth layer of Core Formation.

He needed to hurry. There was not much time left to remain in the Blood Abyss.

Several months later.

In the thirty fourth year and eighth month of Elder Wang Yu’s career, after consuming a gourd of Myriad Spirit Blood Essence, Wang Yu’s mana smoothly increased to over three thousand unit.

He officially broke through to Core Formation eighth layer.

At the summit of Crimson Snow Mountain.

The figure sitting cross legged suddenly exuded a much stronger aura, shaking away the surrounding wind and snow.

The stronger a cultivator’s mana, the greater the benefits to essence, qi, and spirit. Wang Yu felt that once he successfully formed a Nascent Soul in the future, his divine sense realm would likely jump straight to mid fourth rank.

The speed at which he broke through to Core Formation eighth layer was slightly slower than he had anticipated, likely because he had been distracted by hunting many powerful blood beasts.

At this point, only four years remained until the end of the Blood Abyss trial.

There was not enough time left to do much else. Continuing cultivation was not a bad choice.

Reviewing the names in his enemy ledger, nearly all had been cleared out. Only Fu Xiao barely remained, still coveting his Demonic Embryo.

“Next, I need to go into seclusion at the edge of the Blood Demon Sea.”

He made this decision for two reasons. First, the effect of the soul freezing wind on him had reached its limit. No matter how much frozen soul cold qi he absorbed using the Cold Absorption Art and the Heavenly Frost secret art, it could no longer improve the quality of his mana.

The overall increase had reached a 1.2 multiplier, yielding substantial gains.

Even the Guanghan Twelve Phases, the Glazed Iceheart Pagoda, and similar techniques had become completely insensitive to the soul freezing wind’s power, having been forced to absorb it up to their limits.

The second reason was his desire to absorb the blood fiend crystals of the Blood Demon Sea. Cultivating his killing intent was one aspect, but they could also be used to nourish his two variant zombies.

Their strength had been improving too slowly.

Taking advantage of the final four years, it should not be difficult to raise them to late third rank using blood fiend crystals. After all, during the previous ten years, while he used blood fiend qi to temper his body, he had also shared some with the Two Corpses.

With more nourishment, they would eventually advance.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Daily accumulation was equally important. For example, after breaking through to Core Formation eighth layer, reaching the peak would require a full six thousand streams of mana.

Under normal cultivation, it would take over sixty four years to break through to Core Formation ninth layer. Forming a Nascent Soul was still out of reach for the time being.

However.

The Blood Pool Baptism should help him shorten this time. In addition, refining third rank supreme grade cultivation spirit pills would also provide some assistance, so he would not need to grind forward honestly step by step.

When he left Crimson Snow Mountain this time, the mountain was cold and desolate.

He did not encounter anyone else. Wang Yu could not help but think of Song Yun and wondered how he was doing.

Half a month later.

Wang Yu returned to the Blood Demon Sea and plunged straight into its depths. He released the Two Corpses and began madly absorbing blood fiend qi. The yin fiend corpse refinement technique he had mastered had also, in fits and starts, reached the perfected realm.

Using it now felt exceptionally smooth.