He still had several tens of thousands of second rank blood beast crystal cores in his possession.

After observing the entire process of the Blood God Guard Grand Commander forging the Blood Pool, Wang Yu felt that he might be able to use Blood Pill Arts to perfectly utilize the power contained in these crystal cores.

There was no need to achieve the same cultivation boosting effect as the Myriad Spirits Blood Essence.

If refined in a milder manner, producing pills that enhanced meridian toughness, physical potential, or even replenished life essence would also be excellent.

There would certainly be no shortage of buyers.

This baptism brought immense benefits. His mana upper limit directly reached four thousand four hundred units. He was still one thousand six hundred units away from the peak of the eighth layer of Core Formation, which was not something that could be achieved in the short term.

Thus, Wang Yu devoted all of his energy to alchemy.

After refining the three year quota for the four Cold Blood clans, he also refined food pills for the Five Tailed Snow Fox. The little creature possessed an extraordinary bloodline and had the potential to break through to Nascent Soul, so it could not be neglected.

On the side of the Blood Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon, it had connections with demon clans deep within the Northern Severed Boundary Mountain Range, and its demand for pills was the greatest apart from daily cultivation needs.

Nearly all of Wang Yu’s effort was poured into this.

He refined a large quantity of third rank high grade spirit pills for trade, exchanging them for vast amounts of rare precious materials.

He also had a fourth rank Ice Blood Flood Dragon crystal core in hand.

Naturally, it had to be put to use.

He planned to advance the Ice Chi Pill Flame to the fourth rank, replicating what he had done back in Jade Spirit City. The Cold Chi Pill was the core of the Ice Chi Pill Flame, and the medicinal principles were the same.

What he needed to do was strengthen the medicinal power of the various spirit herbs.

He would refine a spirit pill sufficient to allow the Ice Chi Pill Flame to advance. If he could obtain fourth rank spirit flame assistance, his confidence and success rate in refining fourth rank spirit pills would increase by several points.

It could also be applied in combat, further enhancing his strength.

It truly achieved two goals at once.

The only trouble was material collection. Some materials could only be harvested from certain demon beasts, and the Blood Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon could provide the greatest quantities.

Thus, this round of alchemy lasted nearly half a year.

The aftershocks caused by the Blood Abyss trial gradually subsided. Evil God Peak lived even more difficultly than in previous years, and calls to abolish it grew louder.

Xie Xie’an also disappeared from the sect, with no one knowing where he had been assigned.

On this day.

Wang Yu held a feng shui compass and used blank formation flags, employing the profundities of the Earth Mother Scripture, to specially arrange a relatively practical feng shui formation as needed.

It was called the Merging Thought Ascending Flame Formation.

It was a typical human formation. For the Ice Chi Pill Flame to advance, the most important point was to perfectly absorb the Ice Blood Flood Dragon crystal core. This formation was personally constructed by Wang Yu.

At critical moments, it could provide a certain degree of assistance through feng shui secret arts.

After all preparations were complete.

Large amounts of spirit herbs and precious materials were all drawn by mana into the Starfall Cold Cauldron. The Ice Chi Pill Flame surged fiercely. As the cauldron fire ignited.

A round of alchemy officially began.

Wang Yu poured in immense focus, concentrating fully as he watched the changes in the materials and completed each step one by one.

Refining, merging, condensing the pill, nourishing the pill.

The first step relied on careful attention and control over the pill flame, and was not difficult to complete. From the second step of merging onward, however, it became the true test of Wang Yu’s alchemy talent.

The pill formula had been decided by himself, not something produced by an Idle Slot.

Thus, variations could very well occur.

Under the refining of the blue flames, pill fragrance gradually spread. No problems occurred during the merging step, with the Ice Blood Flood Dragon crystal core serving as the main body.

A mass of medicinal liquid gradually formed, flashing with multicolored radiance. When it reached the third step of condensing the pill, accompanied by the formation of pill seals.

The medicinal liquid immediately underwent a shape change, transforming toward the form of a pill. However, a small problem arose. Perhaps because the properties matched too perfectly.

The pill actually began to devour the power of the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

Wang Yu’s goal in refining it was to elevate the rank of the Ice Chi Pill Flame. Now, during the pill formation process, reverse devouring occurred, using the origin of the Ice Chi Pill Flame to complete the spirit pill.

“This is simply reversing heaven and earth.”

In a flash of lightning, Wang Yu cut open his wrist with his fingernail. The Dragonspine Divine Marrow activated, and several drops of essence blood scattered outward.

This was the blood refining method within Blood Pill Arts. Though he was not yet fully proficient, its origin power was closely aligned with both the pill and the pill flame, immediately satisfying the needs of the spirit pill formation process.

A large amount of heaven and earth spiritual qi gathered from all directions, faintly producing signs of an anomaly. Pills of excessively high grade could also trigger tribulation lightning.

But fourth rank spirit pills were still far from that threshold.

The final step.

Seal the cauldron. Nourish the pill.

As the fluctuations subsided, the pill entered its final stage. The fire refining method was violent and sought speed. The final stage required even greater firepower to complete its transformation.

Given the importance of the matter, Wang Yu did not leave even a single step.

He forcefully nourished it for more than ten days.

“Open the cauldron.”

The moment the spirit pill bloomed with treasure light, it shot straight into the sky. Dense pill fragrance enveloped the area around his cave mansion, and as cold energy spread, localized snowfall appeared, giving rise to an anomaly.

More than half of Cold Blood Peak could see it.

Seeing this, Wang Yu nodded in satisfaction and activated the cave mansion's array formation. Just like Jiang Taigong fishing with a straight hook—willing ones take the bait. this was merely the first step in his fishing plan.[1]

After all, a single success could still be attributed to luck. Multiple successes carried an entirely different meaning.

Especially in an environment where demonic path alchemists were scarce, the upper limit of rare resources he could obtain would rise by an entire rank.

Time was growing increasingly tight.

After the Blood Pool baptism, Zhuo Shouyun returned to the Ghost Fang lands. Once the final outcome was announced, Fu Xiao would certainly move against him, so Wang Yu was racing against time.

Before facing Fu Xiao, those five Heavenly Demons had to be used. Whether the strength of the Mysterious Origin Demonic Embryo could be greatly enhanced was also inseparable from the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

After the fourth rank Cold Chi Pill was refined, its appearance resembled a snow scene crystal sphere, strangely beautiful. At its center was a lifelike image of an Ice Blood Flood Dragon, and the spirit pill was almost completely transparent.

After observing it briefly, Wang Yu decisively swallowed it.

In an instant.

The might of the Ice Chi Pill Flame erupted. This flame, nurtured for many years, continuously received nourishment from Wang Yu’s mana, absorbing countless ice attribute heavenly materials and earthly treasures during daily cultivation.

It was already a peak third rank spirit flame.

Now erupting with full force, it completely transformed Wang Yu’s cave mansion into a sea of icy flames. Countless ice spikes shot into the sky, influenced by the medicinal effects of the Cold Chi Pill.

The origin of the pill flame began to grow explosively. This time, it did not separate from the main body, so everything remained under control.

With the cave mansion formation activated, all the erupting power of the Ice Chi Pill Flame was confined within this limited space. Before long, it surpassed its original limit.

The Merging Thought Ascending Flame feng shui formation was actively activated by Wang Yu.

The medicinal effects of the spirit pill immediately became even more pronounced. However, an unexpected situation occurred. The realm phenomenon that cultivators experienced when advancing to Core Formation showed abnormalities.

The sovereign fire of the heart, the minister fire of the kidneys, the commoner fire of the bladder.

When the three merged, the resulting Samadhi True Fire spontaneously surged out from his Golden Core. This was a flame he had hardly ever used.

Its sudden appearance caught him completely off guard.

He nearly lost control.

Fortunately, the fusion between the spirit pill and the Ice Chi Pill Flame proceeded smoothly. The pre arranged feng shui formation instead caused the Samadhi True Fire to fuse with the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

Both were already closely bound to Wang Yu. Though their properties differed, their origins were interconnected.

After brief consideration, Wang Yu decided to let the Ice Chi Pill Flame replace the position of the Samadhi True Fire and bind closely with his Golden Core. Under such circumstances.

It was no different from developing a second life-bound divine ability or magic treasure, possessing the characteristics of two innate objects, because it was a pill flame.

With the success of this advancement, it could even help Wang Yu purify his mana.

As for subsequent improvements, there was no need to consider them in detail for now.

Just do it.

An accident can also become an opportunity.

Fortunately, his habit of planning ahead allowed him to seize this chance. Otherwise, the outcome would have been hard to predict. This move was equivalent to feeding Samadhi True Fire to the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

The time required for advancement and fusion was greatly extended.

However, the benefits he would ultimately gain were also greatly increased, and they were long term. It could continuously help him purify his mana, and it would be of tremendous assistance in breaking through the Nascent Soul bottleneck.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

The abnormal phenomenon of extreme cold rapidly subsided. Inside the alchemy chamber, Wang Yu sat cross legged, his body covered by a thin layer of pale white flame.

It was precisely the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

Its color had changed again. This pale white leaned toward light gray, and was close to the pure transparent clarity of an Ice Spirit. It looked exquisitely beautiful, yet in reality it contained violent power of extreme cold and extreme heat.

Yin and Yang clashed, yet also fused with each other.

If one were to look inward at his Qi Sea, they would discover that Wang Yu’s blue black golden core was also covered by this layer of flame. Even the Glazed Iceheart Pagoda, the Yellow Springs Demonic Sword, the Ghost-Weeping Flute, and the Feng Shui Compass, the four magic treasures, were undergoing refinement.

The speed of improvement was more than twice as fast as before.

“Fourth rank Ice Chi Pill Flame.”

Because Wang Yu had slowly raised it step by step from first rank, it was extremely smooth to control, and suited him far better than spiritual flames naturally born between heaven and earth.

Now it had fused with his golden core.

It was like an innate ability he was born with. Using it was no different from lifting his arms or legs, and the consumption was reduced to the lowest level.

His first reaction was to fuse it with various divine abilities.

The past was the past, the present was the present. This overwhelming control ability could even be combined with the Lesser Asura Killing Fist, making up for the deficiency in true killing power of that divine ability.

In simple terms, it was equivalent to a universal plug in.

When combined with any divine ability or spell technique, its power would surge dramatically. After sorting through his new gains, Wang Yu also checked the Two Corpses. With a few more years of nurturing, these two things could also advance to late third rank.

On the surface, his combat strength seemed to have reached its peak.

But upon careful examination, there were still many areas that could continue to be improved. What he lacked the most was still time.

After leaving the alchemy chamber, Wang Yu was stunned by the scene outside.

Because.

There were many people waiting outside the cave mansion. When they saw him appear, they immediately raised their voices in congratulations.

“Congratulations to Seventh Elder on advancing to a fourth rank alchemist.”

“Congratulations to Seventh Elder on advancing to a fourth rank alchemist.”

“Congratulations to Seventh Elder.”

Their voices thundered, echoing endlessly in a corner of Cold Blood Peak.

The corner of Wang Yu’s mouth twitched.

With a wave of his hand, he removed the cave mansion formation. He realized that he had still underestimated the appeal of a fourth rank alchemist not under the jurisdiction of the Alchemy Hall. What was meant to be fishing had turned into net fishing.

He had attracted far too many people.

He even saw cultivators from other mountain peaks. Judging by their clothing, their status was likely not low. There were also people from the Council of Elders in the crowd.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to receive them all at once.

The crowd filed inside. Without Wang Yu needing to say much, they began introducing themselves, and explained their purpose for coming.

“Seventh Elder, I am Wu Kuai from Gu Poison Peak, here to ask you to refine pills. The reward is negotiable.”

“Seventh Elder, I am Ji Bochang of the Ji clan, here on the order of our old ancestor.”

“Seventh Elder, I am Chu Xiao.”

“Seventh.”

“Enough.”

The buzzing around his ears was like flies, ruining his good mood. Wang Yu rarely raised his voice.

“For alchemy cooperation, This Wang is temporarily unavailable. I must first meet the needs within Cold Blood Peak. Distinguished guests from other peaks, please leave for now. There will be opportunities for cooperation after some time.”

“This.”

Since the host had already sent them away, those who came merely to join the excitement or try their luck gradually left. However, some still clung to hope, and did not forget to shout as they departed.

“Seventh Elder, please do not forget us. You may contact us at any time regarding alchemy matters. The reward is negotiable.”

“All right, all right.”

After the number of people had decreased by more than half, Wang Yu did not pay attention to the four clans of Cold Blood. He had already seen Dragon Sparrow’s figure earlier. Naturally, he first received the representative sent by the Blood Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon.

Father Yu was quite righteous. With Yu Tangtang as the connection, Wang Yu was naturally close to them.

Moreover, Dragon Sparrow had personally witnessed Wang Yu advance from the Qi Refining stage to the current Core Formation stage. His strength had increased faster than riding a rocket.

Thus, all arrogance was restrained. When descending from the sky, Dragon Sparrow deliberately lowered it's head and spoke gently.

“The Demonic Flood Dragon Lord invites you. The message you had Miss convey last time, the Lord believes the time has come.”

Hearing this, Wang Yu raised an eyebrow.

They had caught the scent. The message had been sent before the Blood Pool Baptism. There had been no movement all along. Yet now, when he was fishing for the Heavenly Frost Demon Lord, they appeared again.

Thinking about it, it was natural.

Third rank resources were already so rare, let alone fourth rank.

If he did not truly show his skills, who would feel at ease.

Moreover, Wang Yu’s cultivation was his most obvious weakness. Demonic path spirit pills naturally needed to incorporate demonic qi. How could a mere Core Formation cultivator control demonic qi.

After such filtering, the fourth rank spirit pills he could refine were very limited. On top of that, selecting ones with lower refinement difficulty and that were useful to demonic path Nascent Souls made them even rarer.

Wang Yu did not want his own existence to become tasteless and useless.

At this moment, it was naturally time to show his hand. What was a talent type alchemy grandmaster. He immediately leapt onto the sparrow’s back, turned his head, and said to the crowd.

“You have all seen the situation. If you have time, wait here for one month. When I return, Wang will discuss matters with you. I take my leave first.”

Wang Yu waved his token. At the instant the formation activated, it squeezed all these people out. The three colored dragon sparrow spread its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing from Cold Blood Peak in an instant.

The remaining people looked at each other.

“Since we are already here, then let us wait another month.”

“Brother Chu speaks truly. We already waited three months, one more month makes no difference.”

“Come, come, Brother Bochang, how about a game of Go between you and me.”

“Very well. Those watching the game, please refrain from speaking. Fellow daoists, do not offer suggestions.”

“Of course.”

“Certainly.”

“You rotten Go basket, you do not take the golden corner and instead play tengen.”

“Play here. After one hundred and twenty seven moves, the dragon can be slain.”

“Here, Brother Bochang.”

“Enough to drive me mad.”

With a bang.

The Xue clan old man who talked the most had the Go board slammed over his head, hanging straight on his neck like a scarf.

After a few cries of pain, his scalp was bleeding.

“I will fight you to the death.”

Several old men played to their hearts content in front of Wang Yu’s cave mansion. On Wang Yu’s side, things went quite smoothly as well. Riding the dragon sparrow, he arrived at Father Yu’s cave dwelling.

Sure enough, he was assigned an alchemy task.

And it was fourth rank.

The Cold Chi Pill had no specific sub grade classification and was rather special. However, the spirit pill the Demonic Flood Dragon wanted refined had rank requirements. He only had a fifty percent chance of refining a fourth rank mid grade.

As for high grade, unless it was an ice path spirit pill, it was absolutely impossible.

Success or failure hinged on this single attempt.

[1]:- Jiang Taigong fishing—willing ones take the bait – A famous idiom from Chinese history/folklore. Jiang Taigong (a legendary strategist) fished with a straight hook (no bait), confident that the right "fish" (talent or opportunity) would come willingly.