Within his body.

The Mysterious Origin Demonic Embryo that existed between illusion and reality actually took the initiative to enter Wang Yu’s Dantian Qi Sea. That instinctive attraction was extraordinarily strong.

One had to know that the essence of this thing was a spiritual root.

The Heavenly Demon Pill fell into the Qi sea.

Gray streams of qi rose into the Niwan palace, causing Wang Yu’s divine sense to surge explosively. The black qi released from the pill was completely absorbed by the demonic embryo. Although its size did not change, it became far more profound.

The demonic patterns on its surface grew increasingly complex and difficult to describe, as if it had broken free from the restraints of secret techniques and was developing toward an unknown direction.

His spiritual perception gave no warning at all. Instead, he could clearly feel a fundamental improvement. The five elemental spiritual roots within the demonic embryo all turned black.

The attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were still present, but they were infused with the concept of demon. He did not know whether something as abstruse as a demonic spiritual root actually existed in this world.

Judging only from its manifestation.

Wang Yu could only call it a five element demonic spiritual root.

A single Heavenly Demon Pill was clearly insufficient to support the completion of its transformation. Wang Yu immediately opened the cauldron and began refining a second Heavenly Demon Pill, while rapidly adapting to the surge in divine sense.

In the blink of an eye.

Nearly two months passed.

Five Heavenly Demon Pills were consumed in succession, forcibly raising his divine sense realm to the peak of early fourth rank, only one step away from breaking through to mid fourth rank.

Perhaps he could use the opportunity of perfecting the Ancient Soul Art to achieve it in one leap, or he could start from divine sense type spirit pills. That was also a viable path.

This would require a considerable amount of time and could be set aside for now.

The true benefits of the Heavenly Demon Pill were mostly concentrated on the Mysterious Origin Demonic Embryo. The increase in divine sense was merely a byproduct, an unexpected surprise.

The aptitude he called the five element demonic spiritual root.

Could be considered successfully formed.

Like five meridians, it completely pierced through the demonic embryo. From the crown of the head to the tailbone was the Yin Ice Spiritual Root, a mutation of the water spiritual root, representing Wang Yu’s main body.

The left and right arms of the demonic embryo were extensions of the metal and fire spiritual roots.

Its chubby feet, formed from the earth and wood spiritual roots, were too short, reaching only halfway up the thighs. This was clearly because they had not been upgraded to Heavenly Spiritual Root quality.

This provided Wang Yu with a clear line of thought for fully perfecting the Mysterious Origin Demonic Embryo. At the lower abdomen of the demonic embryo, the five element spiritual roots were entangled together, forming a vortex-like pattern.

Dense demonic intent radiated from it, resembling a cultivator’s Qi sea.

This caused the five element spiritual roots to mutate into the inclusive concept of Demon.

He had a strong premonition.

Once the earth and wood spiritual roots were fully upgraded, the demonic embryo would completely merge with him. Devouring another demonic embryo was a kind of ritual similar to the Corpse Fighting Tournament.

“Returning from acquired to innate. Reshaping the flesh body. Complete ascension.”

He muttered softly in his heart.

Wang Yu had completely confirmed the true nature of the Demonic Embryo Mysterious Origin Curse. If successful, he might obtain True Spiritual Body level aptitude.

The Innate Demonic Embryo Physique.

Compared to the Blood Demonic Body, it was unclear which was stronger, but the word innate alone made it an absolutely top tier secret art for defying and altering aptitude in this world.

He could cultivate to this extent for two reasons.

First, the perfect cultivation provided by the Idle Slot left no hidden dangers at all. The demonic embryo was completely under his control.

Second, his true spirit was unusual. Heavenly Demons were beings from beyond the world, and so was he. Although the two appeared similar, they were fundamentally different.

This was the root reason he could return from acquired to innate.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful the demonic embryo secret curse was, the final result should only have been an acquired demonic embryo physique. After sorting everything out, all the secrets of this technique were fully understood by him.

“Fu Xiao, Fu Xiao. Even if a Nascent Soul cultivator wants to protect you now, Wang will still devour you. Spiritual Body Level Aptitude.”

This meant a guaranteed Nascent Soul at minimum.

It also provided some boost toward breaking through to Spirit Transformation.

If Heavenly Spiritual Roots were not especially hard to find, with at least some existing among the Nine Peaks due to the sheer population base of this world, then spiritual body level aptitude was truly rare to the extreme.

Naturally born ones, Wang Yu had never seen, nor even heard of.

Those that existed were all artificially shaped through demonic path secret techniques.

As the three month period ended.

Heavenly Frost Demon Lord sent someone to retrieve the Nine Beast Pill Cauldron. After all, this item belonged to the Alchemy Hall and could not be given to Wang Yu for unlimited use.

With his current level of alchemy.

The Starfall Cold Cauldron was no longer sufficient. Upgrading it to a fourth rank magic treasure would be difficult. It was better to forge a brand new fourth rank treasure cauldron.

This could be entrusted to Senior Yu to find a solution.

“You do not want alchemy to fail, right?”

He had already prepared the wording and would use that single sentence. Fourth rank pill cauldron were extremely valuable, but not completely without hope. The sect might even have existing ones available for exchange.

Given the small number of high level alchemists in the Blood Reversal Sect, pill cauldron excavated from ruins could not even be fully distributed. The possibility of an exchange was quite high.

After contacting him with a sound transmission jade talisman, Senior Yu told him to prepare spirit stones. They would likely be delivered together with the repaired magic robe Three Feet Snow. Wang Yu was already prepared for a massive expense, even bankruptcy.

In his view, around ten million spirit stones should be enough.

At most, he could also take out a mid grade Nascent Soul Formation Pill for exchange. Low grade spirit stones now served only as currency for him. He even disliked absorbing and refining them because their spiritual qi was not pure enough.

He needed to collect large quantities of high grade, and even supreme grade, spirit stones.

To prepare for future cultivation.

During the waiting period, the Cold Blood Mountain Lord specially came to see him once. He was also commissioning the refinement of fourth rank spirit pills, clearly having heard some rumors from someone.

Wang Yu naturally agreed. This time the time consumption was much longer, as his main focus had already shifted from alchemy to cultivation.

Thus, one year passed.

A single piece of news shattered Wang Yu’s calm cultivation life.

The latest news of the Ghost Fang Zhuo Clan.

…

…

At Cold Blood Peak, an internal gathering of the Zuoqiu clan elders was underway.

The combination of three elderly men and one young man did not feel discordant at all. On the contrary, the three elders were constantly currying favor with the young man.

That young man was Wang Yu.

The Second Elder took out a divine sense jade slip and handed it to him, his expression filled with mixed emotions.

“This is the latest intelligence coming from the Ghost Fang region. Seventh Elder, you should prepare yourself mentally.”

Wang Yu was completely puzzled. Prepare himself for what? Could it possibly concern him?

[Victor: Zhuo Shouyun!]

The opening words did not surprise Wang Yu. Whether in terms of ability or scheming, Zhuo Shouyun had always had the highest chance of success.

What truly piqued his curiosity was what had happened over the past several decades.

The intelligence that followed was eye-opening, focusing heavily on Zhuo Yuanshen’s movements.

Back then.

After the battle of Cloud Ascension City ended, Zhuo Shouqing left together with Zhuo Yuanshen. At that time, the Blood Abyss trial had only just begun. After the two returned to the Zhuo clan of Ghost Fang,

they made use of Zhuo Shouqing’s status to open a family treasure vault. The vault contained a vast number of treasures, including a high-grade Nascent Soul–forming spiritual item.

Its name was [Heavenly Water Longevity Mud]!

It was a supreme treasure suitable for water- and wood-attribute cultivators to form a Nascent Soul, and could also be used by cultivators with blood spiritual roots. Taking advantage of the situation, Zhuo Yuanshen knocked Zhuo Shouqing unconscious and swept away all the treasures.

He then used a Zhuo clan internal teleportation formation to flee deep into the Northern Severed Boundary Mountains in one breath. Based on the Zhuo clan’s pursuit and tracking, it was inferred that there was an eighty percent chance he had hidden himself within the Taihu Spiritual Domain.

At this point, the matter immediately became far more complicated.

This outcome was completely different from Wang Yu’s initial speculation. Perhaps after realizing that cultivating a Blood Demon Body was unrealistic, Zhuo Yuanshen chose the path of stealing the treasures and fleeing.

With his status as a collateral branch member, once Zhuo Shouqing failed, Zhuo Yuanshen would never have any hope of rising within the Zhuo clan for the rest of his life. A high-grade Nascent Soul–forming spiritual item was even more of a pipe dream.

The unconscious Zhuo Shouqing was forced to bear all the consequences of this incident.

He had tried to bargain with a tiger.

To some extent, this was influenced by Wang Yu. He wanted to see what Zhuo Yuanshen’s true trump card was, and whether he could directly contend with Zhuo Shouyun.

In his simple-minded thinking, he assumed the other party must have a group of followers under his command, and never once considered the possibility that Zhuo Yuanshen was acting entirely alone.

Zhuo Shouqing endured the Zhuo clan’s wrath over the loss of an entire treasure vault.

This incident also awakened the Ancestor Liezu of his lineage from seclusion. As expected, the news was sealed off, and Zhuo Shouqing was forcibly imprisoned, waiting for Zhuo Shouyun to return from the Blood Abyss.

At that moment, his fate was already sealed.

Whether it was his parents or the Ancestor Liezu at the source of his bloodline, none of them could protect him any longer.

Thus, after the Blood Abyss trial ended, and after Zhuo Shouyun completed his baptism in the Blood Pool, he finally returned to the ancestral lands of Ghost Fang and learned of the matter. Even for him, this came as a surprise.

One of the reasons he had painstakingly researched a secret method to resolve the lingering aftereffects of the Blood Spring Evil Method was precisely because he knew of Zhuo Yuanshen’s existence.

The three of them together could form the necessary conditions for the completion of a Blood Demon Body.

Over the following decade or so, he forcibly helped Zhuo Shouqing restore his incomplete blood spiritual root. He then personally crossed the Northern Severed Boundary Mountains in secret and went to Taihu to capture Zhuo Yuanshen.

This was the true reason why there had been no movements or news for so many years. The Zhuo clan had deliberately sealed off the information, so naturally nothing could spread beyond Ghost Fang.

Now that the news had finally emerged, it meant there was a result.

The man had been caught, yet also not caught.

The lost treasures were not recovered either. The reason was that Zhuo Yuanshen had abandoned his own physical body, using the Soul Seizing Technique, a technique only Core Formation cultivators could practice, to hide himself within dust-like particles.

There had been no news of him ever since.

His cicada-shedding escape was executed with remarkable proficiency, and it even satisfied Zhuo Shouyun’s requirements. He needed that physical body to complete the Blood Demon Body transformation ritual.

This was the decisiveness of a truly intelligent person. Severing one’s own arm to survive was nothing more than this.

As for Zhuo Shouqing, from beginning to end he had been played around like a fool. Aside from his gloomy temperament, he was practically useless.

However.

The secret method for transforming into a Blood Demon Body was a closely guarded inheritance of the Blood Demon Hall sect master’s lineage. By all logic, Zhuo Shouyun should not have known it.

He could only have obtained it while cultivating in the Blood Pavilion.

The Young Sect Master, or Lu Chenzhou. One of them must have leaked this secret art. Judging by closeness of relationships, the latter was more likely.

Yet Wang Yu felt that the possibility of the Young Sect Master leaking it was actually greater. One must not forget the situation the two of them faced. To them, the sect master was not only a teacher, but also a harbinger of death.

Were they trying to create a second Blood Demon Body to draw away attention and firepower?

That possibility was rather high.

With so much intelligence revealed in the jade slip, it meant that what had fallen into the sect master’s hands would be even more detailed. How would he react?

Either he would go to the Zhuo clan of Ghost Fang to demand someone be handed over, or he would directly make a move against his two disciples.

“It’s all about to descend into chaos.”

He reached this conclusion because he had obtained a great deal of information in the Blood Abyss. Even back then, he had already felt that the Rakshasa True Demon Scripture had problems, which was why he had never truly comprehended the Spirit Transformation chapter.

The sect master’s goal was to break through to the Spirit Transformation realm and shatter the situation where only the Heaven-Refining Demon Sect possessed a venerable Spirit Transformation cultivator. But did the Ancient Blood Demon Art he cultivated also contain hidden issues?

It was difficult not to entertain such thoughts.

No matter how one looked at it, those sealed ancient Demons were anything but benevolent. Could they really bestow such enormous opportunities without demanding any price at all?

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

This was a lesson Crimson Kite had taught him.

After putting away the information jade slip, Wang Yu could not help but feel the urge to flee. Coincidentally, the opportunity points Blood Axe had given him were located in Maple Prefecture, and further north lay the Endless Ice Plains.

It was an ideal place for cultivation. The underground palace of Blackbone Mountain was also in Maple Prefecture, so he could visit it along the way. He would only consider returning after breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.

Then there was Fu Xiao. If he wanted to leave, this person had to be dealt with first.

“It is about time.”

He made the decision in his heart.

Suddenly, Wang Yu thought of something else and asked the three Zuoqiu clan elders, “Why did the elders tell me earlier to prepare myself mentally? Is it because of Zhuo Shouqing?”

The Second Elder nodded, then shook his head.

“I heard that the Seventh Elder was on good terms with him?”

“That was in the past. This person is hard to describe. By the way, has the information in the jade slip spread yet?”

“Not yet. This is a special channel of our Zuoqiu clan. For it to truly circulate will take at least half a year. Ghost Fang is not close to the sect.”

“In that case, I will take my leave. If any fellow cultivators need alchemy services in the future, feel free to visit me.”

“Hahaha, then we will not stand on ceremony.”

“That is only proper.”

After leaving the Second Elder’s cave mansion, Wang Yu first returned to his own cave mansion and packed up all his belongings, placing everything into his storage ring.

He then headed for the cave abode of the Blood-Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon.

His main purpose was to urge the repair of Three Foot Snow and the matter of the fourth-rank pill furnace.

Unexpectedly, his timing was perfect.

“Your robe has been repaired. Heavenly Artifact Master put in quite a bit of effort. The price goes up by three hundred thousand spirit stones.”

Wang Yu felt somewhat suspicious. It seemed like Old Yu was taking the opportunity to skim a handling fee. Still, with the treasure in hand, and since it was his first fourth-rank mid-grade magic treasure, he did not mind such a small amount.

After refining it with his mana, Wang Yu found it somewhat difficult to fully wield with his current cultivation. After all, he did not possess orthodox demonic essense and could only benefit from Three Foot Snow’s basic enhancements.

There was no need to mention its defensive capabilities. It could almost completely negate third-rank spells, and even the power of fourth-rank spells could be reduced by several portions.

As for divine abilities, those varied from person to person.

There was no way to judge them directly.

Most important was its amplification effect. Taking the Ice Dragon Technique as an example, if its original power was 1, then casting it with Ice Chi Alchemical Flame would raise it to 5. With Three-Foot Snow’s enhancement, it could reach 12.

Its power would be comparable to a casual attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator.

It could likely instantly kill an ordinary Core Formation peak cultivator.

If divine abilities were stacked during casting, even Wang Yu could not judge how terrifying the result would be.

Top-tier divine abilities, combined with a high cultivation realm, fourth-rank magic treasure enhancement, fourth-rank Ice Chi Pill Flame, and his divine sense that was nearing mid fourth-rank.

At this moment, Wang Yu was not a Nascent Soul cultivator, yet he was no weaker than one.

If the Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet were also included, then no matter how strong Fu Xiao was, there was no reason he could win. In all aspects, Wang Yu’s strength had truly reached its peak, and the opportunity for a decisive battle had arrived.

There was no longer any need to avoid it.

Even if two Nascent Soul cultivators showed up, he could still face them calmly.

“By the way, Senior Yu, what about the pill cauldron?”

Mentioning this made Old Man Yu sigh helplessly.

“All sect pill cauldron are under the control of the Alchemy Hall. They refuse to loosen their grip, and there is nothing I can do.”

“However, if you are willing to lower your head to them, you can still obtain the right to use a fourth-rank pill cauldron. Purchasing one is basically impossible.”

“This junior understands. Please convey my farewell to Tangtang. I will be going on a long journey.”

“Alright. Do not die out there. Take this with you.”

Wang Yu was startled.

A fourth-rank Great Teleportation Talisman?

This was a top-tier lifesaving item. For the Blood-Eyed Demon Flood Dragon to be willing to take it out was a first.

Wang Yu immediately accepted it and stuffed it directly into his robes.

It could be activated at any time.

“Thank you, Senior, for the talisman.”

“Be careful yourself. Once it is used, it is gone. If you do not end up using it, return it to me when you come back.”

Heh.

His gratitude had come too early.

Just as he was about to leave, Wang Yu suddenly stopped. Was Old Yu hinting at something?