Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 448

After refining the Heavenly Yin Divine Pearl, Wang Yu’s demonic essence surged once more by roughly one thousand drops, bringing him very close to the ten-thousand-drop mark. There were four of these treasures in total.

He had given one to Yin Gui. After using one himself, two remained. These were most effective when used to break through the late-stage Nascent Soul bottleneck.

This was because the Heavenly Yin power contained within them could help cultivators of the yin, water, and ice paths comprehend their own Dao intent. Increasing demonic essence was actually secondary.

What Yin Gui valued was its “yin” aspect. Combined with the thunder lotus he had found himself, it would perfectly complement the “thunder” side.

At that point, comprehending the Yin Thunder Dao intent would become a matter of course. This was also the real reason he was confident in breaking through to late-stage Nascent Soul.

If not for being dragged along by Ghost Fiend Maiden, he would have left Eastern Extreme Capital long ago to enter seclusion.

No wonder people called him a jinx.

Wang Yu had abundant resources, so wasting some was of little concern. Moreover, his comprehension regarding “Heavenly Yin” was not without use.

This cold intent of water would help him comprehend the Guanghan Dao Intent!

This was inevitable in the end.
In the future, as his strength increased and his Guanghan divine ability reached perfection, he would naturally comprehend the Dao intent. The growth brought by dual Dao intents would definitely allow his Nascent Soul to expand tremendously.

Reaching the requirements for late-stage Nascent Soul would no longer be an issue.

He felt that breaking through to mid-stage Nascent Soul might happen within the next few years. He could even attempt it right here in Eastern Extreme Capital.

After spending half a year refining it, his strength had soared significantly.

Afterward, taking advantage of the underground dark river’s convenience, he arrived beneath the Celestial Star Tower and directly teleported out using the Water Ancestral Token. At first glance, he spotted the group from Yellow Springs Monastery.

He secretly thought it was a pity. These people had arrived too quickly.

If he continued traveling alone, the disadvantages would be too great. It was perfect timing to reveal himself and join the Blood Reversal Sect’s camp. Scorching Sun Old Demon would protect him nine times out of ten.

After the struggle between the two Zhuo factions ended, although it seemed his cooperation with Young Master Zhuo had concluded and Zhuo Shouyun was the victor, that thread of goodwill still remained.

He personally held good feelings toward both the Zhuo and Zuoqiu families, so it was natural for him to get a share of the Celestial Star Tower’s opportunities.

After greeting everyone, Wang Yu walked over to Scorching Sun Old Demon’s side.

He respectfully cupped his hands and bowed.

“This junior Wang Yu greets Grandfather Liezu.”

Scorching Sun was momentarily stunned. Even his deeply wrinkled old face showed surprise at Wang Yu’s shameless attitude, but he quickly reacted.

“Since you address my descendant as brother, this old man will shamelessly accept being called Grandfather Liezu.”

“This junior was presumptuous.”

Having successfully joined the sect’s camp, Wang Yu shot a look at Yin Gui, Dark Demon Barbarian Lord, and Dark Tiger Demon Lord. The three naturally gathered around him.

His controllable forces instantly surged.

This was the benefit of being good with people. As long as they were his cooperators, Wang Yu always paid great attention to their gains. Although these three had contributed quite a bit in their previous collaborations, their harvests had far exceeded expectations.

Following Wang Yu had become their consensus for obtaining good things, so they naturally did not mind standing up for him.

Therefore, even though he had joined the team the latest, his voice carried considerable weight among those below the great cultivators.

Afterward, Wang Yu continued greeting others.

He first paid respects to Ice Soul Fairy. Both of them came from Cold Blood Peak and cultivated the same technique inheritance. She knew his background and trump cards the best.

Moreover, Ice Soul Fairy possessed Zuoqiu Clan bloodline, making her naturally part of the same faction as Wang Yu within the same camp. Hence, she was his first target for greetings.

Speaking of which, he had long heard of her reputation.

Only today did he meet her in person. To be able to earn the title of “Fairy” in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain showed that her ability was extraordinary.

She wore a crescent-colored phoenix-tail silk dress. Two ice-crystal shimmering ribbons at her waist accentuated her slender, graspable figure. Although her chest was modest in size, it was exceptionally perky and perfectly shaped.

For some reason, the words “little pigeon” flashed through Wang Yu’s mind.

Looking upward.

Her three thousand black strands were styled into a lily bun, adorned with a jade-green, frost-glowing step-shake hairpin. A chain filled with water-drop-shaped gemstones hung across her forehead, likely some kind of magic treasure.

Her skin was as smooth as congealed fat, and her brows and eyes were as cold as an iceberg.

Unfortunately, everything below her delicate nose was covered by a veil, hiding her full appearance. Even so, it was clear she was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

Wang Yu had seen many ice beauty types. Yan Ling had originally been this type as well, only gaining more warmth after they became familiar with each other.

Ice Soul Fairy was not very talkative. She only showed a slight friendliness toward Wang Yu before falling silent again.

Next, Wang Yu moved over to Thunder Howl Lord’s side, looking around left and right.

It seemed as if he was searching for something.

This made the latter laugh: “Wang Yu, I didn’t expect you to become a pillar of the sect in just two hundred years. Do you still hold a grudge over what happened back then?”

This was purely a joke, and both of them knew it.

Under the circumstances back then, placing the favor of the Thunder Spirit Corpse on him had been the best solution. Otherwise, it would have been taken away by Elder Xuanyan for nothing.

What Wang Yu was looking for was precisely that Thunder Spirit Corpse.

Thunder Howl Lord cultivated a rather special technique that refined his own body into a zombie form, specifically a thunder corpse variant among exotic zombies, while retaining human spiritual wisdom.

To some extent, he and the Thunder Spirit Corpse were actually “monsters” of the same race.

He was born with spiritual wisdom, while the latter gained spiritual wisdom after becoming a zombie. This special technique bore similarities to the Corpse Demon Secret Technique.

It was very likely also part of Heavenly Crippled Elder’s inheritance.

In other words, the two of them could even be considered martial brothers. Back in Jade Spirit City, this factor had probably played a part as well. After all, Wang Yu’s body at that time had been extremely similar to a zombie~

Knowing what Wang Yu was looking for, Thunder Howl Lord directly said, “That Thunder Spirit Corpse has already been refined into my avatar. You will see it if the chance arises.”

Wang Yu’s mouth twitched. He had thought…

Never mind, it wasn’t important.

Their open and unrestrained chatting made the faces of the Yellow Springs Monastery group very ugly, as if they were being completely ignored.

Among them, Cold Bone Old Demon, who had previously clashed with Wang Yu, suddenly spoke: “Supreme Law, don’t think that just because you have the Blood Reversal Sect backing you, we can’t do anything to you. All your dirty tricks will be useless inside the Celestial Star Tower.”

Wang Yu glanced back and said contemptuously, “Just you? A defeated opponent!”

“You—!”

Master Youming suddenly stopped Cold Bone and said calmly, “That’s enough. We’ll see the truth with our own hands. Core Formation disciples… enter the tower!”

The Celestial Star Tower’s opportunity opened once every hundred years.

Having been buried underground for countless years, it could be opened at any time. Although the Crimson Kite demonic cultivators were domineering, they would not completely deny opportunities to rogue cultivators and affiliated forces.

This kind of opportunity could be shared. It was simply a matter of order.

The direct disciples of the various mountain lords and Yellow Springs Monastery entered the tower first.

Worth mentioning was that even if they entered the Celestial Star Tower at the same time, each person would be placed in a different mirrored space. They could not interfere with one another. What mattered was the final ranking.

The higher one climbed, the better. Even at the minimum, they would obtain authority items related to Eastern Extreme Capital, which would even remain effective in the other three capital cities.

Half an incense stick of time was given to the Core Formation cultivators.

Soon it was the turn of the Nascent Souls. Wang Yu took the lead and directly flew into the gate of the Celestial Star Tower. He had a strong intuition.

This tower challenge might bring him the opportunity to break through to mid-stage Nascent Soul, especially in Body Refinement. If not for his foundation being slightly unstable due to the rapid increase in strength recently, he could attempt a breakthrough at any time.

The spine and skull of the Indestructible Spiritual Bone had already been successfully forged. They were currently spreading toward his hands. The efficiency was not low.

…

…

First floor of the Celestial Star Tower.

As the darkness before his eyes faded, Wang Yu appeared on a vast plain. A cold voice from the tower spirit sounded in his ears.

【Cultivation assessment in progress…】

【Identified as third-layer Nascent Soul. The first floor trial is — Land of Slaughter. Please kill one hundred peak third-rank demon beasts within one incense stick of time】

The distinctive prompt gave Wang Yu a slight sense of familiarity, like playing a game long ago.

‘Real men climb to the 300th floor?’

As the noise subsided, one hundred demon beasts named [Barbarian Elephants] suddenly appeared on the vast plain. These giant beasts, each over ten zhang tall, thundered toward him.

Wang Yu took a deep breath and spat out the Ice Chi Pill Flame.

The fourth-rank pill flame combined with his extremely pure frozen demonic essence instantly transformed into a sea of ice, wind, and fire. In less than one breath, all the beasts were frozen into ice sculptures and directly shattered.

【Congratulations to the cultivator on successfully clearing the first floor. Please choose one reward from the following options.】

【1. Restore full condition.】

【2. Learn the details of the next layer’s test in advance.】

【3. Gain one extra day of rest time and be teleported to the second layer after twelve hours.】

【4. Accumulate the reward to the next layer.】

Wang Yu directly selected option four.

Every ten floor in the Celestial Star Tower, the rewards would undergo a qualitative leap, offering tangible treasures such as heavenly materials, earthly treasures, rare spiritual herbs, as well as cultivation infusions, technique inheritances, and divine abilities.

To be honest, if Wang Yu had entered with Core Formation cultivation, he would have had a very high chance of reaching the latter fifty floor. Now that he was only early-stage Nascent Soul, the difficulty increased sharply the further he went.

After all, his tests were set at Nascent Soul difficulty. Judging by the trend, it was perfectly normal for late-stage Nascent Soul great perfection level tests to appear at the end.

There was no way to avoid it. This was the price of cultivating too quickly. It was easy to miss certain peaks that could only be reached at lower realms. However, the rewards from tests of different difficulties would also correspond to the Nascent Soul level.

One gain, one loss. It was hard to say whether it was a profit or a loss.

The second floor of the Celestial Star Tower was still a slaughter zone. This time there were one hundred and fifty peak third-rank demon beasts. To Wang Yu, it still posed no challenge.

His early progress was extremely fast, and he soon reached the tenth layer!

【Slaughter Zone stage test. The enemy is one Nascent Soul cultivator of the same realm. Combat begins in three breaths!】

The tower spirit’s cold voice faded. A burly man holding a guan dao[1] appeared in the center of the plain and swung a downward chop. The blade qi transformed into a ferocious azure dragon that charged straight at him.

Wang Yu turned into a streak of aurora light and narrowly dodged it.

He reached out with an empty grasp and instantly formed the Yellow Springs Great Hand Seal. The burly man’s combat intelligence seemed rather average. He chose to break the technique with blade qi, only for his weapon to be corroded into scrap metal by the turbid Yellow Springs current.

The magic treasure’s spiritual light vanished far too quickly, causing the opponent to freeze for a split second. At that moment, Wang Yu drew the Blood and Flesh Demonic Sword and unleashed the Blood Slaughter Heart Sword.

Paired with the Void Moon technique from the Taiyin Nether Eyes, he briefly froze the man in place.

The blood line swept across. The burly man was directly sliced in half.

This was Wang Yu’s current combat strength. Ordinary early-stage Nascent Souls were already completely insufficient in front of him. As long as they did not know his information in advance, a little planning would allow him to heavily injure anyone lacking mental-side defensive measures.

Unfortunately, this was only an illusion created by the tower spirit. There was no real Nascent Soul for him to capture.

【Congratulations to the cultivator on clearing the tenth floor of the Celestial Star Tower. Please choose one option as your stage reward.】

【1. Random fourth-rank spiritual item.】

【2. Three hundred drops of demonic essence infusion.】

【3. Azure Dragon Blade Art (fourth-rank close-combat blade technique).】

【4. Accumulate the reward to the next floor (and gain three hours of rest time).】

After thinking for a brief moment, Wang Yu directly chose the second option. The so-called cultivation infusion was a beam of spiritual light descending from high above.

The demonic essence in his Qi sea visibly increased by three hundred drops, officially breaking through the ten-thousand mark. Only about one thousand eight hundred drops remained until he reached the peak of early-stage Nascent Soul.

“So satisfying~”

Unable to hold back a soft groan, Wang Yu rested for half an hour before returning to peak condition and stepping into the eleventh layer.

【This test is… Skill Zone. Please choose one project from the following to begin the test.】

【1. Alchemy Art.】

【2. Artifact Refinement Art.】

【3. …】

【108. Puppet Art.】

There were many options. The only one Wang Yu could be considered proficient in was pill refinement, so he naturally chose it and began the pill refinement test.

These ten floor posed almost no difficulty for him. After all, he had already mastered two fourth-rank perfected alchemy arts and was qualified to refine fifth-rank low-grade treasure pills.

He simply lacked the materials. Perhaps he could use the illusory spiritual items manifested by the tower spirit to practice and lay a foundation for the future.

The Celestial Star Tower’s tests were extremely varied. If one was lucky, they would encounter tests they were skilled in. If unlucky, there was a high chance of being stuck midway.

However, the most frequent test was still the Slaughter Zone.

The Ancient Immortal Dynasty placed great importance on combat techniques. This was the foundation for cultivators to protect their own Dao. No matter the era, combat talent was still a kind of aptitude.

In this regard, Wang Yu was exceptionally outstanding. When he was weak, he had pushed his combat wisdom to the limit, allowing him to survive countless life-and-death crises.

After his realm rose, divine abilities for offense and defense actually became much simpler. Most battles were about countering moves with moves. One careless moment could lead to being instantly overwhelmed. The danger remained extremely high.

For the twentieth floor’s reward, Wang Yu once again chose demonic essence infusion.

He wanted to raise his strength first and charge straight to mid-stage Nascent Soul.

At that time, choosing spiritual item rewards would allow him to elevate his gains another level. It was a tiny bit of clever planning.

Outside, As the Core Formation cultivators and Nascent Souls below great cultivator level entered, the area around the Celestial Star Tower suddenly became much emptier. When it was time for the great cultivators to enter…

Master Youming and Scorching Sun Old Demon went in first. The Celestial Star Tower had a chance to reward Spirit Transformation opportunities, just like how the Immortal Officials’ Medicine Vault contained fifth-rank spiritual pills.

During the golden age of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty, the number of Spirit Transformation venerables they possessed was greater than the combined total of both the righteous and demonic paths. Those who had touched the Void Refinement realm were countless.

As long as there was even the slightest possibility, they would choose to enter.

Although both sides had temporarily ceased hostilities, entering was easy, but coming out was another matter. If there was a time difference and one side produced far more powerhouses, there was an eighty percent chance of immediate fighting.

Therefore, the arrangements outside were also very important.

They watched each other’s entry times and entered one by one at the most suitable intervals. Since their strengths were roughly equal, the time they took to clear should also be similar.

No one would voluntarily give up an opportunity and come out early.

This was decided by human nature.

Asking demonic cultivators to abandon a treasure they had already obtained was no different from asking a fool to dream.

[1]- Guan Dao is a traditional Chinese polearm weapon. It is characterized by a heavy, curved, crescent-shaped blade with a sharp point, usually mounted on a 1.5 to 1.8-meter (4 ft 11 in to 5 ft 11 in) wooden or metal pole. It is often classified as a type of glaive.