The displayed text blurred for a moment, immediately transforming into common script.
【Placement Slot 4: Soul-Devouring Evil Armor Technique】
「Soul-Devouring Evil Armor Technique (0/100): Thirty-six practices a day; completion in five years.」
As the placement slot took effect, without needing to think, relevant insights flooded his mind, and his understanding of the technique became comprehensive.
"So it was this technique."
Wang Yu remembered that when he had crossed paths with Xu Jiaojiao, she had performed a soul-devouring art; after using it, a layer of black armor with excellent defensive power appeared on her body.
As expected, she had also cultivated the contents of the mysterious silk scroll.
Looking at it now, this should be a secret method that existed since ancient times. From a modern perspective, it was at most a Foundation Establishment secret technique.
But after pondering it carefully, Wang Yu felt something was off.
"Perhaps this is... a Strange Art!"
During his time as a Spirit Slave, he had gained a basic understanding of the various spells and divine abilities of the cultivation world. So far, he had only encountered Secret Methods and Spells.
Among them were 【Treasured Arts】, which were carried by the treasured bones left behind by powerful demonic beasts after their fall; thus, they were also called "Bone Arts" and constituted a major category in the cultivation world.
Legend had it that the arts carried by the treasured bones of True Spirit bloodlines were called 【True Spirit Treasured Arts】. These were powers that transcended the Nascent Soul stage and existed only in legends.
As for 【Strange Arts】, they were considered shortcuts. Their effects were often extremely powerful and targeted, though they lacked universality and came with severe side effects.
The threshold for cultivation was also relatively high. Lower-level Strange Arts often followed unorthodox paths and were driven by a desire for quick success, making them even more exaggerated than the Demonic Path and despised by the world.
Higher-level Strange Arts included the Eight Gates, Feng Shui formations, calculating heavenly secrets, defying fate to change one's destiny... and so on.
The 【Soul-Devouring Evil Armor Technique】 was considered an upper-middle tier Strange Art. It used the yin souls of ten thousand spirits as nourishment, devouring yin spirit bodies to outline a set of 【Black煞 Armor Patterns】 on the body surface specifically for defense, with extraordinary effectiveness in resisting divine sense attacks.
The more yin spirits devoured and refined, the more powerful it became, and the stronger the defense of the Black煞 Armor grew. Correspondingly, the practitioner had to endure a yin spirit shock every so often.
Once they failed to withstand it, they would suffer the terrifying punishment of soul-devouring by yin spirits. If they couldn't hold out, at best their soul would be damaged; at worst, they would die instantly on the spot.
A very standard Demonic Path Strange Art.
Xu Jiaojiao had likely cultivated it incorrectly. This technique prioritized divine sense first and physical defense second; she must have reversed the focus, emphasizing the physical body. No wonder she was as massive as a mountain of flesh.
Wang Yu was currently amidst the Three Mountains of Mysterious Bone. The "Earth-bound Spirits"—those yin soul farmers—were excellent cultivation materials. However, even without these necessary conditions...
The placement slot could force the cultivation to completion.
For instance, right now, there was a round of feedback every forty minutes. Besides the invisible cultivation experience and comprehension, a sliver of extremely pure yin spirit power surged into his body.
Centering around his navel, black lines were gradually forming—these were the 【Black煞 Armor Patterns】. Once they spread across his entire body and hid beneath the skin, it would mean Great Completion!
He could achieve completion without devouring external spirits. The cause of the Soul-Devouring Evil Armor Technique's backlash was precisely these external yin spirits. Since he hadn't devoured any, where would the backlash come from?
This situation filled him with joy. This was a Strange Art that could be placed for a long time; even after reaching perfection, he could continuously upgrade the defensive power of the Black煞 Armor.
This filled another of Wang Yu's shortcomings. In terms of defense, he only had a mid-grade spell, the Ice Shield Technique. It was fine for previous use, but it could no longer keep up with the intensity of current combat.
Experiencing the mystery of this technique, Wang Yu decided not to switch it.
After all, the Mysterious Yin Hand required too much time, and he had already entered the door; he could take his time with experience even without Yin Marrow Fluid, so there was no rush.
Thus, Wang Yu became even more curious about the demonic script stone tablet in the underground palace, but for now, cultivation remained the priority.
Still, it wouldn't be bad to bring Situ Hong and the others down for another trip. The contents recorded on the stone tablet might be even more precious than the 【Lunar幽 Pupil】.
For a moment, his heart itched like a cat scratching, and it took a long while to calm down.
Ten days later, Wang Yu consumed his fourth top-grade Cold Blood Pill.
...
...
The 1st month of the 6th year of his outer disciple life. There were two years left before the patrol mission of Mysterious Bone Mountain expired.
On this day, driven by curiosity and unable to restrain himself, Wang Yu went out again to find Situ Hong, intending to discuss a second exploration of the underground palace.
However, danger often strikes when one is most relaxed. He had thought that this trip to Mysterious Bone Mountain was already a settled matter, merely awaiting the return journey.
An unexpected person suddenly attacked.
"WANG YU!!!"
The voice was like crashing thunder, echoing across the Three Mountains of Mysterious Bone.
A terrifying aura soared straight into the sky. Wang Yu froze instantly, immediately understanding who the visitor was based on the sensed aura.
Xu Jiaojiao's father, Deacon Xu, a first-generation cultivator at the third level of Foundation Establishment!
"How could this be—"
Logically, even if Deacon Xu had been released by the Law Enforcement Hall, he wouldn't have come to find trouble with him immediately. After all, only Gu Zhengshun and Su Qingshan knew about this matter.
The former was still hiding within the formation; the two had been in a "honeymoon period" of cooperation when they arrived at Mysterious Bone Mountain, with no reason to snitch.
The latter had been killed by his own hand, his body destroyed; there should have been no leaks.
Clearly, Wang Yu was unaware that after Su Qingshan had swept the Xu residence clean, he had left his intelligence in an envelope inside the house to avoid trouble.
With this sudden turn of events, he was in a very passive position.
Fortunately, the Three Mountains of Mysterious Bone were currently deserted. After being occupied by the second-rank early-stage Bone-Shattering Lions, the four of them had retreated to the peripheral areas, harvesting only a few portions of bone-wood and even abandoning the Mysterious Essence Flowers.
Deacon Xu arrived abruptly, so Wang Yu cast the Night Stealth Curse and quietly retreated.
On the other side.
The first to react was the Bone Lion King. As if provoked, it let out a roar toward the sky, white spiritual energy shimmering around its body as it charged straight forward.
Deacon Xu had clearly not expected the situation at Mysterious Bone Mountain.
Seeing a Foundation Establishment demonic beast attacking, he cursed once. A crimson alchemy furnace appeared in his right hand, spinning rapidly under the stimulation of True Essence as the lid of the furnace opened.
A tongue of blazing fire leaped out violently, the extreme temperature distorting the air.
With a low growl, the bone armor covering the Bone Lion King's body grew rapidly, and ferocious spikes erupted from its spine, piercing through the flames entirely.
As an alchemist, Deacon Xu was more skilled in refining pills; his combat abilities were barely passing. With his mind clouded by rage, he was actually taken advantage of by a nameless demonic beast of the same rank.
It was simply a disgrace to Foundation Establishment.
From a distance, Wang Yu looked back and saw that the two sides had exchanged several more moves.
After summoning a second-rank low-grade sword artifact, Deacon Xu finally gained the upper hand. He could take down the Bone Lion King in a hundred or so rounds at most. Demonic beasts that grew wild were still too weak.
They simply could not compare to cultivators of the same rank from the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect.
From a preliminary observation, Wang Yu concluded that this man was not skilled in spells. Using magical artifacts to fight enemies wasn't necessarily bad.
(End of Chapter)