Chapter 35: Delivering again? (Please keep reading, please vote)

Plans, after all, always change due to various accidents and whimsical ideas. Wang Yu prepared to switch several more techniques to arm himself more comprehensively.

Ice Sword for offense, Ice Shield for defense.

He was still lacking movement techniques or functional spells—the harder they were to practice, the better. After all, with the Placement Slots, there was almost no cultivation method or divine ability he couldn't master.

Even if he didn't meet the requirements, the Placement Slots would resolve it themselves.

The [Demon Corpse Secret Method] was the best proof of this.

***

That day.

After completing his daily cultivation and the process of refining medicinal pills, Wang Yu prepared to head toward the Ice and Snow Pavilion.

Even though it was nighttime, he felt no hesitation. Times had changed; now that his cultivation methods had reached perfection, both his combat power and cultivation speed had seen an upgrade.

He considered himself among the top tier of those in the mid-stage of Qi Refinement.

Inevitably, he had become a bit lax.

As he exited the Evil God Workshop and headed toward the Cold Blood Workshop, he took a relatively narrow shortcut. The alley was pitch black and devoid of light, with not a single soul in sight.

Wang Yu quickly merged into it, but the moment he entered, trouble arose.

A dense web of silk threads was laid out ahead in the alley.

It was a trap, like a hunter waiting for prey. Looking back, two dark figures had appeared on the path he had just traveled, blocking his exit completely.

Wang Yu’s eyes narrowed, feeling a pang of regret for his carelessness.

When things go too smoothly, situations like this inevitably arise; he needed to stay vigilant to avoid tripping over even larger obstacles in the future.

"Who are you?"

As he questioned them, two more people appeared behind the silk trap, bringing the total to four: two at the fourth level of Qi Refinement and two at the sixth level.

It was a bit troublesome, but still within his manageable range.

"Don't move. Put your hands up, or don't blame us for being ruthless."

There was no killing intent.

So... it was just a robbery?

Wang Yu raised one hand above his head, but the four men froze in unison, shouting, "I said put your hands up! What is the other hand doing?!!"

Wang Yu’s expression darkened. What kind of sick joke was this?

"Look closely, fellow Daoist. I only have one hand."

"Oh~"

"We didn't notice."

That playful tone made Wang Yu certain they knew who he was; they were intentionally mocking him.

—He couldn't stand it for a second!

His perfected Ice Sword Technique had long since broken free from the constraints of hand seals. He could execute it with a mere thought, without any delay. If one had to be pedantic, the time taken to move spiritual power through his meridians served as his preparation time.

"Go!"

In an instant, ten ice swords shot out simultaneously. Aiming straight ahead, the seemingly meaningful silk threads were snapped clean by the volley of ice swords.

Among the two blocking the path ahead, the one at the fourth level of Qi Refinement was struck through both shoulders and pinned directly to the ground. The other, at the sixth level, reacted in time.

Using a flexible movement technique, he dodged the assault, a mocking smile forming on his face to ridicule the attacker, but then he heard—

*Puchi—* *Puchi—* *Puchi—*

Three consecutive strikes. A counter-attack had actually killed him, piercing through his skull and both sides of his chest. Before he could utter a single word, he died under the Ice Sword Technique.

A perfected technique possessed infinite wonders, allowing for unexpected strikes and seizing the initiative. Without perfected techniques of the same level, they could only dodge; they had no way to counterattack.

With the path ahead cleared, the two behind him turned pale with fright, hurriedly stopping to cast spells.

"Evil Spirit Art, go!"

A ghost-summoning art? Wang Yu’s heart stirred. Seeing the roaring black smoke ghost-skull flying toward him, he reached out to block.

A diamond-shaped ice shield intercepted it. His right foot pressed against the ground like a gecko scaling a wall, and within a few steps, he had leaped onto a rooftop.

"Not good, he's escaping! Chase him!"

As soon as the words fell, a volley of fine ice swords came flying toward him. The fourth-level Qi Refinement cultivator, who hadn't even managed to make a move from start to finish, was riddled with holes like a sieve—a truly miserable end.

With three of the four gone, Wang Yu swept down like a great roc spreading its wings.

The survivor gritted his teeth and spat out a mouthful of essence blood. Another ghost-skull erupted from his body, charging forward with eerie blood-threads.

Wang Yu pulled his right hand to his chest and used the Defense Seal to cast the Ice Shield technique again. This time, it was slightly different: the originally large diamond shield split into ten pieces like flying knives, surrounding the blood-thread ghost-skull.

With that, he lunged forward and delivered a flying kick!

With strength akin to a natural deity, he shattered half the man's teeth. The Cold Blood Manual had a slight body-tempering effect; though far inferior to specialized body cultivators, it was still vastly superior to this emaciated man who relied on blood to nourish ghosts.

With a thought, in the interval before the first ghost-skull could return to defend its master—

An ice sword decapitated the man instantly!

Once the master died, the two life-linked ghosts perished along with him. Wang Yu frowned as he surveyed the mess on the ground.

"Disciples of Five Yin Peak..."

He didn't remember offending them; they were likely hired thugs.

Zhao Shang? Impossible; their cooperation was still in its honeymoon phase.

Turning his gaze toward the one pinned to the ground by ice swords, the corners of Wang Yu's mouth curled up slightly.

***

An incense stick's time later.

The narrow alley had returned to its usual state, leaving no trace behind.

After a somewhat amateurish interrogation, Wang Yu obtained the information he wanted. These disciples were hired to do dirty work to begin with; expecting them to keep their mouths shut was impossible.

Therefore, with just a little intimidation—without even having to lay a hand on them—they confessed everything. He didn't know the reason, but the man gave Wang Yu one name.

"—Xu Jiaojiao."

They had been lying in wait for over half a month and only managed to intercept Wang Yu today.

If he remembered correctly, Xu Jiaojiao was the daughter of Deacon Xu and the young lady of the Xu Clan Pill Shop. The only possible grudge between them would be related to this matter.

However, it shouldn't have escalated to this extent.

"Could something terrible have happened to Deacon Xu?"

Wang Yu pondered this as he continued toward the Ice and Snow Pavilion.

***

*Bang!*

Zhao Shang's mouth twitched as he looked at the four fresh corpses on the table. After a moment of silence, he quoted a price.

"The corpses from Five Yin Peak are worth a bit less. They're only worth a hundred spirit stones."

A hundred for four? Pathetic!

Wang Yu tossed out four more filtered storage bags. He had stripped them of almost all their spirit stones and spirit sand; the remaining items had little value, so he sold them all to Zhao Shang at a low price, bringing his total income to five hundred spirit stones.

Not bad.

"You came this late just for this?"

Wang Yu shook his head.

"True Disciple Su left quite a few spell inheritances in the Ice and Snow Pavilion, didn't he? Bring them out and let me pick."

Helpless, Zhao Shang took out a jade slip and said, "If you weren't part of the Ice and Snow Pavilion, you wouldn't be allowed to see these."

"I am, of course." After observing with his divine sense, Wang Yu quickly selected two targets. "Just these two."

Zhao Shang glanced at them and reached out his hand.

"Thirteen hundred."

Wang Yu's eyes widened.

"That expensive?"

"Do you think high-grade spells are cheap? It's good enough that I'm letting you exchange spirit stones for them."

Wang Yu fell silent for a moment. "Give me the biggest discount."

"One thousand."

"Eight hundred."

"Hey, do you think this is a wet market? You can just haggle?"

Seeing the look in Wang Yu's eyes, Zhao Shang knew he couldn't squeeze him for more. He turned away to silently fetch the teaching jade slips.

"Goodbye, friend," Wang Yu said, bidding him farewell as if nothing had happened.