Chapter 11: A Turn of Fortune

That day, Steward Liu acted with an overbearing attitude, forcibly destroying one of Wang Yu’s arms.

It was not just a slap in the face to Steward Duan, but also an affront to the dignity of the True Disciple Su. Wang Yu himself was unimportant; even if he had died, it would have been of no consequence, and it would not have implicated True Disciple Su.

The problem was that Steward Duan remained indifferent.

As someone who represented True Disciple Su, his silence was tantamount to admitting defeat and backing down, especially since he had made such a grand display of taking Wang Yu under his wing not long ago.

This incident resulted in him suffering the consequences.

As for Steward Liu’s arrogance, it stemmed from the True Disciple he served.

Cold Blood Peak, the dojo of a Nascent Soul True Lord of the Anti-Spirit Blood Sect, already held a superior status among the Nine Peaks. This generation had ten True Disciples, all at the Foundation Establishment stage, including one with a Water-type Heavenly Spirit Root.

Whoever could be the first to break through to the Golden Core stage would receive the inheritance of the Nascent Soul True Lord and be designated as the next Nascent Soul seed.

True Disciples were selected once every two hundred years. Only when the last True Disciple broke through to the Golden Core stage would a new selection be made from the tens of thousands of inner sect disciples; mid-term replacements were rare.

The True Disciple behind Steward Liu had unexpectedly discovered a top-tier Golden Core spirit item during a tribute from his subordinates, one that was perfectly compatible with his primary cultivation technique.

Consequently.

He immediately applied for a third-tier high-grade Golden Core pill, the [Blood Demon Pill]. It was expected that within ten years, he would become the first True Disciple of this generation to form a Golden Core.

Golden Core pills, like Foundation Establishment pills, were auxiliary medicines used when a cultivator broke through a major realm. Because of the different inheritances, there were various types of Golden Core pills.

The Blood Demon Pill was unique to the Anti-Spirit Blood Sect. It was exceptionally effective for blood-type cultivation techniques, capable of increasing the success rate of forming a Golden Core by nearly forty percent—it was truly outstanding.

Coupled with the assistance of the Golden Core spirit item, this True Disciple’s breakthrough was practically a certainty. Once the news spread, the faction under his command naturally expanded, and their actions became increasingly arrogant.

In the Demonic Path, this was a normal phenomenon; once they gained power, they became rampant, willing to do anything to amass wealth.

Such a fortuitous coincidence made the other nine True Disciples green with envy. Since things had reached this point and could not be undone, they could only redouble their efforts on their own behalf.

They wanted to try their luck—what if, just maybe?

Therefore, this was why Steward Duan had come looking for him again; it was a matter of timing.

After listening to Steward Duan’s explanation, Wang Yu already understood the situation.

Because of his previous cold, detached observation, Steward Duan’s prestige among the spirit slaves had suffered greatly. Currently, the number of people affiliated with Steward Liu’s faction was the highest, approaching two thousand.

Steward Duan and another Steward, Liu, each only had six or seven hundred people. Managing spirit slaves was the purse string for the three True Disciples; if one side took more, the others took less.

And to gather subordinates and develop influence, spirit stones were an indispensable necessity.

Steward Duan continued.

"Wang Yu, you are a capable person. Even after what happened last time, there are still seven or eight spirit slaves who haven't defected to other stewards, and the spirit sand you handed in this month was at least one tael and six mace."

"On this point, both True Disciple Su and I appreciate you. But for now, Steward Liu’s side must not be provoked. Avoid them if you can. As long as you can rebuild your team of spirit slaves, never mind the outer sect—even becoming an inner sect disciple is just a matter of a single word from True Disciple Su."

Wang Yu did not want to eat this pie.

Furthermore, the situation had changed; the difficulty of persuading those people had increased significantly. Even those who were submissive would not defect back and forth frequently in a short period.

Unless a batch of newcomers was sent over, but that was a different matter entirely.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly; he had no qualifications to refuse.

"Steward Duan, Wang Yu will certainly do his utmost."

"Very good. This is a reward True Disciple Su has advanced to you. Take it."

Wang Yu took a jade slip, pressed it against his forehead, and touched it with his divine sense. Immediately, streams of information flowed into his mind, and within a moment, he had memorized it all.

This was one of the marvelous uses of a cultivator’s divine sense, which could not leave the body during the early stages of Qi Refining.

Once one broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, it could leave the body to perceive the outside world, capturing every detail, and could be used to imprint divine sense onto magical artifacts, greatly increasing flexibility.

It had many uses.

The jade slip recorded a rare secret technique. Secret techniques were not divided by grade, but by their effects.

This technique was called the [Corpse Demon Secret Art], created ten thousand years ago by the "Heavenly Crippled Old Man." This person was born incomplete, naturally missing an arm and a leg.

Fortunately, he possessed a mutated superior spirit root, a very rare "Yin Spirit Root." The Corpse Demon Secret Art was created by him during the Nascent Soul stage, allowing one to fuse a zombie’s arm to make up for defects.

The secret art given by True Disciple Su was a fragmented version with significant side effects.

Body becoming corpse-like, loss of emotions, reduced lifespan, abnormal blood and qi... and so on. Counting them up, there were seven or eight, and the more Wang Yu looked, the lower his mood sank.

Is this thing meant for people to practice?

He had thought it would be some kind of spirit pill that could regenerate severed limbs. Now that he had finally gotten the "pie," this was the result.

Steward Duan patted him on the shoulder and said playfully.

"Once you complete the mission, True Disciple Su will find you the severed arm of a Cold Ice Corpse. This is a second-tier baleful corpse. Even if you cannot break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, you will still be one of the top experts in the Qi Refining stage."

The string in Wang Yu’s mind had been stretched to its limit. After thanking him again, he left the elegant pavilion and returned to stone house number eighty-three.

He pondered it carefully.

The last time he cut off the arm and leg of those three spirit slaves, it was actually a decision made after careful consideration. If not for this incident with the Cold Blood Peak True Disciple, Steward Duan would definitely have been able to protect him, and the man surnamed Liu would not have been so arrogant.

Unfortunately, destiny was not in his own hands.

This made him realize that everyone is the protagonist of their own world and a supporting character in others'. He needed to act with caution; being careful was paramount.

Being in the Demonic Path, one should not easily stand out. Hiding one's capabilities was the correct approach.

This series of twists and turns had led him to a new problem: should he cultivate the Corpse Demon Secret Art?

There were many side effects, but the placement slot could increase the upper limit of the Ice Sword Technique, so it should also be able to act on the Corpse Demon Secret Art to complete it.

The difficulty should be lower than creating it from scratch.

A Nascent Soul secret art—he didn't believe it would have so many flaws. It must be that True Disciple Su’s interpretation was problematic. After all, when the Heavenly Crippled Old Man created this method for his own use, he certainly would have made it perfect, leaving no loopholes.

"Let's take a look first."

He removed the Blood Burning Technique from placement slot 2 and temporarily placed the Corpse Demon Secret Art there.

【Placement Slot 2: Corpse Demon Secret Art】

「Corpse Demon Secret Art (0/100): 1,440 practices per day, can be mastered in three months.」

Seeing the number of daily practices, Wang Yu was very surprised. After all, practicing once a minute was truly exaggerated, yet even so, it would take three months to reach perfection.

If he waited for the placement slot to complete it, it would certainly be counted in years, definitely much longer than the Ice Sword Technique.

Without much hesitation, he removed the Corpse Demon Secret Art and put the Blood Burning Technique back into the second slot. He still decided that his cultivation level was the priority.

Besides normal comprehension, the Corpse Demon Secret Art also required practice.

"Nourish blood with Yin, obtain the creation of Heavenly Yin."

"Nourish the body with a corpse, obtain a demonic body without evil."

"Heavenly Yin transforms blood, connects bones and grows muscle."

"Corpse qi transforms meridians, avoiding neither water nor fire."

To put it bluntly, before performing the actual connection of the corpse arm, one needed to absorb Yin spirit qi to transform one's own blood, while simultaneously absorbing corpse qi to invade one's own bones for deep modification.

(End of chapter)