Chapter 38: A One-Year Term (Please keep reading, please vote)

Since that day, Tantai Chan's medicinal garden seemed to no longer attract anything belonging to Yu Tangtang. Wang Yu saw her only once and never again.

This, instead, allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

He constantly admonished himself with three words: "low profile," "caution," and "introspection," repeatedly reminding himself that this was the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect, not a kind or benevolent place.

Beautiful things were highly likely to hide deadly poison.

And so, in the blink of an eye, a year passed.

Today marked the first day of his second year in the outer sect—Year 2, Month 1, Day 1!

Having hidden in the medicinal garden for a year, he decided that he would either give up on Xu Jiaojiao or switch to more sinister methods, requiring even greater vigilance.

During this period, the Ice Coffin Curse and the Phantom Step had both reached perfection. Given his current cultivation, he could only release them twice at full strength, so he treated them as trump cards.

The Cold Chi Alchemy Technique and Cold Blood Pills had also gradually reached perfection.

Two months ago, he had attempted to refine two batches of Cold Blood Pills, producing a total of only three top-grade pills. His alchemy skills had reached the absolute limit of the Qi Refining stage.

Technically, he was already very proficient; his only weaknesses were his divine sense and cultivation, which were still significantly lacking. Otherwise, in a perfect state, he should have produced six top-grade Cold Blood Pills.

A single batch of top-grade pills only yields three; it perfectly absorbs all the medicinal efficacy of a set of spiritual herbs, leaving no surplus energy to produce more.

Of course, this was only the case for the Cold Blood Pill. He wasn't entirely sure if other Tier 1 pills followed this pattern; he would have to test more in the future to find out.

Regarding his cultivation, the two "Idle Slots" had cultivated for a year, yielding seventy-two strands of spiritual power. Combined with the effects of the Cold Blood Pills and his own natural cultivation progress, his current spiritual power reached one hundred and thirty strands. He had completed nearly half of his progress, with half remaining.

However, after consuming top-grade Cold Blood Pills, his cultivation speed increased further. In another year, he would surely break through to the fifth layer of Qi Refining; his speed was no longer slow.

The Idle Slots functioned based on Wang Yu's aptitude. It was hard to imagine how fast his cultivation would be if he possessed a Heaven Spiritual Root; it was truly a pity.

His current Idle Slots were as follows

【Idle Slot 1: Cold Blood Manual】

【Idle Slot 2: Cold Blood Manual】

【Idle Slot 3: Cold Chi Alchemy Technique (Fragmented/Completing...)】

「Cold Chi Alchemy Technique (100/100): Eighteen refinements per day; thirty years to completion.」

After the alchemy technique reached perfection, the daily number of refinement cycles increased by two, and a "completing" suffix was added. It would take a full thirty years, which was even longer than the time required for a Foundation Establishment cultivation method.

This proved that the Idle Slots indeed possessed a completion effect.

But this brought about another problem: how long would it take to complete a Nascent Soul secret method? Based on Wang Yu's current knowledge, it would take at least a century.

A fragmented secret method that could be refined in three months meant he would have to act as a "corpse" for over a hundred years. Even his "Second Brother" couldn't be used for this; he had to be cautious.

However, the feeling of lacking an arm was indeed unpleasant and affected his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. Setting the 【Corpse Demon Secret Method】 to an Idle Slot was almost a necessity!

It was difficult—

Whenever he thought of this, he felt deep hatred for Manager Liu, who had caused him to lose an arm. He harbored a daily grudge! If the man hadn't fled to escape punishment, Wang Yu would currently have the ability to settle some of those old debts.

The one-year mission period had ended, and he had waited an additional seven days.

Tantai Chan returned with a glowing complexion, appearing to have gained many benefits. Upon seeing Wang Yu, she rareley showed a smile.

"Has anything happened during this period?" Wang Yu hurried forward, asking nervously.

"Senior Tantai, not long after you left, the Moonlight Fruit ripened. However, a little white-haired girl picked all the fruits. Before I could even finish a sentence, she vanished..."

Upon hearing this, Tantai Chan's expression immediately turned cold. She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him. "Did the other party say anything?"

"Nothing at all. It was as if... she was just taking a stroll."

"It is nothing. You are not responsible for this matter."

Wang Yu pretended to breathe a sigh of relief. He had intentionally concealed his contact with Yu Tangtang.

He feared that because Tantai Chan was a person who valued face, if she learned of her identity as a "human slave + nanny," she would feel shame and resentment, making it reasonable for her to kill him.

Concealing the conversation was the correct course of action.

"This is your reward. Go. You are not permitted to accept my missions in the future."

"...Disciple obeys."

Four hundred contribution points and three stalks of Cold Ice Nine-Leaf Grass—that was his harvest for the year. It was a bit less than expected, but he personally attended every transaction at the Alchemist Guild, so he hadn't earned little in spirit stones.

With money in his pocket, gathering materials for Cold Blood Pills wouldn't be so difficult. He could even consider refining "Cold Chi Pills." The treasury of the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect surely contained ice-attribute demon cores from Tier 2 python-type demons.

If he could cultivate "Cold Chi Pill Fire," he would not only gain another method to combat enemies but also allow his alchemy skills to reach their most fundamental efficacy, which would be of great benefit to him.

He could start by gathering intelligence, but his current contribution points were far from enough. Besides this, Wang Yu was also considering whether to leave the sect to perform missions.

Though everything seemed to be going smoothly for him now, many of his past actions had planted seeds of future trouble, and there were still unresolved problems.

One can hide for a while, but not for a lifetime.

A relatively good method would be to find a Core Formation Elder to take as a master, solving the problem once and for all.

Unfortunately, that was unrealistic.

Executing missions outside the sect would, at the very least, help him pass through a period of safety, and he would be freer outside than within the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect, where everything required considering the reactions of various factions.

Aside from resources and environment being slightly inferior, everything else would be better than being inside the sect.

Now that he held a large amount of spirit stones, he could prepare in all aspects, find a suitable mission to leave the sect, and stay out for ten or twenty years before returning.

By then, whether it was his cultivation realm or his alchemy skills, he could transition from the shadows to the light and have his reputation "whitewashed."

Excuses for opportunities are easy to find. Having stayed in the sect since his time as a spirit slave while displaying strange characteristics was inherently abnormal.

In the demonic path, if you have a trash spiritual root but your performance in all aspects is more impressive than someone with a dual spiritual root, you are essentially asking for trouble.

Thinking of this, Wang Yu used the Night Hiding Curse to mask his aura. After leaving the medicinal garden, he headed straight for the Ice Snow Pavilion to cooperate with Zhao Shang. This would not only turn their conflict into friendship but also allow him to enjoy many privileges.

Of course, he maintained his necessary precautions. If he had the chance to completely eliminate this man, Wang Yu would not hesitate, and he believed Zhao Shang felt the same—both felt the other knew too much.

On the way, Wang Yu kept calculating what he needed to prepare.

Various auxiliary pills, such as Spirit Recovery Pills, Healing Pills, Hemostatic Powders, and so on.

He would prepare at least ten top-grade Cold Blood Pills, consuming them until his body developed a pill barrier; after all, once he was outside, spiritual herbs would not be so easy to gather.

And most importantly, magical tools! When traveling, one must have magical tools, and if there is surplus money, one should also prepare a set of simple formation flags.

There were many such things to prepare.

A moment later, he arrived at the Ice Snow Pavilion.

"Zhao Shang, do me a favor."

After a year of not seeing each other, the other man's aura had grown again, but seeing the "plague god" Wang Yu, Zhao Shang was very reluctant.

"Brother, I call you brother. Seriously, stop with this 'privilege' nonsense."