Having met with Wei Shuyue, Wang Yu settled all matters before his seclusion and ordered the Wei clan to continue collecting high-quality demon beast carcasses throughout Yunzhou for him.
He planned to construct a blood pool deep beneath the Yin Heaven Palace. This would utilize the power of the Yin Five Elements Corpse-Nourishing Formation to convert the immense qi and blood contained in the pool into a variant qi and blood suitable for his Immortal Nether Dragon Art. His body-refining cultivation method differed from the pursuit of ultimate yang, rigid, immortal, and indestructible bodies by normal body refiners, akin to the yin and yang sides of the same entity. While he usually had ample time for slow conversion, the "Cosmic Sea Ferryman" business now required him to accelerate the process.
The Wei clan would henceforth pursue a strategy of intermarriage. They would establish marital ties with Nascent Soul forces within Yunzhou, as well as numerous first-rate powers in neighboring Leizhou, Yizhou, and Yanzhou. This was partly to expand the clan's size, but more importantly, to broaden the Wei clan's influence. It would extend Wang Yu's resource collection area from a single province to four or five, making it easier for him to gather high-end resources. Given his combat achievements from the Dead Silence Black Mountain battle, countless individuals would be thrilled to establish kinship with the Wei clan, represented by Wang Yu, sending their daughters and sons-in-law. Even the Five Elements Corpse Workshop was expanded again and again.
Wei clan members would rejoice in their dreams. No matter how ordinary a woman might be, she would have excellent husbands to choose from, while the men would enjoy nightly revelry, each accompanied by at least three beautiful female cultivators of high standing. Their sole mission was procreation, to become unfeeling child-bearing machines. For this process to yield initial results, a twenty-year cycle would be needed. Wang Yu merely set the arrangements; as long as the general direction was correct, it sufficed.
After all, the Wei clan was just a tool in his hands. Expanding the clan's scale was primarily to better serve him. This point must not be overlooked. The true benefits the Wei clan gained during this process were his compensation for impersonating Wei Wuxian.
And so, shortly after returning to his own territory and handling miscellaneous affairs, Wang Yu announced his seclusion. His first task was to master the method for refining the Devour-Emotion Beast. This special secret technique, originating from Exalted Xia, had an unknown provenance. Wang Yu had only initially pondered it. Now in seclusion, his 'placement slot' system was no longer prioritizing cultivation, but rather dedicated to fully conquering any difficult problem according to his will. The Devour-Emotion Beast refining method fell into the category requiring advanced techniques.
He took out the 36-petal Blood Lotus Furnace. Half of its wondrous flames had already been consumed, making the One Qi Demonic Flame increasingly potent, particularly its terrifying, heaven-refining ability. This allowed it to truly refine higher-grade rare treasures, even those beyond its usual capacity. He then added the Sky-Shattering Fire, which he had seized during his sweep of Yunzhou, into the furnace.
From his Sea Heart Ring, a bloody river flowed forth—composed entirely of the essence blood of snake-type demon beasts, intended as the embryo for the Devour-Emotion Beast. Wang Yu pointed a finger, combining it with the continuous influx of refining experience in his mind. His hand seals began to change, striking thousands upon thousands of demonic seals. This caused the shapeless blood to gradually transform into a scaly snake egg.
"Next is the core 'Tears of Absolute Devotion', followed by immense quantities of the 'seven emotions and six desires' as material..."
Wang Yu activated his innate magic weapon. The grayish-white One Qi Demonic Flame softened the snake egg, causing black smoke to billow out—a result of his demonic qi's unique properties. This imprinted his mark on the Devour-Emotion Beast even before it had fully formed, allowing him to shape it at will and awaken its highly targeted Devour-Emotion innate divine ability. After completing the preliminary preparations, he waved his hand, and the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Scroll slowly unfurled.
The six Heavenly Demons, embodying various negative emotions, were forced to yield their positions, which the Devour-Emotion snake egg then occupied. Subsequently, these demons realized, to their horror, that their power was rapidly draining away. The speed of this drain increased, and after their internal power was exhausted, their very essence began to dissipate. Unable to bear it, they burst out of the scroll, attempting to plead with Wang Yu. However, his heart was like stone; it was not the first time he had used the Heavenly Demon descendants of the Six Desires Demon Lord lineage as cultivation resources. He was quite familiar with the entire process.
Unable to escape the scroll's confinement, the six Great Heavenly Demons immediately revealed their fundamental malice, turning rebellious and attempting to resist Wang Yu, the tyrant. The latter merely smiled faintly. With a shift of his hand seals, the six Heavenly Demons exploded, their demonic malevolence and Six Desires power transforming into the purest nourishment, which the Devour-Emotion snake egg absorbed without rejection.
At one moment, a faint but distinct heartbeat made the curve of his lips more pronounced. He casually tossed a blood pill into his mouth and chewed it. A trace of his Innate True Demonic Body's essence separated and flowed into his mouth. Wang Yu opened his mouth and exhaled, releasing a blood-scented incense stick, immensely alluring to Six Desires Heavenly Demons. It ignited without fire, and its wisps of smoke seemed to penetrate the barriers of infinite space, reaching directly into the Heavenly Demon Realm, luring more Six Desires Heavenly Demons to willingly enter the now empty demon scroll.
Thus, a complete demon-refining industrial chain was formed. The unimaginable power of the Six Desires drastically reduced the Devour-Emotion Beast's maturation time; it might even hatch within half a year. He was immensely satisfied. This demon-luring method was a recent discovery from his study of the Way of Blood Pills. The demon scroll's inherent allure alone was no longer sufficient, prompting him to develop new techniques. When he was in the Ice Prison Realm, the Six Desires Heavenly Demons were almost impervious to his lures, with only a very few naive, newly matured ones falling for his tricks. Now, in the Mountain Sea Realm, the corresponding Heavenly Demon Realm area also seemed to have changed. For him, this was a completely new "blue ocean," teeming with "honest demons" who were inexperienced in the world—an utterly delightful prospect!
Of course, he had also prepared necessary defensive measures. He maintained great vigilance and respect for the legendary Six Desires Demon Lord, the progenitor of this Heavenly Demon lineage.
After allocating some mental energy to overseeing these processes, he realized that nearly two months had passed. This is typical in seclusion; it's difficult to perceive the rapid passage of time. Cultivators usually only check the time after achieving all their goals. Therefore, it's not surprising that cultivators occasionally die of old age during seclusion; it's considered a normal occurrence.
With the much-anticipated Devour-Emotion Beast on track, Wang Yu summoned the Blood Lotus Furnace and began refining the sealed primordial spirits into Blood God Pills. These could greatly accelerate the accumulation of demonic essence within his body. With a stable foundation and his primordial spirit cultivation far exceeding his current realm, this was his ticket to rapidly reaching the peak of Soul Transformation.
Regarding breakthrough to the Void Refinement stage, he honestly hadn't met the criteria. His artistic conception cultivation was stuck at the Illusionary Light Artistic Conception, and the subsequent third step, "Artistic Conception Fusion," presented another major challenge. Only after resolving these two issues do cultivators meet the standard for breaking through to Void Refinement. Considering the difficulty and time cost of these two steps, he was also contemplating the possibility of "skipping lessons" while refining Blood God Pills. Others might not be able to, but that didn't mean he couldn't. Fusing four superior artistic conceptions, especially one that was a mixed artistic conception, was incredibly difficult. With his current comprehension, he had no clue how to proceed.
This demonstrated that sometimes greed wasn't beneficial. There was a reason why predecessors chose to comprehend and specialize in a single artistic conception. Those who comprehended multiple artistic conceptions would also try to ensure a fundamental connection between them, laying the groundwork early for the fusion step. However, Wang Yu had lacked proper inheritance and advanced cultivation knowledge. Coupled with the 'placement slot' system's extraordinary effect, his four Dharma Intentions were forcefully pushed to the point of transformation, becoming four Great Artistic Conceptions. This was one of the crucial components of his transcendence and formidable combat power. While he could abandon three and specialize in the Frost Moon Artistic Conception, it would drastically reduce his combat power ceiling. He might still be able to dominate cultivators of the same rank, but fighting above his rank would be impossible. Such feats were already incredibly difficult; every advantage needed to be cultivated to its extreme. Often, even one advantage wasn't enough; multiple advantages were usually required to meet the standard for fighting above one's rank. Since he had chosen the harder path, he would not easily give up.
Getting back to the point, regarding "skipping lessons," Wang Yu's reliance was naturally his Taiyin Star Soul—his primordial spirit that had undergone a complete transformation, even a change in species. Since breakthrough to Void Refinement involved issues with artistic conception and primordial spirit, he needed to recognize the more fundamental cultivation goals. Beyond artistic conception lay the key to entering the gate of Dao Principles. He had already comprehended a very small amount of Taiyin Dao Principle; did this mean he could bypass this step? Beyond the primordial spirit, there were two paths, but both ultimately led to the unity of spirit and flesh, cultivating the "Three Flowers on the Crown." The Three Flowers represented a cultivator's Essence, Qi, and Spirit, which could be referred to as Body, Magic Power, and Primordial Spirit. This was the foundation for becoming an immortal. By integrating one's comprehension of Dao Principles, one could form a nascent Dao Fruit, later ascending to Dao Integration. This was one of the breakthrough standards. Cultivation during the Dao Integration stage was a process of continuously perfecting the nascent Dao Fruit, a daily routine for powerful beings. As for the Mahayana stage, Wang Yu was not yet very familiar with it, so he wouldn't discuss it for now.
Returning to artistic conception and primordial spirit, re-examining the breakthrough problem: artistic conception weapons and the third step of artistic conception fusion were cultivation changes that occurred within the primordial spirit, laying the foundation for the advance condensation of the "Flower of Spirit." To "skip lessons," or rather, to break through to the Void Refinement stage and then make up the lessons, he needed to directly confront the essence of the Star God. As innate deities born from ancient stars, Star Gods were born inherently close to the Grand Dao Principles, possessing unparalleled comprehension of the Dao Principles corresponding to their nurturing stars. The Taiyin Refining Form Treasure Record had changed the essence of his primordial spirit. Therefore, Wang Yu called his primordial spirit the "Taiyin Star Soul," but his physical body remained unchanged, still that powerful, demonically infused physique.
In this situation, achieving the unity of spirit and flesh would be difficult with ordinary cultivation methods. One side had to completely overwhelm the other, forcing a union, relying on powerful pressure for mutual penetration and influence, leading to changes, and then seeking balance. This was also his goal. Wang Yu consciously increased his body refining efforts, aiming to first break through to the sixth-tier Body Refining Realm, and then in turn, merge with the Taiyin Star Soul to aid his Qi Refining Immortal Path breakthrough. The general direction was correct; success depended on destiny. If artistic conception fusion could be achieved quickly, this complexity wouldn't be necessary. This was merely a precaution, to avoid scrambling for solutions at the last minute, which would be too time-consuming.
Slowly organizing the complex steps, several more months passed. A total of 27 top-grade Blood God Pills were produced. Refining one per year would allow his cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds.
Thus, he moved to the third objective of his seclusion: repairing the World-Splitting Divine Boat!
"Void Purple Wood, Space-Fixing Orb, Sumeru Dust, three hundred strands of Void Torrent..." Wang Yu successively retrieved numerous spatial divine materials. The One Qi Demonic Flame once again demonstrated its omni-refining efficacy, melting all the divine materials. This, combined with the methods from the Myriad Void Laws specifically for repairing the World-Splitting Divine Boat, made the process remarkably smooth. The fractured keel of the divine boat healed at a visible rate. This was also the result of collective effort, as the passengers he had selected, though from diverse backgrounds, were all considered elites among lower realm cultivators, having pooled resources from dozens of surrounding minor worlds and possessing top-tier treasures.
Considering the issue of charging with chaotic energy, he estimated that the boat would only be able to make a few trips before he would need to find ways to charge it with high-quality energy like water-fire elemental crystals to continue the ferryman business. The Mountain Sea Realm had a vast number of accumulated Soul Transformation cultivators, creating a broad market. However, Wang Yu estimated that after five or six trips, the market's potential would be exhausted. He would then decide on his next steps based on the situation.
The Devour-Emotion Beast and the World-Splitting Divine Boat occupied nearly half of Wang Yu's divine sense. He allocated another demonic flame, taking out Blood Yin Jade and the Yin Nether Ancient Seal, and began refining the Yama Demon Son Sword. He believed it would reach peak fifth-tier quality after his seclusion, thus enhancing one of his primary means of combat.
As a result, Wang Yu's energy and divine sense were almost divided into four equal parts. This last remaining portion was used to squeeze the Seven-Ringed Divine Silkworm, forcing it to continuously produce peak fifth-tier silkworm silk. He then melted dragon-patterned black gold, refining it into metal threads. Even a piece the size of a fingernail could be utilized to its extreme. He planned to craft a magic robe himself. These two were the main materials. His current Three-Foot Snow, a mere low-grade fourth-tier item, could no longer keep up with his combat intensity, offering almost no assistance. He intended the new robe to enhance his magic power.
Holding a Bodhi seed in his hand to enhance his comprehension, he simultaneously took out some demon beast corpses whose qi and blood had been drained, using the Demon Refinement Artifact Art to extract their final value. Whether it was a treasure bone, sharp horns, teeth, or hard scales, all kinds of demon materials were melted into a black liquid to coat the silkworm silk, or "dye" it, which was quite fitting. Wang Yu hadn't deeply researched artifact refining. Of course, this was relative to his mastery of alchemy and geomancy; compared to ordinary cultivators, he was half an artifact master. At this level, crafting a fourth-tier magic treasure was no problem, though a fifth-tier one would be a matter of luck.
However, deeply understanding the mysteries of the Demon Refinement Artifact Art, he possessed a profound comprehension of the nature of heaven and earth. There were also clever methods in this regard. He couldn't engrave Grand Dao artifact patterns or formations. But these materials inherently contained the mysteries of heaven and earth. Using the Qi-Gazing miraculous ability of his geomancy secret arts, he gained profound insight into the materials' essence, thereby naturally merging and repairing them. This made incomplete transformations whole, and compatible elements seamlessly overlapped. In material selection, he could be called a Grandmaster.
And so, by unifying with the Taiyin Dao Principle—understanding one law illuminating all—he didn't need to know how to engrave artifact patterns or restrictions. Through the wondrous technique of natural artifact refining, he could refine spiritual treasures to his liking.
Time flew by like a white steed; five years passed in a blink.
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