Chapter 381 |
This old man, though a rogue cultivator from Taihu, made his living by throwing trouble onto others.
According to his own account, he had discovered this nest of Iceflame Butterflies inside an icy rift ravine. Greed took hold of him, and he used a special secret technique to lure these strange insects into attacking cultivators who were training on the ice plains.
His targets were usually lone individuals. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed. Whenever he realized the situation was turning against him, he would take out the Ice Phoenix Legacy Token to numb the other party’s vigilance, then seize the chance to flee.
After the old man finished confessing everything in full detail, he saw Wang Yu looking at him with a gaze filled with pity. His heart jolted, only to hear Wang Yu say:
“I used to think Taihu was a blessed land for cultivators. But now it seems that even with your cultivation, you still have to do things this risky?”
It was not that Wang Yu looked down on those who made their fortune through robbery.
That line of work was simply like that. High risk, high reward. If you succeeded, you gained everything the other party owned. Wang Yu himself had done plenty of it. The problem was that this old man was already at the Nascent Soul realm, yet he was still willing to gamble with his life.
Aside from being addicted to it, there was only one other explanation.
He had no other way out.
The higher one’s cultivation, the more one treasured their own life. The fierce will from one’s youth, charging into secret realms, challenging demonic beasts, fighting above one’s realm and advancing boldly, would gradually become weaker and weaker.
It was not that the Dao-heart had diminished, but rather that one became more inclined to obtain cultivation resources through conservative means. One would no longer easily throw oneself into mortal danger.
This old man was, after all, a Nascent Soul cultivator.
In the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain, whether he joined one of the five great demonic sects, or merchant organizations like Golden Abundance Tower or Heaven Treasure Pavilion, he would at the very least hold a high position. Forget rare opportunities or miraculous pills. Even so, his basic cultivation needs would still be guaranteed.
If he stayed long enough and proved his loyalty, there would even be chances to advance further. This was the conservative growth path most high-realm cultivators would choose. With a long lifespan ahead of them, they naturally did not care about gains and losses over the span of days.
The old man’s reply confirmed exactly that.
He gave a bitter smile and said:
“There are simply too many cultivators in Taihu. Supreme-grade spirit stones are even a controlled resource. Cultivators are not allowed to trade them privately. And those fourth-rank spirit veins are all occupied by clans and families everywhere.
“They work together as one, extremely hostile to outsiders. Some families even have detailed regulations for how much time their own juniors are allowed to cultivate within the spirit veins each day.”
The Taihu Spiritual Domain was said to have a population exceeding ten billion.
With such a foundation, just imagining how many cultivators it could produce was enough to make one’s scalp go numb. In contrast, the low and mid-tier resources in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain were practically overflowing.
By that logic, should he be thanking the people who had abducted him to Crimson Kite back then?
Thoughts flashed through his mind.
Considering that all Nascent Soul cultivators possessed teleportation techniques, Wang Yu did not want to start a fight unless he was absolutely confident he could secure the kill. If he could resolve things through words, that would be best.
At the same time, he was genuinely curious about the situation among the upper-level cultivators of Taihu.
“So you came to the ice plains and started killing people to seize their resources?”
“They forced me into it.”
At those words, the old man’s emotions surged violently.
“There is no living space for rogue cultivators in Taihu. This old one once obtained an opportunity in the Qilin Secret Realm. It recorded the location of a hidden grotto-heaven blessed land.
“When I finally found it, it was already occupied by people from the Blazing Sun Sect. Even if I used the owner’s token of the blessed land to drive them away, that was nothing more than a fleeting moment of satisfaction…”
The outcome after that did not even need to be stated.
It was obvious he had been forcibly suppressed by the Blazing Sun Sect, driven away, and even had the owner’s token taken from him.
If even hidden grotto-heaven blessed lands could be found and seized like that, it meant Taihu’s development of its own territory had already been pushed to the extreme. If they did not expand outward, then there was only one path left: internal war, using conflict to consume the excessively large cultivator population.
Especially with the Heavenly Void Sword Sect pressing down over their heads.
Order was upheld through absolute violence, yet cultivators were a group that stood above mortals and believed themselves extraordinary.
Not satisfied?
Then fight.
Seen from that angle, the war between Taihu and Crimson Kite might not be something that could be achieved solely through a few schemes of sowing discord. Rather, it was because Taihu had reached the limits of what it could sustain.
It had already entered a stage where battle was unavoidable.
This was something destined to happen. From the old man’s words, Wang Yu gained a deeper understanding of Taihu.
From a grand perspective, he could not help feeling that the Taihu cultivation world would be stronger than the Crimson Kite cultivation world. If their numbers were ten times greater, then under such an absolute gap in quantity, what would the war even become?
But to demonic cultivators, this was also a carnival.
All kinds of blood sacrifices and soul sacrifices would never stop. Demonic treasures such as the Ten Thousand Souls Banner would spread openly, and many demonic giants would inevitably rise.
Whether it was a mule or a horse,
this one battle would reveal it.
After clarifying Taihu’s circumstances,
Wang Yu had no intention of fighting the old man. Instead, he made a demand the other party could accept.
“Pay fifty supreme-grade spirit stones in compensation, and we will settle this matter.”
As for the matter of the Ice Phoenix Legacy Token, it was very likely the old man’s second trap. Wang Yu did not even ask about it and only demanded supreme-grade spirit stones.
“Fifty pieces? That’s enough to buy a high-grade Nascent Soul magic treasure. Fellow Daoist, you’re being far too greedy.”
Supreme-grade spirit stones were rarely used in trade.
In general, about ten pieces were enough to form a complete cycle. As long as one had the backing of a fourth-rank spirit vein, one could bury depleted supreme-grade spirit stones into the vein.
After around ten years, they would be refilled with refined spiritual qi.
Therefore, in theory, satisfying the daily cultivation needs of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator only required ten supreme-grade spirit stones and a fourth-rank spirit vein. Seeing how violently the other party reacted, Wang Yu said speechlessly,
“Then why don’t you try haggling?”
He had only made such a brazen demand because he had seen the old man succeed several times before, and guessed he might have quite a few supreme-grade spirit stones. Wang Yu intended to open his mouth like a lion and tear off a thick chunk of fat.
Hearing this, the old man became extremely awkward.
He also did not want to fight Wang Yu. After taking the initiative to offend him, paying a price was only natural. After a moment of deliberation, he said,
“Ten pieces. I can only give you ten…”
Before he could finish speaking,
Wang Yu, who had been quite easy to talk to just a moment ago, suddenly became shrouded in blood mist. The bloody radiance bursting from his eyes swept across the old man’s face.
It made him feel as though he had been thrown into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, trembling in fear.
“How many?”
“Twelve! I also have three depleted supreme-grade spirit stones. I’ll compensate you with those as well, alright?”
With that, the strange phenomenon vanished instantly.
As if nothing had happened at all, Wang Yu simply extended his hand to collect them. If he possessed a technique to seal spatial movement, he would not have been nearly so easy to talk to.
Supreme-grade spirit stones looked like diamond-shaped pieces of starstone.
They shimmered with flowing radiance, extraordinary at a glance.
The pure spiritual qi contained within them was so dense that even a single breath of it made his mana stir restlessly.
“Farewell!”
Having painfully paid the compensation, the old man did not even turn his head as he fled from the summit of Silver Frost Mountain. Wang Yu watched him silently. Though he felt some regret, this truly was not the time to stir up additional trouble.
Next, Wang Yu took ten pairs of Iceflame Butterflies out from the human-seed pouch. Whether it was the Five Poisons Scripture or the Gu Master Pill-Transformation Art, both contained inherited methods for enslaving such creatures.
There were also countless secret techniques for cultivation and nurturing.
He had never needed them before, but he had still dabbled in them briefly. Now that he had obtained the Iceflame Butterflies, he could raise a batch of them and use them as a signature method under the identity of the Ice Demon Child.
Further distinguishing this identity from his true body.
As for whether to use the Immaculate Jade Toad on the Iceflame Butterflies, that required careful consideration. Aside from being immune to all poisons, the Jade Toad could also grant a rare insect a single bloodline upgrade.
Among gu-insect various type, it was considered top-tier.
This was likely also why the Immaculate Jade Toad had still not laid eggs for so long. In addition, it was cheap to raise, and in daily life it could survive just by being fed some poison.
So Wang Yu had not rashly refined it.
Meanwhile, the Iceflame Butterfly was an ancient rare insect ranked even higher than the Immaculate Jade Toad. Whether the Jade Toad could even affect it was still uncertain.
After simply branding them with divine sense marks, he also planted seeds using the method of the Spirit-Command Seal, completing an initial subjugation. However, this only prevented them from attacking Wang Yu. If he wanted them to be truly tamed and obedient, he would have to start from the egg stage.
He selected several ice-attribute treasure materials from the Sea Heart Ring, and placed them all into the human-seeding pouch, letting Snowjade watch over them. If possible, it would be best if she could use fox-tribe charm techniques to get the Iceflame Butterflies into heat.
Of course, that was easy to say.
Whether Snowjade could actually do it was another matter entirely.
More than half a month later, Wang Yu, whose progress had been delayed by this unexpected matter, was extremely satisfied with the effectiveness of the fox-tribe charm techniques. After pairing up, the Iceflame Butterflies laid eggs and then all died.
On average, each one produced a hundred insect eggs.
Ten pairs yielded more than a thousand eggs. After breeding a few more times, it would be enough. The only issue was that raising these little bugs also required resources, so he could just nurture them slowly over time.
The larvae that had not yet formed cocoons could be fed ice.
They looked easy to raise, but what they truly consumed was cold qi. The Endless Ice Plains had an abundance of ancient frozen soil. Extracting a little from it to feed them made them extremely hardy.
No wonder he had been able to encounter Iceflame Butterflies here, a species that was practically extinct elsewhere.
Outside this place, they would not be nearly so easy to raise.
Next, Wang Yu left Silver Frost Mountain and headed toward the Frost Demon Sealed Ground according to the route map. He had thought this would be a solitary journey of transformation.
Yet he ran into someone familiar again.
That familiar person was Elder Yushu.
This travel route was a safe line passed down by Cold Blood Peak. It rarely encountered disasters such as ice storms or ice beasts, so it was considered relatively secure.
Running into Elder Yushu left him both surprised and feeling that it was only natural.
Was the one who pushed him to come to the ice plains not Wang Yu himself?
Song Yun, for the sake of the Blood Infant Fruit, had a ninety percent chance of dying in the chaotic melee within the Blood Demon Sea. And that… had actually been for Elder Yushu.
An egg striking a rock, the outcome could only be described as miserable.
After leaving the Blood Abyss,
Wang Yu had informed Yushu of the intel and then he disappeared. There had been no further news ever since.
Now it seemed he had gone straight to the Endless Ice Plains.
A desperate all-or-nothing gamble.
Elder Yushu wanted to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, and Frost Demon qi was likewise an indispensable link in the chain. Meeting on the same route here could only mean that the other party’s luck was truly poor.
He had set out so many years earlier, yet still had not reached his destination.
He must have run into quite a lot along the way.
While thinking, Wang Yu slowly approached, calling out in advance.
“Fellow Daoist, where are you headed?”
At this moment, the wind and snow were fierce. Between heaven and earth was nothing but a howling gale, and visibility was truly poor. That sudden clear voice was strikingly sharp to the ear.
Elder Yushu turned his head and saw a boy in fluttering robes.
He nearly thought it was an illusion.
Only after rubbing his eyes did he force an awkward smile.
“I am Yushu. May I ask how Fellow Daoist is addressed?”
When traveling outside, one’s identity was something one gave oneself. Seniority was not determined by age, only by cultivation.
At first glance, he looked like nothing more than a five-year-old child.
But to be able to move freely within this wind and snow infused with an extraordinary power of extreme cold, his cultivation could not be lower than Yushu’s. His greeting was naturally far more relaxed than it would have been at home.
This trip was for the sake of breaking through his realm. He had no intention of provoking unnecessary trouble.
Coincidentally, Wang Yu thought the same.
He even hoped Elder Yushu would succeed in breaking through. That way, he would have one more natural ally within Cold Blood Peak, and he still had surplus Nascent Soul Condensation Pills in his possession.
Giving them away for free was impossible. But if it were a trade, the other party could not offer a bargaining chip that would truly move him.
Moreover, Elder Yushu had been stuck at this stage for decades. What he lacked were breakthrough spiritual items, and it was not as though they would suddenly appear just because his grandson died. That meant he was most likely trying to force a breakthrough directly.
If he failed, death was inevitable. There was no second outcome.
Song Yun’s death had helped strengthen his Dao heart.
As for why Wang Yu approached him now, it was mainly to ask about recent changes in the Endless Ice Plains. The other party had arrived decades earlier, yet his progress was this slow, so there had to be a reason.
The old man and the child met each other’s eyes. Wang Yu smiled first.
“Outsiders call this lord Ice Demon. Fellow Daoist may address me the same.”
Hearing that, Yushu slowly nodded.
“Fellow Daoist Ice Demon, you must also be an ice-path cultivator. Do you often move about on these ice plains?”
Wang Yu held no hostility toward Yushu, but that did not mean Yushu was not cautious toward him. So he went straight to the point.
“No need to test me. This lord is not an Ice Clan being.
“Fellow Daoist Yushu, judging by your direction, are you heading toward the Ancient Demon Sealed Ground? Have you run into trouble on the way? The Ice Clan?”
Wang Yu watched the changes in Elder Yushu’s expression.
He threw out three questions in a row.
And sure enough, he had indeed run into trouble.
Elder Yushu’s expression changed again and again. He did not expect this suddenly appearing Ice Demon to know so many secrets. He had never heard of any outstanding ice-path junior rising within the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.
Then it could only be some old monster. A child’s body… he had truly never seen that before.
He searched his memories thoroughly and still found not the slightest impression.
Only then did he answer with a somewhat embarrassed smile.
“Since Fellow Daoist has already guessed it, then I should not conceal it.”
Yushu pointed into the darkness ahead.
“There is a gigantic beast sleeping there. Its entire body is like ice crystal, resembling both an elephant and a tiger. It should be an Ice Clan being, and its strength is extremely formidable.
“It lies coiled in slumber exactly where it blocks the passage. I have been stopped by it again and again and am currently thinking of a way to bypass it.”
As for why he did not simply fly, one only needed to look at the heavy black clouds overhead. The blizzard raged year-round, and the higher one went, the more terrifying its intensity became. That extreme cold aura was something even some Nascent Soul cultivators could not endure.
And that was even under the condition that they cultivated ice-path techniques and possessed strong resistance.
As for burrowing underground, the frozen soil of the ice plains would teach you a harsh lesson. Leaving aside how hard it was, the extreme cold power hidden within the permafrost could likewise freeze a cultivator into an ice sculpture.
That was precisely why the Endless Ice Plains were known as a perilous land that even Nascent Soul cultivators could not cross. Almost everywhere was restricted.
Yushu’s approach was plain and practical.
Just go around this obstacle. Based on the time when he left the sect, he probably did not yet know about the recent changes, nor the news that war was about to begin.
That was why he had been detouring at such a leisurely pace.
But even with this single obstacle, it could not possibly delay someone for decades.
Wang Yu immediately frowned and asked.
“Fellow Daoist, on the road you have already traveled, have you encountered similar obstructions?”
“There were some, but none were serious. Spending more time is always better than forcing a crossing and risking one’s life.”
The reasoning made sense, but something was clearly off.
Why did it feel like he was being guided into it?
Could the Nine Evil Sword Lord have guessed he was about to condense a Nascent Soul? Impossible. The cultivation he had revealed had always been late-stage Core Formation, roughly the seventh level.
And that truly was his real realm.
He had merely progressed a little quickly lately, but it was not something that could be predicted in advance.
“Then… the Ice Clan?”