After he left, he secretly inford Huang Kai and Luo Pinghu. As for Zhou Tao, who had greater ambition, he did not say much and simply transferred the leadership of the Alchemist Association to him.
Zhou Tao was naturally overjoyed. With prior intentions, he imdiately connected with Zhao Shang.
That Zhao fellow was also soone who valued money over life. He had worked at Ice and Snow Pavilion for many years, and the spirit stones he had embezzled far exceeded thirty thousand. However, his daily cultivation and network maintenance cost far more spirit stones than soone like Wang Yu, who cultivated alone.
Even after accumulating spirit stones for a long ti, he still lacked enough capital to purchase a high-grade Foundation Establishnt Pill.
These two greedy individuals would eventually invite a catastrophic disaster upon themselves.
Withdrawing in ti and distancing himself from the sect was Wang Yu’s way of avoiding calamity.
Back to the main point.
After setting up this maze formation, Wang Yu moved into the dilapidated stone hut left by his predecessor. The corpse of the Bone Lion had so value. The longest bone spike on its back was a high-grade material for crafting magic tools.
It was worth at least two hundred spirit stones. The corpse itself was ordinary, but as a high-grade first-rank beast, even as feed for captive demonic creatures, it could be worth over a hundred.
Killing two would be enough to exchange for one high-grade Cold Blood Pill.
Within the sect, this kind of inco was hard to co by. To truly earn cultivation resources, one had to venture outside the sect.
Of course, this was also related to the fact that Blackbone Mountain was a rather “rich” resource location.
All three Blackbone Mountains contained second-rank Yin Veins.
Yin Veins are a type of spiritual vein, but the aura they emit leans toward yin attributes. Such veins often form only in places with large amounts of death.
Logically, this kind of location should be stationed by Foundation Establishnt cultivators. Moreover, the previous batch of cultivators stationed at Blackbone Mountain should have already swept through the area.
Yet, although it had taken them three months to arrive, the area was quickly overtaken again by Bone Lions and Venomous Bees. This was suspicious.
Therefore, even though Wang Yu could easily slay a Bone Lion, he remained cautious and advanced slowly, prepared for the slightest unexpected change.
After all, there were still over four months left before the flowering season.
Due to differences in collection periods and environntal conditions, the blooming tis of Bone Trees varied. Each year, only so of the Bone Trees would flower.
Four months was enough for him to conquer two levels and make them his own.
Thus.
One month later.
"Ice Coffin Curse: Cold Wind Rise!"
Having perfected his spellcraft, Wang Yu was able to make minor adjustnts beyond the base spell's original power.
Just like now.
The Ice Coffin Curse was supposed to form six ice crystals that closed in to create a binding coffin. However, with Wang Yu’s fine adjustnts, six ice walls enclosed the swarm of Venomous Bees.
The ice crystals vibrated continuously. Countless ice shards shot out from the ice walls. Accompanied by waves of frigid wind, the troubleso bee swarm was almost entirely frozen and shattered to pieces on the ground.
Their venom had no effect on the spell's spiritual energy.
He had easily resolved a major problem.
This alteration was sothing he could not have managed during his battle with Xu Jiaojiao. It was a change developed from nurous combat experiences and adapting to local conditions. This is called battle experience.
He had turned a troubleso fight into a sweeping victory.
Combat techniques play a critical role in a cultivator’s overall strength. Wang Yu was becoming more and more adept, while others were having a tough ti.
Especially the disciples from Heavenly Corpse Peak under Gu Zhengshun.
They controlled Copper-armored Corpses whose corpse aura condensed into jagged bronze armor covering their surfaces. It appeared to be the innate talent of the armored corpses, but in truth, disciples with financial ans would purchase black iron to refine and fuse with the innate armor, significantly boosting their defense.
This was originally a thod to enhance the armored corpses. However, against the Venomous Bee swarm, it backfired. Not only was their defense greatly reduced, but the armor made of corpse aura was also destroyed.
In the span of a month, they had only managed to conquer three Bonewood Trees that bore second-rank Xuan Essence Flowers. Their efficiency was extrely low. This was also because their cultivation level was too low.
There were about twenty people. The lowest was at the third layer of Qi Refining. The highest was only at the sixth layer, the sa realm as Gu Zhengshun. It was difficult to produce any effective results.
On Wang Yu's side, he had already conquered two floors. There were nine second-rank Bonewood trees with flower buds. He was currently preparing for the third floor. With his capabilities, patrolling and maintaining control over three floor daily was about his limit.
In the following years, almost every year, different Bonewood trees sprouted flower buds. All he needed to do was guard them and harvest accordingly.
That day, during routine cultivation practice, Gu Zhengshun sat directly on the coffin lid and flew straight to Wang Yu’s layer. When he saw the second floor had no swarms of poison bees or bone lions, he felt a bit envious and called out from afar:
"Junior Brother Wang, I, Gu, have co with a matter to discuss."
As the Blood Mist Maze Formation opened a path, Gu Zhengshun walked in without hesitation. In front of the stone house, he saw Wang Yu standing and got straight to the point:
"We’re in trouble."
Wang Yu was sowhat surprised.
"What makes you say that?"
"It’s Liu Jinxian."
Among the three masters of Blackbone Mountain, Liu Jinxian was the strongest in terms of power. She also had the largest number of subordinates. In just one month, she had completely cleared her own portion of Blackbone Mountain. Nearly three hundred of her followers were idle and now had their eyes on Gu Zhengshun’s domain.
"At first, she just sent a letter, asking if we could hand over the Venomous Bee swarms from our area alive. I declined using the excuse of being short-handed."
"Now she wants her subordinates to help clean up this Blackbone Mountain. If we let her in, then all the territory we secured would belong to them."
Wang Yu frowned deeply. This kind of situation was predictable and not at all surprising. The real issue lay with Gu Zhengshun himself.
"And then? You didn’t prepare any backup plan to balance against the other two mountain lords? You ca here just to change locations and let yourself be carved up again?"
Gu Zhengshun looked embarrassed and explained:
"The Gu family used to be a Foundation Establishnt clan, but ever since the patriarch fell, we’ve dropped to a Qi Refining clan. I was able to take an inner sect Foundation Establishnt position under the Heavenly Corpse Peak only because my master owed our old patriarch a favor."
"The Gu family’s foundation is far weaker than the Liu clan. If she cos in with force, I can only rely on you."
"Rely on ?"
Wang Yu sneered and squinted his eyes at Gu Zhengshun.
"I’m just an ordinary fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivator. If Brother Gu is treating as your final trump card, then you’ve miscalculated."
"If Liu Jinxian is really that aggressive, why not raise the white flag and surrender? What’s the big deal?"
Gu Zhengshun replied bitterly:
"If Junior Brother Wang insists on this, I have nothing more to say. Sigh... so be it."
Watching the departing figure, Wang Yu’s expression turned unpredictable.
His cooperation with this person was mostly a matter of timing. Gu Zhengshun’s weak strength gave him confidence to suppress the man, and changing the mountain lord's token also allowed him to conceal his identity.
He had thought that Gu Zhengshun’s supposed backing was a Foundation Establishnt cultivator who had so real skill. Who would have guessed he was just a paper tiger?
But sothing about this situation didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the style of a demonic cultivator to give up so easily.
"Unless... Gu Zhengshun ca to Blackbone Mountain not for the Xuan Essence Flower at all."
Wang Yu murmured in his heart and began reviewing every move the other man had made since arriving at Blackbone Mountain.
Inspection, formation setup, corpse burial, gradual takeover.
All of these actions were steady and thodical.
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