**Chapter 105: Flood Dragon Inner Core**
The female attendant produced a sheet of white paper.
"Please look. This is a Spirit Stone Loan product recently launched by the Gold-Full Tower. You can take the goods first and pay the spirit stones later, repaying a portion each year."
"Of course, it also requires paying a tiny, negligible amount of interest."
Spirit Stone Loan?
Hearing this familiar yet strange term, Wang Yu felt his vision darken.
"How much is the interest?"
"Twenty percent. Each time you miss a payment, the interest increases by five percent of the total loan amount, with no upper limit."
"Can anyone borrow?"
"Of course not." The attendant pointed her slender finger at the disciple token on Wang Yu's waist, making him suddenly understand.
"And if someone relies on their strength and doesn't repay?"
"The Nascent Soul cultivators of the Gold-Full Tower will be responsible for collecting the debt in person."
Wang Yu sheepishly put the jade pot down.
"I'd better look at something lower grade. Do you have anything Tier 1?"
Seeing that he was unwilling to take the loan, the attendant's attitude remained gentle, though her eyes held a hint of strangeness. If they encountered someone with strong self-esteem, they might have taken the loan.
Unfortunately, this trick was useless against someone like Wang Yu.
*Ridiculous! My 'little brother' is impotent!* Seduction and pride-stoking were useless.
"For Tier 1, there are many more choices. However, Tier 1 demon beasts have limited size, so their essence blood output isn't high. And since the esteemed guest wants dragon-lineage, the price will be thirty percent more expensive than essence blood of the same grade~"
"Bring them out for me to see."
"Very well."
As those jade pots disappeared back into the cabinet wall drawers, a batch of dragon-lineage essence blood in jade vials was presented.
"Tier 1 Dragon-lineage demon beast, **Frost Python**. One vial, nine drops of essence blood. Price: three thousand spirit stones."
"Tier 1 Dragon-lineage demon beast, **Mire Purple Dragon**. One vial, nine drops of essence blood. Price: two thousand eight hundred spirit stones."
"Tier 1 Dragon-lineage demon beast, **Tuolong Dragon**. One vial, nine drops of essence blood. Price: two thousand five hundred spirit stones."
"Tier 1…"
The attendant introduced many options. Each vial contained nine drops. According to the medicinal bath formula attached to the *Flood Dragon Strength* technique, one drop could make three portions of the secret medicine. Buying one vial would be enough for him to use until the late Body Refining stage. This kind of expense wasn't actually expensive; the path of Body Refining consumed more and more resources the further one progressed. The expenditure at the Tier 1 stage was just a drop in the bucket.
"I'll take this one. The **Frost Python** essence blood."
"Very good. That will be three thousand spirit stones."
After completing the transaction, Wang Yu let out a long sigh of relief. He then went to purchase the other ingredients for the Body Refining secret medicine. With this, the fourth Storage Slot could be freed up.
Although the Flood Dragon Strength technique had reached Perfection, he had only cultivated it to the level of the "Fourth Tendon." Using the secret medicine to accelerate progress was just right. The freed-up Storage Slot could also be assigned to a spell technique.
**[Storage Slot 4: Invisibility Art]**
**[Invisibility Art (3/100): Twenty-four practices per day. Mastery achievable in three years.]**
As a low-grade Tier 2 spell technique, Wang Yu found it quite strenuous to study. Yet the Storage Slot required only three years, highlighting the gap between the two.
The Invisibility Art, as the name suggested, could make a person invisible.
It was divided into four realms: Light Concealment, Sound Concealment, Form Concealment, and Void Concealment!
Once cultivated to perfection, even if two people overlapped, it would be difficult to sense the presence of the invisible person.
Most of the spiders in the Ghost-Eye Cave were at the入门 (entry) realm, i.e., Light Concealment, where they couldn't even perfectly vanish their forms, let alone the sounds they made.
As a bone art inherited from the Hidden Dragon Treasure Bone, low-grade Tier 2 was only its most primitive state. If he could hunt Hidden Dragons with stronger bloodlines in the future, he might be able to learn more advanced invisibility arts.
This situation did not belong to an incomplete state. The Storage Slot couldn't complete it; it was more like a lower-tier replacement. Using the term 'advancement' was more appropriate.
Thus, the order for the Storage Slots was already planned: Invisibility Art, Profound Yin Hand... and then the Corpse Demon Secret Art.
While Wang Yu was at the spirit herb counter purchasing the supplementary ingredient 'Snake Saliva Fruit,' he suddenly turned his head to look at a figure walking towards the entrance. This person seemed to have just come down from the staircase.
He appeared middle-aged, his eyes extremely vigilant.
Subconsciously activating the Great Yin Nether Pupils, under the 'Observing Yin' perspective, he could see the 'Yin' aspect. In the center of this person's soul fire, there was a golden, pill-like object emitting a hazy spiritual light. The flood dragon aura within it was exceptionally rich.
It seemed as if his cultivation technique was automatically operating and refining it, continuously drawing out golden-red threads that dispersed into the man's limbs and bones.
"A Flood Dragon Inner Core?"
Wang Yu's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly settled the bill, took the Snake Saliva Fruit, and found himself involuntarily following the man.
Flood Dragons... were already second-tier in terms of dragon bloodline purity, their aptitude roughly equivalent to a human's Heavenly Spiritual Root. They were guaranteed to reach the Core Formation stage, and if they encountered opportunities, advancing to Nascent Soul was also possible.
The inner core of a dragon, also called a dragon pearl, was a rare treasure that could even be used as a substitute for Foundation Establishment or Core Formation spiritual treasures. The next best thing, a Flood Dragon Pearl, had similar effects.
Having researched Foundation Establishment spiritual treasures for a period, he had gained a deep understanding of the intricacies involved.
He just didn't know what grade this person's Flood Dragon Inner Core had reached. Wang Yu's heart stirred with desire. After all, he had originally been lured to Eroding Heart City by a fabricated piece of news. To encounter such an opportunity, and for him to have discovered it...
Should he take it? Could he take it? This was the question.
After leaving the Gold-Full Tower, the man headed straight for the city gates, his steps swift. Wang Yu, using the Night Concealment Charm, followed closely behind, a war raging in his heart.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they exited Eroding Heart City.
The man immediately took out a spirit boat about ten feet long, jumped onto it, and activated it at maximum power, transforming into a blue arc of light that rapidly sped away.
Seeing this, Wang Yu could only sigh with regret.
*Too fast. I can't catch up.*
*Perhaps it's for the best. This can cut off the evil thoughts in my heart, lest I become a villain without bottom lines.*
Suddenly.
Two more arcs of light soared into the sky, swiftly chasing in the direction the man had left. They could fly without relying on any flight artifacts—they were definitely Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Their faces were unfamiliar; probably not Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Eroding Heart City area. Such an obvious chase scene made Wang Yu's heart itch with unbearable curiosity.
If it were for treasure, to rob and kill a passerby with no enmity between them, honestly, he didn't want to do it.
But if two groups were fighting each other, and he went to steal the results, playing the fisherman, then he had no reservations.
This mentality seemed contradictory, but it was actually a reason some people gave themselves to break through their bottom lines. Whether it was a taste or an uncontrollable descent depended entirely on self-restraint.
Wang Yu, riding his flying sword, shot out after them.
Although he was only at the eighth level of Qi Refining, he had witnessed the strength of Foundation Establishment cultivators several times back at Mysterious Bone Mountain, and those were Foundation Establishment cultivators trained by a Nascent Soul sect.
These people were certainly weaker than someone like Steward Xu.
And he had become stronger. While he didn't dare claim he could defeat them in battle, he was confident he could retreat unscathed after a fight! Otherwise, what was the point of all those perfected spell techniques, each described as comparable to Foundation Establishment upon mastery? Had he cultivated them for nothing? Impossible!
However, greed was one thing. For this tailing mission, he would mainly play it by ear. If there was an opportunity, he would seize it; if not, he would let it go.
He had nothing to lose.
"Accelerate!"
Perhaps they had cast some tracking method on the cultivator possessing the Flood Dragon Inner Core, as the two early Foundation Establishment pursuers followed a very precise direction.
Their毫不掩饰 (unconcealed) auras also provided Wang Yu with a coordinate, allowing him to follow far behind at the tail end.
**(End of Chapter)**