He certainly didn't believe Jin Miaoshan had just fallen for him. Reality wasn't a romantic storybook. The moment this woman recovered, she fully utilized her beauty.
She knew she was very beautiful!
She wanted to leave a sufficiently deep impression on Wang Yu's heart.
After all, these one or two contacts, plus the three days of intimate solitude, were enough to prove Wang Yu's uniqueness. Core Formation couldn't stop him, not even Nascent Soul.
The potential he displayed was enough for Jin Miaoshan to take notice, let alone him solving a major problem for her.
That kiss of hers was just a hook.
Wang Yu sneered inwardly. He was hardly a stranger to indulging in pleasure and having multiple women. Someone like Jin Miaoshan, a heaven-favored genius, how could she possibly be interested in him?
What she valued was merely his potential.
"Tsk, women—"
Having dealt with this matter, Wang Yu rested for another day before preparing to visit Heavenly Treasure Pavilion to find his old friend Han Jia.
Since Jin Miaoshan had left in such a hurry, they hadn't even had time to discuss whether she was willing to continue operating the Golden Pavilion in Guiding Spirit City.
Guiding Spirit still needed two giant merchant association platforms to prevent monopolies and ensure healthy development.
Besides, more channels meant more options.
Many of the spiritual herbs he needed were very rare. The face of City Lord Wang wasn't that big; they couldn't just transfer whatever he wanted.
Some precious treasures could be sold anywhere.
Some were collected to prepare for auctions, continuously solidifying their influence foundation, or to keep expanding and exporting rare items, which was the fundamental purpose of their associations.
Countless cities across the righteous and demonic paths had the presence of these two associations. They couldn't possibly serve him alone.
At such times, the personal connections and power of the branch pavilion or branch hall masters were crucial. There was competition within the associations as well.
Whoever had more powerful, important guests held greater internal sway. It all depended on performance.
Of course.
Some second-generation heirs had their predecessors' accumulated resources, starting with control over vast assets, and weren't considered regular competitors.
Zhenren Han Jia, at least, was at the late Core Formation stage.
He could satisfy the vast majority of Wang Yu's needs. The reason for seeking him out this time was also that Wang Yu's cultivation had entered a new phase.
He needed to find and learn a new cultivation pill recipe.
After all, he had already consumed seven top-grade Ice Spirit Pills. Five more and they'd likely become ineffective. At most, he could use them for another ten years, just enough to bridge to the next pill recipe.
Top-grade body-tempering medicines suitable for the later stages of the second rank also needed to be prepared in large quantities. The third-grade Dragon Blood Essence was officially declared used up. Dragon Blood Secret Medicine temporarily left his resource pool.
The two top-grade materials, the Corpse Ghoul and the Corpse Fiend, should also start receiving resources for refinement. The former had the makings of a Demon Corpse, the latter of a Thunder Corpse.
Both were damned exotic variants. If a fellow disciple from Heavenly Corpse Peak obtained such an opportunity, they'd sell everything they owned to refine them, and they'd even be worthy of becoming life-bound corpses.
Unfortunately, Wang Yu didn't cultivate a corpse path technique. Controlling just one Moon Yin Corpse Fiend with his spiritual sense was already quite strenuous. Adding two more third-grade refined corpses would burst his Niwan Palace even if he couldn't control them.
His solution to this was to relentlessly pursue Soul Origin Pills.
When his spiritual sense reached the peak of the early third rank (third layer), he should barely be able to control a second one. Besides, refining two top-grade materials to the third rank would also take a considerable amount of time.
Perhaps by then he'd be able to use them, so he needed to start preparing early.
Pure Yin Blood, Nether Soul Scraps, various demonic materials, etc.—these were prepared for the Demon Corpse and were costly.
Rooster demon essence blood, black dog demon essence blood, thunderbird essence blood... these were the Yang attribute materials prepared for the Thunder Corpse, and even more expensive because in Scarlet Kite, the demand for such spiritual items was low.
Where there's a market, people will collect them. Low supply naturally meant high prices.
If conditions allowed, building one Yin and one Yang blood pool would be best, soaking the corpses for eight to ten years. They'd also need to collect rare demonic miasma and thunder miasma to nourish them.
A huge hassle. But thinking of the Moon Yin Corpse Fiend's powerful corpse path divine abilities, Wang Yu felt motivated again.
Just these expenditures would cost several million spirit stones.
Fortunately, he had just harvested a wave from Guiding Spirit, which should barely cover it.
But after that... he'd need third-grade pills to increase his spiritual sense. The Soul Origin Pill was also nearing pill resistance. He had already been selling this as a City Lord Manor specialty in the market.
Materials for refining his life-bound magic treasure also needed continued collection.
No amount of money seemed enough.
Oh right, there was also the material collection for the **[Exquisite Inner Pill]**. He had written to Zhuo Shouqing, who helped him obtain the pill recipe from within the sect. The materials, however, he had to worry about himself.
The effect of this pill was extremely rare—it could permanently increase comprehension and bring about a state of enlightenment lasting several days. This was also crucial for him.
When he saw Han Jia at the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion...
The other was startled by the list of material demands Wang Yu presented, which piled up to three meters high. After careful calculation, Han Jia asked for an advance payment of one million spirit stones.
Some items could be obtained immediately.
Some required him to use his connections to transfer from the Cloudveil Prefecture main pavilion. Others would require time to find slowly, costing another three to four million later.
Almost equivalent to the auction price of a top-grade Core Formation spiritual material.
Truly not cheap.
After handling these matters, Wang Yu entered a long waiting period—waiting for the various spiritual materials to arrive, waiting for the Yellow Springs Temple's envoy.
For body-tempering cultivation, he temporarily used the **[Purple Lightning Melding Gold Liquid]** from the Lightning Descending Abyss. Over a hundred drops were enough for him to use for a while and advance another level.
The **[Heavenly Heart Scattered Thunder Tribulation-Avoidance Treasure Array]**, centered on **[Lightning-Guiding Iron]**, was also being prepared in full swing, with a formation master from Heavenly Treasure Pavilion invited.
As a formation treasure, this item could be reused.
In the future, when he was done with it, he could also sell it as part of a package with cave dwelling rentals. To earn more spirit stones, he was willing to use every method possible.
As for the tribulation-avoidance treasure centered on **[Sky Thunder Crystal Cluster]**, he still needed to find a suitable blueprint. He couldn't just start refining whatever he wanted.
For this matter, he had originally wanted to use compensation as an excuse to have Master Tranquil Water personally oversee it, given his particular expertise in refining lightning-defensive treasures.
Unfortunately, Jin Miaoshan ran off too quickly. He could only wait for the next opportunity.
Even if it didn't happen in time, there was still Qing Yang Zhenren's ancestral relic, so there was no need to be overly anxious.
And so...
Time gradually passed. Wang Yu almost counted the days on his fingers. During his usual cultivation, the Three-Tailed Snow Fox also liked to cling to him, curling up together on the Profound Ice Bed.
The extreme cold energy contained within this item seemed to cleanse its bloodline. Within a few months, it broke through to the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, showing some accomplishment.
Don't think it cultivated slowly—that was compared to Wang Yu. In reality, it was quite fast. With a lifespan of three hundred years at the Foundation Establishment stage, it had enough time for multiple attempts to condense a Golden Core.
This alone surpassed countless people.
With the accumulated influence of the Profound Ice Bed, Xue Yu might be able to use the breakthrough opportunity to shatter its bloodline shackles once more.
After superior-grade bloodline came earth-grade bloodline.
Among demon beasts, those with earth-grade bloodline were Nascent Soul seeds. The legendary heaven-grade bloodline even possessed Transformation Spirit potential. However... aptitude was just aptitude. Whether one could reach their上限 was another matter.
For true geniuses, limits were made to be broken. Aptitude didn't determine everything.
Wang Yu expressed agreement.
Then... continued cultivating the **[Demon Embryo Profound Origin Secret Curse]**!
After this secret technique reached perfection, Wang Yu occasionally placed it in the Placement Slot to absorb demonic thoughts and strengthen the demon embryo's essence.
As expected, the Placement Slot could elevate this aptitude-stealing secret technique to a higher level. It just required too much time. Wang Yu used fragmented time to deduce it.
He felt this would be a key point in his life-or-death struggle with Fu Xiao.
In the future, it might also occupy a slot in the Placement Slot for a long time.
Late in the 8th month of Wang Yu's 33rd year as an Affairs Manager.
The Yellow Springs Temple's envoy arrived at the Guiding Spirit City Lord's Manor sooner than expected. The eager City Lord Wang received the envoy at the first opportunity.
"You are Wang Yu? The Lord of Guiding Spirit?!"
The envoy's attitude was mediocre, but this was just the barking of the defeated. Wang Yu was happy to listen to it all.
"That's right, it's me. Are you the one the Yellow Springs Temple sent to repay the debt?"
The envoy's expression darkened. He casually tossed out a storage pouch.
"Inside are two million spirit stones. Please verify the amount, City Lord. No responsibility after acceptance."
"Stop pretending. Your heart must be aching terribly."
Wang Yu cursed inwardly, but his spiritual sense meticulously scanned the contents. The big share had been eaten by Cloudveil Prefecture City; two million remaining for him was already good.
This was precisely when he urgently needed spirit stones. He pocketed it all.
This sight.
Immediately made the envoy hesitate, wanting to speak but stopping himself. That was a high-grade storage pouch, not cheap, and it was his personal property!
After all, at Cloudveil Prefecture City, they had already transferred it once!
His heart ached so much he could barely breathe.
But on second thought, he was representing the Yellow Springs Temple. Even with only Foundation Establishment cultivation, he couldn't disgrace their reputation. He snorted coldly and took out a contract.
"This is a Yellow Springs Contract. Violators' souls will forever belong to the Yellow Springs."
The Styx and the Yellow Springs might seem like the final destinations for the dead, but they were actually two different systems of the afterlife. They lingered both outside the world and within it.
No one had been to the Styx, but there were many legends about the Yellow Springs, proving that cultivators of this world had once ventured deep into it. The Netherworld was a special region of the Yellow Springs.
For Yellow Springs Temple cultivators to use Yellow Springs Contracts was perfectly reasonable!
After careful inspection, the contract stipulated the prohibition against him privately teaching **[The Netherfinger Technique]** to others. He had long been prepared for this. After signing with a blood seal...
The envoy tossed him a one-time-use inheritance jade slip and hurriedly departed, not showing a single pleasant expression throughout.
Wang Yu, however, had someone tail him until he left Cloudveil Province. He hadn't forgotten the previous grudges. Others aside, Elder Earth Treasury surely hated him to the bone.
He needed to guard against that.
The Netherfinger Technique was only a second-grade, high-tier technique. After combining its technique scriptures with those of the Mysterious Yin Hand, Wang Yu immediately sensed an unusual compatibility.
Forming the divine ability **[Yellow Springs Great Hand Seal]** seemed to present no difficulty at all.
In just ten days, Wang Yu had completely worked out the divine ability technique. After reviewing it from start to finish, he instantly understood why the Yellow Springs Temple believed he couldn't cultivate it.
This divine ability required communication with the legendary Yellow Springs.
It required a drop of **[Yellow Springs Turbid Water]** as a guide, and the continuous absorption of Yellow Springs power.
This tyrannical power couldn't be refined by ordinary cultivation techniques; only the **[Yellow Springs Azure Fall Sutra]** could achieve it.
And within the Yellow Springs Temple, there seemed to be a secret realm specifically connected to the Yellow Springs, channeling a branch of the Yellow Springs flow inside—a feat that could be called heaven-defying.
"Heh—
"Placement Slot, cultivate this for me!!"
**(End of Chapter)**