Unspoken Rules

Though it would take a bit longer, it would greatly help his situation. The circumstances of Outer Disciples were even more severe than he had guessed.

Chief among them was his residence in Ice Snow Tower, which would bring him foreseeable trouble. Everyone harbored jealousy in their hearts; how to deal with it made the Night Concealment Spell crucial.

On the other hand, after switching to the Cold Blood Art, his comprehension of the cultivation method would be no different from starting from scratch. Yet it could wash away the Blood Burning Spiritual Power within Wang Yu and replace it with new ice-attributed spiritual power.

Cultivating the Cold Blood Art felt like soaking his body in icy water, bringing a piercing chill that seeped from skin to blood, then deep into the marrow.

Throughout this process, Wang Yu's body would be tempered and grow stronger by the day.

He kept firmly in mind the effect his missing arm would have on Foundation Establishment. The Qi and Blood Barrier was closely related to physical strength; the earlier he cultivated and made up for it, the more he could minimize its impact on his Dao Path.

Moreover, the Cold Blood Art and Ice Sword Technique were originally a matched set. While consumption was greatly reduced, their power surged enormously! Its spiritual power intensity was also far greater than that of a quick-fix demonic art like the Blood Burning Art.

With all these factors combined, the sooner he switched cultivation methods, the sooner he would benefit.

And after personally experiencing the cultivation content of this stage, the gains fed back by the Placement Slot had changed as well.

If Wang Yu cultivated on his own, he would divide the hundred strands of spiritual power within his body into groups of ten. During a Great Circulation, ten strands of spiritual power would enter his meridians at once.

They would be continuously compressed during the Circulation of the Heavenly Cycle, forcing them to fuse into one, transforming from strands into "streams" and raising the quality of his spiritual power.

This often required persistence. If once was not enough, then ten times; if ten times were not enough, then a hundred, a thousand!

With the aptitude of Useless Spiritual Roots, wanting to thoroughly condense them into ten streams of spiritual power and use that to break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer was fraught with difficulties.

The Placement Slot's feedback, however, directly returned the ever-solidifying spiritual power into Wang Yu's dantian. Just as when he had placed the Ice Sword Technique, he directly gained reflexes from muscle memory.

Only this time, the feedback gave his spiritual power conditioned reflexes.

There was no growth, no sudden appearance.

Instead, it continuously tamed and solidified it. When Wang Yu circulated his cultivation method again, it felt as though it had been tempered a thousand times over, and everything proceeded with remarkable ease.

It was like the natural feeling of water reaching its channel!

At this rate, within half a year at most, he could transform "a hundred strands of spiritual power" into "ten streams of spiritual power," successfully break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, and complete his first Spirit Refining!

That was only counting the efficiency of a single Placement Slot, and he had more than enough time.

It would be just right for him to "place" the matching spell techniques as well.

Over the next few days, Wang Yu spent most of his time running about and learning about the Inverse Blood Ten Wards. In particular, investigating and understanding [Cold Blood Ward] was his highest priority.

The fifth day of his life as an Outer Disciple.

In the first-floor hall of Ice Snow Tower, he had discovered over the past few days that the cultivators living in the tower were basically all Inner Disciples, most of their cultivation hovering around the Qi Refining Late Stage.

They saw one another every day. Though they looked down on him, a disciple promoted from a Spirit Slave, none had truly attacked him. At most, they mocked and ridiculed him with their words.

As long as he kept out of their way, it was not much of a problem. The real trouble came from the Outer Disciples outside the tower who had likewise pledged themselves to True Disciples. Their coveting of Wang Yu's Essence Qi Chamber in Ice Snow Tower was enough for them to truly make a move!

Most of them were at the Qi Refining Mid Stage or below, while there were very few Outer Disciples inside the tower wearing Black Blood Tokens. Apart from him, there was only one other, whose situation was much the same as his.

"Junior Brother Wang, sitting here so early—were you waiting for your senior brother?"

As he was pondering this, Zhao Shang slowly descended from upstairs. Though he was only at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, within Ice Snow Tower, the True Disciple had actually granted him extremely high authority.

At critical moments, he could even command those few great Foundation Establishment cultivators. At the same time, the profits from this position were outrageously plentiful. As far as Wang Yu knew, Zhao Shang was not yet thirty this year; his Foundation Establishment in the future was practically set in stone.

"Senior Brother Zhao, this junior indeed has something to discuss."

Rising to pour him a cup of tea, Wang Yu asked, "I heard there are quite a few tasks within Ice Snow Tower with little work and plentiful Spirit Stones. How exactly does that work?"

"Easy enough."

Zhao Shang did not sit down. Instead, he pulled a large number of scrolls from the Storage Bag at his waist and laid them across the table.

"Take your time, Junior Brother Wang. If there is a task that catches your eye, your senior brother will explain the details."

"Alright—"

Unfurling the scrolls, Wang Yu silently compared them against the information he had gathered in the Mission Hall over the past few days. The rewards truly were far more generous.

[1, Second Peak Heavenly Corpse Peak requires three Qi Refining Disciples proficient in the Corpse Refinement Technique to tend thirty Black Corpses for one year. Reward: 800 Contribution Points.]

For example, he had seen a similar commission in the Mission Hall, but its reward was only 300 Spirit Stones, not even Contribution Points.

Contribution Points could be exchanged in the Sect Treasury for desired spirit medicines, spirit materials, Magical Artifacts, spell techniques, cultivation methods, the four arts of cultivation... etc.

Many scarce items could only be exchanged with Contribution Points. On this point alone, Ice Snow Tower's task commissions greatly surpassed those issued by the Mission Hall.

The only difference was that most Ice Snow Tower tasks were privately issued. Many Foundation Establishment Stewards and Core Formation Elders took part, and the number of tasks also indirectly proved the strength of the True Disciple behind them and the size of their faction.

The Mission Hall's tasks were more public in nature, with many involving sect assets that required maintenance.

After looking through them all, Wang Yu favored short-term tasks that did not require fighting.

[12, Responsible for maintaining Steward Tantai's private Medicine Garden for half a year. Must be proficient in nurturing spirit medicines and identifying a hundred herbs. Reward: 500 Contribution Points.]

Ice Snow Tower would take half, meaning that after half a year, only two hundred and fifty would actually end up in his pocket. This peculiar number made Wang Yu hesitate for a time.

During his sixteen years in Stone Lake City, unable to access cultivation methods, he had placed nearly every kind of miscellaneous book. He was fairly proficient in the study of herbs.

But that level was certainly not enough to tend an entire spirit medicine garden. He still needed to cram for a few days. When the Placement Slot held purely knowledge-based material, it often took only several days for him to memorize it by heart.

The Thousand Character Classic and Ten Thousand Character Classic had both proven this, so there was no need to worry.

"Senior Brother Zhao, I've made my choice."

"Steward Tantai's assignment, huh~" Zhao Shang tilted his head for a glance and immediately recognized where the scroll in Wang Yu's hand had come from. He said, "Steward Tantai offers rather generous rewards, but her demands are high as well. Are you sure you can complete it?"

"I should be able to."

Hearing that, Zhao Shang could not help but regard Wang Yu more highly. There were plenty of cultivators on the Demonic Path who could fight, but those engaged in production were somewhat lacking. Technical talent was in desperately short supply.

"Then good—"

"By the rules, fifty percent is to be offered up to True Inheritor Su. On top of that, you must hand over another ten percent—half to the Foundation Establishment Cultivators upstairs, and half to Zhao here. Any objections?"

Wang Yu froze for a moment, then quickly understood and replied in a muffled voice, "No objections."

"Very good. Then this assignment is yours. Report to Steward Tantai's side within seven days."

"This junior brother understands."