Perfected Cultivation Method (Seeking Continued Reading, Seeking Votes)

"Sure."

Wang Yu had the foresight to have Huang Kai and the others obtain official credentials. With those in hand, Zhao Shang joining Ice Snow Tower's public accounts became perfectly natural.

"Then, happy cooperation."

He reached out and shook Wang Yu's hand. Zhao Shang's emotions were exceedingly complicated. To restrain the desire in his heart, cooperate with him, and even yield part of the profits—

A person like that, even with Useless Spiritual Roots, could absorb every scrap of nourishment and gradually grow stronger.

Wang Yu familiarly patted Zhao Shang's shoulder and said warmly, "Let bygones be bygones. From now on, we're friends. I won't be staying in the rooms at the tower either. Come to this address in three days, and I'll introduce you to a few friends."

"Alright—"

A thousand words, yet in the end, he only uttered one.

After settling these matters and returning to his residence in Evil God Ward, Wang Yu finally had the time to take out the "High-Grade Cold Blood Pill" he had bought for five hundred Spirit Stones.

The pill was icy blue in appearance. Even inside its box, it emanated a faint chill. A blood-red dot lay within it, brimming with Spirit Qi.

According to the description of its effects, this pill could help cultivators of the Cold Blood Art gain forty strands of spiritual power cultivation, and its medicinal effect could last for an entire year.

This trait did not mean its effects were especially good. It merely indicated that the Cold Blood Pill contained immense medicinal power and was difficult to refine—those were its two characteristics.

At Wang Yu's current cultivation speed, he could only refine a wisp of Spirit Qi every two days. In a year, he could cultivate merely eighteen strands of spiritual power. That was only thanks to Placement Slot; if he relied on himself, refining one or two strands would already be impressive.

He swallowed the pill and cultivated.

As the icy blue pill entered his stomach, a cool, refreshing sensation spread from his dantian through his limbs and bones. Wang Yu felt incomparably comfortable.

Using his Divine Sense for Internal Vision, he could see the pill in his dantian, wrapped in gaseous Spirit Qi and constantly being refined. It was shrinking so slowly that the change was nearly imperceptible. The difficulty of refining it truly was high.

After a long while, one Great Circulation was complete. His cultivation had indeed improved noticeably, but refining the pill's power could only be done by himself.

For the coming year, he would have to spend much of his time on this.

Thus, three days quietly passed.

At the appointed shop, he introduced Zhao Shang to Zhou Tao and the other two from the Alchemist Society. After deciding on the type and quantity of the first batch of pills, each paid for their own purchases and bought quite a few low-priced spirit herbs.

Among them, Huang Kai and Luo Ping Hu were short on funds and could not buy many medicinal ingredients. Wang Yu lent out his remaining five hundred Spirit Stones, while Zhou Tao contributed an additional thousand, helping the brothers complete the purchase of the first batch of spirit herbs.

These Spirit Stones were to be repaid after the transaction was completed.

The three Alchemists' trade was not particularly large in scale, and the profits they could squeeze out were limited. Wang Yu did not participate for now; he intended to wait a little longer.

Zhao Shang, however, felt that the amount was somewhat too small. Wang Yu could only reassure him that once there were more Alchemists, they would naturally earn more Spirit Stones.

That was true, but the Alchemist Society's growth absolutely could not draw attention. If Wang Yu joined in the future, it would only be because he wanted to temper his Divine Sense.

So the pace would be very slow. Even if Zhao Shang was dissatisfied, there was nothing he could do. Once aboard a pirate ship, one could not simply leave whenever one wished.

As for the Alchemist Society, with Ice Snow Tower's channels, Wang Yu's previous promise had been verified. He truly could get things done.

Huang Kai and Luo Ping Hu were utterly convinced by him. Even though his cultivation was the lowest, they held an extra measure of respect for him. Only Zhou Tao had a more active mind.

Given enough time, he might bypass Wang Yu and contact Zhao Shang directly.

That did not matter. He would not succeed. As long as he could help Wang Yu earn Spirit Stones, minor flaws could be tolerated, so long as they did not touch Wang Yu's bottom line.

Thus, the matter of the Alchemist Society came to a temporary close.

The three hundred and eighty-fifth day of his Outer Sect life!

More than a year had passed since he advanced to the Outer Sect, and Wang Yu was about to reach his first turning point in cultivation.

The Cold Blood Art was perfected today.

Inside his residence in Evil God Ward, Wang Yu was sensing the changes in his Spiritual Roots. According to the cultivation method, when this method reached perfection, it could provide a minute improvement to a cultivator's aptitude.

This improvement was nearly negligible, but to Wang Yu, it was extremely important. After all, there was no aptitude worse than Useless Spiritual Roots. Any worse, and cultivation itself would be impossible.

"This feeling..."

Through an instinctive perception from The Unseen, Wang Yu seemed to see his own Spiritual Roots. Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—the Five Elements were all present, yet each was less than an inch long, pitifully short.

In terms of cultivation, this meant he had great difficulty refining Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. His affinity was insufficient, and even sensing and capturing Spirit Qi took tremendous effort.

At this very moment, as the cultivation method reached perfection, an icy blue spiritual radiance emerged from his blood and attached itself to his Water Spiritual Root.

It visibly shot up by a small stretch, reaching about half its original length. Among the Five Elements Spiritual Roots, it stood like a crane among chickens. Wang Yu's eyes went wide.

"No—

"This is a minute improvement? It's grown by nearly half!"

But upon further thought, who among those capable of cultivating the Cold Blood Art to perfection was not a Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivator? Their aptitudes were generally Three Spiritual Roots.

By comparison, the increase would naturally seem slight. It was even highly likely that their aptitude was already high enough, while this power that improved aptitude was too weak to be as obvious as it was for Wang Yu.

"So, it's actually because I'm weak that the growth is so obvious, not because my cultivation effect is good..."

With a faint realization in his heart, Wang Yu continued observing.

He discovered that his Water Spiritual Root had not only grown longer—it also showed signs of crystallizing.

No!

More precisely, it was undergoing Crystallization!

"Ice Spiritual Root?"

The attributes of conventional Spiritual Roots were all within the Five Elements, but Mutated Spiritual Roots could also arise from that foundation: ice, thunder, wind, void, blood, yin, yang... and so on.

Their changes were unpredictable, as impossible to fathom as the will of heaven.

This discovery gave Wang Yu even more ideas. Perhaps he could try to actively mutate into an Ice Spiritual Root. Although Five Elements Spiritual Roots had no restrictions in cultivation attributes, they also lacked the advantages of compatible attributes.

Any advantage was still an advantage. Every improvement to his aptitude was exceedingly precious to him, and Placement Slot would amplify that advantage dozens or even hundreds of times.

[Placement Slot 1: Cold Blood Art]

"Cold Blood Art (100/100): Seventy-two cycles a day; can be achieved in Twenty Years."

Twenty Years... that meant a second-tier Foundation Establishment cultivation method derived from the Cold Blood Art would amplify its aptitude-improving effects even further!

Wang Yu had no intention of removing it. Perfection was perfection, but the cultivation it fed back to him was what mattered most.

The number of daily cultivation cycles had also increased considerably.

The next day.

After testing the efficiency following the cultivation method's perfection, Wang Yu was overjoyed. Previously, one Placement Slot for a cultivation method could only refine a wisp of Spirit Qi every two days. Now, it had become one wisp per day.

At present, he had accumulated roughly thirty-five strands of spiritual power within his body. He had already traversed one-tenth of Qi Refining Fourth Layer. At most, he would break through to Qi Refining Fifth Layer in a little over seven years.

That was half as fast as his earlier estimate of more than ten years, and this only counted the efficiency of a single Placement Slot.

If he used two Placement Slots together with the effects of the High-Grade Cold Blood Pill—

The speed would be even faster.