Doubts (Seeking Continued Reading, Seeking Votes)

After he left, he secretly notified Huang Kai and Luo Ping Hu. He said nothing to the more ambitious Zhou Tao, merely transferring the Alchemist Society's authority to him.

Naturally, Zhou Tao was overjoyed. Having long harbored such thoughts, he immediately cozied up to Zhao Shang.

Zhao was the sort who wanted money more than life. He had worked at Ice Snow Tower for many years, and the Spirit Stones he had embezzled had long exceeded thirty thousand. Yet his Daily Cultivation and the connections he maintained cost far more Spirit Stones than someone like Wang Yu, who lived alone.

Even after scraping together enough capital to buy a High-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, he was still short of the required amount.

Those two greedy wretches would sooner or later bring ruin crashing down upon themselves.

Withdrawing in time and staying far from the Mountain Gate was also Wang Yu's way of seeking refuge.

Back to the main topic.

After setting up this illusion formation, Wang Yu moved into the dilapidated Stone House left behind by a predecessor. The Ferocious Bone Lion's corpse held some value; the longest bone spike on its back was prime material for refining Magical Artifacts.

It was worth at least two hundred Spirit Stones. The corpse itself was ordinary, but as a First Tier Peak Stage creature, even if used as blood food for raising evil creatures, it was worth over a hundred.

Killing two of them could be exchanged for one High-Grade Cold Blood Pill.

Within the sect, this was an income that was exceedingly difficult to obtain. If one truly wanted to earn cultivation resources, one still had to leave the sect.

Of course, that also had something to do with Profound Bone Mountain being a relatively "fat" resource site.

All three Profound Bone Mountains possessed Second Tier Yin Spirit Veins.

Yin Spirit Veins were also a type of Spirit Vein, except the Spirit Qi they emanated leaned more toward the Yin Attribute. They were often formed only in places where too many deaths had occurred.

By all rights, it was more reasonable for Foundation Establishment Cultivators to be stationed in such places. Moreover, the cultivators guarding Profound Bone Mountain in the previous rotation should theoretically have swept through it once.

They had spent three months on the road getting here, yet this place had swiftly been occupied again by Ferocious Bone Lions and Rotting Poison Bee Swarms. That was one point of suspicion.

Thus, although Wang Yu could easily slay Ferocious Bone Lions, he did not lower his guard in the slightest. He planned to advance slowly and guard against any subtle mishap.

After all, there were still more than four months until the flowering season!

Because of differences in harvesting times and growing environments, Bone Wood trees bloomed at different intervals. Every year, some Bone Wood would flower.

More than four months was enough for him to take two levels for his own use.

And so.

One month later.

"Ice Coffin Spell—Cold Wind Comes!"

Having cultivated the spell to perfection, Wang Yu could make minute alterations to it in addition to increasing its power.

Just like now.

The Ice Coffin Spell should have formed six sheets of ice crystal that closed together into a coffin of restraint. But after Wang Yu's subtle alteration, six Ice Walls surrounded a swarm of Rotting Poison Bees.

The ice crystals trembled without end. Countless icicles shot forth from the Ice Walls, accompanied by gust after gust of icy wind. The bee swarm, originally extremely troublesome, was almost entirely transformed into lumps of ice by this attack, shattering upon the ground.

Their rotting poison had no effect whatsoever on the spiritual power of spells!

A major nuisance was resolved with ease.

Wang Yu had not been capable of this alteration when he fought Xu Jiao Jiao. It was a change made according to local conditions after experiencing many battles. This was called combat experience.

He turned a troublesome struggle into a battle of sweeping conquest.

Combat Skill was also a crucial factor affecting a cultivator's strength. Wang Yu was becoming increasingly accustomed to it, while the others suffered unspeakably.

Especially this group of Heavenly Corpse Peak disciples under Gu Zheng Shun.

The Corpse Qi of the Bronze Armor Corpses they controlled condensed into ridged bronze armor, covering the Armor Corpses' surfaces. It appeared to be an innate talent of the Armor Corpses, but disciples with sufficient means—

Would buy some Profound Iron for their Armor Corpses to refine, fusing it with their innate Corpse Armor and taking its defenses to another level.

It had originally been a means of strengthening the Armor Corpses, yet when they encountered the Rotting Poison Bee Swarms, it instead brought disaster upon them. Not only did their defenses plummet, even the armor formed from Corpse Qi was damaged along with it.

After one month, they had only taken three Bone Wood sites where Second Tier Profound Essence Flowers grew. Their efficiency was painfully slow, which was also related to their cultivation being too low.

There were twenty-some people. The weakest were at the Qi Refining Third Layer, while the strongest had only reached the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, the same realm as Gu Zheng Shun. It was difficult for them to achieve much efficiency.

Meanwhile, Wang Yu had already taken two levels. There were nine Second Tier Bone Wood trees with flower buds, and he was currently preparing to take the third level. With his abilities, patrolling three levels of territory each day was enough.

Over the following years, different Bone Wood trees would basically grow flower buds every year. He merely needed to guard them and harvest the rewards!

This day, amid his Daily Cultivation.

Gu Zheng Shun sat atop a coffin lid and flew directly toward the level where Wang Yu was. Seeing the two levels devoid of any bee swarms or Bone Lions, he felt somewhat envious and shouted from afar.

"Junior Brother Wang, Gu has come to visit on business."

As the Blood Mist Illusion Formation revealed a path, Gu Zheng Shun walked in without hesitation. Before the Stone House, he saw Wang Yu standing there and went straight to the point.

"We have trouble."

Wang Yu was somewhat surprised upon hearing this.

"What makes you say that?"

"It is Liu Jin Xian."

Of the three Mountain Masters of Profound Bone Mountain, Liu Jin Xian was the strongest.

She also had the most subordinates. In one month, she had thoroughly cleared out her own Profound Bone Mountain. With nearly three hundred people under her command sitting idle, she had set her sights on Gu Zheng Shun's side.

"At first, she merely sent a letter, hoping that we could capture the Rotting Poison Bee Swarms on our Profound Bone Mountain alive and hand them over to her. I declined on the grounds that we lacked manpower.

"Now she wants to have her people help me clear this Profound Bone Mountain. If she is allowed to take charge, the territory we have taken will belong to them..."

Wang Yu's brows drew tightly together. This situation had been nearly predictable and was nothing strange. The problem lay with Gu Zheng Shun.

"And then? You did not prepare any fallback plan? Did you not intend to balance her against the other two Mountain Masters? Did you come here only to change places and let others carve you up like fish on a chopping block?"

Gu Zheng Shun immediately explained with an awkward expression.

"The Gu Family was once a Foundation Establishment Family, but after the Old Ancestor fell, we declined into a Qi Refining Family. Gu was able to take a Foundation Establishment Steward of Heavenly Corpse Peak's inner sect as my master only because Master owed the Old Ancestor a favor.

"The Gu Family's foundations are far inferior to the Liu Clan's. If she insists on forcing the matter, we can only rely on you."

"Rely on me?"

Wang Yu could not help but sneer. Narrowing his eyes as he sized up Gu Zheng Shun, he said, "Wang is merely an ordinary Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivator. Brother Gu, if you are counting on me as your trump card, you have chosen the wrong target."

"If Liu Jin Xian is truly so overbearing, what is wrong with Wang raising the white flag and surrendering? What great matter is that?"

Gu Zheng Shun said bitterly.

"If Junior Brother Wang insists, Gu has nothing more to say. Sigh... let it be, then."

Watching the other man depart, Wang Yu's expression shifted between light and dark.

His cooperation with this man had mainly arisen from a chance convergence of circumstances. Furthermore, Gu Zheng Shun was not very strong, so Wang Yu was confident he could keep him under control. Thus, changing the Mountain Lord Token had also allowed him to conceal himself along the way.

He had thought that with a Core Formation grandmaster as his master's master, Gu Zheng Shun would have some capability. Who would have thought he was merely a paper tiger?

Yet the situation did not seem so simple. Giving up so easily was not the style of demonic cultivators.

Unless... Gu Zheng Shun had not come to Profound Bone Mountain for the Profound Essence Flowers.

Wang Yu muttered inwardly, beginning to ponder every action Gu Zheng Shun had taken after arriving at Profound Bone Mountain.

Inspecting, setting up formations, burying corpses, slowly advancing.

None of these had been a problem. He had proceeded steadily, step by step!