There was simply no such person as him over by Taihu. Even if his name appeared on a ranking list, it should have been Cold Blood Peak’s Seventh Elder, Wang Yu, not the Ice Demon Child.
Now, he had regrown to the age of ten.
From a toddler to a young boy, his appearance had naturally changed to a certain extent.
As for refining human pills, he had almost no psychological resistance at all.
He believed that Ancestor Qingyi was only asking him to submit a pledge of loyalty casually. As long as he was not a spy from Taihu, Qingyi felt he could handle everything else.
“Hahahaha! Since Fellow Daoist is so straightforward, shall we go take a look right now?”
“Sure.”
Wang Yu slowly nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he casually glanced at the pair of twin sisters standing in the hall. Qingyi immediately read the situation and shot the Lord of Plum Crest City a sharp look.
The man understood at once.
“Senior Ice Demon, this junior will send this pair of beauties to the Fragrant Courtyard. You may stay there for the night.”
“You’re too polite.”
“Not at all. It’s you who are honoring us.”
A satisfied smile immediately appeared on Wang Yu’s face. A Nascent Soul cultivator and a Core Formation cultivator were truly worlds apart. In the past, how could he ever have made these second-generation elites, each with their own tricks, bow their heads like this?
Nascent Soul cultivators were already among the small number of truly powerful figures in this world.
Moreover, now that his body had grown to ten years old, his face already resembled his adult appearance to some extent. It was time for him to resume using concealment methods.
He planned to test the Myriad Transformations characteristic of the Innate Demonic Embryo.
At the moment, he had only stored one demonic spirit form, but with this ability, making slight adjustments to facial features was no problem. In fact, it would make him even more deceptive.
After a few simple courtesies, Wang Yu followed Qingyi into the prison of the Plum Crest City Lord’s mansion.
Inside were seven or eight young men wearing Crimson Kite traditional garments, their faces marked with seven or eight knife scars each.
They lay weakly collapsed inside the cells.
With that kind of look, they resembled mortal bandits more than Crimson Kite demonic cultivators. And wearing traditional attire was just absurd. Locals only wore that sort of thing during holidays and celebrations.
As for Crimson Kite’s festivals… aside from something called the Day of Demons Descending, Wang Yu knew nothing, and he had no need to know.
And as for their blatantly fake disguises, it only proved they were all inexperienced rookies who had barely stepped into the world. If they had gone through any real hardship, they would not be this stupid.
“Fellow Daoist, please.”
Wang Yu sized them up briefly and felt something was off.
“Brother Qingyi, may this lord perform soul-searching?”
“Ah… that would not be appropriate.”
Ancestor Qingyi smiled and explained.
“This group of spies has already been soul-searched once. If we do it again so soon, their souls will certainly shatter, and it will be difficult to refine them into human pills afterward.”
Wang Yu let out a cold laugh.
“In the Great Dao of human pill refinement, souls are simply another ingredient. Unless you are refining a soul-type spiritual pill, there is no need for them at all. Brother Qingyi wouldn’t happen to be saying you just happened to want them, would you?”
“…”
The other party fell silent at once.
Meanwhile, the spies in the prison, having overheard their conversation, were terrified out of their minds. They screamed hysterically, especially one who shouted so loudly he stood out.
“Don’t!
“I’m True Lord Yang Lei’s legitimate son, I…”
Qingyi’s expression changed. With a wave of his hand, he forcibly sewed the man’s lips shut. Blood dripped down. His muffled squeals sounded like a pig being slaughtered, but he could not even scream. His face turned completely red from suffocating rage and panic.
“True Lord Yang Lei, a veteran mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator of the Thunderfire Temple!”
“This favor you’re asking, Fellow Daoist Qingyi, is not so easy to help with.”
Wang Yu’s aura turned icy.
When he realized this group was stupid to the point of being naive, a suspicion formed in his mind. They were greenhouse flowers, and reckless young masters trying to prove themselves.
There was no need to soul-search at all. He could guess the entire chain of events clearly from beginning to end.
No other reason.
He was simply used to it.
Trash wanted to prove themselves, yet had no real skill in their hands.
Ending up like this was entirely self-inflicted.
Facing Wang Yu’s interrogation,
Ancestor Qingyi fell silent for a moment before he finally defended himself.
“Since things have come to this, I won’t hide it from you either. Fellow Daoist Ice Demon, your background is unclear, so you truly need this pledge of loyalty.”
“Yes.”
Wang Yu did not deny that.
“But you should not have set a trap for me. It’s just a pledge of loyalty. Killing a few people from Taihu would have been enough. Why did you have to make me form a blood feud with True Lord Yang Lei over the death of his son?
“The war between righteous and demonic factions is imminent. What are you plotting?!”
Being scolded by a junior who had only just condensed a Nascent Soul, Ancestor Qingyi could not save face, and his attitude hardened as well.
“Then what do you intend to do?”
“This man can’t be killed. Switch to another batch. Also, you must pay the price for your offense. Ten supreme-grade spirit stones.”
“Impossible!”
The moment the words left his mouth, Ancestor Qingyi rejected it decisively.
“You’ve got some nerve, asking for so much. Do you think my surname is Jin?”
“So, Fellow Daoist is saying you won’t pay?”
Blood rushed upward, and raging fury surged in Ancestor Qingyi’s heart. But remembering that Wang Yu was someone invited to stay, he forcibly endured it.
Yet the more he stepped back, the angrier he became.
“I am a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator at the third layer, and you think I’m afraid of you, you brat?!!”
Having already guessed he would make a move, Wang Yu’s grin turned ferocious.
At such close range, his hand directly reached out. Silver-blood divine power formed a domain of force, and an invisible palm seal slammed down violently.
In an instant.
Ancestor Qingyi exhaled endless gales from within his body, forming a wind-astral defense. But caught completely off guard, how could he possibly block Wang Yu’s sneak attack?
Boom!
The entire prison collapsed on the spot. Wang Yu seized the opportunity, sweeping that piece of trash, the legitimate son of True Lord Yang Thunder, into the Human-Seed Pouch. Everyone around him, every single one without exception,
was taken away as well.
He had thought it through. His true self, Wang Yu, needed to avoid the Nine Evil Sword Lord. Before reaching mid-stage Nascent Soul, he simply did not dare show his face. But the Ice Demon Child identity had no roots.
Normally, it was fine. But once war broke out, inspections would become frequent.
There was no way he could blend into the ranks of the Crimson Kite upper echelon. In such a ridiculous situation, he might as well defect.
Anyway, it had nothing to do with Wang Yu.
Moreover, the number of Taihu cultivators almost completely overwhelmed Crimson Kite. Crimson Kite only managed to avoid losing its territory because its top-tier combat strength was greater in number.
Temporarily joining the advantaged side was perfectly reasonable, wasn’t it?
He was also familiar with Crimson Kite. In this land, grabbing benefits was no different from a rat falling into a rice jar. Once the war ended, he would still be the Seventh Elder of Cold Blood Peak.
That reckless maneuver that suddenly popped into his mind, looked feasible at first glance. But actually carrying it out would still involve layers upon layers of problems. Even so, it felt far better than the current situation.
Qingyi did not have the habit of swallowing humiliation.
And neither did Wang Yu!
If he had to cower before condensing a Nascent Soul, and after condensing a Nascent Soul he still had to cower, then what was the point of condensing it in the first place?!!
“If you were a Nascent Soul great cultivator, I might fear you somewhat.”
“Hmph!”
Qingyi suddenly burst out from the rubble, looking dusty and disheveled. A huge green bruise marred his face, and there was a trace of caution in his aged eyes.
“Ice Demon Child, don’t blame this old man for fighting without honor.
“Feng Hua, activate the City Lord Mansion formation!”
As a fourth-rank main city, the defensive formation here was naturally also fourth-rank. Wang Yu was not afraid at all. As if in a rush, he lunged fiercely toward Ancestor Qingyi.
In reality, his divine sense had already connected to the Sea Heart Ring.
The moment it touched the Cold Blood Seventh Elder Ring, he instantly invaded the formation core. As one of the power elders of the sect headquarters, it could control the formations of all third-rank cities under the Blood Reversal Sect.
Although he could not seize full control of a fourth-rank grand formation, he could still ensure it could not target him. No matter how it identified him, he would be treated as one of its own.
Activating the formation would only be wasting spiritual energy.
Ancestor Qingyi remained completely unaware.
Using Wind Escape, he quickly widened the distance. Forming a hand seal, he condensed seven or eight hurricanes into wind ropes that shot toward Wang Yu to entangle him.
Demonic essence surged. Wang Yu merely extended a hand and pushed outward.
Two domains of force directly compressed the air, forming what seemed like two shields, forcibly pushing away all the wind astral energy. A trace of the Moon Illusionary Realm flickered in his eyes.
With the added boost of mid-stage fourth-rank divine sense, even Qingyi was dazed for an instant.
With that opening,
the Ice Chi Pill Flame erupted high in the air, transforming into a long dragon of ice flame that clamped its jaws onto Qingyi. It slammed him violently into the City Lord Mansion plaza and then detonated with a thunderous explosion.
Sea-urchin-like ice spikes burst forth in an instant.
The entire Plum Crest City Lord Mansion was destroyed. Between heaven and earth, it was as if an icy hell had descended. Only with demonic essence augmentation did the Ice Chi Pill Flame reveal its true face.
A Nascent Soul cultivator at the third layer was nothing more than this.
“Ancestor!”
Feng Hua, the City Lord of Meiling, was horrified. A token in his hand had already been activated. The fourth-rank grand formation was sufficient to protect the entire central city district.
And the formation core was not so easily destroyed.
It activated smoothly.
Wang Yu could not see through its mysteries, only that green serpents descended from the sky one after another, transforming into ninety-nine pillars of wind that connected heaven and earth. Multiple wind-pillar nodes appeared inside the city.
But far more appeared outside the city walls.
“Using a defensive counterstrike formation against me?”
From the formation’s behavior, Wang Yu could not instantly break it down, but he could still identify its type. This kind of formation was easiest to break from the inside.
“Hahahahaha!”
Clearly, Ancestor Qingyi thought otherwise. Burned by the Ice Chi Pill Flame until he was half dead and half delirious, that luxurious robe of his had become ragged and charred black. Even his dignified long beard had been ruined beyond recognition.
He drew out a long ruler-like weapon and pointed it at Wang Yu.
“This formation can resist Nascent Soul great cultivators from outside, and from within… it can bind you as well. Feng Hua, Condense Astral Wind Crystals!”
With that command issued, Wang Yu suddenly discovered a ring of tornado winds rising around him. He was positioned right in the eye of the storm, while dense wind-path demonic essence surged into a raging hurricane, even condensing into crystals.
It was actually trying to seal Wang Yu completely.
He extended a trace of divine sense, confirmed that the Seventh Elder Ring was fine, and immediately put on an expression of terror.
“Fellow Daoist Qingyi, we can talk this through.”
“Heh.”
The storm demonic essence throughout Qingyi’s entire body was boiling. On his life-bound magic treasure, the Sky Azure Ruler, a special divine ability with power far beyond the standard limit began to gather, and he did not forget to mock Wang Yu as he spoke.
“Now that you’re about to die, you finally know you were wrong! You’re just afraid of death!
“Ice Demon, you only have the mentality of getting rich overnight, not the bearing of a true Nascent Soul powerhouse. How laughable.”
The corner of Wang Yu’s mouth lifted.
All that trash talk went in one ear and out the other.
His eyes were locked only on Qingyi’s charging posture. In less than a third of a second, the Aurora Escape Technique, now turned purple, was suddenly unleashed. Wang Yu split into thousands of phantom bodies, fleeing in all directions.
At the same time, the Illusory Mist Ice Mirror formed in sync. This defensive spell was the first time he had ever used it, yet he was using it as a deception technique, controlling the phantom bodies to move in perfect synchronization with his true self.
He directly enclosed the City Lord’s Mansion, forming an inverted bowl-shaped ice mirror world.
The main purpose of doing this was to block outside sightlines. As for all living beings inside the City Lord’s Mansion, they had already been blasted into ashes under the bombardment of his Ice Chi Pill Flame.
In truth, the only survivors were the City Lord and Qingyi.
This was the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator!
Watching Wang Yu come and go freely within the sealing transformations of a fourth-rank grand formation, Ancestor Qingyi’s body could not help trembling, his face filled with disbelief.
The divine ability, Wind Execution Giant Spirit Sword Aura, possessed unmatched might and could unleash power beyond its realm. However, its flaw was that it required charging. If interrupted midway, it could even cause internal injuries.
That was why Qingyi had Feng Hua use the formation to first lock down Wang Yu’s movement space before he began charging. The procedure was correct, yet the formation, which had never failed before, had become ineffective.
His mind was filled with one impossible thought after another.
Who could move freely inside a formation? A formation master who set it up, someone holding the command token, an ally, or a senior elder of the Exalted Sect!
The first two were impossible. As for the latter two…
Qingyi’s expression abruptly changed.
“You can actually break the formation’s recognition effect so quickly.
“Ice Demon! Could it be that you’re also a peerless genius who is unmatched in both alchemy and formations, a prodigy among the hundred arts?!!”
“Nonsense.”
Wang Yu could not be bothered to deal with Qingyi any further. Using the Illusory Mist Ice Mirror to block external peeping was proof that Wang Yu was about to use methods that could not be revealed.
Once these methods were used, with the fame of Wang Yu’s true body, Qingyi would absolutely recognize him within a few breaths.
Therefore… it had to be a fatal strike. He could not even be allowed the chance to trigger a Nascent Soul realm teleportation art. Demonic essence within Wang Yu’s body surged simultaneously toward different parts of his body.
Multiple divine abilities were unleashed in succession, separated by less than half a breath.
First, the combination of Soul-Extinguishing Death Light and the Immobilization Mirror. This set of moves could be called a Core Formation guaranteed-kill combo. After Wang Yu broke through to fourth-rank divine sense, very few could withstand it.
But Nascent Soul was the exception!
Even with his body unable to move, Qingyi spat out divine light. Several needle-shaped magic treasures shot out from beneath his tongue, radiating dense soul-light brilliance.
This was one of his advantages.
He had rich, well-practiced control over fourth-rank magic treasures. With the foundation of the Feng clan of Hidden Valley, and only two Nascent Soul cultivators in the entire clan, it was a basic requirement for his equipment to be fully maxed out.
On top of that, Wang Yu still had to estimate Qingyi’s life-saving methods and his desperate trump cards. Only then would there be a chance to defeat the strong while weak!
As for killing him outright…
it was extremely difficult.
But Wang Yu still wanted to try.
“Rending Spirit Needles, specialized in countering divine sense!”
Qingyi revealed a mocking smile toward the countless Wang Yu phantom bodies in the sky. The charging of the Sky Azure Ruler was already nearing completion, and Wang Yu no longer hesitated.
The Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet suddenly burst out from one of the ice mirrors.
Yellow Springs Bone-Burial Curse Sword, horizontal slash!
“Yellow Springs… Monastery!”
Ancestor Qingyi had clearly misunderstood. Puppets like this had an aura extremely similar to living people, not to mention Wang Yu had also wrapped it in the Blood Sac Robe.
At this moment, Ancestor Qingyi made a wrong judgment about Wang Yu’s identity. Forced by the notorious reputation of that broken divine ability, he activated a talisman.
Fourth-rank talisman treasure, Wind King Slash!
Wang Yu had seen this divine ability before, but this was clearly one of the life-saving foundations left behind by the Feng clan’s ancestor. The murky yellow bone sword and the giant blade of gale-force wind collided.
Both were annihilated at the same time.
The Yellow Springs Earth Resentment Puppet was blasted away by the aftermath, and the City Lord’s Mansion completely collapsed. It even caved in by several meters, leaving no trace of the once prosperous grandeur.
At that moment, Ancestor Qingyi had just recovered his senses, and the veins on his forehead instantly bulged. A massive sense of crisis swallowed him whole.
A blood-colored sword radiance that seemed to span past and present, came slashing down vertically.
No matter how he tried to dodge, it seemed impossible to avoid.
It was one of Wang Yu’s trump cards.
Fourth-rank killing-path divine ability, Blood Slaughter Heart-Butchering Sword. Its entry stage had already been pushed to the very end, and calling it minor accomplishment would not be an exaggeration. This was a sword strike planned with meticulous care.
It dealt devastating destruction to both the mind and the soul.
“Ancient Ancestor, save me!”
Qingyi let out a loud roar. At the critical moment of life and death, no matter how unwilling he was, he decisively abandoned the charging divine ability. A green talisman shot out from between his brows, transforming into a gigantic bell that blocked the sword radiance for him.
