Furthermore, Zhao Shang had used a third-grade [Space Shattering Talisman] to escape. It was rumored he stole it from True Disciple Su's private treasure vault, an act that nearly made one spit blood from anger.
There was another major event.
The True Disciple from Coldblood Peak, the one who had been in closed-door cultivation for nearly nine years after unexpectedly obtaining a compatible Golden Core spiritual item from one of his subordinate stewards, was about to emerge.
According to the intelligence, during the final year of Wang Yu and the others' guard duty at Profound Bone Mountain, this True Disciple had already passed the Golden Core lightning tribulation, making his advancement a certainty.
For the following year or so, he had been in seclusion stabilizing his realm and consolidating his foundation. He was expected to emerge next year.
When that time comes,
the other nine True Disciples of Coldblood Peak would either be posted outside the sect to guard cities and establish their own residences, cultivating freely elsewhere,
or they would have to relinquish their True Disciple status, accept a parcel of land from the sect, and take up roles as inner sect Foundation Establishment stewards, signaling their withdrawal from the contention.
Otherwise, when accounts were settled, none would fare well.
Reading this, Wang Yu also frowned deeply. He had actually offended this True Disciple back in his spirit slave days, setting a bad precedent and giving the other True Disciples an opportunity to attack him.
Now, with him about to emerge from seclusion, if he had lost the chance for the Nascent Soul inheritance, he would definitely launch a bloody retaliation.
If he hadn't lost the opportunity, he would also seek revenge against those who had targeted him.
Looking at it from both sides, Wang Yu couldn't see a third possibility.
His previously decent mood instantly turned gloomy again, and he couldn't help but want to curse.
He had thought his return would be relatively peaceful, but it seemed that was just his own wishful thinking. This felt like a bone stuck in his throat; if he didn't get clarity, he couldn't stay in this sect.
His actions back then had been radical, based on the gamble that the other party wouldn't care about a minor figure.
Now it was different. He had assets and foundations and didn't dare take the same risk again. This made obtaining intelligence even more critical.
As he pondered, Wang Yu realized the best course of action was actually to contact True Disciple Su. With a competitor about to emerge from seclusion, the person directly involved should be more anxious than he was.
True Disciple Su had largely forgotten about him over the years, which was normal.
But if it involved *this* True Disciple, she should remember him. This required him to proactively contact that fatty Duan Ping.
Thinking this, early the next morning,
Wang Yu hurried to the Ice and Snow Pavilion. Fortunately, he hadn't become too arrogant and was still officially attached to this establishment.
He asked Lan Ji to pass a verbal message to Duan Ping, requesting a meeting the next day to discuss matters.
Of course, one shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket.
Having started down this path, Wang Yu immediately headed to the Scripture Narration Hall in the [Halls and Markets District]. He had, after all, been originally brought here as "goods" and felt extremely little sense of belonging to the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect.
If it weren't for the difficulty of returning to the Taihu Spirit Domain, he would have left when he first shed his spirit slave status. He simply didn't know the way, and coupled with the pressure of being near the Black Mountain Pass,
a mere Qi Refining cultivator shouldn't even think about crossing domains.
Later, as his understanding of cultivation deepened step by step, he finally realized the importance of spiritual root aptitude. Staying in a demonic sect was actually more beneficial for his cultivation.
The desire to leave immediately thus faded.
But now, facing potential trouble at the True Disciple level, the fallback option of packing up and leaving had to be prepared.
The only reason he stayed in the demonic sect was the secret art to improve his aptitude that he constantly thought about. He had to accelerate his investigation in this area. That way, even if he really had to flee, it wouldn't be such a pity.
***
Half an hour later, just as the sun was rising, Wang Yu arrived at the Scripture Narration Hall.
This place was different from the Scripture Depository or the Dharma Transmission Hall. It contained basic knowledge of the cultivation world, secret knowledge, and personal biographies of famous cultivators. There were also myths and legends, ancient historical texts, secrets of great clans... and so on.
It was essentially a hall of miscellaneous texts, containing everything, with content so rich it encompassed all sorts of topics. The collection numbered well over a million volumes.
Furthermore, access was free for inner sect disciples...
For outer sect disciples who came wanting to look up some information, they were permitted to use spirit stones to purchase access, bypassing the need for contribution points, the internal currency.
Coincidentally, Wang Yu had plenty of spirit stones but not many contribution points.
He didn't have the permission to exchange for things at the Scripture Depository, but he could use the materials here to learn the *names* of the secret arts for improving aptitude. This would allow him to have a clear target and accurately obtain what he wanted.
The only troublesome aspect was the lack of proper management here.
Some texts borrowed by inner sect disciples would be returned, randomly stuffed onto some shelf. Others would be directly kept for themselves, like books recording the identification of spirit herbs.
Or secret texts containing folk remedies and unorthodox methods—some wouldn't hesitate to just tear out a few pages.
Of course, verbally it was called 'borrowing', but in practice, borrowing for a few hundred years without returning was common. The first impression it gave was one of chaos!
The missing texts were only occasionally replenished.
For someone like Wang Yu, who wanted to find specific books precisely, it was a massive undertaking requiring a significant amount of time, yet it had to be done.
And so, in the following days, Wang Yu left early and returned late, spending his days lingering within the Scripture Narration Hall, scanning shelf after shelf. He often came across content that piqued his interest.
While searching, he would also rent out some texts to read.
For example: *"Nine Secret Tales of Natal Magic Treasures"*, *"Taboos in Qi Refining Cultivation"*, *"Secrets of the Three Barriers to Foundation Establishment"*, *"The Birth of Pill Formulas"*, *"How to Build a Foundation?"*, *"The Fundamental Explanation of Spiritual Roots"*...
Among these, he was most interested in *"Secrets of the Three Barriers to Foundation Establishment"*. This text was written by a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Taihu Spirit Domain during his youth. It explained the Three Barriers to Foundation Establishment in detail, greatly improving the success rate of later generations.
The so-called Three Barriers to Foundation Establishment—
**[Spiritual Power Barrier]**, **[Vitality and Blood Barrier]**, **[Spiritual Sense Barrier]**
It not only provided a comprehensive interpretation of the Foundation Establishment realm but also listed the standards for passing the three barriers and even offered some pertinent advice—quite substantial content.
* [Spiritual Power Barrier]: This refers to the fact that Qi Refining cultivators undergo three stages of spiritual power refinement, liquefying spiritual power into the higher-quality True Essence, where one drop is equivalent to a thousand strands.
The mid and late stages of Qi Refining are the first two stages. The third stage occurs during the breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.
* [Vitality and Blood Barrier]: This refers to the vitality of the physical body and its strength. To complete the third spiritual refinement, the cultivator's body needs to accommodate a massive amount of spiritual power at once and compress and refine it.
The requirements for meridian and physical body strength are relatively high. Generally, the more abundant the vitality and blood and the stronger the body, the better—hence it's called the Vitality and Blood Barrier.
After a Qi Refining cultivator reaches a hundred years of age, the body enters its declining years. Vitality and blood wane daily, and the body deteriorates day by day. The later the attempt, the lower the chance of success, hence the currently popular age limit of one hundred.
* [Spiritual Sense Barrier]: This barrier is the most difficult. Techniques suitable for Qi Refining cultivators to practice and improve their spiritual sense are exceedingly rare, truly like phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Those who achieve proficiency in this area during the Qi Refining stage can be counted on one hand.
Spiritual sense plays two crucial roles in the Foundation Establishment process. First, it restrains the vast amount of spiritual power within the body during the breakthrough, protecting the meridians from excessive impact.
Secondly, compressing spiritual power is extremely taxing on the mind. If spiritual sense isn't strong enough, it's difficult to compress spiritual power into True Essence and achieve the qualitative change; the breakthrough thus fails.
The text offered many methods. Simpler ones involved practicing skills that temper spiritual sense, such as alchemy, artifact refining, talisman drawing, formation carving... and so on.
**(End of Chapter)**