### **Chapter 97: Consuming Nourishment, Nurturing the Spirit**
The so-called Hidden Dragon is essentially a lizard with dragon lineage bloodline. Using terms from Wang Yu's previous life, it would be a chameleon.
"No wonder these spiders gained invisibility. They must have comprehended the bone art from this Treasure Bone."
He picked up the Treasure Bone and held it in his palm. It still carried a faint dragon lineage aura, indicating a rather potent bloodline.
Lizards, snakes, fish, insects, birds... any creature in the world could potentially possess dragon bloodline, related to their ancestry.
But dragon blood also has different grades.
From low to high: Dragon Lineage, Dragon Blood, Flood Dragon, True Dragon.
Four tiers in total. This classification system is separate from the one used for demonic beast bloodlines, an independent system, highlighting the power of the dragon bloodline.
The owner of this Treasure Bone, the Hidden Dragon, was likely an early second-grade Dragon Lineage demonic beast, with a relatively concentrated bloodline, just shy of advancing to the Dragon Blood tier.
The symbols inscribed on it were incomprehensible to Wang Yu, but by sensing them with his spiritual sense, he could easily grasp their meaning. This was the effect of the Treasure Bone.
"Second-grade low-tier Invisibility Art. A fine treasure."
Treasure Bones are similar to human race's inheritance jade slips; they can be used multiple times. The Invisibility Art itself is not common and can even be considered rare, qualifying for the lowest-tier auctions.
"It's worth at least ten thousand spirit stones. If it finds a particularly eager buyer, the price could double."
Satisfied, he stored it in his storage pouch. Wang Yu wasn't in a hurry to sell it. If the Invisibility Art could be used in combination with the Night Concealment Charm, his ability to conceal himself would become even more extraordinary.
He would consider selling it only if he ran out of spirit stones later.
This trip was definitely worth it. Estimating the time and carefully checking the area a few more times, Wang Yu returned to the upper level, preparing to leave the Ghost-Eye Cave.
Along the way, he occasionally hunted a few peak first-grade Ghost Spiders, which was almost enough.
After all, one person could only refine ten Ghost Eyes. Any extra would just be resource reserves to be sold to fellow disciples at a high price later.
When he exited the cave, Si Tu Hong was already waiting for him, complaining,
"Ah, I chose the wrong direction and almost got eaten by the Spider Queen. How were your gains, Junior Brother Wang? Did you find the reason for the spiders' anomaly?"
Wang Yu calmly shook his head.
"I killed quite a few Ghost Spiders, but found nothing else. I thought the source might be with the Spider Queen."
Si Tu Hong rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. "That makes sense. It's the strongest, so it must be the cause. We'll look again in seven days."
Seeing this, Wang Yu waved his hand.
"Senior Brother Si Tu, I plan to try refining a Ghost Eye to test its effect. If I miss the next rotation... could I trouble you to cover for me once?"
"Easy. Just once is no problem."
"Thank you. I'll take my leave first, Junior Brother."
"Mm."
Watching Wang Yu's retreating figure heading down the mountain, Si Tu Hong didn't notice anything at first. But suddenly, an idea struck him, and he hurriedly chased after him.
"Junior Brother! Junior Brother...! We haven't submitted the mission items yet! Wait for me!"
......
......
After submitting the mission items,
Wang Yu returned to his solitary stone house by the spirit fields and set up his formation flags, finally feeling a bit more secure.
This hunting trip had yielded quite a few Ghost Eyes.
Eleven from peak first-grade, eight top-grade, and twenty-six mid-grade.
He would use the best quality ones.
Sitting cross-legged, he circulated his technique through a major cycle. Once his breathing was steady, he decisively swallowed a Ghost Eye.
The thing was a bit fishy, with a faint astringent and salty taste.
It was about the size of a longan. Unlike pills, it didn't dissolve immediately upon ingestion but required slow digestion.
Seeing its sluggish pace, Wang Yu frowned and changed his hand seal. Tucking his middle and ring fingers into his palm, he pointed his index and little fingers straight, pressing them against his Dantian sea.
Instantly, the Frigid Flame surged from within, enveloping his entire body.
Subtle changes occurred inside his body. With the addition of the Frigid Flame, his spiritual power flowing through his meridians seemed to ignite, and accordingly, the refinement speed of the Ghost Eye increased significantly.
Theoretically, a top-grade Ghost Eye had a refinement cycle of three months, each providing 4-5 units of spiritual power cultivation. As a product of a peak first-grade Ghost Spider, the effect was naturally at the maximum!
After several cycles, Wang Yu suddenly opened his eyes, his face showing a hint of delight.
Previously, when refining the improved Coldblooded Pills, he hadn't felt the Frigid Flame's辅助 effect on refinement. But now, while refining the Ghost Eye, he felt the speed was remarkably fast.
This might be related to the nature of the two items.
Si Tu Hong needed three months, but Wang Yu could refine one Ghost Eye in a month at most. That meant he could reach the limit within this year.
Gaining an extra 50 units of spiritual power cultivation for free would save him nearly two years. If things went well, he could break through to the eighth layer of Qi Refining by this time next year, catching up to Si Tu Hong.
One must remember, Si Tu Hong was almost twenty-four years older than Wang Yu, nearly fifty years old. He would be sixty at the earliest for his first Foundation Establishment attempt. If he failed, he might have a chance for a second attempt within his lifetime.
This was the difference between disciples of a Nascent Soul sect and other cultivators—their chances of successful Foundation Establishment were much higher.
Considering just the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators, from what Wang Yu knew, there were at least ten thousand. A single peak's legacy likely had over a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the top-ranked peaks might have two to three thousand, which wouldn't be surprising. And even that wasn't enough.
The four provinces under the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's territory were vast and boundless, also bordering the Range-Severing Mountains. Resource development in this direction had a huge demand for manpower.
Within the four provinces, there were tens of thousands of cities situated on second-grade spirit veins. Distributing just one cultivator per city wouldn't be enough, let alone the third and fourth-grade spirit vein sites, all requiring personnel.
Overall, there were many vacancies, ample resources, and excellent upward mobility.
Since the Demonic Path began long-term development of resources within their territory, large-scale conflicts had decreased significantly, showing a trend of deeper immersion and specialization.
Of course, this was also related to a Righteous-Demonic war that occurred three hundred years ago, not too long ago, which consumed a large portion of the cultivation world's population.
Back to the main topic.
The Ghost Eye acted like a treasure herb, not conflicting with the deposited medicinal power of the Coldblooded Pills in Wang Yu's body, greatly accelerating his cultivation speed.
As for the [Invisibility Art], a second-grade low-tier spell, he simply had no free placement slot for it. Even the [Mysterious Yin Hand], a spell he could rely on as a trump card, was something he was studying and cultivating on his own.
Slots 1 and 2, occupied by the Coldblood Art, were both nearing advancement. Wang Yu wouldn't touch them; improving his cultivation level primarily depended on them.
Slots 3 and 4, occupied by the Demonic Embryo Secret Curse and Flood Dragon Strength, were immovable for now. The former concerned his future aptitude and wouldn't be changed for ten years. The latter concerned his Foundation Establishment success rate and wouldn't be changed before reaching perfection.
From that day on, Wang Yu lived a reclusive life, keeping to himself and coming and going alone.
Apart from entering the Ghost-Eye Cave with Si Tu Hong to hunt spiders every seven days, he drove himself , squeezing every bit of time, completely immersed in the vortex of improving his strength, unable to extricate himself.
Occasionally, fellow Coldblood Peak disciples tending the spirit fields would approach him to buy Ghost Eyes.
**(End of Chapter)**