Whether it was the Demonic Path or the Righteous Path, their essence was no different.
He remembered deeply the expressions on those righteous cultivators' faces when they collected spirit stones at Black Mountain Pass.
"Birds of a feather," he muttered to himself.
He was weak, so he empathized.
If he one day became a Nascent Soul, could he still maintain the pure heart he held today?
Wang Yu did not know, and dared not ask himself!
"Senior Brother, we've reached the female cultivators' area. Any that catch your eye?"
The voices around him pulled Wang Yu back from his thoughts. He looked towards the garden on the right.
A group of beauties, each with their own unique charm and grace—some plump, some slender, some like swallows, some like rings of jade—were displaying their talents. Some played the zither, some prepared tea and waved fans, others sang softly and danced gracefully.
There were young maidens, tender as willow branches, delicate and charming like jewels from small families.
There were noble ladies with bright eyes and pearly teeth, slender waists and delicate hands.
There were mature elder sisters, curvaceous and alluring, exuding a sensual charm.
Too many, far too many... a twittering flock of warblers and swallows that dazzled the eyes and made it hard to extricate oneself.
Even though it wasn't their first time here, Han Fei and Yang Shan stared, mesmerized, unable to help themselves from saying:
"If I could live here for just one day, I'd be willing to die right after."
"One day? I want seven!"
"Hehe, as long as you esteemed guests are happy," the attendant simpered.
Wang Yu watched their unsightly behavior, his heart as calm as an ancient well without waves. Just a bunch of painted prostitutes, that's all.
"Nothing worth seeing here. Let's go."
"Leaving already?" Han Fei said, surprised. "I thought you would buy a few, Senior Brother."
"Since Lord Zhou is holding an auction, he definitely won't let us buy the headline items in advance. Otherwise, what would he profit from? We'll talk about it during the auction."
"True enough. He only makes big money through bidding wars."
The attendant, seeing that they were only looking and not buying, gradually darkened his expression, no longer displaying the previous humility.
"Since the three of you aren't buying, then please leave quickly. This humble one still has other guests to attend to."
Han Fei and Yang Shan immediately glared in anger but didn't dare to cause a scene. After all, they were also subordinates serving under Lord Zhou. As long as they were in Eroding Heart City for a day, they had to obey for a day.
"Senior Brother, let's not lower ourselves to this person's level. Let me take you to see other places."
"Very well."
As they walked, Wang Yu suddenly stopped and pointed to a walled-off courtyard compound. "Are there any auction items here?"
The attendant grew impatient.
"No, no! Hurry up and leave!"
"Heh—" Wang Yu fixed him with a cold stare, the aura of the eighth level of Qi Refining pressing down on the man. The attendant shuddered, actually falling to sit on the ground, cold sweat streaming.
"You… what are you doing? This is Lord Zhou's territory!"
"I ask, you answer. With that attitude, even if I killed you, that Zhou wouldn't dare do anything to me." Wang Yu spoke boldly, bluffing successfully and intimidating the man.
He answered obediently, "This courtyard is Miss Hongxiu's residence. She is the final, headline item of this auction, the unique 'Flower Queen' trained over ten years at the Abode of Immortals and Mortals."
"What is her cultivation level?"
"Fourth level of Qi Refining."
Wang Yu nodded and asked no more. The reason for this sudden interrogation was actually because someone inside had suddenly sent him a voice transmission. The strength of that spiritual sense had notably reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
The content of the transmission was nothing more than being imprisoned and hoping Wang Yu would save her.
He refused without a second thought.
This kind of behavior, if not a trap, was a widespread, scatter-shot call for help. There was no need to get involved. If it was for her beauty, he was both unwilling and unable.
"Let's go."
The group left the Abode of Immortals and Mortals, and Han Fei continued leading the way.
Wang Yu first went to browse the inner market of Eroding Heart City. He gave each of his guides twenty spirit stones as payment and sent them on their way.
Alone, he searched through the inner market.
He found an artifact-crafting workshop and purchased a top-grade Tier-1 pill furnace that could assist in alchemy, spending two thousand spirit stones.
Then, following familiar routines, he found a channel for selling stolen goods and offloaded all his spoils, including the corpses, at a slight discount, netting twenty-three thousand spirit stones.
Some of the profit was taken by the black-market buyer, but that was unimportant; it was just sharing a bit of the profit.
Besides this, because Eroding Heart City was close to Spider Mountain, the resources produced there were often dumped here in the city.
Among them was a cultivation pill that used Spiderheart Grass as its main ingredient, called the Netherheart Pill. It had both Tier 1 and Tier 2 formulas. It was very suitable for cultivators with cold or Yin attributes. Since he was nearing the limit for consuming Cold Blood Pills, switching to this Netherheart Pill afterward would be quite good.
Wang Yu bought both pill formulas, purchased materials, as well as ingredients for refining Spirit-Returning Pills... and so on. The total spent was just under ten thousand spirit stones.
The main expenses were the Tier 2 formula being somewhat expensive, and twenty sets of Tier 1 Netherheart Pill ingredients.
After this spending spree, until he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he wouldn't need to spend on pills; he had enough, and any more would be indigestible.
So, with the remaining spirit stones, it would be best to acquire a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. In the future, as long as his aptitude was upgraded to the level of a Three Spiritual Root, it could help him cross that threshold.
Investing the rest of his assets in magical artifacts and secret techniques would also be good.
"Ah, right. And the dragon-lineage essence blood."
He had almost forgotten the most important reason for coming to Eroding Heart City. Wang Yu quickly changed direction and soon arrived at the largest shop in the inner market.
—Gold-Full Tower
This was not a local force in Eroding Heart City, but a giant merchant association active throughout the Scarlet Kite Demon Domain, boasting multiple Nascent Soul level guest elders. The main family, the Jin Clan, was rumored to have top-level connections even in the Taihu Spiritual Domain.
Its counterpart was the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. The two associations competed fiercely. Generally, only one of them operated in a city; they absolutely did not allow both to do business in the same place simultaneously.
Years ago, when Tantai Chan went to Heavenly Treasure City to participate in an auction, that was the headquarters of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, one of the top prosperous immortal cities in the Scarlet Kite Demon Domain.
The branch of the Gold-Full Tower in Eroding Heart City had only three stories, but it was built to be resplendent and magnificent. Even the pillars were carved from spirit jade, with spirit gold inlaid as accents.
The glass display counters were transparent and bright, filled with pearls, jewels, and an abundance of spiritual energy, quite blatantly displaying their wealth to the lower-level cultivators.
The prices were also rather expensive.
Strangely enough, the poorer the low-level cultivator, the more they believed the phrase, "If it's so expensive, there must be a reason for it." They didn't trust cheap goods.
After Wang Yu entered, a female attendant with superior looks immediately greeted him, quite generously revealing her snowy, ample cleavage, her skin delicate and smooth under the light, even a bit reflective.
"Esteemed guest, have you come to our tower to select something you desire?"
"Demon beast essence blood. Dragon-lineage."
"Please follow me." Upon hearing this, the attendant's smile became more genuine. She swayed her slender waist as she led the way ahead, a阵阵 fragrant breeze wafting from her, refreshing and pleasant.
Wang Yu felt nothing.
Soon, he was brought to a wall of cabinets on the west side of the first floor. The female attendant used her spiritual power to retrieve over a dozen jade pots, explaining clearly:
"This is a recent batch of dragon-lineage demon beast essence blood, taken from the Tier 3 demon beast, the Jade Sea Dragon-Turtle. Each pot contains ten thousand jin of dragon-turtle blood, from which one drop of essence blood can be refined."
"If it's for Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment cultivators to use, using the blood directly is sufficient."
Wang Yu's heart stirred with desire upon hearing this, but he could only say helplessly,
"Your tower overestimates me. How could I afford Tier 3 treasure blood?"
**(End of Chapter)