Loyal Guiding Spirit (spiritridge city) welcomed the return of its City Lord, Wang Yu!
As expected, the City Lord's Manor had largely collapsed, all due to the actions of that late Core Formation cultivator sealed within the formation. The dozens of guards left to defend the manor had all met violent deaths.
This left Wang Yu feeling a slight pang of regret.
Outside the ruined central district stood a large crowd. Seeing Wang Yu and the others approach, they all stiffened and shouted in unison with robust voices, "Congratulations to the City Lord on his successful return!"
Wang Yu: "..."
Elder Xuan Yan teased from the side, "Young friend, you seem to hold considerable prestige within the city."
A wry smile touched Wang Yu's lips. "Senior Xuan Yan, you flatter this junior too much. They're just terrified."
Yes, terrified by the sudden arrival of the late Core Formation cultivator via the manor's teleportation, shocked by the dozens of comrades who died before their eyes. How could they remain unmoved?
This wave... this wave was forced loyalty, giving people no time to react.
However, those with wavering hearts were mostly rogue cultivators. Among the first batch of youths Wang Yu recruited, all were young cultivators who had grown up here. Nurtured to this day, they had already become an excellent core of middle-tier strength.
It might be time to consider a selection process, weeding out the chaff to truly cultivate a cultivator army belonging to Guiding Spirit City (spiritridge city).
The present moment was a perfect opportunity to drive away some parasites and let those who could truly get things done rise to prominence.
Once the group ascended the steps and entered the manor grounds, Wang Yu immediately saw three familiar faces. They were restrained by rock growths sprouting from the ground, pinning their limbs. Their auras were extremely weak; not a trace of magical power could be sensed.
Late Core Formation, Early Core Formation, Early Core Formation.
"Senior Xuan Yan, how do you intend to deal with these three?"
"How to deal with them?"
Elder Xuan Yan paused, as if recalling something. "For this trip to Guiding Spirit( or spiritridge city), only this old man came. You should dispatch an envoy to Netherflow Prefecture City to notify the Yellow Springs Temple to send someone. Here is this old man's token."
"For the coming period, this old man will be stationed in Guiding Spirit. More fellow disciples from Cloudveil Prefecture City will also arrive. Host them well. All negotiations and handling will be left to this old man."
"This junior understands."
Wang Yu summoned Xu Ruozhou, instructing him to immediately take charge of the City Lord's Manor's reconstruction and prioritize building a new residence for Elder Xuan Yan.
The efficiency of cultivator labor was astonishingly fast. Paired with some construction-oriented techniques, rebuilding was quite simple. But if one wanted intricate carvings, murals, coiling dragons... that would slow things down considerably.
For an emergency, handle it urgently. Build it overnight first.
"Ah, right, Xu Ruozhou. Use recording stones to document the state of the City Lord's Manor ruins and the central district. Make several copies and give one to Senior Xuan Yan."
"And... Qing Yang, come here! Record all the spirit pills you used to treat your injuries this time. Write a list and give it to Xu Ruozhou."
Qing Yang was stunned for a moment before understanding. He measured his words carefully, "Is it reasonable for me to use cultivation-aiding spirit pills for healing?"
"Hahaha~ This City Lord says it's reasonable, so it's reasonable. Report five times the amount. Any more, and it'll be harder to claim compensation."
Everyone: "..."
Xu Ruozhou hurriedly took notes. No wonder the City Lord always called him stupid. So a person could be *this* shameless. Wasn't the damage to the central district done by the Golden Pavilion's Master Tranquil Water?
Suddenly, Wang Yu, who had just turned away, looked back again.
"I remember a group of mortals and a few cultivators died in the central district... must have been around ten thousand, right? Report that to Senior Xuan Yan. Change the mortals to cultivators and the cultivators to mortals."
"...Yes!"
"Yes!!"
After meticulously instructing them on every detail, Wang Yu, fearful his foolish subordinates would waste this money-making opportunity—he was currently extremely poor—thought of the million-spirit-stone Sacred Tribute that could now be recovered immediately.
He had already gathered his alliance to cover that shortfall... could he just pocket it all himself?
The reality was: No!
Because there were consequences to this matter. The recovery of the Sacred Tribute couldn't be hidden from the alliance members. Better to return it, earning their goodwill and making them more willing to be driven by him in the future.
Walking alone through the ruins of the City Lord's Manor, Wang Yu took out a scroll, planning the layout for the reconstruction.
"Build a row of alchemy rooms here... have a garden built here with exotic stones and spiritual wood... construct three palace halls here... here..."
All reconstruction expenses would be footed by the Yellow Springs Temple.
Perfectly reasonable.
Passing by the site of the former main hall, he quickly walked over, using Mysterious Yin Hand to clear the entrance to the secret chamber.
Fortunately, the cultivation chamber below and the underground second level constructed from Slaughter Intent Stone Slabs hadn't suffered significant damage. Otherwise, he would have extorted the Yellow Springs Temple to death.
Not wasting any more time idly wandering, Wang Yu immediately entered the secret chamber to sit in meditation. He refined medicinal pills to slowly recover from his injuries, and did not stop his cultivation.
To tell the truth, after experiencing a life-and-death battle, his natural cultivation speed had increased quite a bit. Although temporary, it was still a pleasant feeling.
And so, a month later.
In the 9th month of Wang Yu's 25th year as an Affairs Manager, the City Lord's Manor's reconstruction work was temporarily completed. Though done roughly, it was at least livable.
Then came the reconstruction of the central district. The proper city guard army was practically turned into a decoration and construction crew.
A large number of cultivators also arrived from Cloudveil Prefecture City—a full twenty-plus Core Formation experts, several hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and another Nascent Soul cultivator.
This Nascent Soul expert was drawn here because of Elder Xuan Yan.
He was from the second peak, the Heavenly Corpse Peak, of the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect—**The Thunder Hound Lord!**
Rumors said this person cultivated a strange technique that refined his own body into a zombie, which then evolved into the exceedingly rare "Thunder Hound," possessing the potential to impact the Transformation Spirit realm.
At just over eight hundred years old, he had already cultivated to the seventh layer of Nascent Soul!
He was the second most powerful figure on Heavenly Corpse Peak, second only to **The Three Corpse Daoist**. As for the **Heavenly Corpse Old Fiend** mentioned by Elder Xuan Yan, that was actually the master of Heavenly Corpse Mountain, with a cultivation of only Nascent Soul third layer, the same as Elder Xuan Yan.
Upon hearing news of the Lightning Spirit Corpse, the Thunder Hound Lord immediately rushed over. For him, this Lightning Spirit Corpse was almost equivalent to a "member of the same race." It was a rather mind-boggling situation.
Extremely bizarre.
Faced with a Great Cultivator of the late Nascent Soul stage, Elder Xuan Yan had no choice but to agree. Actually, he was willing to offer it to the Thunder Hound Lord, estimating he could receive considerable rewards in return.
A late Nascent Soul Great Cultivator and an early Nascent Soul cultivator were completely different concepts. The latter, facing the former, would be fortunate to have their Nascent Soul flee their body and escape early for a sliver of hope of survival.
Once a life-or-death struggle began, they would be subdued within ten moves.
Cultivation was like this. The later the stage, the greater the gap. Sometimes, the difference of a single minor realm was enough to create an overwhelming advantage.
Wang Yu was fortunate enough to meet this*Thunder Hound Lord once.
The other took out a token engraved with a thunder character and gifted it to him, showing far more sincerity than Elder Xuan Yan. This meant that in the future, if Wang Yu committed some offense, he could use this token to save his life once.
He stored it with extreme care into his Sea Heart Ring.
As for the negotiations with the Yellow Springs Temple, Wang Yu's cultivation was too low. Apart from providing information, he served no function. He didn't even get a seat at the negotiating table; everything was handled by Elder Xuan Yan communicating with them.
The Yellow Springs Temple also sent a Nascent Soul expert. That chief culprit, Elder Earth Treasury, also accompanied them. The other side's confidence stemmed not only from strength but also seemed to have the backing of a major faction within the Yellow Springs Temple.
A resolution couldn't be reached quickly.
The Guiding Spirit City area, because of the gathering of Nascent Soul experts from the two overlord powers, became extraordinarily peaceful. Even the frequent incidents of robbery and murder ceased.
As for **The Thunder Hound Lord**, after obtaining the Lightning Spirit Corpse, he immediately rushed back to the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's mountain gate without pause, showing no intention of participating in the negotiations.
If a late Nascent Soul Great Cultivator were presiding, an agreement could probably be reached easily. Such an existence could represent their sect.
Every word and action had to be weighed carefully, especially with outsiders present.
These negotiations involved arguments every ten days or half a month—either disputing the unreasonable compensation Wang Yu demanded, or arguing about inflated losses.
They also used the captured three as talking points, pinning all the blame on them.
Elder Xuan Yan's attitude was firm.
His words never strayed from the dignity of the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect, demanding they provide an explanation. This wasn't something a few million spirit stones could settle. He also wanted a formal, written apology to be publicly announced.
And this was precisely what the Yellow Springs Temple could not accept.
With this back-and-forth, spring departed and winter came. The seasons cycled three times. They were now midway through the fourth cycle, and still no result had been agreed upon.
But many compensation items had already been settled.
Wang Yu, meanwhile, continued with his own life, completely unaffected by the negotiations. He did what he needed to do.
Taking advantage of this rare period of peace with a powerful expert in residence, many of his policies were implemented very smoothly. After the failure of the Alluring Scent Society,
he planned to establish a cultivator market within the city. The ruined central district happened to provide the perfect space.
He invited cultivators from various regions to settle in Guiding Spirit and developed a new cave dwelling rental business.
One must know, Guiding Spirit City's third-grade mid-tier spiritual vein was already an environment that rogue cultivators could only dream of encountering. He and Qing Yang couldn't possibly use all of it themselves. It was better to plan out an area for cave dwelling rentals.
For a cultivator to break through to Core Formation, a third-grade spiritual energy environment was a necessity. A second-grade spiritual vein couldn't provide the vast amount of spiritual energy required for condensing a Golden Core and the metamorphosis of life.
Even Wang Yu couldn't avoid this.
The Placement Slot also couldn't instantly provide him with the massive amount of spiritual energy needed for a breakthrough. Back in the Black Mountain Demon Territory, he had used spirit stones as a substitute.
These operational strategies were minor matters.
In the early days of the 1st month of his 30th year as an Affairs Manager, Wang Yu, aided by the efficacy of a Two-Line Condensed Essence Pill, successfully stepped into the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, truly entering the late Foundation Establishment range.
This differed somewhat from his initial plan of two years. He had overestimated his own cultivation speed. During this period, he refined two more top-grade Ice Spirit Pills.
They increased his true essence by a total of 552 drops. His own cultivation increased it by 82 drops, reaching a historical highest record!
Now, the true essence lake within his body had coalesced. Its recovery speed had multiplied several times over. His true essence capacity had reached 2,018 drops. He needed to accumulate to four thousand drops to reach the peak of the seventh layer.
It had doubled. And he had already consumed seven Ice Spirit Pills. He needed to find a new cultivation-aiding pill formula soon. This one was about to develop pill resistance.
The breakthrough in cultivation left Wang Yu feeling invigorated and full of energy.
On this day, a notification from Elder Xuan Yan prompted Wang Yu to hurry to the specially constructed Xuan Yan Hall!
"Wang Yu pays his respects to Senior Xuan Yan."
"No need for such formality. Do you remember what I told you before, to think about how to claim compensation?"
**(End of Chapter)**