Cultivation starts from devouring the Dao fruits

The pitch-black ghostly energy wafted out from the claws of the White Ghost Emperor, mingling with the pink haze hovering around the silk scarf that could hook into people's desires.

The pink haze was quickly tainted with darkness, and the protective shield around the silk scarf was shattered by a single claw strike from the White Ghost Emperor. It then tore the silk scarf in two, continuing its vicious laughter as it pounced towards the Colorful Fairy.

Taking advantage of the brief moment the silk scarf had blocked, the Colorful Fairy immediately retreated behind the Toxic Toad Elder, pleading pitifully, "Toxic Toad Elder, save me, I am willing to do anything for you~!"

The Toxic Toad Elder had already harbored the idea of retreat, as he was well aware of the terror of the Yin Ghost Sect's evil ghosts. But as soon as he smelled the fragrance emanating from the Colorful Fairy and saw her enchanting face, he was instantly mesmerized, chanting a spell as his body swiftly swelled in size.

In the span of a single breath, the Toxic Toad Elder transformed into a ten-foot tall monstrosity covered in poison pustules, resembling a humanoid toad. He opened his mouth and spat out a column of pitch-black poison directly towards Zhao Yu.

The sound of the Corpse Controlling Bell rang, and a copper corpse struck the poison column with a punch before being engulfed by it, emitting large amounts of black smoke as it was corroded and decomposed.

The copper corpse trembled, its movements becoming sluggish, yet it continued to lunge towards the Toxic Toad Elder.

The White Ghost Emperor sneered viciously and spit out a stream of pitch-black ghostly energy towards the poison column.

Under the cover of that pitch-black ghostly energy, the poison column was immediately swept up into the ghost energy, becoming part of it.

In almost an instant, the White Ghost Emperor appeared in front of the Toxic Toad Elder.

A hint of shock flickered in the Toxic Toad Elder's eyes as he directly threw out a piece of pitch-black toadskin towards the White Ghost Emperor.

The pitch-black toadskin, a low-grade spiritual tool, unleashed a dark spiritual light, swallowing the White Ghost Emperor in an instant.

The next moment, a pair of ghostly claws tore through the pitch-black toadskin, and the White Ghost Emperor burst out from within it, appearing in front of the Toxic Toad Elder and snatching his head off with a claw.

"This..."

The head of the Toxic Toad Elder let out a voice of despair before breathing its last.

The White Ghost Emperor casually tossed the head of the Toxic Toad Elder aside, sneered viciously, enveloped in layers of ghostly energy, and pounced towards the Colorful Fairy.

"Stop!! I beg you, stop!! I will do anything for you! Just spare my life, and I am willing to be your slave, at your service~!"

Seeing the Toxic Toad Elder easily killed by the White Ghost Emperor, a chill began to rise in the Colorful Fairy's heart. She pushed her cultivation technique to the limit, pleading softly to Zhao Yu.

A boundless feeling of tenderness towards the Colorful Fairy suddenly surged in Zhao Yu's heart, as if he was willing to listen to her and offer up everything he had.

Zhao Yu bit his tongue tip forcefully, a sharp pain bringing him back to his senses, while simultaneously he deployed a supreme grade magical artifact level white spiritual shield around himself and shook the Corpse Controlling Bell with his left hand.

The eerie sound of the Corpse Controlling Bell echoed, the copper corpse's figure flickered, and in an instant, it returned to stand guard ten zhang beside Zhao Yu.

"This man is truly heartless! Cursed be the day! If only I could acquire the true teachings of the Thousand Mysteries Sect, how could I not take down a mere Qi Refinement cultivator?"

The Colorful Fairy's pretty face slightly distorted with fury as she frantically channeled her mana, shooting out colorful ribbons from her palace attire towards the White Ghost Emperor.

The White Ghost Emperor was wrapped in pitch-black ghostly aura, his twin claws tearing repeatedly. The dark ghostly aura polluted the colorful ribbons into black, then easily shred them to pieces.

In almost an instant, the White Ghost Emperor appeared in front of the Colorful Fairy, his claw piercing directly through her heart.

The White Ghost Emperor opened his mouth to swallow the souls of those five cultivators one by one. Zhao Yu stimulated the Dao Fruit of Devouring, refining their souls completely, and took their storage bags and corpses, leaving the area swiftly.

Inside the Quiet Room of Wolf Ridge.

"There's no rush to enhance the Alchemy Refining Talent. If it doesn't reach a transformative level, simply increasing proficiency isn't very beneficial! Right now, what should be improved are the Formation Path Talent and Body Refining Talent! My current strength is sufficient to face cultivators in Qi Refinement, but against Foundation Establishment Cultivators, it's far too weak!"

After reviewing the battle, Zhao Yu made his choice, and a stream of incomparably cool energy surged from the depths of his body, nourishing his soul.

"Alchemy Talent: Remarkably outstanding (7/1000)."

"Formation Talent: Remarkably outstanding (0/1000)."

"Body Refining Talent: Remarkably outstanding (0/1000)."

"So the Second Order Low-Grade Spirit Wood Grand Formation has so many variations! My previous arrangement was indeed fraught with too many issues! I must start from scratch to learn about formation knowledge!"

As the Formation Path Talent was enhanced, enlightenment surged through Zhao Yu's mind.

The way of formations places great emphasis on talent, and Zhao Yu had also been diligently studying formation knowledge before, but he hadn't achieved much. He could only rigidly activate pre-set formations, completely oblivious to the various transformations and subtleties of formations.

Like Zhao Yu, the majority of cultivators could only trigger fixed formations using the main nodes of grand formations, leading to very limited variations in the formations.

However, an outstanding Array Master can perfectly unleash the power of a grand formation, making the formation erupt with strength more than ten times greater than what ordinary cultivators could achieve.

When activated by Zhao Yu, the Second Order Low-Grade Spirit Wood Grand Formation could only suppress a cultivator at the Great Circle of Qi Refining. If a First-Order Array Master were to activate it, it could easily suppress an Early Stage Foundation Building Cultivator.

If a Second-Order Array Master were to do so, fully releasing the formation's power with various adjustments, even a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator could perish within the formation if they were not careful.

After Zhao Yu's transformation was complete, he began to check his spoils of war.

Four hundred seventy-two mid-grade Spirit Stones, three thousand six hundred seventy-five low-grade Spirit Stones, various first-order Talismans, elixirs, and a variety of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

"Toxic Toad Technique! This technique is excellent, much stronger than the basic Wood Yuan Gong I'm cultivating. Unfortunately, it requires one's body to be eroded by various poisons, which would render the body hideously ugly, falling far short of a truly top-tier technique."

"Colorful Charm Technique, this is a Charming Skill passed down from the Thousand Mysteries Sect, it's good for nothing other than beguiling men and using men as furnaces to speed up cultivation; it's probably a simplified version of some Charming Skill from a Demon Path sect, pretty much rubbish."

Zhao Yu organized the cultivation techniques of the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, obtaining two Foundation Establishment inheritances. However, both inheritances were of limited use and had no further methods for advanced cultivation.

Yet in a resource-scarce place like the Northern Desolation, for Loose Cultivators, both the Toxic Toad Technique and the Colorful Charm Technique are top-grade Foundation Establishment cultivation methods, definitely drawing Loose Cultivators willing to pay a high price to acquire them.

Zhao Yu's lips curved slightly, revealing a hint of a smile, "Although the bronze corpse was heavily damaged, needing to be buried underground and nurtured for a while with a Secret Technique, taking out those five cultivators has plumped up my once thin purse. No wonder so many cultivators enjoy being raiders."