Chapter 103: Four Years

The sun and moon pass like a shuttle; time flies, and on a certain day four years later.

Inside the cliffside stone hut, everything had changed considerably since before.

In the previously empty corner of the room stood a massive incense burner, its thick purple incense stick burning, emitting a refreshing, soothing fragrance.

By the window, several delicate flowerpots had been added, each containing crimson, mushroom-like spiritual herbs.

The empty wooden shelves had been replaced by a jet-black iron rack, upon which sat various bottles and jars.

The original stone bed had been swapped for a crimson jade bed, with a crimson crystal embedded in a groove beside it.

On the jade bed, Wang Yu sat in meditation, suddenly trembling as a wave of crimson qi surged outward from his body; he involuntarily let out a long roar, his spiritual energy spiking sharply, increasing by more than a third in an instant.

Wang Yu opened his eyes, ending the roar, then flicked his sleeve—a flash of red light shot out, circled once through the room, then returned into his body and vanished.

Yet in those few moments, the room’s temperature had become scorching, as if he sat beside a furnace.

“This is the power of the sixth layer of the Fire Spirit Art—seems usable in actual combat,” Wang Yu murmured, a smile spreading across his face.

In just four short years, he had leapt two minor sub-levels, from Qi Condensation Fourth Layer to Sixth Layer.

Wang Yu formed a hand seal and completed one full cycle of the sixth layer of the Fire Spirit Art, then frowned.

Without external aids like pills, relying solely on his own hard cultivation, it would take him ten years to even reach the bottleneck of Qi Condensation Sixth Layer.

He had already advanced his Star Mind Force to the third layer, nearly tripling his mental strength, and now maintained his daily meditation for over an hour.

This pace of cultivation, while perhaps not matching the inner sect’s dual-element disciples, certainly surpassed most outer sect disciples with three elements.

After some thought, Wang Yu flipped his hand, producing a small vial, from which he poured out a blue Enhance Essence Pill.

He stared at the pill, his mind swirling with thoughts.

His cultivation had reached this point in four years largely due to the terrifying mental power of his Star Mind Force, and half due to consuming nearly a hundred Enhance Essence Pills, saving him vast amounts of cultivation time.

At first, each pill saved him two months of hard cultivation, but as his mental strength multiplied repeatedly and his body built resistance to the same pill, the effect weakened—now one pill only added seven or eight days of cultivation.

Such a low cost-to-benefit ratio made further use impractical.

He would need to either switch to another pill or simply buy the mid-grade Enhance Essence Pills with two pill patterns.

The moment Wang Yu recalled the price of mid-grade Enhance Essence Pills, he fell silent.

Mid-grade Enhance Essence Pills were three to four times more potent than the common low-grade ones, yet cost five to six times more—and even then, they were unavailable unless purchased with Four Symbols Sect merit points.

It was said that even after seven or eight batches of cultivation, a Four Symbols Sect alchemist might barely produce one mid-grade pill.

As for other Qi Condensation mid-to-late stage pills that boosted cultivation, even without resistance issues, their effects were far weaker than those of the Enhance Essence Pill.

That was why, even inner sect disciples with family or Foundation Establishment elders backing them mostly had to rely on slow, hard cultivation to reach Qi Condensation Peak.

Over the past few years, during his spare time, he had crafted dozens of low-grade artifacts under Master Sun’s tutelage as an apprentice and sold them all through Master Sun’s hands; though he lost one-third of the profits, he still earned nearly ten thousand spirit stones and gained a small reputation among outer sect disciples.

Most of those spirit stones went toward buying Enhance Essence Pills; the rest went elsewhere, leaving him with almost none left.

Now that he had reached Qi Condensation Sixth Layer, his spiritual energy should be sufficient to forge an entry-grade artifact.

After all, at Qi Condensation Fifth Layer, he had tried several times to forge entry-grade artifacts, but each time failed due to insufficient spiritual energy.

The final step of inscribing runes on entry-grade artifacts differs entirely from non-entry-grade ones—it requires the artificer to pour in massive spiritual energy to fuse the runes completely with the artifact’s core, or else the runes will crack and peel off after only a few uses due to the artifact’s overwhelming power.

If he could forge entry-grade artifacts, he would be officially recognized as an artificer by the sect, granted exclusive access to the earth-fire chamber and forging hall, and receive additional free resources.

He would need to visit Master Sun again soon.

As Wang Yu pondered this, a hissing sound came from outside, followed by a clattering of paws on the ground.

His expression shifted—he tucked the pill away, rose from the bed, and opened the door.

Outside on the open ground, two small crocodiles—one green, one white—rolled together in a tangle.

The green crocodile was slightly larger, about four feet long, its body speckled with black spots.

The white crocodile was entirely snow-white, only two and a half feet long, slender and frail, pinned beneath the green one, struggling desperately, its mouth emitting hissing cries for help.

The object of its plea was a man in yellow robes standing nearby.

The man appeared thirty-seven or thirty-eight, a crimson-eared rabbit perched on his shoulder, his face heavy with gloom.

“Brother Zhou, you’ve brought Bai Guang again,” Wang Yu said, glancing at the entangled crocodiles, smiling faintly.

“Hey, Brother Wang, it’s not called Bai Guang—it’s White Light. I can’t leave it behind; ever since it lost to your big green one last time, it’s been depressed and barely eats its feed.” Zhou Chu rolled his eyes.

“Oh? Little Bai Guang may be small, but he’s got quite the temper—no surprise for a mutation. But if he eats less, he grows slower—still, you haven’t formed a spiritual bond with him at all. I wonder what you’re thinking.” Wang Yu glanced at the yellow-robed man and shook his head.

“You talk easy standing there. White Light may have mutated, but aside from his white skin, where’s the mutation? If anything, he’s even weaker than a normal Iron-Devouring Crocodile by a third.”

“I’ve already bonded with one spiritual beast. Under these conditions, how could I dare bond with White Light?”

“Besides, I’ve spent hundreds of spirit stones on him already. Letting him go feels like a waste, keeping him costs even more, but I still won’t sign the bond.” Zhou Chu sighed bitterly.

“Have you really noticed no other peculiar traits? Did you ever have someone specifically examine him?” Wang Yu looked down at the two small beasts, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course I did—I even took him to a Foundation Establishment elder. He scanned him inside and out with spiritual sense and found nothing.” Zhou Chu hung his head, dejected.

“Hmm. If even a Foundation Establishment elder couldn’t detect anything, White Light’s mutation must be limited to his skin color—you’re just unlucky.” Wang Yu nodded, offering no further help.

He stepped forward two paces, bent down, and seized the necks of both crocodiles, forcibly pulling them apart.

The green crocodile coiled its body instantly, wrapping itself around Wang Yu’s arm, clearly content.

The white crocodile, seeing this, let out a joyful hiss, twisted its body, and clung to Wang Yu’s other arm, defiantly shaking its head and tail at the green one.

“This…” The yellow-robed man was utterly speechless.