Chapter 148: Preparation

What, already reserved by someone?

Can an unoccupied cave dwelling be reserved in advance?

Wang Yu froze at these words, then studied the expression on White Hall Director's face—it didn't seem like a joke.

"Wang's junior disciple, I know what you're thinking, but I can only tell you this person who reserved the cave has immense backing; aside from a few Golden Core elders, everyone else would give their patron at least three parts of respect." White Hall Director sighed in explanation.

"I see. Then I'll just pick another cave. How about this one? Aside from being a bit smaller, everything else is fine." Wang Yu, hearing White Hall Director speak thus, thought for a moment, then pointed to another unoccupied cave marker nearby.

"Your eye for quality is sharp—this cave isn't much worse than the last one. Your senior uncle will immediately send someone to deliver the cave token, and also dispatch workers right away to build your alchemy chamber and ground-fire furnace." White Hall Director's face lit up with a smile at Wang Yu's tact.

Fifteen minutes later, Wang Yu, having swapped his identity token and now carrying an additional cave token in his sleeve, left the Alchemy Hall and released his mechanical flying bird, heading straight for the new cave's location below the mountain.

A hundred zhang below the mountain slope, before a quiet bamboo grove, Wang Yu gently landed his mechanical flying bird.

He studied the bamboo grove for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and shot out a crimson fireball that vanished into the grove.

"Boom."

The fireball exploded, but as roaring flames swept outward, the nearby green bamboos turned to white mist; at the mist's edge, a towering cliff wall faintly appeared—but moments later, the mist coalesced again into green bamboo, everything returning to normal.

The solitary cave dwelling came with a pre-set formation barrier—even if only the simplest illusion array, it was sufficient for alert purposes.

Wang Yu watched all this, a hint of excitement crossing his face; he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a pure white jade tablet, waving it toward the bamboo grove.

"Puff."

A streak of green light shot from the jade tablet and vanished into the bamboo grove.

The once lush green bamboo grove blurred and dissolved into rolling white mist within moments.

Wang Yu held the jade tablet and stepped forward; as he passed, the mist parted on either side, revealing a narrow path.

This familiar scene made Wang Yu marvel at the subtlety of formations.

But after walking a dozen steps, the scenery shifted—he stood before a towering cliff wall, where a stone door, over a zhang tall and colored blue-green, was embedded.

Good—he had chosen a cave dwelling that was, in fact, a massive cavern.

Wang Yu turned to look back at the direction he'd come from.

The path he'd just walked down had vanished entirely, replaced only by a vast expanse of white mist behind him.

Wang Yu rubbed his chin, then walked to the stone door; with a mere touch of the jade tablet against its surface, white light rippled between them, and the door groaned open slowly on its own.

Wang Yu stepped inside without hesitation.

It was large—the cavern was clearly not natural, but artificially excavated.

Not only were the rooms inside square and orderly, but even the corridors connecting them were smooth and level; basic furnishings had also been provided in most rooms.

There were eleven rooms total—bedchambers, cultivation chambers, and even a small training ground of one hundred square zhang; in one corner of the cavern lay a deep well, its clear, icy water surely the cold spring mentioned in the cave's description.

Though this cold spring wasn't a great spiritual spring, it was useful for alchemy—it slightly increased the hardness of metal materials quenched in its water.

Moreover, the open area outside the stone door, enclosed by the barrier, was also part of the cave's property, at the owner's full discretion.

Still, this cave was inferior to the one he had originally chosen.

That one had not only the same cold spring, but also a small attached herb garden and was closer to the mountain slope.

Wang Yu felt a pang of regret, and his curiosity deepened—who was this person who commanded such respect from White Hall Director, a Foundation Establishment elder of the Alchemy Hall?

As he pondered, he quickly mapped out the purpose of every room in the new cave—even deciding precisely where to place the alchemy chamber and ground-fire furnace.

Wang Yu no longer hesitated; he left the new cave and returned to his original residence.

He hastily packed all useful items into his storage pouch, sealed the two young crocodiles into his spirit beast pouch, then moved directly to the new cave; outside the cliff wall, he dug a large pond and released the two crocodiles into it.

The two young crocodiles—Big Green and Little White—now measured nearly seven chi and four chi in length respectively, on the verge of leaving juvenile stage and entering the rapid-growth adolescent phase.

In adolescence, Ironhead Crocodiles develop tougher skin, sharper teeth and claws, and become capable of direct combat.

But with the Four Sects Law Assembly still so far off, Wang Yu didn't believe these two spirit beasts would be ready in time—he'd likely leave them behind to guard the cave.

In the quiet chamber of the new cave, Wang Yu activated his hyper-focus mode and silently meditated on the two newly acquired spell runes.

Early the next morning, a small group arrived outside the cave's barrier—both formation apprentices and puppeteers.

After Wang Yu indicated the locations, the formation apprentice held up a disc, gestured briefly, and the puppeteers immediately summoned a dozen bulky, muscular puppets to begin remodeling the rooms.

In just half a day, the team completed the alchemy chamber and ground-fire furnace, then departed swiftly.

Wang Yu stood in his new alchemy chamber, staring at the empty tables and shelves, unable to suppress the joy on his face.

At last, he had his own alchemy chamber—he could now forge any device he wished, without having to hide forbidden techniques as he once did when borrowing Master Sun's workshop.

But before that, he must use his free-material quota to exchange as many spiritual materials as possible from the General Affairs Hall, then seek out and purchase whatever remained.

The Parent-Child Floating Mirror he planned to forge was vastly different from any device he'd made before—it bore resemblance to high-precision machinery from Blue Star.

Moreover, though he trusted the Taiyuan ability, a trace of unease lingered in his heart.

He feared the Taiyuan's predictive function might be unreliable, producing only elegant but impractical design blueprints—beautiful on paper, impossible to actually forge.