Chapter 96

In his spiritual sense, Wang Yu saw a cluster of crimson flame hidden within the crimson scales, within which faint, flickering spirit runes were barely visible.

Each of these runes was blurred and indistinct, and with over a dozen entangled together, he could not make them out at all for a moment.

Wang Yu tried to lock onto one rune, but after gazing at it with his spiritual sense for only a moment, he felt dizzy and disoriented, his vision blurring.

“Overclock”

The next instant, a crystalline gleam flashed in his eyes, his five senses rapidly amplified, surrounding objects slowed, and his mind entered a strange state.

The rune that had previously seemed utterly chaotic in his spiritual sense now rapidly unraveled, breaking into countless crimson threads…

The next morning, Wang Yu went to the Scripture Pavilion again.

This time, he spent dozens of spirit stones not only on several beginner-level metallurgy notes from the “Art” section, but also visited the “Commoner” section, spending one spirit stone to stay for a full hour, flipping through every book in six or seven stone chambers.

Whenever he encountered books he deemed useful—especially those related to the human body, martial techniques, or medicine—he immediately activated overclocking, using his superhuman memory to memorize every single word.

At noon, Wang Yu returned to his quarters, reviewed the several metallurgy notes by memory, and then, amid a voice saying “Enter login interface,” he reappeared in the silver hall, directly on the black metal chair.

He waited until the red light above verified his identity, then a keyboard of light shimmered before him, and the giant screen lit up, displaying a golden mechanical funnel pattern.

“Simulate a Qi Refinement stage body cultivation method, enhance simulation direction: strengthen physical explosive power.”

Wang Yu instructed the screen.

“Insufficient simulation reserve data. Unable to simulate Qi Refinement stage body cultivation method. Enhancement direction: strengthen physical explosive power.” The mechanical voice echoed emotionlessly through the hall.

At this moment, the symbol on the golden funnel on the giant screen read 29%.

Wang Yu stared at the 29% symbol on the funnel, his gaze flickering slightly.

Yesterday, he had input into the screen a medical text titled “Perspectives on Human Meridians,” recorded from the Commoner section of the Scripture Pavilion, and unexpectedly, the funnel’s symbol rose from 28% to 29%.

Now he wanted to test his hypothesis again.

Wang Yu placed one hand on the glowing keyboard and dumped into the giant screen every single piece of recorded content from the Scripture Pavilion—whether metallurgy notes or commoner texts—all at once.

After a full quarter-hour, when the last line of light text vanished from the screen, the golden funnel symbol blurred, shifting from 29% to 31%.

A 2% increase. Indeed, it didn’t have to be cultivation techniques—any information related to body cultivation in this world could enhance Tai Yuan’s simulation efficacy.

If so, every single commoner text in the Scripture Pavilion was worth collecting, as all could boost Tai Yuan’s ability to simulate matters of the cultivation world.

Thinking of the dozens of stone chambers filled with commoner texts in the Scripture Pavilion, Wang Yu was overjoyed; after uttering “Exit login,” his consciousness returned to reality.

He suppressed the urge to rush back to the Scripture Pavilion and closed his eyes, silently contemplating the content of the metallurgy notes.

By nightfall, Wang Yu opened his eyes, pulled a small vial from his robe, and poured out a green pill.

The pill bore a silver line on its surface and emitted a pungent, acrid odor—the very “Zeng Yuan Pill” he had received from the General Affairs Hall.

He swallowed the pill and began practicing the fourth layer of the Fire Spirit Technique.

The Zeng Yuan Pill, a grade pill capable of enhancing mid-to-late stage spiritual energy, was entirely different from ordinary auxiliary drugs like Spirit Gathering Liquid—it could truly convert into pure spiritual energy, and its effect varied greatly depending on the cultivator’s innate talent.

He didn’t know about others, but for him, one pill equaled two months of arduous practice, and he could take one every three days.

As an inner sect disciple, he could claim twelve Zeng Yuan Pills for free in his first year, using them all up in just over a month, saving him two full years of cultivation—but in subsequent years, the quota would halve each year.

Outer sect disciples received only six pills in their first year, with the same annual halving thereafter.

After experiencing the astonishing effect of the Zeng Yuan Pill, returning to self-cultivation alone made the pace feel like a tortoise crawling.

Yet even at the General Affairs Hall’s Pill Pavilion, these pills were often out of stock; when available, quantities were scarce and the price soared to fifty or sixty spirit stones per pill.

Among sect disciples themselves, everyone needed them for their own cultivation and none would dare resell them.

It was said that occasionally a few slipped out into the markets beyond the Four Symbols Sect, where prices doubled immediately.

When Wang Yu first learned the price of the Zeng Yuan Pill, his first thought was to become a pill alchemist, not a metallurgist.

But sadly, after careful inquiry, he learned that pill formulas tied to the sect’s very foundation—like the Zeng Yuan Pill—could only be accessed by alchemists cultivated by the sect from childhood, and each such alchemist was bound by a Soul Pact, leaving a fragment of their soul in the sect’s Ancestral Hall, doomed to never leave the Four Symbols Sect for life.

Wang Yu abandoned the idea of learning pill alchemy and turned instead to studying metallurgy.

After entering Qi Refinement fourth layer, he already sensed the distant, unreachable barrier of fifth layer; without any pill assistance, he estimated it would take at least six or seven years.

This was even after his Star Mind Force had reached first layer, nearly doubling his cultivation speed.

For an ordinary four-element disciple, reaching fifth layer from fourth would take fourteen to fifteen years, and if breakthroughs proved difficult, even longer.

No wonder the Four Symbols Sect refused to accept four-element disciples—such a slow cultivation pace, without vast resources, promised no future.

As for wandering cultivators, lacking talent and resources, most never advanced beyond mid-Qi Refinement in their entire lives.

Over the next six or seven days,

Every morning, Wang Yu first contemplated the Fire Shield spirit rune diagram, then went to the Commoner Library of the Scripture Pavilion to study and record every commoner text.

At noon, he studied metallurgy; in the afternoon, he rested with closed eyes; after restoring his energy at night, he practiced the Fire Spirit Technique.

At dawn, he used the dwindling supply of Star Stones to cultivate the second layer of Star Mind Force.

One morning, just after finishing his spell contemplation and preparing to head again to the Scripture Pavilion, a buzzing sound suddenly came from outside his room.

Wang Yu paused, rose, and opened the door to find a talisman hovering low in the air outside, which, upon seeing him appear, instantly ignited in the wind, turning into a small flame.

A stern male voice emerged from the flame.

“Wang Yu, you have been accepted by Master Sun as a temporary metallurgy disciple. Report to the Metallurgy Hall within three quarters of an hour, or it will be deemed an automatic withdrawal.”