The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 149: Wu Yuan’s Tremendous Improvement

Wu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, rising from his nest in the treehouse as he concluded a full day of cultivation.

Vast waves of Demon Power surged around his body like a turbulent tide, reverberating within the confined space. The air rippled visibly before the power slowly retracted into his core, swirling like a vortex returning to the deep.

Ever since the [Blood Water Pool] was successfully forged two months ago, Wu Yuan’s path of cultivation had become terrifyingly efficient.

While Bibo and One Ear were stirring up storms in Polong Lake, scheming against the Snake Brothers, Wu Yuan had remained in seclusion, consuming refined Blood Essence daily.

His cultivation base had leaped from thirty-five strands of Demon Power to a staggering sixty strands. Such a rapid ascent was virtually unheard of among demons without high-tier bloodlines.

Wu Yuan ran the numbers. Normal cultivation over two months would have yielded six strands. The Blood Essence had provided an additional nineteen.

However, this smooth progress hid a looming crisis.

Due to his gluttonous demand, almost all solitary Qi Condensation beasts near Little Green Mountain had been hunted to extinction. Stronger beasts had fled the region, sensing the predator in their midst. Even the livestock raised within the mountain to supply his daily meals were nearly depleted.

Worse, most of the captured prey were low-level Qi Condensation beasts. The Blood Essence refined from them was impure.

“I’m the Rat King,” Wu Yuan grumbled, tossing a low-grade sphere in his paw. “Using this trash is an insult to my station.”

Therefore, he had to refine ten low-grade spheres into a single middle-grade one. This process was inefficient but necessary. The fist-sized sphere he had consumed previously was a rare treasure formed from over a hundred beasts; such luxury was unsustainable.

He now had to ration his intake carefully.

Moreover, he had another mouth to feed: the Spirit Mulberry Tree.

The tree craved Blood Essence. With it, its growth speed was astonishing, expanding Wu Yuan’s territory and control. However, the tree’s appetite was even greater than his own.

After careful consideration, Wu Yuan decided to allocate a significant portion of the Blood Essence to the tree. In his future plans, the Spirit Mulberry Tree would be a critical strategic asset; if its strength lagged, it could become a liability.

Wu Yuan sighed. “I suppose I can treat this shortage as time to consolidate my foundation.”

It was a lie he told himself for comfort. Thanks to the synergy between his stomach, large intestine, and the Touch of Profound Spiritual Perception, he had never felt any instability. His foundation was as solid as bedrock.

At this rate, he would reach the peak of the mid-stage Qi Condensation realm in less than three years—far exceeding his original five-year plan.

With his cultivation routine finished, Wu Yuan turned his focus to his studies.

Formations.

Since acquiring the Touch of Profound Spiritual Perception, his sensitivity to Spiritual Qi flow had become supernatural. He could perceive the subtle trajectory of energy in the air, a massive advantage for a Formation Master.

He could now easily inscribe hundreds of basic patterns from the [Nine Heavens Mystic Spirit Formation Explanation]. If he simply copied them without seeking deeper understanding, he could set up nearly a hundred distinct Primary Formations.

By the standards of the cultivation world, he was already an elite First-Rank Primary Formation Master. He could even deploy several Middle-Grade formations, arguably qualifying him as a First-Rank Middle-Grade master.

Any human sect would treat him with respect. He could earn piles of Spirit Stones just by selling his services.

But Wu Yuan lacked neither stones nor respect. He wanted mastery.

He stubbornly refused to advance until he understood the fundamental “Why” behind every rune. He had only thoroughly deconstructed ten types of core formations—Spirit Gathering, Spirit Restraining, Forbidden Severance—but his understanding of them was absolute.

As for the complex spiritual patterns of Middle-Grade formations? He was still in the dark.

Artifact Forging.

Here, his progress was explosive.

Combining Bibo’s [Flesh and Blood Artifact Forging Technique] with the advanced [Spirit-Nurturing Artifact Casting Method], Wu Yuan had developed a unique, brutal style.

“Whether a magical artifact is good or not,” Wu Yuan often bragged, “I know it with one punch.”

Take the simple Spirit Copper Spear.

Big Old Black would melt the copper. Wu Yuan would scoop up a glob of molten metal with his bare, qi-protected claw. With a casual pinch and twist, the shape would form. His muscles would twitch, and a razor-sharp spearhead would be molded instantly. His other claw would scratch along the shaft, inscribing the spiritual patterns in a single, fluid motion.

He could forge a functional magical artifact in less time than it took to burn an incense stick. The only bottleneck was Big Old Black’s smelting speed.

Wu Yuan examined his claws, pleased.

“Cultivation, Formations, Forging… the trinity is coming together.”