Chapter 467: Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd, Lüqiu Qingfeng |
Just like last time.
Wei Tu still didn’t have the strength to stop a Nascent Soul cultivator from self-destructing their Nascent Soul and dying by suicide.
However, now that he had the secret technique Five Elements Spirit Control Technique—used to refine human puppets—he could at least delay Yan Gongcheng’s soul from self-dissolving.
But… compared to Master Hongjing, Yan Gongcheng didn’t have much information on him that was worth Wei Tu's concern.
Even so, Wei Tu didn’t waste the opportunity.
After locating the hidden spirit crystals within his divine soul, he questioned him about the origin of the “ferocious skeletal claws”—the so-called Sacred Ancestor’s remains—as well as intelligence on the Spider Heart Sect, Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild, and other related forces.
To Wei Tu’s surprise, Yan Gongcheng’s betrayal hadn’t been his own decision. It had been guided by the suggestion of a powerful figure.
And that person… Wei Tu had actually met not long ago.
“Lüqiu Jinyuan.”
He hadn’t expected that what looked like a straightforward clash between Nascent Soul forces was actually tied to the royal clan of the Eastern Hua Demon Kingdom—the Lüqiu Clan.
The Lüqiu Clan didn’t have any Divine Transformation Venerable Masters in the family, but even so, their power could be considered close to a Divine Transformation-level force.
The reason was simple. That clan had three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. One of them was even at the Nascent Soul peak, just one step away from breaking into the highest cultivation realm in the Return Abyss Sea.
Now, with Lüqiu Jinyuan stepping in, what had been a small-scale Nascent Soul dispute had grown far more complicated.
The layers beneath this conflict might be many times more intricate than anything he had seen on the surface.
“If the Spider Heart Sect has the Third Prince Lüqiu Jinyuan behind it, then what about the backer behind the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild?”
That thought suddenly crossed Wei Tu’s mind.
Maybe Lüqiu Jinyuan was simply using the Spider Heart Sect as a front to seize territory and plunder resources.
But the way Nangong Zhe had “held something back” when handing over information on Yan Gongcheng made Wei Tu suspicious.
After all, if Nangong Zhe truly wanted to resolve the issue on Jinglei Island, even if he didn’t publicly disclose that Yan Gongcheng might be a traitor, he should’ve at least given him a private warning—rather than letting him find out only after Ying Ziming said something.
From that logic, it wasn’t hard for Wei Tu to guess that Nangong Zhe sending him and Ying Ziming to Jinglei Island probably had a different first objective entirely—not just handling the local problem.
“If that’s the case, then I’d better not report killing Yan Gongcheng to Nangong Zhe or ask for payment.”
“Let’s just pretend… this never happened.”
Wei Tu leaned on his chin, lost in thought.
According to the spiritual contract, if he managed to kill any Nascent Soul cultivator from the Spider Heart Sect during combat, the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild would pay him an additional reward of ten spirit crystals.
Yan Gongcheng might not have been an official member of the Spider Heart Sect, but since he defected to them, he was no different. His head was worth ten spirit crystals.
But now, for the sake of safety, Wei Tu had no choice but to give up that reward.
…
After the soul search ended—
Wei Tu didn’t linger long on Jinglei Island. Once he erased all traces of battle from Yan Gongcheng’s cave, he quietly retreated along the original path and fled swiftly in the opposite direction from the island.
This time, without any Golden Core cultivators tracking him, it only took Wei Tu two months to return to Yuanjun Island.
Upon arrival, he immediately went to the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild to meet with Nangong Zhe and report the details of the mission.
"I used a spirit-vision technique to see through the ambush set up on Jinglei Island by the Holy Son of the Spider Heart Sect and the Old Master of the Divine Stone Sect... So after careful consideration, Brother Ziming and I split up and escaped."
"Brother Ziming’s escape speed is slightly slower than mine, so he’ll probably return a bit later."
Wei Tu gave a truthful account, though he left out the part about sneaking back to the island and killing Yan Gongcheng.
Hearing this, Nangong Zhe didn’t suspect anything.
After all, Wei Tu and Ying Ziming were only guest elders of the merchant guild. It was unreasonable to expect them to stay and fight a death match after discovering an ambush.
Them splitting up and fleeing was the logical move.
“What about the four Golden Core cultivators who followed you? Where are they now?”
Nangong Zhe raised an eyebrow and asked.
“Those four?” Wei Tu seemed mildly surprised, glancing at him with a flat tone. “I brought them to safety. Life and death are up to fate. I couldn’t risk my life dragging four burdens with me.”
Upon hearing that, Nangong Zhe immediately made a judgment about Wei Tu’s character: slightly better than average cultivators, but cold-hearted. When on the losing side, not someone you could count on.
Of course, he also understood that Wei Tu leaving the four behind had a lot to do with the fact that they weren’t close to him.
If it had been people he truly cared about, that conclusion might not apply.
‘This man isn’t one to repay kindness with loyalty, but… he’s still worth drawing in,’ Nangong Zhe thought to himself.
One of his goals in hiring Wei Tu to assist at the Jinglei Island sub-branch had been to test his character—to see if he had potential, and whether he could become one of the Princess’s subordinates or form an alliance with her.
Now, after this encounter, he had his answer.
"Though Fellow Daoist Wei merely made a hard trip, according to the contract, the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild should still pay the remaining two spirit crystals."
"After all, this failed reinforcement almost put Fellow Daoist Wei and Fellow Daoist Ying in danger. That’s something we can’t completely separate from our responsibility."
Nangong Zhe gave a small smile, pulled two spirit crystals from his storage pouch, and set them on the desk. His tone was reasonable and sincere.
Hearing this, Wei Tu’s expression eased. His earlier cold tone had actually been deliberate—a way to show his displeasure for nearly falling into a deadly trap.
Now that Nangong Zhe had apologized and compensated the final payment as outlined in the spirit contract, he had no reason to stay angry.
In fact, if one looked at it from another angle, Wei Tu leaving those Golden Core subordinates behind and returning alone... did carry some weight of responsibility.
If not for his special status as a Nascent Soul guest elder, with a partial cooperative relationship with the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild, this mistake could have landed him in serious trouble.
After all, four Golden Core cultivators were a significant force in any faction.
After chatting a bit longer, Wei Tu stood and took his leave. He exited the front hall and returned to the guest elder’s cave residence in the back to rest.
"With these two extra crystals, I now have seventeen spirit crystals in total."
Entering the cave, Wei Tu flicked his sleeve and laid down a soundproofing formation. Then, with an excited look, he checked his harvest from this trip.
Of course, what he gained from Yan Gongcheng’s storage pouch wasn’t just those fifteen spirit crystals. There were other things too.
For instance, the savage-looking double claws called the “Sacred Ancestor’s Remains,” and the cultivation method for the “Nine Yin Mother-Child Flame” that Yan Gongcheng had used during the duel.
"But aside from the spirit crystals, this one item… is by far the most valuable to me right now." Wei Tu turned his palm over, revealing a yellow gourd about half a foot tall. He studied it carefully.
The yellow gourd was called the Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd. Inside, it held three powerful arrows soaked in poison water.
According to Yan Gongcheng’s memories, this magical weapon had enough power to threaten even a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. It was a treasure he had bought and refined at great cost.
But the Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd had a flaw—it took time to activate.
Coincidentally, Wei Tu had used close-range sneak attacks when ambushing Yan Gongcheng, leaving him no time to prepare or use the gourd’s full power.
That’s why in the Jinglei Island battle, this treasure was reduced to gathering dust and never saw use.
"But unfortunately, now that it’s mine, what was once its flaw… becomes my bad luck."
Wei Tu let out a quiet sigh.
If not for the delay in activation, this treasure wouldn’t be any weaker than his Yin-Yang Demon Corpse and could’ve been used as a trump card.
Of course, this kind of thinking showed just how spoiled Wei Tu had become.
The Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd might not match the Yin-Yang Demon Corpse, but that corpse had been refined by the mid-stage Nascent Soul expert Liu Yu of the Six Desires Sect over hundreds of painstaking years.
Ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators had no hope of obtaining such a deadly weapon.
Most people, if they could get something on the same level as the Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd, would already be considered blessed by the heavens.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Wei Tu swept the gourd with his divine sense, erased Yan Gongcheng’s remaining soul imprint from it, and began the refining process.
Half a month later—
Wei Tu succeeded in refining the Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd.
After regulating his breath and meditating for several days, he pulled out the spirit crystals from his storage pouch and resumed his cultivation.
Time passed.
In a blink, two spring-and-autumn cycles had gone by.
Thanks to the spirit crystals, Wei Tu’s cultivation surged. In a short period, he had gained nearly one hundred years’ worth of cultivation.
Even so, he only managed to break through one minor realm within the early Nascent Soul stage, reaching early-stage Nascent Soul “Major Accomplishment.”
That showed just how hard it was for Nascent Soul ancestors to advance in the cultivation world. Each step required hundreds of years of accumulation.
But even so—
Wei Tu was already quite satisfied.
After all, over ninety percent of the established Nascent Soul cultivators in the Kang Kingdom were stuck at this level.
Only a tiny handful had reached the early-stage Nascent Soul peak.
Now, having reached this realm in under thirty years, if the other Nascent Soul cultivators in Kang Kingdom found out, they’d probably go crazy with jealousy.
“It’s just that this stuff is way too rare… way too precious.”
Wei Tu looked at the single remaining spirit crystal on his table and sighed to himself.
As the branch master of the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild’s Jinglei Island office, Yan Gongcheng’s wealth was already impressive for an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
And yet, his entire fortune only amounted to fifteen spirit crystals.
From that, one could see just how extravagant it was to burn through all of that just to raise his cultivation by one minor realm.
For Wei Tu, this kind of cultivation method clearly wasn’t sustainable.
Stillness breeds restlessness.
After stabilizing his cultivation, Wei Tu didn’t linger in the cave. He planned to go out for some air and see if he could learn anything about what happened after the Jinglei Island battle.
After all, Yan Gongcheng’s death was surely big news within the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild.
What he cared most about was whether the guild would link Yan Gongcheng’s death back to him.
But the moment he started asking around, one piece of intel left him utterly stunned.
Ying Ziming was dead.
Just those five words shocked Wei Tu so much he could hardly shut his mouth.
He couldn’t believe Ying Ziming had actually failed to escape from the joint pursuit of two cultivators of the same realm.
'If my escape had been even a bit slower, the one lying dead might’ve been me.'
A chill ran down Wei Tu’s spine.
Logically speaking, Ying Ziming, as an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, should’ve had no problem slipping away from two others at the same level.
Sure, strength scales with numbers, but speed doesn’t—what you’ve got is what you’ve got.
Without some unique secret technique, there shouldn’t have been a big gap in their escape speeds.
That meant either Holy Son Faguang and old sect master Gu had some exceptional movement ability, or they had a method to restrict Ying Ziming’s escape.
The first scenario didn’t scare Wei Tu. With Curse Ghost Blood Escape, he wasn’t afraid of pursuit.
But the second one? He had no confidence against that.
'With Ying Ziming dead… the only Nascent Soul cultivators left in the main branch of the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild are me, Nangong Zhe, and Shen Xiu, who’s been in seclusion for years.'
Wei Tu felt a real sense of crisis.
Losing Ying Ziming was like the guild losing one of its pillars. It was now teetering on the edge of collapse.
If he stuck around, when the house fell, he might get buried too—just another unlucky fish caught in muddy waters.
Just as he was weighing his options and thinking of a clean way to slip out…
A female cultivator dressed as a servant walked up, gave a respectful bow, and said, "Senior Wei, the guild master invites you."
Seeing this, Wei Tu instantly understood. After Ying Ziming’s death, Nangong Zhe had probably kept close tabs on all his movements.
'I’m just a guest elder. I come and go as I please. If he tries to force me into some dangerous task, I’ll take that as a perfect excuse to part ways—no harm to my reputation.'
With that thought, Wei Tu calmed down.
Power structures were different from sects.
A commercial group like the Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild didn’t have strict entry requirements like cultivation sects. When times were good, they could gather strength faster than sects. But once decline set in, everyone would scatter just as quickly.
In other words, they had no real authority to bind someone like him.
His earlier plan to leave quietly was more about saving face for both sides.
A short while later—
Led by the servant girl, Wei Tu arrived at one of the guild’s side rooms to meet Nangong Zhe.
But this time, there was someone new in the room—a young female cultivator dressed in a bright yellow palace robe, her face covered by a thin white veil, her bearing elegant and noble.
She sat by an Eight Immortals table, sipping fragrant tea. When she saw Wei Tu enter, she turned her delicate head and looked at him with slightly curious phoenix eyes.
In that moment, her noble aura softened, and she seemed more like the girl next door.
"Let me make the introductions, Fellow Daoist Wei. This is the one backing our Blood Flood Dragon Merchant Guild from the shadows—the Ninth Princess of the Lüqiu Clan, Lüqiu Qingfeng."
Nangong Zhe was the first to speak.
"Lüqiu Qingfeng?" Wei Tu raised an eyebrow at the name. He’d heard of her.
She was born with ancestral blood and was deeply favored by the elders of the Lüqiu Clan, once hailed as the next clan head.
Unfortunately, not long after her birth, Lüqiu Jinyuan—who came from a concubine branch—rose suddenly to power and stole most of her glory.
Since then, outside of the Donghua Demon Nation, all cultivators ever heard of was Lüqiu Jinyuan.