A few days later.
Once the three Golden Core bodyguards from the Guangyuan Yu Clan were in place and all safety measures ready, Wei Tu "set off alone," leaving the marketplace and flying toward the direction of Linkang Boat in Chu Kingdom.
Linkang Boat, as the name implied, was a crossing point from Chu Kingdom to Kang Kingdom.
Wei Tu's suspicious movements immediately caught the eye of Fu Linglong, who had been hiding and waiting for the perfect moment.
"He rented a Foundation Establishment cave, but he's flying at Golden Core speed… looks like this person is almost certainly Wei Tu," Fu Linglong thought. She flicked her jade sleeve, changed into black clothes and skirt, and quickly followed.
At the same time.
The instant Fu Linglong set out, the three Golden Core cultivators from the Yu Clan also moved.
Leading them was an old man in plain clothes named Yu Gongshou. He held a palm-sized, golden compass-like artifact. After locking onto Wei Tu's position with it, he ordered the other two Yu clan Golden Cores to hide their aura and follow carefully.
This golden compass was called the "Dinggui Compass." It came as a master-slave pair and was a popular positioning and sensing tool in the Great Cang Cultivation World.
Its sensing range reached 300 li, far beyond what a Golden Core cultivator's divine sense could cover.
With this tool, Yu Gongshou and his men were confident they wouldn't lose Wei Tu's trail, nor would they alert any bandit cultivators following behind.
After all, the Dinggui Compass was a famous "fishing" tool in the Great Cang Cultivation World.
Many powerful forces had used it to root out bandit gangs from their territories.
"Alchemist Wei is a mid-tier Third-Tier Alchemist and will soon advance to upper-tier. Building a good relationship with him will benefit our Yu Clan greatly."
Before setting out, Yu Gongshou reminded the two other Yu clan Golden Cores not to get careless or hold back if something went wrong, lest they ruin the clan's plans.
"Also, Alchemist Wei promised me that once this escort mission is completed, besides the payment agreed upon in the contract, he'll give each of us one extra alchemy session."
Yu Gongshou added.
Hearing this, the two Yu clan Golden Cores, who had looked a bit unmotivated before, suddenly perked up, their eyes sharp.
Normally, hiring an upper-tier Third-Tier Alchemist to refine a batch of pills would cost at least 15,000 spirit stones, not to mention the favors often required.
But now, if they just finished the escort mission as agreed, they'd not only get one free batch of pills refined but also earn the goodwill of Wei Tu, a soon-to-be upper-tier Third-Tier Alchemist…
Why wouldn't they jump at the chance?
"Let's hope we won't need to call the Ancestor…" After flying for a bit, Yu Gongshou subconsciously touched a gold-inlaid token hidden in his sleeve, sighing inwardly.
According to Wei Tu's request, besides sending these three Golden Core True Lords, the Yu Clan had also prepared a "Nascent Soul Command Token" from the clan's Ancestor.
So if they faced a danger at or above the Nascent Soul level, they could crush this token. The nearby Yu Clan Ancestor would immediately sense it and rush over to help.
Having the Ancestor as a backup was certainly reassuring…
But as a senior member of the clan, Yu Gongshou knew the Ancestor's real situation.
Their Ancestor didn't actually have 300 years of natural lifespan left, as outsiders thought.
He now had only 130 years of "natural lifespan" and a bit over 80 years of "supplemented lifespan."
(Natural lifespan is a cultivator's normal lifespan. Supplemented lifespan comes from various secret arts that extend life.)
Unlike natural lifespan, supplemented lifespan had big drawbacks for cultivators. Each time the cultivator used their power, their remaining years would shorten significantly.
So unless they faced an impossible crisis, Yu Gongshou wouldn't lightly use the Nascent Soul Command Token.
After flying for about half a day.
Finally, dozens of li ahead in the wilderness, Yu Gongshou and his group sensed some leftover fluctuations from a battle at the Golden Core level, along with the faint sound of a woman's panting.
…
Meanwhile.
After leaving the Beastmaster Sect's territory, Wei Tu didn't let his guard down. He stayed alert and kept his top-tier sensing art, "Know Heaven Crossing," activated, constantly scanning the area around his flight path.
When he reached a desolate mountain, he sensed two hidden Golden Core auras on the ground.
Of course, even though he reacted quickly, by the time he sensed them, these two hidden Golden Core True Lords had already launched a fierce attack.
"Retreat!" Wei Tu immediately darted back hundreds of steps, quickly activating an upper-tier Third-Tier talisman. A shield of talismanic force appeared, blocking the killers' first strikes.
These two ambushers—a man and a woman—were both dressed in black night clothes and had cloths covering their faces.
During the fight, the male cultivator had a giant dark-gray bell-shaped magic treasure floating above his head, its surface engraved with bird and beast patterns. It shot beams of thunderous light that smashed toward Wei Tu.
These thunderous beams were extremely fast, each carrying the power of a full-force attack from a late Golden Core cultivator.
Behind the female cultivator hovered an illusory bodhi tree. She formed hand seals, and countless branches whipped out from the tree, turning into thousands of long whips that lashed down fiercely.
Together, their combined onslaught shattered Wei Tu's talismanic shield in just a few moves, the light of the talisman dimming and starting to crack.
"It really is the Fu siblings!" Seeing their fierce assault, Wei Tu took in the two bandits' figures and instantly knew who they were.
Although the Fu siblings had done a decent job of hiding their faces and auras, their moves inevitably exposed their true identities.
Even without their leaked auras, just based on the intelligence Yu Jianglong provided him earlier, Wei Tu would've guessed that the Fu siblings were the ones attacking.
Fortunately, as a talisman master, Wei Tu had no shortage of high-grade talismans. He flicked his sleeve, summoning the "Talisman Heart Monument," and used the stored defensive talismans inside to fend off the Fu siblings' first wave of attacks.
"Fellow Daoists, Wei Tu has never met you before. Why attack and rob me?" Wei Tu called out, trying to buy time.
He had already paid the Guangyuan Yu Clan for full escort protection, so there was no need for him to fight the Fu siblings head-on, which would reveal his strength and waste precious talismans and artifacts. All he had to do now was wait for Yu Gongshou's team to arrive. Once they did, he could decide whether to flee, fight, or capture them, all with a single thought.
The Fu siblings just snorted coldly and didn't answer. They closed in again, striking fiercely.
Fu Dalü gripped the huge gray bell as if he were a wrathful Vajra, raising it high and slamming it toward Wei Tu. The gray bell was incredibly heavy. Every blow landed on Wei Tu's talismanic shield; though his physical body was unharmed, each impact made his body sink slightly, causing his blood and energy to shake.
Meanwhile, a cinnabar mole suddenly appeared at the center of Fu Linglong's brow, morphing into a bloody red Buddha that stared at Wei Tu with open eyes.
Seeing this bizarre move, Wei Tu's expression darkened. He knew how terrifying Fu Linglong's "Heart-Reading" was, so he hurriedly activated the Lotus Embrace Technique, keeping his mind clear.
"Koi Dragon Yin Blade!" Wei Tu's eyes flashed with cold light as he changed his tactics, activating the soul-path secret art he had just learned, and slashed at Fu Linglong.
In an instant, a carp-dragon about an inch long leaped from the top of his head, transforming into a black icy blade. It swept forward with a fierce slash, emanating terrifying blade light.
At almost the exact same moment, the bloody Buddha at Fu Linglong's brow reached out, pinching a branch from the bodhi tree shadow floating behind her, turning it into a golden arrow aimed right at Wei Tu.
Their attacks, both soul-path secret arts, weren't bound by the limitations of mana. So they flew straight and fast toward each other's faces without much resistance.
"Soul-path attack technique?" Fu Linglong's face changed when she saw the black icy blade slashing toward her. She hadn't expected a lone rogue cultivator like Wei Tu to have the chance to cultivate such a powerful soul-path technique or to already wield it with such mastery.
But Fu Linglong didn't know that Wei Tu had devoured the "Ghost Infant" of Venerable Master Shen Tu, and his soul was already near Nascent Soul level in quality. So even though he'd only been practicing the Koi Dragon Yin Blade for a month, the power he unleashed couldn't be compared to an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
"I have the Heart-Reading! How could I fear a mere soul attack!" Fu Linglong focused her mind, forming hand seals. Thousands of bodhi tree branches merged into a shield in front of her, trying to block the Koi Dragon Yin Blade.
Clang!
The black blade flashed coldly, slicing through the bodhi branches of light one after another. Its momentum didn't slow as it continued straight for the sea of Fu Linglong's consciousness.
"Not good!" Fu Linglong's face went pale. She hadn't expected the Koi Dragon Yin Blade to be so extraordinary—far beyond ordinary. Her defenses couldn't fully block it.
Wei Tu himself was also surprised. He hadn't thought his new technique would pose such a big threat to Fu Linglong, given he had only practiced it for a month.
'It must be thanks to the Tianjiao Dragon Centipede's essence!' Wei Tu realized. Unlike ordinary soul-path techniques that relied purely on one's own cultivation, practicing the Koi Dragon Yin Blade required the essence of a dragon-type beast to forge the blade. In other words, the technique carried innate power from the start.
It was just like his own superior physical strength—he was stronger than others at the same cultivation stage not because of his talent or because the Casting Dao Immortal Source Scripture was overly domineering, but because he had swallowed an ancient Casting Dao Pill from the Nascent Soul cave, transforming his body into the perfect vessel for the technique.
This meant, to a certain extent, that Wei Tu, who had taken the Casting Dao Pill, wasn't much different from cultivators with innate spiritual bodies like Gong Shulan or Fu Linglong.
With the combined fortunes of two Nascent Soul inheritance caves, how could Wei Tu's soul-path attack not be powerful?
Still, he didn't have time to marvel at the blade's might. He had to deal with Fu Linglong's golden arrow soul attack headed his way.
"Break!" Wei Tu's blood and energy surged as he used his powerful vitality to forcefully block the golden arrow.
Blood and energy were a soul's natural nemesis. Just like when Wei Tu used his blood energy to wipe out Venerable Master Shen Tu's Ghost Infant during the attempted soul possession, now he was using it again.
The golden arrow, which was essentially condensed soul power, shattered into nothing the instant it collided with Wei Tu's body.
At the same time, Fu Linglong hastily pulled out a sparkling jade slip to block the remaining force of the Koi Dragon Yin Blade. Even so, she was nearly sent flying by the attack.
In just a brief exchange, the first clash between the three had ended.
The Fu siblings were utterly overwhelmed.
"Blood energy comparable to peak Golden Core?" Fu Linglong hovered mid-air, her eyes full of shock. Through the residual divine sense on her golden arrow, she'd seen just how terrifying Wei Tu's vitality was.
Wei Tu's current strength was almost the same as Wang Tianwu of the Shen Jia Sect seventeen years ago—maybe even stronger.
After all, Wei Tu's qi cultivation had reached mid-Golden Core, far above Wang Tianwu's Foundation Establishment level.
Unlike Wang Tianwu, Wei Tu had truly achieved dual cultivation of both magic and body.
"Fu Linglong, where is Ji Zhang?"
Seeing that his body-refining strength was already exposed, Wei Tu dropped the act completely. His eyes gleamed coldly as he looked at the Fu siblings standing opposite him and asked in a frosty voice, "Ji Zhang—where is he?"
If not for worrying about Ji Zhang, the leader of the Six Desires Sect raiders, he wouldn't have needed to sign a spirit contract with the Guangyuan Yu Clan or hire Yu Gongshou and the three Golden Core experts as bodyguards. On his own, he could've easily handled the Fu siblings.
"Ji Zhang?" Fu Linglong's face changed in shock. She couldn't figure out how she'd been exposed. She was sure she had stayed hidden perfectly the entire time.
'How did he guess it was me blocking him? And what about Yu Jianglong…' Fu Linglong's expression darkened. She remembered Wei Tu meeting with Yu Jianglong several times at the rental cave. But back then, she thought nothing of it, assuming it was normal business among cultivators.
After all, there was no way she could've known Wei Tu had Bai Zhi, a third-rank formation master, hiding nearby who could use formation senses to detect her spiritual probing.
"Since Miss Fu doesn't want to tell me where Ji Zhang is, I won't hold back any longer…" Wei Tu snorted coldly when she didn't answer. He surged forward with his body-refining speed, closing the distance before the Fu siblings could react.
In a flash, he casually raised one hand and reached directly for Fu Linglong's face with no hesitation.
"What technique is this?" Fu Linglong cried out in panic, watching as Wei Tu's white-scaled hand easily tore through her mana shields and defensive artifacts. His hand was like an unstoppable force, tougher than a high-grade third-rank artifact.
"Bone-Crushing Hand!" Wei Tu appeared in front of her in a blink, slapped a pitch-black talisman on her forehead, and spoke coldly.
The Bone-Crushing Hand was a body-refining martial technique that nearly every disciple of the Heavenly Maiden Sect learned. It was easy to pick up but difficult to master. Once perfected, it granted overwhelming strength, often unmatched among peers. After spending so much time with Bai Zhi, Wei Tu was thoroughly familiar with this move.
"Wait—what talisman did you stick on me?" Fu Linglong's eyes went wide with horror as she felt the black talisman instantly sealing off her soul and mana. She felt powerless, like a mortal again, which was a sensation she had never experienced before.
"Brother Fu, stop!" Wei Tu turned his head to look at Fu Dalü, who was just realizing what had happened and raising his giant gray bell to attack. Wei Tu sneered and said coldly, "You wouldn't want your sister to get hurt in my hands, would you?"
Hearing that, Fu Dalü froze in mid-air, hesitating before lowering his bell and begging, "Wei Daoist, she's my only sister—please show mercy. I'll trade my life for hers if I must…"
But Wei Tu wasn't moved by his plea. He gave Fu Dalü a cold glance, then casually sent several streams of mana into Fu Linglong's body. Immediately, pain twisted her face, and she let out a low whimper. But perhaps because of her stubbornness, her cries were more like faint gasps of pain than loud screams.
"Where is Ji Zhang? Find him for me!" Wei Tu's eyes narrowed as he ordered.
He found it odd that even now, Ji Zhang still hadn't shown himself to rescue the Fu siblings.
"Ji Zhang…" Fu Dalü's face shifted, unsure how to answer. He couldn't exactly say his sister had fallen out with Ji Zhang, which was why he hadn't appeared. Plus, he realized that Ji Zhang staying hidden was actually their best hope. If Ji Zhang wasn't there, Wei Tu might hesitate to kill them outright since if Ji Zhang survived, news of the killing would spread and bring vengeance on Wei Tu. After all, once Ji Zhang knew, Master Jinglian from the Jinglian Convent would surely hunt Wei Tu down.
"Wei Tu, my sister is the Buddhist Maiden of the Jinglian Convent. Even if she's made mistakes, if you kill her, Master Jinglian will hunt you down!" Fu Dalü finally threatened, hoping it would save them.
But he was wrong. Wei Tu wasn't intimidated at all. Instead, he looked at Fu Dalü with a mocking smile and said casually, "Brother Fu, sure, if I kill your sister, Master Jinglian will come after me—but what if I kill you instead? I doubt Master Jinglian would care about you."
Wei Tu knew exactly how the Jinglian Convent valued the siblings. Fu Dalü was just an outsider to them. Though important to Fu Linglong, he was worthless to the convent. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so desperate back when he offended the Jiao Clan and immediately sought Wei Tu's help to apologize.
Hearing that, Fu Dalü paled with fear, quickly retreating several hundred steps to stay as far from Wei Tu as possible.
"Miss Fu, your brother won't say where Ji Zhang is—how about you?" Wei Tu smiled faintly, glancing at Fu Linglong pinned helplessly in his grasp.
"Ji Zhang…" Fu Linglong felt her face flush with humiliation at Wei Tu's closeness. But escaping was more important now, so she suppressed her discomfort. Still, she didn't know what to say. If she told the truth, they were dead. If she lied, it wouldn't take long for Wei Tu to guess Ji Zhang wasn't nearby.