Inside the jade slip was a blurry video.
In the pouring rain of a stormy night, Fu Linglong, wearing a white bamboo hat, descended into the mortal world and arrived at a Buddhist temple. She started building shelters and serving porridge for mortal beggars.
If the jade slip only contained these mundane scenes, Ji Zhang would have found it odd but wouldn't have thought much of it.
But what came next completely infuriated him.
Fu Linglong started taking off her clothes piece by piece, then embraced one of the filthy beggars covered in sores.
Though the footage was blurry and unclear, Ji Zhang had cultivated long enough to instantly guess what Fu Linglong was doing!
"Fu Linglong, you'd rather give your primordial yin to a beggar than to me!"
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Ji Zhang's face turned ashen. He clenched his right fist slowly, crushing the jade slip into powder.
In that moment, Ji Zhang could clearly see that Fu Linglong had done this on purpose—sending the jade slip at this critical moment just to shatter his Dao heart.
"Fu Linglong, I treated you well! Even if my intentions weren't pure, I saved your life!"
Ji Zhang's voice was icy as he spoke. He regretted deeply the instant teleportation array he had given her; it felt like a worthless loss.
But after the rage subsided, Ji Zhang forced himself to calm down and focus on preparing for his Spirit Awakening tribulation.
He understood what was more important and wouldn't ruin his Dao path over such a thing.
However, as soon as he tried to settle his mind and cultivate, the scenes from the jade slip kept flashing through his mind like a nightmare, repeating over and over.
Pfft!
Half a day later, Ji Zhang spat another mouthful of blood, his aura plunging into extreme weakness.
The Nascent Soul spiritual body he had formed more than ten days ago shrank to less than half its size.
Dark, bruise-like spots even started appearing on the Nascent Soul, showing signs of turning into a dead infant.
"Fu Linglong, I swear I'll make you pay for this!"
Several days later, when his Nascent Soul spiritual body had completely turned black and blue, Ji Zhang's face was twisted with deep hatred. He gnashed his teeth as he swore.
…
At the same time, Fu Linglong, having sent the message talisman to Ji Zhang, was now traveling with Fu Dalu aboard a Cloud Ascending Flying Boat headed toward the Xiao Kingdom.
"Little sister, why would you go this far?" Fu Dalu sighed deeply, looking at his younger sister with a pained expression.
He had always known that Fu Linglong was intense and vindictive, but he never imagined she'd go so far—to the point of sacrificing her own purity to a mortal beggar for revenge.
This kind of humiliation was unimaginable for the proud Fu Linglong.
Thinking of this, Fu Dalu couldn't help resenting Wei Tu. If Wei Tu had agreed to work with Fu Linglong, she wouldn't have been forced into such humiliation.
Compared to a beggar, Fu Dalu would have preferred Fu Linglong to give herself to Wei Tu instead.
After all, in talent, strength, and wisdom, Wei Tu was no worse than Ji Zhang.
In Fu Dalu's mind, Wei Tu was a suitable candidate to become his brother-in-law.
"Are you stupid?"
Fu Linglong's slender brows furrowed slightly as she glanced at her brother with clear annoyance. "You really think your sister would stoop so low? That I'd give myself to a beggar?"
She scoffed.
She was willing to give herself to Wei Tu because both he and Ji Zhang were her enemies. If she could get them to fight each other, it would be a huge win for her.
But giving herself to a beggar? Why would she ever do that?
"Really? You didn't actually sleep with the beggar?"
Fu Dalu's eyes lit up instantly. Without hesitation, he grabbed Fu Linglong's arm and used his spiritual power to check her primordial yin.
"Thank the heavens! Thank the heavens!"
Confirming that her primordial yin was intact, Fu Dalu let out a long sigh of relief, his face relaxing completely.
"Heh."
Fu Linglong let out a cold laugh. "I'm not stupid enough to ruin myself just to get revenge on Ji Zhang alone."
"That jade slip's footage was something I faked with spiritual power. If Ji Zhang could suppress his rage and succeed in Spirit Awakening, that would be his skill."
"But if he can't, that's my victory."
In Fu Linglong's mind, tricking Ji Zhang like this was far more effective at destroying his Dao heart than simply humiliating him.
Of course, all of this depended on one thing—
Ji Zhang taking the bait.
But Fu Linglong was confident.
During the Spirit Awakening stage, even a small slip could lead a cultivator into Qi deviation. Ji Zhang wasn't someone with an open mind; once he saw that footage, how could he not fall into inner demons?
"I see."
Fu Dalu finally understood everything.
"By the way, little sister, in the jade slip, did you blame Wei Tu? Like saying the beggar was really Wei Tu in disguise? Or that you fell in love with Wei Tu?"
"This brat dared to humiliate our family. If Ji Zhang thinks it's Wei Tu behind it all, he'll target him first… Even if Ji Zhang fails to form a true Nascent Soul, a false infant would still be strong enough to cause Wei Tu endless trouble."
Fu Dalu quickly asked. He figured there was an eighty to ninety percent chance Fu Linglong had already done it. After all, her hatred for Wei Tu ran ten times deeper than his own.
She wouldn't pass up a chance to frame Wei Tu. He might have only been tricked by Wei Tu, but Fu Linglong was discarded like trash by him.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Fu Linglong, who'd been talking so confidently moments before, suddenly fell silent.
Seeing this, Fu Dalu, with his years of worldly experience, immediately felt uneasy. He wondered if Wei Tu really was about to become his brother-in-law.
But soon, Fu Linglong's next words dispelled his doubts.
"Wei Tu's strength is extraordinary—he's not someone to mess with. You and I already approached him before to discuss cooperation. If we try to pin this on him now, it'll only bring him some extra danger without giving us any real benefit."
Fu Linglong shook her head as she explained.
"That's true. Wei Tu's skills aren't weak," Fu Dalu nodded, accepting her explanation without much suspicion.
After all, there were countless cultivators in the world. Even if Fu Linglong changed her mind, it wouldn't be toward Wei Tu.
The only reason she'd stop targeting Wei Tu would be if his power was overwhelming—nothing else made sense.
…
Fu Linglong's psychological attack and Ji Zhang's failure to form his Nascent Soul went completely unnoticed by Wei Tu, who was far away in the Kang Kingdom.
Before leaving Chu Kingdom, Wei Tu had sent a letter to Qiu Bucheng, asking him to keep an eye on Qingyu Gate and see if anyone successfully broke through to Nascent Soul.
But the two kingdoms were ten thousand li apart. Getting timely news was basically impossible.
Especially since the Kang Kingdom was in the middle of a major war between two factions. The roads were blocked, and messages couldn't reach the Moon Condensation Palace region.
However, this lockdown in the Kang Kingdom also worked in Wei Tu's favor.
Whether Ji Zhang succeeded or failed, as a foreign cultivator in the Kang Kingdom, he would be under close scrutiny.
If Ji Zhang wanted revenge and tried to ambush Wei Tu in Kang territory, it would be far from easy. Every move he made would be watched by the major forces there.
So even outside of Ying Ding Tribe, Wei Tu felt no real concern for his own safety once he returned to the Kang Kingdom.
Arriving at the gates of the Moon Condensation Palace, Wei Tu showed his identity and was quickly welcomed by a high-ranking member of the sect.
This person was none other than Fairy Shuang, the female cultivator of the Moon Condensation Palace whom Wei Tu had met before.
Fairy Shuang was graceful and courteous. During the reception, she treated Wei Tu with full respect, though her words carried a subtle probing about his recent whereabouts.
Wei Tu thought for a moment and roughly figured out the reason—it must have been the presence of Yu Gongshou's group of three that had been reported by the patrol cultivators, sparking the sect's concern.
If the Moon Condensation Palace's leaders couldn't figure out where those three came from, they probably wouldn't sleep well at night.
"I left the Kang Kingdom and went to the Xiao Kingdom. But on the way, I ran into bandits from the Six Desires Sect and got stuck there for a while."
"Later, I met some old acquaintances from the Beastmaster Sect…"
Wei Tu had already prepared his story and recounted it smoothly.
Though his travels wouldn't stand up to deep investigation, they were more than enough to satisfy the Moon Condensation Palace.
And with Wei Tu's good reputation, Fairy Shuang and the other Moon Condensation Palace cultivators had no reason to doubt him.
Halfway through their conversation, Fairy Shuang led Wei Tu to the entrance of Wei Yan's secluded cultivation chamber.
"Your daughter is in seclusion here. This is one of our sect's finest tier-three water-element spiritual lands," Fairy Shuang said with a gentle smile as she introduced the place.
"I've also arranged for the chamber next door to be prepared for you," she added.
Hearing this, Kou Hongying was stunned. She'd been here several times before, but never once had she received such special treatment from the Moon Condensation Palace.
Even though Wei Tu's cultivation level was much higher than hers, and he was a tier-three alchemist, she still found it surprising that the sect would clear out a whole chamber just for him.
After all, when she secured Wei Yan's chamber, she'd only gotten it by using Sect Leader Ning's personal token.
'Does Uncle Wei have some secret I don't know about?' Kou Hongying thought to herself, puzzled.
But she knew it wouldn't be appropriate to ask directly. She suppressed her curiosity and settled into the chamber with Wei Tu.
Once Fairy Shuang and the others left, Wei Tu didn't waste any time.
He took out the recipe for the Purple Candle Pill and started carefully studying this upper-tier, third-rank elixir.
He'd gathered all the necessary ingredients when he was just in early Golden Core stage, but back then his alchemy skills were too lacking, so he had to put off refining it.