One incense stick's time later, after Sun Chixin finished his story, Wei Tu finally understood why his cultivation had progressed so quickly, and why Ji Zhang and the others were hunting him down.
Back then, after parting with him outside the gates of the Ming Wang Sect, Sun Chixin didn't return to the Fu family in Peach Immortal City to resume his position as the great manager. Instead, he headed south to the inner sea of the Chiming Sea and went into seclusion on a spiritual island called "Lihuo Island."
Over the span of more than ten years, he used the Great Ming Tiger-Subduing Skill to purge the poison in his body, fully restoring his Golden Core cultivation.
That same year, he also used the Nine Elephant Pill that Wei Tu had once gifted him to break through to the third stage of body cultivation.
With his strength growing rapidly, Sun Chixin, now a "late-blooming Golden Core," had no more plans to climb further. Like most Golden Core cultivators his age, he decided to establish a family and pass down his lineage.
So not long after, Sun Chixin, now at the mid-Golden Core stage, began building his reputation on Lihuo Island as a True Lord. He took in many concubines and started his grand plan to expand the Sun family.
But the good times didn't last.
A group of unknown cultivators suddenly targeted Sun Chixin. While he was dual cultivating with his seventeenth concubine, they broke into the Sun residence and began a bloody slaughter.
Fortunately, they underestimated him.
They didn't know he cultivated both body and magic. So, after a short battle, Sun Chixin managed to escape with relative ease.
Unfortunately—
It's easy for a monk to escape, but not the temple.
Because he had been busy spreading his seed for years, Lihuo Island was filled with Sun Chixin's blood relatives. It didn't take long before the killers used a blood-tracing secret art to locate him again.
This time, luck wasn't on his side.
The killers were better prepared. They brought in three late-Golden Core experts to corner and attack him.
After dozens of moves, Sun Chixin was coughing blood and seriously injured.
But fate wasn't finished with him yet.
Just as he was about to die, the spiritual island he was hiding on got hit by a once-in-a-century disaster—the Red Feather Tsunami!
Tsunamis were common in the Chiming Sea.
But the Red Feather Tsunami was feared because it could sweep across almost ten thousand miles and carried with it red-feathered ghost insects—infamous for being nearly unkillable.
When the tsunami appeared, even Nascent Soul cultivators would struggle to survive, let alone Golden Core cultivators.
The three late-Golden Core killers saw the danger and immediately fled, temporarily giving up on chasing Sun Chixin. That gave him a chance to breathe.
In that moment, Sun Chixin didn't hesitate.
He dove straight into the deadly Red Feather Tsunami.
And that… was the beginning of his miraculous encounter.
After plunging into the tsunami, thanks to his third-stage body cultivation, Sun Chixin wasn't killed right away by the ghost insects. He held on for several days and eventually emerged from the disaster into a secluded spiritual island.
This island wasn't much different from others in the Chiming Sea. The only unique thing—everything surrounding it was a spiritual dead zone.
The moment he noticed that, Sun Chixin realized this place probably sat inside a secret realm or a dangerous zone.
And then, on this island, he stumbled upon the greatest opportunity of his life—
An ancient cultivator ruin known as "Zunwang Palace."
This one discovery allowed his cultivation to soar. In less than thirty years, he reached peak Golden Core and became a high-level Golden Core cultivator.
A few years later, Sun Chixin left the island and returned to Haizhou of the Xiao Kingdom.
With his newfound power, he quickly uncovered who the killers were and why they kept coming after him.
Sadly, even after becoming a top Golden Core expert, he couldn't gain the upper hand against Hidden Gate, the assassin organization.
After years of being hunted, he had no choice but to seek help from the newly ascended Nascent Soul cultivator—Wei Tu.
...
"Hidden Gate... Zunwang Palace..."
In a side hall of the Divine Master's Mansion, Wei Tu rubbed his chin, silently mulling over the two critical pieces of information Sun Chixin had just revealed.
Only now did he realize that the three Golden Core assassins led by Ji Zhang weren't part of the "Six Desires Sect" as he had assumed, but were actually from Hidden Gate—an ancient assassin group based in the Xiao Kingdom.
And the one who hired Hidden Gate's cultivators wasn't some stranger—it was none other than the Ming Wang Sect, who now held a deadly grudge against Qingzhu Mountain.
The goal was simple: eliminate Sun Chixin, a surviving remnant of Qingzhu Mountain.
"But... why did Ji Zhang join Hidden Gate? Was he originally one of their cultivators, or... did he join them after failing to form his Nascent Soul?"
Wei Tu frowned.
He couldn't figure it out.
Still, he didn't spend too much time pondering it. Instead, he shifted his attention to the great opportunity Sun Chixin had stumbled upon.
After all, an ordinary lucky chance couldn't possibly let someone like Sun Chixin, a late-stage Golden Core, skyrocket to peak Golden Core in just a short span of time.
That meant the ancient ruin called Zunwang Palace was extremely valuable.
"When Ji Zhang tried to kill you, he said you were carrying a strange treasure. What exactly is that treasure?"
Wei Tu furrowed his brow and asked in a deep voice.
To be honest, even Wei Tu felt a twinge of desire for the strange treasure that Sun Chixin carried.
But unlike other high-level cultivators, Wei Tu had his limits. He preferred Sun Chixin to offer the treasure willingly, rather than seizing it by force or killing him outright for it.
Of course, if Sun Chixin refused to be sensible and didn't offer it up, Wei Tu wouldn't press the issue too hard.
At most, he'd just drive him out and stop protecting him with his Nascent Soul cultivation.
Then, after Sun Chixin died, he could always take the treasure from Hidden Gate's hands.
After all, there wasn't much real friendship between them. Their connection was limited to that old cooperation back when they dealt with the Ming Wang Sect.
Wei Tu wasn't going to be some sucker, risking himself for free to protect someone that Hidden Gate was hell-bent on killing.
"This…" Hearing this, Sun Chixin gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I don't have any strange treasure. That was just a lie Ji Zhang made up to justify attacking me. He was trying to find out how I advanced so quickly."
"As for the information about Zunwang Palace, even if you hadn't asked, I would've handed it over anyway."
As he spoke, Sun Chixin pulled out a purple jade slip from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Tu.
He seemed to be trying to prove his sincerity.
Then he added, "If you don't believe me, Ancestor Wei, you're welcome to search me."
"In that case, I must ask you to leave my Ying Ding tribe."
Wei Tu's expression turned cold the moment he heard that. He gave a chilly laugh, didn't respond to Sun Chixin's words or take the jade slip. Instead, he simply flicked his sleeve, clearly signaling him to leave.
Now that Sun Chixin had already been to Zunwang Palace, what was the point of Wei Tu visiting that dangerous ruin? What more could he possibly get out of it?
He wasn't a fool. Why waste time on something so worthless?
Wei Tu didn't believe for a second that the jade slip was all Sun Chixin was offering when he decided to ask for his help.
Clearly, Sun Chixin was still unwilling to give up the real treasure and wanted to try bargaining a little more.
"Leave the Ying Ding tribe?"
Sun Chixin was startled by Wei Tu's sudden shift in tone. His face turned pale.
At that moment, he fully understood how miserable his fate would be once Wei Tu kicked him out of Ying Ding tribe.
Not only would Hidden Gate continue hunting him, but even the Nascent Soul patriarchs who attended the ceremony three days ago might come after him personally, just because they thought he was carrying a rare treasure.
And those Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't be as polite as Wei Tu.
So, after a moment of hesitation, Sun Chixin quickly lowered his head and admitted his mistake.
He put on a sincere expression and started explaining as fast as he could, "You're sharp as ever, Ancestor Wei. I do have a strange treasure on me… I just hesitated to take it out earlier because I still had some selfish hopes."
With that, Sun Chixin pressed his fingers to his forehead and pulled out a fist-sized, yellow pearl that gave off a soft golden glow.
"This item is called the 'Longli Pearl.' It's the most precious spiritual object I found in Zunwang Palace. My rapid cultivation progress is all thanks to it," he said reluctantly.
"Longli Pearl?" Wei Tu raised an eyebrow. He flipped his palm and pulled the item into his hand, carefully examining it.
But, to Sun Chixin's surprise—
Wei Tu didn't look pleased at all. In fact, after studying it for a moment, a slight, amused smirk appeared on his face.
"Ancestor Wei, I'm not lying! This Longli Pearl is definitely the most valuable treasure I got from Zunwang Palace!" Sun Chixin hurried to defend himself.
Right now, he was terrified that Wei Tu might suddenly flip on him and use soul-searching techniques to uncover the real treasure.
After all, one lie often leads to another.
And if he deceived Wei Tu a second time, there'd be no hope of survival.
"I believe you," Wei Tu replied, glancing at him briefly.
Then he casually stuffed the Longli Pearl into his sleeve.
"Thank you for your understanding, Ancestor Wei," Sun Chixin said, as if receiving a royal pardon. He bowed repeatedly, offering endless thanks.
"Rest here for now. I'll come find you in a few days," Wei Tu said with a wave of his hand.
Then he flicked his sleeve, turned into a streak of green light, and disappeared from the side hall.
…
Before long, Wei Tu arrived at his private cultivation chamber.
"Didn't expect these old cultivators to keep pulling the same trick," he said with a half-smile, flipping his palm to look at the Longli Pearl in his hand.
This Longli Pearl was almost identical in function to the scroll he'd previously obtained from Venerable Master Shentu.
Both concealed a Nascent Soul divine soul inside.
But there was one difference—
Now that Wei Tu was a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was easy for him to see the "truth" hidden inside the Longli Pearl.
"Senior, I've already said this much—don't tell me you really want me to force you out?"
The moment his words fell and the Longli Pearl remained silent, Wei Tu's face turned cold. He spoke sharply.
Faced with the threat, a wisp of green smoke soon drifted out from within the Longli Pearl, taking the form of a scholar in plain white robes, dressed in ancient style.
"This fellow Daoist, why must you be so aggressive? You're ruining my great plan for reincarnation," the white-robed scholar sighed with a troubled look.
Over the past several decades, he had been channeling his true essence and blood into Sun Chixin through the Longli Pearl. He had been waiting for the day Sun Chixin broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, so he could seamlessly reincarnate through him.
But who would've thought Sun Chixin would hand the Longli Pearl over to Wei Tu today—a cultivator of the same realm—causing decades of effort to go to waste.
"Reincarnation plan?" Wei Tu raised a brow with interest. "And what's the difference between your so-called reincarnation and soul possession?"
It was easy for Nascent Soul cultivators to kill Golden Core cultivators, but to perfectly take over their bodies was no simple task. Let alone helping the host level up, which only made soul possession even harder.
"Of course there's a huge difference!"
The white-robed scholar seemed energized by the question and began explaining in detail. "My reincarnation method allows the soul and the new body to merge perfectly. The target won't resist the invading soul like in normal soul possession."
"More importantly, after reincarnation, my previous cultivation can be retained to the greatest extent—with no gap or downtime at all!"
"So? Why don't I teach you this reincarnation technique? It's good to have it as a backup." He smiled slightly, negotiating with Wei Tu.
"Naturally, I have one condition—you let me go."
"If you agree, besides the reincarnation method, I can also pass on other secret arts to you. We both benefit."
Although his strength during life had been overwhelming—far beyond someone like Wei Tu, a newly ascended Nascent Soul cultivator—he was now in such dire straits that he had no choice but to try and strike a deal.
"Your words remind me of someone," Wei Tu didn't answer directly. He just smiled and changed the topic.
"Who?" The white-robed scholar frowned, confused about what Wei Tu was getting at.
"A soul servant I once accepted," Wei Tu replied blandly.
As soon as he finished, a black icy blade shot out from between his eyebrows and hovered in front of the scholar.
"Sign a loyalty soul contract with me, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, you'll die."
His tone was ice-cold.
"Soul contract?" The white-robed scholar's expression shifted instantly. He quickly shouted, "Impossible! Do you know who I am? How could someone like me sign a soul contract with you?"
"Even if you kill me, I won't sign that contract!"
"Then die!" Wei Tu didn't waste time. He immediately controlled the Koi Dragon Yin Blade and slashed at the white-robed scholar.
At the same time, he breathed out a stream of Profound Nether Yin Fire, sending it straight at the scholar's soul.
In an instant, a shrill wail echoed from the scholar's mouth.