Chapter 574: Old Friend’s Nascent Soul, Liu Yu Counterfeit

This was different from him using the Ascension Token alone to head into the Inner Ruins Sea for the Pilgrimage.

Going as a guest elder, following the Lüqiu clan to pay respects to their backing Divine Transformation Venerable…

Obviously, as just one of the entourage, he wouldn’t attract too much attention.

“Wei will be there on time, Ninth Princess, rest assured.”

Wei Tu cupped his hands and gave his word.

Since there was no danger to him in this matter, he naturally didn’t mind accompanying Lüqiu Qingfeng into the Inner Ruins Sea for some rare insight.

Divine Transformation was the highest realm in the human world.

Meeting a Divine Transformation Venerable wouldn’t raise his chances of breaking through, but if he could grasp even a bit of higher-realm knowledge, it would be worth it.

…

Two months later.

Wei Tu and Cao Mi successfully left the Guixu Sea cultivation world and returned to the Great Cang cultivation world.

As for Fu Zhizhou…

He stayed behind at Five Elder Mountain, taking over from Cao Mi to firmly control the sect’s power.

Five Elder Mountain was just an ordinary Nascent Soul force on Yunyang Island.

With the strength of Wei Tu and the Righteous Society now, they could wipe it out in a single day. It seemed unnecessary to cling to it.

But destroying was easy—building was hard.

To rebuild something like Five Elder Mountain from scratch would take decades, even centuries.

So Wei Tu, Cao Mi, and Fu Zhizhou had agreed to shape Five Elder Mountain into a long-term stronghold for the Righteous Society in the overseas world—a place to connect, exchange, and cultivate.

Leaving Fu Zhizhou in charge was the natural step.

A few days later, Wei Tu and Cao Mi parted ways above the Zhaoming Death Sea, each returning to their own faction.

“Hm? A Nascent Soul phenomenon?”

“Is that Situ You? He’s about to break through?”

Passing over the Ancient Sword Mountain region, Wei Tu paused midair, his gaze turning toward the mountain’s rear peaks. His face showed surprise.

Situ You was one of the friends he had made back when he was still in the Golden Core Realm.

Later, when Wei Tu advanced to Nascent Soul and spent most of his time away from the Ying Ding Tribe, their contact had grown rarer.

Still, their friendship was solid.

If not, Wei Tu wouldn’t have warned him at the end of the Nascent Soul Ceremony to be careful of his new wife Tian Qiuyun. After all, blood ties came before outsiders—that was common sense.

But today, Situ You suddenly attempting to form a Nascent Soul still caught Wei Tu off guard.

After all, Situ You was only a little over six hundred years old, still in his Golden Core “prime years.”

A six-hundred-year-old Nascent Soul wasn’t as shocking as Wei Tu’s own four-hundred-year breakthrough, but it still marked him as a true genius in the cultivation world.

“This must be tied to him becoming Sword Master of Ancient Sword Mountain a century ago… they must have given him major support.”

Wei Tu thought to himself.

Ancient Sword Mountain was one of Kang Kingdom’s old Nascent Soul powers. Granting their Sword Master a chance at forming a Nascent Soul wasn’t strange.

“I just wonder… once he succeeds, what will he do with Tian Qiuyun?”

Wei Tu’s eyes swept over, and he spotted Tian Qiuyun in the grand hall, standing among the Golden Core cultivators, face flushed with excitement.

A trace of pity flickered in his gaze.

Before, when Situ You was still Golden Core, he had to rely on Tian Qiuyun’s connections and background, so he endured.

But once he succeeded in forming a Nascent Soul, he would become one of the strongest in Ancient Sword Mountain, second only to the old Nascent Soul elders. He wouldn’t need her anymore.

Judging from what Situ You had once confided, Wei Tu could easily guess—once the breakthrough was done, Tian Qiuyun’s reckoning would come.

Now she was flushed with joy at becoming a Nascent Soul Dao Companion, not realizing her death was close.

But Wei Tu didn’t feel like watching.

He shook his head, flicked his sleeve, and turned into a streak of light, leaving Ancient Sword Mountain behind.

As the saying went, family shame should not be spread.

Though this scandal had only come to light because of his warning to Situ You, as a friend he knew where the line was.

A reminder was enough.

Besides—

He himself had a “small matter” to handle.

This so-called “small matter,” though not urgent, had lingered too long in front of him, and leaving it unresolved wasn’t good either.

“Ji Zhang…”

“Ji Yifeng…”

Wei Tu’s lips curled into a cold smile.

The small matter on his mind wasn’t some trivial distraction. It was that nearly a hundred years ago, back in the Ying Ding Tribe, he had captured the counterfeit Nascent Soul patriarch—Ji Zhang.

Back then, since his own realm was only at early Nascent Soul, his strength was far inferior to Ji Zhang’s father, Ji Yifeng. Adding to that, this father and son were bound by a Child-Mother Heart Talisman.

So after capturing Ji Zhang, Wei Tu hadn’t slaughtered him recklessly, but instead kept him confined in his Divine Master’s Mansion all these years.

But now, things were different.

He no longer feared Ji Yifeng in the slightest.

It was time to close this chapter of the past.

…

Not long after.

Ying Ding Tribe, Divine Master’s Mansion.

In the underground level of Wei Tu’s cave residence, Ji Zhang crouched in a corner, shackled and bound by more than ten magic tools that sealed his spiritual power. His gaunt face twisted with fear the moment the prison doors creaked open.

“No, don’t come closer!”

“Wei Tu, if you kill me, my father won’t spare you! My father… he’ll definitely avenge me!”

“I carry the Child-Mother Heart Talisman. If I die, my father will sense it immediately!”

Seeing the familiar figure in green robes appear before him, Ji Zhang’s expression changed drastically. He shrank back further into the corner, spitting out threats in desperation.

Though he had never truly liked his cold and selfish father, at this moment, his father’s overwhelming strength was the only straw he could cling to.

For more than a hundred years, that was the very reason Wei Tu had only captured him alive, never finishing him off—letting him continue to cling to life.

Hearing this, Wei Tu shook his head in the shadows of the dungeon, sighing inwardly at how times had changed.

Back when he had only been at Golden Core…

At that time, Ji Zhang, as Sect Master of the Liu Yu Sect, was radiant in glory. Backed by his status as the son of an Immortal, he brazenly plundered the trade caravans of Kang and Xiao Kingdoms, flaunting his power.

Even when those caravans recognized him and pressured Tianyi Sect into action, the punishment he received was nothing more than “reflect in seclusion.” Not even a single hair was harmed.

And now?

Here he was, nothing more than a dog, trembling and begging at his feet.

“Well, after all, even the Liu Yu Daoist himself has already fallen by my hand. Let alone… a mere counterfeit sect master.”

Wei Tu sneered to himself.

The Liu Yu Sect’s name had been borrowed from the Liu Yu Daoist, a notorious demonic Nascent Soul cultivator well-known even in righteous lands.

Of course, Ji Zhang hadn’t admired the man, but had cunningly used his name to cover his own robberies, dumping the blame onto that demonic elder.

A trick many so-called righteous robbers had used.

But by sheer coincidence—

The real Liu Yu Daoist had already been killed by Wei Tu long before Ji Zhang’s schemes.

Now, only the counterfeit remained.

Not that Wei Tu cared to explain this to him.

With a flick of his sleeve, he wrapped Ji Zhang tightly in spiritual power and strode straight toward the border of Kang and Xiao Kingdoms.