Chapter 575: Old Grudges Erased, Father and Son Both Dead

Inside Ji Zhang’s body, the Child-Mother Heart Talisman was still sealed by Wei Tu’s power. But once he died, the death signal would instantly reach Ji Yifeng far away in Xiao Kingdom.

Because of this, unless absolutely necessary, Wei Tu would never kill Ji Zhang inside the Ying Ding Tribe.

This wasn’t only for the tribe’s safety, but also for his own.

Decades ago, over the matter of Situ Yang, he had already made an enemy out of Shengya Mountain, the leader among righteous sects.

With the binding spiritual contract, Shengya Mountain wouldn’t break the pact to strike at him, since that would damage their sect’s honor.

But if he handed them evidence himself…

That would be a completely different story.

So the best place for Ji Zhang to die was the border between Kang and Xiao Kingdoms.

That region was desolate, filled with dangerous, uninhabited lands.

If Ji Zhang died there, then even with Ji Yifeng’s vast powers, unless he had clairvoyant foresight, he would never know who killed his son.

Even better, Wei Tu could turn it around—

Use Ji Zhang’s death site as a trap to ambush and eliminate Ji Yifeng, one of his greatest threats.

…

Half a day later.

Under Wei Tu’s Nascent Soul finger strike, Ji Zhang, still chained and forced to kneel, had his forehead pierced through in an instant. He died miserably on the very Kang–Chu border where he once led the Liu Yu Sect disciples to plunder an Ascending Cloud Flying Boat.

“If only I could do it all over again…”

In the last few breaths before his soul scattered, Ji Zhang felt no hatred. Only deep regret filled his heart.

If he had not listened to his father Ji Yifeng back then, if he had not schemed to seize Fu Linglong’s primal yin to pass the three tribulations of the Enlightenment Calamity, but instead relied on himself… then his fate today might have been completely different.

But sadly, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

Because of that one wrong thought, he failed his Nascent Soul breakthrough and even lost the little nun who once admired him.

The next moment.

As Ji Zhang’s consciousness completely dissipated, a faint golden talisman quietly stamped a Nascent Soul mark on Wei Tu, then shot out from Ji Zhang’s mind at terrifying speed, streaking away like a rainbow.

“Close to late Nascent Soul escape speed.”

Wei Tu evaluated calmly.

A hundred years ago, he wouldn’t have been able to catch it. But now, with preparation and full effort, blocking it was no problem.

And this time, he had killed Ji Zhang precisely to eliminate this hidden danger, so he would never let the effort go to waste.

“Judging by its speed, it should reach Tianyi Sect in about four days…”

“And this Nascent Soul mark—any early Nascent Soul cultivator would need at least half a month to erase it.”

Wei Tu glanced at the new ‘Ji’ imprint glowing faintly on the back of his hand. A faint smile spread across his lips.

Back then, if such a mark had appeared on him, it would have been a huge disaster. He might have been forced to flee overseas, hunted endlessly.

But now, this ‘Nascent Soul mark’ was the perfect bait to hook Ji Yifeng.

Wei Tu had no doubt Ji Yifeng wouldn’t guard against it.

After all, no matter how Ji Yifeng reasoned, he would never imagine Ji Zhang dared provoke a cultivator of the exact same realm—a peer of equal standing.

Such an unlikely event…

One might not encounter even once in a lifetime.

…

“Zhang’er is dead?”

Four days later, far away in Tianyi Sect of Xiao Kingdom, Ji Yifeng felt the restless agitation of the “mother talisman” of the Child-Mother Heart Talisman inside him. His face sank with grief as he muttered to himself.

Over two hundred years ago, when he learned Ji Zhang had failed to break through to Nascent Soul at Qingyu Sect in Chu Kingdom, he had faintly expected this day to come.

Now that it arrived, the time between was not short.

“But Zhang’er did not die of old age!”

Ji Yifeng’s eyes turned cold. He stretched out a hand into the void and summoned the “child talisman” floating outside Tianyi Sect’s mountain gate.

As a father, he could accept Ji Zhang dying of old age.

But he could never accept his son being killed midway on the immortal path.

Years ago, he was willing to ambush and kill Fu Linglong, a newly advanced Nascent Soul, just for Ji Zhang’s sake.

Today would be no different.

“For Zhang’er’s burial, the first Nascent Soul cultivator was Fu Linglong. This one will be the second!”

Ji Yifeng rose from his cushion, killing intent flashing in his eyes. His wide sleeves flared even without wind as he looked coldly toward the Kang–Chu border.

Though he could not pinpoint the exact location of the Nascent Soul mark left by the talisman across a whole kingdom, he could sense its general direction.

For him, that was enough.

“Zhang’er, wait for me beneath the Nine Springs. Father will avenge you now!”

With that, Ji Yifeng flicked his sleeve. His escape light shot into the sky, rushing straight toward Wei Tu’s direction.

“What’s wrong with the sect master?”

“Why did he suddenly leave the sect?”

Half an hour later, several Nascent Soul cultivators in the back mountain finally noticed Ji Yifeng’s abrupt departure. They exchanged transmissions in confusion.

After all, Ji Yifeng was famous for calmness, not someone rash or fiery.

“Most likely he has urgent business.”

The cultivators speculated but did not think too much.

After all, as sect master of Tianyi Sect, Ji Yifeng’s strength might not be at the absolute peak of the world, but it was still top-tier. Hardly any danger could touch him.

And even if it could—he wasn’t a three-year-old child. He valued his life even more than they did.

Yet—

On the fifth day, they saw the soul lamp in the Ancestral Hall, the one representing Ji Yifeng, suddenly extinguish.

“The sect master is dead?”

“The sect master was killed?”

For a moment, all of Tianyi Sect was shaken. The higher-ups immediately sealed the news, keeping it secret.

But still, the news was quickly spread by watchful eyes and reached the desk of Lian Shourang, sect master of Shengya Mountain.

As a fellow great-sect master, Lian Shourang felt a pang of sorrow at Ji Yifeng’s death, like a rabbit mourning the fox.

But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, he never would have guessed the killer was Wei Tu—the man he thought trapped in the remote borderlands, fated never to rise above.

…

Meanwhile.

Near the border of Kang Kingdom, Wei Tu leaned against a rock face, gasping heavily. He looked down at his body, burned almost to charcoal by the Purple Capital Thunderfire, and then at the distant corpse of a middle-aged scholar whose abdomen was ripped open.

This time, he had ambushed Ji Yifeng with every advantage of timing, terrain, and preparation. Yet if not for his fourth-stage tempered body, he might have been caught off guard and slain by Ji Yifeng, the sect master of Tianyi Sect.

That man’s mastery of Purple Capital Thunderfire was near perfection, no weaker than Duan Changjing’s blade arts.

“One cannot underestimate the heroes of the world.”

Wei Tu sighed, finally setting aside the arrogance he had built up from killing the Liu Yu Daoist, Zhang Nanqiu, Lüqiu Jinyuan, and others.

After catching his breath, he pulled out a healing pill from his robe and swallowed it. Then he roused the origin power of the First Spirit Bone. New sprouts pushed through old bark, slowly shedding the charred shell of his outer flesh.