If he only stayed in the Great Cang Immortal Cultivation World, even though it wasn't like he couldn't make any progress, with the speed at which the "Late Bloomer" destiny transformed his body, it would still take at least 300 to 400 years just to break through to the fourth stage of body cultivation.
300 to 400 years—while that wasn't considered slow among Nascent Soul cultivators, for Wei Tu, it was hard to accept.
It wasn't that he was obsessed with speed.
He could wait.
But Bai Zhi, who was being parasitized, couldn't.
After switching to the ghost path, Bai Zhi's lifespan had increased significantly compared to an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, but that didn't mean it was unlimited.
Her lifespan was only 1,000 years.
Wei Tu estimated that at most in 300 more years, Bai Zhi's lifespan would run out and she'd pass away.
So if there was another path, of course Wei Tu would choose the better one.
Besides, heading to the overseas cultivation world wasn't that risky.
…
Once he got news of the Condensed Soul Pill—
Wei Tu immediately arranged with Cao Mi and Master Hongjing that in 10 years, the three of them would go to the overseas cultivation world together to attend the high-level auction on Yuanjun Island.
After their breakthroughs were complete, they'd then discuss how to rescue Ancestor Luo.
"Wei will take his leave now."
"Once I finish handling clan affairs, I'll head to the overseas cultivation world with Fellow Daoist Hongjing and Junior Sister Cao."
Wei Tu cupped his hands and politely excused himself.
He had already stayed in the Moon Condensation Palace for 3 years.
If he just left for the overseas cultivation world with Master Hongjing and Cao Mi without saying a word to the Talisman Division, then he'd be no different from a rogue cultivator.
Sometimes—
Respect had to go both ways.
That was the only way things would start and end well.
He couldn't hold others to a strict standard and let himself off easy.
"Farewell, Brother Wei."
Cao Mi stepped outside personally to send Wei Tu off from the Moon Condensation Palace's territory.
And after Wei Tu left—
Master Hongjing raised her head and looked far into the distance at the streak of cyan rainbow light that shot into the sky as Wei Tu flew away.
"Junior Niece Cao, just how far has your relationship with Wei Tu gone?"
She suddenly asked.
"Relationship?" Cao Mi was startled. She couldn't help but feel annoyed—wasn't Master Hongjing being a little too nosy? How could she, an outsider, ask such private things so casually?
She wasn't even from Master Hongjing's sect!
"We've known each other for a long time."
After thinking for a moment, Cao Mi carefully chose her words and gave a vague answer.
She knew full well that her relationship with Wei Tu would greatly affect how Master Hongjing viewed her.
After all, even among newly ascended Nascent Souls, not everyone was the same.
Compared to Wei Tu, she merely had the cultivation of a Nascent Soul—without the real strength to match it.
Upon hearing this, Master Hongjing turned her head and gave Cao Mi a deep look. Her lips curved slightly as she smiled faintly. "If I had to guess, I'd say the real close relationship between you and Wei Tu only started after Shen Yunqiu from my sect died, right?"
As those words landed, Cao Mi's face instantly turned pale. Someone as clever as her couldn't possibly miss the hidden meaning in Master Hongjing's words.
Right now, Cao Mi almost wanted to flee on the spot. She wanted to rush off in the direction Wei Tu had left—to beg him for help.
"I wonder, Master Hongjing… what makes you say that?" Cao Mi forced a smile.
"The secret spirit vein passage inside Yuping Mountain might fool Ning Xuefeng, but it can't fool a Nascent Soul ancestor like me."
"Besides, I never liked Shen Yunqiu to begin with. And since Mirror Water Pavilion owed your Moon Condensation Palace a favor, I decided to turn a blind eye to the matter."
Master Hongjing spoke in a flat tone.
Truthfully, before this, aside from the long-standing spirit vein passage between the two sects, she hadn't found any other clear mistakes in Cao Mi's actions when she had Shen Yunqiu killed.
But once she saw that Shen Yunqiu's time of death perfectly lined up with the timing of Cao Mi and Wei Tu becoming close, suspicion naturally took root.
Plus, this time, though Cao Mi and Wei Tu spoke to each other with friendly terms, their mannerisms weren't at all like lovers…
So the only likely reason they would now be working together this closely had basically become obvious.
Of course, these suspicions were just circumstantial. They didn't prove that Cao Mi and Wei Tu really had conspired to murder Shen Yunqiu.
But the problem was—
Moon Condensation Palace had the strongest motive to get rid of Shen Yunqiu.
Only Moon Condensation Palace had the means to kill Shen Yunqiu without alerting the cultivators of Mirror Water Pavilion.
"You're right. Shen Yunqiu was indeed killed by me and Brother Wei together."
At that point, Cao Mi couldn't hide it anymore. She bit her lip and admitted to the crime.
After all, she was now a Nascent Soul cultivator.
She didn't believe that Master Hongjing would fall out with her over someone like Shen Yunqiu.
If that were truly the case, then Master Hongjing should have pointed her out back when they were still in Mirror Water Pavilion, not waited until she'd already left its protective formation.
Sure enough—
After hearing her response, Master Hongjing didn't fly into a rage. Just like before, her expression remained calm and indifferent.
"Someone like Shen Yunqiu, her death isn't a loss. Even though she had the potential to reach the Nascent Soul stage, if she wasn't willing to serve the sect, then the more capable she was, the more dangerous she became."
"The reason I brought it up today is because I want our two sects to let go of the past. If we still keep this between us, there's no way we can work together moving forward."
Master Hongjing sighed and spoke slowly.
Hearing that, Cao Mi finally let out a deep breath. She gave a long, formal bow to Master Hongjing, expressing her sincere apology.
…
After leaving the Moon Condensation Palace's territory—
Wei Tu didn't rush back to the Talisman Division. He paused, flicked his sleeve, and released the soul of Ancestor Chilong from the Dragon Glaze Pearl.
"Old Demon Zhu, how credible do you think Master Hongjing's words are?" Wei Tu narrowed his eyes.
He wasn't some green rookie anymore. He wasn't about to believe anything someone said at face value.
As for what Master Hongjing had told him—
He only believed part of it.
That being, she and Ancestor Luo had truly discovered the overseas cultivation world and had mastered a way to get there.
As for the other parts, like Ancestor Luo's so-called "disappearance," he didn't buy all of it.
"I don't have the Heart-Reading Technique. How the hell would I know how much of her words are true?"
Ancestor Chilong shot Wei Tu a glance and replied with some irritation.
"But I do have a secret technique that could really boost your chances of staying alive when heading to the overseas cultivation world."
Ancestor Chilong paused for a moment and said this calmly.
"What secret technique?" Wei Tu asked immediately. Ever since he formed a soul pact of equality with Ancestor Chilong, this was the first time the old monster had offered him anything besides the Blood Puppet Rebirth Technique.
Clearly, even Ancestor Chilong was interested in the overseas cultivation world.
After all, compared to the Great Cang Immortal Cultivation World, breaking through to Divine Transformation in the overseas realms was undoubtedly easier.
And Divine Transformation Realm—that was the path Ancestor Chilong had pursued in life!
"Curse Ghost Blood Escape Art!"
Ancestor Chilong flipped his palm and handed Wei Tu a blackened jade slip.
Another escape technique?
Wei Tu accepted the jade slip. Once he looked at the contents, he fell silent.
It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the technique. It's just that ever since he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he'd already trained in the Lifespan Lamp, one of the top-tier escape arts.
Plus, his life-bound magic treasure, the Thunder Spirit Ruler, was also geared toward escape.
In short, his survival tools were already more than enough.
Now, if he trained in this Curse Ghost Blood Escape Art, he'd have three different escape methods.
Still, that was a good problem to have.
In the cultivation world, among cultivators of the same realm, escape arts were the most valuable. Offensive and defensive techniques usually cost only half as much.
'Having another escape technique isn't a bad thing. After all, the lamp oil for the Lifespan Lamp needs to be saved to summon the dragon-beast phantom inside the Fire Cloud Shield… and the Thunder Spirit Ruler's escape ability is decent but only at the same realm level…'
Wei Tu thought quietly.
With that, he started studying the Curse Ghost Blood Escape Art.
Blood escape techniques were very common in the cultivation world.
Most high-level cultivators had at least 1 or 2 of them as backup for emergencies.
But from Wei Tu's perspective, the ones he'd seen before were clearly low-grade. None could compare to the high-tier technique now in his hands—one directly from Ancestor Chilong.
This escape art had four layers in total.
According to the technique's introduction, just reaching the second layer would let its full-speed blood escape technique be several times faster than an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
If one could reach the third or fourth layer, then it wouldn't just surpass cultivators of the same stage— even late-stage Nascent Souls wouldn't be able to catch up.
And most importantly, aside from the required consumption of vital blood, the only cost was the sacrificial loss of the contracted "Cursed Ghost" described in the technique.