"See her die with your own eyes?"
Wei Tu's face turned even colder. He waved his hand and refused. "I cultivate dual cultivation. I've never had the fetish of letting others watch. Sect Leader Ji, don't cross the line."
Sure, Fu Linglong dying would benefit him too, but to toy with her under Ji Yifeng's nose, then kill her afterward—that was unacceptable.
Wouldn't that make him someone who could be trampled on at will?
Ji Yifeng wasn't angry at the threat. He clasped his hands behind his back, staring hard at the black-faced old man that Wei Tu had transformed into, as if trying to read something from his expression.
After a long silence, Ji Yifeng finally said, "This matter truly is hard for you to accept. But I can't ignore the chance—however small—that someone might be fooling me to save that woman."
"Even if the odds are tiny, I hope you understand."
Wei Tu understood clearly what Ji Yifeng meant.
He wanted to use this excuse to test Wei Tu's real identity.
As long as Wei Tu could prove he was a real "demonic cultivator powerhouse" and not actually there to save Fu Linglong, the threat would be resolved easily.
Or rather, as long as he showed enough strength to pass as one, Ji Yifeng would be too wary to bother him any further.
The problem was—Wei Tu's actual cultivation and status weren't enough to make Ji Yifeng hesitate.
'Old Demon Zhu, help me out here.'
Wei Tu's eyes flashed. He sent a voice transmission to Ancestor Chìlóng, who was resting in the Dragon Glaze Pearl in his sleeve.
The next moment, a wave of powerful divine sense burst out from Wei Tu's body and swept over Ji Yifeng's Dharma body.
"What? Divine sense of a late Nascent Soul cultivator?"
Ji Yifeng sensed the immense pressure. His face changed slightly, and a bit of caution appeared in his eyes as he looked at Wei Tu again.
Divine sense came from the soul's core—it was almost impossible to fake.
In other words, unless something went very wrong, this black-faced old man in front of him had at least reached mid Nascent Soul stage. One or two major levels above him.
'That makes sense. Without late-stage Nascent Soul divine sense, he couldn't have approached me unnoticed or tossed that talisman at me.'
Ji Yifeng thought to himself.
As for Wei Tu's earlier ambush, that alone wasn't enough to make Ji Yifeng suspicious of his realm. After all, the demonic path was full of sneaky bastards who loved ambush tactics.
There was a reason righteous cultivators always looked down on demonic cultivators.
Still, to be safe, Ji Yifeng didn't retreat. After a pause, he cupped his hands and asked, "May I ask… what is your Dao title?"
But this time, Wei Tu didn't answer like before. His face grew colder. He tossed Fu Linglong off the cloud without a second thought and simply said, "Bold," before raising his hand and releasing his "Yang Corpse," charging straight at Ji Yifeng.
"A fourth-rank corpse puppet?"
Ji Yifeng's brow twitched. He had expected betrayal from Wei Tu, so he instantly retreated several hundred steps, raising his hand to summon a green-glowing Dharma sword. It turned into a streak of emerald light and shot forward to block the attack.
But what happened next caught him completely off guard.
Wei Tu, who controlled the fourth-rank corpse puppet, didn't dodge. Instead, he casually flicked his sleeve at the approaching emerald light—and it vanished into his sleeve without a sound.
Just like that. As if devoured.
It was the posture of someone with great supernatural power.
'Sealed instantly... even wiped out the spiritual imprint. What technique did he use?'
Ji Yifeng's heart wavered. He didn't dare to randomly throw out more magical treasures and risk losing them.
But the fourth-rank corpse was already on him. Ji Yifeng couldn't run now. He chanted softly, "Purple Capital Thunderfire," and a pale violet glow burst from his body. He stepped up to fight the corpse puppet head-on.
Unlike his son Ji Zhang's weaker version, Ji Yifeng—the Sect Master of Tianyi Sect—had mastered Purple Capital Thunderfire to its peak.
It wasn't quite at the level of incinerating everything, but after just a few exchanges, several scorched marks appeared on the Yang Corpse's body, and the icy corpse aura inside it dropped by more than 30% in an instant.
'As expected of Tianyi Sect's Sect Master.'
Wei Tu frowned. He knew this was going to be a tough fight. He had no choice but to join in himself.
Green light burst from his body as he raised his palm in the air. A glowing green giant claw took shape and swung down hard at Ji Yifeng from behind.
"As I thought—he's mid Nascent Soul!"
Seeing the power behind that strike, Ji Yifeng finally confirmed his suspicion. Flames surged from his body and formed a long halberd, which he used to pierce through the green claw while dodging aside in a bit of a panic.
"Wait, fellow Daoist! Ji only meant to verify your identity, not to offend you!"
Ji Yifeng called out from a distance.
After clashing with "Wei Tu," he had some confidence that he might not lose. But he had no intention of going all out with a cultivator of equal strength.
Fighting was never the goal. It was just a means to an end.
But what made Ji Yifeng frown hard was that the black-faced old man before him seemed genuinely enraged by his earlier words. Even now, after hearing Ji's explanation, he didn't stop. Instead, he summoned a jade hook magical tool.
In a blink, that jade hook turned into a shimmering purple net over ten feet wide, sweeping straight toward him.
"You really think I won't fight back?"
Seeing this, Ji Yifeng was furious. He felt Wei Tu was taking things too far.
First, a sneak attack. Then kidnapping Fu Linglong. Now even his attempt to make peace was ignored.
Fuming, he let out a roar, and behind him, five light shadows appeared, each resembling him.
The five shadows quickly formed hand seals and merged into a white spiritual python, several dozen feet long, baring its fangs as it shot toward Wei Tu.
At the same time, to block the incoming purple net, Ji Yifeng summoned a rustic square seal and placed it in front of him.
A moment later, the purple net clashed with the square seal. A golden light burst from the seal and pinned the purple net down, leaving it unable to move.
But the white spirit python didn't fare as well. It clashed with Wei Tu, only to be smashed to powder within moments.
'He's this powerful?'
As the spirit python shattered, Ji Yifeng felt like his organs had been struck by lightning. A trace of blood slipped from the corner of his mouth.
That white python wasn't just any trick. It was one of his trump cards. Just like Purple Capital Thunderfire, it was a top-tier secret art passed down in the Tianyi Sect's Sect Master lineage.
He hadn't expected it to kill a peer-level opponent outright, but the fact it didn't even scratch Wei Tu—that he could hardly accept.
Still, facts were facts. Whether he liked it or not, he had to accept it now.
If he kept fighting, even if he could kill this man, he'd likely be gravely injured and need over 100 years to recover.
'He has a fourth-rank corpse puppet—definitely a demonic cultivator. I may not know his name, but he won't spare Fu Linglong easily. Proving that much is enough.'
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Ji Yifeng quietly made up his mind.
He no longer planned to continue the fight.
His eyes flickered a few times. Just as Wei Tu was about to strike again, Ji quickly put away his square seal, flicked his sleeve, and fled south.
Seeing this, Wei Tu—mid-attack—suddenly paused. He stood still, his brow furrowed, a faint displeasure showing on his face, clearly still angry about what had just happened.
Thirty li.
Fifty li.
Two hundred li...
Within a short span, Ji Yifeng had completely escaped the range of both Wei Tu and Ancestor Chìlóng's divine sense.
At that moment...
Wei Tu, who had been exuding fierce momentum, suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood. His aura withered instantly.
Not just his aura—his Dharma body turned dry and withered too, like the bark of an old tree.
"Nine Secrets of Vitality... it drains too much."
He muttered softly and retracted the blood he'd just vomited. Then, pulling out a large handful of spirit pills from his storage pouch, he shoved them into his mouth.
The pills helped a little. His skin regained some fullness, but compared to before, he still looked painfully thin.
This demonic secret technique—Nine Secrets of Vitality—was something Ancestor Chìlóng had passed down to him. Including today, he'd only used it twice.
The first time was during the battle against Lüqiu Jinyuan's avatar.
But that time, he had just used it to resist the "Ghost Finger." Today, he'd clashed head-on with Ji Yifeng, a mid Nascent Soul expert, so the toll was much heavier.
Luckily, he practiced both Dharma and body cultivation. With a fourth-rank physique, he could handle the drain of this technique. Otherwise, with how quickly it consumed blood essence, just a few exchanges would've left him totally drained.
Of course, if he hadn't pushed so hard—pretending to be mid Nascent Soul—he wouldn't have suffered so much. Nor would the spirit python's backlash have injured him earlier.
But without doing all that, he wouldn't have scared Ji Yifeng off so easily either.
Pros and cons.
After regaining a bit of his cultivation, Wei Tu didn't dare linger. He flicked his sleeve and flew down into the crater, scooped up Fu Linglong, who he had thrown earlier, and escaped swiftly in the opposite direction from Ji Yifeng.
"He's injured?"
Being hoisted onto Wei Tu's shoulder again, Fu Linglong quickly noticed his condition. Suspicion and shock flashed in her eyes. She murmured to herself.
With her intelligence, it wasn't hard to tell that Wei Tu wasn't actually at the mid Nascent Soul stage. He had faked it to scare off Ji Yifeng.
After all, if they were truly at the same realm, there was no way he'd be this badly hurt from the clash.
Realizing this, a cold smirk tugged at her lips. Her expression turned pure and serene in an instant as she spoke softly, "Fellow Daoist, pushing yourself like this will only make your injuries worse."
"Why not stop for a bit and heal?"
"My Jinglian Convent has healing elixirs. I'll tell you where they're stored. You can go fetch them yourself."
She chirped away sweetly.
Even though the black-faced old man beneath her was clearly a demonic cultivator, Fu Linglong understood well—whether it was righteous or demonic paths, everyone preferred dealing with 'good' people.
So now, she was doing her best to act like a kindhearted, naive little nun before this stranger.
"If you're worried that Jinglian Convent might be dangerous, there are also some healing pills in my storage pouch. Just open it and take what you need."
Seeing no reaction, Fu Linglong quickly changed tactics and continued luring him.
"Fu Linglong, quit wasting your breath. You should focus on figuring out how to suppress that lust poison in your body."
"I'm not helping you with that."
After enduring her buzzing voice for so long, Wei Tu finally lost his patience and snapped coldly.
As soon as he said that, Fu Linglong froze mid-sentence.
Her mind blanked.
She couldn't believe the black-faced, aged man carrying her through the sky—this very man—was actually Wei Tu in disguise.
Instantly, her expression turned grim and stiff.
Judging by his tone...
She was sure Wei Tu wasn't planning to take advantage of her while she was weakened. He wouldn't use this chance to claim her body.
In that sense, he had saved her life.
But the way he went about it seriously pissed her off.
First, he molested her. Then during his clash with Ji Yifeng, he casually tossed her from the sky without a second thought.
Even if she understood it was all an emergency tactic, and that without such bold moves, someone like Wei Tu probably wouldn't have managed to save her…
Still, Fu Linglong didn't think that justified treating her like garbage.
"There's… no way to resolve it."
She turned her head and released her inner restraint. The lust poison flared up again. Her skin burned hot like fire. A moan escaped her lips.
"This poison's been mixed with Green-Faced Flood Dragon venom. That venom's suppressing my spiritual body and cultivation. Without it, I might've had a chance to resist the lust poison. But now? If it isn't cured soon, I'll die."
Fighting the nausea rising in her chest, she twisted her soft body a little, her hand gently brushing Wei Tu's dark, aged neck. Her breath warm and shallow, she whispered against his ear.
Wei Tu frowned and stopped mid-air. If he had a choice, he really didn't want to touch this woman at all.
He wasn't some lust-crazed beast.
Sure, he appreciated her beauty, but her rotten personality was enough to keep him far, far away.
"And don't think about going back on your word and killing me," she said quickly, not giving him a chance to reply.
"Before Ji Yifeng ambushed me, I secretly moved Fu Dalu away. All thanks to you—if you hadn't ambushed me three days ago, I wouldn't have prepared in advance."
"Fu Dalu knows you placed a restriction on me. He also knows you're the other mastermind behind Ji Zhang's downfall. If I die, Fu Dalu will make all that public."
She didn't doubt for a second that Wei Tu might consider killing her if pushed far enough.
"Kill you?" Wei Tu narrowed his eyes and casually threw her off his shoulder, setting her down on the ground.
Then he looked down at the delicate little nun, her cheeks flushed from the poison. A mocking smile curled his lips. He reached out and lifted her smooth white chin.
"Fu Linglong, you better be careful. You're playing with fire. I won't hesitate to take your virginity if you push me."
His voice turned ice-cold.
As he spoke, his finger ran unceremoniously across her slightly warm apricot lips. Then it traced downward to her collarbone. With a firm tug, he tore open her pale monk's robe, dirt-stained and clinging to her body.