Before Daoist Wolfslayer came to provoke him, Wei Tu had already announced that he was going into seclusion.
So when he returned to the Fen Shan Tribe, aside from Yan Yu, his personal pill apprentice, no one knew that Wei Tu had also left the tribe after Daoist Wolfslayer.
"Miss Yan, Daoist Wolfslayer has been slain by me. The grievance you suffered has been avenged."
Inside the pill chamber on the seventh floor of the Pagoda Tower, Wei Tu patted his storage pouch and pulled out the corpse of Daoist Wolfslayer.
"What?"
"Daoist Wolfslayer is dead?"
Yan Yu was stunned. She had thought Wei Tu might suffer a serious loss chasing after Daoist Wolfslayer. She never expected he would actually kill him—and come back without any visible injuries.
"High Priest, were you hurt at all?" Yan Yu's almond-shaped eyes welled up with tears as she hurried forward to ask.
In her mind, Wei Tu's willingness to risk everything to kill Daoist Wolfslayer was clearly tied to the slap she had suffered from him.
Other than her late immortal master Mu Feng, only Wei Tu had ever shown her such concern.
When he heard that, Wei Tu nodded slightly. He realized that High Priest Mu Feng had honored their agreement in life and had never revealed—openly or secretly—Wei Tu's true strength to Yan Yu before passing.
Otherwise, there was no way Yan Yu would be showing him such genuine, heartfelt concern.
—A Golden Core cultivator who trained in both body and Dao arts was strong enough to rival someone at the mid-Golden Core stage.
"I'm fine. Just suffered a minor injury," Wei Tu replied after a brief pause.
With third-stage body cultivation, it was nearly impossible for him to be injured in combat against someone in the same realm. But if he ever did get hurt, it would be a serious wound that was extremely hard to heal.
Still, he couldn't exactly tell Yan Yu he'd captured a powerful peer alive shortly after the fight and hadn't even suffered a scratch.
"This kindness… I can never repay it in this lifetime." Yan Yu bowed deeply and spoke with conviction.
Wei Tu shook his head at that and didn't say much. He stepped forward and gently helped Yan Yu up.
"The matter of Daoist Wolfslayer stays between us. No one else must know. If others ask, just say I'm in seclusion. Don't mention anything else."
"If anyone tries to force the issue, come inform me immediately."
With that, Wei Tu brought up the important matter.
Strength was the best way to clear suspicion.
Even though he had a grudge with Daoist Wolfslayer, as someone seen by other cultivators in the Ying Ding Tribe as not good at combat, he actually made for the least likely suspect.
More importantly, Daoist Wolfslayer had only been a guest official at the Right Virtuous King's manor. That role was very different from someone like Wei Tu, who served as High Priest for a tribe.
Once dead, Daoist Wolfslayer held no more value.
No one would care enough to avenge him.
With Daoist Wolfslayer gone, even if the Right Virtuous King's second prince still wanted to use him as a pawn to manipulate Yuan Jie and others, without hard proof, he wouldn't dare to rashly blame Wei Tu for the man's death.
Doing so would be a major taboo.
Even in the worst-case scenario—
At most, Wei Tu would be under suspicion for the killing. There'd be no concrete action taken against him.
In fact—
He wouldn't even be suspected.
Because Daoist Wolfslayer had disappeared in the wilds, without a trace. Who could say for sure that he had died?
…
As the days passed—
The Right Virtuous King's manor began to grow restless.
Seeing that Daoist Wolfslayer had gone to the Fen Shan Tribe and never returned, anyone would get anxious.
Especially the second prince.
After all, he had treated Daoist Wolfslayer as a trusted subordinate and confided his plans to him.
Now that Daoist Wolfslayer had vanished, if he had defected to Yuan Jie and the others, wouldn't that spell disaster?
It was one thing to go against Yuan Jie—
But to involve Yuan Ping…
The Divine Master of He Di wouldn't forgive that so easily.
With no other option, the second prince had to send someone to the Fen Shan Tribe to investigate and find out why Daoist Wolfslayer had disappeared.
But thanks to Wei Tu's careful planning—
The second prince's men found nothing useful in the Fen Shan Tribe. All they learned was that Daoist Wolfslayer had shown up to stir up trouble, and then left again.
"Even if Wei Tu was hiding his strength, there's no way he could have killed Daoist Wolfslayer without making a sound. Could it be that one of Daoist Wolfslayer's old enemies did it?" The second prince speculated.
Daoist Wolfslayer, publicly, had two known enemies—Ancient Sword Mountain and the Sand Bandit Society.
Both were formidable forces.
If either truly made a move, erasing Daoist Wolfslayer wouldn't be impossible.
"Looks like I'll have to try a different approach," the second prince muttered, shaking his head. He decided not to keep pursuing the reason behind Daoist Wolfslayer's disappearance.
Enough time had passed already. If Daoist Wolfslayer had really defected to Yuan Jie's side, then the Divine Master of He Di and others would've dealt with him by now. He wouldn't still be out there, free and unbothered.
Since the greatest threat was gone, there was no point in wasting effort chasing the truth anymore.
"With the Sacred Spring Conference coming soon, I'll hold back for now and look for another chance later to target Yuan Jie," the second prince's eyes gleamed coldly.
Provoking Wei Tu to bait out Yuan Jie… with just one Daoist Wolfslayer involved, he could still pass it off as the man's own reckless act.
But if another person got involved, it would be harder to explain away.
Anyone paying attention would immediately see the pattern.
"But… now that Daoist Wolfslayer is dead, there's one less spot in the Sword Trial Tournament…" The second prince rubbed his chin, his gaze turning toward the Fen Shan Tribe.
Daoist Wolfslayer was dead, but the resentment between Wei Tu and both Daoist Wolfslayer and the Right Virtuous King's manor still lingered.
The second prince figured—this might be a good chance to win Wei Tu over. It could be the best way to make use of Daoist Wolfslayer's death.
…
The next day—
The eldest princess of the Right Virtuous King's manor, Yuan Ying, arrived at the Fen Shan Tribe with a group of palace maids to visit Wei Tu.
Yuan Ying's visit caught Wei Tu off guard. His expression flickered with surprise. After washing up in his cave residence, he went out to greet her.
"This time, I've come on behalf of my younger brother to offer an apology. I hope Priest Wei won't take it to heart," Yuan Ying said gracefully as she sat down, her red lips parting gently.
An apology?
Wei Tu raised an eyebrow, unsure what game the second prince and Yuan Ying were playing.
He studied Yuan Ying closely.
The widowed princess was stunningly beautiful, with graceful curves and a striking presence. Her plain robe and beaded hairpin resembled the attire of female cultivators from the Cangnan region.
If one didn't look closely, they might mistake her for a famed beauty from some prestigious immortal sect.
"I'm afraid I don't understand what Her Highness means," Wei Tu replied as he took his seat, feigning ignorance.
Princess Yuan Ying smiled lightly. "Is Priest Wei playing dumb? The matter of Daoist Wolfslayer extorting you has already spread through the royal manor. Everyone in the manor is ashamed."
As her voice fell—
A thin layer of anger appeared on Wei Tu's face, just in time.
"If the Right Virtuous King's manor already knew, why didn't they punish Daoist Wolfslayer sooner? If not for concerns about dragging the manor into it, I would've already… reported it to the Divine Master," he said, visibly upset.
As Wei Tu spoke, Princess Yuan Ying carefully watched his expression. Seeing his anger, which didn't seem fake, she nodded subtly to herself.
"Seems like Wei Tu really had nothing to do with Daoist Wolfslayer's disappearance. He probably didn't report it to the Cangkun Alliance because of his cautious nature and fear of offending the royal manor… and being an outsider, he didn't dare stir up trouble," she thought.
"Our Right Virtuous King's manor has always been fair. We won't let Priest Wei suffer injustice. Nor will we ignore this matter and let it escalate."
"Daoist Wolfslayer has already been expelled from the manor. He's no longer one of our guest officials."
Princess Yuan Ying spoke with a smile.
As she said this, she pulled a pouch from her sleeve and handed it to Wei Tu.
"This contains five thousand spirit stones. Consider it compensation from the royal manor."
At that, Wei Tu instantly understood why she had come.
The Right Virtuous King's manor, seeing that Daoist Wolfslayer had vanished and was no longer of use, had chosen to turn the situation around—using the conflict to win him over.
Wei Tu sneered inwardly.
If he had been some green and naive rookie, he probably would've been thrown off balance by this series of moves—unsure who was friend and who was foe.
What the Right Virtuous King's manor couldn't know was that he had been aware of their schemes for years. Daoist Wolfslayer's death had been orchestrated entirely by him.
"Five thousand spirit stones?" Wei Tu raised his brows. "Daoist Wolfslayer extorted twenty-seven thousand spirit stones from me. Has Her Highness perhaps made a mistake?"