Wei Tu knew nothing of the Tao clan's scheme to become the wife clan. Even if he had, he wouldn't have interfered.
Everyone wants to rise.
The Tao clan's plan posed no threat to the Wei clan. There was no reason for him to stop it.
To him, having Tao clan female cultivators like Tao Ya prioritized for training was far better than letting the male cultivators grow in strength.
The former could integrate into the Wei clan more easily.
The latter, once strong enough, could potentially pose a threat to the Wei clan.
In the cultivation world, there were plenty of tales of male cultivators seeking revenge and reviving their clans, but it was rare to find stories where female cultivators risked everything for their family.
...
Before leaving the Fen Shan Tribe, Wei Tu planned to visit the spirit land of the Zha Ma Tribe—Flowing Cloud Lake—to see Wei Xian'er.
Years ago, Wei Xian'er once sought help from Wei Tu when her divine sense inexplicably surged.
Later, Wei Tu discovered the cause. The puppet pendant Wei Xian'er wore housed a soul fragment of the Mourning God. This fragment tried to possess her and had subtly altered her divine sense.
This visit was to check the lingering effects on her soul and to inform her of her father Wei Fei's situation.
During the war between righteous and demonic forces, Wei Fei had followed the Zhao clan of Qiyue to the Xiao Kingdom through a teleportation array, while Wei Xian'er had ended up in the Kang Kingdom's Zha Ma Tribe.
The father and daughter had been separated for nearly a hundred years, unsure of each other's survival.
Last time, Wei Tu had someone procure Vajra Fruit from the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple in the Xiao Kingdom. Through this, he also asked about Zhao Qingluo and Wei Fei's whereabouts.
"My parents are safe? Thank goodness."
At Flowing Cloud Lake, upon hearing Wei Tu's words, Wei Xian'er let out a sigh of relief. She finally let go of the lingering worry she'd carried for years.
Although she had heard before from Wei Tu that her parents had migrated with the Zhao clan, the sheer distance between nations left her anxious that something might've gone wrong during the journey.
Now, knowing they were safe, she could finally relax.
Next came the soul inspection.
"Uncle Wei, I'm ready." Wei Xian'er's cheeks flushed as she lay down on the embroidered couch in her cave dwelling. Her breathing quickened slightly.
Even though she knew their relationship was only that of sworn family, and the examination was purely for her safety in cultivation, being physically close like this to a man still made her uncomfortable.
'After all, Uncle Wei and my father are sworn brothers, not blood relatives.'
That stray thought quickly surfaced in her mind.
Unlike Kou Hongying, Wei Xian'er was born after Wei Fei turned a hundred. She hadn't lived through the mundane phase of the brotherhood ritual. Her impression of Wei Tu was vague—he was more like a stranger.
"Focus your mind!"
Wei Tu's sudden rebuke startled Wei Xian'er. Her face turned pale as she snapped out of her thoughts, no longer letting her imagination run wild.
But contrary to her worries, Wei Tu merely used two fingers to gently pinch her wrist and slowly channeled his spiritual energy. He didn't touch her elsewhere at all.
"Her soul is clean. Looks like Xian'er has diligently practiced the 'Upper Evolution Secret Scripture' over the past few years. She's already refined the remnants of the Mourning God's soul fragment."
An hour later, Wei Tu withdrew his fingers, his expression softening.
After all, it was under his guidance that Wei Xian'er smuggled into the Kang Kingdom and found refuge in the Zha Ma Tribe.
If the Mourning God had taken over her body, it would've been impossible for him to face Wei Fei.
"Thank you, Uncle Wei." Wei Xian'er got up from the couch and gave Wei Tu a respectful bow.
By now, the shyness she'd shown earlier had disappeared. Her demeanor was graceful, calm, and proper.
Only after interacting with Wei Tu did she realize that he had always treated her like a junior. Her earlier overthinking was, in truth, an insult to her elder.
"Focus on your cultivation. In another decade or so, I'll take you to the Xiao Kingdom."
Wei Tu glanced at Wei Xian'er as he spoke.
Originally, he had planned to refine the Vajra Fruit and Holy Spring Water to break through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core Realm, then head to the Xiao Kingdom.
But unexpected events had occurred. He'd been kidnapped by Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu and forced into the Great Void Realm.
Now that he'd returned to the Fen Shan Tribe, the situation was still unstable. If he suddenly left again, it would hinder his future development in the Kang Kingdom.
"Thank you, Uncle Wei."
Wei Xian'er's face lit up with joy, and she sweetly expressed her thanks.
She knew all too well how difficult it was to travel to a foreign nation.
Wei Tu inviting her meant extra expense and effort.
"Having the family reunited is most important." Wei Tu clearly intended for her to stay long-term in the Xiao Kingdom.
He could tell she wasn't close with her master, the High Priestess Ti Ya.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have repeatedly turned to him for help.
"Mm." Wei Xian'er understood what Wei Tu was hinting at. She softly responded and nodded.
...
After settling Wei Xian'er's matter, Wei Tu returned to Flame Peak and hung a wooden plaque outside his cultivation chamber that read "In Seclusion."
Once he activated the protective formation and sealed off all spiritual fluctuations, he tapped his storage ring.
Clatter!
All kinds of rare treasures spilled out from the ring, floating midair.
A wine jar, palm-sized, sealed with several green talismans.
A golden skeleton, emanating a sense of pressure.
A black metal plate, inscribed with strange, unknown script.
A blue pill cauldron, sealed with a restriction, likely containing pills.
These four items were mysterious treasures Wei Tu had acquired from the Stone Demon Tower.
Unlike the spiritual items and crude Firecloud Canopy he'd taken, he still hadn't figured out the true use of these four.
Coincidentally, all four had come from the fifth floor of the tower, specifically from the two Nascent Soul caves.
Wei Tu flicked his sleeve and brought the wine jar with green talismans floating in front of him.
Of these four mysterious items, only this jar and the Golden Toad Qi had come from the cave on the left.
The other three had all come from the right-hand cave.
"These three green talismans are fourth-rank talismans with sealing effects. Just these alone are worth quite a bit."
Wei Tu thought silently.
Even though the spiritual nature of the sealing talismans was nearly gone, as a talisman master, they still held research value for him.
They might have only sealed the spiritual nature inside the wine jar, but the fact that they could last for ten thousand years said a lot about their power.
Sealing talismans weren't just for spiritual objects—they could seal cultivators and spirit beasts too.
"Open!" Wei Tu waved his sleeve, and the green talismans on the wine jar fell off neatly, arranging themselves in a row to the side.
The moment the talismans dropped, what emerged from the jar wasn't the spiritual wine he originally expected, but a half-foot-long centipede-shaped essence spirit.
The centipede was completely snow-white. It had a single horn on its head like a rhinoceros horn, with two long whiskers beside its mouth like catfish tendrils. The moment it realized it had escaped, it immediately sprayed a puff of white mist, looking fierce and savage.
"How bold!" Wei Tu was startled at first—after all, this was a Nascent Soul cultivator's treasure, so its rank was certainly high.
But then he sensed the spiritual power within the white mist and realized it was only equivalent to the late Foundation Establishment stage. His expression shifted with joy as he stepped forward to subdue the snow-white centipede essence.
Wei Tu waved his sleeve. The white mist was swept away by his spiritual power and dispersed instantly.
Then he formed a seal and used a sealing talisman to trap the snow-white centipede essence.
The talisman was low-grade, far inferior to the green talismans on the wine jar, but sealing such a weak centipede essence was easy enough.
"Tianjiao Dragon Centipede?" At that moment, Bai Zhi, who was maintaining the formation, came over. When she saw the creature, her eyes widened in surprise.
Before Wei Tu could ask, Bai Zhi started explaining the origin of the creature on her own.
"Fellow Daoist Wei, do you know the Tianyun Mountain of the demonic path? The Tianjiao Dragon Centipede is a descendant of an ancient true spirit that once lived there. But tens of thousands of years ago, they were hunted to extinction by demonic cultivators."
"I didn't expect that the Stone Demon Sect still hid one Tianjiao Dragon Centipede essence inside."
Bai Zhi's voice carried disbelief.
She couldn't help sighing at Wei Tu's luck—to have stumbled upon such a thing within the Stone Demon Sect.
The Tianjiao Dragon Centipede was said to be the descendant of the ancient True Dragon. Its entire body was a treasure.
Even though this one had only its essence left, refining it with secret techniques would still greatly benefit Wei Tu's divine soul.
Tianyun Mountain?
Wei Tu wasn't unfamiliar with that place.
Nearly two hundred years ago, the five demonic sects had gathered at Tianyun Mountain to declare war on the border's three kingdoms.
"Let's check the other treasures first. We'll deal with the Tianjiao Dragon Centipede later."
Wei Tu sealed the essence back inside the wine jar and turned his attention to the golden skeleton and the black iron sheet.
Both of these items were originally stored together in the closed-door cultivation chamber of the right-side Nascent Soul cave. Wei Tu figured they were likely connected.
But after examining them for a long while, neither he nor Bai Zhi could figure out where the golden skeleton came from or what language was inscribed on the black iron.
"After the fall of the Stone Demon Sect, the Heavenly Maiden Sect defected to the demonic path and became one of the five demonic sects. Among them, the Heavenly Maiden Sect has the weakest knowledge of demonic secrets."
Bai Zhi shook her head helplessly.
She guessed that the characters on the iron sheet were some kind of ancient demonic script.
To decipher such a script, only sects with the oldest demonic legacies—or major righteous sects—might hold the key.
Ordinary markets and shops wouldn't have any records of this script.
Next was the blue cauldron.
Wei Tu thought for a moment, then suppressed the urge to forcibly break the seals on the cauldron.
If the pills inside were connected to the "technique" recorded on the iron sheet, and he ended up damaging them by accident, the loss would be huge.
It was better to decipher the demonic script first, then open the cauldron.
No need to rush.
"I'm unfamiliar with major demonic sects for now, but among the righteous sects... I do have some connections."
With that, Wei Tu went to his study and picked up a brush to write a letter.
While sending a message to Kou Hongying to report his safety, he also copied several of the demonic characters from the iron sheet onto the letter, asking her to check with Mirror Water Pavilion for any records of this script.
Logically, after returning to Fen Shan Tribe, he should've sent word to his close ones like Kou Hongying immediately. But his eagerness to explore the treasures and the Tao Clan matters had delayed him by a day or two.
Besides Kou Hongying, Wei Tu also wrote to Che Gongwei and Su Bing'er to ask how they were doing.
...
But barely three days after sending those letters, he received replies from both Che Gongwei and Su Bing'er confirming their safety.
Reading the letters, Wei Tu finally relaxed and confirmed that the intel he'd gathered on the Zheng Kingdom's border was accurate. Che Gongwei, Su Bing'er, and the old demon Heavenly Corpse were all fine and had escaped the Great Void Realm safely.
He opened Che Gongwei's letter first.
Che Gongwei started by asking after Wei Tu's well-being, then recounted what had happened after they were separated in the inner region of the Great Void Realm.
The three of them had escaped from the inner realm and faced a few minor issues in the outer realm, but nothing life-threatening.
The real danger came at the gates of the underground palace, where they were ambushed by cultivators from Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace and the Hehuan Sect.
At this point, Che Gongwei wrote that luckily, Gong Shulan had escaped not long after them and helped reduce the pressure from the demonic cultivators' siege.
With her help, the three of them escaped from the Southern Desolate Ancient Plain with barely a scratch.
Once they reached the Zheng Kingdom, the old demon Heavenly Corpse had something to attend to and left first.
At the end of the letter, Che Gongwei also mentioned some major happenings after returning to the Rogue Cultivator Alliance—like exposing Qi Chengchu's collusion with the demonic path and selecting a new alliance leader.
Then, Wei Tu opened Su Bing'er's letter.
The contents were similar to what Che Gongwei wrote. After confirming her safety, Su Bing'er described what happened after escaping the inner region of the Great Void Realm.
But compared to Che Gongwei, Su Bing'er mentioned one extra thing—she wanted to personally thank Wei Tu for lending her the Blackscale Shield.
The Blackscale Shield was a third-rank defensive artifact Wei Tu took from the Wolf-Slaying Daoist. Back at the "Cold Crystal Platform" in the Great Void Realm, he had temporarily lent it to Su Bing'er to block the cold aura.
Though he said "lend"...
It was practically a gift.
Wei Tu hadn't expected Su Bing'er to clearly say in her letter that she would return the artifact.
That impressed him a bit.
'Speaking of which, I also borrowed a magic item from Master Che.'
Wei Tu turned his palm, and a purple orb the size of a fist appeared.
This purple orb was the Flamegold Bead, a talisman tool Che Gongwei gave him when they parted ways.
It was one of Che Gongwei's trump cards. Once activated, it could unleash an attack equal to a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator.
But Wei Tu had never used it. Thanks to the Void Stone, he directly teleported out of the Great Void Realm.
Even though Che Gongwei hadn't said it explicitly, since he didn't use the item, he should return it—just like Su Bing'er with the Blackscale Shield.
That artifact was simply too valuable.
'I'll return it when I visit the Rogue Cultivator Alliance.' Wei Tu made a mental note.
After all that, he had truly come to acknowledge Che Gongwei as a mentor along the way.
…
Once his seclusion ended, Wei Tu waited for Kou Hongying's reply.
In the meantime, he asked Yan Yu and Tao Fangde to purchase a shop in Hu Jie Immortal City and hang up the signboard "Wei Clan's Pill and Talisman Workshop."
The shop mainly sold first- and second-rank pills and talismans, and offered custom orders for third-rank items.
After purchasing Earth Essence Ganoderma from Frost Fairy of the Moon Condensation Palace, Wei Tu had pretty much all the ingredients needed to refine the Purple Candle Pill.
The only thing lacking was his own skill level.
The Purple Candle Pill was a high-grade third-rank pill. With his current alchemy skill, the success rate wasn't even ten percent.
So improving his pill refinement ability was essential.
But third-rank spiritual herbs weren't as easy to come by as first- and second-rank ones. The only shortcut to gaining quick experience with third-rank pills was to open a shop and take on commissions from cultivators.
Compared to Fen Shan Tribe, Hu Jie Immortal City was far more central.
…
With help from the Cangkun Alliance, the Wei Clan's Pill and Talisman Workshop got a prime spot in the city's busiest market, not some remote back alley.
From Fen Shan Tribe to Hu Jie Immortal City, a Golden Core cultivator could get there in one to two days. Foundation Establishment cultivators would need seven to eight days.
Also, after making enemies with the She Ri and Feng Wu Tribes last year, Wei Tu didn't think twice—he moved out of Fen Shan Tribe and relocated directly to Hu Jie Immortal City. There, he also rented a cultivation residence.
The shop was a four-story building with a small courtyard behind it.
Following Fairy Baohua's advice, Wei Tu set up the first and second floors as general sections selling low-tier pills and talismans.
The third floor was for high-tier wares. Qi Refinement and average Foundation Establishment cultivators weren't allowed up—only notable Foundation cultivators and Golden Core cultivators could enter.
The fourth floor was split into two halves—one side a reception room for custom orders, the other a temporary residence for Wei Tu, the third-rank alchemist and talisman master.
As for the rear courtyard, that was where the shopkeeper and servants lived.
For shopkeeper, Wei Tu preferred Tao Fangde, an experienced and smooth elder.
A hundred years ago, the Hanshan Tao Clan had chosen Tao Fangde to oversee all affairs related to their migration.
During that century, Tao Fangde had managed affairs cautiously and without major errors.
Even though the Tao Clan hadn't produced another Golden Core cultivator, under Tao Fangde's management, the clan had kept its dignity as a Golden Core family.
All signs pointed to Tao Fangde being capable.
Still, Wei Tu didn't fully trust him.
After moving into Hu Jie Immortal City, he appointed Yan Yu as deputy shopkeeper to oversee Tao Fangde and manage the accounts.
Using Yan Yu to keep Tao Fangde in check.
"Senior Wei, for staffing the workshop, we could use apprentices instead of servants. That way, they cost less and are more loyal," Tao Fangde suggested while discussing internal operations in the fourth-floor reception room.
Wei Tu nodded slightly.
Compared to employer-employee ties, master-apprentice relationships were far stronger in the cultivation world.
Over time, apprentices would take in their own students, and those students would take in grand-disciples, forming an ever-growing web of ties—eventually becoming a full-blown faction.
Of course, there were downsides.
You had to actually teach your apprentices. And compared to servants, you had to look after them more.
If the apprentice messed up, the master could get dragged into it.
Still, Wei Tu wasn't worried about the cost of hiring some servants for the shop. He shook his head, ready to decline the proposal.
Given his current cultivation level, taking in apprentices was more of a loss than gain.
"To be frank, Senior Wei, our Tao Clan has a few talisman masters and alchemists. The workshop could hire them. The apprentices they bring can act as shop assistants," Tao Fangde added.
The Tao Clan was a Golden Core family with many members. And the ones who had migrated were all elite cultivators.
Among them, many had special skills in the Four Cultivation Arts.
In particular, there were several second-rank talisman masters and alchemists.
It wouldn't be hard to select a few to join the Wei Clan's Pill and Talisman Workshop.