Chapter 599: Another Princess, Bloodline Advancement

Hearing those words, Kou Hongying said nothing more. After all, she had agreed with this plan from the start.

Her sigh just now wasn’t because she was soft-hearted, but because the cultivators whose memories had been cut away were all close kin to the three of them. She simply couldn’t help but feel a little reluctant.

'Among these 24 people, those who can break through to Nascent Soul and regain their memories in the future should be very few indeed,' she thought.

This was the cruelty of the Immortal Dao.

Achieving Golden Core True Lord status meant holding some status and power within a kingdom, but across the entire cultivation world, it wasn’t enough. Not only would they lack the power to protect themselves, even their fate would be in others’ hands.

She couldn’t help but feel thankful that twenty years before Wei Tu entered the Zunwang Palace secret realm, she had broken through to Nascent Soul. Otherwise, she too would have had her memories stripped away like the others.

…

Several months later.

After a long journey, the migration led by Wei Tu, Cao Mi, and Kou Hongying finally arrived at Yunyang Island.

"Third Brother, what’s going on?"

"Why suddenly bring Lin’er, Yan’er, and the others to the overseas cultivation realm?" Within Five Elder Mountain, Fu Zhizhou, who had been guarding the rear, looked puzzled.

According to the previous consensus within the Righteous Society, only when relatives reached the Nascent Soul realm would they be told about the overseas cultivation world and brought here.

But clearly, this group of migrants didn’t fit that standard.

Not only was there not a single Nascent Soul among them, but even Golden Core True Lords were few. There were even large numbers of Qi Refinement cultivators.

Soon, however, with Wei Tu’s explanation, Fu Zhizhou understood.

"Shengya Mountain and the Hehuan Sect have gone too far! If the chance comes, we must slaughter their sects and wipe out their bloodlines!" Fu Zhizhou said with fury.

Compared to Wei Tu, who had always gained advantages between Shengya Mountain and the Hehuan Sect, Fu Zhizhou had suffered far worse. Not only had his son Fu Lin once been seized by the Hehuan Sect to serve as a cauldron at their male-capture gathering, having his essence forcibly drained, but when Fu Zhizhou tried to rescue him, he had nearly been killed as well.

He and the Hehuan Sect truly shared an irreconcilable blood feud.

Now, seeing Shengya Mountain and the Hehuan Sect join hands to persecute Wei Tu, how could his rage not flare?

As for Wei Tu altering Fu Lin’s memories… Fu Zhizhou didn’t mind much. After all, Fu Lin’s life had been saved by Wei Tu years ago. Now, if for the sake of the bigger picture, a few memories had to be cut away, what was that compared to life itself?

Moreover, Wei Tu had not shown favoritism—he hadn’t spared his own daughter Wei Yan from the same treatment. He had treated everyone equally, erasing the same memories from her mind.

And this wasn’t so much "altering" memories as it was sealing them.

When the time was right, they could be reawakened.

Even stepping back ten thousand paces, this was far better than letting Fu Lin remain in the Great Cang cultivation world and die there.

Wei Tu wasn’t surprised by Fu Zhizhou’s impassioned words. What did surprise him was something else—Fu Zhizhou’s cultivation.

Just now, when Fu Zhizhou had spoken with such heat, his mana had fluctuated, allowing Wei Tu to sense a glimpse of his true level.

"Peak early Nascent Soul?" Wei Tu raised his brows, gaining new understanding of the power of the Soul-Devouring Wood.

It had only been seventy or eighty years since Fu Zhizhou broke through to Nascent Soul.

Yet in less than a hundred years, he had advanced two minor realms, reaching the peak of early Nascent Soul. That speed was not inferior to Wei Tu’s own back then, perhaps even faster.

And unlike Wei Tu, Fu Zhizhou hadn’t accumulated so many great opportunities. His only major gain was when Wei Tu, after defeating Lüqiu Jinyuan, had given him Elder Guang’s Nascent Soul as a "human pill."

Even so, Elder Guang had only been mid-Nascent Soul. Normally, even if used as a human pill, a demonic cultivator couldn’t simply rise from early Nascent Soul to its peak.

There was always loss in the conversion of mana.

Perhaps two mid-Nascent Soul human pills would be needed to push one cultivator to the peak of early Nascent Soul.

In other words, Fu Zhizhou’s Soul-Devouring Wood allowed him to absorb such human pill mana with far less loss than ordinary demonic cultivators—nearly twice as efficient.

That difference of twofold might not seem much, but in truth, it could shape the course of a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator’s entire life.

After all, capturing human pills carried risks. If one needed half as many to achieve the same gain, it meant half the danger, and greatly reduced the time required for advancement.

Wei Tu was pleased to see this.

The faster Fu Zhizhou grew, the greater help he would be in the future.

…

Once these migrants had been settled into Five Elder Mountain, Fu Zhizhou brought up another matter with Wei Tu.

From his robe, he drew a letter and handed it over.

"This is a letter from the Ninth Princess, delivered three years ago," he said.

"A letter from the Ninth Princess?" Wei Tu arched a brow, took the letter, and dispelled its seal before Fu Zhizhou, then began to read.

After a moment, his expression eased, and a faint smile touched his face.

Though it spoke of an urgent matter, it was no misfortune—in fact, it was good news.

The matter was none other than the Ninth Princess’s invitation, made decades ago, for him to travel to the Inner Xu Sea to join the Lüqiu clan in worshipping a Divine Transformation venerable.

In other words, this letter from Lüqiu Qingfeng was simply a reminder, urging him to return to Yuangjun Island soon, lest he miss this great event.

"The letter says there were only ten years left. Now, three years have passed, leaving seven years," he thought.

"Time is still plentiful."

Wei Tu put the letter away.

Earlier, he had promised Lüqiu Qingfeng that he would return from the secret realm in time and not miss the appointed date.

Now, he had already kept his promise. Once the date arrived, he could go with Lüqiu Qingfeng to the Inner Xu Sea.

"Has anything unusual happened recently?" Wei Tu asked Fu Zhizhou. He was referring to the soul servant he had once taken—Xue Hongmian, the Earth Spider Matriarch.

That woman had once ruled her own territory as a Nascent Soul ancestor, and she bore a blood feud against him for killing her son. In the decades he’d been away, it was entirely possible she might have made a move.

"No. Xue Hongmian has remained obedient," Fu Zhizhou shook his head. He carried a soul token that Wei Tu had left with him. If Xue Hongmian showed the slightest defiance, he could crush it and kill her instantly.

Hearing this, Wei Tu nodded slightly, his face showing a faint smile.

As a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator who had fought his way up as a rogue, Fu Zhizhou wasn’t a frivolous man. When he said Xue Hongmian was "obedient," he didn’t mean he had just sat in Five Elder Mountain and asked around about her movements. He surely had arranged his own intelligence network before making such a claim.

"Send word to Xue Hongmian. Tell her to use the Spider Heart Sect to gather these spirit herbs for me." Wei Tu turned his palm, producing a green jade slip, and handed it over.

Inside were the auxiliary ingredients listed in the pill recipe for the Plastic Qi Pill.

Only after collecting these herbs could he begin refining the Plastic Qi Pill and then push through to late Nascent Soul.

In truth, with his Lüqiu clan "vassal" status, he could more easily use the Eastern Hua Demon Kingdom’s dominance in the Red Algae Sea to gather these materials.

But doing so would also expose his cultivation progress to the Lüqiu clan, which could bring hidden trouble later.

Wei Tu didn’t believe things would sour with the Lüqiu clan, but as a strong cultivator, caution against future risks was a basic necessity.

"I understand," Fu Zhizhou nodded, accepting the jade slip.

…

Leaving these "small matters" in Fu Zhizhou’s hands, Wei Tu felt much lighter. But instead of lingering in Five Elder Mountain to cultivate, he immediately flew off in a stream of light, heading straight for Yuangjun Island.

Though there were still seven years left of the "ten years" Lüqiu Qingfeng had mentioned, he intended to arrive early out of respect for his collaborator.

Never neglect small matters.

Often, bonds between people either deepened or soured because of such details.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, you’ve returned?"

Half a month later, just after Wei Tu had reported back at the Lüqiu clan’s vassal hall, Lüqiu Qingfeng herself arrived in full procession, smiling as she came to greet him.

She was pleasantly surprised by his punctuality. In the cultivation world, it was all too common for cultivators to miss appointments due to "urgent affairs"—all the more so for one as powerful as Wei Tu.

He could easily have made up an excuse, and no one would have dared question it.

"Princess," Wei Tu opened his cave residence doors, cupped his hands, and welcomed her inside.

But before they had exchanged more than a few words, noise suddenly rose outside.

Sweeping out his divine sense, Wei Tu saw another carriage of the same lavish design as Lüqiu Qingfeng’s.

From behind its beaded curtains stepped a girl who looked much like Lüqiu Qingfeng but younger, more tender, untouched by the world.

She wore a blue robe, her long hair like a snow-waterfall draping over her shoulders, with a few strands brushing her gentle face. Unlike Lüqiu Qingfeng’s cool aloofness, her soft eyes gave off a warmth that felt intimate and approachable.

"That’s Little Seventeen. I get along fairly well with her," Lüqiu Qingfeng said with a light smile, offering Wei Tu a reminder.

Little Seventeen—Seventeenth Princess—was the sister she had personally nurtured as a marriage candidate to draw Wei Tu in as a partner.

Decades ago, this girl had successfully formed her Nascent Soul, giving her the initial qualifications to marry someone of Wei Tu’s stature.

Still, having the qualifications was one thing, but persuading Wei Tu to accept her without suspicion was another matter entirely.

Beauty alone meant little to a true powerhouse. That kind of "resource" was too ordinary to sway him.

And Lüqiu Qingfeng couldn’t simply demand he take her sister as wife or concubine without raising doubts.

So she had quietly pushed her younger sister, Lüqiu Qing, to take the initiative and earn Wei Tu’s favor herself.

Today, bringing her carriage to Wei Tu’s cave wasn’t only about catching up with an "old friend"—it was also to create an opportunity for Lüqiu Qing to interact with him.

"Why would the Seventeenth Princess come to my cave?" Wei Tu was puzzled.

He and this Seventeenth Princess were hardly acquainted. They had almost no history of interaction at all.

"This time, my younger sister is also among those chosen for the Inner Xu pilgrimage. She probably just wants to befriend you first," Lüqiu Qingfeng lied without a flicker of guilt.

In truth, what she said was still reasonable. Even without the marriage scheme, Lüqiu Qing could hardly avoid greeting Wei Tu, the clan’s honored vassal, before the pilgrimage.

Wei Tu nodded in realization. Rising from his seat, he went out to greet the Seventeenth Princess.

Soon, Lüqiu Qing followed him inside the cave’s main hall. When she saw Lüqiu Qingfeng already there, she showed a flicker of surprise at just the right moment.

The expression was subtle, but Wei Tu noticed. Seeing it, he temporarily put aside his suspicions and warmly hosted the Lüqiu clan’s noble girl.

After all, on the surface, he was still their vassal, and he had to show proper respect to someone of her rank.

The three of them began discussing the pilgrimage to the Inner Xu Sea.

Things like avoiding offense to the Divine Transformation Venerable, and the importance of building good ties with the venerable’s disciples.

Only—

Wei Tu quickly noticed that Lüqiu Qingfeng was deliberately steering the conversation between him and Lüqiu Qing, as if trying to get them acquainted.

Her maneuvering was subtle, but it couldn’t escape someone like him—a Nascent Soul cultivator hardened by years of worldly struggles.

After all, by the time he was barely past twenty, he had already served as a military officer in the mortal world. In matters of human interaction, greetings and schemes, he far outstripped a princess of a great clan like the Ninth Princess.

'This Lüqiu Qing must be acting on Lüqiu Qingfeng’s will. Why would she send her own sister here? What’s her aim?' Wei Tu kept his guard up, thinking to himself.

Outwardly though, he didn’t reveal any of his doubts. He simply played along, trading casual words as Lüqiu Qingfeng prompted.

Before long, through this exchange, he and Lüqiu Qing did indeed grow more familiar.

"It’s getting late. I’ll take my leave," Lüqiu Qing rose after an afternoon of conversation.

She knew well the principle that haste makes waste. To think one day would be enough to win Wei Tu’s affection, enough for him to take her as wife—that was impossible.

"Why did the Ninth Princess send Lüqiu Qing here?"

Once Lüqiu Qing had gone, Wei Tu narrowed his eyes at Lüqiu Qingfeng, his tone carrying clear displeasure.

Between the two of them, there were mutual secrets and leverage. They were bound in a deep partnership, so he didn’t fear her current status or the forces she could command.

Rather than wasting energy in silent suspicion, it was better to ask directly and uncover her intent.

After all, from her behavior, she didn’t seem to harbor real malice.

"This…" Lüqiu Qingfeng’s smile froze. She hadn’t expected Wei Tu to see through her little ploy so quickly.

Memories of being crushed again and again by Lüqiu Jinyuan when he was alive resurfaced, and the pride she had gained from winning the succession evaporated. Once more she felt her mediocrity laid bare—at least when compared to someone like Wei Tu.

"This…" Lüqiu Qingfeng could hardly admit she had meant to have Lüqiu Qing ‘trade beauty for favor’ to bind Wei Tu more tightly.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, what do you think of Little Seventeen?" she finally asked, phrasing it in a gentler way, using the question itself to answer his suspicion.

Wei Tu raised his brows. He understood her intent immediately. With more than six hundred years of cultivation behind him, he had seen this sort of thing many times.

What displeased him was how little she seemed to think of him—did she really believe just sending the Seventeenth Princess would be enough to win him over?

He was not some fool who lost his way at the sight of a woman.

"I already have someone I admire. I advise Princess to abandon this idea," Wei Tu said coolly.

"Someone you admire?" Lüqiu Qingfeng was startled. From what she had gathered, there weren’t many women at his side. Only Cao Mi seemed to match him.

"Could it be Cao Mi?" she asked. She had met that icy beauty before and knew her looks were outstanding. If Wei Tu admired anyone, it must be her.

"It’s not Junior Sister Cao," Wei Tu shook his head. He harbored no improper thoughts toward Cao Mi. Their bond was purely one of cooperation.

"Not Cao Mi?" Lüqiu Qingfeng frowned. She couldn’t imagine who else around him could possibly be worthy of his admiration.

'Could it be… me?'

She had confidence in herself. Born noble, carrying the highest bloodline, destined as the future ruler of the Eastern Hua Demon Kingdom—paired with Wei Tu, a Nascent Soul powerhouse on the verge of Divine Transformation—it would be a perfectly matched union.

But the thought vanished as soon as it came.

Just as when she first allied with him, she had no intention of throwing herself in just for his sake. She was no commodity.

And besides, Wei Tu’s face was far too plain to stir any attraction in her.

"Since Fellow Daoist Wei already has someone in his heart, I won’t have Little Seventeen come bother you again," Lüqiu Qingfeng sighed softly, making her promise.

Having Lüqiu Qing wed Wei Tu to deepen ties had only been an idea she tossed out decades ago. Even if it failed, it wasn’t something worth despairing over.

…

In the years before the Inner Xu Sea pilgrimage, Lüqiu Qingfeng kept her word. She no longer sent Lüqiu Qing to trouble Wei Tu.

Wei Tu meanwhile used the time well. He fed the corpses of the turtle demon and sea serpent demon to nourish the Two-Forms Infant, successfully advancing it to serve as the Five-Element Infant’s stepping stone into late Nascent Soul.

"The infant body is nine feet three inches tall, a full two or three feet taller than the norm for one just entering late Nascent Soul. Though this variant path makes it different from a regular Nascent Soul, not bound by immortal norms, its mana is far stronger than ordinary cultivators of the same stage," Wei Tu thought as he gripped the Soul-Refining Banner, gazing inward at the transformed Five-Element Infant with delight.

Before, when his combat strength had reached the late Nascent Soul level, the banner’s power had started to lag behind. That was why Ancestor Chìlóng had set it aside.

But now, with this late-stage Nascent Soul main soul as its core, its power was enough to serve as one of his deadliest weapons.

"Aside from the Five-Element Infant, the Wind Cleaving Eagle’s bloodline has also begun its metamorphosis," Wei Tu noted.

He put away the Soul-Refining Banner and stepped into the spirit beast chamber. Golden light flashed in his eyes as he looked at the slumbering eagle.

Inside its body, he clearly saw its blood slowly transforming toward that of Lüqiu Jinyuan’s pure-blooded descendants, streaks of crimson-gold appearing within.