Chapter 602: The King’s Test, Wei Is Willing… to Lend Some Aid

A few days later.

Wei Tu and his group finally arrived at Jishan Sect.

But unlike what the envoy members had expected—warm welcome and courtesy—the elder in charge of external affairs only placed them in the Guest Hall and then gave no further reception.

No spirit banquets, no tea, nothing at all.

Clearly, they were given the cold shoulder.

“Looks like the Jishan Sect leadership has changed their attitude toward the Lüqiu Clan.”

“But such a change isn’t beyond saving. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let us through the mountain gate.”

That evening, Wei Tu and Lüqiu Qingfeng met privately. Inside a secret chamber, the two discussed the reason behind Jishan Sect’s shift in attitude.

Once again, Wei Tu played the role of strategist, offering his judgment of the situation.

“The key is to find the cause of the problem, then approach the right Jishan Sect elder to persuade.”

He shared his seasoned insight.

But as he said this, he noticed something in Lüqiu Qingfeng’s face—troubled hesitation.

The reason was obvious.

Both of them already knew the “cause.” It was nothing more than the Lüqiu Clan being too close to Venerable Tong of Xiao Huan Palace, which displeased their old master, Jishan Sect.

Resolving the crisis was simple: show distance from Xiao Huan Palace or even sever ties altogether.

But that was impossible.

In the Lüqiu Clan’s eyes, Jishan Sect was far less valuable than Xiao Huan Palace.

After all, they could directly speak with Venerable Tong. With Jishan Sect, they were just outer vassals of low standing.

Abandoning Xiao Huan Palace would be losing the greater for the lesser.

And yet—

If the cause wasn’t removed, regaining the trust of Jishan Sect’s leaders would be harder than reaching the heavens.

Wei Tu suspected that Lüqiu Yeming and the Lüqiu Human King had long anticipated Jishan Sect’s cold treatment.

But since it was Lüqiu Qingfeng who led the envoy this time, if she soured relations with the sect on her first day, her prestige as crown princess would take a heavy blow.

“This must be Father King’s test for me.”

Lüqiu Qingfeng sighed. Her cultivation was already on par with Lüqiu Yeming, but cultivation realm was only one condition for becoming ruler.

It didn’t mean higher cultivation equaled greater ability to handle affairs.

The two weren’t the same.

“The matter of Lüqiu Qing was also a test. Father King must have seen her impure intentions, so he changed the marriage decree into a request for marriage… to see how I’d deal with that sister.”

Her voice grew heavy.

Her father Lüqiu Yeming, like her, had once competed for the throne. The difference was, she relied on Wei Tu’s counsel, while he had relied solely on his own means.

She admitted to herself that her father was shrewder and far more ruthless than she.

Wei Tu caught her true meaning.

She planned not to touch Lüqiu Qing for now, avoiding suspicion from Lüqiu Yeming that Lüqiu Jinyuan’s fall was connected to the two of them.

Wei Tu, of course, wouldn’t object.

He had no interest in meddling with Lüqiu Qingfeng’s family affairs.

Asking for Lüqiu Qing’s corpse had only been to help Kou Hongying on her cultivation path.

Beyond that, as an outsider, it wasn’t his place to interfere.

He merely said, “The princess is wise,” before shifting the topic back to Jishan Sect’s change of attitude.

The two discussed for a long while, and in the end, their eyes settled on the same person: the Law Enforcement Hall elder Luo Guzhu.

Since Jishan Sect’s mainstream leadership rejected them, they could only turn to another outcast—Luo Guzhu himself.

It was, in a way, seeking warmth together.

Of course, this depended on their guess being true: that Luo Mingzhen had indeed been abducted by elders opposed to her father and sold to Ruyi Tower.

Only then would saving his daughter, combined with hostility from the sect’s mainstream leaders, persuade Luo Guzhu to ally with them, temporarily preserving ties between Lüqiu Clan and Jishan Sect.

At least for as long as Lüqiu Qingfeng held the position of crown princess, relations would remain unchanged.

…

As Jishan Sect’s foremost subordinate force, the Lüqiu Clan didn’t have many supporters among the higher ranks. But among the middle and lower levels, their connections were considerable.

Soon, Lüqiu Qingfeng used those ties to gather details about Luo Mingzhen’s disappearance.

“Beasts in the sea grew restless. While an elder went down the mountain to clear them, she encountered a fourth-rank sea beast—the Fire Monkey King. Gravely wounded in battle, she has been missing ever since.”

Wei Tu examined each piece of intelligence carefully but found no obvious clues.

It was nothing more than another all-too-common case of a cultivator going missing.

In the cultivation world, such incidents in sects happened countless times.

However, he hadn’t come here to investigate a case. Since he already knew Luo Mingzhen’s whereabouts, all he needed to do was “trace the fruit back to the cause” and find the suspicious point where she had been abducted by her fellow sect members.

“Two months before Luo Mingzhen disappeared, Hall of Merits Master Feng Han left the mountain once…”

Suddenly, Wei Tu spotted this piece of information. His brows rose slightly, and he continued searching for other reports related to Feng Han.

“Feng Han and Hall Master Luo already had old grudges.”

“After Luo Mingzhen vanished, disciples under Hall Master Luo often said it was likely Feng Han’s doing.”

“…”

“Feng Han.”

Wei Tu repeated the name.

Rumors don’t appear without reason. He guessed with eighty to ninety percent certainty that Luo Mingzhen’s disappearance was indeed this man’s work.

And as it happened, this man was also one of the main Jishan Sect leaders opposing the Lüqiu Clan.

“It’s him! It must be him!”

Lüqiu Qingfeng, searching the intelligence alongside him, swept the jade slip with her divine sense. Her expression grew tense and excited.

“Now, I’ll send word to borrow Jishan Sect’s long-distance teleportation array and head to Yin Ghost Sect to rescue Luo Mingzhen.”

She was eager, already stepping toward the door as she spoke.

Jishan Sect had countless subordinate forces across the Outer Ruins Sea. To control them better, they had built long-distance teleportation arrays near each one.

There was even one stationed near Yuanjun Island.

So with this array, she could immediately return to the Red Algae Sea and rescue Luo Mingzhen.

Of course, these long-distance arrays were one-way only, linking outward to the sects under Jishan Sect’s rule.

To make them two-way required the use of an internal “Great Shift Token.”

But those tokens were almost never lent to outsiders.

So, if Lüqiu Qingfeng went, she would still have to travel the whole road back again.

Even so, she was confident. With her escape speed, she could save Luo Mingzhen and still make it back in time for the “Pilgrimage” to the Divine Transformation cultivators.

Yet—

Just then, Wei Tu spoke up, halting her steps at the doorway.

“Fellow Daoist Wei, is there something else?”

She turned back, puzzled.

By now she knew Wei Tu well. He was never one to speak without reason. If he stopped her now, it had to be important.

“Princess, in my view, we should simply inform Hall Master Luo of Luo Mingzhen’s whereabouts. As for the rescue… it is not for us to act.” Wei Tu cupped his hands and spoke earnestly.

When reviewing the intelligence earlier, he had already noticed that Hall Master Luo was a man of upright character, wholly dedicated to fairness.

Dedication wasn’t bad.

But it easily turned into… tolerance.

In short, even if Hall Master Luo knew that Feng Han had kidnapped and sold his daughter, he might still remain silent for the sake of Jishan Sect’s reputation, enduring the pain quietly.

And in that case, he certainly wouldn’t excuse the Lüqiu Clan’s “disease” of being too close to Xiao Huan Palace.

So, if they wanted Hall Master Luo to become the ally they needed, they had to push him forward.

Force him to act personally to save his daughter.

First.

If Hall Master Luo himself set out to rescue her, then without the Lüqiu Clan acting as cover, his cross-domain actions would no longer be concealable.

The fact that Luo Mingzhen had been abducted by fellow sect members and sold to Ruyi Tower would have to be laid bare. Afterwards, even if he wanted to suppress it, he wouldn’t be able.

And those who had provided him the intelligence—Wei Tu and Lüqiu Qingfeng—would become his undeniable benefactors.

At that point, even if he remained committed to fairness, he would be obliged to aid them.

Otherwise, his reputation would be ruined.

Second.

Once he personally witnessed his daughter’s suffering, Hall Master Luo would almost certainly stop enduring and turn against Feng Han and the other high-ranking elders of Jishan Sect.

With the leadership thrown into internal conflict, their hostility toward the Lüqiu Clan’s “betrayal” could be pushed aside for the time being.

“Fellow Daoist Wei speaks most wisely!”

Lüqiu Qingfeng’s joy was plain. Her regard for Wei Tu grew even deeper.

Before, she had only seen him as a powerful ally, with talent and great potential.

But now she realized that he wasn’t just formidable in strength—his intelligence far surpassed other cultivators as well.

‘Perhaps I should change my plan.’

She thought to herself.

Even if she killed Lüqiu Qing, the clan would still have countless other princesses trying to draw Wei Tu over.

The royal house had plenty of maidens waiting for marriage.

She couldn’t kill them all.

On the other hand, if she “sacrificed herself” and married Wei Tu, the problem would be solved at once.

Who in the Lüqiu royal house would dare compete with her for a husband?

And as for her marrying Wei Tu—she didn’t think he would refuse. Her worth was far greater than anything Lüqiu Qing could offer.

In the future, the entire Donghua Demon Kingdom would belong to her.

…

Though she had reluctantly decided in her heart to “sacrifice herself” to win Wei Tu over, Lüqiu Qingfeng wasn’t in a rush. She placed state affairs first.

That night, she sent out a talisman message, contacting Hall Master Luo deep inside Jishan Sect to say she had urgent business to discuss.

The Lüqiu Clan might be a “sub-sect,” forced under the Xuandao Six Sects, but that didn’t mean they had no face at all in Jishan Sect.

As the foremost subordinate force under Jishan Sect, unless under special circumstances, they would still be courted by some of its leaders.

So when Hall Master Luo received the message from the crown princess of the Donghua Demon Kingdom, though puzzled and wary of the sect’s cold treatment order, he still braced himself and came in secret to meet Lüqiu Qingfeng and Wei Tu outside the sect.

He knew what the leadership was thinking.

—Using this “cold reception” to push the Lüqiu Clan into choosing sides again, while also trying to force concessions, raising the tribute owed in the future.

Scaring them into line, killing the chicken to warn the monkeys…

Only a small part of the upper ranks truly held this view. Most weren’t that extreme.

So he understood clearly: the envoy of the Lüqiu Clan wasn’t untouchable. In fact, the leaders likely hoped they’d make private contact.

Otherwise, no matter how much he feared offending the Lüqiu Clan, he would never have dared to come.

Still—

What puzzled him was why Lüqiu Qingfeng would seek him out first, when he hadn’t had any deep dealings with the Lüqiu Clan before.

…

With those thoughts, Hall Master Luo, cloaked in black, flew into the city and entered the inn where they had agreed to meet.

“I don’t know what business the Lüqiu Clan seeks me for.”

“This old man will stay only ten breaths. After ten breaths, I leave.”

He glanced at Lüqiu Qingfeng and Wei Tu without sitting down, his tone cold and cautious.

He knew how negotiations worked.

He would never give away Jishan Sect’s position so easily.

But when Lüqiu Qingfeng spoke, his composure cracked.

“What? You two know my daughter’s whereabouts?”

“Where is she now?”

Hall Master Luo’s face froze, then twisted with shock and urgency.

For decades since Luo Mingzhen’s disappearance, he had searched desperately through the Neixu Sea and the Outer Ruins, yet found nothing.

The only comfort he had was that her soul tablet remained intact.

Now, hope appeared where there was none.

And the envoy from the Lüqiu Clan—Wei Tu and Lüqiu Qingfeng—actually knew where his daughter was.

“It happened by chance…”

“Fellow Daoist Wei once had a friend who went missing…”

When he calmed down, Lüqiu Qingfeng explained slowly how they had stumbled upon Luo Mingzhen.

But her words were gentle and tactful. She only hinted at Luo Mingzhen’s current state, without saying too directly.

After all—

Knowing his beloved daughter had been sold as a Nascent Soul furnace vessel, reduced to a concubine of a demon sect cultivator, would strike him like a blade to the heart.

“As long as she’s alive, it’s enough. Alive… it’s enough.”

“She’s alive, that’s all that matters.”

Hall Master Luo kept repeating, his voice low.

But both Wei Tu and Lüqiu Qingfeng saw the long-suppressed, smoldering rage behind his calm face.

They exchanged a glance, knowing their plan was already half-successful.

Wei Tu, however, felt little joy.

This was too harsh a blow to a father. He had children of his own and understood.

Seven years ago, he had gone to great lengths to bring his kin to the Guixu Sea, just so they would never suffer revenge like this.

“The Yin Ghost Sect in the Red Algae Sea, right?”

“Yin Ghost Sect…”

Hall Master Luo rose to leave, already impatient to rescue his daughter from the abyss.

“In this matter, I am willing to guide Hall Master Luo, and lend what aid I can.”

Wei Tu made his stance clear.

Before, he hadn’t dared save Luo Mingzhen because the cost was too high for him to bear.

But now, things were different.

Years had passed, his strength had grown greatly. He could face most late Nascent Soul cultivators, and he had helpers like the Five-Element Infant and the Wind Cleaving Eagle.

Besides, this time Hall Master Luo himself would take the lead.

In short, rescuing Luo Mingzhen no longer demanded a price too heavy for him.

And more than that—this time, it wasn’t for profit. He truly wanted to help.