I am a Late Bloomer in the Immortal World

Chapter 436: The Request for Protection, Chìlóng Illusory Beast

If he had chosen another sect back then, maybe today he wouldn’t be stuck in this dilemma, and he wouldn’t have been separated from his sister, Qiu Huaisu, by such a great distance.Wei Tu didn’t respond at all to Qiu Bucheng’s words. He just glanced at him, smiled faintly, then turned into a streak of green light and disappeared into the horizon.

Seeing this, Qiu Bucheng was stunned for a while before snapping out of it.

"Yeah… what's done is done."

He muttered to himself thoughtfully.

Whether it was him or Wei Tu, living in this chaotic world, neither had much choice over their fate. He didn’t have the ability to cross into another nation, so all he could do was gaze longingly toward the Kang Kingdom, easing his longing for his sister Qiu Huaisu that way.

As for Wei Tu—even though he was now a Nascent Soul Venerable Master, free to come and go as he pleased—there were still things he had to do.

Like today… cutting ties with his master Nan Zi.

If he had still been in the Golden Core realm, no matter what faults his master had, their relationship wouldn’t have come to this.

They would probably still be on good terms.

Of course, Qiu Bucheng also understood—if back then, Immortal Master Wei hadn’t shown promise of reaching Nascent Soul, Nan Zi wouldn’t have taken a liking to him as a “golden catch” in the first place.

…

Two months later.

Wei Tu returned to the Divine Master’s Residence of the Ying Ding Tribe, bringing along Yan Xiaolan.

This time, he didn’t return with much fanfare, but because Yan Xiaolan was with him, a few of his close friends and relatives inevitably found out.

Still, while word spread, their reactions weren’t as intense as Nan Zi’s had been.

Wei Yan and Wei Xiuwen had no problem accepting Yan Xiaolan as their new “third madam,” especially since Wei Tu had already taken a concubine earlier in life.

Besides, their current status and achievements mostly stemmed from their father Wei Tu. They had no reason to oppose his choices.

Other than that, for all these years of cultivation, Wei Tu had only taken one concubine—Qi Feng. Among high-level cultivators, he was already considered remarkably restrained.

Now that he was taking Yan Xiaolan as a second concubine, it was perfectly reasonable.

After all, cultivators weren’t like mortals.

When a mortal's partner died, they might spend a few decades alone. But cultivators lived far too long for that to be practical.

Especially someone like Wei Tu, a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator who still had several thousand years of lifespan. It was unrealistic to expect him to remain solitary forever.

Even Wei Xiuwen had remarried decades ago, taking Tao Wenzhi as his new wife.

And Su Bing’er, who had feelings for Wei Tu, found this even easier to accept.

In fact, she thought it reflected Wei Tu’s noble character.

After all, she had once offered herself to him as a concubine.

Su Bing’er didn’t believe that she—a Golden Core cultivator with a spiritual body—could possibly lose out to Yan Xiaolan, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, in Wei Tu’s heart.

If he hadn’t accepted her, it was likely out of consideration for her deceased master, Che Gongwei. He hadn’t wanted to dishonor his late teacher.

“Foundation Establishment cultivators live about 400 years. If she doesn’t reach Golden Core, she’ll probably only be able to stay by Senior Brother Wei’s side for about 200 years…” Su Bing’er silently mused.

In her mind, she didn’t even see Yan Xiaolan as a rival. Someone like her could simply be erased by time.

…

Su Bing’er and the others’ thoughts were unknown to Wei Tu.

Right now, he had more pressing matters to attend to.

“You want me to protect your Dao advancement?” Wei Tu raised his brows slightly, staring at the talisman in his palm. It had been sent personally by Palace Master Cao Mi of Moon Condensation Palace.

He remembered that during the Nascent Soul ceremony, Cao Mi had directly asked him about his skill in pill refinement.

She had wanted him to help craft a Nascent Transformation Pill so she could break through into the Nascent Soul realm.

But now, only a few years after that event… where had Cao Mi gotten a Nascent Transformation Pill or an opportunity to form her Nascent Soul?

Also, when breaking through to Nascent Soul, she should be guarded by her sect’s own Ancestor Luo. Seeking protection from an external cultivator like him didn’t quite make sense.

No use overthinking it. Wei Tu, puzzled, continued reading the talisman.

A while later.

He finished reading it.

But after reading through the entire message, he was still no clearer on what was going on. He hadn’t gotten any answers—just more confusion.

Cao Mi had explained the source of the Nascent Transformation Pill in her message, but all she said was that the pill was personally gifted by Ancestor Luo. As for where exactly it came from, she claimed to know nothing.

And the reason she was asking Wei Tu to guard her Dao advancement was because, after giving her the pill, Ancestor Luo had suddenly disappeared. He hadn’t returned at the appointed time.

It had already been three years past the agreed date!

Now, three years wasn’t a particularly long time. Back then, Wei Tu himself had been delayed more than ten years on his way back to the Kang Kingdom when a trade route was blocked.

But the real issue was—

Ancestor Luo was a Nascent Soul cultivator. To someone like him, most dangerous places in the Great Cang cultivation world were like walking on flat ground.

In other words, under normal circumstances, it was highly unlikely he’d miss an agreed return time.

That’s why, for the sake of her sect’s safety, Cao Mi decided to ask someone she could truly trust—Wei Tu—to guard her during her breakthrough.

"Seems like I’ve got a decent reputation in Cao Mi’s eyes," Wei Tu smiled faintly.

Of course, he knew it wasn’t just because he had a solid reputation and a history of keeping his word.

It also had to do with the secrets he knew.

Cao Mi’s chance at forming a Nascent Soul wasn’t clean. Besides the Nascent Transformation Pill gifted by Ancestor Luo, the most critical component for her breakthrough was the true spirit essence of the Moonshadow Snow Phoenix that she had taken from Shen Yunqiu.

In short, the opportunity she held was tainted.

She didn’t dare expose it in front of other Nascent Soul cultivators.

So she could only turn to him—her former "partner in crime"—to stand guard.

'Well, fine! We’re at least kind of friends, I’ll help her this once,' Wei Tu thought.

Last time, Cao Mi had helped him by lending a Mortal Shedding Pill. Even if she’d hesitated a bit, she still gave it in the end.

He owed her for that.

Also, with both the Nascent Transformation Pill and a true spirit essence aiding her, Cao Mi’s odds of forming a Nascent Soul were pretty high.

If he helped her this time, it would be like investing in a potential new Nascent Soul cultivator and expanding his own network.

After all, in the cultivation world, the favor of guarding someone’s Dao was considered a very deep debt.

And for now, his own cultivation wouldn’t progress much further in the short term.

Didn’t matter where he stayed.

With that thought, Wei Tu didn’t hesitate. He flipped his hand, stored the talisman, and with a wave of his sleeve, left the Ying Ding Tribe, flying straight toward Moon Condensation Palace.

Moon Condensation Palace wasn’t far from the Ying Ding Tribe.

A few days later.

Wei Tu arrived at Moon Condensation Palace and met with Cao Mi in the main hall.

"A few years ago, Palace Master Cao was still asking me to refine a Nascent Transformation Pill once I advanced my pill mastery. Who would’ve thought… in just a few short years, you’d already have one in hand," Wei Tu said with a smile, cupping his hands in greeting.

"No need to tease me, Fellow Daoist Wei."

"I truly don’t know where Ancestor Luo got this pill," Cao Mi replied, her pretty face showing a bitter smile as she waved her hand.

With her experience, how could she not notice the probing in Wei Tu’s words?

But she truly didn’t know the pill’s origin. And frankly, there was no reason to hide anything from Wei Tu about this.

Seeing this, Wei Tu didn’t press further. Instead, he smoothly changed the subject and asked for more details about Ancestor Luo’s disappearance.

"If Palace Master Cao won’t explain, then I’ll treat this visit as just a stroll," he said coldly toward the end.

Helping someone was one thing, but he was never careless about doing due diligence.

If she couldn’t even give him basic trust, there was no point in helping her at all.

"Ancestor Luo…" Cao Mi fell silent for a moment. After hesitating for a short while, she bit her lip and finally spoke about what hadn’t been mentioned in the talisman.

"Decades ago, when you and I worked together to take the Moonshadow Snow Phoenix essence from Shen Yunqiu, we chose that timing because Ancestor Luo and Master Hongjing had both left together for a while. That was the only chance we had."

"At the time, I said they had stumbled upon an opportunity and were heading to the Desolate Nether Death Sea…"

Cao Mi’s voice was calm and slow.

Hearing this, Wei Tu nodded to himself.

Back then, he had been puzzled too—what kind of opportunity inside the Desolate Nether Death Sea could actually lure both Ancestor Luo and Master Hongjing, two Nascent Soul cultivators, to go there together?

But at that time, his own cultivation wasn’t high enough to dig into it. So he let it go.

He hadn’t expected that Ancestor Luo’s disappearance would turn out to be connected to that incident.

"These past few decades, Ancestor Luo and Master Hongjing have gone to the Desolate Nether Death Sea multiple times…"

"Whatever opportunity lies inside the Desolate Nether Death Sea, I honestly don’t know either," Cao Mi said slowly. "But I suspect there's a decent chance that this Nascent Transformation Pill came from there, gifted to me by Ancestor Luo."

She spoke every word carefully.

If it weren’t for the dire circumstances, she wouldn't have sold out Ancestor Luo like this. But the way things stood, if she didn’t now, she might not get the chance later.

If Ancestor Luo had merely gone missing, it wouldn’t be too bad. But if he really had died as she feared, and Moon Condensation Palace was left without a new Nascent Soul cultivator, the massive foundation he built would collapse before long.

When she finished, she nervously looked toward Wei Tu.

A Nascent Soul tribulation was far more intense than the phenomenon for forming a Golden Core. It was impossible to hide it from others.

Which meant, without a Nascent Soul cultivator protecting her, her attempt at advancement would be extremely difficult and dangerous.

As for someone to act as her protector, she’d considered it over and over—Wei Tu was the only one who fit.

If he walked away now, she really had no backup.

"Desolate Nether Death Sea?" Wei Tu’s expression flickered for a moment, like he was gauging how credible her words were.

In truth, he already believed about eighty percent of it.

After all, cultivation realms didn’t lie.

Cao Mi was still just at the Golden Core stage.

It was already a courtesy for Ancestor Luo to inform her at all when he went out. There was no way he’d report everything in detail.

He was simply putting a bit of psychological pressure on her, trying to push that eighty percent belief into one hundred percent.

After a while, seeing that Cao Mi didn’t backpedal on her story, Wei Tu’s expression finally eased.

"Since Palace Master Cao has been honest about the matter, I’ll agree to guard your Dao this time," he said, cupping his hands politely.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Wei," Cao Mi finally let out a long breath of relief, as if a massive weight had lifted from her shoulders.

They didn’t say much more after that.

Soon, Cao Mi handed over sect affairs to her disciple, Fairy Shuang, and under Wei Tu’s watchful gaze, entered seclusion in a closed-door cultivation cave.

Wei Tu, meanwhile, was arranged to temporarily stay in the cave residence next door.

…

Forming a Nascent Soul wasn’t something that happened overnight.

Last time, Wei Tu had managed it in just half a year, but that was only because he had both a Nascent Transformation Pill and a spirit item to help him.

That kind of short breakthrough time wasn’t normal.

By Wei Tu’s estimate, even with Cao Mi’s strong odds, she would still need at least three years.

So, during this period, he didn’t plan to sit idle.

While cultivating the Gold Toad Qi technique, he also continued refining the artifact Firecloud Shield.

This high-grade artifact couldn’t be fully refined in just a few days or weeks.

Time flew by like water.

Before he knew it, an entire year had passed.

"Chilong, emerge!"

That day in his cave, Wei Tu stared at the red dragon-patterned bowl hovering mid-air in front of him.

As he activated a hand seal, the bowl suddenly glowed with brilliant red light.

The carved dragon pattern on its surface came alive.

A dragon’s roar rang out.

Spiritual energy surged wildly within the cave, and moisture in the air instantly turned to fog, forming patches of white clouds.

Then, a massive red beast with a dragon’s head and tiger’s body suddenly appeared inside the cave. Flames spewed from its mouth, and with every breath it took, muffled thunder rumbled from deep within its belly.

"This beast’s aura… it’s nearly at the Nascent Soul stage?" Wei Tu stepped forward for a closer look and couldn’t help but beam with delight.

This dragon-headed, tiger-bodied beast was the Chilong—an attack manifestation created by the high-grade artifact Firecloud Shield.

It could summon up to two of these creatures.

But right now, Wei Tu’s own power could only just barely support a single Chilong.

Still, that alone was reason enough to be excited.

After all, the power of a single Chilong was already this impressive. If he could summon two, wouldn’t that make him a top-tier fighter among early Nascent Soul cultivators?

"Early-stage Nascent Soul power isn’t enough to summon both Chilongs from this mid-grade fourth-tier artifact. But if I add… lamp oil from the Tianxing Lamp..."

Wei Tu looked inward at his dantian and saw the thick layer of blood-paste lamp oil that had built up on the ancient bronze lamp over the past year.

Based on his estimate, that oil was enough to summon the second Chilong.

With both Chilongs summoned together, his strength could temporarily rival the peak of the early Nascent Soul realm.