I am a late bloomer in the world of cultivating immortals

Half a day later, Wei Tu, having bid farewell to Tianmei Xue Nu, followed the route he remembered and once again arrived at the underground palace in the Corpse-Sinking Evil Land.

Unlike his previous two expeditions, which were filled with tension, this time, as a powerful being at the Fusion Stage, entering this place was as easy as taking candy from a baby.

The 'Spiritual Zombie Laws' surrounding the Corpse-Sinking Evil Land scattered like wolves encountering a tiger the moment he arrived, daring not to provoke him in the slightest.

Open the small silver door hidden deep inside the attic of the underground palace.

After a brief teleportation, Wei Tu arrived deep within the underground palace, at the 'Bleeding Ground,' one of the five most dangerous places.

However, in an instant, after he scanned his surroundings with his divine sense, then flicked his fingertips with magical power towards a certain spot and uttered a word of 'Hurry', the 'illusion' before him quickly shattered, and the 'blood-draining ground' that resembled a blood lake shrank rapidly, becoming a blood pool with a radius of only a hundred feet.

The remaining four perilous places—the drying room, the skinning cave, the viscera removal room, and the corpse-raising cave—also appeared before him at this moment, each 'shrunken'.

These five perilous places cover an area of ​​approximately ten thousand zhang in circumference. Each of these perilous places is arranged according to the 'Five Elements Direction'... and the one located in the middle is the 'Corpse Pavilion', which is rumored to be the burial place of the spirit zombie.

However, Wei Tu was not in a hurry to search for anything inside the 'Corpse Pavilion' or the five dangerous places. Instead, he used his divine sense to carefully observe the 'array patterns' engraved deep within the 'five dangerous places'.

Indeed! These five perilous locations are the key and secret to the inner formation of the top-tier "Corpse Sealing Formation." They complement the "Five Strange Corpses" at the base of the formation, forming a dynamic interplay of movement and stillness.

Unfortunately, the five perilous locations did not contain the 'Five Strange Corpses' that Wei Tu needed; they were missing or disappeared at the base of the formation, seemingly vanished without a trace.

However, Wei Tu is not in a hurry about this.

The Five Strange Corpses are the key protective means of the Corpse Stiffness Secret Technique. Since there are no Five Strange Corpses here, they are most likely, as he had previously guessed, sealed and nurtured in the spiritual veins of various sects by the Purple-Faced Hermit... Therefore, there is no need to rush.

"If there were five strange corpses here, and they were to practice formations in conjunction with these five dangerous places, I'm afraid even with my Nascent Soul stage, it would be difficult for me to break into this place in a short time..." Wei Tu's eyes flickered slightly as he secretly admired the ingenuity of the 'Corpse Sealing Formation'.

At the same time, he was also very glad about what he had done a thousand years ago. If the 'revived' Purple-Faced Hermit had not weighed the gains and losses and had instead intended to use this formation against him, he probably would not have been able to take away the 'Toad Water Corpse' and escape from this 'Spiritual Zombie Palace'.

Of course, the possibility of this is extremely slim. Before he moved the 'Toad Water Corpse' and escaped from the 'Spiritual Zombie Palace', it is unlikely that the Purple-Faced Hermit would disturb the 'Corpse Sealing Array' that seals him, just for a junior from the lower realm.

After examining the array patterns carved deep within these 'Five Perilous Lands,' Wei Tu did not hesitate to step forward and began ruthlessly looting the spiritual materials used to set up the array.

Although there was no trace of the 'Five Strange Corpses' inside the entire underground palace, it did not mean that the 'Five Perilous Places' or the 'Five Palaces' of the inner formation were unimportant... With Wei Tu's keen eyesight, it was not difficult to discern that the 'costs' of these formations were also extremely rare spiritual materials that were hard to find in the spirit world.

Wei Tu estimated that even if he spent tens of thousands of years on his own, it would be difficult to collect all these spiritual materials.

After all, the sealing of the Purple-Faced Hermit was considered a test of the 'human race's foundation,' and the spiritual materials needed for his formation naturally relied on the combined power of the human race in the spirit realm.

The foundation of the Ten Spirit Clan is far beyond what he, a mere 'Rogue Cultivator Integration' cultivator, can match.

Half an hour later, after looting all the spiritual materials used to set up the 'Five Great Dangerous Sites', Wei Tu finally flew up and arrived at the main hall marked with the three characters 'Corpse Pavilion'.

His eyes flashed, and with a flick of his sleeve, the zombie guards who were rushing towards him and blocking the main hall froze, becoming motionless once more.

The scene inside the 'Corpse Pavilion' was not as 'disorganized' as the Five Great Dangerous Places; it seemed to still retain the original state of the Purple-Faced Hermit sleeping here.

The first floor is a simple resting place, complete with a screen, jade bed, table and other furnishings.

The second floor contained nothing but the coffin where the Purple-Faced Hermit lay in slumber.

"Soul-Nourishing Wood?" Wei Tu's gaze sharpened as he noticed the extraordinary nature of the spiritual material used to forge the second layer of the coffin.

It was actually a rare 'soul-nourishing wood' in the cultivation world, and it was so extravagant that the entire coffin was made of this wood, without a single miscellaneous item.

"Truly extravagant." Wei Tu clicked his tongue in amazement. After confirming that the coffin had no other supernatural properties, he immediately and without hesitation lifted his sleeve and put it into his pocket.

Such a large piece of Soul-Nourishing Wood is extremely rare, even in the Spirit Realm.

With this tree present, as long as it can avoid the 'life-ending calamity' and survive, let alone live for tens of thousands of years, even doubling its lifespan would be highly anticipated.

However, just as Wei Tu had predicted, apart from the coffin treasure made entirely of Soul-Nourishing Wood, the rest of the items in this 'Spirit Zombie Secret Palace,' such as the screens, jade beds, and tables, although they were some fourth- or fifth-order spiritual materials that were rare in the human realm, were no different from ordinary objects to a powerful being like him who had achieved the Integration Realm.

Of course, Wei Tu accepted all these treasures without leaving anything behind.

He doesn't need these 'miscellaneous items', but if he were to bestow them upon future generations, they would be exquisite treasures.

However, just as Wei Tu finished inspecting every scene and object in the 'Corpse Pavilion' and was preparing to leave...

He noticed something unusual and let out a soft exclamation. His eyes flashed with golden light as he walked to a floorboard in the second-floor attic and pressed it down hard.

Soon after, a mechanical click sounded.

The floor sank, revealing a brocade box about two feet wide inside.

After the brocade box was opened, what was inside was quite unexpected for Wei Tu.

Inside was a purple jade slip containing the insights of the Purple-Faced Hermit in cultivating the "Corpse-Stiffening Secret Technique".

However, in the jade slip, this cultivator only wrote down his insights and did not copy the original "Corpse Stiffness Secret Technique" onto it.

Then, at the end of the jade slip, the location of the jade slip containing the "Secret Technique of Corpse Stiffness" was written in cryptic language.

Clearly, this manual, like the "Spiritual Zombie Secret Scripture" that Wei Tu obtained in the underground palace, represents an opportunity bestowed upon younger cultivators by the Purple-Faced Hermit, a senior figure in the human realm.

Unfortunately, he was intercepted by Wei Tu, his mortal enemy.

"This cultivator is quite an interesting person."

A moment later, Wei Tu, realizing this, shook his head. From the perspective of a beneficiary, his animosity towards this cultivator lessened slightly.

With this additional insight, his progress in cultivating the "Corpse Rigidity Secret Technique" will predictably increase significantly, saving him at least a hundred years of cultivation time.

Even so... from the initial stage of the Integration Realm to the peak of the Integration Realm, for him now, it would take at least several thousand years, or even tens of thousands of years...

However, a hundred years is not a short time, especially considering the necessary hard work required for the initial learning and transformation.

……

After leaving the 'Dead Corpse Land', Wei Tu immediately headed to the ruins of sects such as Swordfire Palace and Holy Buddha Temple to begin his search for the 'Five Strange Corpses'.

This time, he was not disappointed.

His first stop, the ruins of the Swordfire Palace, allowed him to obtain one of the Five Strange Corpses, fulfilling his wish.

These five extraordinary corpses, nurtured by the Purple-Faced Hermit over hundreds of years with the help of the 'fifth-order spiritual vein,' have barely broken through to the sixth order and become refined corpses at the Void Refinement level.

He gained something from the remaining three sects: the Holy Buddha Temple, the Great Snow Mountain, and the Immortal Spirit Path.

The only thing missing was the 'Toad Water Corpse' that he had previously stolen.

Fortunately, with the help of Tianmei Xue Nu's 'bastard son,' he was able to refine this corpse in no time.

Even more remarkably, less than half a month after he killed the young man in brocade robes, this cultivator's 'corpse' had already transformed into a 'toad-water yin corpse'.

And this, naturally, is the result of hundreds of years of painstaking 'refining' efforts by the Purple-Faced Hermit.

The young man in brocade robes appeared to have embarked on a normal path of cultivation, but in reality, his body had long been subjected to layers of restrictions by the Purple-Faced Hermit using corpse-refining techniques.

Once its life is extinguished, its 'Mysterious Ice Body' will quickly transform into a 'Toad Water Corpse'.

"Unfortunately, this cultivator is only at the Golden Core stage. Although his 'corpse' is a special spiritual body like the Profound Ice Body... after transforming into a Toad Water Yin Corpse, his cultivation will be twice as effective. However, to cultivate it to the seventh-order Refined Corpse level would be extremely difficult without thousands of years of hard work..."

Months later, as Wei Tu embarked on his journey back to the Great Cang Cultivation Realm, he sighed inwardly while examining the body of the brocade-clad youth inside the corpse bag.

Of course, if he were ruthless enough to deceive this cultivator like the Purple-Faced Hermit, tricking him into continuing his cultivation until he reached the 'Nascent Soul' and 'Deity Transformation' realms, and then kill him and seize his corpse, reducing the progress time by half would not be a problem.

only--

Such a vicious method was completely eradicated the moment the thought crossed his mind.

This is far more terrifying than 'refining people into elixirs'.

At least, the latter is for the sake of the path, for the sake of cultivation.

He didn't want to lose his 'true self' over a mere corpse refinement, so he resorted to any means necessary.

"Perhaps it's also related to the fact that my path has been too smooth." Wei Tu was somewhat aware of the reasons for his 'kindness' and thought to himself.

Even a cultivator at his level, no matter how kind and benevolent they are in ordinary times, understands the principle of eliminating the root of the problem and making an example of someone.

Those cultivators who have reached this level are unlikely to be benevolent figures in the spirit world!
Therefore... among the 99% of those who undergo the Great Integration Cultivation, he only belongs to the category of normal people, and in terms of temperament, he is not worthy of special praise.

In fact, in some people's eyes, he is inferior to someone like the Purple-Faced Hermit, who will stop at nothing.

This is also a major reason why, although there is no 'demonic path' in the spirit world, demonic practices are not rejected by the world.

As long as it doesn't involve large-scale production of 'life-locking stakes' like Lou Boyang, simply using 'human materials' is acceptable to most cultivators.

"However—my destiny of 'late bloomers' has led to my smooth progress, which is precisely my good fortune… To remain true to myself in this way is a blessing that others can hardly attain. To become a slave to lifespan or a slave to realms—is that what these cultivators hoped for when they first embarked on their path?"

After pondering for a moment, Wei Tu no longer regretted his 'showing mercy'.

Being able to maintain his true self through this is already a great blessing for him. Why should he feel inferior to others just because he is not as ruthless as them?
But just as Wei Tu's mind calmed down and his thoughts slowed down for a moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of someone far away in the clouds, someone he knew very well yet was also a stranger to.

"Jiang Lingzi?" Wei Tu frowned, stopped in his tracks, and stared intently at the cultivator.

He had already foreseen the arrival of the "visitors" from the spirit world when he killed the Purple-Faced Hermit.

After all, among the cultivators of the last ten thousand years, very few human cultivators in the human realm have been able to ascend to the spirit realm and advance to the Integration Realm.

Besides him, it's Jiang Lingzi.

—Only native humans can descend to the mortal realm and form a powerful fusion, as they are not bound by the rules of the mortal world.

However, he never expected that the human race of the Spirit Realm would react so quickly to the death of the Purple-Faced Hermit, immediately sending Jiang Lingzi down to the mortal realm to intercept him.

"Fellow Daoist Wei..." Upon seeing Wei Tu arrive, he sat cross-legged. Jiang Lingzi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, also slowly opened his eyes at this moment, stood up, and bowed to Wei Tu.

"When Fellow Daoist Duan sent me down to the mortal realm, I also wondered who had killed Senior Zi Qian... After all, I know Senior Zi Qian's strength very well..."

"I never expected it would be you, Fellow Daoist Wei."

Jiang Lingzi looked at Wei Tu with a complicated expression and slowly said.

More than 500 years ago, the "resurrection" of the Purple-Faced Hermit was orchestrated by him on the orders of the human race's high command.

Therefore, he was also very clear about the origins and cultivation level of the Purple-Faced Hermit.

Therefore, when he learned that the Purple-Faced Hermit had been killed by Wei Tu, a 'junior' he valued, one can imagine the shock he felt.

"Senior Jiang Lingzi has come to ambush me today. I wonder if he has good intentions or malice..."

Wei Tu narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Jiang Lingzi.

After killing the Purple-Faced Hermit, he began to plan his 'backup plan'.

They could either use the spatial rift on Golden Flame Island to smuggle themselves directly to the Ancient Demon Realm, or use the Boundary-Severing Stone to travel to the even more distant Origin Demon Realm...

Of course, these were choices he would make more than a decade later, after his trip to the Zunwang Palace secret realm.

If one could possess the [Earth Emperor Pearl], a supreme spatial treasure, one would have no fear of risking returning to the Divine Fire Immortal Realm of the Spirit World through the spatial rift of the [Death God Ridge].

The Boundary Stone and the 'spatial rift' on Golden Flame Island were merely last resorts.

However, he hadn't expected Jiang Lingzi to arrive so quickly. In less than a year, he had descended from the Spirit Realm to block his path on his way to the Great Cang Cultivation Realm. (End of Chapter)