I am a late bloomer in the world of cultivating immortals

"These laws and auras are truly troublesome."

After a short while, the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor, who had escaped from the 'Precious Sun Divine Tower', also began to traverse the chaotic 'Law Aura' zone outside the tower, heading towards the outside of the 'Chaotic Forbidden Land'.

However, compared to the ease with which he used to traverse this place, his current severe injuries made it significantly more difficult and beyond his capabilities.

After expending some more of its primal power, it finally withstood the erosion of these 'law lights' and arrived at the edge of the chaotic 'law lights'.

However—before completely leaving this place, the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor cautiously extended his divine sense. After discovering that there were no external enemies around, he breathed a sigh of relief and flew out from within with a flash of demonic light.

But at this moment.

Suddenly, a terrifying and extremely mysterious five-colored spiritual light emerged from the void and descended upon the true form of the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor in the blink of an eye.

The speed was so fast that Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor didn't even have time to react when his protective demonic light was torn apart.

The next moment, Qianyun Demon Ancestor, whose face had just shown a look of relief, couldn't help but widen his eyes in astonishment as he looked at his 'demon body', which turned to ashes and disappeared in an instant.

The innermost primordial object—'Blood Hair Severed Skull'—was also attacked in that instant, an attack comparable to that of the Heavenly Crane Ancestor's Mahayana Blood Talisman!

Soon, it turned gray and dim like a stone statue, with only the 'remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor' inside able to barely resist some of the great power that was comparable to the personal attack of a Mahayana immortal.

Unfortunately, this attack lasted far too long.

Moreover, there was no other 'Great Demon Lord' to save the day and give him a chance to catch his breath.

After more than ten breaths.

After the five-colored spiritual light that suddenly burst forth from the void dimmed, the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor on the spot was completely 'dissolved', leaving only a thick pile of black ash and a small, thumb-sized 'blood-colored crystal' that resembled flesh and blood, wrapped in the ash.

"Demon Ancestor's Blood Crystal?" At this moment, Wei Tu's true form, which emerged from the void, also showed a hint of curiosity in his eyes after seeing this blood-colored crystal. He stretched out his right hand and used his magic power to capture it in his palm.

"Got you!"

The next instant, a slightly tired but very excited voice suddenly exploded in Wei Tu's mind.

Immediately afterwards, a phantom with blood-red hair and a severed head leaped out from within the 'blood-red crystal' and viciously lunged towards Wei Tu's brow.

He adopted a posture as if he wanted to possess the body.

However, at that moment, Wei Tu, who had just been looking curious, suddenly had a cold smile on his lips, and a large hand full of demonic energy immediately reached out from between his eyebrows and grabbed down at the illusory figure with 'blood-haired and severed head'.

Upon seeing this, the illusory figure of 'blood-haired severed head' that was about to pounce on Wei Tu's brow trembled slightly and immediately retreated in a panic.

"How is this possible? How could this junior cultivator have mastered the laws of darkness?" Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor was panicked and cried out in his heart.

With his remaining 'Demon Ancestor remnant soul' fighting to the death, he had a considerable chance of successfully killing and possessing a spiritual cultivator in the early stage of the Integration Realm...

But when faced with an ancient demon who has mastered the 'Dark Laws', only death awaits.

There's no other reason than that the 'Dark Laws' are one of the few methods within the Fusion Realm that can counter his 'Demon Ancestor's Remnant Soul'.

It wasn't too terrifying, but... he only had this wisp of the Demon Ancestor's remnant soul left.

Unfortunately, faced with Wei Tu's scheme, how could he, already extremely weak, easily escape Wei Tu's clutches?

With a single blow, he was imprisoned by Wei Tu like a lamb in the demonic hand formed by the 'Dark Laws'.

“An Liangcai did not lie to me. Although the remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor is powerful, it is not without weaknesses…” Seeing this, Wei Tu also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, with the immense power of the Longevity Lamp, it would have been enough to take the life of this demon.

However, for the sake of 'opportunity', he deliberately risked his life to spare the demon, leaving behind only a wisp of its remnant soul.

Otherwise, this trip would have been a huge loss for him.

Not only was most of the immortal demon's soul buried on the fourth floor of the Treasure Sun Divine Tower, but even the blood demon's divided soul that controlled the demon's body, as well as the eighth-tier remnant treasures that the demon carried with it, were also buried within the Treasure Sun Divine Tower...

Of course, thanks to his previous arrangements, the treasure [Boundary Stone] has not been lost; it is simply remaining inside the 'Sun God Tower'.

However, let's take a step back and say...

Even if he still didn't gain anything this time, simply 'imprisoning' the three Heavenly Crane Ancestors inside the Treasure Sun Divine Tower would still be of great benefit to him.

This has nothing to do with the leak of the spirit realm's disguise; rather, in the ancient demon realm, they don't want to get involved in too much trouble because of this matter.

After all, obtaining the resources for the Fusion Breakthrough as an 'Ancient Demon' was a cultivation plan he had set out long ago.

"Although the ancient demon's 'Grimoire of Events' remains unsolved, this demon likely has neither the energy nor the time to erase all of the recent memories from its mind..."

Without wasting any time, Wei Tu grabbed a wisp of the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor's 'residual soul' with one hand and directly began searching the demon's soul.

A few moments.

Fragments of memories about the 'Precious Sun Divine Tower' and the divine soul memories in the mind of the Flame Spirit King appeared in his mind in great detail.

However, after seeing that the 'Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor' was taken out of that pitch-black compass by the Flame Spirit King...

He was also slightly startled for a moment.

“No! That’s unlikely. The demonic body of the Demon Ancestor Jialan is not that weak... Even if it was attacked by the Mahayana Relic and the Mahayana Blood Talisman, it shouldn’t have been damaged so severely…” Wei Tu frowned, slightly puzzled.

Secondly, his questioning of this matter is also related to the fact that he did not detect any 'life force' in this demon.

The Demon Ancestor of Garan is indeed a cultivator of destiny.

If it were to 'resurrect,' even if it couldn't glimpse the secrets of heaven and guide its own path, it would be impossible for it not to use any life cultivation techniques during its capture.

“Furthermore, this demon has always referred to himself as Qianyun, not Jialan…” Wei Tu frowned and took another careful look at the demon’s only remaining 'Demon Ancestor Blood Crystal'.

Its aura was indeed very similar to that of the Demon Ancestor Garan, but there were also slight differences...

It seems that it is weaker, far from reaching the level of the Demon Ancestor Garan, who is close to the 'realm of a demon god'.

"Could it be... a spirit born from a corpse?" Wei Tu thought to himself, and this possibility came to mind.

Although examples of 'spirits born from corpses' are rare in the cultivation world, they are not uncommon throughout its long history.

As for the Demon Ancestor Garan, a powerful ancient demon whose body was dismembered and whose soul was destroyed, the probability that his remaining body would give birth to a corresponding demon soul over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years is not small.

“Fellow Daoist, spare this Demon Ancestor’s life, and I will sign the ‘Heavenly Demon Oath’ with you, and fully support you in breaking through to the Demon Ancestor realm… You should know that this ‘Precious Sun Divine Tower’ is only one secret realm that I know of… I know of several other cultivation realms that offer even greater opportunities and fortune than this one…”

At the same time, the incessant pleas for mercy from the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor reached Wei Tu's mind.

Wei Tu, who was initially unmoved by these words, seemed to have thought of something at this moment. His eyes flashed, and he looked intently at the remnant souls of the thousand Cloud Demon Ancestors.

“Senior Qianyun’s sneak attack on the Flame Spirit King violated the Heavenly Demon Oath… Now that he has rashly signed the Demon Oath, how dare I trust him?” Wei Tu sneered.

"This..." Upon hearing this, Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor paused in his speech.

However, hearing this was also good news for him. At least, there was still room for negotiation, and it wasn't a case of someone wanting to kill him.

As long as... Wei Tu's concerns are resolved, and he continues to believe in the reliability of the Heavenly Demon Oath...

Thinking of this, Demon Ancestor Qianyun could only grit his teeth and continue, "Fellow Daoist, do not panic, do not panic. There is a reason why I broke the oath of the Heavenly Demon... As long as some secret techniques are used to assist, the oath of the Heavenly Demon can still be effective."

At this point, Qianyun Demon Ancestor also frankly told Wei Tu the reason why he was able to avoid the 'backlash' of the Heavenly Demon Oath.

It is true that the oath of the Heavenly Demons is unbreakable for the ancient demons, but this is not the case for the demon ancestors and demon gods of the ancient demons...

As long as one refines the 'Heavenly Demon Origin' into their body and transforms themselves into a higher-level 'Heavenly Demon,' the 'Heavenly Demon Oath' will immediately become as disposable as toilet paper.

However, even if one swears an oath using the more advanced 'Oath of the Heavenly Demon,' the 'Oath of the Heavenly Demon' still has some effect.

Those higher-level, higher-dimensional 'Heavenly Demons' are not afraid of fighting among their own kind.

"The origin of the Heavenly Demon?" Upon hearing this, Wei Tu narrowed his eyes slightly and couldn't help but carefully examine the remnant soul of the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor.

He had heard of this method of avoiding oaths in the ancient demon realm, but he had always regarded it as a 'rumor'... This was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

The reason is simple: the Heavenly Demons are beings that exist outside the Ancient Demon Realm and are even more advanced than the Ancient Demon races. How could they be easily captured?

If the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor was truly powerful enough to capture the Heavenly Demon... then how could he have fallen to the point of being a mere remnant soul, residing within the pitch-black compass?
Many suspicious points!

"I see! I was too ignorant to know that there was such a way to circumvent the 'Oath of the Heavenly Demon' among the ancient demons."

“But… this junior has one more thing to ask. If Senior Qianyun can answer this question, I will agree to sign the Heavenly Demon Oath with you…” Wei Tu said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor was overjoyed and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fellow Daoist, please speak frankly. As long as this Demon Ancestor knows the answer, I will answer it," said Demon Ancestor Qianyun in a hearty tone.

"This junior would like to know, what is the relationship between Senior Qianyun and the legendary Demon Ancestor Jialan?"

The next moment, as soon as these words were spoken, Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor fell into silence and remained silent.

Until half an hour later.

He then spoke, his tone grave: "Since you've guessed that I, the Demon Ancestor, am connected to that Garan Demon Ancestor, you must have seen the Wish-Seeking Demon Disc elsewhere... perhaps even possessed one yourself..."

"Indeed! I, the Demon Ancestor, am a 'corpse spirit' born from the remains of the Demon Ancestor Garan. Therefore, the power of the Demon Ancestor I inherited is also quite limited..."

"It was precisely because of this that those who were hunted down by the remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor Garan ended up in the same miserable state as before. They could only eke out a living by the side of the Flame Spirit King... Only after arriving at the 'Treasure Sun Divine Tower' and regaining some of their previous abilities did they dare to 'revive'."

"Therefore, if you, fellow Daoist, also possess the Wish-Fulfilling Demon Disc... you can only hope that the remnant soul of the Garan Demon Ancestor will show mercy and spare your life..." At this point, the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor's tone became slightly gloating.

However, the implication was also very clear: if Wei Tu did not join forces with him, he would only have one option: to be hunted down by the remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor Jialan.

"Does fellow Daoist know of the Purple Blood Demon Lord?"

“Indeed, since you just searched my soul, you must have learned about the alliance between the human race of the Spirit Realm and him from the memories of the Flame Spirit King…”

"However, in this matter, fellow Daoist, you can just wait and see. Just watch as the Purple Blood Demon Lord dies. Having provoked those 'remaining bodies and divided souls,' this demon only has one path left: death."

Qianyun Demon Ancestor sneered.

However, Wei Tu did not show any fear on his face when he heard these words.

On the contrary, his eyes lit up slightly, as if he had grasped some useful clue, and his expression became somewhat excited.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the reason why Senior Qianyun was able to evade the pursuit of the remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor Jialan is probably related to his own initiative in removing the 'life force' from the demon body. No wonder I didn't find any trace of 'life force' on Senior's body. Therefore, Senior's demon body is not as powerful as the other remnant bodies of the Demon Ancestor Jialan."

"As for Lou Boyang, a demonic cultivator from the Ancient Demon Realm, he ventured alone into the Spirit Realm. The fact that he was rescued by a group of 'half-step Mahayana' cultivators in the Spirit Realm should also be related to... the remnant soul of the Demon Ancestor Jialan..."

"That's right! It's precisely because it's hidden in the Spirit Realm that Senior Qianyun could only hide beside the Flame Spirit King, not daring to forcibly possess it... Only today, after arriving in the Zichen Realm, has he regained his freedom. After all, the remnant soul of the Garan Demon Ancestor can most likely use the Wish-Seeking Demon Disc to deduce the changes in the heavens and find Senior's whereabouts..."

Wei Tu smiled faintly and spoke.

These words were spoken.

Even with all his preparations, the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor was still taken aback and his expression changed drastically.

Firstly, he found it hard to believe that Wei Tu, a mere early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, could know so many 'secrets' through mere guesswork.

Secondly, it was quite clear that Wei Tu did not intend to spare his life after saying these words.

"However, how could you possibly easily abandon this wisp of Heavenly Demon essence within my remnant soul? No ancient demon could resist the temptation to break the Heavenly Demon Oath..." Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor sneered inwardly.

As he expected, things turned out exactly as he predicted.

After saying this, Wei Tu immediately poured several streams of magic power into the magical hand that was 'imprisoning' him, making a gesture as if he were refining his 'demon soul'.

It was no longer like before, directly annihilated by the 'Dark Laws'.

"Opportunity!" The remnant soul of the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor swiftly pounced forward, preparing to devour the magical power and take advantage of the gap to escape once again.

But the next moment.

A force that was both unexpected and extremely familiar to him suddenly shone with golden light, easily blocking his movements, and then swallowed him whole.

"Life Force? You're also a Life Cultivator?" Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor was greatly surprised and exclaimed with a drastically changed expression.

This time, however, with only a wisp of his soul remaining, he had no room to escape.

The moment the sound rang out, it vanished as if its soul had been scattered, disappearing in Wei Tu's palm.

"The origin of the Heavenly Demon?" A moment later, Wei Tu, who had completely refined the remnant soul of the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor with the help of his life force, also secretly sensed the slight transformation of his own 'life force'.

It has an inexplicable and elusive meaning, as if it has intervened in a higher 'rule'.

However, this feeling was fleeting, and after a short while, everything returned to normal.

“Now, it’s time to take a look at the other treasures left behind by this demon.” Wei Tu narrowed his eyes and poured his magic power into the ‘Demon Ancestor Blood Crystal’ in his palm without regard for gain or loss. From the blood crystal, he took out a grayish leather bag about the size of a palm, with scales on its surface.

Excellent! This bag is indeed the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor's 'storage magic artifact', which is similar in function to the Xuanling Fairy's [Earth Emperor Pearl], and is a more advanced personal storage treasure.

Therefore, it 'survived' the attack from his [Longevity Lamp]. (End of Chapter)