I am a late bloomer in the world of cultivating immortals

As a seventh-tier demonic insect, the Crimson Feather Ghost Insect King's flight into the secret realm went unnoticed by anyone. Soon, under Wei Tu's control, it arrived at the pavilion where Jiao Qi was staying.

A few breaths later, as the Crimson Feather Ghost Insect King spewed out red illusionary mist, Jiao Qi, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, instantly fell into an illusion and fainted.

"Thirty-seven years ago, Senior Tianhe and my father returned to the 'Xiaoze Secret Realm'..." After a short while, Jiao Qi, who was controlled by the illusion, truthfully recounted the information he possessed about Jiao Changyi and Ancestor Tianhe.

However, seemingly limited by his cultivation level, the information 'Jiao Qi' uttered was very limited, even 'scarce'.

The information he knew was almost identical to what Wei Tu had just guessed.

All that is known is that Jiao Changyi, Tianhe Laozu, and others suddenly returned to the "Xiaoze Secret Realm" used by the "Twelve Dong Families" to hide their clansmen after more than three hundred years. No further information about the "Baori Divine Tower" or similar things is known.

But soon, the next sentence Ci Xiu uttered made Wei Tu, who was far away outside the secret realm, pause for a moment.

"What? Jiao Changyi and those two Nascent Soul cultivators from the 'Twelve Caves' followed Ancestor Tianhe into the 'Spiritual Cultivation Ruins' guarded by the ancient demons, attempting to break into this place and head to the Spirit Realm..." Wei Tu was slightly surprised, seemingly not expecting that the first thing Ancestor Tianhe and the others did after leaving the 'Treasured Sun Divine Tower' was not to settle scores with him, but to leave the Zichen Realm and risk their lives to head to the Spirit Realm.

"That... Demon Lord Kou is too terrifying. My father told us to try our best not to provoke him..." Under the hypnosis of the illusion, 'Jiao Qi' spoke the truth without any concealment.

As soon as these words fell.

Even though Wei Tu was well-prepared, he couldn't help but look slightly surprised.

He never expected that the Heavenly Crane Ancestor, whom he had been so wary of, would not even have the intention of hunting him down. Instead, he was quite afraid of his existence.

But soon, Wei Tu figured out the reason.

Back then, in the battle at the 'Treasured Sun Divine Tower', in order to trap Ancestor Tianhe and others inside the 'Treasured Sun Divine Tower', he specially allied with Demon Ancestor Qianyun to obstruct and ambush Ancestor Tianhe... and then faked his death to escape at the cost of burning his 'Blood Ghost Soul Split'.

As the one who carried out the plan, he naturally understood his own calculations... but how could Jiao Changyi, Tianhe Laozu, and others who were caught in the trap know the secrets here?
What he saw was his death and the successful escape of the 'Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor'...

Decades ago, after escaping from the 'Bao Ri Divine Tower', he learned from this Zi Chen Realm that he was being 'wanted across realms' by Madam Wan Miao... No matter how tough he was, how could he not be extremely afraid of this?
It's even possible that Ancestor Tianhe and others mistakenly believe that he has been possessed by 'Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor', or that he himself is an avatar of 'Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor'.

This explains why he went to great lengths to help the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor escape from the 'Precious Sun Divine Tower'.

Once this is understood, it is not difficult to understand why the Heavenly Crane Ancestor and others who escaped from the 'Precious Sun Divine Tower' gave up the pursuit of him and dared not hesitate to risk returning to the Spirit Realm.

—The strength of the enemy is the best proof of his strength!
Even Lady Wanmiao, backed by the Qihuo Divine Clan, failed to eliminate him. Instead, she suffered a loss at his hands, which angered her so much that she decided to issue a cross-realm warrant for his arrest...

Conversely, how could the Heavenly Crane Ancestor, as an outsider, believe that he had the ability to successfully assassinate him?
"So—this 'Jiao Yan'er' was sealed away just to prevent me from following the clues and coming to her door... not to deliberately hide her whereabouts as a 'trap' or to 'wait for the rabbit to run into the tree stump'?" Wei Tu's eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately understood the reason behind this action.

This made him chuckle and feel a sense of disbelief, while also causing him to furrow his brow.

The sealing of 'Jiao Yan'er' is similar to the destruction of 'Nine Serpents Liu Clan'. Although he did not commit evil... he was indirectly harmed because of him...

If he had never come to this 'Xiaoze Secret Realm' in his life, 'Jiao Yan'er' would probably have been imprisoned by the cultivators of the 'Twelve Caves Family' for life until her death.

This was the only way the cultivators of the 'Twelve Caves' could avoid being harmed by him without endangering 'Jiao Yan'er's' life.

A single thought can cause corpses to float for thousands of miles; another thought can rewrite the fate of others...

This is not a 'shame', but merely a manifestation of the strength he possesses as a powerful individual.

It wasn't just him; other powerful individuals would encounter similar things to varying degrees on their path to enlightenment.

Of course, what truly made him furrow his brow at this moment was not a chance occurrence, but rather the 'negative impact' that almost burdened 'Jiao Yan'er' for the rest of her life...

There is also a key piece of information revealed by this intelligence.

—Ancestor Tianhe, along with Jiao Changyi and others, has returned to the Spirit Realm!
His return to the spirit world was, in a way, a terrible thing for him.

Wei Tu, Kou Mozun, Lin Tianqi...

One real name, two pseudonyms!
It is foreseeable how detrimental his future will be due to the chain reaction in the spirit world.

Admittedly, these negative effects are unlikely to amount to the 'cross-realm wanted' he faces in the Ancient Demon Realm... but they certainly won't do him much good for his future situation either.

However, after thinking about it for a while, Wei Tu gradually came to terms with it.

Just like my previous idea.

His enemies in the spirit world were not as numerous or as difficult to resolve as one might imagine.

There are no deep conflicts of interest between them.

Once he breaks through to the Mahayana realm, all these trivial matters of using aliases to 'swindle' will be laughed off!
……

"Very well! I arrived too late to save 'Nine Serpents Liu'."

"But this 'Jiao Yan'er' can still conveniently save a life..."

After suppressing all his distracting thoughts, Wei Tu did not hesitate. He lifted his toes slightly and stepped into the 'Xiaoze Secret Realm', arriving at the pavilion filled with blood-red talismans where 'Jiao Yan'er' was imprisoned.

It's true that he has always disliked meddling in other people's business, but he wasn't so indifferent as to ignore the innocent people who were implicated by him.

Not to mention, he himself received a great favor from the 'remnants of the Purple Palace Realm', the Nan Hua treasures they gave him, and the devoted cultivation of the Purple Dragon Lord... He still remembers them vividly.

Based on this alone, he cannot remain indifferent to it.

Previously, within the 'Purple Palace Realm,' he had used 'Jiao Yan'er' as leverage to blackmail Jiao Changyi, but that was merely a ploy to use the 'Twelve Caves' to stage another meeting with Ancestor Tianhe.

In normal circumstances, he wasn't really that 'utterly wicked'.

"Break!" Upon arriving before the layers of blood-red talismans sealing 'Jiao Yan'er', Wei Tu did not hesitate and gently pointed forward with his two fingers.

The next moment, the countless blood-red talismans that resembled vines, shackles, and chains disintegrated on Jiao Yan'er's delicate body like a broken waterfall, scattering all over the ground.

"Father, but that devil surnamed Kou has already been captured and killed..." Jiao Yan'er, whose will had fallen into a deep sleep, woke up groggily, and unconsciously uttered this sentence first.

It seems that this matter is closely related to her 'freedom'.

But soon, as soon as she said those words, Jiao Yan'er realized something was wrong—the person in front of her did not seem to be her father, Jiao Changyi, or any other relative or elder.

His figure was completely unfamiliar; he was someone she had never seen before.

"Senior is..." Jiao Yan'er's face showed vigilance, and her graceful body immediately took a step back. Several low-level magic weapons also appeared in her hands, as if she planned to fight Wei Tu to the death if the situation became unfavorable.

"Fairy Yan has quite a forgetfulness, even forgetting my aura?" Seeing this, Wei Tu, with the mindset of an elder, smiled faintly and revealed his own aura with a flick of his sleeve.

"Senior Kou?" Upon sensing this familiar aura, Jiao Yan'er's expression changed slightly, and her fair face paled a little.

After all, her biological father, Jiao Changyi, sealed her here to prevent Wei Tu from using the 'Blood Guiding Technique' to find her...

Now that all her efforts have been in vain, how could she not be terrified?

"Fairy Yan, you can rest assured. Since I received help from the remnants of the Zi Chen Realm in the Spirit Realm before, I will not attack the 'Twelve Caves' who are also spiritual cultivators..."

Wei Tu pondered for a moment, then changed his self-designation, revealing his spiritual cultivation level.

"Senior Kou... is he really a human from the Spirit Realm?"

Upon hearing this, Jiao Yan'er secretly breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Wei Tu's visit was to be a friend, not an enemy.

After all, given her weak cultivation level, if Wei Tu truly harbored ill intentions towards her, he wouldn't be so amiable as he is now.

"This matter is undoubtedly true."

Wei Tu nodded slightly, voluntarily acknowledging his true identity.

"A cultivator ascending from the lower realms, Wei Tu of the Human Race..."

In an instant, Jiao Yan'er's gaze towards Wei Tu shifted several times, revealing both awe and envy.

The customs of the Purple Palace Realm are different from those of other realms. Apart from the spiritual cultivators who have become 'spirit slaves', there is a natural 'foundation of mutual trust' and 'identity recognition' between spiritual cultivators.

After Wei Tu admitted his true identity, the distinction between his 'spirit and demon' identities vanished... not to mention, Wei Tu is now so easy to talk to...

With these two 'conditions' combined, Jiao Yan'er, who was already in a weak position, would naturally no longer 'confront' Wei Tu as before... It is only reasonable and normal for her attitude to change drastically.

"I am releasing you this time to tell the nobles that there is no need to be wary of me in the future... I have no intention of being enemies with the 'Twelve Caves'..." Wei Tu did not exchange many pleasantries with Jiao Yan'er and went straight to the point.

However, after these cold words, Jiao Yan'er's gaze suddenly softened in an instant.

There's no other reason than that only the weak, or those of equal strength, would tell the other party that they have no intention of being enemies.

For the strong, these words are completely superfluous.

Therefore, with her intelligence, it was not difficult for her to see why Wei Tu suddenly broke her 'seal'.

"It seems my father was right... Senior Wei is indeed not the kind of person who would turn his back on someone and side with the ancient demons." After her gaze softened for a moment, Jiao Yan'er smiled and curtsied to Wei Tu.

"You're not mistaken?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Tu was taken aback. His eyes flickered slightly as he realized that Jiao Changyi's thoughts were far from simple. While following Ancestor Tianhe away from the Zichen Realm, Jiao Changyi had also roughly figured out his personality and had prepared a backup plan.

He sealed away 'Jiao Yan'er' but indulged 'Jiao Qi'. This was not only out of affection for his son Jiao Qi, nor was it because he did not expect that Jiao Qi could bypass Jiao Yan'er with the 'Blood Guiding Secret Technique' and directly hunt down Jiao Qi... but rather because he guessed that Jiao Qi's intentions were not as ruthless as they seemed.

However, this is normal. Back then, he let the real 'Lin Tianqi' go because of his compassion.

Judging from this limited perspective, how could Jiao Changyi, a clever member of the 'Twelve Caves,' not have some guesses about his personality?

Whether inside the 'Bao Ri Divine Tower' or when 'Jiao Yan'er' was sealed decades ago... although he was always at odds with him or acting as an accomplice, he was mostly just relying on the powerful Tianhe Ancestor.

In terms of true 'trustworthiness', he is undoubtedly much more trustworthy than the Heavenly Crane Ancestor, who once went back on his word and tore up the 'blood pact'.

"When my father and Senior Tianhe sealed me together, they secretly told me... that if one day you were to unseal me, I should give this jade slip to you..."

Jiao Yan'er didn't say much at this time. She opened her mouth slightly and took out a pale yellow jade slip about an inch in size, and handed it to Wei Tu with her magic.

"Hmm... Your father certainly has foresight."

Upon seeing this, Wei Tu couldn't help but show his admiration and offered a few words of praise.

Then, he raised his hand and grabbed the pale yellow jade slip in front of him, carefully examining it with his divine sense.

[To Brother Weidao]

The jade slip began with great politeness, addressing Wei Tu as the more intimate and higher-ranking "fellow Daoist" rather than the distant "fellow Daoist."

The rest of the conversation, aside from some casual conversation about the specifics of Wei Tu's wanted status in the Zi Chen Realm that Jiao Changyi knew, was about the information that Wei Tu was quite concerned about, or rather, the information he wanted to obtain when he entered the 'Xiao Ze Secret Realm' to hypnotize Jiao Qi with an illusion.

—The key to Jiao Changyi, Tianhe Laozu, and others breaking the spiritual restriction of the 'Bao Ri Shen Ta'.

Is it a powerful treasure that has broken the seal, or are there other reinforcements?

“Divine Divination Chopsticks…” Wei Tu narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the pair of magical treasures in the cultivation world that Jiao Changyi had mentioned inside the jade slip, which were extremely useful for breaking spiritual restrictions.

According to his account, it was with the help of this extraordinary treasure that the Heavenly Crane Ancestor managed to decipher the operating method of the spiritual restriction of the 'Precious Sun Divine Pagoda' within the past three hundred years, and successfully escaped from it...

"This treasure looks quite extraordinary; it even has the ability to calculate the spiritual restriction mechanism of the 'Sun God Tower'..." Wei Tu exclaimed in amazement.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it took Ancestor Tianhe three hundred years to break the spiritual restriction of the 'Treasured Sun Divine Tower'... but you must know that the profound mystery of the spiritual restriction of the 'Treasured Sun Divine Tower' was something that even Demon Ancestor Qianyun had to rack his brains to figure out.

The time it took the Thousand Cloud Demon Ancestor to break the spiritual seal of the 'Precious Sun Divine Tower' back then was not much different from the time it took these past three hundred years...

In other words, simply by possessing this [Divine Divination Chopsticks], one can directly acquire array formation skills and array-breaking experience comparable to the Demon Ancestor or even an eighth-level array master... Just for this reason alone, how could this treasure not be extremely valuable?
After the jade slip finished introducing the specific functions and appearance of the [Divine Divination Chopsticks], at the end of the letter, Jiao Changyi also said that when he went to the Spirit Realm, he would definitely defend Wei Tu in front of Zi Chi Jun so that he could be forgiven for the 'crime of deceiving the immortals'!
Every word and phrase was written with the interests of Wei Tu in mind.

But Wei Tu wasn't blind; he was perfectly clear that this was a bold attempt and a daring deal made by Jiao Changyi.

—He promised to protect him in the Spirit Realm, and in return, he was obligated to protect the 'Twelve Cave Families' in this Purple Chen Realm, at least not to exterminate them or repay kindness with enmity. (End of Chapter)