I am a late bloomer in the world of cultivating immortals

After cleaning up the battlefield, Wei Tu narrowed his eyes before turning his gaze to Ding Yuyan.

If this woman hadn't spoken up to warn him, in order to prevent his information from being leaked, he would have only chosen the option of eliminating the root of the problem and killing her directly.

This woman had been with the scarred man for ten years, and he couldn't say for sure whether their relationship was still as strained as it was ten years ago. The best course of action was to kill her and end it all.

“This is troublesome…” But Wei Tu shook his head and suppressed the murderous intent in his heart.

Being cautious and meticulous does not equate to being ruthless and indiscriminate.

He wasn't some ruthless killer. Given that the woman had done nothing wrong and had even shown him some kindness, it was indeed difficult for him to overcome his conscience and kill her.

At this moment, Ding Yuyan seemed to sense Wei Tu's dilemma on the battlefield regarding how to deal with her, a living person. Her pretty face changed slightly, and she quickly begged for mercy:

"Fellow Daoist Evil Lin, there's no need to worry. I will never tell anyone what I saw today! I will keep it firmly in my heart."

She knew all too well the value of the [Frosty Dragon Sword] that Wei Tu used to kill the scarred man, as well as the three mid-stage sixth-order refined corpses that could form an array—these treasures were enough to attract the covetous eyes of all the powerful figures in the Shadow Raven Tower!

"No! No... I am willing to follow Fellow Daoist Elin. Fellow Daoist Elin has been in seclusion for ten years, and must not know much about the experts and their methods in the Yin Crow Tower. I am willing to help Fellow Daoist Elin in this matter."

After pleading for mercy, Ding Yuyan urgently tried to prove her worth in life.

This value is not important to Wei Tu, as he can easily obtain it using the Soul Searching Technique.

"Very well, you can stay by my side for now."

Upon hearing this, Wei Tu's furrowed brows relaxed, as if he had acknowledged the statement, and he replied in a detached tone.

The words fell.

Ding Yuyan was taken aback at first, then, as if granted a pardon, she flew over with a joyful expression and followed closely behind Wei Tu.

Although she hadn't spent much time with Wei Tu, this incident was enough to give her a glimpse into his character—she knew that Wei Tu was not the cruel man with the scar, and that as long as she didn't make any big mistakes, she should be able to survive with Wei Tu in the Dark Raven Tower.

……

In the instant the scarred man fell.

In that instant, the scarred man's name was also erased from the "List of Ten Thousand Crows of Yin Crows" on each floor of the Yin Crow Tower.

The monks ranked after them proceeded in order of advancement.

"Who killed Scarface?" The cultivators inside and outside the Dark Raven Tower were filled with doubt and speculation.

Inside the Dark Raven Tower, although there was no shortage of killing, few of the top-ranking "Demon Generals" actually perished; at most, their positions changed.

"Was it Wang Tiangu or Wen Tao who made the move?"

Following the clues in the map, the cultivators began their search for the murderer.

Only Wang Tiangu, ranked first, and Wen Tao, ranked second on the "Yinya Ten Thousand Cultivators Ranking," possess the formidable strength to kill a mid-stage Demon General.

These two are, one a half-step Demon Lord, and the other a peak Demon General.

"It should be Wen Tao. The Demon Ancestor's Holy Blood of that scarred man alone is not enough for Wang Tiangu to break through the Demon Lord limit."

"Only Wen Tao has the desire to take action. Several years ago, on the seventh floor, someone witnessed a conflict between Wen Tao and Wang Tiangu..."

Those with inside information made their guesses.

And just half a month after this decision, Wen Tao, who was on the Yin Ya Wan Xiu Ranking, successfully changed his realm from the peak of Demon General to "Half-Step Demon Lord"!
"A half-step Demon Lord? There are already two cultivators in this Dark Raven Tower who have become half-step Demon Lords?" Upon seeing this scene, Wei Tu, who had rushed to the teleportation gate on the sixth floor of the Dark Raven Tower, also had a slight change in expression.

He has absolute confidence that he can confront, and even defeat, a cultivator at the peak of the Void Refinement stage.

However, when faced with a half-step Integration Realm or a half-step Demon Lord who has mastered the "Rule Domain," they can only look on with envy and back down.

The only saving grace is that...

This place is the Dark Raven Tower, not the outside world. Even though he is no match for these two half-step Demon Lords, he can still escape unscathed with the help of the [Phantom Scale Armor] and the "teleportation portals" on each floor of the Dark Raven Tower.

"Watching your opponents keep improving while you can only stay in the same place... that feeling is really unpleasant."

Wei Tu rubbed his temples and sighed inwardly.

This mindset usually only appears in his enemies. Now, it has backfired on him, and he understands the pain.

“However, strangely enough, my name is still not shown on this list of cultivators of the Dark Crows, not even the pseudonym Evil Scale…” Wei Tu’s eyes flickered as he examined the dazzling jade wall near the teleportation gate that contained the list of cultivators of the Dark Crows.

Without a doubt, the "Rule Domain" within the Dark Raven Tower could reveal his true realm as the mid-stage of the Void Refinement Realm, since he had encountered a demonized beast of the same level when he first entered the fourth level ten years ago.

But now, even after he had killed the scarred man and fully displayed his fighting prowess, his name was still not on the list, not even at the very bottom...

"Without refining the Demon Ancestor's Holy Blood, how can the Yin Crow Myriad Cultivators Ranking record a cultivator's realm and status?"

Wei Tu's mind raced, and he came to the answer. After all, the only difference between him and the cultivators on the list was that he avoided the Demon Ancestor's Holy Blood like the plague and did not refine even a drop of it.

Of course, this is also a good thing for him.

This will facilitate his continued operations within the Shadow Raven.

In fact, in his view, this list was no less than a death list—behind it, there must be the Demon Cloud Cult and the ancient demon who secretly controlled the Demon Cloud Cult, silently watching.

"The first demonic beasts encountered by cultivators attempting to break through to the fifth and sixth levels, although all at the same cultivation level as the cultivators, are progressively stronger than the last..."

"I wonder what kind of scene this seventh floor is like?"

Composing himself, Wei Tu took a deep breath and looked with great interest at the portal leading to the seventh floor.

The fourth-level demonic beasts of the same realm were of low intelligence, and he easily defeated them with just a few moves ten years ago.

However, the demonic beasts of the same realm on the fifth and sixth levels are different. Even without spiritual treasures, their pure strength is comparable to that of the top cultivators in this realm.

Therefore, the seventh floor is a taboo for the vast majority of cultivators in the Dark Raven Tower!
Even the scarred man, who ranks quite high, has not dared to step into the seventh level.

Even the Iron Fiend Grandmaster once stated bluntly, "After sixty years, any cultivator who has not entered the seventh level of the Yin Raven Tower must leave the Yin Raven Tower."

It is evident that the floors above the seventh level are crucial to the Dark Raven Tower, and will bring about a qualitative change.

Thinking of this, Wei Tu no longer hesitated. With a flick of his sleeve, he put Ding Yuyan behind him into the "Qiankun Bag" he carried with him, and then flashed into the silver gate in front of him.

But the next moment.

After he landed in the air, what he saw was not the desolate wilderness shrouded in thick fog like the fifth and sixth floors, but a huge heavenly palace built of amethyst.

A rich spiritual energy wafted over, carrying not a trace of demonic energy.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be some kind of restriction here, preventing him from using his divine sense to explore this enormous heavenly palace.

"Is this the Dark Raven Tower?" Wei Tu was taken aback, looking around at everything, but he did not find any danger nearby.

There wasn't even a shadow of a demonized monster.

He took a deep breath and looked up to carefully examine everything before him.

The purple celestial palace in the distance was about a thousand feet away from him. Layers of suspended jade steps meandered down from the pale golden palace gates, extending to his feet.

To the left is a jade disc with lines of golden characters on it, clearly the "Yin Crow Ten Thousand Cultivation Ranking" from the Yin Crow Tower.

However, it is different from the others.

On the back of the jade disc, dense golden characters slowly appeared, revealing his name and cultivation level as "Venerable Evil Scale".

He ranked seventh, and his cultivation level was a true "mid-stage Refinement of Void" rather than the superficial "early stage Refinement of Void".

Strangely, apart from the text belonging to his line of work, the names of all the other cultivators on the list were obscured by a powerful force, and only their cultivation levels and the number of levels they had reached could be seen.

The top three cultivators, like Wang Tiangu and Wen Tao, were all at the half-step Integration stage.

To the right is a giant bronze mirror, several tens of feet in size.

He looked into the mirror.

On the mirror, a scene similar to the first few floors of the Dark Raven Tower appeared, such as an endless gray mist and demonic beasts floating everywhere.

Soon, under the shimmering light of the mirror, several scenes appeared within: a young cultivator with a cold face and slightly thin lips, and a burly man wielding a spiritual weapon and slaughtering his way through a horde of demonized beasts...

Wei Tu recognized these two men quite well; they were Wang Tiangu and Wen Tao, who ranked first on the "Yin Ya Wan Xiu Ranking" and were the only two half-step Demon Lords in the Yin Ya Tower!

"Could it be that the space they are in is also the seventh level of the Dark Raven Tower? Are the seven levels of the Dark Raven Tower two sides of the same coin?"

"One belongs to demonic cultivators, ancient demons, and the other belongs to spiritual cultivators?"

Wei Tu frowned, wondering what was going on in his mind.

But in an instant, he felt that this was highly unlikely!

There's no other reason than that this is the "Minor Spirit Realm," an area ruled by ancient demons. How could there possibly be any senior spiritual cultivators here who would have specially created a secret realm for selecting spiritual cultivators to pass on their skills?

However, now that he was here, there was no point in thinking about it anymore.

Although the area where he was located contained the Jade Wall of the Crow Tower, which coexisted with the "teleportation gate"—the Crow Ten Thousand Cultivation Ranking—there was not a trace of the "teleportation gate" in sight in this special seventh-level secret realm.

This means that he now only has two choices: continue exploring the enormous purple palace in front of him, or... use the [Boundary-Breaking Stone] to escape the Dark Raven Secret Realm.

But at this point, the latter was not within his consideration.

However, just as Wei Tu raised his foot to escape,

A tremendous force suddenly descended on his back, as if a giant mountain had pressed down on him.

At this moment, his escape technique failed completely. If it weren't for his powerful body forged by the sixth-level body tempering, he would probably have been crushed to the ground by this terrifying force the moment he lifted his foot.

"Is this a trial unique to spiritual cultivation, completely different from that of the ancient demons, the trial of the seventh level of the Dark Raven Tower?"

Wei Tu raised an eyebrow, suddenly realizing something.

The test had begun, and he was no longer as anxious as before. He immediately walked towards the second suspended jade staircase, as if it were a trial.

The pressure increased again.

However, this was still within the limits of his sixth-level body refiner's endurance, and it was far from being difficult.

Step by step.

Wei Tu maintained a steady pace and slowly walked towards the purple celestial palace in the distance.

When he had traveled about halfway, his body began to feel a little strained.

This distance is precisely the limit of pressure that an ordinary mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator can withstand.

"Continue." Wei Tu said calmly, continuing forward without slowing down his pace.

When he had traveled two-thirds of the way, he waved his sleeve, raised his "Water and Fire Immortal Robe," and resisted the immense force behind him that was enough to crush a late-stage Void Refinement cultivator.

At that moment, he also saw a male corpse with blood and tears streaming from its eyes on the suspended jade steps not far in front of him.

The male corpse's aura had merged with the suspended jade steps, and under the protection of the surrounding restrictions, it was impossible to detect with divine sense.

Wei Tu walked over and personally examined the male corpse, whose eyes were wide open and who was staring unwillingly at the gate of the Heavenly Palace in the distance.

They were less than a hundred feet from the end of the steps, but here, they could not take another step and were trapped and died.

“The time of death of this corpse… was six hundred years ago. Moreover, his storage magic artifact also seems to have been taken away and disappeared completely…” After the examination, Wei Tu’s expression changed slightly.

Based on the "List of Crows for All Cultivators" on the jade disc, he could easily tell that the seventh floor of the Crow Tower, which was exclusively for spiritual cultivation, had already been claimed by someone.

But... he believed that those cultivators were mostly "ancient people" from history, living far removed from him in time.

However, in retrospect, his judgment was completely wrong.

Perhaps—among the cultivators sent here by the Demon Cloud Sect, there was someone like him who was the first to break into this purple heavenly palace.

"No! That's unlikely. I've secretly observed all the cultivators sent in by the Demon Cloud Sect, and there aren't any particularly powerful spiritual cultivators among them..." Wei Tu shook his head secretly.

Wang Tiangu and Wen Tao are indeed powerful, having become the only two half-step Demon Lords within the Yin Raven Tower. However, this is only because these two have had good fortune... Before entering the Yin Raven Tower, their spiritual cultivation aptitude and realm were mediocre and not worth mentioning.

"Therefore, the only explanation is that this cultivator entered the Dark Raven Tower before this group of cultivators."

"But their identity is very likely not that of a Demon Cloud Sect cultivator. Rather, they have another origin. After all, if the Demon Cloud Sect knew the secrets of this place, it would be impossible for them to... deliberately conceal it from the cultivators, only allowing them to devour and refine the Demon Ancestor's Holy Blood..."

"Even if they don't trust these non-Buddhist cultivators, they shouldn't have left this spiritual cultivation secret realm unexplored for ten years without sending a single inner-Buddhist cultivator to explore it..."

Wei Tu's eyes flickered slightly as he pondered.

Having thought this through, he regained his composure, calmly stepped over the corpse, and continued forward.

The final journey was more difficult than he had imagined; the pressure he was under was close to crushing a peak Void Refinement cultivator.

Fortunately, with the protection of the [Phantom Scale Armor], after his blood surged for a while, he still managed to step onto the end of the suspended jade steps without any danger—the huge square in front of the Purple Heavenly Palace.

"Lingyan Heavenly Palace".

At this moment, the jade plaque hanging at the entrance of the purple celestial palace also revealed its inscription clearly. (End of Chapter)