I am a late bloomer in the world of cultivating immortals

Humans are the race Wei Tu is born into, and the race he is most familiar with. Furthermore, they are irreconcilable enemies of the Mist Ghosts, belonging to opposing forces.

Therefore, when choosing a temporary place to stay in the Divine Wasteland, Wei Tu immediately set his sights on the Human Immortal City.

"Jinyue Immortal City." Wei Tu flew to an open space a hundred miles away from this immortal city, looked at the jade plaque hanging on the city gate, and softly read it.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this city will be the temporary residence for him and Xue Qiongyu before the opening of the Dinghai Immortal Ruins.

"However, it will be a little troublesome to sneak in." He stroked his chin and glanced at the heavily guarded group of Void Refinement Guards who strictly checked identities and only allowed human cultivators to enter.

After all, the immortal cities built by the various races of the Spirit Realm in the Divine Wasteland, though called immortal cities, were in fact no different from military fortresses.

Otherwise, the mortality rate here wouldn't be so extremely high.

"Fortunately, I am a human." Wei Tu's eyes flashed, and he took out a token engraved with the three characters "Yi Qi Guan" from his storage magic artifact, and stepped inside.

Yi Qi Guan is a sect in the Divine Fire Immortal Realm, and it has always been on good terms with the Qingling Sect. It was also the place where he broke through to the Refinement Void Realm when the Qingling Sect was enduring the threat of the Seven Desires Evil Monk.

At that time, in order to conceal their identities, the abbot of Yiqi Temple gave him and Venerable Suxin a fake identity each to deceive others.

Although this identity wasn't of great use when he was at the Qi Temple, it's perfect for concealing his true identity at this moment.

Moreover, coincidentally, after the upheaval in Dingyuan Immortal City, the patriarch of Yiqi Temple, "Master Guanghong Cave," disappeared without a trace, presumably dead. Yiqi Temple, like Qingling Sect, thus "disbanded" on the spot and went into hiding in their sect's secret location.

Therefore, even if someone goes to the Divine Fire Immortal Realm to verify his identity, he doesn't need to worry about being exposed.

“Yi Qi Guan, Wei Fei…” At the city gate, the guard captain in charge of checking the coming and going cultivators was slightly surprised when he saw Wei Tu’s identity.

The One Qi Sect is not a weak force in the Divine Fire Immortal Domain. Its ancestor, Master Guanghong, is a late-stage Refinement Void cultivator. However, in the entire human race, it is insignificant. As a result, this cultivator has never heard of the existence of a sect called "One Qi Sect" among humans.

Fortunately, Jin Yue Immortal City has detailed records and archives of the major sects of the human race, as well as methods for verifying authenticity.

After some time, the guard captain confirmed that the Guardian Token was genuine.

"Please, fellow Daoist, place your hands firmly against this stele..." The guard captain led Wei Tu into the city to a giant stone stele with the three vermilion characters "Soul Testing Stele".

"This Soul-Testing Stele should be the magical artifact used by humans to test whether a cultivator is truly human. It was also briefly mentioned in the library of the Human Ancestor's Palace secret realm..."

Thinking of this, Wei Tu glanced at a Mist Ghost Clan cultivator in the distance, who was nailed to the execution platform by collarbone nails.

This cultivator's aura was weak, and his physical body exuded an aura of decay, clearly indicating that he was an alien cultivator detected by this stele.

He was punished by the human race and imprisoned on this execution platform as a warning to those who come after him.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately followed the guard captain's instructions, placing his hands on the "Soul Testing Stele".

The next moment, a powerful spiritual force emanated from the "Soul Testing Stele," flowing along the meridians in his hands and directly towards the location of his sea of ​​consciousness.

Fortunately, this spiritual power was only a superficial exploration. After verifying his soul's origin and confirming that he was human, the spiritual power was immediately withdrawn, and no further exploration was undertaken.

"Fellow Daoist Wei..." After confirming that Wei Tu was a human, the guard captain's smile became a little more sincere.

The Soul Testing Stele only verifies whether a cultivator is human, not their specific cultivation level—but he could also determine from the spiritual pressure Wei Tu had just emitted that Wei Tu was a cultivator at the early stage of the Void Refinement realm, the same realm as him.

Although cultivators at the Refinement stage are assigned to guard the city gates and inspect the coming and going cultivators, they are by no means considered low-level cultivators within the Golden Yue Immortal City.

Tens of millions of native cultivators also live in this city.

Besides, who knows if Wei Tu will stand in the same trench with him in the future and become comrades-in-arms? Befriending him now will provide more security in this dangerous and desolate wilderness in the future.

The two talked for a while.

Wei Tu also learned from the guard captain the cultivator's name, specific cultivation level, and background.

His name is "Liang Ning". He comes from the "Floating Mountain Immortal Realm" of the human race. Like Wei Tu, he comes from a small sect and is not affiliated with the Three Mountains Daoist lineage or the Twelve Immortal Sects that are on par with it.

But after talking for a short while, Wei Tu's divine sense also detected that a bald old man with white hair and beard was walking quickly toward him and Liang Ning, and his gaze... seemed to be locked on him as well.

In that instant, Wei Tu felt a little strange.

There was no other reason than that he recognized this cultivator. When he joined the Qingling Sect, he had seen the cultivator's portrait in the sect's ancestral hall.

He was none other than Master Suxin's master, the former sect leader of the Qingling Sect—Master Rongjing.

He was... his grandmaster.

However, he did not expect that after four or five hundred years, this cultivator had not yet completed his military service and returned to the Divine Fire Immortal Realm, and was still staying in the Golden Yue Immortal City in the Divine Wilderness.

“Fellow Daoist Wei, this is Fellow Daoist Meng Liang. Like you, he also comes from the Divine Fire Immortal Domain…” Liang Ning introduced Wei Tu enthusiastically.

At the same time, he used telepathy to inquire with Master Rongjing whether Wei Tu's identity was genuine.

The Soul Testing Stele can only confirm that Wei Tu is a human cultivator.

However, it is difficult to verify the authenticity of their identity.

This naturally relies on the identification of acquaintances. At the same time, it is also a kind of guarantee system; if something goes wrong, the cultivator who acted as guarantor will also be held jointly liable.

"This cultivator..." Upon seeing Wei Tu, Master Rongjing frowned slightly. He and Master Guanghong were acquaintances, but he had never seen Wei Tu in the Yiqi Temple.

However, he did not deny it. After all, it was normal for a cunning rabbit to have multiple burrows within a sect. Who knew if the Qi Sect was secretly cultivating other Void Refinement cultivators?

"Although Fellow Daoist Meng has never met me, I do know a thing or two about you..." Wei Tu spoke without any stage fright about the Divine Fire Immortal Realm, focusing on the stories and figures of the two major sects, Yi Qi Guan and Qing Ling Zong.

At this point, he pondered for a moment, then took out a blood-stained piece of clothing from his storage artifact and handed it to the Mirror-Melting Master in front of him.

"This garment belonged to Venerable Suxin. On the day Venerable Suxin was injured and being chased... I rescued her in time and thus obtained this item, but I have never had the chance to return it..."

When Wei Tu recounted his past, he simply changed his identity, from Su Xin Shangren's junior disciple to a devoted fellow practitioner of Yi Qi Guan.

Although his relationship with Master Suxin was not necessarily closer than that of Master Suxin as a teacher and disciple, due to some physical intimacy, they were still considered "close friends" who could talk about anything, and he knew about the correspondence between this woman and her teacher.

Therefore, there is no worry that Master Rongjing will expose him in this matter.

—Master Suxin always reported good news and never bad news. In order to avoid worrying Master Rongjing, she never mentioned that she had been seriously injured by the evil monk Qiyu.

Therefore, when Master Rongjing saw Master Suxin's blood-stained and tattered clothes and heard that Master Suxin had suffered such an ordeal... he immediately believed Wei Tu's words completely!

Lies can deceive, but physical evidence cannot.

The blood-stained tattered clothes in Wei Tu's hands exuded an aura from hundreds of years ago... and during this period, there were more than one or two communications between Rongjing Shangren and Suxin Shangren.

Master Rongjing believed that if a thief were to steal Master Suxin's blood-stained tattered clothes, his disciple would not ignore the matter and would give him a heads-up so that he could be on guard.

"But, that girl from Suxinzhai... was willing to let this cultivator leave behind this blood-stained garment, could it be..." Master Rongjing's expression changed, and he vaguely guessed the truth.

In an instant, his gaze toward Wei Tu became scrutinizing.

"Fellow Daoist Wei is indeed a fellow Daoist of the One Qi Sect, this matter should be true." His thoughts kept flashing, but Master Rongjing still took a deep breath, suppressed this distracting thought, and first acknowledged Wei Tu's identity.

"In that case, Fellow Daoist Wei will be received by Fellow Daoist Meng."

Liang Ning smiled faintly and secretly activated his divine sense, instructing the other immortal city guards responsible for vigilance and keeping an eye on the area to go about their respective tasks.

"Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Meng..."

Wei Tu bowed respectfully and said politely.

"It's alright." Master Rongjing forced a smile and led the way, taking Wei Tu to the brokerage firm in the city to rent a suitable cave dwelling, while also showing Wei Tu around and introducing him to the local customs, people, and taboos of Jinyue Immortal City.

The taboos, of course, are the powerful cultivators within the city who are not to be trifled with, and the "second-generation immortals" who have intricate connections with them.

“Unlike you cultivators who came here voluntarily, we soldiers are here to fight outside the city… Once a secret realm is unearthed, or the day an old secret realm opens, we must go to the front lines and fight to the death…”

"Fortunately, I have a good grand-disciple who joined the Human Ancestor Palace. Otherwise, within this Golden Yue Immortal City... I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to survive for so long without perishing..."

After a deep conversation with Wei Tu, Master Rongjing naturally mentioned the thing that had made him most happy and proud over the past few hundred years.

Upon hearing this, Wei Tu knew without guessing who the "grand-disciple" the Venerable Rongjing was referring to was.

Apart from him, other cultivators from the Qingling Sect have no chance to join the Human Ancestor Palace Secret Realm.

"It seems that the human race is still quite humane and has not reduced its preferential treatment of Master Rongjing because of my mysterious disappearance..." Wei Tu's eyes flickered slightly, showing more recognition of the human race in the spirit world.

……

Half a day later.

Wei Tu bid farewell to Master Rongjing and checked into a rented cave dwelling in Jinyue Immortal City.

After entering the cave and resetting the formation, he pondered for a while, then thrust his right hand straight into his chest and took out a palm-sized brocade pouch from the "True Spirit Immortal Bone".

This item was the "Qiankun Bag" he used to conceal Xue Qiongyu.

The Qiankun Bag, similar to the storage bag, is a spatial magic tool. The only difference is that the former can contain living beings that have not been imprinted with the divine soul by cultivators.

However, correspondingly, the privacy of the Qiankun Bag is far less than that of a high-level storage magic artifact.

—The soul imprint ensures that the aura of the living beings in the corpse bag and spirit insect bag is consistent with the aura of the cultivator, preventing spatial fluctuations that could cause spatial shattering and disorder.

Therefore, along the way, Wei Tu could only rely on this method of physical protection to hide Xue Qiongyu's presence.

Fortunately, he was a body cultivator, so minor physical injuries were not a big deal for him, and he could recover in no time.

An ordinary cultivator would find it difficult to deceive everyone using his "crude method." Even the slightest physical strain would easily result in a wound that is difficult to heal.

"Thank you for your hard work, Fairy Xue..." Wei Tu exhaled a breath of turbid air, waved his sleeve, and released Xue Qiongyu, who had been trapped and had her six senses obscured by his spiritual restraint.

"Where are we now?" Xue Qiongyu, who had been in a meditative state, slowly opened her almond-shaped eyes, glanced at the scenery inside the cave, and, seeing that it was not the wilderness she had seen in the past two years, couldn't help but ask curiously.

"This place is the human immortal city of the Divine Wilderness—Jinyue Immortal City," Wei Tu answered truthfully without concealing anything.

"We've actually arrived at the Golden Yue Immortal City..."

Xue Qiongyu looked slightly taken aback, her eyes momentarily glazed over.

If she could, she would prefer the journey to continue.

During these two years, she also became vaguely aware of the precariousness of her situation.

Once she left Wei Tu's "protection," she could hardly imagine what kind of hardships she would face from the Snow Infant Clan and the Mist Ghost Clan.

Those people, including her father, would not consider her predicament; they would only think that she had brought shame upon the Snow Infant Clan and the Mist Ghost Clan.

The road ahead is difficult...

Compared to being blamed by his relatives, Wei Tu found a sense of peace.

During her two years of imprisonment, Wei Tu did not harm her in the slightest. As he claimed, he was merely fulfilling a blood pact made hundreds of years ago.

"But if it weren't for him, how could I have ended up in this situation..." Xue Qiongyu pursed her lips and thought to herself.

Wei Tu, unaware of Xue Qiongyu's thoughts, raised his hand and released some of the spiritual restrictions on Xue Qiongyu, allowing her to practice breathing exercises and recover some of her magical power.

"Snow Fairy will recuperate in this cave for a period of time. Ten years from now, when the Dinghai Immortal Ruins open... I, Wei, will then set you free and enter the Dinghai Immortal Ruins with you..."

After speaking, Wei Tu flicked his sleeves and flew into the secluded cultivation room, leaving Xue Qiongyu alone in the cave's living room.

After Wei Tu left, a bitter smile finally appeared on Xue Qiongyu's calm face.

At this moment, she had to think about what her next move should be.

The first major challenge facing her.

That is, at this moment, her "virginity".

—The opening of the Immortal Ruins of Dinghai is a grand event in the Spirit Realm. At that time, there will surely be cultivators here who will recognize her and see that her primordial yin has not been broken.

At that time, she could hardly imagine the fierce retaliation that she and the Snow Infant Clan would suffer from the Mist Ghost Clan.

A virgin seems better than a "worn-out flower," but in Pei Hong's eyes, it would likely breed hatred.

It is highly likely that she would believe that she deliberately conspired with Wei Tu to escape the Snow Infant Clan and avoid the arranged marriage.

However, she could only keep these words to herself and dared not utter a single word to Wei Tu.

"Grandma Tu, I actually hope that Wei Tu isn't so rule-abiding..." Xue Qiongyu gazed at the secluded training room in the distance and sighed softly to herself.

Being forced to endure it is much easier than choosing it willingly. Although she wasn't particularly fond of Wei Tu during their two years together, she didn't mind giving him her virginity.

In any case, her primordial yin essence had been locked by Pei Hong several hundred years ago; it was all part of a transaction.

If she can accept Pei Hong, there's no reason why she wouldn't accept Wei Tu.

“This Wei Tu is indeed no ordinary person. I know how beautiful you are, Yu’er. The fact that he hasn’t been tempted and has endured until now... either he has something very grand in his plans, or he is extremely virtuous and not attracted to beautiful women.” Granny Tu paused a few times before replying.

"But your hunch is right. Now that things have come to this, your best place to go is... here with Wei Tu."

"In this vast Spirit Realm, only Wei Tu can accommodate you, protect you, and safeguard your path to immortality. The past is like smoke, all gone. You need to make plans soon... Snow Infant Clan, you have already done more than enough, and you have done everything you could..."

"Now, it's time for you to be a little selfish."

Granny Tu said in a deep voice, intending to use this opportunity to help Xue Qiongyu make up her mind.

This statement is completely contrary to what she said two years ago.

But the fundamental purpose is the same.

—For Xue Qiongyu's sake!
Previously, she didn't want Xue Qiongyu to be easily fooled and lose both her money and her heart. Now, however, she's trying to find the best way out for Xue Qiongyu. (End of Chapter)