Chapter 513: Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange, Kou Hongying’s Return to Life
After storing away the Joyous Nuo Mask, Wei Tu’s gaze shifted again, landing on Yuwen Lianggu, who still lay unconscious on the ground.
He hadn’t killed her earlier while retrieving the Joyous Nuo Mask for a reason.
It wasn’t because he felt pity or hesitation toward harming women.
It was because she was crucial to Kou Hongying’s resurrection.
—The Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange Technique was the key to Kou Hongying’s return to life. And the foundation of this technique required a living sacrifice of the same or higher cultivation realm.
That was the only reason he had kept Yuwen Lianggu alive until now.
Otherwise, she would’ve died at the start of his battle with Liu Yu Daoist.
...
Resurrecting Kou Hongying wasn’t something that could be done overnight.
It would also require the assistance of another cultivator.
After all, Kou Hongying was a female cultivator, and certain delicate matters still needed attention.
So, after discussing it with Kou Hongying, Wei Tu used his escape light to fly straight to Mirror Water Pavilion and summoned Qiu Huaisu, who had been cultivating in her cave residence.
"Venerable Master Wei..."
Qiu Huaisu, dressed in a light moon-colored robe, stepped gracefully out of her cave. Her face brightened with joy as she bowed respectfully to Wei Tu.
This was the first time Wei Tu had sought her out on his own since she joined Mirror Water Pavilion.
Though he had contacted her once before through her master Kou Hongying due to a letter from her younger brother Qiu Buchen, it hadn’t been a direct approach like this.
But just as she finished bowing, she noticed someone lying on the ground behind Wei Tu—a beautiful woman with elegant features, clearly unconscious—Yuwen Lianggu.
At the sight of this, the excitement in Qiu Huaisu’s heart was immediately doused. It wasn’t hard to guess that Wei Tu had come with a purpose and not just to see her.
"There’s something important I need to take care of. I need to borrow your cave residence for a while—would that be alright?"
Wei Tu didn’t pay much attention to her expression. He nodded in return and, after a brief pause, spoke frankly.
"Of course, that’s no problem."
Qiu Huaisu quickly agreed without hesitation.
Wei Tu was a Nascent Soul cultivator asking politely—she couldn’t afford to decline. More than that, he was the master of her master, Kou Hongying. She had no right to refuse.
In fact, the fact that he was even discussing it with her showed great courtesy and restraint on his part.
"But… Venerable Master Wei, what do you need to do in my cave residence?"
After agreeing, Qiu Huaisu suddenly realized what she’d just allowed. A slight blush crept across her face, and her heart fluttered. After all, a cave residence was a deeply private space—especially for a female cultivator.
That was when—
She saw the body of Kou Hongying emerge from Wei Tu’s storage pouch.
"Master?"
Inside the cave, Qiu Huaisu turned pale. Her blush drained in an instant, and she nearly collapsed from shock.
She had been accepted by Kou Hongying as a disciple at the age of fourteen.
After two or three hundred years of companionship, she had long regarded Kou Hongying as her own mother.
A teacher’s grace was as deep as the sea.
And now, before she had even had a chance to repay a sliver of that debt, Kou Hongying had passed away. How could she accept that? How could she even process it?
"Master..." Qiu Huaisu knelt to the ground, weeping. Her expression was full of sorrow and helplessness—it was heartbreaking to watch.
But before she could cry for long, she suddenly heard Kou Hongying’s voice near her ear.
Qiu Huaisu froze for a moment, unsure if it was a hallucination or real.
"I’m not dead yet!"
Seeing this scene, Kou Hongying’s soul emerged from the Spirit-Capturing Talisman. While feeling gratified, she also repeated herself helplessly.
With her years of worldly experience, she could tell Qiu Huaisu’s grief was sincere, not staged.
In that moment, Kou Hongying herself wasn’t sure whether her forced “death” was a good thing or a bad thing.
After all, in one’s life, to be mourned so deeply after death... was something worth feeling grateful for.
It meant her life hadn’t been lived in vain.
Even more so because that mourner was the only disciple she had poured years of effort into.
"Master, you’re not dead?"
This time, Qiu Huaisu was sure. She turned, eyes shining with joy, and looked at Kou Hongying’s soul floating behind her.
Not long after, as Kou Hongying explained the situation, Qiu Huaisu finally understood everything.
"Even though Venerable Master Wei came to find me because of Master... as long as Master is alive, that’s all that matters."
While speaking joyfully, Qiu Huaisu also sighed quietly to herself.
Even though she’d known from the start that Wei Tu’s visit had an ulterior motive, a part of her still held on to hope.
Just like the hope she’d once held toward Wei Tu when she first admired him.
Now—
With Kou Hongying’s return from the dead, that dream had also come to an end.
...
"Wei Tu, stop!"
"You can’t… You can’t do this. You’re a righteous path cultivator! You can’t treat me like this!"
Half a day later, inside Qiu Huaisu’s cave, Yuwen Lianggu finally woke up from her long unconscious state.
She glanced down and saw that both her wrists and ankles had been cut open, with blood steadily flowing into a nearby blood pool. In that pool lay Kou Hongying, her body soaking like a corpse.
Terror flooded her face as she screamed.
At this moment, she didn’t know exactly what kind of ritual Wei Tu was performing, but it wasn’t hard to guess—he was clearly using some demonic method, sacrificing her to save Kou Hongying, who had once lost to her.
She could already feel the vitality draining rapidly from her body as her blood flowed out.
If it went on like this for another two or three days, she would surely die from being bled dry.
"Wei Tu, let me go! If you kill me, the She Ri Tribe won’t let you off! My master won’t let you off! Liu Yu Daoist won’t let you off either!"
Yuwen Lianggu’s face was pale with terror. Seeing that begging didn’t work, she immediately switched to threats.
She’d been knocked unconscious at the very start of the battle due to the fierce clash between Wei Tu and Liu Yu Daoist. So she had no idea what had happened afterward. She simply assumed Wei Tu had lost the fight, escaped, and dragged her here.
After all, someone like Liu Yu Daoist—at such a high realm—how could he possibly lose to a “newly advanced Nascent Soul” like Wei Tu?
Mentioning Liu Yu Daoist immediately gave her confidence again. She said coldly, "Wei Tu, Liu Yu Daoist told me clearly he was going to take me as his Dao companion. If you dare treat me like this now, once he finds out, he won’t spare your family!"
Nascent Soul cultivator duels didn’t involve family.
That was an unspoken rule in the righteous path.
Even though Yuwen Lianggu knew this rule didn’t really apply between Wei Tu and Liu Yu Daoist, she still tried to use it to pressure Wei Tu into stopping.
"Liu Yu Daoist?" Wei Tu finally responded as he sat cross-legged by the blood pool.
He frowned slightly, gave her a calm look, and said, "This place is well-hidden. It would take at least five days for Liu Yu Daoist to find it. And in those five days, I’ll have more than enough time to escape."
"Five days?"
Yuwen Lianggu’s eyes lit up when she heard that. Hope instantly sparked in her heart.
She just had to survive five days, and then Liu Yu Daoist would arrive and save her!
"Five days—I just have to hold on for five days!"
She clenched her teeth, stopped wasting her limited energy on arguing, and forced herself to endure the pain of having her blood drained and the dizziness from losing too much essence. She willed herself to stay alive.
She had to wait for Liu Yu Daoist to come.
To avenge her humiliation!
"Wei Tu, just wait! In five days, I’ll make you suffer!" Yuwen Lianggu was full of hatred. Her pearly teeth clenched so hard that blood seeped out between them.
But what she didn’t know...
Was that Liu Yu Daoist—the man she was counting on—had already been hunted down and killed by Wei Tu and the others half a day ago.
‘With that kind of will to live, the four days needed for the Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange Technique should be doable for her.’
Wei Tu looked over at Kou Hongying’s “corpse” soaking in the blood pool and thought silently.
The casting time for the Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange Technique varied depending on the individual. If Kou Hongying had cultivated it before, it would’ve only taken two or three days to complete the blood exchange and restore her life.
Unfortunately, time was tight and Kou Hongying had never practiced this technique.
So they’d have to spend an extra two days.
Still, those two extra days wouldn’t affect the result at all.
Even if Yuwen Lianggu couldn’t last the full four days, it wouldn’t stop Kou Hongying from being revived.
But in that case, Wei Tu would have to find another person to top off her blood supply.
And if he did that, Kou Hongying’s bloodline would become more impure, and her potential in cultivation would definitely take a hit.
‘If everything goes right, Hongying might even have a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.’ Wei Tu’s eyes flickered as the image of Lüqiu Jinyuan flashed through his mind.
If he ever had the chance to kill Lüqiu Jinyuan—a true-blood descendant of a True Spirit—and used the Spirit-Reversing Rebirth Technique to give Kou Hongying another blood exchange, then she might really reach the Nascent Soul realm.
But unless it was absolutely necessary, Wei Tu didn’t want her to take that route.
Because the Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange Technique was, after all, a demonic method. Using it to force Kou Hongying into a breakthrough was no different from forcibly pulling up sprouts to make them grow.
Once she used this method to break into the Nascent Soul realm…
Unless she found someone with even higher bloodline purity to replace it again, she’d be stuck for the rest of her life with no way forward.
Time passed.
One day.
Two days.
On the third day, Kou Hongying’s “corpse” finally moved. It seemed the resurrection was working.
She slowly opened her eyes. Her jade arms moved slightly in the blood pool, stirring soft ripples on the surface. Her flawless body—curved and crystal-clear—was now half-exposed in the red water.
Seeing this, Qiu Huaisu, who had been standing guard nearby, quickly cast a spell to release mist, covering her master’s exposed figure from view.
"So this is the Spirit-Reversing Blood Exchange Technique?"
After sleeping in her own “corpse” for two days, Kou Hongying finally woke up. She focused inwardly and, sensing how her life force was now deeply bound to Yuwen Lianggu’s, couldn’t help feeling surprised.
Right now, she could clearly sense that as long as she activated the technique, she could continuously draw vitality from Yuwen Lianggu to nourish herself.