Chapter 497: Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed, Taking It All Alone
Even though he already knew that after his disappearance for over 400 years, the Myriad Yin Sect—lacking a late Nascent Soul cultivator like him—would inevitably draw the covetous eyes of outsiders, knowing was one thing, and hearing it confirmed now still made it hard to bear.
And unlike other outside threats, Ancestor Tianxie was a vicious and ruthless demonic cultivator, even more cruel than most in the demonic path. If he learned for certain that Ancestor Chìlóng was dead, the consequences would be almost unimaginable.
Seeing this, Wei Tu, resting his chin on his hand, only let his eyes flicker slightly. He stayed silent and didn’t interrupt.
[Qi Chengchu has infiltrated the Myriad Yin Sect.]
Judging from Ancestor Chìlóng’s reaction, their interests in this matter were perfectly aligned—
They both wanted Qi Chengchu dead.
Wei Tu wanted him dead for revenge.
Ancestor Chìlóng, on the other hand, saw killing Qi Chengchu not only as removing a threat from within the Myriad Yin Sect, but also as a warning to Ancestor Tianxie. After all, if Qi Chengchu died, it would indirectly prove that Ancestor Chìlóng was still alive.
However, there was one key difference in what each of them knew—
Ancestor Chìlóng had no idea just how deep the grudge between Wei Tu and Qi Chengchu ran, nor whether they were truly mortal enemies.
Which meant that if Ancestor Chìlóng wanted this done, not knowing this background, he would have to ask Wei Tu for help.
And asking for help meant… payment.
Sure enough, just as Wei Tu had expected, after a short silence, Ancestor Chìlóng couldn’t suppress his anger any longer. He offered Wei Tu benefits in exchange for killing Qi Chengchu—once Wei Tu broke through to the mid Nascent Soul stage.
"In the Myriad Yin Sect, I have a Soul-Refining Banner I crafted in my early years. It contains the souls of every opponent I killed after breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm," Ancestor Chìlóng said coldly. "Its power is such that even a late Nascent Soul cultivator would avoid clashing head-on with it. Fellow Daoist Wei, if you go to my Myriad Yin Sect and retrieve this banner… killing Ancestor Tianxie’s disciple shouldn’t be difficult."
He didn’t know about the personal grudge between Wei Tu and Qi Chengchu, so he ignored the name entirely, treating him as just another ordinary Nascent Soul disciple under Ancestor Tianxie.
"Even late Nascent Soul cultivators would avoid it? That’s basically a top-grade fourth-tier magic treasure, isn’t it?" Wei Tu’s expression shifted at the thought. He understood that this was the price Ancestor Chìlóng was willing to pay for his help.
But instead of immediately agreeing, he paused and asked about something else.
"Old Demon Zhu, Ancestor Tianxie shouldn’t be interested in seizing your sect’s foundation for its own sake. Sending Qi Chengchu to infiltrate the Myriad Yin Sect must be for something specific, right?" Wei Tu asked calmly.
He remembered what Gong Shulan had told him—Ancestor Tianxie had been urgent, even anxious, when pushing Qi Chengchu to handle this matter, as if it were something tied directly to his own life and death.
Clearly, Ancestor Tianxie’s goal wasn’t simply to take advantage of the situation to seize the Myriad Yin Sect’s holdings. It was more like he wanted to steal some special treasure that Ancestor Chìlóng had left hidden there.
That treasure might not even be a spiritual item—it could be a cultivation art, a secret technique, or something else entirely.
"What exactly do you know, Fellow Daoist Wei?" Ancestor Chìlóng’s tone instantly turned cold. His remnant soul floated out of the Dragon Glaze Pearl, fixing Wei Tu with a sharp gaze as if trying to read something from his face.
The air between them instantly grew heavy, charged with tension like drawn blades.
But Wei Tu seemed to have expected this reaction. His expression stayed calm and unshaken as he looked back into Ancestor Chìlóng’s eyes.
Times had changed.
Now it was Ancestor Chìlóng who needed him, not the other way around.
And by this point, he had already extracted plenty of cultivation methods and secret techniques from the old demon. Even if those were just a small fraction of what Ancestor Chìlóng possessed, they were more than enough for Wei Tu to make use of for a long time.
So even if they fell out right now, Wei Tu wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.
That was the confidence he held now.
"Good, good, good! Unloading the donkey once the mill’s done—Fellow Daoist Wei, you’ve certainly picked up the ways of our demonic path," Ancestor Chìlóng said, laughing coldly in anger.
Still, he didn’t keep mocking Wei Tu or push the conflict further.
Instead, after giving Wei Tu a deep look, he shifted the topic and finally spoke of the “treasure” in the Myriad Yin Sect that Ancestor Tianxie so desired.
"The Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed," Ancestor Chìlóng said, enunciating each word clearly.
"The Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed is the supreme treasure of my Myriad Yin Sect. It’s said that if a cultivator fuses with it, they can change their race and transform into one of the Heavenly Ghost clan."
"In the Myriad Yin Sect, there’s nothing else that Ancestor Tianxie would covet more than this."
"Transform into a Heavenly Ghost?" Wei Tu raised his brows in surprise.
He had once read about this rare race in an old text.
All living beings—whether human, demonic beasts, or spirit-born plants—had a physical body. The Heavenly Ghost clan was an exception.
They were born without a body, existing only as a soul.
Because of this nature, they were named “Heavenly Ghosts”—natural-born ghost cultivators.
'Could turning into a Heavenly Ghost remove the hidden danger of having a soul mixed and corrupted from overusing the Soul-Devouring Wood?' Wei Tu quickly guessed at Ancestor Tianxie’s motive.
According to Gong Shulan, Ancestor Tianxie now had less than 300 years of lifespan remaining.
If he wanted to live longer, he had only two options—continue using life-extension secret arts, or break through to the Divine Transformation realm to extend his life the proper way.
The first path, Wei Tu knew, would have little effect for him now.
After all, life-extension arts only added years; they didn’t grant endless life. Normally, each one could only be used once.
Which meant that by now, with Ancestor Tianxie’s current lifespan, he had most likely already exhausted every Nascent Soul–level life-extending art available.
In other words, his only remaining way to live longer was to break through to the Divine Transformation stage and extend his life by advancing in realm.
The Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed couldn’t directly push Ancestor Tianxie into Divine Transformation, but its unique nature might greatly help him remove the obstacles along that path.
Ancestor Chilong nodded slightly, confirming Wei Tu’s guess, but then sneered and added,
"Becoming a Heavenly Ghost can indeed make that old Scorpion’s soul pure and flawless. But to turn from human into a member of the Heavenly Ghost clan—how could it be that easy? One small accident and it’s certain death."
"That old Scorpion is just panicking now that his lifespan is running out."
Wei Tu didn’t respond. He only half-believed Ancestor Chilong’s words. In his eyes, this sounded more like something Ancestor Chilong made up to keep him from going after the Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed himself.
…
With Ancestor Chilong’s openness, plus the temptation of a Soul-Refining Banner equal to a top-grade tier-4 magic treasure… Wei Tu soon found himself "forced" to agree—once he broke through to mid Nascent Soul, he would go to Myriad Yin Sect and kill Qi Chengchu.
As for the Heavenly Ghost Soul Seed, Wei Tu didn’t ask for it. He didn’t even ask where it was hidden.
After all, for a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator like him with plenty of lifespan left, it was worthless. There was no need to risk crossing Ancestor Chilong’s bottom line for it.
‘Leave some room when dealing with people, so you can meet again in the future.’
Whether Ancestor Chilong thought the same way, Wei Tu didn’t care. He only needed to keep his own side clean.
Back then, in the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm, he had collected the corpse of a Huang Clan Foundation Establishment cultivator and returned it to their family. The Huang Clan still drove him out afterward, but doing the same for Qiu Buchen had earned him the Soul Dao secret art Koi Dragon Yin Blade from Master Shentu. That technique had helped him a lot along his cultivation path.
…
After finishing their talk about Myriad Yin Sect, Wei Tu returned to his rented cave dwelling to train in silence, waiting for the Flying Immortal Alliance’s trade fair to begin.
During this time, he managed to break through to the peak of early Nascent Soul with the help of spirit crystals.
Time flew.
Half a year later, the Flying Immortal Alliance’s secret market trade fair opened as scheduled.
Wearing the silver mask formed by his token, Wei Tu walked into the venue and sat down again with Yu Clan’s Old Ancestor, Old Ghost Cai, and Hu Yantu.
"It’s been decades since we last met. I wonder, Fellow Daoist Wei, has your alchemy skill improved?" Hu Yantu asked warmly.
Since Beastmaster Sect had moved from Jing Kingdom to Chu Kingdom, its prestige had greatly declined. The only Nascent Soul cultivator holding the sect together was Hu Yantu himself.
He urgently needed to train the next generation of Nascent Soul cultivators to ease the pressure. But Huaying Pills were rare, and it was even harder to find a tier-4 alchemist who could refine them for a reasonable price.
So whether Wei Tu’s alchemy had reached tier-4 mattered a great deal to him and to the Beastmaster Sect.
"I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you, Brother Hu. My alchemy hasn’t improved in these decades," Wei Tu said with a small shake of his head.
Under normal circumstances, with decades of accumulation, reaching tier-4 in alchemy wouldn’t have been too difficult. But he had spent much of that time in the overseas cultivation world of the Guixu Sea with Cao Mi, gaining many opportunities there but delaying his alchemy progress.
He didn’t regret it. Alchemy was only a way to earn cultivation resources on his path to immortality, not the goal itself.
Hearing this, Hu Yantu sighed inwardly, a little disappointed. Still, he wasn’t about to turn cold toward Wei Tu over just this. He was about to change the subject when Wei Tu said something that instantly lit up his eyes.
"Brother Wei, are you saying… your talisman craft has already reached tier-4, and you even have a few successfully made tier-4 talisman treasures on hand?" Hu Yantu asked quickly, excitement showing in his eyes.
Increasing his own combat strength might not help the Beastmaster Sect as much as raising a new Nascent Soul successor, but it could still deter enemies and protect the sect’s legacy.
"That’s right. I became a tier-4 talisman master ten years ago," Wei Tu nodded, confirming it.
The Golden Flame Pearl was no joke—it was one of his best current weapons. But making it consumed huge amounts of tier-4 talisman paper and spiritual ink.
And once materials reached tier-4, they were extremely scarce in the Great Cang cultivation world. Even with his status as a Divine Master of the Ying Ding Tribe, he could only gather enough to make about 10 Golden Flame Pearls at most.
That wasn’t a small number, but in fights with strong enemies, it would be used up quickly.
So seeking materials from outside had become necessary—and Hu Yantu was the perfect person to "procure" tier-4 talisman paper and spiritual ink for him.
After all, over the years, Beastmaster Sect’s stores surely contained many corpses of tier-4 spirit beasts.
"In that case, once the trade fair ends, you and I can make a private deal…" Hu Yantu said via voice transmission, suppressing his smile.
"As many talisman treasures as you have, my Beastmaster Sect will take them all," he added.
Although he’d come with Yu Clan’s Old Ancestor and Old Ghost Cai, he had no intention of letting them get a share of Wei Tu’s talismans. If everyone increased their strength, there’d be no point in his purchase.
So even if it cost him more, he intended to buy up every talisman Wei Tu had.
Wei Tu smiled faintly, instantly understanding his plan.
"I can agree to that, Brother Hu," Wei Tu said. "But there’s one condition—you must agree to sell me every piece of tier-4 spirit beast hide and blood stored in the Beastmaster Sect’s treasury."