I am a Late Bloomer in the Immortal World

"Wei Tu must not be provoked lightly!"

In that instant, both Huyan Tu and Old Ancestor Yu silently branded Wei Tu with this label in their hearts.

If Wei Tu’s earlier feat of slaying Old Ghost Cai alone was proof of his strength, then now, his ruthless extermination of the surviving Cai Clan cultivators established his authority as a true Nascent Soul ancestor.

He was not the type of man who could be taken advantage of by “righteous courtesy.”

Next—

Huyan Tu and Old Ancestor Yu wasted no time. The two exchanged a glance, then rose into flight, their escape lights streaking across the sky. Using the Blood Guidance Secret Art, they began scouring the Chu Kingdom for traces of any surviving Cai Clan remnants.

Compared to Wei Tu, the two were more concerned with whether every last direct descendant of the Cai Clan had truly been wiped out.

After all, in the destruction of the Shangliang Cai Clan, their sects—the Beastmaster Sect and the Guangyuan Yu Family—had been the direct executioners, deeply involved from beginning to end.

This meant that if any “Cai Clan orphans” sought revenge in the future, the very first targets would be their two factions.

…

With two Nascent Soul ancestors personally conducting the search, the result was swift.

Scattered remnants of the Cai Clan hiding throughout the Chu Kingdom were discovered one by one and slaughtered on the spot.

"Anyone who shelters a Cai Clan cultivator is an enemy of the Beastmaster Sect and the Guangyuan Yu Family. Kill without mercy!"

Even as they massacred the last of the Cai Clan, Huyan Tu and Old Ancestor Yu did not forget to send warnings to the other powers.

Though before Wei Tu they were cautious, not daring to raise their voices, in front of the other sects and clans, their posture was entirely different—they stood as figures to be revered and feared.

As for factions on their same level…

With the lingering pressure from Wei Tu’s defeat of Venerable Master Ziyang, even the boldest of them had no choice but to give face and avoid offense.

Thus, in only a short span of time, the entire cultivation world of the Chu Kingdom was shaken by the Beastmaster Sect and Guangyuan Yu Family’s purge of the Cai Clan remnants.

While the other powers trembled in fear, Huyan Tu and Old Ancestor Yu smoothly completed the task Wei Tu had given them.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, several of our peers have sent visiting cards. They hope to meet with you…"

"What do you think?"

More than ten days after the clan’s destruction, Huyan Tu came to a valley near Rotten Peach Mountain. Rubbing his palms together, he glanced at Wei Tu, who was meditating cross-legged in seclusion, and spoke in a tone that was almost fawning.

Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators were lords among lords in Chu Kingdom.

If Wei Tu agreed to meet as a “fellow Daoist” with the other Nascent Soul ancestors, then Huyan Tu’s own standing within the kingdom would rise immensely.

Such prestige would in turn benefit his cultivation, his Beastmaster Sect, and many other matters.

The advantages were countless.

From then on, he would naturally become the invisible spokesman of this mid-stage Nascent Soul powerhouse.

Wei Tu, with his worldly experience, easily saw through Huyan Tu’s little scheme.

But instead of rejecting the request outright, he feigned hesitation, then nodded his assent.

He believed that with Huyan Tu’s shrewdness, he would know the limits of using Wei Tu’s name.

And Wei Tu himself needed Huyan Tu to widen his connections in Chu Kingdom’s cultivation world and weave a proper network of influence.

By this point, he was very clear about the flaw of relying solely on strength and walking the path of a lone wolf.

Yes, immortal cultivation could allow one to live well without depending on others.

But once a great crisis came, a solitary cultivator was often left helpless.

In simple terms, their ability to withstand risk was far too fragile.

Even at the Nascent Soul realm, the same principle applied.

Though Nascent Soul ancestors stood at the very peak beneath Divine Transformation, this did not mean they could rest easy.

How had the Daoist of Six Desires perished?

Wei Tu had seen it with his own eyes and remembered it clearly.

Thus, at this moment, he did not reject Huyan Tu’s invitation to band together.

On the contrary, he welcomed it.

"Who has come?" Wei Tu opened his eyes, exhaling a turbid breath. He casually pulled a meditation cushion from his storage pouch and gestured for Huyan Tu to sit.

Seeing this, Huyan Tu was overjoyed at the sign of Wei Tu’s goodwill, and his smile grew even brighter.

"As for the early Nascent Soul cultivators, they need not be mentioned. I trust Fellow Daoist Wei will not mind meeting them all together when the time comes."

"I’ll only speak of the mid-stage Nascent Souls."

After a moment of thought, Huyan Tu continued.

He then began to talk at length about the two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators who had sent visiting cards requesting to meet Wei Tu.

The first was “Daoist Yuyang,” the elder brother of Venerable Master Ziyang.

Though his visiting card did not state it directly, both Wei Tu and Huyan Tu could guess his purpose—most likely, he came to offer apologies on behalf of his younger brother.

After all, even the First Dao Gate, Shengya Mountain, would not dare lightly offend a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

The second was “Venerable Master Jiu Li,” a loose cultivator from the Zheng Kingdom who had moved to Chu years ago during the righteous-vs-demonic war.

In his visiting card, he declared he simply wished to befriend a peer of equal realm.

But when Wei Tu heard this name, his calmness faltered.

Venerable Master Jiu Li was none other than the Nascent Soul Dao companion of Madam Lan, whom Wei Tu had once encountered.

That alone would not have been much.

The problem was that Madam Lan’s death was closely tied to him.

Back then, if he had not secretly taken away the “Spirit-Linking Treasure” from the Great Void Realm, Madam Lan would not have been suspected by Fox Mountain and others, nor would she have been killed in the ensuing chaos by the Demon Lord Gui Luo.

Back then, Venerable Master Jiu Li might not have noticed, but since he revealed decades ago that his chance to break through to Nascent Soul was tied to the Great Void Realm, there was now a fair chance he could connect the dots.

Wei Tu’s involvement wasn’t the main cause of Madam Lan’s death. But if Venerable Master Jiu Li held a narrow heart and chose to blame him, that would not be strange at all.

"Then I’ll just adapt as needed."

Wei Tu shook his head, unconcerned. After all, he was concealing his true identity in Chu Kingdom this time. Venerable Master Jiu Li had no idea that he was “Wei Tu” himself.

Even if Venerable Master Jiu Li did find out, Wei Tu wasn’t worried.

They were both mid-stage Nascent Soul. Though his cultivation was a bit weaker than this veteran ancestor, he had no reason to overly fear him.

Things were different now!

He was no longer that little Golden Core junior who once hid at the Zheng Kingdom’s border, secretly watching Venerable Master Jiu Li fight the Demon Lord Gui Luo.

…

Two days later.

Wei Tu met with Venerable Master Jiu Li and Daoist Yuyang at the Beastmaster Sect, where Huyan Tu resided.

But he didn’t see them together. Instead, he received each one separately in different caves.

The first to arrive was Daoist Yuyang, who lived not far from the Beastmaster Sect.

"My junior brother Ziyang has been focused on cultivation within the sect, inexperienced in worldly matters. He was deceived by the Shangliang Cai Clan and ended up offending Fellow Daoist. I beg your forgiveness."

Daoist Yuyang bowed deeply, offering his apology.

Through his junior brother Ziyang, he already knew the full story behind the Cai Clan’s destruction.

He understood that the Shangliang Cai Clan wasn’t innocent, that they had been dragged into death by Old Ghost Cai, and that the direct descendants themselves hadn’t committed crimes deserving execution…

But words were for the living to hear.

He certainly wouldn’t stand before Wei Tu and scold him for being too ruthless, claiming it went against the righteous path.

In truth, what righteous sect didn’t have innocent blood on its hands?

There were times when reasoning simply didn’t work.

"Ziyang is someone I’ve always admired. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have deliberately held back and spared him once."

"As for helping the wrong people… that’s not worth mentioning."

Wei Tu waved his hand, showing he didn’t take the matter to heart.

After all, when someone came in person to apologize, one couldn’t keep clinging to it.

Besides, he never intended to hold Ziyang responsible. Sparing him was merely repaying a past favor.

"In that case, I can rest easy," Daoist Yuyang let out a faint sigh of relief, a kindly smile spreading across his face.

Though he wasn’t afraid of Wei Tu, it was never good to bring needless trouble to his sect.

Afterward, to show sincerity, Daoist Yuyang shared his own insights into cultivation at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Following this exchange, the two naturally grew much more familiar.

At this point, Daoist Yuyang casually asked about Wei Tu’s background and sect, as well as his name and title.

A mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator couldn’t simply appear out of nowhere. Each one had a history to trace.

And the Beastmaster Sect, being just a host sect for outsiders, had no record of someone like Wei Tu.

That left only one possibility—that he came from another sect or region.

Though Daoist Yuyang asked in an offhand manner, Wei Tu could easily tell this old man had been laying the groundwork for quite a while, just to reach this question.

Still, answering it was unavoidable.

Or rather, before he even decided to approach Daoist Yuyang and Venerable Master Jiu Li, he had already considered what identity he should take before them.

"To be honest with Fellow Daoist Yuyang, my surname is Fu. I come from the Demonic Extreme Sea. Among demonic cultivators there, they call me Daoist Fu." Wei Tu hesitated a moment, then slowly gave this answer.

Mid-stage Nascent Soul at only five hundred years old.

Wei Tu knew all too well how eye-catching such an achievement was.

Unless absolutely necessary, he would never reveal his true identity to outsiders.

And if one wished to fabricate a mid-stage Nascent Soul identity in righteous lands, nothing was more fitting than claiming to hail from the demonic path.

Besides, with Ancestor Chilong standing behind him, he had no reason to worry about convincing others of this persona.

"Demonic Extreme Sea?" Daoist Yuyang’s expression instantly cleared, understanding why Wei Tu had been so guarded about his origins.

It was simple. The righteous sects wouldn’t openly hunt down a mid-stage demonic cultivator, but exposure was still far from good.

Yet after thinking it over, suspicion rose in his heart again. Wei Tu’s law body radiated clarity and purity, nothing like the gloomy aura typical of demonic cultivators.

If this was a secret technique concealing it… then why hadn’t there been the slightest leak during his two battles with Ziyang?

Daoist Yuyang didn’t bury this doubt. Instead, he asked Wei Tu about it directly.

Wei Tu, already prepared, only smiled. "Does Fellow Daoist Yuyang truly believe that all cultivators from the demonic lands only practice demonic arts?"

At those words, Daoist Yuyang froze.

After some thought, he shook his head seriously and replied, "No."

Compared to righteous techniques, demonic ones did offer advantages, but also heavy drawbacks.

For those with poor talent and meager resources, they had no choice but to practice demonic arts.

But for those with good talent and ample resources, why would they rush for quick results, only to ruin their Dao path with flawed demonic methods?

Indeed, Daoist Yuyang had heard of many great demonic overlords whose descendants all cultivated righteous arts rather than the flawed techniques of their homeland.

Even if some tales were exaggerated, the example of the Tian Nü Sect couldn’t be false.

That sect, once part of the righteous path, had defected to the demonic side. Yet the arts they practiced were still the same righteous techniques as before, only modified with more aggressive demonic secret methods in combat.

"It seems this old man has been prejudiced." Daoist Yuyang let out a sigh, then smiled.

For righteous cultivators, having this “old demon” Wei Tu appear in their territory was hardly good news. But for the sects of Chu Kingdom, it wasn’t necessarily terrible either.

At the very least, it meant Wei Tu was unlikely to meddle in the disputes among Chu’s sects. He would act as an outsider.

And for Clear Feather Sect, that was already more than enough.

His visit to Wei Tu wasn’t just to apologize on Ziyang’s behalf. He also wanted to probe Wei Tu’s intentions as a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert, so his sect could be prepared early.

Now, his worries were eased.

Still, to be sure, Daoist Yuyang didn’t stop there. He kept asking questions, this time about the Demonic Extreme Sea.

Though he had never gone there himself, Clear Feather Sect had old texts describing its customs and geography. Using those records, he carefully questioned Wei Tu.

With Ancestor Chilong at his side, Wei Tu answered smoothly, easily dispelling Yuyang’s doubts.

"Since Fellow Daoist Fu spared my junior brother, I won’t press you too much. Still, I must urge you—while in righteous lands, try not to do things like what happened to the Shangliang Cai Clan again…"

Before leaving, Daoist Yuyang bowed once more and spoke these words.

"Of course."

Wei Tu didn’t argue. He nodded and gave the necessary assurance.

…

Not long after Daoist Yuyang departed, Venerable Master Jiu Li arrived at the Beastmaster Sect to meet Wei Tu.

Like Yuyang, Jiu Li was also very interested in Wei Tu’s true background.

Naturally, Wei Tu gave him the same false identity—that of "Daoist Fu" from the Demonic Extreme Sea.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing he was a demonic cultivator, Venerable Master Jiu Li grew even warmer in attitude.

"Brother Fu, since you’re from the Demonic Extreme Sea, have you ever heard of the Tianjue Demon Palace?" Jiu Li asked.

At that, Wei Tu’s mind stirred. He realized Jiu Li was likely hoping to use him to strike back at Jiu Chuan, the old demon who had killed his beloved Madam Lan.

"That demonic sect, of course I’ve heard of it." Wei Tu’s eyes flickered as he nodded.

Then, with a faint smile, he spoke about what he knew of the Tianjue Demon Palace, giving his assessments of its Nascent Soul elders.

Before long, he reached the name of one of its top experts—Jiu Chuan, the old demon.

At that name, Jiu Li’s expression darkened. He bowed and said, "To be honest with you, Daoist Fu, I have a blood feud with this Jiu Chuan. He slew my wife. If you can provide me with detailed information about him, I would be deeply grateful."

Between cultivators of the same rank, intelligence was vital.

With the right information, Jiu Li might even bypass Tianjue Demon Palace itself, kill Jiu Chuan, and avenge his wife.

In Wei Tu, Jiu Li now saw that hope.

As someone from the demonic lands, Wei Tu had a far better chance of getting such details than a righteous rogue cultivator like him.

Hearing this, Wei Tu felt a jolt of delight inside.

He hadn’t expected Jiu Li to come to him, of all people, with such a request.

Still, though pleased, he kept his face calm. He furrowed his brow as if hesitating, weighing whether to agree.

"Helping Daoist Jiu Li with this is possible. But I absolutely won’t do it without proper payment."

After a pause, Wei Tu finally spoke, his tone steady.

"Payment? Naturally."

Jiu Li felt a rush of relief and agreed at once.

For a moment, he had feared Wei Tu would outright refuse. After all, provoking Jiu Chuan was no small danger.

But no—it was simply a matter of reward.

He had already prepared for that.

Yet his relief didn’t last long. Wei Tu’s next words froze his smile.

"What? Daoist Fu, you want my Law of Heaven and Earth divine ability?" Jiu Li’s expression turned grim.

The Law of Heaven and Earth divine power, like the Nascent Soul leaving the body, was a technique exclusive to the Divine Transformation stage.

His own version, called the Little Big Dipper Star Divine Technique, wasn’t truly that realm’s ability but was still a high-grade secret art.

And it was his trump card, one he treasured like life itself.

Now Wei Tu casually demanded it as payment. Even with all his generosity, he couldn’t agree so easily.

"Daoist Jiu Li, don’t be so quick to refuse. First, look at this jade slip."

At that moment, Wei Tu’s voice sounded directly in Jiu Li’s ear.

Jiu Li frowned, reached out, and took the cyan jade slip Wei Tu handed over.

He sent his divine sense inside and examined it for a while. Slowly, his face eased, no longer as tense as before.

"Very well. I can agree. If you truly manage this, I’ll hand over the upper half of the Little Big Dipper Star Divine Technique."

"As for the lower half—you’ll need to join me in striking at Jiu Chuan. Whether we succeed or fail, I’ll still give you the rest."

Jiu Li spoke slowly, laying down his terms.