Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

"More than half a year ago, you say?"

Tong Peipei was taken aback. The information she’d gathered said otherwise. But just as she was about to argue, her eyes met Wei Tu’s icy gaze.

His eyes weren’t exactly fierce, but they still made her heart jump, and she instinctively shrank back.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, please, don’t be so hasty..." Tong Peipei swallowed her words, her tone becoming more conciliatory.

It was then that she remembered Wei Tu wasn’t a "native" of their shantytown. He was an Independent Cultivator who had settled there later.

And Independent Cultivators were far more ruthless than "natives" like them, who had lived in peace for many years.

’That’s all it took to scare her?’

Seeing this, Wei Tu was left speechless.

He’d seen Tong Peipei knocking frantically and demanding answers, and had assumed she was a difficult person coming to cause trouble.

He hadn’t expected her to be the complete opposite on the inside—a coward.

"Fellow Daoist Tong, how do you propose we handle this? Perhaps it was just a coincidence that we both started selling Calm Heart Talismans and Water Heart Talismans at the same time."

Wei Tu relaxed his imposing aura, his tone softening as he adopted a more negotiable posture.

It’s better to resolve grievances than to create them.

He and Tong Peipei were both members of the "Inner Collection," so making a scene wouldn’t be a good thing.

Offending a fellow Talisman Master over the sale of Calm Heart Talismans simply wasn’t worth it.

They just needed to talk it over and redefine their respective spheres of interest.

"It was I who was rash. I came here in a hurry without getting all the facts." Tong Peipei sat on the stool, lowering her head.

She was furious now, wishing she could find "Talisman Master Mao"—the one who gave her the information—and torture him. The man had caused her to make a complete fool of herself.

She didn’t think Wei Tu was lying to her. It would be easy enough to investigate and find out the truth later.

Hearing her words and seeing her expression, Wei Tu immediately grasped her state of mind.

’He surmised that Tong Peipei knew she was in the wrong, which was why her tone and words were much more submissive than when she’d first arrived.’

"In that case, Fellow Daoist Tong, how do you think you should compensate me?" Wei Tu’s tone hardened again.

Having spent over twenty years in officialdom, even though he hadn’t gotten deeply involved in its affairs due to his pursuit of the Immortal Dao, he had learned through osmosis and perfectly understood the methods officials used to manage their subordinates.

Tong Peipei knew she was in the wrong. This was the perfect time for him to take advantage of the situation.

He wouldn’t harbor such ill intentions toward just anyone, but Tong Peipei had rushed to his door to question him without doing any research first. No one would be happy about that.

"Compensation?" Tong Peipei was suddenly like a lit powder keg. She jerked her head up and stared dumbfounded at Wei Tu.

Her face seemed to be written with three words: *How dare you?*

However, her temper, which had just flared, was instantly extinguished by another cold glare from Wei Tu. Her head drooped listlessly on her pale neck like a wilted eggplant.

"I hear, Fellow Daoist Tong, that you possess an ancestral Talisman Master Inheritance?"

Wei Tu lifted the teapot, poured a cup for himself and another for Tong Peipei, and then spoke.

"Talisman Master Inheritance?" Tong Peipei snorted in displeasure. "Fellow Daoist Wei, compensation is one thing, but isn’t your appetite a bit too large? I wouldn’t part with a Talisman Master Inheritance for less than five or six hundred Spirit Stones."

"My offense against you doesn’t warrant such a grand apology," she added.

She was in the wrong, but she wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t about to let Wei Tu lead her by the nose.

"What I want is not your Talisman Master Inheritance, Fellow Daoist Tong, but the technique for tanning Demon Beast Hide contained within it," Wei Tu stated frankly.

Ever since Fu Zhizhou became an Assassin, he had brought Wei Tu a portion of Demon Beast Hide every time he returned.

After two years of accumulation, he had nearly a cubic meter’s worth of Demon Beast Hide in his room.

Therefore, he was in desperate need of a technique to tan the Demon Beast Hide and turn it into Talisman Paper.

Demon Beast Hide couldn’t be preserved for long; as time passed, the Spiritual Qi within it would diminish, and its quality would plummet.

During a meeting of the Inner Collection, Wei Tu had seen Tong Peipei purchasing Demon Beast Hide.

And for a Talisman Master, there was no other use for Demon Beast Hide besides tanning it into Talisman Paper.

Upon hearing this, Tong Peipei immediately wavered.

A moment later, she slowly nodded, agreeing to Wei Tu’s request.

Among Talisman Masters, the technique for tanning Demon Beast Hide and crafting Talisman Paper, while far from being as valuable as a complete Talisman Master Inheritance, was still a precious thing.

However, what one considered "precious" was subjective.

Wei Tu was also a Talisman Master, with talent comparable to her own—giving him this as compensation was fitting.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Tong Peipei took up a brush and wrote down the method for crafting Talisman Paper from her Talisman Master Inheritance, then handed the paper to Wei Tu.

"I’ll be going now." Tong Peipei stood up, snorted, and prepared to lift her skirt and leave.

"Fellow Daoist Tong, there is still one matter to attend to."

Wei Tu stopped her.

"What is it?" Tong Peipei asked, surprised. A hint of vigilance appeared in her eyes, and she retreated a Half-Step.

Wei Tu shook his head and pointed to the Calm Heart Talisman she had slapped on the table earlier. "We haven’t finished dividing the interests concerning the Calm Heart Talismans and Water Heart Talismans."

Judging from Tong Peipei’s reactions and everything she had said, he suspected there was a "mastermind" intentionally provoking hostility between them.

Now, by inviting Tong Peipei to discuss the division of interests for the Calm Heart Talismans and Water Heart Talismans in the shantytown, he was also aiming to subtly coax the identity of that mastermind out of her.