Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

The Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood was not some great treasure, and it was also useless to ordinary Demon Beasts. Therefore, no Demon Beasts were guarding the trees nearby.

However, as he harvested the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood, it was inevitable that Demon Beasts would disturb them.

This was when Kou Hongying and Fu Zhizhou were needed to act as his Protective Daoists.

He sat cross-legged near the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood.

Wei Tu used his Talisman Sword to sever a section of the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood's trunk. Then, circulating his Magical Power, he exhaled a jet of orange-red flame from his mouth.

This flame was none other than Innate True Flame, a technique all Foundation Establishment Cultivators could use.

The principle behind it was quite simple. It could be produced using only the Fireball Skill and a cultivator's Liquid Magical Power.

A few years ago, Wei Tu had purchased a Pill Furnace for the purpose of refining Elixirs. Although he had tried several times without successfully refining a single Elixir, he had become extremely skilled with the Flame Manipulation Spell used to control the Innate True Flame.

These Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood trees were enormous; Wei Tu's Storage Bag could not possibly hold them. He could only rely on his Innate True Flame to incinerate the Spirit Wood and extract its essence.

Extracting the essence of Spiritual Materials...

...was also a fundamental skill in the Alchemy Dao.

Roasted by the orange-red flames, the ten-foot-long trunk gradually withered, shrinking into a thumb-sized drop of pitch-black Spirit Liquid.

Wei Tu named it "Iron Magnetic Spirit Liquid."

Wei Tu placed the Iron Magnetic Spirit Liquid in his Storage Bag and repeated the process, using his Innate True Flame to refine the remaining Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood.

Time passed slowly.

「Several days passed.」

Wei Tu had refined one Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood tree into a jade box full of Iron Magnetic Spirit Liquid.

After taking out a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone to restore his Magical Power, Wei Tu turned his attention to the remaining two Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood trees.

Over the past few days, the Demon Beasts living near Lihuo Lake had also detected the presence of Wei Tu's group and would come to harass them from time to time.

However, these were all Tier One Demon Beasts, posing no threat whatsoever to the trio.

In the Yaolang Mountain Range, Tier Two Demon Beasts were exceedingly rare. They were mostly the kings of their clans and were not easily encountered.

「Half a month later.」

Wei Tu finished refining the last two Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood trees.

The trio then left Lihuo Lake.

...

A few days later, the trio appeared at the next Spiritual Land that was supposed to have Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood.

But unfortunately, Wei Tu came up empty.

It wasn't that the lead was false; rather, someone had beaten him to it, having taken the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood from this Spiritual Land several years prior.

Undiscouraged, Wei Tu continued his search for Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood in the Yaolang Mountain Range.

The more materials he had, the stronger his Primordial Forbidden would be.

The Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood he currently possessed was only enough to generate a Primordial Forbidden with the force of Five Hundred Jins.

—The Primordial Forbidden controlled gravity, so its strength was often measured in units of force.

「Another month passed.」

Wei Tu finally found the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood indicated by his last lead.

However, unlike the trees at Lihuo Lake, a stalk of Profound Dark Grass was growing near the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood at this Spiritual Land.

The Spiritual Qi from the Profound Dark Grass, in turn, had attracted a Tier Two Red-Eyed Python to guard it.

'This Red-Eyed Python's aura is slightly stronger than the Fiery Fire Ape Demon's, but not by much.'

Wei Tu judged, sensing its aura.

Unlike Human Race Cultivators, Demon Beasts did not restrain their auras. Instead, they deliberately released them to intimidate other Demon Beasts in the vicinity.

This aura was known as Demon Qi.

The stronger the Demon Qi, the stronger the Demon Beast.

"First, we'll eliminate the Tier One Demon Beasts within a twenty-li radius of the Red-Eyed Python. This will prevent it from commanding them to besiege us."

Wei Tu took out two Jade Scrolls, recorded the locations of all the Demon Beasts he had sensed, and handed one to Fu Zhizhou and the other to Kou Hongying.

「Two days later.」

The trio finished slaughtering all the nearby Demon Beasts and regrouped at their original location.

Wei Tu slapped his Demon Beast Bag, releasing the Sky-Splitting Carving to patrol the surrounding area. He then took out a Stone-Breaking Talisman, channeled it into the Red-Eyed Python's cave using his Geomagnetic Primordial Light, and detonated it.

BOOM!

The ground trembled.

With its Scale Armor shattered and blood streaming down, the Red-Eyed Python shot out of its cave. Its crimson eyes revealed a furious rage as it charged in Wei Tu's direction.

Water Prison Skill!

Water Arrow Skill!

Kou Hongying unleashed several Magic Skills she had prepared, intercepting the Red-Eyed Python to halt its advance.

With a single flick of its tail, the Red-Eyed Python shattered Kou Hongying's Magic Skills. Its momentum unbroken, it continued to charge in Wei Tu's direction.

Just then, an eagle's cry echoed from above. The Sky-Splitting Carving swooped down from the sky, diving toward the Profound Dark Grass near the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood.

Seeing that its Treasure was about to be stolen, the Red-Eyed Python's eyes nearly split with rage. It whipped around and sped back toward its cave, but just then, Fu Zhizhou, who had been hiding to the side, flung several Talismans at it.

Heavy earth and stone fell from the sky, crashing down upon the Red-Eyed Python's Demon Body.

A Tier Two Talisman—the Heavy Stone Talisman.

Struck by the heavy blow, the Red-Eyed Python cried out in pain, its advance halting.

At that moment, Kou Hongying and Fu Zhizhou, hovering in mid-air, did not hesitate. They both took out the Talismans Wei Tu had given them and threw them at the Red-Eyed Python.

Under the might of the Talismans, the Red-Eyed Python's struggles lessened.

Finally, a beam of sword light shot out, stabbing toward the python's head.

Unlike the Fiery Fire Ape Demon, the Red-Eyed Python noticed the Ice Flood Dragon Sword. It gathered its Magical Power into the Scale Armor on its head, intending to block the terrifying sword light.

SCREECH!

The Scale Armor blocked Wei Tu's sword beam.

The Ice Flood Dragon Sword did not immediately pierce the Red-Eyed Python's brow to kill it in a single strike.

"Detonate!" Wei Tu was not surprised. His lips twitched as he activated the hidden Talisman within the Talisman Sword.

The Talisman Power descended.

A foot-long ice flood dragon emerged from the body of the Talisman Sword. It let out a Dragon's Roar and charged with all its might toward the Red-Eyed Python's brow.

CRACK! CRACK!

The Red-Eyed Python's Scale Armor shattered. With its head pierced by the Talisman Sword, it thrashed a few times and gradually fell still.

'This loss is far greater than when we killed that Fiery Fire Ape Demon.' Wei Tu thought, his heart aching as he looked at the Ice Flood Dragon Sword that had returned to his hand.

This time, although the Ice Flood Dragon Sword was not completely destroyed, it was about seventy percent ruined. He would need to nurture it again to restore it.

"Third Brother, quickly refine the Iron Magnetic Bell Wood. We can't afford to delay for too long this time," Fu Zhizhou urged Wei Tu.

The Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood was right where they had killed the Red-Eyed Python. If they stayed for too long, they could easily attract other nearby Tier Two Demon Beasts.

Wei Tu nodded and, without further hesitation, immediately began to refine the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood.

Fortunately, during the process of refining the Iron Magnetic Spirit Wood, no Demon Beasts came to disturb him, and everything went smoothly.

...

「One month later.」

The trio left the inner depths of the Yaolang Mountain Range and arrived at the adjacent Yuquan Mountain Marketplace.

Upon arriving at the Marketplace and renting three guest rooms, the trio began to divide their spoils.

As before, Wei Tu had contributed the most, so he had the right to choose first.

Wei Tu chose the Profound Dark Grass, as well as the Red-Eyed Python's skin and Essence Blood.

Profound Dark Grass was a Tier Two Spiritual Object capable of inducing a bloodline transformation in a Demon Beast.

The Sky-Splitting Carving had followed him for many years and had long since reached the Tier One Peak. It needed this Tier Two Profound Dark Grass to achieve a Breaking Realm.

The python skin and Essence Blood were materials for Talisman Painting.

The rest of the Red-Eyed Python was divided equally between Kou Hongying and Fu Zhizhou.

The trio did not stay long in the Yuquan Mountain Marketplace.

「A few days later,」

they left the Yuquan Mountain Marketplace.

"Fourth Brother, Hongying, we're being followed. Be careful!"

They had only traveled a short distance when Wei Tu, borrowing his Sky-Splitting Carving's vision, spotted the "tail" that had been following them since they left the Yuquan Mountain Marketplace.

"It's Ren Yifeng and Chen Tang."

Wei Tu recognized the trackers by extracting memories from the Sky-Splitting Carving.

"Tribulation Cultivators?"

"Or... is this about the Shuyun Alliance?"

Kou Hongying narrowed her eyes.

She was an Immortal Sect Foundation Establishment cultivator and was very rarely hunted by Tribulation Cultivators. Most wouldn't dare to target a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from an Immortal Sect.

What's more, their party consisted of three Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

And although Ren Yifeng and Chen Tang were Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, they weren't strong enough to completely crush the three of them.

"No, they're tracking someone else." After a moment, Wei Tu's nose twitched. He caught a familiar fragrance from several li behind them.

"Gong Shulan!"

"They're chasing Gong Shulan!"

Wei Tu recognized the source of the fragrance. It belonged to none other than Gong Shulan, whom he had met before.

What surprised him, however, was that Gong Shulan had also, without any fanfare, reached Foundation Establishment.