Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

One day passed.

Then another.

On the fourth day.

Si Qing, clad in a white dress, pushed open the White Jade Stone Gate and entered the medicinal field behind the Stone Hall, her expression somewhat disheveled.

She looked at the Spirit Grass in the medicinal field, a look of confusion on her face, just like Wei Tu’s had been.

But soon, her expression turned to one of pleasant surprise.

’A Medicine King!’

’There must be a Medicine King in this medicinal field!’ Si Qing thought.

With this in mind, Si Qing didn’t hesitate. She took out a White Jade Array Disc and several Array Flags, preparing to set up an Array to capture the Medicine King hidden underground.

However, just as she stepped onto the edge of the medicinal field,

a faint cyan thread, as fine as silk, silently wrapped around her ankle.

RIP!

The thread pierced through Si Qing’s flesh and blood, instantly severing her right foot.

Bright red blood splattered across the medicinal field.

Immediately after, two streaks of sword light shot out, striking at Si Qing’s arms.

"Who’s there?" Si Qing’s expression was one of alarm. She hastily raised her arms to block the sword light, not even having time to summon a Magical Artifact.

CLANG!

When the two Ice Flood Dragon Swords struck Si Qing’s arms, they produced the sound of clashing metal.

Surprisingly, the Talisman Swords, powerful enough to slice through a Tier Two Demon Beast, failed to do significant damage. They only managed to cut a gash on each of her arms instead of severing them completely.

Wei Tu, hiding underground, did not answer.

He remained concealed, continuing to remotely control the two Ice Flood Dragon Swords to attack Si Qing.

’I need to get out of this medicinal field first.’ Si Qing’s expression changed slightly. While fending off the assault from the two Ice Flood Dragon Swords, she began to retreat toward the White Jade Stone Gate.

She had never imagined that here, in the Nanhua Sect’s Remnant Land, someone’s Guardian Map Divine Sense would be a notch stronger than hers, allowing them to remotely control Magical Artifacts to attack her.

An inch of reach is an inch of strength.

With her Guardian Map Divine Sense suppressed, if she didn’t flee now and instead tried to confront Wei Tu, she would only be asking for trouble.

But just as Si Qing turned, she was stunned to find that the White Jade Stone Gate, which had been open moments before, was now closed.

’Trying to trap me?’ A sharp glint flashed in Si Qing’s beautiful eyes.

With an angry shout, she pulled a string of black bells from her bosom.

Each of the three bells on the string was engraved on the front with the image of a benevolent-looking Buddha. However, the lower half of each Buddha was nothing but white bone, devoid of any flesh and blood.

Then, Si Qing spat several mouthfuls of Essence Blood onto the bells.

The string of black bells instantly erupted in a brilliant, blood-red light, which morphed into three blood-colored Buddhas.

The phantom images of the blood-colored Buddhas glared with wrathful, diamond-like eyes.

Si Qing formed a hand seal and shook the bells forcefully.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The black bells chimed with a Sanskrit-like tone that rushed outward, the sound waves transforming into blades that surged toward Wei Tu’s hiding place underground.

Instantly, the Spirit Medicine in the medicinal field was pulverized by the sound waves, and the very soil was blasted into the air.

After the powerful shockwave passed, a massive crater over a hundred feet wide was left in the medicinal field.

At the same time, the two Ice Flood Dragon Swords that had been attacking Si Qing were utterly annihilated by the blast, reduced to dust.

"Fairy Si, what a powerful technique." Forced to emerge from underground, Wei Tu’s Qi and Blood roiled. He spat out several mouthfuls of stagnant blood, his eyes cold as he stared at the Demon Cultivator from the Celestial Maiden Sect.

When he had decided to assassinate Si Qing, he had considered her possible techniques several times, but he never expected her to possess a genuine Magical Treasure.

Although this Magical Treasure was incomplete, not a true Tier Three Magical Treasure, it was still far beyond what an ordinary Talisman Treasure could compare to.

Fortunately, before he entered the Yunze Secret Realm, the Golden Core Ancestor of the Huang Family had temporarily lent him the Golden Silk Armor.

Relying on the Golden Silk Armor, a Tier Two Upper-Grade Defensive Magical Artifact, combined with several Defensive Talismans and other Magical Artifacts, he had barely managed to block Si Qing’s furious attack.

"However, after activating that Magical Treasure, you can’t have much Magical Power left, can you, Fairy Si?" Wei Tu sneered, clutching a Spirit Stone to recover his own Magical Power.

"I may not have much Magical Power, but I doubt you have much more, Fellow Daoist Wei." Si Qing’s willow-like brows furrowed slightly as she stared at Wei Tu’s every move. Her intuition told her that he still had some tricks up his sleeve.

’He’s talking to me now just to distract me,’ she realized.

"Wait, where’s your Carving?"

Si Qing suddenly came to her senses, remembering that Wei Tu also had a Sky-Splitting Carving. The last time she had encountered him, it was already a Tier Two Demon Beast.

A Tier Two Demon Beast wouldn’t have been much use in the fight just now.

But now, with both she and Wei Tu heavily injured, the Sky-Splitting Carving was extremely dangerous—enough to turn the tide of battle.

However, by the time Si Qing thought of the Sky-Splitting Carving, it was too late.

An eagle’s cry echoed from above. The Sky-Splitting Carving, which had been hiding in the corridor, appeared before its cry faded. It zipped past Si Qing’s hip like a flash of lightning, heading straight for the Storage Bag at her waist.

Just as Si Qing was about to use her "Life-Bending Hand" on the Sky-Splitting Carving, another Ice Flood Dragon Sword shot out, spinning as it flew toward her neck.

Attacked from two sides, Si Qing was forced to abandon her counter against the Sky-Splitting Carving and raise her hand to deal with the incoming Ice Flood Dragon Sword.

She was baffled. Her Demon Buddha Bell had already shattered both of Wei Tu’s Talisman Swords, so how did he have another Ice Flood Dragon Sword now?

Talisman Swords like these were exceedingly rare. How could Wei Tu possibly have three of them?

The Ice Flood Dragon Sword collided with her "Life-Bending Hand."

Just like before, although Si Qing’s delicate hands were injured, the wounds were minor, not severe.

"SCREE! SCREE!" The Sky-Splitting Carving flew to Wei Tu’s side, presenting Si Qing’s Storage Bag to him. It flapped its wings happily, as if seeking praise.

Wei Tu took the Storage Bag, offered a few words of encouragement to the Sky-Splitting Carving, then turned to face Si Qing with a smirk.

With her Storage Bag gone, Si Qing was now in the same position as Zhao Qingluo had been against the Blood Elder Demon. Her defeat was only a matter of time.

But then, Si Qing’s next action stunned Wei Tu.

She simply flipped her palm, and a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone appeared in her hand, as if losing her Storage Bag hadn’t affected her at all.

’Does she have a second Storage Bag?’ Wei Tu frowned. Si Qing was proving to be even more troublesome than he had imagined.

The multiple traps he had set beforehand had worked, but they had only managed to heavily injure Si Qing, not kill her.

’I still have Talismans!’ Wei Tu’s expression turned cold. He slapped his Storage Bag, and several Talismans shot out toward Si Qing.

"Too late!" Si Qing smiled, her lips pursed. She used Instant Body to appear before the White Jade Stone Gate, placed a Token on it, and waited for it to open.

Seeing the Attack Talismans arrive, she casually summoned a Turtle Shell Shield to block Wei Tu’s assault.

CRACK! CRACK!

The White Jade Stone Gate gradually opened.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, Talisman Master Wei, I will remember you. I hope you are still this ’brave’ when we meet again."

Si Qing’s expression was slightly manic, her gentle demeanor gone as she let out a few laughs.

—Wei Tu was the first Cultivator to ever make her suffer such a huge loss; how could she not hate him?

However, in the very instant the White Jade Stone Gate opened,

dozens of Talismans suddenly appeared before Si Qing and detonated simultaneously.

And the detonation was timed for the exact moment Si Qing was using her Turtle Shell Shield to block the Attack Talismans Wei Tu had thrown from behind her.

A few breaths later, the smoke cleared.

Si Qing’s body had been blown to a bloody pulp, with only a pair of fair, jade-like palms remaining on the steps before the stone gate.

Back in the medicinal field, Wei Tu swallowed a few Elixirs to restore his Magical Power, then slowly walked over to the White Jade Stone Gate and picked up Si Qing’s relics.

"Fairy Si, being fooled by me once wasn’t enough for you. You had to fall for it a second time."

Wei Tu shook his head with a sigh.

Just now, when he attacked Si Qing with Talismans, he was actually taking a gamble. He only had those few Talismans left on him.

He had hidden the rest of his Talismans on the Sky-Splitting Carving, which was waiting in the corridor.

After Si Qing entered the medicinal field, he trapped her like a turtle in a jar, setting a snare for her. Meanwhile, the Sky-Splitting Carving waited for its moment to strike, carrying his last Ice Flood Dragon Sword to target Si Qing’s Storage Bag.

Then, the dozens of Tier Two Talismans were his final backup plan against Si Qing.

As long as Si Qing tried to escape, she would be walking right into his trap.

In this battle, Si Qing’s only chance of survival was to take advantage of his weakness, kill him and the Sky-Splitting Carving first, and then escape through the White Jade Stone Gate.

That way, without his Geomagnetic Primordial Light to control them, the dozens of Talismans would have been useless paper, posing no threat to Si Qing.

But unfortunately for her, Si Qing decided that he and the Sky-Splitting Carving together were too difficult to handle, so she chose to flee.

And that decision to flee was the beginning of her end.

This was why Wei Tu said that Si Qing had been fooled by him twice.