Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

’Now, it’s time to reap the rewards.’ A pleased expression appeared on Wei Tu’s face.

Si Qing had been the most formidable opponent he had faced since he began his Cultivation. Considering her status, he imagined the spoils from defeating her would be significant.

Wei Tu gestured, and the Sky-Splitting Carving expertly flew to where Si Qing had fallen. It scooped up all her relics in its beak and flew back to Wei Tu’s side.

The first thing to catch his eye was the string of black bells Si Qing had used. Overjoyed, he immediately began the Refinement of the Incomplete Treasure and then kept it on his person.

During the battle, it was only because cultivators’ Divine Sense was restricted near the Stone Hall that Si Qing couldn’t find his hiding place, forcing her to use the black bell string for an area attack.

Otherwise, Wei Tu was not confident he could have survived a charged attack from those black bells.

The injuries he had sustained earlier were just from the aftershocks of the black bells’ power.

In battle, the power of a charged attack from this Incomplete Treasure was already approaching the Core Formation Realm, far surpassing that of Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

’Demon Buddha Bell.’ After completing the Refinement of the black bell string, Wei Tu learned the name of this powerful Incomplete Treasure.

Next, Wei Tu turned his attention to Si Qing’s other relics.

A blood-red dagger, a battered Turtle Shell Shield, and a pair of flawless, impossibly soft, pale Jade Palms.

Wei Tu hadn’t seen Si Qing use the blood-red dagger. He surmised it must be her long-range Attack Magical Artifact. Since Divine Sense was restricted in the Stone Hall, controlling Magical Artifacts was difficult, which was why she never had a chance to use it.

Wei Tu was much more familiar with the Turtle Shell Shield. It was the same Defensive Magical Artifact Si Qing had used to block his direct attacks.

Wei Tu pinched the pair of Jade Palms Si Qing had left behind. After a moment, he remarked with a hint of surprise, "These hands were clearly injured during the battle and then hit by dozens of Talismans, but right now they’re perfectly intact. The Celestial Maiden Sect’s ’Life-Bending Hand’ is truly a terrifying Cultivation Technique..."

To the touch, the palms felt impossibly soft and ice-cold, yet they were shockingly resilient. Even when he tried to destroy them with a Magical Artifact, he could only leave a shallow scratch on the surface.

After stuffing the three relics into his Storage Bag, Wei Tu frowned slightly. He walked over to the White Jade Stone Gate and began searching for Si Qing’s other relics.

During the earlier battle, the Sky-Splitting Carving had clearly snatched Si Qing’s Storage Bag. But afterward, Si Qing had unexpectedly produced several Middle-Grade Spirit Stones to restore her Magical Power.

Moreover, even after her Storage Bag was taken, Si Qing had shown no sign of panic and had remained composed.

This made Wei Tu suspect that Si Qing had another Storage Bag on her person.

’Where is it?’ Wei Tu searched carefully with his Divine Sense for a good while, but to his surprise, he couldn’t find Si Qing’s other Storage Bag.

The only things left at the scene were the fleshy fragments of Si Qing’s Physical Body, which had been blasted into a bloody pulp.

After a moment of contemplation, Wei Tu’s expression turned serious. He began to release his Geomagnetic Primordial Light, scouring the area near the White Jade Stone Gate inch by inch.

However, to Wei Tu’s surprise, his Geomagnetic Primordial Light seemed to fail him this time. It didn’t work as it usually did and failed to locate Si Qing’s other Storage Bag.

Refusing to give up, Wei Tu stopped using his Divine Sense and Geomagnetic Primordial Light. Instead, he began to search the area inch by inch with his own hands.

「Several hours later.」

Wei Tu’s search brought him to the vicinity of the Medicinal Field. As he took a step, he felt something soft under his foot, its texture completely different from the soil.

He lifted his foot to see what he had stepped on but found nothing there. It was just the soil of the Medicinal Field, nothing else.

Wei Tu let out a soft sound of surprise. He squatted down and ran his hand over the ground. From the exact spot where his foot had been, he soon retrieved a palm-sized, transparent pouch.

Wei Tu immediately realized that this transparent pouch was the "second Storage Bag" Si Qing had hidden on her body.

Next, he tried probing the transparent pouch with his Divine Sense and Geomagnetic Primordial Light, only to find that both passed right through it as if it weren’t there.

Seeing this, Wei Tu raised an eyebrow and reached out to untie the pouch’s thin drawstring.

Once the pouch was open, two Storage Bags were revealed inside.

’I wonder what this pouch is made of. Divine Sense can’t detect it at all; it can only be found by touch.’

Wei Tu clicked his tongue in amazement.

The pouch wasn’t a Magical Artifact. Its ability to conceal the Storage Bags wasn’t some special power, but simply a property of the Spiritual Materials it was sewn from.

Composing himself, Wei Tu tied the transparent pouch to his person.

Next, Wei Tu got up, cleaned up the battlefield to one side of the corridor, and retrieved the Token from the White Jade Stone Gate.

He closed the stone gate, then hid within the Medicinal Field and began to restore his Magical Power.

...

While he was restoring his Magical Power, Wei Tu heard the Jia Family cultivators talking from the other side of the corridor, outside the White Jade Stone Gate. Several of them were discussing how to open it.

To be on the safe side, Wei Tu used his old trick and hid himself beneath the Medicinal Field again.

However, these Jia Family cultivators didn’t know the Stone Hall like the back of their hand as Si Qing had. They struggled with the White Jade Stone Gate for two or three days, but it refused to budge an inch.

Seeing this, Wei Tu was relieved and continued his secluded cultivation to restore his Magical Power.

「Four days after the Jia Family cultivators began.」

Wei Tu’s injuries were mostly healed, and the Magical Power in his Dantian was fully restored.

At this point, Wei Tu finally had the leisure to open the three Storage Bags Si Qing had left behind.