Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

The roar of the magical artifacts outside the gate finally faded into silence, and the curses of the two Jia Family cultivators ceased along with it.

Wei Tu calculated the time. He knew the quarter-hour duration of the Jia Family cultivators’ Blood Burning Skill had passed. By now, they had either dropped dead or were in an extremely weakened state.

Just as before, Wei Tu did not rashly open the White Jade Stone Gate. Instead, he continued to wait on the side of the medicinal field for the moment the two Jia Family cultivators would "pass away peacefully."

"I understand." After a few breaths, the color returned to Zhao Qingluo’s face. She smoothed her skirt, bowed solemnly to Wei Tu, and said, "A debt for a debt. Qingluo will repay you for saving my life."

Cultivators are a long-lived people. Though they have emotions just like mortals, those feelings come and go quickly, soon giving way to logic.

It was just as it had been with Zhao Pengqi’s death. She had certainly been grieved, but in her grief, she hadn’t lost her wits and frozen on the spot. Instead, she had seized the chance to escape that he had bought for her and fled at once.

Now, faced with matters of the heart, she acted in the same way—she wouldn’t resort to the histrionics of an immature girl, throwing a tantrum of tears, threats, and drama. She would continue to be a rational, calm "Cultivator."

Combat in the Cultivation Realm was no child’s game. People died for real.

Six cultivators from the Qiyue Zhao Family had entered the Yunze Secret Realm this time, but now, she was the sole survivor.

The same was true for the Jia Family.

A total wipeout.

...

「Half a day later.」

Only when the voices of Master Qin and Kou Hongying sounded from outside did Wei Tu finally open the White Jade Stone Gate and walk out with Zhao Qingluo.

Although the Jia Family cultivators’ Storage Bags were valuable, Wei Tu knew without a doubt that they would have destroyed everything inside before they died, leaving no possibility of scavenging any treasures.

Kou Hongying’s face lit up with joy to see Wei Tu alive. But then she noticed the faint air of distance in Zhao Qingluo’s expression toward him. ’What happened between Uncle Wei and Princess Qingluo? Their relationship...’

Although the expression on Zhao Qingluo’s face was subtle, it didn’t escape Kou Hongying’s notice. After all, she had long been aware of the special "bond" between Zhao Qingluo and Wei Tu.

’Could it be that Zhao Qingluo took this opportunity while they were alone to ask Uncle Wei about that day? But he must have dodged the question.’

Kou Hongying mused.

This was, for her, a good thing. She had no desire to see Zhao Qingluo become her "auntie."

Only that could explain why a friend like Zhao Qingluo, who knew Wei Tu so well, would show such alienation toward him.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Kou Hongying quickly asked Wei Tu where he had been for the past two years after entering the Stone Hall, and if he had found any trace of Si Qing.

"After I entered the Stone Hall... and passed through that maze-like corridor, I ran into Si Qing right here. She was already seriously injured at the time..."

"We started fighting right away."

"I planned for every contingency, but I was still outplayed. Si Qing tricked me into this medicinal field and used the White Jade Stone Gate to trap me here. If it weren’t for... a special Secret Skill I practice that helped me find a way to open this gate..."

"Otherwise, I’m afraid I would have grown old and died in this place."

Having had over a year to prepare, Wei Tu had his story down pat. He recited the speech he had prepared.

Hearing this, Master Qin and the other two didn’t doubt him and believed his story.

Two years ago, they had witnessed with their own eyes the scene of Si Qing taking on two opponents at once and brutally slaughtering two Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Huang Family.

On paper, Si Qing’s combat prowess was clearly far superior to Wei Tu’s.

Besides, as a Demon Cultivator from the Celestial Maiden Sect who had caused such a commotion upon entering the Yunze Secret Realm, how could she not have some powerful techniques at her disposal?

With such powerful methods, dealing with one or two Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators should have been a piece of cake.

Based on this reasoning, it was already a great feat for Wei Tu to have escaped Si Qing’s grasp with his life; how could he possibly have had the strength left over to kill her?

"Si Qing was seriously injured?" Master Qin softly repeated the phrase, then mused, "If Si Qing was seriously injured, that explains why she trapped Fellow Daoist Wei here. And in that case... we also have a reason for why she abandoned the Jia Family cultivators."

"After being injured in this Stone Hall, her strength was compromised. She worried the Jia Family cultivators might turn on her and strike... so she chose to abandon them and leave on her own."

"That must be why Si Qing never showed herself to us."

"Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that she’s hiding somewhere in this Stone Hall, nursing her wounds."

Master Qin surmised, based on the information Wei Tu had provided.

"These White Jade Stone Gates are indestructible. Perhaps Si Qing is hiding behind one of them right now," Kou Hongying added.

The three women then began discussing how to deal with Si Qing, who was presumably hiding in the shadows.

Hearing their conversation, Wei Tu felt a great weight lift from his shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. No one was even considering the possibility that Si Qing might already be dead.

’It makes sense, though,’ Wei Tu thought to himself. ’If I hadn’t arrived at the medicinal field a few days early to set an ambush, and if I hadn’t had the help of my talismans and the Geomagnetic Primordial Light, Si Qing wouldn’t have been killed so easily.’

This time, if it had been Master Qin or Zhao Pengzong who had ambushed Si Qing instead of him, there was a high probability that Si Qing would have won and they would have died.

Putting himself in their shoes, if he were Master Qin or one of the others, he wouldn’t have suspected a "weak" Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator like himself either.