Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

'My cheek?' Wei Tu blanked for a second, then Master Qin's probing kiss came to mind.

Master Qin wore no makeup, so the kiss had left almost no mark, and he hadn't noticed it when he left. Of course, he had also been too embarrassed to wipe his cheek in front of her.

But Kou Hongying had been waiting for him at the entrance to his Cave Mansion, so he'd had no chance to take care of it.

And so, he'd been found out.

'Hongying is intelligent and level-headed. She's not one to stir up trouble, so she won't mention this to her master.' Wei Tu was tense for a moment before relaxing.

After all, it wasn't as if he'd revealed the secret on purpose; Kou Hongying had simply been sharp-eyed enough to spot the clue.

'Now that I've left Jingshui Pavilion, I'm like a fish back in the ocean or a bird in the sky. I'm no longer shackled,' Wei Tu mused.

Inside Jingshui Pavilion, he'd had to be wary of Master Qin trying to kill him on a whim.

Now, the hardest part was over. The remaining minor risks weren't worth mentioning.

After all, as long as she hadn't regained her memories, Master Qin wouldn't travel a great distance to hunt him down over something so trivial.

...

Back at the Xiaya Mei Family.

Wei Tu wasted no time. Upon returning to his Cave Mansion, he immediately took out the Ice Crystal Pills and Golden Yuan Pills from their Pill Bottles and began the Refinement process to increase his Magical Power.

Unlike in his Early-Stage Foundation Establishment days, when he had to refine elixirs with extreme caution, Wei Tu was far "bolder" in his consumption of elixirs now that his Body Refining Cultivation had broken through to Middle-Stage Tier Two.

Qi Cultivation and Body Refining Cultivation were not entirely separate; they influenced one another. As his Body Refining Cultivation advanced, Wei Tu's meridians and physique had been strengthened in turn. These enhancements allowed him to refine elixirs with much greater efficiency.

While refining the elixirs, Wei Tu didn't forget about nurturing the Sky-Splitting Carving with Immortal Spirit Dew.

Once a month, he had his Swordsman Puppet feed the Sky-Splitting Carving a drop of Immortal Spirit Dew.

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, three more years had gone by.

During those three years, just as Fu Lin had written in his letter, the two Major Immortal Sects of Jing Country—the Beast Taming Sect and Cangqiong City—retreated to Zheng Country, turning it into the main battlefield between the Righteous and Demon Daos.

The intensity of the fighting in Zheng Country skyrocketed. Every day, numerous Righteous Cultivators perished.

Fortunately, the Beast Taming Sect and Cangqiong City managed to gain a firm foothold. They helped Zheng Country hold back the Demon Dao's advance, stabilizing the front line within a hundred-li radius of the Yaolang Mountain Range and preventing the Demon Sects from pushing any further.

One day, a Spiritual Qi Vortex abruptly appeared in the sky above the Xiaya Mei Family.

The Spiritual Qi Vortex persisted for nearly half a year.

Fortunately, the Xiaya Mei Family had a Clan Protection Array that could conceal the anomaly of the breakthrough. Otherwise, any outsider who saw it would know for certain that the Mei Family was hiding another Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

"One hundred forty-four years old, Late-Stage Foundation Establishment."

On this day, Wei Tu felt the vast Magical Power in his Dantian settle from a boiling torrent into a state of calm. He opened his eyes, let out a breath of turbid air, and a faint smile touched his lips.

He had broken through to Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment at the age of one hundred seventeen. Now, twenty-seven years later, his Cultivation had taken another step forward, reaching the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment.

In the Cultivation Realm, such progress was a monumental leap, comparable to the absolute peak for someone with a Middle-Grade Spirit Root.

Of course, this achievement was inextricably linked to the vast quantities of elixirs he had consumed over the past few decades.

These elixirs had cost him at least ten thousand Spirit Stones. If he hadn't been a Tier Two Upper-Grade Talisman Master, he never would have been able to afford such a massive expenditure.

'With this, everything I gained from the Yunze Secret Realm—aside from a few special treasures—is basically gone.'

Wei Tu sighed to himself.

His spoils from the Yunze Secret Realm had included not only a Core Formation Spiritual Object but also large quantities of Tier One and Tier Two Spiritual Medicines.

Earth Dragon Flesh.

Foundation Condensation Pills.

Golden Yuan Pills and Ice Crystal Pills.

And *Demon Slayer True Skill*, among other things.

Each one represented a massive expenditure of Spirit Stones.

If not for his income from selling Talismans supplementing his wealth, the spoils from the Secret Realm alone would not have been enough to cover his expenses for the past twenty-odd years.

...

After spending several days consolidating his Magical Power, Wei Tu emerged from his seclusion.

"KREEE!" The Sky-Splitting Carving flew over, wings beating, and presented two letters to Wei Tu in its beak.

Wei Tu took the letters. But just as he was about to open them, he glanced up and noticed something new: a blood-colored vertical mark had appeared between the Sky-Splitting Carving's brows.

'Could this be a bloodline mutation? Or a bloodline evolution?' Wei Tu's brow furrowed. He placed his right palm on the carving's head and began to investigate it carefully.

However, during his investigation, before he could figure out what the "blood-colored vertical mark" was, something else caught his attention: the Pitch-Black Finger Bone inside the Sky-Splitting Carving's stomach.

Compared to how it looked over twenty years ago, the Pitch-Black Finger Bone was more substantial. Furthermore, its tip now emanated a faint Ice Nether Fire Glow.