Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

Unlike the territories of the Righteous Dao, which are populated exclusively by Righteous Cultivators, the lands of the Demon Dao are a motley mix. They contain not only Demon Cultivators but also Righteous Cultivators and Independent Cultivators who have gone over to their side.

These cultivators who have surrendered are given the moniker "meat sheep" in Demon Dao territory. Over ninety percent of them are kept as servants or raised as blood food for the Demon Cultivators.

"In every chaotic era, there are Independent Cultivators who rise up and establish their own sects. It's not even rare to find records in ancient texts of them becoming Nascent Soul Cultivators…"

"But the vast majority of them are reduced to bleached bones, becoming fodder for another's cultivation journey."

Li Daoyuan lamented this after seeing a Demon Cultivator devour a surrendered cultivator alive along their path.

The Immortal Sects are tyrannical, but they at least give Independent Cultivators a chance to survive. They don't corner them completely.

The Demonic Sects, however, are another story. Only Independent Cultivators of value are allowed to live; the rest become blood food.

Then, Li Daoyuan enthusiastically began discussing the wicked deeds of the Five Demonic Sects with Wei Tu.

"Of the Five Demonic Sects, the Blood God Sect consumes a cultivator's Essence Blood, the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect extracts their Essence Soul, the Demon Slaughter Sect refines humans into the undead, and the Joyful Sect seizes their Essence…"

"Only the Celestial Maiden Sect is slightly better."

"But the Celestial Maiden Sect was originally a Righteous Sect that defected to the Demon Dao. It's better not to even mention them."

'The Celestial Maiden Sect was a Righteous Sect that defected?'

This was the first Wei Tu had ever heard of it.

'No wonder the Huang Family never suspected a thing, even with Si Qing undercover for so many years,' Wei Tu realized in a flash.

Aside from her identity as a Demon Cultivator, Si Qing's Magical Power was not significantly different from that of a Righteous Cultivator. Even the most sharp-eyed Huang Family Cultivators would have found such a minuscule difference difficult to detect.

Through their conversation, Wei Tu also learned of Li Daoyuan's origins. He was not a cultivator from Zheng Country, but an Independent Cultivator from Jing Country who had migrated with the Loose Immortal Alliance.

The Loose Immortal Alliance was originally an organization founded by Independent Cultivators in Jing Country who were forced to band together for mutual protection against the tyranny of the Immortal Sects.

Then came the Demon Dao invasion. In the face of this crisis, more and more Independent Cultivators joined the Loose Immortal Alliance, causing it to snowball to the point where it could threaten the Immortal Sects.

"Initially, the Loose Immortal Alliance in Jing Country only had nine Golden Core True Monarchs. After arriving in Zheng Country, it absorbed another eight, leading to the current grand total of seventeen Golden Core True Monarchs!"

Li Daoyuan quickly added this, hoping to prevent Wei Tu from feeling any animosity toward the Loose Immortal Alliance as an "outside influence."

After hearing this, Wei Tu could see Li Daoyuan's deep devotion to the Loose Immortal Alliance, but he wasn't surprised.

After all, if not for the Loose Immortal Alliance, he and his wife might not have had the strength to escape the quagmire of Jing Country and arrive safely in Zheng Country.

In other words, the Loose Immortal Alliance had saved both of their lives.

Under the circumstances, it would have been more surprising if Li Daoyuan *didn't* support the Loose Immortal Alliance.

If Wei Tu hadn't been so confident in his own strength, and if he had been as anxious about his prospects as Li Daoyuan, he too would have felt a desire to depend on the Loose Immortal Alliance, based solely on how it had changed Xi Ying's attitude.

...

「Several days later.」

Wei Tu and the other three arrived at the ambush point, concealed their auras, and settled in to wait.

The ambush spot was on the only path the troop of Demon Cultivators could take to reach Elder Demon Yanx's Cave Mansion.

What Li Daoyuan and the others failed to notice, however, was that while they were hiding and concealing their auras, Wei Tu had secretly positioned his Seven-Colored Illusion Moth up the road from their ambush point.

After two days of waiting, a troop of several dozen Demon Cultivators appeared on the road. In their midst, two massive carriages, each several zhang high, rolled along slowly.

The two carriages were pulled by Tier One Demon Beasts known as Tiger-Headed Oxen.

As it moved, Wei Tu noticed something—the last carriage seemed to be carrying an extremely heavy load, leaving ruts half a foot deep in the road.

Wei Tu commanded his Seven-Colored Illusion Moth to approach the last carriage and peek inside through a crack in its boards.

One look was all it took for him to understand.

He understood why this group of Demon Cultivators wasn't using Storage Bags, instead transporting their cargo by carriage like Mortals.

It turned out that the last carriage held a massive, golden ore several zhang in size. The ore shimmered, a single solid piece, and radiated an intimidating Spiritual Pressure.

A Storage Bag at the Foundation Establishment Level simply didn't have enough space—several zhang—to hold a piece of golden ore the size of a small hill.

'Since it's a birthday gift for Elder Demon Yanx, this golden ore must be at least Tier Two Upper-Grade Spiritual Materials, if not Tier Three Spiritual Materials,' Wei Tu mused.

After observing the gift, Wei Tu directed the Seven-Colored Illusion Moth to investigate the first carriage.

If he wasn't mistaken, the first carriage should be holding the two Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators.

However—

The result was unexpected.

The first carriage did indeed hold two Demon Cultivators, but from what Wei Tu could tell, they didn't seem to be at the Foundation Establishment Level.

The two men looked tense, their faces etched with anxiety as they clutched their sleeves.

"What do we do? Elder Yinn obviously brought us here to lure out the enemy. If this goes bad, we'll be the first to die," the tall, thin Demon Cultivator on the left muttered, his face a mask of discontent.

"Are you crazy? If Elder Yinn out there hears you, it won't end well for either of us," the man in black robes on the right said urgently, his expression shifting.

"What's there to be afraid of? He set up a Sound Insulation Array in this carriage to hide our presence. With this array in place, he can't hear a word we're saying," the tall, thin Demon Cultivator replied nonchalantly.

Hearing this, the man in black robes glanced outside nervously. He only relaxed after seeing that Elder Yinn, who was walking outside, had a normal expression. The color began to return to his face.