Although he had known Qin Zhenren for quite some time—ever since Kou Hongying became a disciple of Mirror Water Pavilion, Qin Zhenren had learned she had an elder named Wei Tu—the time they had truly interacted was only around the period of entering and exiting the Cloud Ze Secret Realm.
During that time, the only plausible reason he could think of for why Qin Zhenren still remembered him—was likely what happened after they parted ways inside the Nanhua Sect ruins.
"Could it be that Qin Zhenren already guessed I gained something more inside the stone hall?" Wei Tu's thoughts raced, his mind turning to the worst possible scenario.
—That Qin Zhenren's lingering concern wasn't "fondness" or anything sentimental, but a matter of greed.
The fact that he had killed Si Qing was brushed aside with a convincing explanation, which seemed reasonable enough. But in Qin Zhenren's eyes, perhaps he had left a single, subtle clue that betrayed him.
"She probably only suspected and wasn't sure. Otherwise, she wouldn't have let me walk away when we left the stone hall," Wei Tu thought, and that made him breathe a little easier.
Now, Qin Zhenren had lost her memory, especially that part of it, so whether her motives were rooted in greed or not, for the moment, he was safe.
"Relying on mountains, and they collapse. Relying on people, and they vanish. Only oneself is dependable," Wei Tu reminded himself silently.
He had once believed that once Qin Zhenren achieved Golden Core, he would gain a strong backer.
But now, it looked like this so-called backer could just as easily turn on him.
Even though he had a personal connection—being Kou Hongying's uncle—in the face of desire, those ties couldn't be relied upon.
In the cultivation world, falling out over benefits, whether between brothers or even master and disciple, was all too common.
"Huh? Could it be this thing?" Qin Zhenren suddenly said, and in a flash, she moved right in front of Wei Tu.
Her stunning, bare face, glowing lips, delicate nose, and a faint fragrance of orchids—all these beautiful details rushed in close at once.
And yet, Wei Tu didn't feel even the slightest bit thrilled. His body tensed, and the two Blood Pills in his dantian started to tremble, as if they were ready to burst out in the next moment.
At this moment, Wei Tu was already mentally prepared to fight Qin Zhenren to the death.
"Human effort has its limits…" Wei Tu thought back to what he'd said to Wei Yan just a month ago, and a bitter smile crept across his face.
He had come to attend Qin Zhenren's Golden Core Celebration, never expecting to find himself being interrogated—let alone in a possible life-and-death crisis.
But—
With Qin Zhenren's next move…
The two Blood Pills he had activated suddenly dimmed and returned to his dantian. His tense body also relaxed slightly.
She hadn't reached for his storage pouch, but rather the jade pendant tied at his waist—Twin Resonance Jade.
More than a decade ago, when they parted outside the Cloud Ze Secret Realm, Qin Zhenren hadn't taken back the secondary jade of this pair.
Twin Resonance Jade was a dual-cultivation artifact.
Wei Tu had brought it specifically this time, intending to return it to her. That's why after arriving at Mirror Water Pavilion, he had kept it close.
"Was it because of this jade?" Wei Tu wondered. Maybe he had been too paranoid and Qin Zhenren's actions weren't born of greed.
But he quickly rejected that line of thought. You couldn't afford to bet your life on someone's compassion.
As a cultivator, you had to always prepare for the worst—not cling to hope.
"This is a dual-cultivation artifact?" Qin Zhenren backed away and stood a dozen steps away, examining the Phoenix-Peacock Jade in her palm with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.
—The Mortal Shedding Pill she had taken had been tampered with, causing her memory loss. But the loss only spanned the last thirty-plus years. She still retained everything from before that.
If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to arrange this celebration or even remember to invite Wei Tu.
Next, Qin Zhenren took out the primary jade and joined it with the secondary jade, fitting the pair together.
"This Twin Resonance Jade is a dual-cultivation artifact. Why would I have given this to you? Could it be… you and I were cultivation partners?" Qin Zhenren asked with a straight face.
Wei Tu's looks were unremarkable.
Just at a glance, it was hard to believe someone like Qin Zhenren would be attracted to him.
"When we were about to enter the Cloud Ze Secret Realm, to stay in contact, you gave me this Twin Resonance Jade," Wei Tu explained promptly.
"If I gave it to you, then keep it," Qin Zhenren said after thinking briefly. She took off the secondary jade, channeled her spiritual energy, and returned it to him.
"What?" Wei Tu was stunned. He couldn't understand why she would do that.
By logic, Qin Zhenren should want to take it back to sever any rumored ties with a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like him.
After all, such rumors would only harm her.
"Come here."
After Wei Tu put away the jade, Qin Zhenren ordered in a flat, emotionless voice.
Wei Tu was slightly stunned, unsure of what trick Qin Zhenren was pulling. After a moment's hesitation, he still walked in her direction.
"Touch my shoulder."
Qin Zhenren gave another order.
She wanted to test why, deep in her memory, she regarded Wei Tu as someone important—whether it was due to genuine feelings or something else entirely.
The events that happened in the Cloud Ze Secret Realm were only known to her and Wei Tu. Because of his special relationship with her disciple Kou Hongying, she couldn't bring herself to ask her.
"Senior Qin, this… please forgive Wei for refusing," Wei Tu quickly shook his head. "Wei is of humble status and dares not show disrespect to Senior Qin."
He wasn't stupid.
Right now, Qin Zhenren merely had doubts—she wasn't certain.
If he helped her confirm those doubts or helped her retrieve her memories, then he'd be the one to suffer.
Even in the best-case scenario—if Qin Zhenren held no greed and this was all due to the effects of the Twin Resonance Jade—he still couldn't afford the risk.
Their statuses were simply too far apart now. Maybe she was willing to speak nicely at the moment and let him touch her… but what if she regretted it later? Then he'd be the one facing disaster.
"You're right. I'm making things hard for you." Qin Zhenren understood his position. She sighed and nodded.
But—
Just as Wei Tu thought everything had calmed down—
Qin Zhenren, standing ten steps away, suddenly moved and once again appeared before him.
This time, though, she didn't snatch the Twin Resonance Jade from him.
Instead—
She lightly pecked him on the face.
"There's a bit of a feeling," she whispered as she returned to her spot, carefully sensing any changes in her body.
She still couldn't figure out if her deep memory of Wei Tu was due to the Twin Resonance Jade or something else.
Qin Zhenren was confused.
But she knew—this absurd little "episode" needed to end. She couldn't really go so far as to soul-search a guest and her disciple's uncle just over a vague suspicion.
Doing so would ruin her standing in Mirror Water Pavilion.
Qin Zhenren's expression turned cold. She gently touched the Twin Resonance Jade at her sleeve and looked at Wei Tu.
"Fellow Daoist Wei, I hope you'll keep today's events a secret. I don't want a third person to know."
"Otherwise, I will kill you."
She made her threat clear.
"I understand." Wei Tu cupped his hands in a respectful bow and nodded.
"Telling anyone about this would do me no good. Senior Qin can rest assured—I won't speak a word."
He added that sincerely.
"Good." Qin Zhenren saw him agree so readily and relaxed a little. Her gaze also softened.
She had spent her whole life cultivating within Mirror Water Pavilion, with little experience in matters between men and women. But she wasn't so ruthless that she would truly kill Wei Tu just for that single kiss.
The two stood in silence.
The atmosphere was slightly awkward.
After a tea's time, seeing that Qin Zhenren no longer appeared aggressive, Wei Tu knew that he had finally weathered this storm.
"Senior Qin, there's one more matter I'd like to request of you." Wei Tu hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak up about the pill trade.
In her current state, it was unlikely Qin Zhenren would help him and his friends avoid the Immortal Sect draft. But trading pills—that was beneficial to both of them. He believed she wouldn't refuse.
"Ice Crystal Pills and Golden Yuan Pills?" Qin Zhenren nodded lightly after hearing his request and agreed.
After forming her core, she was quite short on resources and badly needed spirit stones.
Using contribution points to exchange for spirit stones was quite profitable. This was a deal worth making.
Because of this—
The memory-impaired Qin Zhenren gained a new perspective on Wei Tu's wealth.
She recalled the congratulatory gift he'd given at her Golden Core celebration and suddenly realized—aside from his plain looks, Wei Tu's talent and potential were top-tier, even within Mirror Water Pavilion.
After all, to draw upper-second rank talismans, a talisman master had to have spirit power at the level of a top Foundation Establishment cultivator.
From this alone—
If fortune favored him, and he obtained a complete Golden Core opportunity, Wei Tu too could form a Golden Core like her.
Thinking this, Qin Zhenren's attitude toward Wei Tu shifted from cold to friendly.
After a short pause, Qin Zhenren weighed the spirit stone pouch he handed over and said gently, "Wait here a moment. I'll go to the Merit Hall and help you exchange for the pills."
With that, she turned into a streak of icy blue light and vanished into the sky.
Half an hour later—
Qin Zhenren returned and handed over the Ice Crystal Pills and Golden Yuan Pills.
"Six pills total. Please check," she said.
Wei Tu didn't count them in front of her. After thanking her, he took his leave.
…
Leaving Qin Zhenren's cave residence—
Wei Tu saw Kou Hongying waiting for him from afar.
"Uncle Wei, what did Master want with you? Was it something important?" Kou Hongying asked curiously.
She was puzzled as to why Qin Zhenren had asked to speak with Wei Tu alone. That wasn't like her.
Even her nephew Zhu Renjie had never been allowed into her cave residence.
"There's nothing major," Wei Tu replied casually, gesturing subtly to Kou Hongying not to ask further.
The two had known each other for many years—just a single look from him was enough for Kou Hongying to understand.
So, after hearing that, she immediately got the hint and didn't question what happened in Qin Zhenren's cave residence.
After that, Kou Hongying acted as host and escorted Wei Tu out of Mirror Water Pavilion.
When they reached the mountain gate, Kou Hongying pointed to Wei Tu's left cheek and, without waiting for a response, turned and gracefully returned to the sect.
"My cheek?" Wei Tu froze for a moment, then remembered the testing kiss from Qin Zhenren.
Since Qin Zhenren didn't wear any makeup, the kiss mark was nearly invisible. He hadn't noticed it when leaving. And, of course, he couldn't bring himself to wipe his cheek in front of her.
Kou Hongying had been waiting outside the cave from afar, so he hadn't had a chance to deal with it either.
So, it got exposed.
"Hongying is clever and steady by nature, not the type to stir up trouble. She won't mention this to her master," Wei Tu first felt a twinge of worry but then relaxed.
After all, it wasn't that he'd deliberately revealed anything—it was just Kou Hongying's sharp eyes that caught it.
"Now that I've left Mirror Water Pavilion, I'm like a fish returning to the sea, a bird soaring into the sky, no longer bound by the cage," Wei Tu thought.
Within Mirror Water Pavilion, he'd had to be on edge, worried that Qin Zhenren might suddenly turn on him.
Now, the hardest test was behind him. Minor risks didn't matter anymore.
After all, until she recovered her memory, Qin Zhenren wouldn't chase him across the land just over this incident.
…
Returning to the Mei Clan of Xia Cliff.
Wei Tu didn't waste time. Back in his cave residence, he immediately took out the Ice Crystal Pills and Golden Yuan Pills from the pill bottle and began refining them to enhance his spiritual power.
Unlike when he was at early Foundation Establishment and had to carefully refine each pill, now that his body refinement had broken through to mid second rank, Wei Tu could swallow pills much more boldly.
—The Qi cultivation path and the body refinement path weren't completely separate. As his body cultivation improved, his meridians and physique were enhanced as well, allowing him to refine pills more efficiently.
While refining pills, Wei Tu didn't forget about nurturing the Wind-Cleaving Eagle with the Immortal Spirit Dew.
Every month, he'd have the swordsman puppet feed the eagle a single drop.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, three more years had gone by.
As Fu Lin mentioned in his letter, during those years, the two great sects of the Jing Kingdom—Beastmaster Sect and Sky Dome City—retreated into Zheng Kingdom and made it the main battlefield between righteous and demonic paths.
The intensity of the Zheng Kingdom battlefield skyrocketed severalfold. Every day, numerous righteous cultivators fell.
Fortunately, Beastmaster Sect and Sky Dome City managed to establish footholds and helped Zheng Kingdom withstand the demonic advance, holding the frontline within a hundred li of Demon Wolf Mountain.
They didn't let the demonic sects push any further.
That day, a swirl of spiritual energy suddenly appeared above the Mei Clan's Xia Cliff estate.
It lingered for a long time—
Nearly half a year, nonstop.
Fortunately, the Mei Clan had a family protection formation to mask the phenomenon. Otherwise, if outsiders had seen it, they'd know there was another Foundation Establishment cultivator hiding within the clan.
"One hundred forty-four years old, late Foundation Establishment."
That day, Wei Tu felt the surging spiritual energy within his dantian finally calm. He opened his eyes, exhaled a long breath, and smiled slightly.
He had broken through to mid Foundation Establishment at one hundred seventeen, and after twenty-seven years, he reached late Foundation Establishment.
In the cultivation world, this was an impressive advancement—comparable to the pinnacle of a mid-grade spiritual root.
Of course, this achievement was inseparable from the huge amount of pills he had consumed over the decades.
These pills had cost him no less than ten thousand spirit stones. If he hadn't been an upper second-rank talisman master, he wouldn't have been able to afford such a massive expense.
"With this, aside from a few special treasures, all my gains from the Cloud Ze Secret Realm have basically been used up."
Wei Tu let out a soft sigh.
Aside from the Core Formation spiritual item, his spoils from Cloud Ze included a huge stash of first- and second-rank spiritual herbs.
Earth Dragon Flesh.
Foundation Consolidation Pills.
Golden Yuan Pills, Ice Crystal Pills.
And even the "True Demonic Refinement Art"...
Each one had burned through massive amounts of spirit stones.
If not for the talismans he'd been selling to make up the difference, the gains from the secret realm alone wouldn't have been enough to support his twenty-plus years of cultivation.
…
After several days of consolidating his spiritual power—
Wei Tu exited seclusion.
"Skree—!" The Wind-Cleaving Eagle flapped over and dropped two letters into his hand.
Wei Tu took them and was about to open them when he suddenly noticed a crimson slit between the eagle's brows.
"Could it be a bloodline mutation? An evolution?" Wei Tu arched a brow and placed his right palm on the eagle's head, inspecting it carefully.
But during the inspection, before he could figure out the nature of that crimson mark—
The black finger bone embedded in the eagle's belly suddenly caught his attention.
Compared to over twenty years ago—
That "black finger bone" had more visible bone growth now, and its fingertip faintly emitted a chilling, ghostly blue flame.