"According to legend, the Cloud Ze Secret Realm controlled by the Heshan Huang Clan is one of the four secret medicinal gardens established by the Nanhua Sect."
"Unfortunately, our Tao Clan of Hanshan doesn't have a close relationship with the Huang Clan. No one from our clan has ever entered the Cloud Ze Secret Realm. Otherwise… we might've had more reliable intel."
At this point, Tao Jie subconsciously glanced at Wei Tu.
From what he'd heard, Wei Tu had once served as a guest cultivator for the Heshan Huang Clan and had entered the Cloud Ze Secret Realm.
That trip was what started Wei Tu's rise to fame in Zheng Kingdom's cultivation world.
"Four secret medicinal gardens? Is that why Shang Ming was chasing you? Because you know the location of another one of Nanhua Sect's hidden gardens?" Wei Tu asked sharply.
"What?" Tao Jie was caught off guard, clearly not expecting Wei Tu to question him so abruptly. His face briefly showed a flicker of panic as he hurriedly replied, "Yes! Senior Wei, that scoundrel Shang Ming was pursuing us precisely for the location of a secret medicinal garden of the Nanhua Sect!"
"How did you come to know the location of a secret garden?"
"And how did Shang Ming find out about this?" Wei Tu pressed further.
"Well…" Tao Jie paused mid-sentence, his mind racing to come up with a convincing answer.
Just then—
The quiet young woman standing silently behind Tao Jie suddenly stepped forward and cut him off, turning to address Wei Tu directly.
"My brother spoke recklessly. He was trying to deceive Senior Wei. Please… forgive him and don't take offense," the young woman said politely, bowing respectfully with her hands folded in front.
As soon as she finished speaking—
Tao Jie's face changed drastically. He quickly looked up and saw that Wei Tu's expression had shifted from serious to a faint, knowing smile. He immediately realized that his little scheme had been seen through by this seasoned cultivator.
In truth, Wei Tu had been hopeful to discover the location of another Nanhua Sect medicinal garden besides the Cloud Ze Secret Realm.
Unfortunately, Tao Jie's acting had been too clumsy—he gave himself away in just a few lines.
The lie was just too big.
Something on par with the Cloud Ze Secret Realm couldn't possibly be a secret held by a mid-tier family like the Tao Clan of Hanshan.
Even if the Tao Clan did possess such knowledge, a clan cultivator like Tao Jie wouldn't dare to casually speak of it to outsiders.
"Senior Wei, please forgive me," Tao Jie said with fear in his voice. He lifted the hem of his robe and knelt on the ground, visibly shaken.
Deceiving a Foundation Establishment cultivator—depending on who it was—could be a minor offense or a capital one.
Under normal circumstances, as a direct descendant of the Tao Clan of Hanshan, he could have gotten away with it.
But this wasn't a normal situation.
Out here in the wilderness, if Wei Tu decided to kill him, it would be no harder than crushing a chicken's neck. The Tao Clan might take revenge later, but that wouldn't bring him back.
"Get up," Wei Tu said flatly.
With a flick of his sleeve, he used his spiritual power to lift Tao Jie from the ground.
He wasn't someone who killed indiscriminately—he had his own code. He wouldn't take a life just because of a few false words.
Besides, Tao Jie wasn't entirely useless. Killing the Tao siblings wouldn't do him any favors.
"If you two are unwilling to explain why Fellow Daoist Shang is pursuing you, then I'll be on my way," Wei Tu said, his tone distant. He was already preparing to stick to his original plan—leave the Tao siblings to Shang Ming and let him clean up the mess.
He didn't kill people lightly.
But that didn't mean he liked saving them.
Especially not people like this, who twisted their words and tried to drag him into their mess.
"Please wait, Senior Wei," this time it wasn't Tao Jie who stopped him—it was his sister, the young woman.
"Since Senior Wei is sincerely asking, I will explain the real reason Shang Ming is chasing us."
Her voice came fast, as if she were afraid that Wei Tu, angered or annoyed, might leave before she could get the words out.
She wasn't sure whether Shang Ming had left any kind of tracking spell on them, but she did know that his retreat had only been temporary.
As soon as Wei Tu left—
Shang Ming would definitely return to finish them off.
"Shang Ming is pursuing us because he heard from one of our uncles that our mother came from the distant Kang Kingdom… and one of the cultivators guarding the border at Redwater Pass is named Nie Wenjing—he's my mother's elder brother."
"So, Shang Ming wants to capture us and use the Redwater Pass route to escape Zheng Kingdom," the young woman finally revealed the truth behind their pursuer.
A way to leave Zheng Kingdom and reach Kang Kingdom?
Wei Tu's heart stirred at the thought.
These past few years of chaos in Zheng had taken a toll on rogue cultivators like him. If he could leave and find a safer place, it would be a huge advantage.
"But I've just become a disciple of Master Che…" Wei Tu frowned slightly, conflicted.
After all, he had only recently begun to see the benefits of joining a powerful faction.
Staying with the Loose Immortal Alliance gave him temporary safety—especially since he'd just completed his defensive assignment.
For now, he wouldn't be sent back to the frontlines.
But if he left the alliance and went to Kang Kingdom, as a rogue cultivator, finding another third-tier spiritual land suitable for forming a Golden Core wouldn't be easy.
"Not so fast," Wei Tu muttered, shaking his head and steadying his thoughts.
Trying to rely on Nie Wenjing to cross into Kang Kingdom might be possible in theory, but no one had successfully done it yet. It carried no small amount of risk.
If crossing borders was really so simple, rogue cultivators from Zheng and Jing would have long since fled—why would they still be foolishly stationed at the righteous-demonic front lines, holding off the demonic army?
"Smuggling into Kang Kingdom isn't easy," Tao Jie added from the side, glaring secretly at his sister for speaking so bluntly. "Our clan has tried many times to contact my third uncle through our mother, but he has always declined—politely refusing to get involved."
That truth, compared to a lie, might actually increase their chances of dying here.
"If what you two say is true, then today I can protect you—just this once," Wei Tu said after a moment of thought, his tone calm.
If the siblings were telling the truth, then Shang Ming's actions confirmed he was no better than a marauder. Taking action now would be reasonable and aligned with Wei Tu's moral path.
Of course, there was another reason.
Wei Tu wanted to do what Shang Ming was trying to do—gain control of this smuggling route into Kang Kingdom, just in case he needed it in the future.
But unlike Shang Ming, Wei Tu wasn't going to kidnap anyone. He planned to offer terms and negotiate with the Tao Clan directly.
Compared to long-lost nieces and nephews, spirit stones and cultivation resources would no doubt tempt Nie Wenjing more.
Shang Ming hadn't taken that route because he was a rogue cultivator—and a broke one at that. He could only get what he wanted by taking it by force.
"Thank you, Senior," the Tao siblings said gratefully, visibly relieved.
With that, Wei Tu activated his light escape technique and flew toward the direction where Shang Ming had fled.
Earlier, he had seen Shang Ming leave a tracking method on the Tao siblings.
But he hadn't been idle either.
Not only had he left a tracking spell on the siblings, he had also secretly marked Shang Ming—the fellow Foundation Establishment cultivator—with a trace method of his own.