The external sect cultivators who were shocked by Wei Tu's success in condensing his Nascent Soul were not limited to Cao Mi.
Aside from Earth Sword Mountain, who knew of Wei Tu's true cultivation due to the death of Yao Chongshan and his wife, the five major Nascent Soul factions—Moon Condensation Palace, Mirror Water Pavilion, Ancient Sword Mountain, She Ri Tribe, and Feng Wu Tribe—ranging from Nascent Soul ancestors to small Qi cultivators, were all equally stunned and amazed upon learning this news.
After all, just decades ago, Wei Tu, the Alchemist Wei, had been considered one of the younger generation among the Golden Core true lords, seen as a promising Nascent Soul seed.
In other words, most cultivators had thought that Wei Tu would need several hundred years to even approach the Nascent Soul realm.
Now, without any prior indication, he had successfully condensed his Nascent Soul, which was far beyond what anyone had anticipated.
"Shen Yunqiu, Wei Tu..."
Inside the Mirror Water Pavilion.
Unlike the other cultivators, Ning Xuefeng, upon hearing about Wei Tu's Nascent Soul success, couldn't help but subconsciously link it with the death of Shen Yunqiu from decades ago.
After all—
One person was ambushed and failed to condense his Nascent Soul.
The other went out to condense his Nascent Soul and was lucky enough to succeed.
It seemed too coincidental.
"I can't think too much!"
After a while of contemplation, Ning Xuefeng forced herself to dismiss the thought that had popped into her mind.
After all, Wei Tu was no longer someone that she or Mirror Water Pavilion could easily provoke.
At the end of the day, offending a newly ascended Nascent Soul cultivator over a dead person like Shen Yunqiu would only be an exhausting and unwise endeavor.
"Moreover, within Mirror Water Pavilion, there is also the matter of Qin Yuling's lineage having a close connection with Wei Tu. This could be seen as a good thing as well."
Ning Xuefeng turned her gaze to the direction of Qin Yuling and Kou Hongying's cave.
These two women were significant to Wei Tu—one was his "bosom friend," and the other was the daughter of his sworn older brother, making her a close junior.
As long as she held a firm grasp over these two, Mirror Water Pavilion would undoubtedly gain a powerful Nascent Soul ally, solidifying its foundation in the territory of Kang Kingdom.
However, contrary to what Ning Xuefeng had hoped, after hearing the news of Wei Tu's Nascent Soul success, Qin Yuling and Kou Hongying, aside from being happy, also showed traces of worry on their faces.
Qin Yuling felt regret in her heart, fearing that Wei Tu might resent her due to the events of the past.
A Nascent Soul's wrath was something a small Golden Core cultivator like her could hardly bear.
As for Kou Hongying, she was different.
Like Su Bing'er, Kou Hongying realized the huge gap between herself and Wei Tu.
Back when Wei Tu was preparing to break through to the Golden Core, he had asked for her help to gather body-refining secret medicines and breakthrough spirit pills.
It could be said that without her assistance, Wei Tu's Golden Core breakthrough would have faced many more obstacles.
But now... she hadn't been able to help at all with Wei Tu's Nascent Soul success.
She felt like a transparent person.
"Righteous Society—first, Uncle Wei couldn't keep up with Uncle Wei's pace, then Uncle Fu... now, is it my turn?"
Remembering the past, Kou Hongying suddenly felt a deep sense of loss, her face showing a wistful expression.
At this moment, she recalled the words she had said to Qiu Huaishu a hundred years ago.
She had thought she was different from the others, that she could follow Wei Tu and reach the end of the immortal path. But now, that dream seemed to be shattering.
With that thought, Kou Hongying's almond eyes closed slightly.
However, just as she was about to fully close her eyes, a voice from the past echoed in her mind—the curse Shen Yunqiu had uttered just before his death.
The words lingered in her ears, refusing to fade.
"Mirror Water Pavilion... is there no one left who can break through to Nascent Soul?" she murmured softly.
...
After hearing the news of Wei Tu's Nascent Soul success, aside from Ning Xuefeng, who noticed the connection between Wei Tu and Shen Yunqiu's death, Master Jin Xia of She Ri Tribe also locked Wei Tu as the prime suspect for the death of Yuwen Cheng.
It was the same reasoning.
It was just too coincidental.
After all, when Yuwen Cheng died, Wei Tu, like him, was trapped in Xiao Country and couldn't return to Kang Country in time...
Additionally, decades ago, Wei Tu had sent Yan Yu and Tao Fangde to places like She Ri Tribe to gather spirit herbs needed for refining the "Solid Flame Pill."
These two points were not very noticeable when Wei Tu had not yet achieved Nascent Soul.
But now, after Wei Tu had reached Nascent Soul, these two suspicions became far too glaring.
It almost seemed to make it obvious that Wei Tu was the killer.
Master Jin Xia was no fool, and he clearly saw the huge suspicion surrounding Wei Tu.
"This child has grown wings and is no longer someone I can easily eliminate."
In the end, Master Jin Xia chose to do what Ning Xuefeng did—keep this matter to himself and pretend not to know.
After all, with his strength, defeating Wei Tu might not be that difficult, but capturing him would be nearly impossible.
Moreover, Wei Tu was not alone—he had the support of Du Long and He Di, two cultivators of the same sect, so it was impossible to fight him one-on-one.
"Send for Liangu and have her return to Kang Country to prepare for Wei Tu's Nascent Soul congratulatory gift."
Master Jin Xia instructed his disciples.
...
The reactions from the outside world.
Inside the Ying Ding Tribe, Wei Tu was entirely unaware of the stir his Nascent Soul success had caused. At this moment, his focus was entirely on practicing the "Lifesaving Star Lamp," a high-level life-preserving secret technique.
Wei Tu discovered that the "Lifesaving Star Lamp" technique not only allowed a cultivator to escape danger at the critical moment by using the technique of shedding their shell to preserve their life, but it also produced "lamp oil" that could be used as a reserve of spiritual power.
Its ability was similar to the "One Qi Pouch" he used in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.
Time passed.
Before he knew it, a full year had passed.
In the secret chamber of Cloud Lark Residence, Wei Tu sat cross-legged, his eyes slightly closed, his right hand holding an ancient bronze lamp.
At a certain moment, a green light suddenly swirled around him and flowed into the bronze lamp in his hand.
Under the ritual of spiritual power, the bronze lamp's wick suddenly flared brightly, emitting a blood-red light.
"Go!" At that moment, Wei Tu released the lamp, using his divine sense to control it to float in the air. He then made a hand seal, causing his Nascent Soul to exit his body. His Nascent Soul continued to refine the magical treasure.
Not long after, the lamp's wick began to produce blood-colored lamp oil, resembling a thick paste, which slowly accumulated inside the lamp's wick.
After a while.
Seeing that the lamp oil had accumulated to about half a finger's thickness, Wei Tu opened his eyes, made his Nascent Soul grab the lamp, and chanted a few words.
The next moment, a flash of green light appeared.
Wei Tu's Nascent Soul immediately flew out, leaving behind a blue-colored light shadow shaped like an infant.
After about a moment's time, the blue light shadow shattered into dots of blue light and vanished.
"This technique is much faster than my original escape technique using the Thunder Spirit Ruler, my life treasure. Moreover, the created lamp shadow not only has the effect of deceiving others but also helps reduce damage to a certain extent."
After his Nascent Soul returned to his body, Wei Tu picked up the bronze lamp, now called the Tianxing Lamp, and carefully examined it for a while before silently pondering.
A few years ago, if he had the "Tianxing Lamp," when facing the demon master's ghostly claw outside the Cloud Ze Secret Realm, he would not have had to fight so desperately and use the "Jiayuan Silver Armor" to defend... all he needed was to use the Tianxing Lamp to create a lamp shadow, which would have allowed him to escape unscathed.
—The lamp shadow of the Tianxing Lamp has a death-replacement effect.
"However, although I can use the lamp shadow to replace death, achieving the effect of faking death and escaping like Wei Hua did will require much more time and practice."
Wei Tu shook his head.
At this point, the lamp oil he had refined for the Tianxing Lamp was just low-grade "blood paste" and could only create an illusory lamp shadow.
To achieve something like Wei Hua's fake death escape, he would need to refine higher-grade lamp oil—"Seven-Colored Star Ointment"!
However, the "Seven-Colored Star Ointment" was not as easy to obtain as "blood paste." It required a purer level of spiritual power that was at least one level higher than other cultivators of the same stage to condense.
Although Wei Tu's spiritual power had been purified through the "Iceheart Spiritual Liquid" during the Golden Core stage, after reaching Nascent Soul, his power had faded to the level of an ordinary cultivator of the same rank.
It was just slightly purer than other cultivators of the same level.
Of course, this didn't mean Wei Hua's spiritual power was purer than Wei Tu's, but rather, the spiritual power needed to refine the Seven-Colored Star Ointment in the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages were different.
In other words, the "blood paste" that Wei Tu was refining now had a higher level of spiritual purity than what Wei Hua could create in the Golden Core stage.
After all, the difficulty of a Nascent Soul cultivator's escape technique was far greater than that of a Golden Core cultivator.
"Nevertheless, after refining the Tianxing Lamp, this technique will certainly enhance my fighting capabilities."
Wei Tu wasn't disappointed. He hadn't expected to achieve everything immediately. After all, in the cultivation world, powerful techniques were rarely mastered in a short time.
After storing the Tianxing Lamp in his dantian, Wei Tu thought for a moment, then tapped his storage bag and took out a black jade slip.
"The Upper Evolution Secret Scripture!"
Wei Tu gently spoke the name of the technique inscribed on the black jade slip.
Back in the Golden Core stage, he had discovered fragments of this soul-path technique in the black pendant of Wei Xian'er, which had been left by the Mourning God.
At the time, he suspected that the three major factions might have this soul-path technique in their archives.
Later, after killing Yuwen Cheng and searching his soul, he confirmed his suspicion.
Therefore, after ascending to the Nascent Soul stage and confirming his role as a Divine Master of the Ying Ding Tribe, Wei Tu directly asked Master Du Long and Master He Di for this soul-path technique to cultivate.
However, unfortunately,
The Upper Evolution Secret Scripture they provided was incomplete. They had only given him the upper half of the technique, missing the most valuable lower half.
"Even so, this technique will significantly enrich my soul-path foundation."
Wei Tu's expression remained calm as he shook his head and immersed his divine sense into the black jade slip, beginning to comprehend the mysteries of the soul-path technique.
After all, during the Golden Core stage, just mastering the high-level soul-path techniques "Hidden Spirit Boat Technique" and "Koi Dragon Yin Blade" had greatly benefited him on his path.
Now that he had the second half of the Divine Transformation technique, the benefits were obvious.