Half a day later.
Yao Chongshan and Guan Yingzhi kept their word and traveled to the main peak of Earth Sword Mountain, where they met up with Tang Kejing, Gu Jiyang, and Song Wu.
During the gathering, several cultivators chatted casually with the Yao couple, filled with praise. They all said the two of them were among Earth Sword Mountain's most promising candidates to reach the Nascent Soul stage.
"Oh, no, no, my wife and I just gained a bit of advantage thanks to battlefield contributions," Yao Chongshan replied with his usual humility. "After the two-sect war, our cultivation speed will slow down like everyone else's."
Even so, Yao Chongshan took those words to heart. He firmly believed that it wouldn't be long before he reached the Nascent Soul stage and became one of Earth Sword Mountain's venerable masters.
Soon, the rest of the group arrived.
As the organizer, Tang Kejing didn't delay. After a respectful salute to the others, he took the lead and flew off from Earth Sword Mountain.
Seeing this, the others followed close behind, heading together toward Luoyun Market.
…
Luoyun Market sat on the border between Chu Kingdom and Kang Kingdom. It was a border market, quite far from Earth Sword Mountain.
The five of them—Tang Kejing and the others—flew for several days straight. Once they were certain the road was safe, they gradually relaxed their guard and even started chatting and laughing along the way.
But just as they were passing a white cloud overhead, Yao Chongshan suddenly sensed something and his face changed. He abruptly stopped and sent a voice transmission to the others, telling them to halt.
"Junior Brother Yao, what's wrong?" Tang Kejing looked confused. He hadn't sensed any danger ahead.
Still, he trusted Yao Chongshan's instincts. After all, the Yao couple were some of the very few sword cultivators in Earth Sword Mountain.
Sword cultivation was a top-tier inheritance in the immortal path. Anyone who practiced it was usually exceptionally gifted.
And in certain aspects, sword cultivators could even rival those born with spiritual physiques.
Like now—their sense of danger was significantly sharper than most.
"My spirit sword gave a warning. There's something wrong ahead," Yao Chongshan said grimly.
Spirit sword warning?
At that, the others immediately realized who had redeemed the "Golden Rock Spirit Sword" from the sect's Merit Hall over ten years ago.
That sword wasn't an ordinary magic weapon. It was a proto-spiritual treasure, containing a barely-formed sword spirit inside.
Spiritual treasures were exclusive to the Divine Transformation stage.
Even if the Golden Rock Spirit Sword wasn't fully developed, it was still overwhelming at the Golden Core stage—basically unstoppable.
However… even though Yao Chongshan and the others reacted quickly and communicated silently using voice transmission to retreat from danger, their speed couldn't match Wei Tu's Nascent Soul-level power.
As they backed away, the white cloud in front of them suddenly surged forward, enveloping all five of them in an instant.
Then, the cloud turned into a yellow mist, sealing off their movement.
"Is this the Yellow Cloud Net from the Ying Ding Tribe?"
Right away, the veteran Golden Core cultivator Tang Kejing recognized this deadly artifact from the Ying Ding Tribe.
"What? The Ying Ding Tribe?"
"Why would a cultivator from the Ying Ding Tribe attack us?"
Aside from the Yao couple, the other three—Tang Kejing, Gu Jiyang, and Song Wu—were shocked and confused.
None of them could recall doing anything lately that might have offended someone from the Ying Ding Tribe.
Naturally, Yao Chongshan and Guan Yingzhi kept quiet about the real reason. They weren't about to admit that this ambush might have been orchestrated by Wei Tu, seeking revenge for his master's death.
"Senior Brother Tang, with our combined strength, we have no rival within the Golden Core realm. No need to fear this lowly sneak attack!" Yao Chongshan shouted as he raised his magic sword.
Hearing this, Tang Kejing, Gu Jiyang, and Song Wu didn't question him. They nodded and each summoned their own magical weapons, ready to fight their way out.
But what happened next instantly froze the blood in their veins.
With a sharp "whoosh," a flash of green light streaked past their eyes. In an instant, one of Yao Chongshan's arms was gone, replaced by a cloud of blood mist.
If not for his quick sword escape, he would've been killed outright.
"Nascent Soul-level cultivator…"
The voices of Tang Kejing and the others trembled. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Then came another flash of green light.
This time, Yao Chongshan's other arm burst into blood mist and vanished without a trace.
At that moment, Tang Kejing and the others finally realized that Yao Chongshan hadn't escaped that fatal strike because of a timely sword escape. The Nascent Soul old monster was toying with him—torturing him slowly, refusing to let him die cleanly.
"Senior, who are you? Why are you targeting me, Yao? What did I do wrong?"
Yao Chongshan had already lost both arms. Before he could unleash any of his full power, most of his cultivation had already been crippled. Staring in horror into the yellow cloud, he spoke with a trembling voice.
He'd cultivated his whole life. He wasn't overly cautious, but he'd never been foolish enough to provoke a Nascent Soul master.
Everything happening now was far beyond what he could have ever imagined.
"Senior… are you the Divine Master of He Di? Or Divine Master Du Long? Or perhaps Divine Master Donglai?"
Gritting his teeth, Yao Chongshan blurted out the titles of three Nascent Soul elders from the Ying Ding Tribe, hoping for a response from within the yellow cloud.
"Senior, Junior Brother Yao is a Golden Core elder of our sect, one of our top talents. If he's done anything to offend, I hope you'll be merciful…" Tang Kejing also stepped in, trying to speak on Yao Chongshan's behalf.
But no one inside the yellow cloud responded.
Instead, right after he spoke, another flash of green light swept across. Tang Kejing saw it clearly this time—a man in a green robe, plain-looking and nothing like the three Divine Masters he'd just named. His attire didn't match the grassland styles of Kang Kingdom either.
"Wei Tu!" Tang Kejing gasped in shock, instantly recognizing the green-robed cultivator.
After all, Wei Tu had become a household name in the Kang Kingdom's cultivation world even back when he was only at the Golden Core stage. There weren't many Golden Core cultivators who didn't know his name.
Still, Tang Kejing couldn't understand—why was Wei Tu targeting Yao Chongshan specifically? And why such cruelty?
…
On the other side.
The moment Tang Kejing saw Wei Tu, Yao Chongshan—now face to face with him—naturally recognized the same man he had always feared deep down.
Unfortunately, he now had no strength left to resist. All his spiritual power was completely sealed off by Wei Tu.
And—
Wei Tu seemed intent on extracting the "Golden Rock Spirit Sword" from his body, destroying his sword root and foundation altogether.
"Alchemist Wei, war spares no one. I only killed your master because… I was a cultivator of Earth Sword Mountain."
"If you kill me now, my sect will definitely avenge me."
Once he saw Wei Tu, Yao Chongshan gave up all thoughts of begging. He knew there was no way Wei Tu would spare someone who had killed his master.
So instead, he tried to provoke him further, hoping to push Wei Tu into doing something that would lead to retaliation from Earth Sword Mountain.
"War spares no one? You've got a point, Daoist Yao," Wei Tu sneered. "But let me ask—back when I spared your life, why didn't you say that?"
With a cold laugh, he pressed a finger to Yao Chongshan's forehead and forcibly pulled out the Golden Rock Spirit Sword from his sea of consciousness.
"So this is the sword that sensed my Yellow Cloud Net. Earth Sword Mountain really does have deep roots. No wonder it's been around for ten thousand years."
Wei Tu glanced at the glowing, spiritual three-foot short sword in his hand and clicked his tongue in amazement.
But while he was marveling, someone else was suffering.
As soon as Wei Tu pulled out the Golden Rock Spirit Sword, Yao Chongshan let out a sharp, miserable scream. He collapsed onto the yellow mist, barely clinging to life.
He looked nothing like the proud man who had left Earth Sword Mountain just a few days earlier.
"Husband!"
Off to the side, Guan Yingzhi couldn't take it anymore. Overwhelmed by grief, she turned into a streak of purple sword light and lunged straight at Wei Tu.
But without Yao Chongshan's support, her power was no more than a standard late-stage Golden Core cultivator. She wasn't even a match for a peak-stage Golden Core, let alone someone like Wei Tu.
"Noisy," Wei Tu said with a frown. With a flick of his sleeve, he summoned a soft green sword and sealed her up, just like he had done to Elder Ma.
"Senior Brother Tang, Senior Brother Gu, Junior Brother Song! Aren't you going to help? This demon wants to wipe us all out!" Guan Yingzhi shouted in panic, trapped and unable to escape.
But Tang Kejing, Gu Jiyang, and Song Wu didn't move.
They exchanged glances, all wearing hesitant expressions, and collectively took several steps back.
It was obvious now that Wei Tu, the Nascent Soul master, had come specifically for the Yao couple. The rest of them were not his targets.
Otherwise, with Wei Tu's strength, they would never have come out of this completely unharmed.
"You call yourselves fellow sect members… shameless!" Guan Yingzhi exploded with rage at the sight, shouting through clenched teeth.
At first, Tang Kejing and the other two looked embarrassed, clearly uneasy. But as Guan Yingzhi's curses grew more venomous, the three of them stopped caring altogether and wore blank expressions.
Wei Tu glanced at them, noting their tactful silence. He gave a small nod of approval and said, "As long as you three behave, this grudge won't involve you."
In truth, Wei Tu never intended to escalate this matter beyond the Yao couple.
He wasn't some lone wanderer. He had a family, children—things that could be used against him. If things spiraled out of control, even though he was a Nascent Soul cultivator now and could kill Tang Kejing and the others today, the Earth Sword Mountain elders could easily retaliate against his family tomorrow.
The Yao couple had broken protocol and shown no mercy when they attacked Che Gongwei. That didn't necessarily mean Earth Sword Mountain would break the rules in turn and come after Wei Tu's people.
But if they ever did, he would respond just as ruthlessly—no more holding back.
As for destroying bodies to erase evidence…
That might work in the mortal world. But in the chaotic world of cultivation, it was pointless. The moment word spread that he had reached the Nascent Soul stage, even if there was no proof, Earth Sword Mountain would know it was he who killed the Yao couple.
So unless necessary, he didn't want to let this grudge snowball into an all-out war.
"Yao Chongshan, if you keep running your mouth, not only will you die, but your partner will too."
Wei Tu smiled faintly, turning to the nearly crippled Yao Chongshan and said calmly.
"Guan Yingzhi can live?"
Those words lit a spark of hope in Yao Chongshan's heart. If she could survive, then taking all the blame for what happened to Che Gongwei didn't matter.
And maybe… just maybe, if she ever reached the Nascent Soul realm, she could avenge him one day.
"It was my greed. I forgot the kindness Senior Wei showed by sparing me back then… and killed his master Che Gongwei afterward, without any sense of gratitude."
Yao Chongshan lowered his head and admitted guilt.
As soon as those words left his mouth, Tang Kejing and the others exchanged glances. Their eyes now carried an undeniable look of contempt toward the Yao couple.
They finally understood why Wei Tu, despite being a Nascent Soul elder, would break convention to assassinate the Yao couple—because they were the ones who had first broken the rules.
This wasn't something that could be brushed off with a simple 'war spares no one.'
Compared to demonic cultivators, righteous cultivators were held to a different standard—one that included a bottom line. That bottom line might seem useless at times, even mocked by some, but when invoked, no one could argue against it publicly.
At the very least, all the major sects prided themselves on being righteous sects on the surface.
And now, it was clear. Wei Tu, a Nascent Soul master, was merely punishing two Golden Core juniors.
"Senior Wei, rest assured. Once I return to the sect, I will report everything in full detail. I will not defend Yao Chongshan in the slightest."
Tang Kejing stepped forward and made his stance clear.
If it had been any other time, and Yao Chongshan had committed such a grave crime, as his senior, Tang might have tried to cover for him. But this was different. The two had provoked a Nascent Soul master.
He would have to be a fool to get involved.
They had brought this on themselves.
No power. No justification.
"We agree as well," Gu Jiyang and Song Wu echoed, immediately distancing themselves from the Yao couple.
Seeing all this, Yao Chongshan seethed with silent hatred. But he also held onto the idea that Wei Tu would let Guan Yingzhi live now that he had admitted guilt.
Then—everything shattered in an instant.
Wei Tu raised a hand and tapped lightly. In the blink of an eye, Guan Yingzhi's body exploded, turning into a bloody mess. Her soul and body were gone.
"Why? Why didn't you keep your word?" Yao Chongshan roared, teeth clenched, every word laced with fury.
But Wei Tu didn't even flinch. He simply furrowed his brows, glanced at Yao Chongshan, and said blandly, "You already confessed. So why would I spare your partner? Did you really believe what I said?"
"Besides… I never promised I'd let her live."