After reading the letter, Wei Tu didn't waste any time. He flew straight out of the Honghe Mountain Marketplace, heading directly for the Qiyue Zhao Clan.
If it were something else, he might have sent a letter first to ask, and wouldn't be in such a rush. But what Zhao Jiangwu told him was too important—it concerned his future safety within Zheng Kingdom and the final direction of its chaotic times.
This time, leaving Honghe Mountain Marketplace, Wei Tu was more cautious. He didn't leave openly in front of everyone but disguised himself and slipped out quietly.
Before leaving, he left a second-rank Seven-Colored Phantom Moth in his residence, to keep watch on any movement inside.
Wei Tu never fully trusted Du Wenshu, the female housekeeper. He always stayed wary, but thinking that an obvious spy was easier to handle than a hidden one, he had kept Du Wenshu managing his household affairs.
Two or three days later.
Wei Tu arrived at the foot of Qiyue Mountain.
He looked up at the towering mountain peak, then pulled out a talisman letter from his sleeve and sent it toward the Zhao Clan's territory.
But what surprised him was that the pigeon-shaped talisman, as it flew into Qiyue Mountain, suddenly hit a layer of white barrier light in mid-air, which showed no sign of opening. The barrier blocked the talisman pigeon right outside.
It wasn't unusual for a communication talisman to be blocked by a formation.
Normally though, once the formation's inner side verified the talisman's safety, they'd let it through, not obstruct regular information exchanges between clan members and outsiders.
As Wei Tu stood puzzled—
From within Qiyue Mountain, a giant ape puppet clad in armor walked out.
"The Qiyue Zhao Clan has activated the clan-protecting formation. The mountain is sealed for one hundred years. Please return for a visit after a hundred years." The giant ape puppet rumbled.
Sealed for one hundred years?
Wei Tu stood dumbfounded for a moment.
For no reason at all, why would the Qiyue Zhao Clan suddenly seal off their mountain for a hundred years and refuse to see anyone?
"No, not for no reason." Wei Tu remembered the secret Zhao Jiangwu had mentioned in his letter.
If he were a high-ranking member of the Qiyue Zhao Clan, after learning such a shocking secret, he would definitely act and wouldn't just wait to die.
"But… sealing the mountain for a hundred years won't stop the demonic cultivators from invading." Wei Tu frowned deeply, his face thoughtful.
"Unless… the Zhao Clan cultivators have already left, and sealing the mountain for a hundred years is just a cover?"
Wei Tu boldly guessed.
Earlier, he had been working with the Hanshan Tao Clan to open smuggling routes into Kang Kingdom.
If he and the Hanshan Tao Clan could think of smuggling, there's no way the Qiyue Zhao Clan couldn't have thought of it too.
"If they're smuggling, then where's Second Brother? He's an outsider. If the Zhao Clan was planning to smuggle out, for secrecy, they definitely wouldn't tell him."
Wei Tu started thinking of all sorts of suspicions.
Just then, Wei Tu suddenly remembered—among all the congratulatory letters in the jade box, there wasn't one signed by Wei Fei.
"Go check out Zijing Forest." Wei Tu's thoughts turned. He flew toward the first-rank spirit land near Qiyue Mountain, Zijing Forest.
That Zijing Forest had once been where Wei Fei lived with his wife's family before reaching Foundation Establishment.
Wei Tu believed that if Wei Fei had left Qiyue Mountain, he would have definitely left him a message.
At the very least, even if Wei Fei didn't care about him, his old brother, he would care about his own daughter, Wei Xian'er.
Now Wei Xian'er was living with his daughter, Wei Yan, in the Zama Tribe of Kang Kingdom.
Zijing Forest wasn't far from Qiyue Mountain.
Wei Tu flew for a while and soon landed on this piece of spirit land.
But, just like Qiyue Mountain, Zijing Forest was now desolate, almost no one left.
Wei Tu arrived at Wei Fei's old home and searched for a while with his divine sense, his face showing disappointment.
Inside Wei Fei's old home, there was no useful information left for him.
However—
Just as Wei Tu was about to leave.
An old man with white hair and wrinkled skin walked out from a nearby house and stopped Wei Tu.
The old man looked at Wei Tu, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Are you Wei Tu, True Lord Wei? This old man has been waiting here for you on the patriarch's orders."
With that, the old man took out a letter and handed it to Wei Tu.
"Which patriarch of the Zhao Clan?" Wei Tu took the letter but didn't rush to read it. He casually asked.
In the world of cultivation, you couldn't judge someone's age by their appearance.
This old man looked frail, his face aged, one foot already in the grave.
But in terms of age, he was younger than Wei Tu.
By now, Wei Tu was already two hundred and seven years old, long past the two hundred-year limit for a Qi Refinement cultivator's lifespan.
"Ancestor Jiangwu."
The old man's reply was within Wei Tu's expectations, but hearing those four words still brought a hint of disappointment to his heart.
"This old one will take his leave." Seeing Wei Tu had taken the letter, the old man seemed like he had completed some task. He activated a magic tool, rode it leisurely, and drifted away from Zijing Forest.
Watching this, Wei Tu paused for a moment, then flew down the mountain to stop the old man.
He took out a talisman and handed it over. "The Zhao Clan has shown kindness to Wei. Now that the Zhao Clan has sealed its mountain, take this talisman as a gift, a token of my gratitude."
"To receive a talisman from a True Lord and be addressed as 'fellow Daoist', this old one has no regrets in life."
The old man showed no fear or nervousness toward Wei Tu, this Golden Core True Lord. He smiled, accepted the talisman naturally, swept his sleeve, and continued down the mountain.
"To be so carefree, one must truly want nothing." Wei Tu watched the old man's retreating figure and sighed quietly.
Unfortunately, he was not like this old man. He still had six hundred years of life left, still striving for the Nascent Soul realm and beyond. In his actions, he couldn't afford to be so free, but had to be cautious and careful.
After this thought passed.
Wei Tu flicked his sleeve, removed the restriction on the letter, and read its contents.
The first half of the letter was the same as Zhao Jiangwu's first message, all about Zheng Kingdom becoming the abandoned pawn of the Seven Kingdoms' Righteous Alliance.
But after this part, a paragraph in the letter answered Wei Tu's earlier doubts—why Zhao Jiangwu's first letter had been sent as an ordinary one, without any secrecy.
"Destiny! Those who achieve great things in ancient times, must have destiny's protection from the unseen."
That's what Zhao Jiangwu said.
Fate and destiny, not just mortals, but cultivators deeply believed in them.
When fortune is with you, heaven and earth aid you.
When fortune leaves, even heroes are helpless.
Zhao Jiangwu's move was to see if Wei Tu was truly protected by destiny, to see if he could receive the first letter without mishap, arrive on time, and come to Zijing Forest.
The second letter had been left with the old man for three years.
If Wei Tu missed the time, he would lose the chance to see this second letter.
"Maybe I do have destiny's protection, but receiving this second letter was also because of my nature."
"If I weren't cautious, even getting the first letter wouldn't help—I'd miss the second simply by overlooking it."
Wei Tu shook his head to himself, not feeling any pride from his supposed good luck.
After all, the example of his second brother Wei Fei was still fresh. If he hadn't lent a hand in time, Wei Fei would have died of old age just like Tong Peipei, and never had a chance to reach Foundation Establishment.
To reach this point, achieving Golden Core, Wei Tu didn't think it was all luck.
Good luck was only temporary.
The life-and-death battle with Si Qing, the ambush on Alchemist Shu, holding the line at Cicada Cry Cliff—these were all moments after heaven had taken his luck away, where he relied on his strength and resolve to survive through near-death.
In short, he and Wei Fei were both lucky ones blessed by destiny, but the difference was, he seized the chances due to his nature, while Wei Fei missed them again and again for the same reason.
Wei Tu continued reading the letter.
The second half explained the truth behind the Qiyue Zhao Clan's mountain sealing.
And also, a secret route for Wei Tu to escape the righteous-demonic battlefield.
"Xiao Kingdom's Zu Clan, Shengya Mountain." Wei Tu raised an eyebrow, silently repeating the name.
He didn't expect the origins of the Qiyue Zhao Clan to be so extraordinary—they actually came from Shengya Mountain in Xiao Kingdom.
Xiao Kingdom was the strongest among the Seven Kingdoms Righteous Alliance.
In terms of top cultivators, the strength of cultivators in Xiao Kingdom was about five times that of Zheng Kingdom.
Compared to Xiao Kingdom, the border nations like Jing Kingdom, Zheng Kingdom, and Liang Kingdom were just small countries.
And Shengya Mountain was the most powerful sect within Xiao Kingdom.
The Nascent Soul cultivators in that sect numbered more than both hands could count.
"The 'ancestor' of Zhao Clan's 'Zu Clan' is also a Nascent Soul cultivator." Reading this revealed background, Wei Tu couldn't help but be amazed.
Only now did he understand why the Qiyue Zhao Clan could sit firmly as the top Golden Core family in Zheng Kingdom.
With the support of a Nascent Soul-level 'ancestral clan', it would be hard for them not to thrive.
"Second Brother really has good fortune."
After putting the letter away, Wei Tu shook his head and sighed.
The letter didn't mention where Wei Fei went, but he could guess that Wei Fei had gone with the Zhao Clan cultivators, transferred by teleportation to Xiao Kingdom.
After all, the Zhao Clan had only about a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators. Taking Wei Fei along would cost them nothing.
Though Wei Fei wasn't strong, there were plenty of ways Foundation Establishment cultivators could be useful—their worth wasn't just in strength.
After leaving Zijing Forest.
Wei Tu didn't return to Red River Mountain, but changed his course and headed toward the Hanshan Tao Clan.
This time, he was going to use those last two smuggling quotas.
A wise man doesn't stand under a crumbling wall.
With Zheng Kingdom on the brink of crisis, he wouldn't foolishly stay and wait to fight the demonic cultivators.
Over thirty years ago, the reason he didn't smuggle himself to Kang Kingdom like Wei Yan and the others came down to three points.
First, Zheng Kingdom's crisis hadn't surfaced yet, and there was no danger of collapse. As a top Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had the strength to protect himself within Zheng Kingdom.
Second, he had just completed the conscription order and returned from defending Cicada Cry Cliff. Even if there was danger on the righteous-demonic battlefield, he wouldn't be sent.
Third, the Loose Immortal Alliance could provide him, a Golden Core disciple, with a place to form his core and even help protect him during the process.
But going to Kang Kingdom, where everything was unfamiliar, made it hard to find a place as good as the Loose Immortal Alliance's for forming a core.
"I wonder if the Loose Immortal Alliance knows about this?"
Wei Tu thought as he flew.
He guessed that among Zheng Kingdom's major powers, probably only the grassroots Loose Immortal Alliance, this quasi-Nascent Soul power, didn't know that Zheng Kingdom and the other two border nations were about to be abandoned on the righteous-demonic battlefield.
The other five great sects most likely already knew, and like the Qiyue Zhao Clan, had begun to withdraw from the dangerous lands of Zheng Kingdom.
The Loose Immortal Alliance, just like Zheng Kingdom, had become a discarded pawn to resist the demonic invasion.
"If there's a chance, before leaving Zheng Kingdom, I should weigh the pros and cons and maybe leak this information to the Loose Immortal Alliance."
Wei Tu thought.
Even if he didn't count the gratitude of the Loose Immortal Alliance's True Lords who protected him during his core formation, just Master Che Gongwei's teaching deserved this favor in return.
A few days later.
Wei Tu arrived at the Hanshan Tao Clan.
This time, not only the Tao Clan's head, Tao Jingwen, and the elder Tao Shisheng came to greet him.
The Tao Clan's old patriarch, Tao Chongzhou, upon hearing that Wei Tu, the newly advanced Golden Core True Lord, had arrived, personally came out of seclusion to meet him.
After a brief conversation.
When Tao Shisheng learned why Wei Tu had come, he showed a bitter smile and said, "Senior Wei, now that my humble wife's third brother, Nie Wenjing, has left Chishui Pass, he's no longer stationed there."
"Originally, if it was just Nie Wenjing leaving, it wouldn't have had too much effect on our smuggling route. We could have just bribed another cultivator."
"But... for some reason, in the last ten years, Kang Kingdom has tightened its control over border smuggling."
"After we lost over ten family cultivators, our Tao Clan gave up on smuggling altogether."
Tao Shisheng sighed.
As he spoke, Tao Shisheng also handed Wei Tu a smuggling ledger to show that he wasn't lying.
A Golden Core True Lord had the ability to soul-search or extract memories from lower-level cultivators.
Wei Tu figured the Hanshan Tao Clan wouldn't dare deceive him in this.
He took the ledger and glanced over the information recorded over the past few decades, and believed Tao Shisheng's words.
"Kang Kingdom tightening the borders also confirms, in a way, that Zhao Jiangwu wasn't lying."
Wei Tu thought to himself.
"Is there still hope to open the smuggling route?" Wei Tu handed the ledger back to Tao Shisheng and asked.
"One word—difficult!" Tao Shisheng shook his head repeatedly. "Kang Kingdom's border patrols are several times stronger than in past years. Unless we bribe the Immortal Envoy guarding Chishui Pass, this smuggling route is hard to reopen."
The Immortal Envoy was the chief officer stationed at Chishui Pass, holding a position similar to that of the fake Golden Core True Lord Xi Ying, whom Wei Tu had met at Cicada Cry Cliff.
But unlike Xi Ying—
The one guarding Chishui Pass was a real Golden Core True Lord, whose realm far surpassed Xi Ying's.
"To bribe Chishui Pass's Immortal Envoy is no easy task." Tao Chongzhou, the Tao Clan's old patriarch, picked up the conversation and sighed. "The current Immortal Envoy is named Ren Su, a famous Golden Core cultivator of Kang Kingdom. He guards Chishui Pass in hopes of seizing the opportunity for Nascent Soul…"
"Our resources can hardly tempt him."
Tao Chongzhou didn't think highly of Wei Tu's wealth.