Others might have been deceived by Wei Tu's fake death, but she, having fallen for this trick once before, would not be fooled by Wei Tu a second time.
Bao Siyan was certain that after Wei Tu fell into the Blood Slaughter Sea, he certainly didn't die and was currently enjoying himself somewhere.
When she said this, the other cultivators present couldn't help but believe Hu Shan's claim that Wei Tu faked his death.
This was something they couldn't ignore.
After all, Wei Tu had already escaped once successfully.
"Junior Sister, did you hear that? Wei Tu is still alive!" Hu Shan spoke again, her tone full of glee.
She said, "Originally, after Wei Tu escaped, with only the two of us, if we couldn't find him in the Blood Slaughter Sea, we'd have no choice but to let him go. But now, you've brought the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others here… Heh, you're forcing Wei Tu to die."
"Interesting! So interesting!" Hu Shan clapped her hands and sighed. "You, who wanted to avenge Wei Tu, have now become the biggest murderer of him. The ways of the world are truly unpredictable."
Hearing these words, Gong Shulan, who had been fleeing, turned pale with shock. She could no longer keep calm.
Hu Shan wasn't wrong.
Her previous actions hadn't been wrong.
But the mistake was that fate had played a cruel trick. Her good intentions had led to bad results.
If Wei Tu had died, the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others, upon arriving, would have immediately killed Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu for breaking into the Great Void Realm, eliminating these two enemies.
But now, Wei Tu wasn't dead.
Everything had changed.
Compared to Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu, the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others were far more interested in the supposedly fake death of Wei Tu.
— Because Wei Tu possessed more secrets of the Great Void Realm. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to fake his death and escape from such a dangerous place like the Blood Slaughter Sea.
Perhaps, during the process, the Gui Luo Demon Lord might take the opportunity to eliminate Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that, initially, Wei Tu had been safe. But with her "intervention," things had now become dangerous.
Had she not interfered, Wei Tu would have attracted the Gui Luo Demon Lord and others, who, even if they doubted his fake death, would have been more focused on dealing with the fully-powered Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu instead of immediately turning their attention to finding Wei Tu.
The two sides would have been at odds, but Wei Tu's chances of survival would have increased.
Now, however, facing the wounded Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu, the Gui Luo Demon Lord was confident in dominating the situation. He was no longer inclined to deal with Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu first but instead wanted to find Wei Tu.
Otherwise, these two sides would not have been so harmonious.
"Second Sister's meaning?" Gong Shulan's avatar, standing behind the Huang Tian Sword Master, had an icy expression and finally responded to Hu Shan's many provocative remarks.
Gong Shulan easily guessed that Hu Shan intended to make peace with her and wanted to join forces to deal with the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others.
The previous words were simply psychological pressure, a negotiation tactic.
At this moment, the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others not immediately killing Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu did not mean they were no longer hostile to them. It just meant they wanted to use the two of them to find out where Wei Tu was hiding.
Once the job was done, they would discard them.
In short, Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu, if they wanted a chance at survival, would now have to seek her help.
...
On the other side.
Qi Chengchu was also secretly transmitting messages to Che Gongwei, hoping to gain the help of the Golden Core True Lord, increasing their chances of success.
Compared to Hu Shan's provocative negotiation, Qi Chengchu's words were much softer, directly stating the benefits and conflicts between the two parties.
"Su Bing'er is trapped by the Spirit Binding Talisman, and only Hu Shan Daoist can break it. No one here can. Even if you, Che Daoist, manage to save Su Bing'er, you will still be unable to remove the Binding Spirit Talisman in her body. Not to mention, taking her safely out of the Great Void Realm."
"And as for Wei Tu…"
"Che Daoist, do you really believe that the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others will just let Wei Tu go?"
Qi Chengchu spoke slowly.
This move was also a risky one for Qi Chengchu. He couldn't be sure whether Che Gongwei, like Bao Siyan, had already been fully controlled by the Gui Luo Demon Lord and had become his servant.
He could only rely on his understanding of Che Gongwei and trust that this old friend, even if it meant dying, would not join the demon path.
"Qi Chengchu swears that once we leave the Great Void Realm safely, I will never be an enemy of Wei Tu, Su Bing'er, or anyone else again."
Qi Chengchu raised the stakes.
Upon hearing this, Che Gongwei was moved.
Although he and Qi Chengchu had deep conflicts and had become mortal enemies, the more important thing now was to survive and escape the Great Void Realm with his two disciples.
...
Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu had said a lot while trying to win over Gong Shulan and Che Gongwei, but since they were communicating via transmissions, less than three breaths of time passed outside.
Therefore, when Bao Siyan confirmed Wei Tu's fake death, the next moment—
Che Gongwei instantly disappeared, appearing next to Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu.
At the same moment, Gong Shulan also turned her attention back, now facing off against the Gui Luo Demon Lord and the others.
This sudden change caught the Gui Luo Demon Lord and Elder Ning Yan off guard. Their faces immediately turned cold, no longer as relaxed as when they first arrived.
In terms of strategy, the Gui Luo Demon Lord and his group were no less capable than Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu. But the situations they faced were different. The former just needed to maintain their advantage to win, while the latter had to use all their wits to resolve the unfavorable situation. Thus, despite their careful planning, Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu had seized the first opportunity, winning this round.
With the support of Che Gongwei and Gong Shulan, and adding Su Bing'er, Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu now had five Golden Core cultivators, matching the Gui Luo Demon Lord's and Elder Ning Yan's forces in numbers.
With the basis for confrontation now established.
"Furthermore, once we find Wei Tu... with the Golden Core cultivators now reaching six, this journey into the Great Void Realm may not end in failure," Hu Shan's eyes narrowed slightly, thinking to herself.
There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
Hu Shan understood Wei Tu and knew he wouldn't make such a foolish mistake, still opposing her at such a crucial moment.
"Good! Good! Good!" The Gui Luo Demon Lord, upon seeing this, repeated the word "good" three times, laughing in fury.
He hadn't expected that, as a dignified Demon Lord, he would be outwitted by Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu, and that he hadn't noticed it earlier.
Before this, both Che Gongwei and Gong Shulan had been enemies of Qi Chengchu and Hu Shan.
The former had been betrayed by Qi Chengchu, and his two disciples had been captured.
The latter had fought with Hu Shan and Qi Chengchu, with both sides suffering significant injuries.
Suddenly, they had formed an alliance?
"Gui Luo Demon Lord, I suggest we first find Wei Tu, and then work together to explore the Great Void Realm," Hu Shan ignored the Demon Lord's fury and took a step forward, offering her advice.
She didn't think the Gui Luo Demon Lord would let his anger cause him to lose the great opportunity to explore the Great Void Realm.
— At this moment, anyone could guess that someone who could fake his death and escape from the Blood Slaughter Sea, like Wei Tu, must know many secrets of the Great Void Realm.
He was the key to unlocking the Great Void Realm's inner domain.
No one would be so foolish as to cause mutual destruction without seeing the treasure first. No leader of any faction would make such a mistake.
"What's your name?" The Gui Luo Demon Lord calmed down, gazing seriously at Hu Shan with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.
In the face of absolute strength, any schemes and tricks were powerless. With his Nascent Soul avatar's strength, dealing with a mere five Golden Core cultivators was effortless.
In the past, even the likes of True Monarch Wan Hai and Bai Zhi had tried to besiege him in the Great Void Realm, but they were utterly defeated. Even True Monarch Wan Hai, a peak Golden Core cultivator, was swallowed alive by him.
However, at this moment, the Gui Luo Demon Lord developed some interest in Hu Shan, the one who had plotted against him with such cunning.
He happened to be in need of a Nascent Soul companion.
"I am Hu Shan." Hu Shan smiled slyly, her fox-like eyes glancing at the Gui Luo Demon Lord, her gaze almost coquettish, as though she were acting affectionate toward a lover.
"I agree with this proposal," said the Gui Luo Demon Lord in a calm tone.
— In the Great Void Realm's inner domain, there were still some spiritual poisons that hadn't been fully cleared. Hu Shan and the others were well-suited to be the vanguard.
Of course, the most important factor was still related to Wei Tu.
He needed Hu Shan's group to help him track down Wei Tu's whereabouts in the Blood Slaughter Sea.
...
The Blood Slaughter Sea's waters cut off divine sense.
Thus, Wei Tu, hiding in the stone cavern, was completely unaware of everything happening on the shore.
Whether it was Gong Shulan avenging him or Che Gongwei arriving in the Great Void Realm, he had no idea.
Right now, he was fully immersed in his breakthrough.
When he bathed in the Sacred Spring in Sunset City, Wei Tu's cultivation had already reached the peak of early Golden Core. Later, while crossing the Black Blood Marsh and practicing body refinement techniques, his cultivation had advanced again. He was now just one step away from breaking into mid-Golden Core.
Therefore, after infiltrating the Blood Slaughter Sea's stone cavern and setting up a third-tier defensive array with Bai Zhi's help, Wei Tu began working on breaking through his current realm in front of the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon.
This step was almost effortless.
Four days later.
With a surge of spiritual energy, the round Golden Core in Wei Tu's dantian spun rapidly, and the surface gradually revealed intricate Golden Core Dao patterns, shining brightly in the space around him.
The Golden Core Dao patterns were the sign of the mid-Golden Core realm.
With these patterns, Golden Core cultivators could gradually nourish their personal magic treasures, making them equivalent to or even surpassing magical tools forged by weapon smiths of the same level.
"Geomagnetic Wood Spirit Seed?"
At this moment, under the dazzling Golden Core, Wei Tu noticed an anomaly in the spirit seed he had refined during the Qi Refining stage.
The green spirit seed, wrapped in the colorful light of the Yuan Gravity Law Seal's restrictions, had developed a more expansive aura under the nourishment of the Golden Core Dao patterns. It was now emitting faint grayish-golden light.
This grayish-golden light resembled the Yuan Gravity Law Seal's colorful light, but compared to the Yuan Gravity Law Seal's five-colored glow, the restrictions and runes within were deeper and more complex.
If the Yuan Gravity Law Seal's runes were like a thin thread, the runes in the grayish-golden glow were like a steel cable, their quality increased by at least twofold.
"Could it be...?"
Wei Tu's heart raced. He immediately immersed his consciousness into his mind to check the characters on the Golden Purple Fate.
[Yuan Gravity Law Seal (93/100): Five hours of sitting daily, 500 years to complete.]
Over one hundred fifty years ago, when he was in the early Foundation Establishment stage, he used Iron Magnetic Wood Spirit Liquid to refine the Yuan Gravity Law Seal and learned that there were even stronger corresponding divine abilities above it.
Now, the Yuan Gravity Law Seal was almost fully complete. This grayish-golden light, in his estimation, should be the "divine ability artifact" above the Yuan Gravity Law Seal.
"First, calm my mind and focus on breaking through. After the breakthrough, I can carefully investigate the wonders of this object."
Wei Tu continued to wait for his Golden Core transformation.
By the seventh day, the elliptical Golden Core's operation slowed down, and the Dao patterns on its surface gradually faded, settling down.
"Two hundred seventy-four years old, mid-Golden Core."
Wei Tu sat cross-legged in the stone cavern, opening his eyes. He felt the immense spiritual power within his body and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
This turbid air was, in fact, spiritual energy.
To low-level cultivators, it was as valuable as Golden Core essence.
But for a cultivator of Wei Tu's caliber, it was merely waste gas, a byproduct of excess impurities during the Golden Core operation.
"There is no spiritual vein in the stone cavern. This breakthrough has cost me at least 12,000 spirit stones." Wei Tu looked around at the white spiritual stone powder scattered everywhere, a pained expression crossing his face.
Breaking through outside of a spiritual land required a massive expenditure of spirit stones to fill the gap in spiritual energy during the breakthrough.
For any cultivator, this was a rather extravagant action.
"Let's keep going. I'll take this opportunity to break through to the middle stage of the Body Refining Realm, balancing both Qi Refining and Body Refining."
Wei Tu flipped his palm and took out two "Vajra Fruits" he had previously purchased from Yu Tong at the Jade River Market.
Vajra Fruits were Body Refining treasures produced by the Wanfo Temple of the Xiao Kingdom. In other nations, such a fruit was extremely rare.
These fruits were worth at least 15,000 spirit stones at an auction.
Due to their rarity, cultivators often bid for them at prices higher than 20,000 spirit stones.
At the last auction in Jingguo, Wei Tu had seen a Vajra Fruit bought by a demonic cultivator for 27,000 spirit stones.
The two Vajra Fruits Yu Tong bought for Wei Tu, while not priced as high as 27,000, averaged 16,000 spirit stones each.
"Qi Refining builds a foundation, Body Refining leads to bankruptcy."
This saying in the cultivation world was no joke.
Had it not been for Wei Tu's dual mastery of pill and talisman arts, and his ability to earn money, along with his robbery of Liu Moqun and Daoist Zhanlang, purchasing these two Vajra Fruits alone would have left an ordinary Golden Core cultivator bankrupt.
Wei Tu brought one of the fruits close to his face, and the enticing fragrance of the third-tier spiritual fruit immediately filled his nostrils. He swallowed hard and bit through the skin of the fruit, taking a small bite.
In an instant, the immense spiritual energy contained within the fruit erupted inside Wei Tu's body, and strands of golden spiritual light, visible to the naked eye, seeped into his limbs, organs, and bones.
Fifteen minutes later.
A layer of golden, metallic sheen appeared on Wei Tu's body, resembling a protective golden armor akin to the Vajra guardians in Buddhist temples.
Within him, his blood surged like a river. Each time he practiced his Body Refining techniques, a sound like waves crashing on the shore echoed, audible even to those nearby.
At the same time, the "Evil Demon True Seal" that appeared on his chest released a torrent of demonic energy, radiating a terrifying demonic aura.
Half like a Buddha, half like a demon.
Thanks to the concealment of the third-tier formation, the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon outside could not see Wei Tu's breakthrough. However, he silently felt the undulating spiritual pressure inside the formation, his face alternating between joy and complexity.
"The immortal path is hard to walk. Among the four of us, perhaps only Third Brother can truly attain immortality," the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon sighed softly.
Years ago, after the Sword Trial in the Three Major Provinces ended, he had obtained the "Spirit Fusion Flower" from the Feng Wu tribe as he had wished.
However, the Spirit Fusion Flower could only temporarily ease his spiritual injuries, not truly merge him with the "Canglan Old Demon."
If no solution was found within a hundred years, his soul would likely be completely consumed by the revived Canglan Old Demon.
At that time, there would be no more Fu Zhizhou.
"Zhizhou?" The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon smiled bitterly as he thought of this name.
Anyone who embarks on the immortal path will not have true peace unless they reach the pinnacle. Only those who constantly strive for progress are free.
"Changes in the Blood Slaughter Sea?" Suddenly, the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon's expression changed. He walked toward the entrance of the stone cavern and looked out at the blood-red sea.
Unlike a few days ago, the blood-red water now had surging undercurrents, continuously crashing against the formation barrier outside the cavern, as if ready to break it apart at any moment.
Seeing this, the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon immediately understood that the cultivators on the shore were likely searching for him and Wei Tu, who had escaped.
"Judging by Third Brother's breakthrough aura, it will take at least seven to eight more days for him to complete the breakthrough… The cultivators on the shore must have considerable power to stir up the Blood Slaughter Sea's waves…"
"The undercurrent is likely testing their position. Once the undercurrent ends, the cultivators will likely start searching the Blood Slaughter Sea."
The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon's expression grew dark and uncertain.
During a breakthrough, interruption was the most dangerous. If the cultivators on the shore found Wei Tu during his breakthrough, not only would he fail to complete it, but he would also suffer serious injuries from the backlash of his cultivation technique. This would destroy his potential and make it impossible for him to break through to the Nascent Soul stage in the future.
"Fine! This is my debt to Third Brother." The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon gritted his teeth and muttered the words, "Heavenly Corpse comes."
At that moment, a figure identical to him, an elderly man wearing a raincoat, appeared by his side.
Then, the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon formed another seal.
The raincoat-wearing old man immediately transformed into an ordinary-looking Wei Tu, dressed in a green robe. His aura was also very similar to that of Wei Tu's current closed-door cultivation state.
"Go!" The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon silently recited a spell and infused the walking corpse with several talismans.
The walking corpse, disguised as Wei Tu, immediately rushed out of the stone cavern and began wandering beneath the Blood Slaughter Sea.
Sure enough, as the walking corpse left, the undercurrent in the Blood Slaughter Sea halted, shifting direction to pursue the walking corpse instead.
Unlike the magical body of a Golden Core cultivator, the walking corpse was far more resilient and could adapt to the Blood Slaughter Sea's environment.
Thus, the walking corpse, under the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon's control, would last for at most one day.
After one day.
The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon would recall the walking corpse, cleanse it of the Blood Slaughter Sea's poison, and send it out again to mislead the cultivators on the shore.
This back-and-forth continued, delaying for four or five days.
On the sixth day.
The Heavenly Corpse Old Demon stood outside the stone cavern and saw Hu Shan, the Gui Luo Demon Lord, and the other cultivators who had infiltrated the bottom of the Blood Slaughter Sea.
His expression immediately changed.