Well, that did it—Qi Chengchu had completely ruined Gui Luo's plan from the root.
But Gui Luo didn't seem to care. After cultivating for over a thousand years, he wouldn't start a fight over something as petty as losing face.
"Here are the three Golden Core ghost puppets. Follow your method and open the Stone Demon Tower quickly."
Without the slightest doubt, Gui Luo pulled out a spirit beast pouch from his waist and tossed it to Qi Chengchu.
…
While Qi Chengchu was working on the formation, Wei Tu got his hands on the diagram for the Nine-Curve Demon Formation from Bai Zhi.
In the eyes of Jiu Chuan Old Demon, this formation was incredibly rare. But for Bai Zhi, a high-ranking member of the Heavenly Maiden Sect, it wasn't anything unusual.
Over fifty years ago, before entering the Great Void Secret Realm, she had already collected all the diagrams and decryption methods for the Demonic Sect's major formations known to the Heavenly Maiden Sect.
The Nine-Curve Demon Formation was one of them.
So, while Qi Chengchu was working to unravel the array, Wei Tu also started studying its structure and mechanics.
Though his formation skills were nowhere near Qi Chengchu's or Bai Zhi's level, he was only dealing with a single formation this time. With Bai Zhi's guidance, it wasn't hard for him to get the hang of it.
…
Two days later, after the last Golden Core ghost puppet with dark green skin was sacrificed, nine swirling beams of multicolored light began to form around the outside of the Stone Demon Tower.
These swirling lights shimmered brilliantly like suns. As time passed, they started tearing open a black doorway on the tower's surface.
"Open!" Qi Chengchu shouted, pulling out another set of formation flags and embedding them one by one into the nine light swirls.
In the next moment, the black door opened slowly, revealing a glimpse of a structure inside.
But what was odd was that the structure kept changing—one moment it was a bronze pill furnace, then a jade slip bookshelf, then a spirit herb garden…
"Without the Xumi Tablet, entering the Stone Demon Tower through formation force is a gamble," Bai Zhi casually explained to Wei Tu.
"The formation won't hold long. At most, four people can enter. Daoist Hu Shan, hurry!"
Qi Chengchu suddenly shouted.
As soon as his voice dropped, Hu Shan Fairy, Gui Luo, Ancestor Ning Yan, and Madam Lan all turned grim and instantly activated their escape techniques, rushing toward the black portal.
Almost at the same moment, all four of them squeezed through the dark doorway and entered the Stone Demon Tower.
None of them spared even a glance at Che Gongwei or the old corpse cultivator. It was like they had been forgotten altogether.
The two Golden Core demon cultivators abandoned by Gui Luo and Ning Yan saw that the portal hadn't closed yet. They suddenly understood something.
They weren't fools. They immediately rushed inside too.
A moment later.
Only Qi Chengchu, Wei Tu, Gong Shulan, Che Gongwei, the old corpse cultivator, and Su Bing'er remained outside.
"Qi…" Qi Chengchu glanced back at Che Gongwei. He opened his mouth to say something to his old friend, but in the end, nothing came out.
"Wei Tu, take your master and junior sister and leave. The Great Void Realm isn't a place you should've come to."
With that, Qi Chengchu waved his sleeve and leapt into the spatial tunnel opened by the formation.
As he left, the black door started to shrink. It looked like it would vanish any moment.
Seeing this, Gong Shulan's expression shifted. She seemed to realize something and quickly followed Qi Chengchu through the gate.
Half a breath later, the black portal fully closed.
The Stone Demon Tower returned to its original form.
…
A sudden twist after a dead end.
This whole scene had caught Wei Tu, Che Gongwei, and the others completely off guard.
By now, how could they not realize that Qi Chengchu's claim about the formation only allowing four people to enter had been a lie?
It was just a trick to fool Gui Luo and the others and to protect these "weak Golden Core" cultivators.
Wei Tu could see that Qi Chengchu's sudden shift had a lot to do with Che Gongwei.
That guy wasn't completely rotten inside.
Of course, it also helped that he'd basically achieved what he came for in the Stone Demon Tower.
Qi Chengchu was never the type to quit halfway.
"Master, Junior Sister Su, Fellow Daoist Old Corpse—get out of here right now. Don't waste any more time in this place," Wei Tu said.
Gui Luo and the others wouldn't leave the Stone Demon Tower so quickly, but leaving the Great Void Realm wasn't a matter of just a few days either. The longer they stayed in the inner region, the higher the risk of death.
"What about you, Senior Brother Wei?" Su Bing'er could tell Wei Tu had no intention of leaving with them. Her voice trembled with urgency.
"Wei Tu is steady and always has a plan. Bing'er, you don't need to worry about him," Che Gongwei said.
He didn't know what Wei Tu was up to, but he understood his nature. Without friends or family to burden him, Wei Tu wouldn't recklessly risk his life. As a dual cultivator in both body and spell, at mid-stage Golden Core, he might not be on the same level as Hu Shan or Qi Chengchu, but surviving among them wasn't a problem.
Back when Wei Tu became his disciple, he lived in seclusion and quietly broke through to Golden Core without drawing attention. That alone showed how calm and collected he was.
"This is the talisman tool your grandmaster left behind—Golden Flame Pearl. Once activated, it can unleash a blow equal to a full-power strike from an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Keep it close. It might save your life."
Che Gongwei hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and pulled out a fist-sized purple bead from his robes and handed it to Wei Tu.
This time, he had dared cross thousands of li to chase Qi Chengchu and rescue his disciples, Wei Tu and Su Bing'er, even cooperating with Gui Luo—not without backup.
The Golden Flame Pearl was his trump card.
He'd guessed that Wei Tu was carrying the Xumi Tablet. Without that treasure to open the Stone Demon Tower, staying here was pointless for Wei Tu.
"Golden Flame Pearl?" Wei Tu was a little surprised as he took the talisman tool from Che Gongwei.
With Gui Luo and the others gone, only some low-level cultivators from the Hehuan Sect and Tianjue Demon Palace remained. They couldn't threaten Che Gongwei and the others on their own.
Che Gongwei might seem weak only when compared to Gui Luo or Ancestor Ning Yan.
So taking the talisman wouldn't endanger Che Gongwei and the rest.
But Wei Tu also noticed a jade slip hidden beneath the talisman tool.
"This contains the full inheritance of my Talisman Dao. What I gave you before was missing a few parts," Che Gongwei said after a pause.
You see who truly cares in times of crisis.
In the past, though they had a master-disciple relationship in name, there was no real bond between them. So when Che Gongwei taught him Talisman Dao, he'd held back and didn't teach everything.
But now, things were different.
When they were planning to escape, Wei Tu had stepped forward willingly to protect him and Su Bing'er. That act showed real sincerity.
Sure, Wei Tu may have done it to repay Che Gongwei's effort in coming so far to save him, but even so—people who return favors like that, who remember gratitude, were few and far between.
"Thank you, Master." This time, Wei Tu was genuinely grateful.
Before, he thought Che Gongwei's efforts to rescue them were more for Su Bing'er's sake. He was just an afterthought.
But now, Che Gongwei had handed over his last resort. That said everything.
"You've been giving me one thousand spirit stones every five years without fail. As your master, I've gotta return the sentiment somehow."
Che Gongwei chuckled.
He was talking about the three terms he'd made Wei Tu agree to—the third one being that after becoming a third-grade talisman master, Wei Tu had to pay him one thousand spirit stones every five years. Or buy out the agreement all at once for ten thousand.
After that, Che Gongwei didn't linger around the Stone Demon Tower. He took Su Bing'er and the old corpse cultivator and immediately left using escape techniques.
…
After the three of them left, Wei Tu gave the Golden Flame Pearl a once-over.
He spent a bit of time learning how to use the talisman tool. Then, he flipped his palm and took out the Xumi Tablet, walking toward the Stone Demon Tower.
Unlike entering the tower by force with formations, when he brought the tablet close to the tower, a stone door about one zhang tall appeared instantly on its surface.