Three spiritual arts?
Hearing that, Wei Tu was a little tempted.
The spiritual arts of the Spiritual Path often had unique qualities, and in terms of power, they were in no way inferior to Immortal Path techniques of the same level.
"I agree. I'm willing to lease your tribe's third-rank spiritual land," Wei Tu no longer hesitated. He nodded, then flicked his sleeve, leaving a mark of his spiritual power on the lease contract.
Three spiritual arts plus a five-thousand spirit stone deduction—this was a fair deal.
…
After the lease was signed—
High Priest Mu Feng motioned for the other priests in the hall to leave, keeping only Wei Tu and Yan Yu to accompany him to the seventh floor of the Pagoda of Ascension.
As for Ti Ya the High Priest, he withdrew along with the other priests of the Fen Shan Tribe.
"The seventh floor of the pagoda was where I cultivated. From now on, it's yours, Fellow Daoist Wei,"
High Priest Mu Feng took out a jade tablet and opened the stone door to the seventh floor. His expression grew complicated, his tone tinged with emotion.
Centuries ago, when he first became High Priest, full of ambition, he had moved in here, believing he would one day break through and become a "Divine Master," continuing his cultivation to even greater heights.
"But breaking through to Divine Master… is no easy feat," Mu Feng sighed inwardly.
Every priest who reached the level of High Priest was, without exception, a peerless talent among the Kāng Jū people, a figure of great renown—but all of them, including himself, had ended up stuck at this bottleneck.
Spending their entire lives mired in it, unable to advance.
"Although Wei Tu is young, I fear he may end up just like me, stuck as a High Priest—or rather, trapped in the Golden Core Realm…"
In Wei Tu, Mu Feng saw a reflection of his younger self.
That same vigor. That same eventual failure.
After briefly gathering his belongings and handing over the formation control jade for the seventh floor, High Priest Mu Feng left with Yan Yu.
"Master, didn't you say I should stay close to Priest Wei?"
"Why are we leaving so soon?"
After exiting the pagoda, Yan Yu looked at Mu Feng in front of her with a hint of confusion.
By all logic—
This should've been the perfect opportunity to let her and Wei Tu spend some time alone.
Just as she spoke—
High Priest Mu Feng came to a stop.
He said in a deep voice, "I saw that you're quite beautiful, and I had originally planned to marry you off to Wei Tu, to be his second wife. With his support and the legacy I leave behind, you'd be guaranteed to reach the realm of High Priest."
"But just now, I observed Wei Tu and noticed… he doesn't seem interested in you. So letting you get close to him too early wouldn't be wise."
Upon hearing this—
Yan Yu's expression remained unchanged, without a trace of embarrassment.
Marriages of interest were very common within the tribe.
So, when Mu Feng first told her to draw closer to Wei Tu, she had already understood—her master intended to betroth her.
"I still have twenty-seven years of lifespan. That will be enough."
High Priest Mu Feng let out a long sigh.
…
Yan Fen Mountain wasn't an extreme Fire-aligned land, but the abundant fire spiritual energy was, for a cultivator like Wei Tu who practiced the Divine Wood Origin Technique, far inferior to a Wood-attributed third-rank spiritual land.
Fortunately, within the Pagoda of Ascension, there was a Reverse Spirit Formation that could convert fire spiritual energy into spiritual energy of any attribute.
With this formation in place, Yan Fen Mountain was no different from an ordinary third-rank spiritual land.
After moving into Yan Fen Mountain,
Wei Tu finally had a stable environment for cultivation. However, beyond his own cultivation, he still had three matters to worry about.
The first matter was to craft the third-rank formation Mystic Nether Spirit Offering Array, then use it to activate the damaged Spirit Treasure Heaven-Mending Bowl, refining Immortal Spirit Dew to boost the cultivation of the Wind-Cleaving Eagle.
A third-rank flying beast's advantage in combat needed no explanation.
The second matter was to find a third-rank artifact refiner to forge the special treasure Stabilizing Light Pearl.
The third matter was to raise the spirit pet Mountain-Crushing Bear cub, and convert it into combat power as soon as possible.
The first two matters both involved artifact refining.
—The array flags for the Mystic Nether Spirit Offering Array needed to be refined by a third-rank artifact refiner.
However, due to the major tribes practicing the Spiritual Path, which required less reliance on magic tools, there were very few artifact refiners among the various tribes.
So, if he wanted to find a suitable refiner, he had to head to areas where the cultivation sects of the Kāng Kingdom were located and search in the marketplaces nearby.
The cultivation powers of the Kāng Kingdom were known as "Two Mountains and One Palace."
The Two Mountains were Ancient Sword Mountain and Earth Sword Mountain.
The One Palace was Moon Condensation Palace.
When there's work to do, send the disciples.
After relocating the "Wei family" to the Fen Shan Tribe, Wei Tu entrusted the task of searching for a third-rank artifact refiner and the needed spiritual materials to his only son, Wei Xiuwen.
Wei Tu had Xiuwen go to Moon Condensation Palace first.
Based on a prior secret conversation, he had already learned from Kou Hongying that Mirror Water Pavilion was planning to relocate to Moon Condensation Palace.
And the time for that move—
Was two years after he left the Zheng Kingdom.
By calculation, the timing was just about right.
"Once you arrive at Moon Condensation Palace, look for a third-rank artifact refiner—but don't forget to get in touch with your Sister Hongying," Wei Tu instructed carefully.
In the Kāng Kingdom, he had no foundation or allies.
But if he had Kou Hongying's help, it would be a completely different story.
"I understand, Father. Don't worry," Wei Xiuwen replied with a smile, took the life-saving talismans and magic tools Wei Tu gave him, and left the Fen Shan Tribe.
…
Half a year later—
Wei Xiuwen sent a messenger to deliver news to Wei Tu: Kou Hongying had arrived in the Kāng Kingdom.
However, when it came to finding a suitable third-rank artifact refiner, he still hadn't made any progress.
Near Moon Condensation Palace,
It wasn't hard to find a third-rank artifact refiner.
But trying to find one who wasn't affiliated with Moon Condensation Palace—or at least wasn't tightly connected to them—was much harder.
And the reason Wei Tu didn't want a sect-affiliated refiner,
Was because he had his concerns.
Different sects had different reputations. Some sects were trustworthy, while others were domineering and known to seize rogue cultivators' assets.
Without the right connections, for a rogue cultivator, the credibility of sect-affiliated "craftsmen" was often lower than that of independent ones at the same level.
That's because rogue "craftsmen" didn't dare to cause trouble or turn hostile.
As for Kou Hongying…
She was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Her social network hadn't yet reached the Golden Core level.
So Wei Tu hadn't asked Wei Xiuwen to go to her for this.
However—
A breakthrough soon came.
Three years later, while in the Fen Shan Tribe, Wei Tu received news that the Rogue Cultivator Alliance from the Zheng Kingdom had crossed the Black Blood Marsh and arrived in the Kāng Kingdom.
And among the Rogue Cultivator Alliance—
There were several Golden Core True Lords who were third-rank artifact refiners.
But more importantly, what truly caught Wei Tu's attention was the news that—
Qi Chengchu had successfully reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
"Stealing Heaven Transformation Array? Qi Chengchu succeeded? How is that possible?" Wei Tu was shocked, his face filled with disbelief.
Breaking through to Nascent Soul was the lifelong goal of every Golden Core cultivator.
In ancient texts and legends,
No one had ever used a formation to cross that barrier.
And yet—
Qi Chengchu had done it?
"Impossible!" Bai Zhi immediately shook her head. Like Si Qing, she had a deep understanding of formations and was also a third-rank formation master.