I am a Late Bloomer in the Immortal World

Chapter 480: Refining the Demon Spider, Origins of the Demon Soul

From this moment on, the Righteous Society was no longer just the brotherhood they had formed back in the mortal world. It was evolving into a family alliance, founded by the four of them.Members of the Righteous Society would now shift from individuals to clans.

That was the real reason Kou Hongying suggested bringing Wei Xian'er and Wei Ping into the Righteous Society.

She wasn’t just thinking about those two joining. She was thinking of her descendants and Fu Zhizhou’s descendants all becoming part of this alliance too.

Wei Xian'er and Wei Ping, on their own, weren’t qualified to form direct exchanges with a Nascent Soul cultivator like him. But if it was his descendants—the Wei clan's bloodline—then it would be reasonable.

Although Wei Xian'er and Wei Ping still couldn’t compare to Wei Yan, Wei Xiuwen, and Fu Lin, the gap between the five wasn’t anything outrageous.

"A melon forced off the vine won’t taste sweet. Let the younger generation handle their own affairs. We just offer a little help when needed," Wei Tu said, shaking his head and turning down Kou Hongying’s proposal.

It wasn’t a bad idea. It just placed too much emphasis on ‘clan inheritance.’

In other words, it was better suited for cultivators who had already given up on pursuing the immortal path, looking to settle down later in life.

He was still a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator. Worrying about networking and legacy for his descendants was definitely premature.

Even if he agreed, it wouldn’t change much.

Would Wei Yan, Wei Xiuwen, Wei Xian'er, Wei Ping, or Fu Lin easily accept strangers into their ranks?

Their bonds were nothing like what the original four had shared.

It might look like a good idea on the surface, but in reality, it was just the older generation forcing their views on the younger ones.

The bonds between the four of them didn’t need to be passed down to their offspring.

Wei Yan, Wei Xiuwen, Wei Xian'er, Wei Ping, and Fu Lin would have their own circle of Righteous Society brothers.

Of course—

Wei Tu understood Kou Hongying.

She wasn’t the same girl who had once chased the immortal path with hope. Now, she was a cultivator nearing the end of her prime, half-abandoning her dreams.

At this stage, her mindset had naturally shifted toward caution, focused more on what came after.

Power, comfort, inheritance—these desires often rose above the pursuit of higher cultivation.

Even though reuniting the Righteous Society could greatly broaden her path forward, it wouldn’t be easy to change her way of thinking overnight.

Likewise, in Kou Hongying’s view, now that he had become a Nascent Soul cultivator, he should be thinking the same way—more focused on family legacy.

That was why she had suggested recruiting Wei Xian'er and Wei Ping earlier.

After all, Divine Transformation was already the peak of the Great Cang Cultivation World. Few could ever reach it.

Still, Wei Tu was confident that once Kou Hongying saw his real strength—and saw the broader Guixu Sea Cultivation World—her mindset would change.

She’d return to being the "Jade Rakshasa" she once was.

...

Kou Hongying didn’t look surprised at Wei Tu’s refusal.

She’d suggested recruiting Wei Yan, Wei Xiuwen, and Fu Lin into the Righteous Society years ago, and Wei Tu had turned her down then, too.

This was just history repeating itself.

"Uncle Wei, this is the treasure vault of the Pavilion Master’s line passed down by Ning Xuefeng. See if there’s anything you need."

After the Righteous Society conversation ended, Kou Hongying paused for a moment, then took out a jade bracelet from her sleeve and handed it to Wei Tu.

"The Pavilion Master’s treasure vault?"

Wei Tu raised his brows.

He hadn’t expected that Ning Xuefeng would not only pass down the position of Pavilion Master to Kou Hongying, but even the private collection of the Pavilion Master’s lineage.

Still, he didn’t have high hopes for the vault. After all, even the Mirror Water Pavilion’s old founder, Master Hong Jing, didn’t have many treasures left on him.

However—

Not long after, as his divine sense entered the jade bracelet, a shallow black spirit stone inside that gave off faint dark mist instantly caught his attention.

"Yinchen Stone?" Wei Tu raised his brow and pulled out a jade slip from his storage pouch, carefully comparing it to the illustrated records inside.

"No doubt. It’s Yinchen Stone!"

A hint of joy flickered across Wei Tu’s face.

This item wasn’t especially useful to his cultivation, but it was a Class C spirit material required by Tan Mengzhu, the leader of the Flying Immortal Alliance.

And a Class C spirit material was enough to exchange for a Nascent Soul-grade cultivation pill from Tan Mengzhu—and perhaps even a modest favor.

As for Class A or B materials, Wei Tu wouldn’t risk visiting Tan Mengzhu to exchange them. But Class C? No danger there at all.

With Tan Alliance Master's cultivation level, he wouldn't break a promise over a third-grade spirit item. That would ruin his reputation. To Wei Tu, this was quite the pleasant surprise.

He continued digging through the storage jade bracelet. Unfortunately, there were no more surprises this time.

"The rest of the spirit items aren't worth much, but these three pieces of Yinchen Stone do carry value. Once I confirm their worth at the Flying Immortal Alliance, I’ll give you spirit pills in exchange."

Wei Tu waved his sleeve, took out the Yinchen Stones, played with them in his hand for a while, and spoke politely. Hearing his familiar words, Kou Hongying couldn't help but smile faintly. She nodded without saying much, clearly agreeing to Wei Tu's handling of the matter.

After finishing everything regarding the Righteous Society, Wei Tu took his leave and returned to his temporary cave residence in Condensing Moon Palace.

"With Fourth Brother's escape speed, even if he gets my message, it'll take at least 10 days to reach Condensing Moon Palace. That’s 20 days for a round trip."

"That’s enough time for me to make the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider recognize me as its master."

After sending the message talisman, Wei Tu looked at the spirit insect pouch on the table. Inside was the treasured beast of the Spider Heart Sect, taken from the hands of Holy Son Faguang—Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider.

Months ago, after his battle with Lüqiu Jinyuan’s clone, he'd been seriously wounded and had to spend the time recovering. That delayed refining the spider.

Now he finally had time.

"Ghost-Eyed Demon Spiders are unique spirit insects from the Guixu Sea cultivation world. At least in the Great Cang cultivation world, there’s no record of them."

"They’re born with ghostly eyes that can see through illusions in divine souls. Their range of vision is even wider than my Sun-Gazing Golden Eyes—up to 130 li."

Wei Tu seriously read the jade slips left behind by Holy Son Faguang. As he finished, he finally understood why, despite his Sun-Gazing Golden Eyes and Ancestor Chìlóng’s divine sense enhancement, he was still the one discovered first by Holy Son Faguang and the Gu Clan leader.

"Besides that, Ghost-Eyed Demon Spiders naturally counter ghost souls…"

Wei Tu’s gaze flickered as he carefully reread that particular line on the jade slip.

This surprise was even bigger than he expected.

Though the spider couldn’t completely suppress the "demon soul" that escaped the Cloud Ze Secret Realm and possessed Bai Zhi’s ghost body, it could still be highly effective.

Half a day later, after reading through all the jade slips left by Holy Son Faguang, Wei Tu pinched a hand seal and opened a slit in the insect pouch.

A strand of bluish-green spider silk immediately shot out, carrying venom, and aimed straight for Wei Tu’s left eye.

"Petty trick." Wei Tu raised his brow slightly and smiled. He lifted his right hand, pinched the thin spider silk between two fingers, but the venom quickly began invading his body.

The fingers holding the silk turned black almost instantly, as if burnt.

Still, Wei Tu showed no panic. He wrapped the silk around his wrist, pulled out a magic sword, and cut open his own wrist.

Blood seeped out. The spider venom began spreading rapidly through his entire arm.

"Almost there!" Wei Tu watched the dark aura crawling up his right arm and muttered to himself.

According to the jade slip, since the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider naturally restrains divine souls, it couldn’t be controlled the usual way—through divine sense imprinting. Attempting that would severely damage even a Nascent Soul cultivator’s divine sense.

The only way to make it acknowledge a master was through the ancient method—Blood-Feeding Technique—controlling it with blood.

The downside? You had to let the spider inject venom into you first, exchange blood, and only then would it willingly submit.

Wei Tu didn’t know why Holy Son Faguang didn’t destroy the spider or erase the method to tame it before dying, but he could guess.

The spider’s venom wasn’t something an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator could handle. Without Spider Heart Sect’s special detox techniques, the usual cultivator trying to tame it would simply be poisoned to death.

But Holy Son Faguang never expected a fourth-stage body-refining cultivator.

To Wei Tu, the venom was nothing.

As for another reason…

It was probably because blood-feeding couldn’t cause instant self-destruction like divine sense control could.

Of course, Wei Tu only realized that after successfully refining the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider.

"Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider!"

Two quarter-hours later, once the venom was fully injected, Wei Tu immediately activated the Blood-Feeding Technique to force the spider into submission.

The process went smoothly.

Within moments, the spider’s attitude shifted from hostile to friendly.

"This little bug seems to like my blood." Wei Tu looked at the spider, now licking the blood from his wrist, and fell into thought.

He guessed it might be because his blood was stronger than a regular Nascent Soul cultivator's.

But now wasn't the time to explore that. He activated his spiritual power, and the wound on his wrist healed instantly.

"Let’s test it on the Wind Cleaving Eagle."

Wei Tu slapped his spirit beast pouch and released the Wind Cleaving Eagle, which had been knocked unconscious and kept asleep for decades.

Then he pinched a hand seal and placed the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider on his forehead.

In the next moment, green light flickered. Two of the spider’s front legs pierced into his forehead.

Wei Tu raised his eyes, now reflecting the spider’s green ghostly pupils, and stared at the resting Wind Cleaving Eagle.

In an instant, he saw into the Wind Cleaving Eagle’s sea of consciousness.

Just like its body, the divine soul was dark cyan, sound asleep in the sea of consciousness. But now, a wisp of black aura had lodged itself deep inside the Wind Cleaving Eagle’s head.

It was growing slowly but steadily.

'Looks like I was right to prepare. The Wind Cleaving Eagle got infected too.'

Wei Tu looked relieved.

Back then, only Bai Zhi attacked him. The Wind Cleaving Eagle did nothing.

Next, he waved his sleeve and brought out the green wine jar imprisoning Bai Zhi.

He focused his divine sense and looked deep into the jar.

But what he saw made him frown tightly, unsure what to do.

Unlike the Wind Cleaving Eagle, over half of Bai Zhi's ghost body had already been taken over by the demon soul.

At this point, she was basically no different from the demon soul itself.

Even if he wanted to save her, there was no method left.

Because once the demon soul died, Bai Zhi would die too, completely.

'There’s still one way. Learn the technique this demon soul uses to devour and merge with others' divine souls.'

As long as he learned that, he could convert the demon soul inside Bai Zhi back into her original divine soul and restore her.

But that would be extremely difficult.

Right now, even soul-searching a Nascent Soul cultivator was hard for him. Let alone searching the soul of a Divine Transformation cultivator or higher.

"Old Demon Zhu, do you know the true identity of the demonic expert imprisoned in the Cloud Ze Secret Realm?"

After thinking for a while, Wei Tu lifted the restriction on the Dragon Glaze Pearl and released Ancestor Chìlóng.

He didn’t fully trust the old dragon yet. That’s why, until now, he hadn’t said anything about Bai Zhi.

This was the first time.

Because he had no idea how else to deal with that demon soul.

The gap in cultivation was simply too big.

"Isn't that the little girl from Heavenly Maiden Sect?"

As soon as Ancestor Chìlóng emerged, he didn’t answer right away. He glanced once and immediately recognized Bai Zhi inside the wine jar.

He laughed a bit and was about to mock the new arrival, only to realize he might be the real newcomer here. His face turned stiff.

He could guess that Wei Tu’s soul-contracting experience and the Bone-Crushing Hand he used to kill Yan Gongcheng probably came from this girl.

"Cloud Ze Secret Realm…"

Putting those thoughts away, Ancestor Chìlóng mulled over what Wei Tu had just asked, and his expression darkened slightly.

"You know something?" Wei Tu asked.

He could tell that Ancestor Chìlóng definitely knew some secrets about the Cloud Ze Secret Realm. Otherwise, he wouldn’t look like that.

"Deep in the Cloud Ze Secret Realm… or rather, deep within the Nanhua Sect’s four great medicinal gardens, there’s something imprisoned. Most late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators know about it."

"But even then, it’s just speculation."