I am a Late Bloomer in the Immortal World

Chapter 455: Yin-Yang Corpse Demon, Yuan Gravity Divine Light Unleashed

This jade hook magical weapon was truly exquisite. The moment it flew from Hong Jing’s hand, it transformed into a shimmering purple-glow crystal fishing net that caught all the incoming moon blade light waves.Next second, the purple fishing net shifted again, changing back into its original hook shape and charged ferociously toward Cao Mi, who was still in the air.

But—

Unlike before, this time the tip of the hook glowed faintly with a gentle light.

Looking closely, one could see the soft glow came from the very moon blade light waves that had just been caught by the purple fishing net—only now they had shrunk considerably.

"Using her own power against her?" Seeing this, Wei Tu raised an eyebrow, his expression turning more serious.

Even so, Wei Tu didn’t rush in. He stood there, completely still, showing no intention to intervene, as if he had full confidence in Cao Mi’s ability.

Deep within the cave, Hong Jing, while fighting Cao Mi, was secretly watching Wei Tu's movements.

After all, based on his past performance and his current state after passing through the spatial tunnel, it was clear that Wei Tu was far more troublesome than Cao Mi.

She didn’t believe that Cao Mi would suddenly attack her without Wei Tu’s influence.

So when Wei Tu remained motionless, Hong Jing grew even more cautious.

That’s why she held back from fleeing the cave right away.

Fleeing recklessly not only risked exposing her weakness but could also mess up her battle rhythm, leading to defeat or injury.

Another reason she stayed was that she didn’t think Wei Tu and Cao Mi—two newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivators—posed any serious threat to her.

Killing a veteran early-stage Nascent Soul like her required at least mid-stage strength. Just losing didn’t mean she would die.

In this fight, at most, she expected to lose—not to perish.

Of course, aside from keeping an eye on Wei Tu, she was also staying on guard.

While attacking Cao Mi, her left hand hidden in her sleeve quietly held a radiant ancient mirror, ready to defend against a sneak attack from Wei Tu.

"Cao Mi only advanced to Nascent Soul within the past 10 years. With her strength, she can’t possibly resist this technique."

"Now, it just depends on whether Wei Tu makes a move."

The corner of Hong Jing’s lips curled slightly, her confidence rising as she thought to herself.

She only needed Wei Tu to act. Then, using her experience, she could pull both Wei Tu and Cao Mi into her own battle rhythm.

Once that happened, she could advance or retreat as she pleased.

But just then, something happened that shocked her.

As the jade hook flew toward Cao Mi, it was suddenly knocked backward by a black humanoid shadow that appeared out of nowhere. Its light dimmed considerably.

"What the hell is that?" Hong Jing’s lips twitched, and fear immediately surged in her heart.

In the middle of a fight, the thing cultivators feared most was the unexpected. One such surprise could completely throw off the outcome.

Her jade hook magical weapon was the same grade as Cao Mi’s Sky Moon Wheel—a Tier-Four low-grade artifact.

If that black humanoid shadow could take a direct hit from her attack, then its physical body had to be at least Tier-Four or above.

"A Tier-Four refined corpse?" As the black shadow stabilized and floated toward her, Hong Jing finally got a clear look at it—at her, rather.

The woman wore a black dress, had a beautiful face, and her skin looked like that of a living person—but there wasn’t even a trace of life force in her.

Seeing this, Hong Jing was stunned.

Mirror Water Pavilion and Moon Condensation Palace were sects with a friendship that spanned ten thousand years. She knew everything there was to know about Moon Condensation Palace.

But she had never heard of them possessing a Tier-Four refined corpse.

If such a corpse existed, Ancestor Luo would have refined it for himself long ago during his time abroad. No way would he have left it for Cao Mi.

Sure, the Tier-Four artifact Sky Moon Wheel was left behind because Ancestor Luo had better ones. But a Tier-Four refined corpse? Hong Jing couldn’t recall Ancestor Luo ever having one.

At this moment, no matter how fast her thoughts spun, Hong Jing couldn’t figure out where Cao Mi got this corpse.

She suspected Wei Tu, but couldn’t believe he would just hand over something that valuable.

"Go!" As the corpse flew at her, Hong Jing raised an eyebrow. She no longer had time to worry about Wei Tu. She lifted her left hand and aimed the ancient mirror at the charging corpse.

A beam of murky yellow light burst out from the mirror, hitting the corpse directly.

In an instant, the refined corpse’s movements slowed drastically and became stiff.

Wei Tu, watching from the side, immediately understood. This mirror had a power similar to his former Fixing Light Orb—it could restrain spiritual entities.

But its grade was clearly much higher.

It could even immobilize a Tier-Four refined corpse.

Yet when he saw this happen, Wei Tu didn’t look worried at all. Instead, a faint smile appeared on his face, like everything was still under control.

That smile made Hong Jing’s heart sink.

She didn’t know where his confidence came from, but she was sure of one thing: someone like Wei Tu wouldn’t still be standing idle unless he had a solid plan.

He was probably using Cao Mi to force her to reveal her trump cards, so he could make his move with ease afterward.

Sure enough—

Just as that thought popped into her head, a red figure suddenly appeared beside the restrained refined corpse and opened its mouth, spitting out a stream of gray mist.

Under the mist’s influence, the refined corpse’s speed surged. Together with the red figure, it lunged toward Hong Jing.

"Two Tier-Four refined corpses?!"

At that moment, Hong Jing’s calm expression finally broke. Her face filled with panic as she retreated rapidly, frantically channeling power into her ancient mirror, trying to lock down both corpses again.

But this time, the restraining divine light from the treasure mirror seemed to have no effect. It hit the Yin-Yang Corpse Demon, yet nothing happened.

What Hong Jing didn’t know was that these two “Yin-Yang Corpse Demons” refined by Liu Yu Daoist were born of extreme yin and extreme yang. A single corpse might be restrained by a magical tool, but when combined, with yin and yang circulating between them, unless the restraint tool was of a much higher tier, it couldn’t hold them at all.

Clearly, Hong Jing’s mirror was only a Tier-Four low-grade artifact. It couldn’t match the Tier-Four mid-grade Yin-Yang Corpse Demons.

The divine light had no effect.

Left with no choice, Hong Jing retrieved her jade hook weapon and fought the Yin-Yang Corpse Demons head-on.

As they approached, the Yin and Yang corpses let out shrill howls. The terrifying sound alone caused Hong Jing, who was channeling her magical weapon, to momentarily lose control of her mind.

Seizing that brief opening, the Yang corpse under Wei Tu’s control dashed forward and sprayed two thick jets of corpse aura from its nostrils, sweeping toward the jade hook.

As soon as the corpse aura touched the weapon, its spiritual glow dimmed significantly, even showing signs of shattering.

Seeing her weapon being ruined, Hong Jing didn’t hesitate anymore. She quickly formed a hand seal to escape.

Her figure flickered slightly, and over ten pale blue mirror lights shot out, each transforming into a woman identical to her. They shot toward the cave entrance.

Hong Jing knew Cao Mi’s background.

Likewise, Cao Mi knew some secrets about this Mirror Water Pavilion elder.

So, this “Mirror Illusion Escape Technique” handed down from Mirror Water Daoist had already been anticipated by Wei Tu and Cao Mi.

Wei Tu calmly looked at the mirror light clones. Without any panic, he exchanged a look with Cao Mi. The two of them simultaneously controlled the Yin-Yang Corpse Demons to turn around and block the cave entrance before the mirror lights could escape.

At that moment, the Yin-Yang Corpses merged into one, forming a monster over ten feet tall with two heads, four arms, a red face, and green hair.

The red-haired corpse demon let out a roar. All four arms moved at lightning speed, throwing out a barrage of fist shadows toward the flying mirror lights.

In less than half a breath, more than half of the ten-plus mirror lights were smashed apart by the red-haired corpse demon.

The remaining ones were intercepted by the toxic flames and corpse-cold breath it spat out.

Puh—

A mirror light crashed to the ground and spewed blood. It was none other than Hong Jing herself, trying to flee earlier.

She’d been struck squarely by one of the red-haired corpse demon’s punches.

Now exposed, she was immediately chased by the red-haired corpse demon, controlled by Wei Tu and Cao Mi. It lifted its right foot like lightning and stomped down viciously on Hong Jing.

The merged Yin-Yang Corpse Demon—this red-haired version—had a physical body as tough as a mid-stage Tier-Four body refinement cultivator.

If Hong Jing took that hit, she might not die, but her magical body would definitely be destroyed.

"You want to kill me? Not that easy!" Seeing the attack coming, Hong Jing smirked coldly. Her body flickered again and split into over ten mirror lights that fled in all directions.

But this time, since the corpse demon had stepped aside to strike her, the cave entrance was momentarily exposed. So when she used the technique again, it was clearly harder for the corpse demon to block her.

The next moment, several mirror lights shot out and were about to scatter.

Just as Hong Jing was feeling triumphant, two massive red beasts with dragon heads and tiger bodies suddenly appeared at the entrance. Each was over ten feet tall.

The red beasts breathed fire and instantly shattered the fleeing mirror lights, forcing Hong Jing back into the cave once more.

At that moment, the red-haired corpse demon’s attack arrived. Hong Jing had no time to dodge and took a direct blow.

In an instant, her magical body was smashed into the stone wall of the cave.

Her flesh was mangled, her meridians shattered. Her magical body was halfway destroyed.

But in the blink of an eye, a beautiful female Nascent Soul emerged from the mess of blood and flesh, fleeing toward the cave entrance at high speed.

Neither the red-haired corpse demon nor the illusion beasts outside could keep up with her.

Compared to her, their movements were clearly much slower.

Nascent Soul leaving the body!

This was the backup plan Hong Jing had been relying on to survive a sneak attack by Wei Tu and Cao Mi.

Even if they could beat her, they wouldn’t be able to completely destroy her—that was what gave her confidence.

Because even a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, without their Nascent Soul leaving the body, would struggle to catch a fleeing early-stage Nascent Soul.

Let alone Wei Tu and Cao Mi, who had just reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

'Once I escape, I’ll definitely take revenge,' Hong Jing’s tiny Nascent Soul face was filled with hatred.

She had escaped death, but losing her magical body meant her chances of ascending the path of cultivation had dropped sharply.

But—

Before she could even finish the thought, as she flew out of the cave, a giant net formed from gray radiance suddenly sprang out and tightly enveloped her.

"What the hell is this thing?" Her tiny Nascent Soul face turned pale, eyes full of fear.

The moment she touched the net, she felt all her magical power freeze. Her body stiffened completely.

This net had the same restraining effect as her own treasure mirror, but was clearly much more powerful.

"Yuan Gravity Divine Light." At that moment, Wei Tu walked out of the cave and calmly revealed the origin of the gray light.

Yuan Gravity Divine Light—this was a trump card he’d been hiding since the Golden Core Realm.

Other than using it once against Granny Ke and the others, he had never revealed it again.

Just now, while fighting Hong Jing, the reason he had Cao Mi attack first and stayed back was so he could secretly set up this divine light outside the cave, cutting off her final escape route.

As expected.

Hong Jing’s Nascent Soul was completely trapped by the Yuan Gravity Divine Light.

"What? Yuan Gravity Divine Light?" Hearing those words, Hong Jing’s face filled with disbelief.

Back when she was investigating Wei Tu’s background inside Mirror Water Pavilion, she had learned that during his Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, Wei Tu cultivated the Lesser Spring and Autumn Art and used it to refine the Earth Magnet Wood Spirit Seed.

But she never expected that Wei Tu had used this technique to actually cultivate the legendary “Yuan Gravity Divine Light.”

After all, from what she knew, most cultivators in the Great Cang cultivation world who practiced this technique could barely manage to form a Yuan Gravity Restriction. That alone was considered quite an achievement.

How could anyone have the luck to use it to create Yuan Gravity Divine Light?

"What method did you use to cultivate the Yuan Gravity Divine Light?" Hong Jing asked instinctively, trying to unravel this mystery.

"The way this divine light was cultivated is none of your business. What you should be doing instead is telling us the real secrets of the overseas cultivation world."

Wei Tu gave Hong Jing’s Nascent Soul a cold look, full of disdain as he spoke.

His words snapped Hong Jing back to reality. She suddenly realized her position and fell completely silent, her Nascent Soul lips tightly sealed.

Seeing this, Cao Mi grew anxious. Nascent Souls were far harder to soul-search than Golden Cores, especially by cultivators of the same realm. If Hong Jing didn’t reveal the secrets herself, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to extract the truth—but it would be much harder.

"Martial Aunt Hong Jing, our two sects have always been close. There must be some hardship behind your actions. If you can explain clearly, I’m willing to persuade Daoist Wei to spare your life," Cao Mi said gently, stepping forward and giving a deep respectful bow.

"Spare her?" Wei Tu frowned slightly, clearly displeased.

But perhaps out of some unspoken concern, he didn’t speak out right away.

Seeing that, Cao Mi quickly added, "Daoist Wei, you don’t need to worry. I have the Heaven’s Nether True Page. As long as Martial Aunt Hong Jing swears a soul oath and inscribes it onto the page, you won’t have to worry about her seeking revenge in the future."

At those words, Hong Jing, who just moments ago had accepted that she had no chance of survival and refused to say a word, suddenly showed a trace of hesitation on her small Nascent Soul face.

She knew the Heaven’s Nether True Page was indeed something stored in Moon Condensation Palace.

But even so, her attitude remained firm. She insisted that the soul contract must come first—signed on the Heaven’s Nether True Page—before she revealed anything.

"I was in a rush when I left and didn’t bring the page with me," Cao Mi replied after a brief pause. "Why don’t you return to the Great Cang cultivation world with us? Once we reach Moon Condensation Palace, you can then sign the soul contract."

"Very well," Hong Jing’s Nascent Soul hesitated, then nodded in agreement.

It was, after all, her only remaining chance of survival.

Next, Cao Mi asked Hong Jing how they could return to the Great Cang cultivation world.

Hong Jing didn’t hide anything this time and told Wei Tu and Cao Mi everything truthfully.

It was simple enough. Deeper inside this cave, there was another spatial tunnel. Just like before in Great Cang, stepping into it would send them back.

However, this cave also had an array structure similar to the one beneath the secret realm. The formation base needed to be adjusted first before the spatial tunnel would appear.

After listening, Cao Mi entered the cave and followed the steps precisely, testing everything as instructed.

Before long, a small tunnel identical to the one they had seen earlier appeared deep below the cave.

Upon seeing the hole, Wei Tu whispered something to Cao Mi, then flicked his sleeve and stepped into it.

About half a day later, Wei Tu reappeared from within the cave.

He gave a light nod, confirming that it worked.

Hearing that, the warm look on Cao Mi’s face instantly disappeared. She turned to Hong Jing’s Nascent Soul and said coldly, "Martial Aunt Hong Jing, if you don’t reveal the truth about the overseas cultivation world, then what awaits you is the torment of soul-searching and spirit ripping."

"You… you vile little thing! How dare you deceive me!" Hong Jing exploded with rage, screaming in fury.

She couldn’t believe that the graceful, elegant Cao Mi could be so ruthless in private—completely different from the persona she presented publicly.

Her words earlier had been nothing but lies. She never intended to let her go. She only wanted the method to return to Great Cang.

"I was just too greedy…"

Hong Jing deeply regretted it.

She had actually felt something was off with Cao Mi’s sudden change in attitude earlier. But for the sake of survival, she had forced herself not to think too hard about it.

After all, compared to danger, the chance to survive was more tempting.

"Nephew Cao! Don’t you want to rescue Sister Luo?"

"She treated you like her own disciple! Did you forget where your Nascent Soul Pill came from?"

Hong Jing tried one last desperate tactic, gritting her teeth and appealing to Cao Mi’s sense of gratitude.

But Cao Mi clearly didn’t want to talk anymore. She shot Hong Jing a cold glance and completely ignored her.

With her mental clarity, she would never trust Hong Jing again.

If Hong Jing had fooled her once, there was no reason she couldn’t do it again.

So rather than take the risk, it was better to just not believe her at all. They’d rely solely on the soul-searching to uncover the truth.

Even if the memories retrieved were incomplete or fragmented.

At least… they would be real.

"Daoist Wei, since Hong Jing is still being stubborn, I’ll leave her to you. I need to recover my injuries."

Cao Mi bowed to Wei Tu, then turned and walked back into the cave. She sat down and began meditating to recover.

After that intense battle, her soul injuries had worsened. If she didn’t treat them quickly, it could damage her Nascent Soul potential.