Before Faguang died, Wei Tu stood a few hundred feet away, watching him closely with his Spirit Eye, but didn’t rush in.
There were two reasons for this.
1. The Immortal-Slaying Arrow from the Immortal-Slaying Arrow Gourd was incredibly powerful and carried deadly poison. For a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator, getting hit by that arrow usually meant certain death within moments. Even if he wanted to capture Faguang alive, it was already too late by then.
2. Faguang was a skilled cultivator in the same realm, known for his deadly secret techniques. His use of spirit insect techniques in conjunction with his spider familiar was especially hard to defend against.
If Wei Tu hadn’t been unusually strong and cautious, he might have already died in this remote northwest region.
So, for safety’s sake, he waited until Faguang was completely dead before approaching.
In the world of cultivation, many cultivators possess forbidden arts that can burn away their life force to drag enemies down with them. These are only used when there’s no hope of survival, but if a cultivator is truly cornered, they won’t hesitate to activate them.
A short while later, when they confirmed that Faguang was truly lifeless, Wei Tu and Cao Mi slowly walked over to the corpse.
Just to be safe, Cao Mi didn’t hold back. The moment she got close, she raised her treasure mirror and shot out waves of binding light.
But in the end, it wasn’t necessary.
Faguang’s body showed no signs of corpse transformation, nor did his Nascent Soul try to escape. Just like it looked on the outside—he was dead, completely and thoroughly.
Wei Tu appreciated Cao Mi’s caution. He nodded and said, "Junior Sister Cao, you're careful," then withdrew the divine light from his palm.
Had Cao Mi not done that, he would have taken similar precautions when getting close to the body.
Next, Wei Tu didn’t hesitate. He stripped several storage pouches and a spirit insect pouch from Faguang’s waist. With a wave of his sleeve, he swept the remains into a corpse-refining bag used for storing sun-dried corpses, planning to dispose of it later.
With his methods, burning Faguang’s remains using the Profound Underworld Yin Flame wouldn’t be hard at all.
Still, doing so might leave traces on the battlefield that could reveal some of his combat techniques.
At the same time, Cao Mi collected the Xuan Spider Robe, which had lost its connection to Faguang’s divine sense.
The two exchanged a glance, then took off together, vanishing from the battlefield.
Neither of them had forgotten about the old sect master Gu from the Divine Stone Sect, who had fled and abandoned Faguang earlier.
Though he wasn’t strong enough to seize the spoils as a third party, if he returned with reinforcements, it could still turn into trouble.
So, they quickly gathered the loot and didn’t linger.
…
Half an hour later.
Once they reached a safe place, Wei Tu and Cao Mi landed and began dividing the spoils.
Compared to Hong Jing or Yan Gongcheng, Faguang had clearly been much wealthier.
Even putting aside the valuable Xuan Spider Robe and the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider, just the spirit crystals in his storage pouch numbered 25.
"That Earth Spider Matriarch really did spoil her son," Wei Tu raised a brow and thought to himself.
For a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator to hold even a few spirit crystals was already impressive, since these weren’t like magic tools—they were consumables.
Aside from people like Yan Gongcheng who were involved in trade, most cultivators would refine spirit crystals immediately instead of hoarding them for others to loot after their death.
So if Faguang still had this many on hand, it meant he’d likely refined even more beforehand. These were just the leftovers.
"The Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider is useful to me. I’ll take that one," Wei Tu said as he reached out and picked up the spirit insect pouch containing the spider from among Faguang’s belongings.
Back when they’d killed Hong Jing over 30 years ago, the two of them had established strict rules for dividing loot after working together.
One of the rules was: whoever contributed more in a battle had the right to pick first when splitting the spoils.
That rule hadn’t been something Wei Tu pushed for—it was actually Cao Mi’s suggestion.
And that was one of the reasons he trusted her so much and had agreed to accompany her to Flying Serpent Island more than a year ago.
"The Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider?" Cao Mi looked surprised. Compared to the spider, the Xuan Spider Robe was clearly more valuable. It was a mid-grade tier-four magic tool!
It was the signature treasure of the Spider Heart Sect. Even though they weren’t members of that sect and couldn’t unleash its full power, using even half of its strength still made it a rare treasure.
"I agree," Cao Mi nodded without hesitation.
In today’s fight, Wei Tu had unquestionably done most of the heavy lifting. He deserved first pick. She had no doubts or complaints.
Besides, the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider Wei Tu picked hadn’t really caught Cao Mi’s attention in the first place.
"Since Dao Brother Wei chose the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider, then I’ll take this Xuan Spider Robe," Cao Mi said after a brief pause.
On the cultivation path, there’s no such thing as yielding.
The rules of distribution were already set. Wei Tu followed them and picked his item. So now it was her turn to choose something she liked—there was no need to pretend.
"Though when it comes to the spirit crystals, Dao Brother Wei should take the larger share," Cao Mi added, deciding to make up for it that way.
Fairness was the foundation of their future cooperation.
Even if the rules allowed her to act freely, if she always took more, Wei Tu would eventually grow dissatisfied, no matter how tolerant he was.
Cao Mi hadn’t forgotten that her control over the Yin corpse would only last 200 years.
If she didn’t handle things well, Wei Tu might not agree to renew their agreement once those 200 years were up.
After all, she wasn’t exactly an irreplaceable part of their duo.
"Good!" Wei Tu nodded slightly, having no reason to refuse.
Still, he wasn’t greedy about it. With a sweep of his magic power, he only took 15 of the spirit crystals, leaving the remaining 10 for Cao Mi.
In the end, though he contributed more to killing Faguang, it wouldn’t have been so easy without Cao Mi’s support pressuring him during the fight.
After that, Wei Tu and Cao Mi divided the rest of Faguang’s belongings.
Aside from a few cultivation jade slips that had some value, the rest wasn’t worth much.
And knowledge could be passed on or shared—there was no need to argue over it.
…
After splitting the loot, Wei Tu and Cao Mi took a short break to recover, then started discussing their next move.
With the spirit crystals they’d gotten from Faguang, this trip to the Flying Serpent Island Ruins had been extremely profitable.
That alone was enough to cover Cao Mi’s original goal for coming here.
So she wasn’t really interested in continuing the exploration. She didn’t believe she’d be lucky enough to find one of the rare spirit items that had formed the ruin’s special environment.
Without one of those rare items, even if she managed to uncover a few "spirit crystal veins," the gains would be limited.
The spirit crystal veins in this spiritual ruin weren’t like regular spirit stone mines stacked together. Most of them only held around 10 or so spirit crystals.
From what she and Wei Tu had observed, the entire Flying Serpent Island Ruins probably had no more than 20 veins.
That meant there were only about 300–400 spirit crystals available for harvesting.
Among the many spiritual ruins in the Guixu Sea, this was considered middle to low in value—not too bad, but nothing extraordinary either.
And when you divided that amount among all the Nascent Soul cultivators here, it became pitifully small.
Not to mention, there were at least 10 Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivators also in the ruins.
Once you took into account the veins those mid-stage cultivators would control, the amount left for others dropped even more.
So instead of taking risks to compete with same-realm and stronger cultivators, it made more sense to cash out now and leave.
More importantly—
Old Sect Master Gu had escaped!
Yes, he’d bailed on the fight and left Faguang behind to die. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t run to Spider Heart Sect and tip them off.
He had a mouth. They couldn’t control what he said.
Faguang was the only son of the Earth Spider Matriarch. Cao Mi had no doubt that she would seek revenge.
So even if the odds were just 1 in 10,000, Cao Mi wasn’t about to stay in the ruins any longer.
Wei Tu agreed with her proposal.
In short, adapt to the situation.
If conditions allowed it, taking some risks to snatch rare spirit items from the ruins was worth it.
But if the conditions didn’t allow it, then staying behind would just be gambling with their lives.
However—
What Wei Tu and Cao Mi didn’t know was that while Old Sect Master Gu had originally planned to leave the Flying Serpent Island Ruins and inform the Spider Heart Sect, that plan changed when he reached the exit and saw someone unexpected.
"What?"
"Faguang is dead?"
At the edge of the ruin, Wu Fang was just about to leave when Old Sect Master Gu relayed the news. His brows lifted, and a look of surprise crossed his face.
He wasn’t just shocked by Faguang’s death, but also by the fact that Gu knew about his “identity.”
As far as he knew, only the Earth Spider Matriarch and Faguang were aware of who he really was.
"Could it be…"
Wu Fang’s expression shifted between gloom and suspicion.
"It was just a guess," Old Sect Master Gu quickly explained when he noticed the change. Then he told Wu Fang what Faguang had said before they set out to hunt Wei Tu.
"Faguang once said that there was no way the Blood Jiao Trading Association would cooperate with Wei Tu to deal with the two of us. That’s when I started suspecting your identity, Daoist Wu."
"Now, Wei Tu and that female cultivator must be running out of steam. With your help, getting rid of them won’t be difficult. We split the loot 30–70."
"That way, I can also give the Earth Spider Matriarch an explanation."
Old Sect Master Gu wore a faint smile as he spoke.
Hearing that, Wu Fang’s expression softened slightly. He nodded, signaling that he understood the situation.
"Since Faguang is dead, the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider must’ve fallen into Wei Tu’s hands?"
Wu Fang asked calmly.
"That should be the case."
Old Sect Master Gu nodded in response.
But right after saying that, he suddenly realized something strange. Why did Wu Fang speak like someone giving orders, like he was above him?
They were both Nascent Soul early-stage cultivators.
"Then we can’t let Wei Tu live."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Fang’s face turned ice cold, his presence sending chills down the spine.
"What does that have to do with the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider?"
Old Sect Master Gu was full of doubts. From Wu Fang’s tone, it sounded like the reason he wanted to kill Wei Tu had nothing to do with spiritual treasures or secret techniques. It was because Wei Tu had the spider.
Even though the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider was rare, it still belonged to the Earth Spider Matriarch. He wouldn’t dare desire it for himself.
But very quickly, Old Sect Master Gu’s doubts vanished.
Because at that moment, he sensed Wu Fang’s cultivation aura—it wasn’t Nascent Soul early stage, but mid-stage.
With that level, it made perfect sense for him to care about the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider.
Still, something else started to bother Gu even more.
‘Why does this person’s demeanor remind me of…’ He looked up and carefully studied this man with a female name, whose appearance was strikingly elegant.
He wore a plain blue robe, looking like any other rogue cultivator. But the air around him… it was like a ruler looking down on the world.
‘Lüqiu Jinyuan?’ Old Sect Master Gu’s mind flashed with the name. He began comparing Lüqiu Jinyuan’s image and aura with Wu Fang’s, and they started to overlap.
Other than the face, everything else—the presence, the tone—was nearly identical.
Like they came from the same mold.
"Spider Heart Sect…"
At that moment, Old Sect Master Gu started regretting ever opening his mouth. Learning a secret like this was far from good news.
If he was lucky, maybe he’d become Lüqiu Jinyuan’s trusted subordinate. But that would mean giving up his freedom from this day forward.
If he was unlucky, then after Lüqiu Jinyuan killed Wei Tu, he would be the next to die.
Only now did he finally understand why Lüqiu Jinyuan was so fixated on the Ghost-Eyed Demon Spider.
Because that spider could peer into the soul and expose the false identity he was hiding.
Of course Lüqiu Jinyuan couldn’t let that kind of threat exist.
"This incarnation of mine only has 30% of my full power. Even so, killing Wei Tu won’t be hard. But with your help, the success rate goes up."
Seeing that Gu had already figured out who he was, Lüqiu Jinyuan didn’t seem bothered. He gave him a calm glance and spoke with a steady tone.
