Chapter 447: What Cang Lan? I'm Fu Zhizhou

The distance from the inner sect’s cauldron chamber to the outer sect wasn’t far. With Qiao Gao’s escape speed, it took him less than two quarter-hours to reach the rendezvous point.

Soon after, Qiao Gao and Fu Zhizhou met successfully inside a firewood shed on the cliff edge of the outer sect.

"Come with me!" As soon as he saw Fu Lin secured, Fu Zhizhou didn’t hesitate. He immediately pulled out the "instant teleportation array," preparing to escape from the Hehuan Sect branch.

Moments later, a crystalline yellow array gate projected mid-air, gradually stabilizing into form.

However, Fu Zhizhou was loyal to the core. He didn’t abandon Qiao Gao. Instead, he grabbed his hand, intending to take him along.

But—

Just as the three of them stepped into the array, a powerful presence suddenly appeared and disrupted the spatial channel of the teleportation array with overwhelming force.

In the next instant, Fu Zhizhou and the other two were forcibly ejected from the spatial channel. The teleportation was cut off.

At the same time, the crystalline yellow gate collapsed, falling to the ground and returning to its original form as a six-sided array disc.

"Cang Lan, escaping from the Hehuan Sect? Not that easy."

"Jie jie jie~"

A sharp, sinister laugh echoed from outside the firewood shed, drawing closer.

As the voice reached its peak, two solid pink ghost claws suddenly tore through the shed, striking straight toward Fu Zhizhou, who was still masked and wearing a conical hat.

"Ancestor Ningyan?" Seeing the aura on those pink ghost claws, Fu Zhizhou’s face darkened.

If this had been out in the wild, with his strength, he wouldn’t fear this Golden Core master.

Even if he couldn’t win, he could still get away.

But the problem was…

He was inside the Hehuan Sect’s branch. If the fight dragged on, other Hehuan cultivators would soon be drawn in.

Worse yet, he had Fu Lin with him—a burden that would drag down his combat ability.

"Lin’er, you run first!"

Without hesitation, Fu Zhizhou formed a hand seal and summoned a refined corpse. He handed Fu Lin over to it to flee, then turned his full attention to the ghost claws attacking from Ancestor Ningyan.

As for Qiao Gao...

Fu Zhizhou couldn’t even protect himself right now. Why would he bother with some unfamiliar demonic lackey?

But that moment of delay meant he didn’t have enough time to properly respond to the two pink ghost claws.

Boom! Boom!

Two loud blasts exploded in the air.

The firewood shed was instantly flattened. Fu Zhizhou floated up from the rubble with a muffled grunt, blood at the corner of his mouth. He was forced back several steps by the shockwave before barely stabilizing himself.

Compared to Fu Zhizhou, Qiao Gao—who had also been in the shed—was in much worse shape.

A clash of this level was something he couldn’t even comprehend, much less react to.

He had barely recovered from being thrown out of the spatial channel when a blast of spell energy slammed into him and seriously injured him.

"Mas… Master?" On the ground, with torn clothes and injuries all over, Qiao Gao looked pale and bloodless the moment he saw Ancestor Ningyan floating in confrontation with Fu Zhizhou.

At this point, how could he not understand? His scheming over the past three months had already been seen through. Ancestor Ningyan had simply waited in silence to trap him.

"Master, I was forced! They poisoned me, I didn’t dare disobey."

"But I’ve always been loyal. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left so many hints during the mission…"

Sweating coldly, Qiao Gao didn’t hesitate. He immediately knelt and kowtowed, begging Ancestor Ningyan for mercy.

But clearly, Ancestor Ningyan had no intention of forgiving him.

With a cold expression, she glanced at him and sneered, "Traitorous filth. Once I’m done with Cang Lan, I’ll refine you into a Yang Cauldron, then deal with you slowly."

This wasn’t just her style—this was how high-ranking demonic cultivators handled betrayal.

Ancestor Ningyan saw nothing wrong with that.

What she didn’t know was… Qiao Gao still held one piece of intel that could cost her life.

"Old hag, even if you kill me, Elder Fu will avenge me." After a brief moment of groveling, Qiao Gao lowered his head. A flicker of hatred and vengeful satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

…

The outer sect of the Hehuan Sect branch wasn’t far from the main mountain gate.

So the moment Fu Zhizhou sensed that the refined corpse had taken Fu Lin out of the branch, he no longer wanted to keep fighting Ancestor Ningyan.

He simply shouted, "Corpse Out!" and summoned a refined corpse with a nearly identical aura to his own to act as a decoy in battle.

His real body turned to escape immediately.

"Cang Lan, didn't your disciple tell you? I've already mastered your Three Corpses Secret Art."

Seeing this, Ancestor Ningyan didn’t rush. She sneered and spat out a puff of green mist, which turned into a bright green spike and shot out with lightning speed.

The spike flew so fast that just as Fu Zhizhou’s “Heavenly Corpse” emerged, it easily pierced through the corpse’s energy shield and drove deep into its forehead.

In an instant, the trump card of Fu Zhizhou—his Heavenly Corpse—was rendered useless. It was immobilized and completely incapacitated.

"A third-rank high-grade Corpse-Suppressing Nail?" Fu Zhizhou’s pupils shrank as he muttered ‘Not good’ in his heart.

While Corpse-Suppressing Nails weren’t powerful magic tools in general, against a corpse-path cultivator like him, they had a deadly countering effect. That was one of the drawbacks of corpse-path secret arts.

Before coming, Fu Zhizhou had anticipated Ancestor Ningyan might be prepared. But he didn’t expect her preparation to be this thorough—even having a third-rank high-grade Corpse-Suppressing Nail on hand.

Then, as he looked up at the sky, he noticed that during this brief exchange, the protective formation of the Hehuan Sect branch had fully activated.

This meant he had no escape route now except to forcibly break through. Other methods—like using Minor Shift Talismans or space treasures—would be useless.

In that moment, Fu Zhizhou realized something.

His decision earlier—to have the refined corpse take Fu Lin and flee—had been within Ancestor Ningyan’s calculations all along.

Her plan was to bait him into staying behind of his own accord, then gradually cut off all paths of retreat!

As for Fu Lin...

There was probably someone already waiting outside to intercept him.

"Third Brother is outside to receive him. Lin’er should be fine. But I’m in real trouble now."

Fu Zhizhou sighed inwardly, bitterness welling in his chest.

Just three months ago, he had reunited with Wei Tu and solved his soul problem. He’d finally regained some confidence on his path toward the Golden Core.

This time, after rescuing Fu Lin, he had planned to drop his identity as the Heavenly Corpse freak, reveal himself to his only surviving child, and be a father again...

But now, that was all gone!

Unless a miracle happened, he was going to die here, at the hands of Ancestor Ningyan.

Even though Fu Zhizhou knew his third brother Wei Tu had already reached the Nascent Soul Realm, he also knew—Wei Tu was a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator.

He simply didn’t have the power to break into the heavily guarded Hehuan Sect branch and pull Fu Zhizhou out.

It wasn’t like when Fu Zhizhou had once helped Wei Tu.

Right now, Wei Tu had no powerful allies from Zhenwu Immortal City’s Fengwu Tribe. He was alone.

If he attempted a rescue, it would be a death sentence.

Besides, Wei Tu also had to worry about his son Fu Lin.

Just that alone meant there wasn’t enough time for him to get here!

"If I’m going to die, I’m taking someone with me!"

A cruel look flashed in Fu Zhizhou’s eyes. He turned to stare at Ancestor Ningyan across the air and slowly clenched his fists.

Then, flipping his hand, a bright silver spear appeared.

"A spear? A magic weapon?" Ancestor Ningyan frowned slightly, confused.

In combat, most cultivators used compact and concealed weapons—except for special types like umbrellas or cauldrons. Spear-type weapons were rare. In her 800 years of cultivation, she hadn’t seen many.

They were simply too cumbersome, far inferior to swords or blades in flexibility.

And from what she had gathered, Cang Lan—the old monster—had never used a spear before.

But before she could question it further, Fu Zhizhou vanished and reappeared right in front of her, thrusting the silver spear diagonally at lightning speed.

"What kind of fighting style is this?"

"A mortal martial artist?"

Ancestor Ningyan was startled. If he were a body cultivator using this method, she’d understand. But he was a corpse-path cultivator—this was clearly fighting strength with weakness.

"Cheap trick!" A trace of scorn flashed in her eyes. She raised her slender hand to block the angled thrust and intended to use raw power to injure Fu Zhizhou on the spot.

As a peak Golden Core cultivator, she had full confidence facing someone at the mid-Golden Core stage.

But—

The moment the silver spear closed in, Ancestor Ningyan suddenly felt as if a mountain was crashing down on her.

That strike wasn’t something she could take lightly.

"A killing move?" She smirked again, showing a sneer on her face.

Still, despite the look of mockery, Ancestor Ningyan didn’t let her guard down.

In that brief moment, a white silk glove appeared on her right hand.

The glove was a powerful magic item. It instantly shone with deep blue light, forming a thick energy shield.

Next moment—

The two magic weapons clashed.

The bright silver spear crashed down on the white silk glove like a mountain collapsing.

Ugh!

Neither side’s magic weapon was damaged, but both Ancestor Ningyan and Fu Zhizhou had their blood churned. Their bodies took heavy hits from the impact.

"Die!" Ancestor Ningyan’s eyes turned icy. She changed tactics and turned her palm into a claw, slashing at Fu Zhizhou’s torso like she meant to rip out his guts.

But at that moment, Fu Zhizhou, seasoned in battle, suddenly shifted the spear from a thrust to a swing. With the strength of an ape, he smashed it at her head.

Ancestor Ningyan was forced to retreat. She turned her claw back into a hand and grabbed the spear, blocking the blow.

But then—

The shaft of the spear suddenly shifted. Two mummified heads the size of fists sprouted from it. Their necks stretched and lunged toward Ancestor Ningyan’s arms, biting down hard.

"Spirit and weapon united?" Ancestor Ningyan finally saw through Fu Zhizhou’s technique.

But this kind of tactic—effective only during the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages—how could a so-called veteran Golden Core cultivator like Cang Lan still be using it?

Soon, she realized she couldn't afford to underestimate it.

Maybe combining spells and martial arts was nothing impressive in general, but this wasn’t just any technique. It was corpse-path secret arts.

Under corpse-path methods, Fu Zhizhou’s body was like a refined corpse—overwhelmingly strong and ridiculously tough. And while attacking her, the silver spear in his hand kept unleashing strange corpse-path skills nonstop, giving her no room to breathe.

"Cang Lan, I didn’t expect your techniques to improve after you took a new host."

After exchanging blows for over dozens of rounds, Ancestor Ningyan took an opening to retreat. From afar, she looked at Fu Zhizhou and couldn’t help but give a grudging compliment.

If not for these moves, how could a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator like “Cang Lan” possibly last this long against her, a peak Golden Core powerhouse?

"Cang Lan?" Fu Zhizhou burst out laughing with disdain. "That old bastard? I already devoured him."

"Ningyan, you old witch, remember this. The one you're fighting right now isn’t Cang Lan. I’m Fu Zhizhou, the Heavenly Corpse Freak!"

His words were firm and loud.

Facing death, he had no reason to hide anymore.

In life, he couldn’t live openly. He had to walk the world using the name “Heavenly Corpse Freak.” He couldn’t even acknowledge his own brothers or son.

But now that he was dying, he wanted to die differently—die with dignity!

"Four hundred years of cultivation—Fu Zhizhou has no regrets!"

Roaring, Fu Zhizhou charged again with his silver spear toward Ancestor Ningyan and the Hehuan Sect cultivators swarming in.

Ancestor Ningyan didn’t care about the insult. What caught her attention was Fu Zhizhou’s real identity.

"Fu Zhizhou?"

"You’re Fu Lin’s biological father?"

"So that’s it."

A cold smile crept onto her lips.

Finally, everything made sense. Why had “Cang Lan” gone so far to help Fu Lin, even killing her niece Leng Yuyuan?

There was only one reason—father and son.

"Too bad... today, both you and your son are going to die."

"You not being Cang Lan but Fu Zhizhou? Even better. It makes it easier to settle my grudge."

Ancestor Ningyan spoke calmly.

She flicked her sleeve and ordered the Hehuan Sect cultivators to form a battle formation and gang up on Fu Zhizhou to kill him.

She wasn’t some martial fool. There was no need to fight one-on-one just for some sense of honor.

And besides, facing a lone wolf like Fu Zhizhou—one already ready to die—even she, a Golden Core master, felt a bit wary.

He might not be her equal, but with desperation, he could still seriously wound her.

"Don’t kill him just yet."

"Wait till I get back. I’ll handle him myself."

Ancestor Ningyan turned and flew off. She was going to retrieve the fleeing Fu Lin, then kill him slowly, piece by piece, right in front of Fu Zhizhou, to avenge Leng Yuyuan’s death.

However—

At that moment—

A terrifying pressure suddenly dropped from the sky and slammed down on Ancestor Ningyan, nearly knocking her out of the air.

"Kill who? Torture who?"

"Ningyan, want to repeat that again?"

At the same time, a playful voice echoed right next to her ear.