Lady Cultivator

Mo Tiange didn’t have time to consider Wei Jiasi’s point of view because she already had a vague idea where the thunderbolt came from.

She stretched her right hand, summoning the White Silk Handkerchief, which had transformed into a brick wall, back to her hand. Just as it seemed like she was focusing her attention on scanning her surroundings, the Shuttle of Flying Apsara in her other hand secretly moved.

A gold light flashed. Wei Jiasi heard a sudden loud rumbling noise and looked back immediately. She heard Mo Tiange, who withdrew the Shuttle of Flying Apsara with a sneer, saying contemptuously, “It’s such a low level formation, but you dared to show off in front of me!”

With no time to say anything, Wei Jiasi once again saw the Shuttle of Flying Apsara moving, causing several spots to be struck, one after another, in a flash. Soon after, a thunderbolt carrying an enormous rage with a breathtaking momentum arrived.

Mo Tiange waved her hand, once again launching the White Silk Handkerchief. Wei Jiasi also turned to the side, launching both her talisman and magic tool.

Of the two of them, one was defending and one was attacking.

A loud rumbling noise came through as the formation was broken.

Once they saw what was within the formation, Mo Tiange and Wei Jiasi glanced at each other. Both saw the incredulity in each other’s eyes.

They had indeed spotted their enemy, but to their surprise, this enemy… was simply two demonic beasts!

These demonic beasts were both wolf-shaped; one was carrying the other on its back. The one standing on the ground was a fourth rank demonic beast with a fierce gaze. The one lying on the first one’s back had short forelegs and couldn’t walk, but it had a cunning gaze.

Two wolves against two people. Suddenly, Mo Tiange heard Wei Jiasi whispering, “These are Scruffy Pair Monsters.”

Mo Tiange was shocked. Scruffy Pair Monsters were said to be two demonic beasts that acted together. There was a saying in the secular world: “Villains collude to do something evil” that came from a story of a wolf and a short-legged wolf, two beasts cooperating to do bad things. These Scruffy Pair Monsters were also a wolf and a short-legged wolf duo. The difference was that these two were demonic beasts.

Mo Tiange suddenly understood. Normally, only beasts of the eight rank and higher had the intelligence to use formations, but the short-legged wolf was different—it was innately intelligent. It relied on the wolf’s strength while it did the thinking. The two monsters relied on each other for hunting for food and cultivating to advance their ranks.

Of the two demonic beasts in front of them, the wolf was in the fourth rank but the short-legged wolf was only in the second rank. Nevertheless, these Scruffy Pair Monsters were unexpectedly able to employ a formation. Although it was only a very simple Spirit-Concealing Formation, it was still something other demonic beasts could use only after they reached the eighth rank.

In that case, were these Heavenly-Covering Formations also created by these Scruffy Pair Monsters? But considering the strength they have, they shouldn’t be this strong…

They had no time to think as the wolf in front of them suddenly leaped. Both Mo Tiange and Wei Jiasi hurled their respective magic tools towards the wolf.

The Shuttle of Flying Apsara turned into a gold beam while the Wish Ring emitted an ice-cold silvery ray. In a flash, they crashed together into the thunderbolt.

The gold beam, silver ray, and thunderbolt—three kinds of lights interweaved together, creating a glaring light that made it almost impossible for them to open their eyes.

The wolf monster was only in the fourth rank, which was equivalent to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. Both Mo Tiange and Wei Jiasi were also in the middle stages of the Foundation Building realm. Considering the outstanding magic tools they had, their odds of winning wasn’t at all small.

At that moment, Wei Jiasi flicked her wrist, launching a handful of talismans forward.

The wolf monster glared ruthlessly at her while the short-legged wolf monster leaped from its back and moved away. There was a sudden explosion of gold and silver light that subdued the thunderbolt bit by bit until it completely disappeared.

Mo Tiange heaved a sigh. Although the short-legged wolf monster wasn’t something she needed to worry about, the strength of the wolf monster was a different story.

The short-legged wolf suddenly whimpered. It was obviously talking to the wolf, but neither Mo Tiange nor Wei Jiasi could understand what it was saying. They could only remain vigilant.

“Senior Martial Sister Wei?”

Wei Jiasi looked conflicted, but she eventually made up her mind and said, “Strike first and gain the upper hand!”

Mo Tiange understood Wei Jiasi’s intentions, so she raised her hand, summoning the White Silk Handkerchief. At the same time, Wei Jiasi also took out several magic tools and talismans which flew alongside Mo Tiange’s Shuttle of Flying Apsara toward the wolf and short-legged wolf monsters.

Suddenly, the wolf monster howled and emitted several thunderbolts from its opened jaws.

When all spiritual aura fluctuations finally started to settle down, they realized the two monsters had collapsed to the ground.

Mo Tiange brushed away the dust on her body then walked towards their carcasses. “Eh!”

Wei Jiasi, who suffered some minor injuries, asked, “What?”

Mo Tiange turned the two carcasses over and said, “Turns out they’re injured.” No wonder these two were inside this Covering Formation; they must’ve been abandoned by other demonic beasts, so they created the illusion there were a lot of demonic beasts here while they secretly recovered.

As Wei Jiasi examined her own injuries, she said, “Search their bodies. This short-legged monster isn’t like other demonic beasts; since it was able to use formations, it might have some treasures on its body.”

“En.”

Sure enough, Mo Tiange did find several log-shaped objects which were used by the short-legged wolf monster to lay the formation. Mo Tiange wondered what these things were—they replaced the formation disc and flags typically used to lay formations. There were also several small crystals, ores, and spiritual plants. In addition, there was also a palm-sized thin piece of jade that looked like a mirror; it was clear and translucent. She didn’t know what it was, but when she held it up, it created a lifelike reflection.

“Senior Martial Sister Wei, take a look at these.” Mo Tiange took all the objects and presented them to Wei Jiasi.

Wei Jiasi had lived almost 100 years longer than Mo Tiange, so her knowledge naturally surpassed Mo Tiange’s. After she took the objects and examined them, she said, “These are Seven-Phoenixes Woods, these are Moon Jades, these spiritual plants have healing properties, and as for this one…” She lifted the thin jade and said doubtfully, “I don’t know what this is.”

“Oh…” There were so many spiritual objects in this world, so who could possibly recognize all of them? Upon thinking for a bit, Mo Tiange said, “Senior Martial Sister Wei, these Seven-Phoenixes Woods can be used to lay formations, so can I have them? As for the others, you can have them.” Based on Wei Jiasi’s identification of these objects, the other crystals, ores, and spiritual plants were indeed rather precious, but the Seven-Phoenixes Woods were completely useless for people who couldn’t lay formations.

Wei Jiasi didn’t refuse. She nodded and said, “Take them.”

Mo Tiange happily took them.

“This one…” Wei Jiasi lifted the thin jade and said with a frown, “This doesn’t seem to be an ordinary object. We’d better take it back and let master identify it.”

“En.”

Right when the two of them were about to leave, the jade suddenly emitted a flash of light.

Dumbfounded, Wei Jiasi doubtfully lifted the jade once again, yet she couldn’t see any light from it at all. She mumbled, “What’s going on?”

Mo Tiange naturally didn’t have an answer because she didn’t have the slightest idea what it was.

The two of them saw confusion in each other’s eyes.

All of a sudden, an extremely bright light burst from the jade. It gave no chance for them to respond and it engulfed the two of them inside it in just an instant.

Mo Tiange felt she was dreaming, but she couldn’t remember what she was dreaming about. In her dazed state, she vaguely heard someone speaking.

“Husband, what’s wrong with Tiange?” It was the gentle voice of a woman. At the same time, a pair of hands softly caressed Mo Tiange’s forehead.

“It’s all right.” The man’s voice also sounded gentle as he softly said, “Tiange’s just too tired. She’ll be good once she wakes up.”

“En.”

It was another vague dreamland. A lot of weird thoughts emerged in Mo Tiange’s mind. Sometimes, thoughts flew around inside her mind while other times, she couldn’t remember the slightest thing.

In the end, she finally opened her eyes.

“Tiange, you finally woke up!” A young madam sat by her bedside with a happy smile and shortly called out, “Husband! Husband!”

A scholarly looking man in his thirties walked into the room. He smiled and said, “Wife, I told you Tiange would be okay once she woke up. See? What were you worried about?”

Mo Tiange stared at the couple in front of her, seemingly still half-conscious. However, she obediently called out, “Father, Mother, what happened to me?”

The young madam grasped her hand and said with a smile, “Never mind. This girl! In the future, you can’t be this naughty! Unbelievable—you actually climbed a tree to catch a bird! If you were a boy, this wouldn’t be a problem, but how could you follow Tianjun and behave just as unruly as him?”

“Mother, don’t be angry. I won’t do it again.”

Poking Mo Tiange’s forehead, the young madam rebuked, “Fine. Mother will go and cook a bowl of noodles to fill your belly. I’ll leave the lecturing to your father!”

As her mother left with a smile, her father came over. He held Mo Tiange in his arms and stuck his own forehead to hers as he said, “En, your fever has gone down. You should be all right now.”

Mo Tiange looked down and examined her body. Her body looked thin and weak, and her arms were small; even if she stood on the bed, she would still be far shorter than her father.

“Father, are you going to scold me?”

“Of course not,” her father said while stroking her head. He then turned around, crouched down, and said, “Come, Father will carry you out. What’s so fun about climbing a tree? If you want a little bird, Father will catch one for you!”

“En, en! Father is the best—better than eldest uncle and the others!”

“Of course! Sit properly! Moo~ moo~” Her father imitated a cow’s mooing sound and ran outside while carrying her on his back.

Right before they were out the door, she heard her mother shouting. “You two! Don’t run around!”

Her father looked back and made “mooing” sounds as a reply before he ran out of the courtyard like a wisp of smoke with Mo Tiange still on his back.

Mo Tiange was clapping her hands as she cheered out loud: “Father! Faster! Faster!”

He kept jogging until they arrived at the back of a small river in the eastern part of the village. Her father put her down and said, “Tiange, wait here.”

“En!” She nodded excitedly.

Her father then pulled himself up onto the oldest, biggest tree in the village, and continued to climb agilely until he finally found a small bird on one of its branches.

“Tiange!”

Mo Tiange raised her head and saw her father raising the small bird he was holding in his hands towards her.

With a small face flushed with excitement, she shouted, “Father! I want it! I want it!”

After slowly making his way down the tree, he put the small bird into her hands and said, “You have to be careful. Don’t kill it from holding it too tightly. You have to take care of it well. Since it’s already been caught by us, the big bird won’t take it back anymore.”

“Why?” she asked. Her eyes widened with confusion.

“Because the small bird now has the scent of humans on its body; the big bird won’t be able to recognize it.”

“Huh?!” Dumbfounded, Mo Tiange called out, “Father, take it back! I don’t want a small bird anymore…”

“That won’t do,” her father said while caressing her head. His expression obviously showed concern, but it made her feel scared. “You already caught it, so the big birds don’t want it already…”

“Chirp! Chirp!” Upon hearing birds chirping loudly, Mo Tiange raised her head then saw two big birds chirping furiously towards her. It was as if they knew she had snatched their child away.

“No! It’s not how it looks!” she shouted then she opened her palms to offer them the small bird she was holding. “I-I’ll give it back to you…”

The big birds were still chirping furiously, but it didn’t seem like they were going to fly down at all. They continued to flap their wings until they finally flew away.

She held the small bird in her hands as her whole body trembled. When she turned around, her father was no longer there.

The whole Mo Family’s Village was completely empty. There was no one. It felt as if the wind too was motionless.

She looked down and stared at the small bird. Both of them had been abandoned.

The small bird couldn’t make any sounds. It just opened its tender beak and shakily tried to stand on her palms before turning to look at her.

There was weakness, pity, anger, and ferocity in its gaze.

All of a sudden, the small bird, that just a moment ago couldn’t even spread its wings, ruthlessly flew up to peck her eye.