Lady Cultivator

A thought suddenly flashed across Mo Tiange’s mind. She asked, “Where’s your home?”

Ye Zhenji stared blankly at her. Apparently, he didn’t really understand what she meant. “My home?”

Mo Tiange repeated, “Your home in the secular world.”

Although he didn’t understand what this grandmaster’s intention was, he still answered honestly, “My home is in the Tong’an District in Wei Country. Has Grandmaster ever heard of it?”

“Tong’an District, Wei Country…” Mo Tiange muttered with a frown. She thought it seemed to be the place Second Uncle mentioned before, so she tossed out another question: “Have you ever heard the name Ye Cheng?”

Ye Zhenji looked perplexed. “This… seems to be grandpa patriarch’s name, but I’m not sure…”

Grandpa patriarch… Second Uncle moved Ye Clan from Mount Qingmeng around twenty years ago. At that time, the master of Ye Clan in the secular world, Ye Cheng, was in his forties and had five weak spiritual roots. He ought to be in his sixties now.

“First tell me about your clan.”

A faint wariness emerged in Ye Zhenji’s gaze. “Grandmaster, what do you want to know?”

How could Mo Tiange not realize this child was wary of her? She smiled and said, “Come on, as if I want anything from your family. Don’t think too much; I just want you to tell me about them.”

After some deliberation, Ye Zhenji thought what Mo Tiange said was quite reasonable. This grandmaster was the advanced inner disciple of a Nascent Soul sovereign. What could his declining clan possibly have that could attract her attention? Thus, he proceeded to ask, “What does Grandmaster want to know?”

“… You can tell me anything. For example, your clan’s situation—did your clan also come from Kunwu?”

“En.” Because they were talking about his clan’s past, a smile appeared on Ye Zhenji’s face. He said proudly, “My father said our clan used to be in Kunwu before and there were also many Core Formation cultivators among our ancestors. Ultimately, we had a granduncle who successfully formed his Gold Core in his hundreds. At that time, his name became well-known all over west Kunwu!” After he spoke up until this part, a regretful expression suddenly appeared on his face. “Unfortunately, this granduncle passed away about twenty years ago. Moreover, we didn’t have that many people in our clan to begin with. Those who possessed spiritual roots were even fewer. Just like that, our clan started to decline.”

“So that means… there are no cultivators in your clan?”

“I didn’t say that…” Ye Zhenji unconsciously tilted his head as he spoke. “Actually, I’m not too sure. My father said back then, we still had a granduncle who was a Foundation Building cultivator. That granduncle sent us to the secular world but immediately left afterward. Furthermore, that granduncle was already very old. All these years, he’s never contacted us, so we’re not really sure whether he’s still alive or not.”

“Didn’t that granduncle of yours leave Summoning Talismans or anything behind?”

“Well… I don’t know. This all happened before I was born, and my father also didn’t tell me a lot in detail.”

It was normal for a child to not know about this kind of matter. In any case, Mo Tiange was already quite certain about this child’s clan, so she no longer said anything. She simply raised her finger and forced a drop of blood out of it. With her spiritual aura, she then angled that drop of blood towards that child.

“Grandmaster, you…” Ye Zhenji turned pale out of fright, but before he could even finish his sentence, the drop of blood already rushed toward him and disappeared into the space between his eyebrows.

Mo Tiange could feel her blood essence entering the space between his eyebrows completely unhindered. Furthermore, it was able to merge with his blood easily. This child… was indeed her kin.

“Grandmaster…” Right after he regained his clear-headedness, Ye Zhenji stared at her in fright. “What was that…”

Mo Tiange also stared at him. Honestly, she herself was also quite astonished. Kunwu was so vast, yet a child from Ye Clan unexpectedly happened to come to Xuanqing School!

“A drop of blood like that is used to recognize your kin.”

“Huh?” Ye Zhenji was completely bewildered.  A drop of blood used to recognize your kin?

“The fact that my blood essence was compatible with yours and wasn’t at all repelled by your body shows that we’re related by blood.”

This time, Ye Zhenji was completely stunned.

Mo Tiange stared at him. “I don’t know how we should address each other, but the Core Formation granduncle you said passed away twenty years ago was probably my father.”

…

“Martial Uncle, you…” When Mo Tiange entered the side hall of Shangqing Palace, Xiuqin was bewildered to see that she brought a boy along.

Ever since Mo Tiange gave them a lesson, Qin, Qi, Shu, and Hua immediately became well-behaved. After hearing about her abilities, even the twelve other maids also significantly curbed their arrogance. They no longer gossiped in front of her, and they also talked to her in a more respectful way.

Mo Tiange cast a faint glance at her. “This is my grandnephew. I deliberately brought him here to pay respects to master.”

“Grandnephew!?” Xiuqin was stumped for words. This Grandmaster Mo merely went on a trip to Mengxue Hall, yet she brought back a grandnephew? Nevertheless, she cleverly refrained from commenting and simply bowed at Mo Tiange. “I understand. Grandmaster is in the main hall; Martial Uncle may go and greet him.”

“En.” Not wanting to waste her time there, Mo Tiange directly pulled Ye Zhenji along and walked past Xiuqin.

Ye Zhenji was full of excitement. He looked back at Xiauqin and when they walked quite a distance away, he whispered to Mo Tiange: “Grandmaster, you’re so impressive! The last time I saw a martial uncle who usually stays at Sovereign Jinghe’s side at Mengxue Hall to pass a message, she didn’t even look at our manager!”

Mo Tiange only revealed a faint smile. The manager of Mengxue Hall was only an ordinary early stage Foundation Building cultivator, so why would those women give him much respect? They had been at a Nascent Soul sovereign’s side for so long that even an ordinary Core Formation cultivator couldn’t impress them, much less an ordinary Foundation Building cultivator.

Ye Zhenji continued to look at his surroundings. He felt very curious. Ever since he arrived at Xuanqing School, he had only been to the main hall at the main peak once and spent the rest of his time at Mengxue Hall. Not to mention the Immortal’s Cave of a Nascent Soul sovereign, he hadn’t even seen the Immortal’s Cave of an ordinary Foundation Building martial uncle.

Looking at the naïve, joyful child in front of her, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but chuckle. Ever since they started acknowledging each other as kin, this child had been in a frenzied state. He originally thought he had no backing and was continuously bullied by others, but to his surprise, he suddenly developed the good fortune of the kin of a grandmaster. When he found out his backing was actually much better than those children who used to bully him, he was so happy that he didn’t know what to say. Recalling how Ye Zhenji stood proudly and upright when she explained the matter to the stewarding disciple at Mengxue Hall, Mo Tiange thought it was a bit funny and pitiful at the same time.

“Zhenji, we can’t verify my position and our relation in the clan hierarchy, and I’m also only about a dozen years older than you, so I think you better call me aunt. You don’t need to call me grandmaster anymore.”

“Oh…” Ye Zhenji looked up and stared at her. Soon afterward, with a very quiet voice, he called out, “Aunt…”

Mo Tiange stroked his head with a smile. “You don’t need to be so reserved. Unlike the others, we’re family.”

Now that Mo Tiange said this, Ye Zhenji finally became a bit braver. “I understand. Auntie, in the future, can I stay with you?”

“… En, that shouldn’t be a problem. But for now, we have to report the matter to the sovereign first.” In fact, Mo Tiange also wasn’t sure about this. Her identity now was indeed different. According to reason, it shouldn’t be that big of a problem if she wanted to take care of someone from her clan’s younger generation. Nonetheless, she was now living in Lord Daoist Jinghe’s Immortal’s Cave. This master of hers wasn’t someone who did things by the book, so it was really hard to tell.

“Auntie…” Ye Zhenji once again looked up, stared at her and asked with concern, “Will this make things hard for you?”

“En?” Mo Tiange was quite surprised.  Is this child actually this sharp? I just unconsciously furrowed my brows…

Ye Zhenji said, “Auntie, if you have any problems, it’s really alright for you not to take care of me. Now they all know you’re my elder, so they certainly wouldn’t dare to bully me again.”

Watching his earnest expression made Mo Tiange smile. She then answered in the same earnest manner, “You don’t have to be worried. We’ll find out after we see the sovereign.”

“En.”

As they chatted, they had unknowingly arrived at the main hall.

In all of Shangqing Palace, only those maids were around apart from Lord Daoist Jinghe himself, so they didn’t need to go through any other people if they wanted to make a report.

When she led Ye Zhenji into the hall, she saw Lord Daoist Jinghe was still reclining on his dragon couch, enjoying the care of his maids and reading an unknown book while mumbling about something.

“Master.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe didn’t even lift his gaze from his book when he answered. “Oh, you’re back. Why did you bring a small guy back today?”

Mo Tiange let go of Ye Zhenji’s hand and gave him a hint with her glance. This guy was very smart; he immediately kneeled and kowtowed. “Ye Zhenji greets Sovereign.”

Mo Tiange said, “Master, this child is my kin, so I want to take him with me and personally teach him. I hope Master allows me to do so.”

“En?” Flabbergasted by what he heard, Lord Daoist Jinghe finally looked away from his book and stared at them. He casually waved his hand at Ye Zhenji as a hint for him to get up then shifted his gaze towards Mo Tiange. “What’s going on? Where did this child come from?”

Mo Tiange patiently recounted: “When I went to Mengxue Hall today, I happened to see this child getting bullied by others, so I helped him in passing. After we chatted, I realized this child unexpectedly came from my clan in the secular world.”

“Oh? What a coincidence.” Lord Daist Jinghe wasn’t at all interested in these insignificant minor details. However, when he saw Ye Zhenji standing up then right away hiding shyly behind Mo Tiange, his interest was rather piqued. “Little guy, come over. Let me take a look at you.”

Ye Zhenji raised his head and looked at Mo Tiange. It was only after he saw her nodding that he cautiously walked toward Lord Daoist Jinghe’s side. This was his first time seeing a Nascent Soul sovereign.  What a majestic person…

“This little guy looks quite good; he looks rather like you.” As Lord Daoist Jinghe spoke, he grabbed Ye Zhenji’s wrist. “His aptitude is a bit inferior. Three spiritual roots… En, fortunately, each spiritual root has a pretty good quality, so advancing into the Foundation Building realm shouldn’t be a problem. If you’re hardworking enough, forming your Gold Core isn’t at all impossible.”

Ye Zhenji’s eyes widened. When the sovereign said his aptitude was a bit inferior, he wasn’t hurt in the slightest because he knew that every disciple who entered Xuanqing School had an excellent aptitude; with his three spiritual roots, he could barely qualify to enter the school. However, the sovereign said he might be able to form his Gold Core if he was hardworking enough—this was something that had never once crossed his mind!

“That’ll do. For this kind of trivial matter, you can act as you see fit.” Lord Daoist Jinghe let go of Ye Zhenji’s wrist and once again lay down on the couch. “You haven’t formed your Gold Core yet, so you don’t have the qualifications to accept a disciple. Just let him stay by your side for the time being.”

Upon obtaining permission, Mo Tiange felt happy. “Thank you, Master.”

“Hehe, thank me? But you, girl, are also cursing me behind my back, aren’t you? Forget it!” Lord Daoist Jinghe waved his hand. “Go back.”

Despite her being exposed in front of everyone, Mo Tiange didn’t feel sorry or embarrassed. Anyway, it was a fact that her cheap master was an unreasonable childish old man. She simply made her final salute and asked to be excused along with Ye Zhenji.

“Zhenji, the sovereign has agreed, so you can stay with Aunt from now on. I’ll do everything I can to help you, but you also have to work hard, understand?”

“En!” Ye Zhenji’s face flushed in excitement.  A Nascent Soul sovereign! I actually saw a Nascent Soul sovereign!  He suddenly thought of something, so he asked, “Auntie, do I still have to go to Mengxue Hall in the future?”

“Of course you do,” Mo Tiange said, “You haven’t completed your studies in Daoist scriptures; you better keep going—what’s wrong? You don’t want to?”

“No, no, I don’t mean that.” Ye Zhenji repeatedly waved his hands. An embarrassed smile appeared on his face. He then said slyly, “Auntie, in fact, I want to go. I have you now, so Ji’an and the others certainly won’t dare to bully me anymore! I really want to see how their faces will look!”

Upon hearing what he said, Mo Tiange burst out laughing. As expected of a child. He was always bullied before, so he wanted to walk with his head held high now.

She then nodded. “Taking revenge isn’t wrong, but you mustn’t be overly obsessed with it, understand?”

“En!”

Once they arrived at Mingxin Residence, Mo Tiange opened the restriction. She deliberated for a moment then took out a blank Jade Slip, imprinted some instructions inside and gave it to Ye Zhenji. “In the future, just use this to open the defense formation.”

As they made their way further into Mingxin Residence, a tiny spiritual beast suddenly pounced on them and started squeaking, scaring Ye Zhenji so much that he almost jumped backward.

Mo Tiange said to Ye Zhenji: “This is Aunt’s spiritual beast; you can call it Xiaohuo. It’s very smart. With its cultivation rank, it’s equivalent to an early stage Foundation Building cultivator. If you need anything, you can give it a call.” She then crouched down and stroked the Inferno Beast’s head. “This is Zhenji, my nephew. From now on, you have to treat him the way you treat me, understand?”

The Inferno Beast made a few squeaking noises and started to intimately bite the hem of Ye Zhenji’s robe. It wasn’t until Ye Zhenji also stroked its head that it released the robe.

With a smile, Mo Tiange took out a jade bottle and poured a few medicinal pills out of it. “Grab a bite and you can go play. You can also go to the back mountain if you want to.”

The Inferno Beast swept up those medicinal pills with its tongue and swallowed them into his belly. It nodded a few times at her then fled Mingxin Residence, probably heading to the spiritual beast compound at the back mountain.

The cultivation rank of this Inferno Beast rose very quickly. Ever since they started living at Shangqing Palace and Mo Tiange let it roam free, it often ran to the back mountain to play. Because there were restrictions in this Immortal’s Cave, she wasn’t worried and let it run around as it wished.

After leading Ye Zhenji into the courtyard, Mo Tiange described the rooms to him one by one: “This is Aunt’s Immortal’s Cave. That room is for concocting medicinal pills, that one is for refining tools, and that’s for cultivating. As for this room, this is the bedroom—it’s yours now. If you need anything, you can ask the martial uncles around here. They’re the sovereign’s maids; every affair at Shangqing Palace is handled by them.”

“I know, Aunt.” Ye Zhenji stood in the bedroom, cautiously touching the bed which was made of cold jade. There weren’t many things inside the room, but the few items there were all exquisitely made—so exquisite that he could only gape at them.

“What about your luggage?”

Ye Zhenji took out an old, worn-out Qiankun Bag and poured its contents out with embarrassment.

There were several sets of clothes, several Daoist scriptures as well as mental cultivation manuals, some children’s toys, two spirit stones, and a few worn-out jade bottles. Mo Tiange opened the bottles to examine the contents. There were medicinal pills for healing wounds and also Aura-Nourishing Pills, but there were only around two or three pills of each. Among them, there was even a half-gnawed Aura-Nourishing Pill!

Seemingly sensing that his belongings were too shabby, he flushed and said, “Auntie, when I left, there wasn’t anything valuable at home aside from these few items. Grandpa patriarch let me bring all of them here.”

Mo Tiange smiled. Presumably, those people with substandard spiritual roots left in Ye Clan still couldn’t accept what happened, so even though they moved to the secular world, they still continued to cultivate. Besides, with most of the valuable things in Second Uncle’s hands, they didn’t have anything precious—having nothing valuable left after twenty years was to be expected.

After some momentary deliberation, Mo Tiange took out seven jade bottles from her Qiankun Bag. “These two bottles contain Aura-Nourishing Pills; a hundred pills in each bottle. I presume you already understand their usage. This one contains Aura-Converging Pills which also have the effect of reinforcing vital essence and strengthening primordial aura during cultivation. They’re more than ten times more effective than Aura-Nourishing Pills, but you better increase your cultivation level a bit more before you use them. Their effect is too strong, and your cultivation level is too weak to handle it.”

“This one contains Aura-Purifying Pills. After every ten Aura-Nourishing Pills you take, you have to take one of these to eliminate the poisonous residue of those pills. This one contains Refreshing Pills which are used for detoxification. If you’re ever poisoned, this acts as an antidote for the poison. This one contains Restorative Panaceas. If you exhaust your spiritual aura in a fight of magical powers, taking one will allow you to recover some spiritual aura. This one contains Mind-Clearing Pills, which have the effect of improving your concentration and helping you to compose yourself. Whenever you’re distraught, you may take one of these.”

Seeing how Ye Zhenji’s hands trembled as he held those bottles, Mo Tiange could only smile. She then took out another pouch. “There are 200 spirit stones here. I know new disciples who haven’t graduated from Mengxue Hall like you aren’t allowed to get disciple rations yet. For now, I’ll just give these to you so you can use them when you’re cultivating.”

Previously, he only had two spirit stones altogether, which he always kept and had never been willing to use. Now, he suddenly got 200 spirit stones! Ye Zhenji was completely dumbfounded.

But it wasn’t over yet. After deliberating, Mo Tiange took out the Green-Wood Sword and the Spirit-Gathering Pearl she no longer used. She caressed these two objects and heaved a soft sigh. The Spirit-Gathering Pearl wasn’t extremely good, but it was something her father left behind and led her on her cultivation path. Recalling that, Mo Tiange finally returned it to her Qiankun Bag and in exchange, took out a Spirit-Gathering Formation she made.

“This is the Green-Wood Sword that my uncle gave me. Now, I’m giving it to you. This has been consecrated by a Core Formation cultivator, so it’s certainly far better than ordinary spirit tools; you have to use it well. As for this Spirit-Gathering Formation, if you lay it around you when you cultivate, you’ll be able to increase the density of spiritual aura around you.”

Ye Zhenji was practically in a daze when he accepted these things. Although he was a new disciple, he acquired some knowledge and experience after entering Xuanging School. He had seen spirit tools belonging to his fellow disciples before. However, before they graduated from Mengxue Hall, their division wouldn’t give any spirit tools to them. Those who possessed them all had patrons backing them. As for insignificant disciples who came from the secular world like him, they could only watch enviously. Nevertheless, this Green-Wood Sword was obviously a high-grade spirit tool which was much, much better than the tools he saw before!

“Auntie, this is… too much…”

“You’re family; naturally, I’ll only give you the best.” After she said that, Mo Tiange suddenly revealed a strict expression. “But you have to bear in mind that you can only rely on yourself when you’re walking on the path of cultivation. If you become complacent, get trapped and lose the ability to advance, the treasures you have will become useless no matter how many you have!”

Upon obtaining all these things but also receiving a stern reminder by Mo Tiange, Ye Zhenji was a bit startled. However, he soon recovered his composure and earnestly lowered his head. “I understand. I’ll definitely work hard in my cultivation and live up to Aunt’s expectations.”

The fact that this child was so obedient and easy to teach made Mo Tiange very satisfied. She stroked his head and said, “Alright, Aunt is going to cultivate now. You can cultivate, but it doesn’t matter if you want to get accustomed to this place first. If you need anything, you can call me from outside the cultivating room.”

“Yes.”

“Auntie!” Mo Tiange already turned around and was about to walk away when Ye Zhenji suddenly called out.

She stopped and looked back. Ye Zhenji, whose face was flushed, stared at her and whispered, “I’m hungry.”

Mo Tiange was stunned and couldn’t help but knock her own head. She then smiled at Ye Zhenji and said, “It’s been a long time since I needed food, so I forgot you still need to eat something. Wait a moment—I’ll tell someone to send you some food.”

After she went back to the cultivating room and sent a Summoning Talisman to Xiuqin to tell her to get someone to deliver food every day, Mo Tiange laid a formation and entered the Virtual Sky World.

Inside the Virtual Sky World, she didn’t immediately enter the small hut to cultivate. Instead, she stood and felt the gentle breeze blowing around then sat by the small creek.

I didn’t expect I would run into someone from Ye Clan…

She didn’t grow up in Ye Clan, so Ye Clan existed only in her imagination. However, before Second Uncle passed away, he always told her that if she became skilled enough in the future, she should take care of Ye Clan. Now that she actually ran into a child from Ye Clan, she naturally had no reason to ignore him.

According to this child, Ye Clan fared very well in the secular world. There were even several cultivators in the clan. Although their cultivation levels were meager and weren’t worth mentioning in Kunwu, ordinary people still viewed them as immortals. Using this as a pretext, Ye Clan was able to gain a foothold in Wei Country very quickly. Now they had wealth, health, and honor. One of them even became Marquis Changning of Wei Country.

Mo Tiange felt relieved to hear this. Back then, Ye Clan was forced to move to the secular world because aside from Second Uncle, there wasn’t a single genuine cultivator among them. Even though some of them had spiritual roots, their spiritual roots were mostly feeble five spiritual roots. Even though they relied on medicinal pills before, they were barely able to cultivate until the second or perhaps third layer of the Aura Refining realm. Nevertheless, their aptitudes were already sufficient for them to live in the secular world, away from the blood-filled cultivation world, enjoying high positions and great wealth. What more could they want? Even Lord Daoist Jinghe’s clan in the secular world, which gave birth to one Nascent Soul cultivator and one Core Formation cultivator, was only a common, rich, noble clan.

The people from Ye Clan gave up, but then Ye Zhenji was born ten years ago. They were wild with joy because they realized he unexpectedly had three spiritual roots when they checked. Later, when a Xuanqing School disciple handled some matters in the secular world, Ye Clan’s patriarch gave him an extravagant reception at their house, enabling Ye Zhenji to return to Kunwu and even enter a famous school.

This was only a trivial matter. Because of that, even the steward hall of Clear Spring Peak was unaware of Ye Zhenji’s identity and background, thus it was reported neither to Lord Daoist Jinghe nor Master Daoist Shoujing. As for Mo Tiange, she naturally had no way of knowing this in advance. In fact, if it wasn’t because she happened to be tossed around by Lord Daoist Jinghe and Luo Fengxue happened to encourage her to go to Mengxue Hall, perhaps she would’ve had to wait until she formed her Gold Core and went to Ye Clan in the secular world to fulfill Second Uncle’s wish before discovering Ye Zhenji’s existence. At that time, if Ye Zhenji’s luck wasn’t good, he probably would’ve already aged into an old man.

Ye Clan racked their brains to send Ye Zhenji to Xuanqing School because they didn’t want to waste Ye Zhenji’s talents, but at the same time, they probably did so because they still wanted to revive the clan.

Nevertheless, Ye Zhenji’s aptitude was average; entering a famous school was already very fortunate for him. Ye Clan’s actions were merely a vain attempt. But they, in fact, gave a few more things for Mo Tiange to consider. It had only been a few years since Ye Clan left Kunwu, and they obviously still wanted to return. If they learned about her existence, they might have some hope again.

Thus, Mo Tiange reached a decision. For the time being, she wouldn’t tell Ye Clan of her existence. Otherwise, she certainly wouldn’t be able to avoid some trouble that might arise. Of course, she wouldn’t keep them in the dark forever. When the time was appropriate, she would take a trip back to Ye Clan and fulfill Second Uncle’s final wish.

By then, she would also have to warn Ye Clan. If they didn’t have enough high level cultivators, they shouldn’t plan on returning to Kunwu. Were there not enough small cultivation clans perishing in Kunwu? Yu Clan, from Danding School, had several Foundation Building cultivators, but once disaster struck, they declined just like that; even their fate wasn’t known to Mo Tiange. Rather than living like that, it’d be better for Ye Clan to enjoy all the glory and wealth the secular world could offer. If a descendant with good spiritual roots appeared one day, she would give them a helping hand.

Mo Tiange shook her head, throwing all these thoughts to the back of her mind. She stood up and entered the small hut in the Virtual Sky World, ready to cultivate.

Nowadays, Ye Zhenji hadn’t even finished studying Daoist scriptures. The path he had to walk was still very long. She would later give him some medicinal pills and ask master to help him out—presumably, building his foundation wouldn’t be a problem. He might even succeed in forming his Gold Core. That way, that could be considered as treating Ye Clan fairly.

With that decision in mind, Mo Tiange sat down, directed her aura towards her dantian and started the day’s cultivation.