Lady Cultivator

At her table, Mo Tiange hadn’t even finished massaging her neck, but Lord Daoist Jinghe’s maid, Mingxia, came towards her to pass on a message from him. “Martial Uncle Mo, grandmaster is asking you to go to the main hall.”

Once Mo Tiange heard that, she immediately had a terrible feeling. Although that cheap master of hers definitely wouldn’t have caused any trouble at the ceremony, the ceremony was already finished, so there was a huge chance her master already resumed that unruly, childish nature of his.

Without thinking, Mo Tiange refused: “I can’t leave for now. Please tell master that I’ll come when I’m free.”

Mingxia displayed an expression that read “sure enough, grandmaster’s right” and said, “Grandmaster said that if the area can’t be left unattended now, I am to watch over things until you come back.”

Mo Tiange was completely speechless upon hearing what Mingxia said. Left with no other choice, she said, “That being the case, I’ll head over now.”

After walking out of the side hall where the female cultivators were located, Mo Tiange straightened up her appearance then proceeded towards the main hall.

Before she even entered the main hall, she already heard the thunderous laughter of the Nascent Soul ancestors inside. Although she had no idea what they were laughing about, she could still differentiate the feelings behind the laughter—some sounded complacent, some sounded like they were just going with the flow, some sounded forced, and so on.

Right after Mo Tiange reached the doorstep of the main hall, before she could even enter, every Nascent Soul ancestor, as well as several Nascent Soul cultivators from other cultivation groups, locked their eyes on her.

Luckily for her, she already made some achievements in her Soul-Refining Art, so even though she was under the spiritual aura pressure of several Nascent Soul cultivators who emitted the aura unconsciously, she was still able to maintain her calm and walked steadily into the main hall. “Greetings to Master; greetings to Seniors.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe was obviously very satisfied with her performance. He beckoned to her and said with a kind, loving voice he never used before: “Tiange, come here, come here.”

Mo Tiange obediently walked over and stood beside Lord Daoist Jinghe. Soon after, she heard the melodious voice of a woman who also uttered a delicate laugh. “Brother Jinghe, this disciple of yours is only in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, and despite being in the presence of Nascent Soul cultivators like us, she behaves in a natural and majestical manner. If we were only in the Foundation Building realm, we wouldn’t have been able to carry ourselves like she did.”

Once Mo Tiange heard this backhanded compliment, she instantly understood why her master told her to come over.

The female cultivators in the side hall bragged about their aptitudes and luck and flaunted their clothes and spirit tools. To Mo Tiange, they were just the same as women from the secular world.

The Nascent Soul cultivators in the main hall apparently also couldn’t let go of this unhealthy habit brought over from the secular world. They were all Nascent Soul cultivators; if they flaunted their aptitudes, luck, magic tools and so on, there would be no end to it. Therefore, they could only flaunt their disciples.

Sure enough, a bald male Nascent Soul cultivator laughed and said, “With Ma Xuanyin and Qin Shoujing, Brother Jinghe’s reputation was pretty much guaranteed already; he naturally has more freedom than us in accepting other disciples.”

Mo Tiange listened to other cultivation groups’ Nascent Soul cultivators demeaning her here and there, taking turns making remarks, but she couldn’t say anything to rebuke them. She was indeed angry but had nowhere to vent. From a position not visible to any of the guests, she threw her master a contemptuous look.

Upon receiving this unhappy stare from his little disciple, Lord Daoist Jinghe’s mood finally cheered up. He put on a smile as if he didn’t care at all and said, “I wonder whose family’s disciple it was that dared to fight a fifth rank demonic beast despite only being in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm.”

The hall sank into momentary silence. The female cultivator from earlier said, “But I heard the one who exterminated that fifth rank demonic beast was your new Nascent Soul eldest disciple, Xuanyin…”

“Well, in that case, let’s talk about whose disciples you think would be able to escape unscathed from a fifth rank beast’s claws when they were just in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm.” Sure enough, once he said that, everyone fell silent. Lord Daoist Jinghe then shook his head and sighed. “Although my family’s Xi’er is extremely talented and he has very good perception, there’s nothing special about his spiritual roots—accepting a disciple with good spiritual roots has always been my lifelong wish…”

Mo Tiange immediately felt numerous Nascent Soul cultivators’ divine senses stretching towards her and examining her spiritual roots. She furtively sneaked a look at them. Several Nascent Soul cultivators had doubtful looks on their faces, but others looked unconvinced.

When everyone’s expression gradually became apparent, Lord Daoist Jinghe once again sighed and said, “I myself possess a single spiritual root, but even though I’m already in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, I don’t think I’ll be able to reach the Great Dao with the single spiritual root I have. By accepting Tiange as my disciple, maybe I can resolve the discomfort in my heart. After all, in the Distant Past, all cultivators with great divine power held the Spiritual Roots of the Origin in the highest regard.”

“But the more gratifying thing is that no matter whether it’s her temperament, perception, or Dao heart, this disciple of mine is outstanding in all aspects. In the future, she’ll certainly be able to reach the Great Dao one step earlier than your beloved disciples.” By the time he finished talking, his smile had already turned into booming, proud laughter.

Mo Tiange, who stood on the sidelines, couldn’t help but sweat profusely inside as she watched her master’s completely unconcealed smugness. If he hadn’t said the latter part of his speech, people might’ve mistakenly thought that he was match-making for her!

At that moment, a male cultivator dressed in all-black and sitting next to the entrance of the main hall said coldly, “Even if she really possesses the incredible Spiritual Roots of the Origin of the Distant Past, I’m afraid it won’t be easy for Brother Jinghe to fulfill his wish without the Art of the Origin.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe swung his sleeve with disapproval. “Just because your Tiandao Sect doesn’t have it doesn’t mean our Xuanqing School doesn’t have it either. Ever since our Xuanqing School was established, we’ve had an innumerable number of eccentric cultivators. A trivial thing like the Art of the Origin isn’t worth troubling yourself over; the Spiritual Roots of the Origin that’s rarely seen within many millenniums, however… one could only come across such things by luck!”

By the time he said that, Mo Tiange’s gaze was already turned downwards. She just stood quietly on the sidelines and pretended to be dead. Even when she heard her family’s master talking about the Art of the Origin as “a trivial thing,” she didn’t feel indignant at all. In any case, this master was a brazen person.

After Lord Daoist Jinghe spoke, the other cultivation groups’ Nascent Soul cultivators couldn’t say anything to refute him. On the other hand, Lord Daoist Zhenyang, who recently had a cat-fight with Lord Daoist Jinghe until they were both covered in filth and dirt, furiously uttered a “hmph.”

Nevertheless, all Nascent Soul cultivators from other cultivation groups had unhappy expressions on their faces. Because Lord Daoist Xuanyin of Xuanqing School advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, every cultivation group came to give their congratulations. Firstly, they wanted to have a good relationship with Xuanqing School in the future. Secondly, they more or less had intentions of determining the extent of Xuanqing School’s strength. But now, they were actually rendered speechless because of a middle stage Foundation Building disciple! Everyone’s gazes at Mo Tiange became a lot colder, but due to Lord Daoist Jinghe’s protective and blood-thirsty temperament, they couldn’t really do anything to her.

Mo Tiange could sense the temperature inside the hall dropping. Before long, however, she heard Martial Uncle Miaoyi laughing softly and saying with her gentle, womanly voice: “From the Foundation Building realm, she has to advance to the Core Formation realm, Nascent Soul realm and the Deification realm before she can be considered to have really achieved the Great Dao. Even all of you present here today may still feel that the Great Dao is a mystery. The road ahead of Tiange is still very long…”

Once she finished speaking, the atmosphere inside the main hall suddenly became much more relaxed.

After he spoke to his heart’s content and Lord Daoist Miaoyi smoothed things over for him, Lord Daoist Jinghe was in a very good mood, so he closed his eyes and enjoyed the massage given by the maid beside him. He looked as if he didn’t care about what was happening inside the hall.

Right after, Mingxia slipped into the hall from the side door. With a nervous expression, she reported quietly to Mo Tiange: “Martial Uncle Mo, several martial sisters in the side hall have started fighting.”

A frown appeared on Mo Tiange’s face. “Everything was still alright when I left. What happened?” She then looked at Lord Daoist Jinghe.

Obviously, Lord Daoist Jinghe already had his fill of showing off, so he just raised a hand and said unconcernedly, “This kind of matter always occurs at every feast. You just need to deal with it properly.”

The situation at the side hall was troublesome, but it was still better than standing in the main hall, targeted by every Nascent Soul cultivator there. Mo Tiange excused herself at once. “Master, Disciple will leave first.” She turned around and escaped from the main hall through the side door.

Lord Daoist Jinghe, who just finished showing off, was obviously in a very good mood, so he simply laughed and dropped the matter when faced with Mo Tiange’s obvious escape.

Mo Tiange traveled from the main hall, feeling anxious all the way. She originally thought she would witness complete mayhem, but by the time she dashed into the side hall, all the female cultivators inside were clearly much more capable than her in dealing with this kind of situation.

Inside the hall, two female cultivators from Zhengfa Sect and a female cultivator she didn’t know were having a fierce tussle. The three of them were surrounded by everyone else. The distance placed between each jade table was small, but now, some had obviously been pushed away to open up some space. On other jade tables, all kinds of defensive methods had been placed by those sitting at them.

The four Xuanqing School female Aura Refining disciples in charge of this particular side hall were grouped anxiously in the corner. When they saw Mo Tiange’s arrival, they hastily rushed over.

“Grandmaster Mo…”

“Grandmaster Mo, what should we do?”

Mo Tiange massaged the space between her eyebrows. “First, tell me why they started fighting.”

The female disciple who was helped by Mo Tiange earlier hurriedly whispered, “At first, the two martial uncles from Zhengfa Sect simply had a little verbal argument. In the end, one of them gave a dish to the other, saying that the dish was nourishing. The other didn’t want to accept it, so the two of them pushed the dish back and forth between them. Because of a moment of carelessness, the dish was overturned, dirtying the other martial uncle’s dress. We also don’t know which group that martial uncle came from. She looks delicate, but her temper is extremely fiery—she didn’t say anything and immediately started to fight, thrusting back the martial uncle from Zhengfa School with just one slap. Upon seeing that they started to fight, Martial Uncle Mingxia said she’d go to the main hall to ask Martial Uncle Mo to come back and take care of this matter.”

The female guests inside the side hall were all ordinary Foundation Building cultivators, so the disciples in charge of receiving them were also ordinary disciples. Mo Tiange had the highest status there and didn’t need to fear anyone. However, in any case, Mingxia was a Nascent Soul ancestor’s maid; how was she possibly unable to handle this kind of matter? She clearly just didn’t want to step forward. However, Mo Tiange was too lazy to determine what Mingxia’s intentions were. After all, it was enough if those maids didn’t dare to disrespect her.

Mo Tiange shifted her gaze towards the battlefield. Of the two female cultivators from Zhengfa Sect, one was in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm while one was in the early stage. The other female cultivator whose background was a mystery, however, was already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. Although the female cultivators from Zhengfa Sect had the numerical advantage, their skills were still too crude. On the other hand, the other female cultivator’s moves were dangerous and efficient; she actually managed to constantly suppress the two Zhengfa Sect female cultivators and put them into disadvantageous positions.

Mo Tiange couldn’t help but frown. But before she could think through how she should mediate the conflict, she heard the early stage Foundation Building female cultivator from Zhengfa Sect scream as she was hit and wounded. Mo Tiange hastily summoned her White Silk Handkerchief, blocked the unknown female cultivator’s next killing move and shielded the two Zhengfa Sect female cultivators behind her.

After suppressing her anger, Mo Tiange laughed softly and said, “I wonder whose disciple Senior Martial Sister is; the excellence of your Law of Dao is obvious to everyone. Senior Martial Sister, although the two senior martial sisters from Zhengfa Sect offended you, they have also been injured by you, so how about we end this matter here for my sake?”

That female cultivator smiled coldly. “Who are you?”

Mo Tiange behaved courteously, but the other cultivator completely didn’t take that into consideration. So, Mo Tiange’s expression turned faint as she answered, “I’m Mo Tiange from Xuanqing School.”

That female cultivator was still smiling. “And who might your master be?”

Upon being asked in that way, Mo Tiange answered in a heavier tone, “I’m fortunate enough to worship my school’s Lord Daoist Jinghe as my master. Does Senior Martial Sister perhaps have any advice for me?”

After she heard what Mo Tiange said, that female cultivator’s expression suddenly became strange. However, a shrill whistle was heard from outside the hall. Once this noise rang out, that female cultivator actually changed her direction and pounced on Mo Tiange while laughing heavily. “Since you’re Lord Daoist Jinghe’s disciple, I better send you off directly so you can be on your way.”