Lady Cultivator

” Knock, knock. ” Two light knocks on the door came through.

Mo Tiange stopped cultivating. She used her divine sense to examine the surroundings then removed the restriction she placed outside. “Come in.”

The person who pushed the door open and entered was Ye Zhenji’s mother, Madam Yan.

This Madam Yan brought four maids along with her and looked extremely friendly. “Senior, did I disturb you?”

Mo Tiange had a rather good impression of this Madam Yan. It was probably because her maternal love for Ye Zhenji reminded Mo Tiange of her own mother.

“That’s alright. Is something the matter?”

“Oh, it’s like this… The guest room is shabby, so I’m afraid Senior isn’t accustomed to it…” After she said that, she hinted at the maids to put down the things they were holding.

Mo Tiange only gave those objects a brief look. All of them were flashy, superficial things used by the rich and the noble. She shook her head. “Madam doesn’t need to be polite. It’s actually not great if cultivators like me are too concerned about worldly things. These things are of no use for me, so Madam doesn’t need to trouble herself over them.”

“This…Senior is the esteemed guest of my Ye Clan. I’m worried that I’m not taking care of you properly.”

A faint smile appeared on Mo Tiange’s face. “I understand Madam’s kind intentions, but these worldly things are really unnecessary.”

Upon seeing how firm she was about it, Madam Yan had no other choice but to order the maids to take the things back.

Madam Yan then revealed a conflicted look, but after a moment, she smiled and said, “I have something to talk to Senior about; I don’t know if Senior has the time…”

“If Madam has something to say, Madam doesn’t need to hesitate.”

After obtaining permission from Mo Tiange, Madam Yan ordered the maids to leave while she remained behind.

“Senior, according to reason, I shouldn’t disturb you when you’re cultivating just for this kind of matter, but… I’m a mother… A mother always wants to know everything about her son.” At that point, Madam Yan paused somewhat nervously, only to continue a moment later: “You’re Zhen’er’s martial uncle, so you must’ve interacted with him often these past ten years. It’s been such a long period of time, but I couldn’t even see him at all during that period… Senior, could you please tell me everything about Zhen’er? How did he fare all these years? Has he suffered any grievances? How’s he doing now…?”

Mo Tiange didn’t have any reason to reject such a trivial request. A mother whose child left her side for eleven years naturally wanted to know as much as she could about her child.

“Madam doesn’t need to be worried; Zhenji’s doing very well. He’s an advanced inner disciple of a Core Formation cultivator, and his matters are taken care of by us, his divisional elders—he’ll be fine.”

“Really? Does he have any friends at school? Has he been bullied?”

This barrage of questions made Mo Tiange laugh. “He has Lord Daoist Jinghe as his grandmaster; who would dare to bully him? Besides, if anybody wants to bully him, I won’t sit idly by. Rest assured, Madam. That child has a gentle temperament, so he always gets along very well with others.”

“That’s good then.” Madam Yan said with relief, “Zhen’er was thoughtful even when he was a child. If he was in trouble, he’d certainly never tell us. It’s because I was afraid he’s still like this that I came to trouble Senior. Senior, Zhen’er is already in the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm now, so why did you two choose to leave the school now?”

Upon seeing Madam Yan’s worried expression, Mo Tiange explained, “Originally, I also thought I’d let Zhenji go back after he built his foundation, but he missed all of you too much and begged me for a long time. Luckily, I happened to be ordered by my master to leave the mountain and travel around, so I took him with me and we came here.”

“I see…” Madam Yan’s stare lingered on Mo Tiange’s body then all of a sudden, she asked, “Senior looks so young—may I ask how old senior is?”

This question was indeed rather rude, so it took Mo Tiange by surprise. But since it wasn’t like her age was a secret or anything, she answered, “I’m thirty-seven years old now.”

“Oh? Senior’s close to me in age, but Senior still looks like a seventeen to eighteen-year-old young lady. This really makes mortals like me envious.”

In fact, Madam Yan could already be considered young-looking. Ye Zhenji was twenty years old. As his mother, Madam Yan was presumably thirty-five years old at the least, but she took care of her appearance well. There weren’t any wrinkles on her face, so she looked only about thirty years old—the age when women were at their most charming and most mature.

Nevertheless, Mo Tiange didn’t praise her back. She looked sharply at Madam Yan and said dully, “What does Madam Yan mean?”

She would be too dull if she couldn’t tell that Madam Yan’s sentence had another meaning. Sure enough, Madam Yan’s intentions in visiting her weren’t straightforward.

Madam Yan felt quite embarrassed to be stared by Mo Tiange like that. She mumbled, “… It’s nothing. Senior’s age is similar to mine, but you look around Zhen’er’s age—it’s really not obvious that… you’re his elder. Presumably, other people would believe us if we said the two of you were brother and sister.”

Mo Tiange suddenly felt torn between laughter and tears. This Madam Yan was obviously worried that there was some unspeakable relationship between her and Ye Zhenji!

Despite what she felt, Mo Tiange’s expression didn’t change. She just stared unblinkingly at Madam Yan.

Madam Yan was just a mortal, so she had no ability whatsoever to resist the spiritual aura pressure leaking from Mo Tiange. Drenched in a cold sweat, she promptly grabbed her handkerchief, wanting to wipe the sweat off. Unfortunately, she couldn’t even lift her hand. With much difficulty, she opened her mouth: “Senior, I… If I’ve done something to offend you, please… please forgive me.”

Although Madam Yan was Ye Zhenji’s mother, it still annoyed Mo Tiange that she arbitrarily guessed the relationship between her and Ye Zhenji, so Mo Tiange deliberately released the spiritual aura pressure. Now that Madam Yan backed down, Mo Tiange withdrew her spiritual aura pressure and said coldly, “For cultivators like us, one’s appearance is nothing but a superficial matter. In the future, Madam shouldn’t bring up such matters again.”

Madam Yan naturally didn’t dare to refute her. Recalling the patriarch’s instructions about how she must take good care of this senior then thinking about how she might’ve just offended the senior with her behavior, Madam Yan repeatedly apologized: “Senior, please forgive me. I’m an ignorant housewife who doesn’t know about the taboos among cultivators; I spouted nonsense…”

Mo Tiange cut her short. “Madam, you’re Zhenji’s mother; there are some things that are within your right to ask. If you can’t ask, I presume you also wouldn’t be at ease, would you? That being the case, if you have anything to say, you can just say it directly.”

Once she noticed that Mo Tiange didn’t sound angry, Madam Yan finally regained some of her calm. But upon noticing Mo Tiange’s calm expression, she couldn’t help but feel ashamed and say, “Please forgive me, Senior. I saw how close you and Zhenji were, so I was indeed afraid that child would step onto the wrong path. You’re his martial uncle; if… if he’s not sensible, wouldn’t he ruin your clean reputation?”

The polite way these words were phrased showed that Madam Yan obviously wasn’t an insensible person. Mo Tiange relaxed her tone and said, “Madam, it must’ve been more than twenty years since Ye Clan moved to the secular world, right? Have you perhaps never been to Kunwu before?”

Madam Yan went blank for a moment but soon nodded her head. When she married and joined Ye Clan, Ye Clan had already been Wei Country’s Marquis of Changning for a while, so she had naturally never been to Kunwu.

“It’s no wonder you don’t understand matters of the cultivation world. The nature of relationships between people in the secular world isn’t the same as in the cultivation world. Everything in the cultivation world is judged based on cultivation level. When it comes to Dual Cultivation, neither age nor seniority matter. No matter who Zhenji likes, it won’t affect his future.” After acutely noticing Madam Yan’s suddenly pale face, Mo Tiange continued on with a laugh: “Besides, how can one’s age be accurately determined by their external appearance? My master is more than 800 years old, but he looks like he’s just thirty years old. Based on his appearance, Zhenji’s master also looks like he’s similar in age to Zhenji. Madam, Zhenji’s shown me respect like his master, so how could there possibly be such an inexplicable matter between us? Madam shouldn’t overthink things. Otherwise, if Zhenji finds out, he’ll most likely feel hurt and embarrassed.”

“…” Madam Yan’s complexion turned green for a second and white the next, but she couldn’t say anything at all. She was just a mortal woman; she didn’t have the slightest gist about matters in the cultivation world. It was just that as a mother, she was worried about her child, nothing more, but after she heard Mo Tiange talking so frankly, it made her feel so ashamed that she was tempted to find a hole to bury herself into.

“That’ll do. I would like to keep cultivating. Madam, it’s rare for Zhenji to be back home, so you better keep him company often.” Having bluntly hinted at her visitor to leave, Mo Tiange sat crossed-legged and closed her eyes, looking like she no longer wanted to talk.

Madam Yan curtsied with embarrassment then withdrew from the room.

Mo Tiange didn’t really take this matter to heart. Madam Yan was a mortal woman; it was normal for her to not understand. Mortals always assumed something would undoubtedly happen between a man and a woman who were similar in age, even when there were gaps in their seniority. However, they didn’t know that in the cultivation world, judging people by their appearance was the most nonsensical thing to do.

She continued cultivating until evening, when the Ye Clan’s patriarch, Ye Cheng, sent someone to invite her over to dinner. He said that since she came from afar, they arranged a feast to thank her on Zhenji’s behalf.

After contemplating for a while, Mo Tiange finally decided to accept the invitation.

In his last moments, Second Uncle told her to look after Ye Clan when she was capable of doing so. Since she was already at Ye Clan now, she felt she naturally should do the things that were within her abilities.

“Senior, you finally came. Please take a seat, take a seat,” When Mo Tiange arrived at the banquet hall, Ye Cheng enthusiastically welcomed her. A feast was already arranged in the hall. Gold and silver tableware was everywhere—it was indeed a dazzling sight.

“… Martial Uncle!” Ye Zhenji headed towards her, and she gave him a slight smile.

This was a private feast, so there weren’t too many people present. Aside from Ye Cheng, Ye Zhenji and his father, Ye Zhun, there were four other people present who were all cultivators, although their cultivation levels were only in the first or second layer. Two of them were middle-aged men, one was a young man, and the other was a teenager.

Ye Cheng introduced them to her one by one. “Senior, these are all the good-for-nothing younger generation of my clan: Ye Mou, Ye Yu, Ye Bing, and Ye Dun.”

Ye Mou and Ye Yu were the two middle-aged men. From what she heard, they ought to be in the same generation as Ye Cheng. Ye Bing was the young man. From his name, he and Ye Zhun should be in the same generation. As for Ye Dun, she had no idea where his position was in Ye Clan’s hierarchy. Nevertheless, based on Ye Clan’s customs for naming people, Ye Zhenji’s name was an oddity, making Mo Tiange wonder if he was named that way because everyone placed high hopes on him since birth.

“Junior greets Senior.”

All Ye Clan’s cultivators showed her utmost respect.

Mo Tiange had no patience for these polite rituals and said, “Everyone’s a cultivator here; no need for this secular world etiquette.”

Ye Cheng noticed she looked displeased, so he immediately put an end to it. He smiled and said, “Then we’ll act according to what Senior said. You guys take a seat.”

After Ye Clan’s people sat according to their seniority, Ye Cheng made the order to start the feast. Maids came to open the lids over the bowls, exposing all kinds of extremely extravagant delicacies within.

Ye Cheng said humbly, “This humble old man knows that Senior has stopped eating mortal food, but we’ve been in the secular world for a long time, so we couldn’t come up with anything good. Although this food is from the secular world, they can still be considered delicious.”

Mo Tiange revealed a faint smile. “Patriarch Ye doesn’t have to be too polite.”

“Yes, Grandpa Patriarch,” Ye Zhenji joined in and said, “Martial Uncle wouldn’t take offense over this kind of matter.”

Seeing how Ye Zhenji behaved, Ye Cheng couldn’t help but rebuke him, “This child! One can never be too polite!”

Ye Zhenji disagreed. He was about to say something, but Mo Tiange stopped him. She smiled and said, “What your grandpa patriarch said is right. When you interact with other people, it’d be best to do as he said. However, we don’t need such politeness today. Patriarch Ye, Zhenji grew up under my watch, and I don’t consider any of you as outsiders; let’s just forgo these vain rituals.”

Once he heard that, Ye Cheng instantly felt at ease. With a wide smile on his face, he repeatedly nodded. “Yes, yes. Since Senior has spoken, we’ll certainly do as Senior said.”

Everyone said a few perfunctory sentences then began chatting with Mo Tiange.

It had been several dozen years since Ye Clan left Kunwu. Now that they suddenly met a Foundation Building senior, they naturally had a lot of questions regarding cultivating they wanted to ask, especially that teenager Ye Dun. His temperament was still that of a child, so he didn’t present the same cautiousness the rest of the adults had. Whenever he had any questions, he’d directly ask. The elders reprimanded him, but when they saw Mo Tiange kindly answering one question after another, they let him be. With Ye Dun and Ye Zhenji smoothing over the atmosphere, the adults also gradually loosened up. Thus, they finally looked like happy hosts entertaining their guest.

“Right, Senior.” After discussing almost everything about cultivating, Ye Cheng suddenly said, “There’s something Junior doesn’t understand, so please forgive Junior’s abruptness.”

“May I ask…”

Ye Cheng looked conflicted, but in the end, he still asked, “I saw that the spirit tool Senior bestowed on Zhen’er doesn’t seem to be an ordinary object. May I know where Senior got it?”

Mo Tiange froze for a second. She immediately realized what he wanted to ask. The spirit tool in Ye Zhenji’s possession was the Green-Wood Sword, wasn’t it? This sword came from Ye Clan, so Ye Clan’s patriarch had probably seen it before.

She took a brief look at Ye Zhenji, who shook his head lightly to show that he hadn’t said anything. Mo Tiange then chuckled and said, “This came from a close friend of mine. It was her family heirloom.”

“Oh?” Amazement flashed across Ye Cheng’s expression. He eagerly asked, “Senior, may I ask your close friend’s name? Where’s she now?”

Mo Tiange looked a bit astonished. “Her surname’s Ye, and her name’s Xiaotian—What? Does Patriarch Ye know her?”

Ye Cheng was lost in his thoughts. The Ye surname is right, but why the name Xiaotian? There’s no one in the clan with this name!

“Then how old is this friend of yours? What’s her cultivation level like?”

“… Her age should be the same as mine, and she’s also in the Foundation Building realm now.”

The more Ye Cheng asked, the more baffled he became. This… is completely wrong! If they were talking about whom the Green-Wood Sword was bought from, he wouldn’t be confused at all. But now, Mo Tiange was saying it was Ye Xiaotian’s family heirloom! Furthermore, Ye Xiaotian was apparently a young Foundation Building cultivator!

Mo Tiange suddenly looked like she just remembered something. “Oh! My friend originally came from a cultivation clan. Later, her clan declined and moved to the secular world. Could it be…”

Ye Cheng’s eyes brightened. “It sounds like our clan! But I’m not familiar with this name.”

Mo Tiange looked like she was in deep thought. “She originally had an uncle; his surname was Ye and his name was Jiang. Does this sound familiar to Patriarch Ye?”

Upon hearing her mentioning this name, Ye Clan’s people suddenly became excited. They looked at each other and saw the surprise, excitement, and doubt in each other’s eyes. Eventually, Ye Cheng asked, “Senior, Ye Jiang? Are you sure this was his name?”

“Of course.” Although Mo Tiange knew everything, she displayed a calm look. “I remember she once said Ye Clan was originally a cultivation clan from Mount Qingmeng. Her father was also the most talented cultivator in Ye Clan and was known all over western Kunwu back then. He succeeded in forming his Gold Core in his hundreds—Patriarch Ye, does this sound familiar to you?”

“Ye Clan’s most talented cultivator who formed his Gold Core in his hundreds…” Ye Cheng muttered. His gaze became fanatical. Naturally, he remembered that he was born when Ye Clan was at its peak. The genius cultivator brought Ye Clan to a glory it had never seen before, but afterward…

Ye Zhun joined in the conversation. “Ye Clan’s most outstanding cultivator’s name only consisted of one word: Hai.”

“Correct.” Mo Tiange chuckled. “So that means… the clan my friend talked about is your Ye Clan? This is fate indeed. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen my friend for a long time, so I don’t know where she is now and can’t tell her about this.”

Ye Cheng was, in the end, the patriarch. After his initial excitement, he was now filled with doubt. “But… that granduncle of ours didn’t leave any child behind…”

“I’m not too sure about this.” Mo Tiange simply dismissed the matter. She wanted to play the role of an outsider, so she naturally couldn’t say much about certain matters.

Ye Clan’s people gradually calmed down and once again looked at each other.Right! That granduncle didn’t have any child; how could that person be a cultivator from Ye Clan?

Eventually, Ye Cheng said, “Senior, do you know about how your friend’s uncle is now? Could you contact him?”

Once she heard this, veiled sorrow emerged in her eyes. She said faintly, “Her uncle already passed away.”

“What!?” The people of Ye Clan were shocked.

Ye Zhun unconsciously cried out, “How could that be? Shouldn’t that granduncle only be about 300 years old now? According to the lifespans of Foundation Building cultivators, he ought to still be alive.”

“You’re right. Rather than passed away, it would be more appropriate to say that her uncle has fallen.” Mo Tiange’s gaze fell into the distance. Her expression was dull. “The two of them were hunted by other cultivators. Her uncle was severely injured while protecting her, so his lifespan was cut short, and he eventually fell.”

By the time she finished speaking, the hall was completely silent.

Ye Cheng’s expression changed every second. In the cultivation world, this kind of thing happened all the time. It was very possible for individual cultivators without any patrons to find themselves in a situation like this. So this meant… the last genuine cultivator Ye Clan had was no longer alive now? Then wasn’t Ye Clan really a wretched secular world clan?

Even when they were forced to move out of Mount Qingmeng, Ye Cheng didn’t have the kind of bleak feeling he felt now. He always perceived Ye Clan to be different from other cultivation clans in the secular world because they still had a living Foundation Building elder. However, he finally realized that the Foundation Building elder had actually fallen long ago.

After thinking about this matter for a while, Ye Cheng finally closed his eyes and sighed. He was already in his seventies; although it wouldn’t be a problem for him to live until his hundreds as a cultivator, he was still old. He originally thought that if Zhen’er’s future was bright, they could contact that granduncle again and Ye Clan would still have a chance of returning to Kunwu. But judging by how things looked now, even if Zhen’er could build his foundation, how could Ye Clan return to Kunwu without a mature cultivator taking charge? Besides, whether Zhen’er could build his foundation or not was still unknown.

Is Ye Clan really going to decline in my hands?

“Senior, is this all true?”

“Of course.” Mo Tiange was expressionless, so they couldn’t see how she truly felt. Ye Zhenji was the only one who noticed the sorrow in her expressionless face. He lightly tapped her and whispered, “Martial Uncle?”

Mo Tiange shifted her gaze then gave him a slight smile. But this smile seemed to contain a meaning Ye Zhenji couldn’t understand.

Ye Cheng mumbled, “That being the case, our Ye Clan won’t be able to return to Mount Qingmeng…” All of a sudden, he regained his composure and said, “Senior, that friend of yours… Is she really a Foundation Building cultivator now? Is it possible for you to contact her?”

“I can’t,” Mo Tiange decisively refused. “Patriarch Ye, my friend said she promised her uncle that after she formed her Gold Core, she’d definitely help out Ye Clan. However, it’d be best for Ye Clan to not return to Kunwu again. Bear in mind that enjoying all the glory and splendor you can in the secular world is much better than being weak and living a precarious life in Kunwu.”