Lady Cultivator

After chatting about other incidents with both of them picking various topics, Jiang Shanghang asked, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, since you’re already a disciple of a famous school now, why would you come to a rough place like this northernmost glacial zone?”

“Well… I’m going to be honest with Senior Martial Brother Jiang. I left the mountain to travel, and since Zhengfa Sect and my Xuanqing School both belonged to Dao groups, I came here to take a look.” What she said was half true and half false. The matter about her leaving the school to travel around was true, but it was inappropriate to discuss fated chances like her entering Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave too much.

Jiang Shanghang naturally had no idea she was hiding something, so when he heard her answer, he simply nodded. This was very common; in order to avoid having an unstable mental state during the realm-breakthrough and failing, most disciples from big cultivation groups would go out and get field experience before making a realm-breakthrough. Mo Tiange was now in the peak of the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, so according to the rules, she indeed had to go out and get field experience before she could try to advance to the late stage of the Foundation Building realm.

“What about Senior Martial Brother Jiang? Why aren’t you in Zhengfa Sect now?”

Jiang Shanghang smiled but didn’t immediately answer. There was a trace of hesitation in his face. Eventually, he slowly said, “I’m also going to be honest with you; after I built my foundation, it’d be very difficult for my cultivation to progress with my aptitude. Because of that, I don’t always stay inside the sect nowadays—I often go out, looking for spiritual plants to concoct medicinal pills. Otherwise, with the aptitude I have, it’s really hard for me to…” He paused before continuing on: “That’s also why I left the sect this time. You shouldn’t assume this northernmost area is just a boundless snowfield. In fact, there are numerous good things out there; it just depends on whether people can find them or not.”

Upon seeing the secretive smile on Jiang Shanghang’s face, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but ask, “Does Senior Martial Brother Jiang maybe know…”

Still with a smile on his face, Jiang Shanghang said, “If Junior Martial Brother Ye’s interested, we can discuss this in detail later. Since Junior Martial Brother Ye already came to the northernmost glacial zone, I ought to do my best as the host and entertain you properly.”

Noticing that Jiang Shanghang changed the subject, Mo Tiange immediately knew he didn’t want to discuss it now, so she stopped asking and took his lead. She said with a nod, “In that case, I’ll have to thank Senior Martial Brother Jiang. In this northernmost glacial zone, I’m just like a stranger in a strange land; having Senior Martial Brother Jiang to accompany me would be nice.”

Jiang Shanghang chuckled then said, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, I think you must be very tired. How about you rest first? Once you get enough rest, we can discuss matters related to cultivation, or maybe I can take you around to show you the scenery of this northernmost area.”

“So… I’ll have to trouble Senior Martial Brother then.”

Jiang Shanghang nodded with a smile then shouted loudly, “Someone!”

A short while later, the woman who originally brought them tea once again raised the curtain door and entered. She saluted him then asked, “Master Immortal, what commands do you have?”

Jiang Shanghang said, “Tidy up the guest house; take good care of my friend.”

The woman cast a glance at Mo Tiange. “Yes.” Immediately afterward, she walked towards Mo Tiange, bowed respectfully then made a “please” gesture with her hands. “Fairy, please come with me.”

Mo Tiange once again cupped her hands towards Jiang Shanghang then stood up and followed the woman out of the ice house.

Leading her along, the mortal woman turned then entered an ice room somewhere not too far away. There wasn’t much difference between this ice house and the ice house where Jiang Shanghang was earlier; the outside was also a small sitting room, and inside was a bedroom which was separated by a curtain door from the sitting room. Doors weren’t suitable for ice houses in the northernmost area so apparently, all houses used curtain doors made of animal skin.

After taking her here, the mortal woman once again bowed respectfully. “Fairy may rest here. If Fairy needs anything, Fairy just needs to shout at me.”

“En.” Mo Tiange said while examining the small ice house.

The mortal woman saluted her then withdrew from the house.

Mo Tiange massaged her forehead. Although she felt exhausted, she was still cautious enough to lay a defense formation inside the house before entering her Virtual Sky World.

In Jin Country, she found a spiritual aura fluctuation and followed it until she arrived at the Stormy Valley in the Nine Spirits Mountain. There, she went into Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave and eventually, she was transported to the northernmost glacial zone by the Transporting Formation. In fact, all of this happened within a period of three to four days. For Foundation Building cultivators, three to four days was really nothing. However, because she’d gone through too many things within that period, Mo Tiange felt unbearably exhausted.

Now that she entered the Virtual Sky World and finally felt safe, Mo Tiange didn’t want to do anything—she directly lay down and fell asleep almost in an instant.

By the time she woke up, she didn’t even know what time it was. She then remembered what she went through in Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave. From her Qiankun Bag, she took out two stone sculpture puppets, the Xuanji Formation Book and the Sunstone.

In Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave, she obtained five things in total. The Cloud-Treading Boots were already on her body. As for the unknown ore, although she couldn’t identify what it was, it definitely wasn’t an ordinary object, so she put it away for the time being. Aside from those two things, there were three others in front of her now.

These two stone puppets were both in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. From the control technique Wanderer Ziwei left in her mind, she discovered these puppets would automatically absorb the spiritual aura around them. As long as there was spiritual aura, they could always be used. For her current self, having two late stage Foundation Building assistants meant her strength increased by more than half. If she could control them well, she wouldn’t need to fear any cultivators whose cultivation levels were below the Core Formation realm.

There was also the Sunstone. According to Daoist Fangzheng, this could produce Sun Real Fire which could be used in concocting medicinal pills. She’d left Xiaohuo with Zhenji to ensure his safety, and the Dantian Real Fire of a Foundation Building cultivator wasn’t strong enough, so she indeed lacked concocting fire at the moment—having this Sunstone would make things easier for her.

Nevertheless, the most important of them all was the Xuanji Formation Book. Inside Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave, she’d personally experienced the formidable power of the Illusory Formation, and Wanderer Ziwei still said he was being lenient to them with that formation. If he wasn’t being lenient, how terrifying would that formation have been? That being the case, once she finished studying the Xuanji Formation Book, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she would definitely be able to fight many opponents at once if she had enough preparations—even if her opponent was a high level cultivator, she certainly wouldn’t end up with no way to save her life.

She already inserted her divine sense into the Jade Slip and was ready to study the Xuanji Formation Book, but she suddenly heard a voice coming from outside the Virtual Sky World. “Fairy? Fairy?”

Mo Tiange pointed at the space between her eyebrows and a split second later, she was already out of the Virtual Sky World. She then opened the formation and said, “Come in!”

Someone lifted open the curtain door outside and walked in, but then stopped outside the inner door. Before long, the voice of the woman from yesterday came through: “Fairy, our master immortal requested to see you. Does Fairy have time to see him?”

Turned out Jiang Shanghang wanted to see her! Mo Tiange nodded. “I do. Let’s go.”

The woman saluted her again before leading her back to the ice house she visited yesterday.

When they opened the curtain door, she saw that Jiang Shanghang was already waiting for her in the sitting room. Upon seeing her walking in, Jiang Shanghang stood up and greeted her: “Junior Martial Brother Ye, I didn’t disturb you, did I?”

Mo Tiange smiled. “You didn’t. I happened to have nothing to do.”

Jiang Shanghang smiled back. “That’s good then. Junior Martial Brother Ye, I said I’d take you around to see the scenery in the northernmost area. It just so happens that the weather today is good, so how about we go out and take a walk?”

“Sure.” Since the host invited her, was there any reason for her to refuse?

The two of them left the ice house. Surrounded by mortal tribesmen who all prostrated on the ground upon seeing them, they used their respective flying magic tools and flew into the air.

The mortals below were watching them with both respect and envy. Mo Tiange even saw a mother holding up her child around three to four years old and sincerely telling him: “Xiaofeng, did you see? He’s master immortal! Master immortal said you have spiritual roots, and although your spiritual roots aren’t very good, you can still cultivate. You have to cultivate diligently. When you grow up, you’ll be able to fly like master immortal does!”

Presumably, Jiang Shanghang also heard what that mother said because he smiled at Mo Tiange and explained: “That child has five spiritual roots, but at the end of the day, he can still cultivate, so everyone places their hopes on him.”

Mo Tiange was quite surprised by this. “There must be only a few hundred people in this tribe, right? Senior Martial Brother Jiang, you said you came to this tribe because the master immortal of this tribe died, yet now, a child with spiritual roots has appeared… Why do I feel like the odds of being born with spiritual roots here are quite high?”

“Correct! I was also very surprised about this when I first came here,” Jiang Shanghang said, “The odds of spiritual roots appearing among mortals of the northernmost area are much higher than among mortals in the heartland—they’re hardly inferior to the odds of cultivation clans in Kunwu. A tribe with a few hundred people can give birth to one person with spiritual roots. Nonetheless, their spiritual roots are generally poor. Cultivators with three spiritual roots or better are rarely born among them. Furthermore, the lifespans of their cultivators are also shorter than cultivators from Kunwu like us.”

“Oh…”

“I think this is probably because of the unusual environment of the northernmost area. They need protection from cultivators, so gradually, they got more cultivators than Kunwu. However, since there’s one advantage, there’s naturally a disadvantage. The cost they had to pay was precisely the lifespans of their cultivators, which are shorter than those of Kunwu’s cultivators.”

She could understand this reasoning. There was once a kind of theory in the Middle Ages. The theory was about natural selection; only the fittest could survive. The facts also validated this theory, as only changes which adapted to the environment would be passed onto future generations, and those who couldn’t adapt would die out.

Just as Jiang Shanghang said, the weather that day was good. The sun showed up in the sky and gave them some warmth when it shone upon them. The sunlight falling on the glaciers was reflected, creating colorful rays as dazzling and as beautiful as the rainbow.

As Mo Tiange, who was flying in the sky, looked at the scenery below her, she only felt that the endless glittering glacial zone, which had a rainbow above it, was truly fascinating.

Jiang Shanghang looked back and saw her expression. He then said with a smile, “Junior Martial Brother Ye also feels that the scenery in this northernmost glacial zone is very pretty, right?”

Mo Tiange nodded, unable to hold back from exclaiming in admiration: “The world is really vast; the beauty of each place is different. Kunwu Mountain Range is a majestic sight, but the boundless snow white of this northernmost glacial zone is also spectacular.”

“Correct.” Jiang Shanghang looked proud. “When I came here, I finally realized how big this world was—why should I constrict myself to one place? Since Jiang Clan didn’t treat me well, I just needed to leave. The world’s so big, could I possibly not fit in anywhere at all? The world’s so beautiful; why should I feel sad over Jiang Clan, who never treated me well?”

“You’re right!” Mo Tiange couldn’t help but clap her hands and praise him. “Senior Martial Brother Jiang has such views… If there’s wine, you certainly have to drink a big cup!”

“Haha!” Jiang Shanghang roared with laughter. From inside his robe, he took out a small wine bottle then tossed it to her. “Since you want wine, won’t this do?”

As Mo Tiange took the wine bottle, she saw him taking out another bottle from his robe then opening it, looking extremely heroic. Watching him also made a heroic spirit gush inside her, thus she also pulled out the bottle stopper then made a toast to him. “This is a salute to Senior Martial Brother Jiang for being reborn and for no longer being your past self.”

Jiang Shanghang smiled. “To us who escaped and survived, to our reunion after more than ten years, to this vast world and also to our beautiful futures.”

Once he finished, the two of them simultaneously drained their respective bottles.

After throwing away his bottle, Jiang Shanghang heaved a deep sigh and said, “I’ve been here for more than ten years, but I actually have no desire to go back to Kunwu at all. This place is calm and peaceful. Although disputes sometimes occur and every day is hard, it’s still better than Kunwu, where everyone’s heart is unfathomable and every day is filled with calculations.”

“Is it?” Mo Tiange gazed into the distance. Before her eyes was a vast, boundless snowland, completely empty and uninhabited with only wild animals crying out here and there. She also wanted this kind of peaceful life. However, nowadays at Xuanqing School, she was faring very well in every aspect. She had a master, she had friends, she had a relative—for her, these things were more important.