Lady Cultivator

Once she returned to the Seal Tribe and parted with Jiang Shanghang, Mo Tiange laid a defense formation then entered the Virtual Sky World.

In fact, she didn’t really believe what Jiang Shanghang said. Although the dangers couldn’t be considered grave, there were a lot of unique treasures inside, so the people of the sect definitely would regard the cave as a secret—they certainly wouldn’t make it public to disciples of their own sect, let alone disciples from other cultivation groups.

Nevertheless, she also didn’t think Jiang Shanghang was harboring evil intentions. Back when they were still in Yunwu Sect, she only saved him in passing once, but he was willing to put himself in danger just to rescue her in return. Besides, he really despised Liu Yidao’s strategy of abandoning Xu Jingzhi as a sacrifice. Even if he was an egoist, he wasn’t a sinister kind of person. If he harbored ill intentions towards her, he certainly would’ve been too lazy to act like this toward her.

To put it briefly, Jiang Shanghang’s character couldn’t be considered bad. He once did her a life-saving grace; this was the main reason Mo Tiange agreed to go with him. As for unique treasures or benefits, she wasn’t really desperate to get her hands on them now. She already had too many things, so there was no need for her to be that greedy.

With that thought in mind, Mo Tiange began preparing for her trip.

Although Jiang Shanghang said she didn’t need to prepare anything, Mo Tiange was the kind of person who would make preparations anyway. She always planned properly before making her move; that way, there would be fewer incidents and in extremely dangerous situations, her chances of survival would be bigger.

From her Qiankun Bag, she took out the two stone puppets. Right after she commanded them with her thoughts, the two puppets immediately busied themselves.

In her Virtual Sky World, the centermost area was occupied by several small huts while outside the small huts was a dense bamboo forest. A small brook flowed through the bamboo forest, and the other side of the small brook was a wide expanse of medicinal field.

After this Virtual Sky World recognized her as its master, it went through a rudimentary cleaning process, but the layout hadn’t changed, so it was still laid out in the manner dictated by the previous master. After she called out the two stone sculpture puppets, they managed to cut down the bamboo forest in front of the small huts in just a short moment, leaving behind only half of the original forest situated behind the huts. Immediately afterward, she commanded the puppets to build several more huts on the newly cleared out land using the cut bamboo.

Once the stone sculpture puppets finished building all the huts, Mo Tiange walked towards the largest hut then opened her arms. Soon after, several formation discs flew out and arranged themselves in corresponding positions. She then made extremely complicated hand seals with both hands and a beam of spiritual aura was launched. The formation discs immediately lit up. Finally, she tossed out a formation flag, thus setting the entire formation in motion.

She then fumbled around in her Qiankun Bag, took out a Pill Furnace from within it and placed it at the centermost position. This Pill Furnace was about two feet squared and was covered by dense purple clouds. Enshrouded within the spiritual light was Zhong Muling’s Purple Wooden Furnace.

Upon taking out the Purple Wooden Furnace and making sure there weren’t any problems with it, she used her divine comprehension to command the two stone sculpture puppets, which soon busied themselves with drawing water from the small brook into the bamboo huts.

While the puppets worked, Mo Tiange didn’t remain idle. She took out something from inside her robe—it was the Sunstone given to her by Wanderer Ziwei!

According to Daoist Fangzheng, Sunstones could produce Sun Real Fire, which was the best fire to concoct medicinal pills and refine tools. When she skimmed through the Xuanji Formation Book the day before, she unexpectedly found a particular formation which was compatible with Sunstones. She wanted to prepare some high grade medicinal pills for her trip to the Land of Hiding Dragon, so she built a concocting room.

She placed the Sunstone in her palm and took out a talisman brush from inside her robe with her other hand. After that, she used her divine comprehension to force out a drop of blood essence out of her body. Using the talisman brush and her blood essence, she quickly drew veined patterns all over the Purple Wooden Furnace. These veined patterns looked completely absurd, but once they were drawn on the Purple Wooden Furnace, light flowed and flickered along them, making them seem like some kind of unique substance.

Once she finished drawing, she stored the talisman brush then opened the Purple Wooden Furnace and put the Sunstone inside it. She then made a series of complicated hand seals again, sealing the Sunstone at the bottom of the furnace.

The moment she finished, a wave of exhaustion suddenly struck her. Blood essence formed the foundation for humans, so each drop of it was extremely precious. Although she was already a Foundation Building cultivator, losing a single drop still made her quite exhausted.

It was only after she sat on the ground, took several medicinal pills and moved her spiritual aura along her microcosmic orbit several times that Mo Tiange finally felt a bit better. At this moment, the two stone sculpture puppets already finished putting the concocting room in order. The water from the small brook was drawn into the hut with bamboo pipes, flowing into the small pond inside the hut with pattering noises.

After putting the stone sculpture puppets away, Mo Tiange took some time to ponder what kind of medicinal pills she would concoct this time. Curative medicinal pills were naturally a must. Medicinal pills with detoxifying or heart-calming effects were also necessary. In Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave last time, she was lucky that Daoist Fangzheng had several Heart-Calming Talismans on him; otherwise, she would’ve really needed to expend some effort.

By the time she finished concocting those medicinal pills, several days had passed. During this period of time, she had specifically told the maid assigned to her to not to disturb her unless there was something important because she wanted to concentrate on cultivating for several days.

She also prepared some instruments for emergency formations. Timing was tight, so she also didn’t have time to properly study the Xuanji Formation Book. However, her knowledge in formations was much more advanced than cultivators in the same realm as her, so she was shortly able to arrange several sets of formations, including the Four Symbols Hundred Flowers Formation. If this complex formation was properly deployed, she could still have the power to fight even if she ran into a demonic beast in the fifth rank or higher.

In the last few days before they departed, Mo Tiange didn’t do anything. She just meditated with her eyes closed and regulated her breath, devoted to reaching her best possible state.

Ten days later, she exited the Virtual Sky World, removed the formation she laid inside the ice house then left.

Jiang Shanghang was already waiting for her outside. When he saw her coming out of the house, he revealed a wide smile and said, “Junior Martial Brother Ye really keeps her word—ten days mean ten days.”

Mo Tiange nodded with a smile on her face. “Since I made a promise to Senior Martial Brother Jiang, why would I break that promise?”

At that time, the two of them suddenly looked up. They saw several Flight Lights across the sky finally disappearing to the north.

“Junior Martial Brother Ye,” Jiang Shanghang said, “It seems they’re already on their way. We better take off too.”

The people Jiang Shanghang was talking about were the fellow disciples he made an appointment with. Mo Tiange nodded and at once, the two of them also turned into two Flight Lights, using their respective methods in a flash.

After flying for probably half a day, the two of them once again arrived at the Northernmost Ocean they visited several days ago.

From a distance, Mo Tiange could see several Foundation Building cultivators hovering high above the coast. There were both men and women in that group, and based on their clothes, they were all disciples of Zhengfa Sect.

Jiang Shanghang immediately led Mo Tiange towards them.

“Senior Martial Brothers, Senior Martial Sisters, please forgive me for being late.” Jiang Shanghang greeted them with a smile while cupping his hands as a salutation.

Upon seeing him like that, Mo Tiange felt his current conduct and method of handling things were indeed miles apart from how he was before.

The Zhengfa Sect disciples also returned his greeting. There was only one person who didn’t move at all; it was like he was too proud and felt it was beneath him to return the greeting.

Jiang Shanghang naturally noticed that person’s behavior too, but he didn’t say anything. He just turned towards the other disciples to introduce Mo Tiange. “This is Junior Martial Sister Ye of Xuanqing School, Ye Xiaotian, an old friend of mine. Junior Martial Sister Ye’s cultivation is outstanding, so I intentionally invited her to come with us.”

Mo Tiange, who had deliberately donned Xuanqing School’s Daoist robes today, cupped her hands towards them in a way that was neither humble nor arrogant. “I’m Ye Xiaotian. Greetings to Fellow Daoists from Zhengfa Sect.”

Upon hearing Jiang Shanghang’s introduction, the cultivators from Zhengfa Sect glanced at Mo Tiange. Awe flashed across the male cultivators’ gazes, but the two female cultivators, on the other hand, looked at her with caution. Nonetheless, everyone returned her greeting.

Xuanqing School’s power was immense nowadays. It also had the capacity to surpass Tiangdao Sect, the number one cultivation group in the Celestial Pole. Even though Zhengfa Sect was located in the northernmost region, they didn’t dare to slight Xuanqing School disciples. Even that proud male cultivator also looked at her and eventually raised and cupped his hand to return her greeting.

“Senior Martial Brothers, Senior Martial Sisters.” Seeing that they didn’t look unhappy, Jiang Shanghang smiled and said, “You don’t mind me taking the liberty to invite Junior Martial Sister Ye, right?”

None of them answered; instead, they looked at the proud male cultivator. The male cultivator was watching Mo Tiange, but when he heard what Jiang Shanghang said, his gaze shifted to Jiang Shanghang though he immediately withdrew it. “Since she’s a junior martial sister from Xuanqing School, let’s allow her to go with us.”

After hearing the man’s concession, Jiang Shanghang finally sighed with relief. He then cupped his hands towards the man. “Many thanks to Senior Martial Brother Ren.”

The man didn’t answer and just stood there motionlessly.

Jiang Shanghang didn’t care. He just turned towards Mo Tiange and said, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, come, I’ll introduce you to my fellow disciples.” Calling her “Junior Martial Brother Ye” in front of others would indeed be odd, so he just changed the way he addressed her.

There were six men and two women in front of them. The one with the highest cultivation level was the proud man; he was already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. The two other male cultivators were in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm while the rest of the group, including Jiang Shanghang, were in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm.

Jiang Shanghang introduced them to her one by one. “This is Senior Martial Brother Lu, Lu Rongsheng; Senior Martial Brother Xiang, Xiang Zhiyang; Senior Martial Brother Qiu, Qiu Zhiming; Junior Martial Brother Tang, Tang Fang; Junior Martial Brother Yu, Yu Xiaoran.” He then moved to the two female cultivators. “These are Senior Martial Sister Ai, Ai Xian, and Senior Martial Sister Xia, Xia Houyuan.”

Mo Tiange once again saluted them. Among these people, only Lu Rongsheng and Xiang Zhiyang were in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm while the rest were in the early stage. The male cultivators clearly treated her with comparably more enthusiasm. The two female cultivators, however, were neither warm nor cold towards her, causing her to feel rather baffled.

The last was the proud man, who had the highest cultivation level among them. It was unclear whether Jiang Shanghang put him last because he was being prudent or if there was some other deeper meaning. He said, “This is our leader on this trip, Senior Martial Brother Ren—Ren Yufeng. Senior Martial Brother Ren is the inner disciple of Martial Uncle Buqi. His cultivation level is high and his skills are also outstanding.”

Jiang Shanghang was saying all that, but his tone sounded indifferent.

“Greetings to Senior Martial Brother Ren,” Mo Tiange said while cupping her hands at him. Since she addressed Jiang Shanghang as senior martial brother, she naturally had to address this man as senior martial brother too, but between cultivation groups on amicable terms, the disciples indeed addressed each other with senior or junior martial brother or sister.

Ren Yufeng returned her salute and this time, he finally spoke. “Junior Martial Sister Ye is really young and promising. I think… you must’ve not reached eighty years old yet, right?”

Mo Tiange smiled, not denying his words. She still looked the same as she did when she was twenty years old. According to the lifespans of Foundation Building cultivators, if she wasn’t eighty years old yet, her current appearance would be her normal appearance and not the result of taking Look-Preserving Pills. Although Look-Preserving Pills could preserve one’s youthful appearance, experienced cultivators could most likely see clues that one had taken the pills. Generally, because people who took the pills were old, their behavior and actions would naturally reveal their true age.

“Senior Martial Brother Ren’s too polite. I’m just lucky.”

“Lucky?” Ren Yufeng chuckled then said with meaning, “If being lucky allows people to make realm-breakthroughs, wouldn’t this world be full of high level cultivators?”

His words sounded a bit strange, so instead of answering, Mo Tiange only smiled.

Ren Yufeng swept his gaze over the group then said, “Good friends, everyone’s already here, so we can start now.”

No one objected. The group of ten summoned their respective magic tools then flew towards the gigantic iceberg together.

Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang flew at the rear. After a moment of thought, Mo Tiange secretly transmitted her voice to Jiang Shanghang: “Senior Martial Brother Jiang, why are they acting so strange? Those senior martial sisters of yours seemed rather reluctant to welcome me.”

An odd smile appeared on Jiang Shanghang’s face. He also used secret voice transmission to reply to her. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, you’ve probably pretended to be a man for so long that you forgot you’re a woman, right? It’s normal that the two senior martial sisters don’t like you. After all, women can never bear to see others looking prettier than themselves!”