Lady Cultivator

Mo Tiange walked over lightly then peeked outside through the gap in the door.

Elder Qingyi had blood on her chest but she remained on her feet. Elder Qingmiao stood vigilantly by her side. Shangguan Yunhao stood not too far from them; his whole face was filled with resentment. As for Ren Yufeng, he was assuming a spectator stance, watching them quarreling with each other with relish.

“Don’t think I’d believe you!” Shangguan Yunhao’s expression was distorted. “My mind wasn’t on the correct path? You were clearly just being partial!”

“Yes! We were partial!” Elder Qingmiao stared at him with a knife-sharp gaze. “We’ve really been blind for being partial to you, this cruel, ungrateful thing in all aspects! Our Linhai has always been short of supplies, but we’ve always let you have the first pick! We never asked you to do any tasks, and allowed you to focus on cultivating! In the end, we’ve actually been raising a white-eyed wolf!”

Shangguan Yunhao grew up under the watch of the three elders after all, so when he was now faced with Elder Qingmiao’s sharp gaze, his momentum immediately weakened and his gaze also became timid.

Ren Yufeng suddenly let out a soft chuckle. He swept his eyes, which were brimming with devil aura, over the few female cultivators in front of him. “If that was indeed the case, why did they not let you go to Kunwu?”

Upon hearing what Ren Yufeng said, Shangguan Yunhao once again puffed up his chest. “Yes! You guys obviously had no other choice but to train me for the sake of the group’s future! You were afraid I wouldn’t be willing to return to Linhai if I went to Kunwu, so you wanted me to be trapped in Linhai my whole life!”

Mo Tiange actually knew the reason for this.

When she went to the Dao-Achieving Pagoda to meet with the three elders a few days ago, she could sense the three elders’ real intentions from their words. Bixuan Court lacked talented people, so they never dared to let disciples with good aptitudes leave the group to gain experience—the reason wasn’t like Shangguan Yunhao suggested at all.

Shangguan Yunhao’s mind really wasn’t on the right path. Did he really think people had to cater to him just because he had a good aptitude? In Kunwu, people with mutated spiritual roots were indeed vied for by every cultivation group, but if these people thought groups would give in to them on everything just because they had mutated spiritual roots, that would only serve to make others look down on them.

Even though Bixuan Court was short of supplies, they provided for Shangguan Yunhao’s cultivation with all their might, so how bad could he have fared? Even in Kunwu, what small cultivation groups could do was also limited to this. Large cultivation groups, however… even if they accepted disciples with mutated spiritual roots, they wouldn’t be as indulgent as Bixuan Court was to him. If their cultivation failed to reach the groups’ standards, the amount of spirit stones and medicinal pills rationed to them would be reduced. No one could save you if you failed to live up to expectations.

Therefore, terrific aptitudes were a God-given gift, but ultimately, cultivators still had to rely on their hard work. The kind of person who felt others had to cater to them in every way just because they had outstanding talents simply wouldn’t be able to succeed on their path towards immortality.

“Qingmiao, no need to talk to him anymore!” Elder Qingyi growled, “This kind of cruel, ungrateful creature will always blame others for their failures. He simply never realized that everything he had from the moment he entered the group until now was provided by us!”

“You’re right,” Elder Qingmiao said. Her expression became indifferent, along with her gaze at Shangguan Yunhao. She obviously no longer held even the tiniest bit of hope for him. “The three of us martial sisters have really failed. More than a hundred years of teaching, yet this is the result.”

The two elders’ dialogue made Shangguan Yunhao seethe with anger. “Not only did you not repent but you even still dared to say I—”

Mo Tiange sighed; some people in this world could only remember the grudges they had but would never remember the kindness they received. Those people never realized how much others had given them; they only thought about how much more there was to receive. If people didn’t give them everything they had, they’d feel like they had been wronged.

Therefore, even if you wanted to show someone grace, you had to be clear about that person’s character. Some people weren’t only not grateful that you treated them well, but they would also take you as a fool, fantasizing about obtaining even more from you and thinking you were wronging them if they failed. “Helping a man once leads to grace; not helping the man for the second time leads to hatred”—this saying indeed had reason.

“Shangguan Yunhao!” Wei Haolan said coldly, “You’re colluding with this devil cultivator?”

Shangguan Yunhao’s gaze was gloomy and cold. He couldn’t get the sect head position, so he resented Wei Haolan strongly. “I am. He promised me he’ll take me out of Linhai—I’ve had enough already!”

“My group’s disciples have gone missing in the past few days; was it his doing or yours?”

“So what if it was my doing?” Shangguan Yunhao said without the slightest bit of guilt, “Those fools… there was nothing to pity even if they died! They might as well be given to senior to support him in his cultivation; just consider it minimizing waste.”

“Then we have nothing further to discuss.” Wei Haolan waved her hand to summon a copper mirror. “You were able to hurt Elder Qingyi because she held no precautions against you; now, let me deal with you. I want to see how strong you are, this so-called number one Foundation Building disciple at Bixuan Court!”

Shangguan Yunhao’s expression suddenly changed. “You’re overestimating yourself! Wei Haolan, since you’ve robbed my sect head position, I’ll show you my strength today!” Right after he finished talking, he summoned his magic tool.

Mo Tiange hadn’t seen Wei Haolan fight before, so when she saw this now, she was quite surprised—Wei Haolan wasn’t weak at all.

Elder Qingyi grimly watched the two of them fighting. “This traitor thinks he’s amazing; it’s good that Haolan’s giving him a lesson. We’ve always protected him before, not wanting him to get hurt, but it seems we’ve been too indulgent towards him!”

Elder Qingmiao lowered her gaze and sighed. However, she soon asked with concern, “Senior Martial Sister, how’s your injury?”

“Not bad; I’m not going to die yet.” Elder Qingyi lowered the hand that had been covering her chest. “Let’s talk again after we deal with the enemy.”

“Alright!”

The two martial sisters’ gazes shifted towards Ren Yufeng. Both then took out their respective magic weapons.

Mo Tiange could see that although Wei Haolan’s cultivation level fell short of Shangguan Yunhao’s, she was skilled in fights of magical power; it was very unlikely she’d lose to him. As for Elder Qingyi, she was a middle stage Core Formation cultivator after all; even though she was ambushed by a sneak attack, how could she possibly be severely injured by a late stage Foundation Building cultivator? Therefore, the injury she sustained wasn’t serious. With the two elders attacking together, Mo Tiange reckoned they’d still be a bit stronger than Ren Yufeng.

Nevertheless, after watching Ren Yufeng cautiously for a while, she noticed that the black aura around his body had gotten denser. If the aura was connected to what Shangguan Yunhao said before, those missing Bixuan Court disciples… Sure enough, this Ren Yufeng had really entered the path of devil cultivators! He actually used human corpses in his cultivation!

Ren Yufeng, who was currently fighting Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao, suddenly glanced towards the concocting room. He then said gloomily, “Ye Xiaotian—Junior Martial Sister Ye, we haven’t seen each other for several months; why are you hiding?”

With Ren Yufeng and Shangguan Yunhao colluding together, Mo Tiange knew her whereabouts couldn’t be hidden from him. However, although she always put her safety first, she had never been able to completely let go when it came to other people’s lives.

Hence, she calmly pushed the concocting room door open and walked out.

“I’m here, Ren Yufeng. Do you have any words for me?”

When Ren Yufeng called her junior martial sister, incredulity flitted across Elder Qingyi’s and Elder Qingmiao’s faces, but their expressions soon eased up after they saw Mo Tiange’s extremely vigilant attitude towards Ren Yufeng.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Ren Yufeng looked at her with a smile hanging on his face, but his whole body was now covered in devil aura, so he looked even more horrifying after he smiled. “I really never expected this. Back when I couldn’t find you, I thought you escaped with Jiang Shuihan and the others, yet you actually ended up coming to Linhai just like me! Could it be that during that year, you were hiding in the underground palace?”

“Correct.” There was no need to hide this. “Ren Yufeng, I hid in that underground palace for one year, but you never noticed me at all.”

“Junior Martial Sister Ye indeed proves herself to be an outstanding disciple of a Nascent Soul Lord Daoist from Xuanqing School!” Ren Yufeng’s expression became somewhat distorted. He thought he was already strong, but in the end, he was deceived by a Foundation Building cultivator; one could imagine the wrath he was feeling now. “But today, don’t even think about escaping!”

Mo Tiange sneered. “I could say the same to you! You’re treacherous and cunning, and your mind isn’t on the right path. As an elite disciple of Zhengfa Sect, you exploited your fellow disciples and harmed them once you reached your goal. You also plotted against me in every way, trying to silence me by killing me! I, Ye Xiaotian, am not a delicate woman who can be bullied without retaliating—since you schemed against me, it’s a tooth for a tooth!”

“HAHAHAHA!” Ren Yufeng burst out laughing. Once he had laughed enough, he said with a gloomy expression, “I hate people like you, so-called “God-favored people,” the most! You guys think your aptitudes are terrific so you look down on others. You want to kill me? Ridiculous! You’re nothing but a mere Foundation Building cultivator, yet you want to kill me!”

Mo Tiange paid no heed to his ridicule; instead, she turned towards Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao. “Elders, does Sect Head Wei’s initial promise to me still stand?”

Back when Wei Haolan asked Mo Tiange to teach Xia Qing the art of pill-concocting, one of Mo Tiange’s requirements was for them to guarantee her safety.

Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao had long known that this devil cultivator was a deranged disciple after their dialogue. Even if they didn’t want to be involved in this, this person would never leave Bixuan Court alone and vice versa. After all, the fate of those missing disciples was this devil cultivator’s doing; hatred had already formed between them. Because of that, they immediately said to Mo Tiange, “Rest assured, Little Friend Ye. We’ve already promised you, so it still stands, naturally.”

Both Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao then stepped forward.

“Hmph!” Ren Yufeng sneered as he glanced at Mo Tiange. “I’ll take care of these two old women first then I’ll sort you out!”

“Insolent!” Elder Qingyi shouted after hearing his words.

Although devil cultivators were slightly stronger than cultivators of the Righteous Path during fights of magical power, Ren Yufeng was just an early stage Core Formation cultivator while Elder Qingyi was already in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm and Elder Qingmiao was in the early stage of the Core Formation realm. Coupled with the fact that they were fighting two against one, there was absolutely no reason for them to lose!

“Whether I’m insolent or not, I’ll let you see for yourself!” Ren Yufeng had a sinister expression as he used both hands to cast an art. All of a sudden, black-colored devil aura emerged on his chest and converged into a sphere.

Elder Qingyi and Ender Qingmiao didn’t dare to be careless; both emitted body-protecting spiritual lights and activated their magic weapons. Elder Qingyi’s was a jade bottle with a willow branch sticking out of it. She grasped the willow branch and brandished it, sprinkling several drops of sweet dew. Before them, spiritual aura flickered then weaved a spiritual aura net which stood in front of Ren Yufeng and blocked him.

Right now, Ren Yufeng’s devil aura sphere was rotating wildly. He “hmphed” coldly as he swept his gaze over everyone present. With a pushing movement of his hand, the devil aura sphere was pushed away from him.

“Bang!” The spiritual aura net created by Elder Qingyi’s magic weapon managed to block the devil aura sphere, but the impact created a very strong spiritual aura fluctuation.

“AH—” Two screams rang out. They didn’t come from Elder Qingyi or Elder Qingmiao—they came from Wei Haolan and Shangguan Yunhao, who were engaged in a fight of magical powers next to them.

Mo Tiange had cleverly hidden behind the two elders, so she wasn’t affected.

“Haolan!” Upon seeing Wei Haolan being blown away by the impact, Elder Qingmiao waved the golden rope in her hand, wrapping it around Wei Haolan to stop her then pulled her back.

Shangguan Yunhao, on the other hand, didn’t have such luck. He was thrown heavily to the ground, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood. He then pointed at Ren Yufeng. “Senior… Ren, you…”

Ren Yufeng looked at him with a gaze full of contempt as if he was looking at an ant. “Since you’re useless, just go die!”

Upon hearing what he said, Shangguan Yunhao looked outraged. “You’re… not keeping… your promise!”

“Hmph!” Ren Yufeng cast him a cold glance but only uttered one word, “Naive!”

Shangguan Yunhao’s eyes widened as he glared at him; trepidation was etched on his whole face. Nevertheless, in the end, his breath ceased to exist.

Mo Tiange looked at his corpse without feeling even an ounce of pity. For someone who couldn’t see his own position clearly and could only continue to demand things of others, she didn’t feel any sympathy at all.