Lady Cultivator

Mo Tiange sat in a corner and recuperated in silence.

It’d been three days since they escaped into the pagoda. Wei Haolan already woke up, but her injuries were too severe, so she still often lost consciousness. The two elders’ injuries also hadn’t improved; they were now making the best of this time to resist the invasion of dead aura into their bodies. Xia Qing was watching over Wei Haolan. As for Tang Shen, he was shriveling up in another corner, looking lifeless.

Outside, Ren Yufeng had been trying all kinds of methods but as they’d expected, he still couldn’t break through the Dao-Achieving Pagoda’s restrictions. In the beginning, he still yelled for Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao to come out. From time to time, he even caught one or two Bixuan Court disciples then tortured them to provoke the people inside the pagoda.

Nevertheless, how could Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao act impulsively? They were experienced cultivators; they knew that the severity of their injuries would not only prevent them from saving those disciples, but they would also drag down everyone inside the pagoda. Because of that, they hardened their hearts and pretended to hear nothing.

As a result, Ren Yufeng also felt bored and was disinclined to continue trying to provoke them. After a while, he disappeared and they didn’t know where he went.

However, they were still in Ren Yufeng’s grasp and didn’t dare to leave the pagoda—who knew? Ren Yufeng might just be hiding and waiting for them outside.

Mo Tiange opened her eyes. A deep wrinkle was involuntarily formed across her brows as she watched the dead aura lingering on her body.

Although Mo Tiange’s injuries weren’t light, they weren’t that heavy either. Her meridians had been reconstructed, turning her body into a Five-Spirit Cultivating Body, and the Four Symbols Hundred Flowers Formation and White Silk Handkerchief blocked the attack—presumably, her injuries would be healed in half a month.

It was just the dead aura that she felt very helpless about. Not only could she not neutralize it with her spiritual aura, but it even continued to invade her meridians! She already felt half her arm going numb, but she really had no way to get rid of it.

“Little Friend Ye.”

Mo Tiange looked up when she heard that and discovered that Elder Qingyi had stopped recuperating and was staring at her.

“Senior.”

Elder Qingyi said, “I assume that devil cultivator is the very enemy Little Friend Ye mentioned before, right? We didn’t ask you about this matter in detail before, so could you talk about it now? Where did that person come from? What kind of hatred is there between you?”

Mo Tiange took a short moment to think of her answer. She then said honestly, “Since Senior is asking, I’ll explain from the beginning. About several months ago, I traveled to the northernmost glacial zone and as chance had it, I ran into an old friend there. That old friend of mine was now a Zhengfa Sect disciple. He invited me to go on an expedition to a secret place…”

Other than the Virtual Sky World and other secret life-saving methods, Mo Tiange spilled the whole story. Regarding some matters that weren’t appropriate to be discussed with others, such as the secrets in the Land of the Hiding Dragon, she only mentioned them vaguely. She also didn’t mention what kind of treasures existed inside the underground palace in detail.

Elder Qingyi had rich experience. Seeing as Mo Tiange didn’t mention the details or other trivial matters, she also didn’t ask about them.

“… That underwater palace suddenly collapsed. I originally thought I would lose my little life but unexpectedly, when I woke up, I was in Linhai.” Mo Tiange shook her head and smiled bitterly, “Senior asked what hatred exists between us, but in fact, what hatred could there be? What happened was just that he harbored evil intentions that I escaped from luckily, and he now wants to kill me to silence me.”

“So that’s what happened…” Elder Qingyi said while nodding her head slightly. “In other words, Little Friend Ye can’t take the blame for this.”

Mo Tiange knew that before she explained everything clearly, the two elders must’ve felt as if something was weighing on their hearts, suspecting that she was the cause of such a malignant person invading their home. Because of that, she elaborated on the matter—including people’s names, names of places, everything—in as much detail as possible, so the two elders could understand that Ren Yufeng didn’t come to Bixuan Court because he wanted to kill her. The reason why Bixuan Court went through such a group-exterminating calamity was because Bixuan Court was extremely unlucky—they were extremely unlucky to have run into Ren Yufeng, thus attracting this calamity.

Now that Elder Qingyi said that, Mo Tiange also sighed in relief—it was good if these two elders didn’t blame her. Ren Yufeng was outside now; it’d certainly be dangerous for her if she also offended these two elders.

“I never expected that this person was actually Zhengfa Sect disciple. He was a dignified disciple of a prestigious sect, yet he entered the path of devil cultivators.” Elder Qingmiao also halted her recuperation and opened her eyes.

Mo Tiange said, “He already entered a demonic barrier from the very beginning, so he was easily able to become a devil cultivator. Advancing directly from the Foundation Building realm to the Core Formation realm… How could it be that easy in this world? From what I’ve seen thus far, there must be some defects in his so-called divine dragon secret technique.”

“True.” Elder Qingyi nodded. “I know a bit about the Devil Path’s cultivation techniques. Although the Devil Path’s cultivation techniques allow cultivators to make realm-breakthroughs faster than ours, there’s absolutely no such thing as an instant result. That person must be cultivating with some kind of evil technique. It’s just that right now, we still don’t know its side effects.”

“In fact, one side effect is already clear,” Elder Qingmiao said, “Senior Martial Sister, you also saw it. Under the corrosion of the dead aura, he’s all dried up already; he simply doesn’t look human anymore.”

“…” After mumbling to herself for a while, Elder Qingyi eventually nodded. “You’re right. When we fought him, I vaguely saw past all that dead aura; it simply wasn’t a living person’s face. I’m afraid he’s already turned into the living dead now.”

Mo Tiange pondered the matter then asked, “Seniors, what should we do next?”

Her question made the two elders sink into contemplation.

What should they do next? Of course they had to think of a way to kill Ren Yufeng, leave the pagoda and rebuild Bixuan Court. However, among the six people inside the pagoda, only two were Core Formation cultivators, and they were both heavily injured. Among the rest of the group, Wei Haolan was practically dying from the heavy injuries she suffered, and according to Mo Tiange’s estimates, even if she was healed, her cultivation level would most likely regress; Xia Qing and Tang Shen were both in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm and moreover, their talents were extremely average. As for herself, although her injuries weren’t heavy, she was still plagued by dead aura. Let alone making a realm-breakthrough, even restraining the invasion of this dead aura was extremely difficult.

Thinking about this made Mo Tiange rather desperate. Could it be that they had to wait until Ren Yufeng himself experienced accidents in his cultivation to escape? How many months or years would they have to wait?

A long while later, Elder Qingyi finally spoke, “Let’s go to the seventh floor.”

What she said gave Elder Qingmiao a shock. “Senior Martial Sister…”

Elder Qingyi waved her hand to stop her from talking; exhaustion was etched all over her face. “There’s nothing else we can do. Bixuan Court’s now equal to an exterminated group. Aside from going to the seventh floor, what other way out do we have?”

Elder Qingmiao couldn’t say anything; her mood was extremely low.

Elder Qingyi lifted her gaze, sweeping it over the several juniors before her. She said, “Xia Qing, take care of Haolan. Shen’er, Little Friend Ye, follow us upstairs.”

Tang Shen was still sitting blankly in the corner. He looked up when he heard Elder Qingyi, but he still looked like he’d lost his soul.

Elder Qingmiao frowned then shouted, “Shen’er! Your great-great-grandmother already passed away; are you trying to disrupt her rest by looking this pitiful?!”

Tang Shen went pale. However, he clenched his teeth then said in a whisper, “I understand, Elders.”

Elder Qingmiao nodded then along with Elder Qingyi, she led the two juniors onto the Transporting Formation.

The fourth and fifth floors weren’t all that different from the third floor; they each only had cultivation-related objects—presumably, the three elders occupied one floor each normally. On the sixth floor, however, Mo Tiange noticed it was empty aside from one gigantic Transporting Formation, which was unexpectedly laid in such way that it looked like the Big Dipper constellation.

After going through the last Transporting Formation, they finally reached the seventh floor.

This floor was smaller than the other floors. Numerous shelves, containing all kinds of Jade Slips, books, magic tools, magic weapons and the like, had been arranged closely together all around the floor.

In the middle, there was a jade table with an incense burner dedicated to worshipping a jade statue twice the height of a normal human.

Mo Tiange raised her head to look at the face of this jade statue. A split second later, her expression completely changed.

“The seventh floor’s where we store Bixuan Court’s several-thousand-year-old collection. It’s also where we enshrined the founder of our group, Primordial Lady Bishui… Little Friend Ye, what’s wrong?” Elder Qingyi said with a frown. She was just explaining the place to them, but she then saw that Little Friend Ye looked as if she’d just been struck by thunder, standing in a daze with her eyes fixed on the statue of Primordial Lady Bishui.

If it wasn’t because Bixuan Court was pretty much exterminated and they were all helpless, they never would’ve allowed someone who wasn’t part of their group to enter the seventh floor. But what was this Little Friend Ye’s reaction all about?

When Mo Tiange finally regained her train of thought, she asked eagerly, “Elders, may I ask—what was the name of the founder of your group?”

Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao glanced at each other. Their gazes were now filled with suspicion. “Little Friend Ye, what do you mean?”

Biting her lips, Mo Tiange once again looked up to stare at the statue. This face was obviously something she’d seen once thirty years ago, something unforgettable, something engraved deeply in her mind—the image of Mo Yaoqing!

It had never crossed her mind that Primordial Lady Bishui might be Mo Yaoqing because from the news she gathered, Bixuan Court was founded roughly 10,000 years ago. Wanderer Ziwei said he and Zhong Muling were cultivators from the same era, and he passed away roughly 5,000 years ago—considering his lifespan, he was a cultivator from 7,000 years ago at most. Mo Yaoqing was naturally a cultivator from the same era as them, so this timeline just didn’t fit.

But this statue… this was clearly Mo Yaoqing’s image! Back then when she triggered the restriction Mo Yaoqing left behind, in addition to the Art of Sunu, Mo Yaoqing also forcefully imprinted her entire life’s experience into Mo Tiange’s Sea of Knowledge, so Mo Tiange definitely didn’t mistake this status for someone else.

Both were female cultivators, and both were in the Nascent Soul realm… A Nascent Soul female cultivator who looked exactly like Mo Yaoqing but lived about 10,000 years ago… Mo Tiange absolutely didn’t believe there could be such a coincidence in this world!

“Elders, your group wasn’t founded 10,000 years ago, right? Could it be that the founder of your group was surnamed ‘Mo,’ and her name was Yaoqing?”

The two elders’ expressions changed greatly upon hearing what Mo Tiange said. They looked at each other again then Elder Qingyi said, “You’re right. Our Bixuan Court was founded about 6,000 years ago. People just tend to say 10,000 years because after such a long period of time, people have long forgotten about it. Little Friend Ye, how did you know the name of our founder?”

Well, there was indeed such a coincidence in this world. Mo Tiange thought to herself with a bitter smile. When Mo Yaoqing arrived in the Celestial Pole from Yunzhong, maybe the first place she stayed at was Linhai. Her body possessed a Pure Yin Constitution, so she was constantly schemed against by others; she naturally loathed those cultivators who took females as a Human Furnace, and this was most likely why she founded Bixuan Court.

“I… My real surname’s Mo, and my name’s Tiange,” she said slowly, “I was born in a place known as the Mo Family’s Village in the secular world. The ancestor of our Mo family… was named Mo Yaoqing.”

Elder Qingyi’s and Elder Qingmiao’s eyes widened in an instant. Their stares were fixated on Mo Tiange.

Mo Tiange showed a wry smile. “The cultivation technique I use was passed onto me from this ancestor.”

Elder Qingyi’s stare never left Mo Tiange as she said slowly, “The Art of Sunu?”

“Correct,” Mo Tiange said with a sigh, “When I was a child, I triggered the restriction my ancestor left behind in the Ancestral Hall and obtained the Art of Sunu—that was how I entered the path towards immortality.”

“So that means… Little Friend Ye’s body possesses a Pure Yin Constitution?” Elder Qingmiao asked anxiously.

Mo Tiange nodded then gazed at Mo Yaoqing’s statue, feeling extremely emotional. “Unexpectedly, after several dozens of years, I actually managed to come to Linhai.”

She’d accurately recalled Mo Yaoqing’s name, and she also practiced the Art of Sunu, so the two elders started to believe her. Nevertheless, such a coincidence really made them feel incredulous.

“Little Friend Ye, would you mind letting me examine your aptitude?”

Mo Tiange had laid everything out in the open; there was nothing else she had to hide about this matter, so she extended her hand openly.

As Elder Qingyi examined Mo Tiange’s meridians, her expression turned more and more solemn. Elder Qingmiao also examined her after Elder Qingyi was done. Once the two of them finished examining her, they were both silent.

“Pure Yin Constitution… Pure Yin Constitution… The Art of Sunu the sovereign passed down… Our Bixuan Court has never received a female cultivator with a Pure Yin Constitution in the past several thousand years, but we actually ran into the sovereign’s descendant now.” Elder Qingyi sighed and stared at Mo Tiange. “Maybe this was fate. Although Bixuan Court’s facing extermination, the sovereign now has a qualified successor.”