Lady Cultivator

By the time Mo Tiange finished reading everything recorded, she only felt torn between laughter and tears. This ancestor of hers… Not only did her intelligence and moves not lose to those of men, but even her conduct and way of handling things showed more bold decisiveness than men.

She recalled the time she spent inside Zhong Muling’s Virtual Sky World. During the few days they interacted, Zhong Muling was always reserved and conducted himself seriously. But as it turned out, his previous temper was like this—his momentum was completely eclipsed by Mo Yaoqing’s! Even in matters related to Dual Cultivation, he was plotted against…

It was no wonder there seemed to be no emotional connection between Mo Yaoqing and Zhong Muling. As it turned out, the several thousand years of the Mo family’s existence actually had such origins…

After sealing her divine sense in the Mo family’s Ancestral Hall, Mo Yaoqing returned to Linhai where she also left some last words, entrusting the younger generation of Bixuan Court to provide care for her descendants. Nevertheless, when she was still in the Mo Family’s Village, Mo Tiange hadn’t seen any disciples sent by Bixuan Court. Maybe Bixuan Court couldn’t find anyone there with spiritual roots who could be accepted into the group, so over time, latter successors stopped taking this matter seriously, or maybe they only came once every twenty or thirty years—or even longer. From the moment Mo Tiange was born until she left, she was only in Mo Family’s Village for a short span of ten years, so she never encountered them.

At that point, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but sigh. She had a Core Formation cultivator as a father, a male ancestor who occasionally went to Jin Country to check on his descendants, and a female ancestor who told her juniors to take care of her descendant, yet she still struggled on the path to immortality that badly. She could only say that she really wasn’t lucky.

But from another point of view, without upwards of ten years of wandering around, enduring hardships, maybe she wouldn’t have developed her current temper; maybe she would’ve become complacent and arrogant like Hua Yilin, or maybe she would’ve turned into someone weak and timid like Tang Shen.

Suffering itself wasn’t a wonderful thing to remember, but sometimes, she still had to be grateful for some of the things her suffering brought about. For example, it gave her a staunch heart and vast knowledge.

Upon learning about Mo Yaoqing’s life experience, Mo Tiange started to study some odds and ends she recorded. Regarding formations, comparing Mo Yaoqing’s notes with the Xuanji Formation Book really allowed Mo Tiange to progress. It had to be known that although there was an abundance of books inside the Virtual Sky World, most of them contained information that surpassed her current realm, so there wasn’t much she could understand. Moreover, the environment of the Distant Past era wasn’t the same as the present environment and it couldn’t be imitated. The Xuanji Formation Book and Mo Yaoqing’s notes were perfect to make up for this one shortcoming.

In addition, Mo Tiange noticed that among Mo Yaoqing’s personal notes, there was this paragraph:

“Magic weapons: treasures that contain supernatural power. Cultivation influences cultivators’ realm-breakthroughs, but magic weapons represent cultivators’ strongest fighting force. For Core Formation cultivators, in particular, the strength of their natal magic weapons practically decides their capabilities in fights of magical powers.”

Natal magic weapons could be refined by cultivators in the Core Formation realm and above—they’d have to add their natal blood essence, refine them in their dantian then continuously nurture them with their blood essence. Over time, their natal magic weapons could even become psychic. In short, a natal magic weapon was a magic weapon whose growth was closely tied with its master cultivator; the longer it was nurtured, the stronger its force would be. At the same time, if the natal magic weapon was damaged, the cultivator would also be injured themselves.

“I spent my entire life wandering around. From Yunzhong to the Celestial Pole, I’ve lost count of the number of opponents I fought or the number of magic weapons I saw. But because of that, I came up with many kinds of magic weapons concepts which younger disciples can choose as their natal magic weapons…”

Mo Tiange continued to read in excitement.

“Previously, in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion in Yunzhong, I once saw records of ancient myths and legends. Within them, it was said that the Mother of Creation had a magic weapon called the Mountains and Rivers Country Map. This map was actually a huge magic formation; if one was trapped inside it, it would feel like the changes of the four seasons containing countless wonders. Mountains would appear if one thought of mountains, rivers would appear if one thought of rivers, the past would show up if one thought of the past, and the future would show up if one thought of the future. I thought for a very long time before I finally came up with several kinds of magic weapons concepts. Now, I can try them out one by one…”

Magic weapons were categorized into five types: killing, defensive, confounding, trapping, and auxiliary. The killing type was for attacking; the defensive type was for defending; the confounding type was to make the enemy lose their wisdom; and the trapping type used formations as the law; while the auxiliary type, whether formation-breaking or mind-clearing ones, was intended to assist oneself.

Among Mo Tiange’s current possessions, the Shuttle of Flying Apsara was an offensive magic tool, and although it could be used to lay formations, itself was originally a killing formation; the White Silk Handkerchief belonged to defensive type magic weapons; the Enchanting Lantern, despite having the word “enchant” in its name, belonged to the trapping type; while the Cloud-Treading Boots and the Spirit-Concealing Pendant were both considered the auxiliary type.

According to Mo Tiange’s estimates, this Mountains and Rivers Country Map Mo Yaoqing mentioned ought to be a combination of the trapping and confounding types, and moreover, it also had killing effects. This kind of magic weapon was the hardest to guard against because it plunged right into the weak points of people’s minds—a terrific confounding magic weapon could even make people unconsciously fall into a trap. If it really acted as Mo Yaoqing said, showing mountains if people thought of mountains and rivers if people thought of rivers, then people would need very staunch willpower to break away from it. Nevertheless, even Nascent Soul cultivators’ mental states weren’t flawless.

“Five Elements Disc. This disc is a formation disc that can swell in an instant. The formation method engraved on it is… The strongest aspect of it is that it doesn’t require too much spiritual aura to be used. Its weak aspect is that it isn’t that useful against people who are proficient in formations.”

“Black and White Life or Death Chess. This is modeled like chess. If people make one wrong move, they could be killed. The materials required are very costly. The method to create it is as follows… Unfortunately, its psychotic effect isn’t strong, far from creating whatever people can think of.”

“Heaven and Earth Fan. The landscape drawing on the fan is a formation. It’s created this way… If this could be achieved, the strength would be extremely formidable. Unfortunately, the materials required are too hard to find.”

Mo Tiange’s gaze fell on the description of this Heaven and Earth Fan. The main materials were written out plainly: the bones of a spiritual beast in the eighth rank or higher as the handle, a Chalcedony older than a thousand years—it was best if there were bones of this divine beast too. The older the Chalcedony was, the better the result would be… and the drawing on the fan used grounded Bewitching Moonstone as the ink…

She hastily read it over again. Correct! Clearly written in the materials section were things she happened to have—the divine dragon bones and Bewitching Moonstone!

Mo Tiange never put much thought into natal magic weapons previously. She had a middle stage Nascent Soul master; after she formed her Gold Core, she would naturally get a lot of magic weapon formulas from her master and at that time, she could just choose one of them. However, if this Heaven and Earth Fan indeed had such a formidable effect like Mo Yaoqing described, then it could basically be considered a top-notch magic weapon!

In general—probably because their capabilities were limited, and the materials for middle grade magic weapons and higher were too hard to find—Core Formation cultivators’ natal magic weapons were rarely great. Nonetheless, natal magic weapons were too important. No cultivators were willing to wait until they were in the middle or late stage or even the Nascent Soul realm to refine them because compared to ordinary magic weapons, natal magic weapons were still better even if they were one grade lower. Therefore, cultivators would normally refine an ordinary natal magic weapon once they advanced to the Core Formation realm, then they would slowly nurture it with their blood essence for years to come. With the passage of time, that natal magic weapon would gradually become strong. However, if the natal magic weapon was already excellent from the moment it was refined, her starting point would be higher than others. In the future, that natal magic weapon would naturally become even stronger.

In addition, she herself was proficient in formations. If she could use formations as her magic weapon, then it’d naturally be the best.

After a moment of contemplation, she went looking for Wei Haolan, who was studying ancient records.

“Sect Head Wei, do you have a minute?”

Wei Haolan lifted her gaze from the book she was reading then asked with a smile, “Is there anything wrong, Fellow Daoist Ye?”

Mo Tiange said, “I have something I want to ask you.”

Wei Haolan looked to the side, at Xia Qing who was concocting medicinal pills, as well as Tang Shen, who was engrossed in cultivating. She then said, “In that case, let’s go downstairs.”

“En.” Mo Tiange nodded. Generally speaking, cultivators mustn’t be disturbed when they were concocting pills or cultivating. However, because the two elders were worried it’d be quite troublesome if there was no one looking after them when something went wrong, they let the four of them cultivate on the same floor. Normally, the four of them would each do their own thing and never disturb each other.

When the two people arrived at the second floor, they casually found two praying mats and sat down. Mo Tiange then lifted the Jade Slip in her hand. “Sect Head Wei, pardon me for asking, but has anyone ever try to refine the magic weapons in your founder’s note?”

Wei Haolan took the Jade Slip then inserted her divine sense into it. A while later, she finally spoke: “For generations, only the group’s elders and sect heads could study the sovereign founder’s personal note, and some have indeed tried to create the magic weapons and medicinal pills described within. I remember that when I was young, the Core Formation elder at that time tried to refine a Purple Gold Gourd. Although it ended in failure, the attempt proved that refining this magic weapon is very much feasible.”

“Then what about this one?” Mo Tiange asked, “This Heaven and Earth Fan—has anyone tried to refine this before?”

Wei Haolan took a look at the description of the item Mo Tiange mentioned then shook her head. “Fellow Daoist Ye, this Heaven and Earth Fan requires the bones of a spiritual beast in the eighth rank or above—there has been only one other Nascent Soul cultivator in our Bixuan Court after our founder, so how could we possibly obtain the materials?”

“…” This was… reasonable.

“Let alone the bones of an eighth rank spiritual beast, but even a thousand year old Chalcedony is hard to find. Even if they occasionally appear on the market, they cost more than ten thousand spirit stones at the very least. There’s also that Qiyun Stone or whatever which we’re not familiar with. According to my estimates, the materials required for this magic weapon would cost at least tens of thousands of spirit stones as well as a good amount of luck and strength.” When she reached this point, Wei Haolan shook her head and sighed. “Not to mention the fact that we can’t get a hold of the materials, but even if we could, we’d never refine a magic weapon we weren’t sure we could refine successfully—we’re too short of supplies to do that.”

“I see…” Mo Tiange was rather disappointed. If Bixuan Court had refined these magic weapons, she would also refine them and see if there were any suitable ones; if there were, she would use that as her natal magic weapon. Nevertheless, this Heaven and Earth Fan was too strong. It could both trap, confound, and kill—it’d be very hard to find a stronger magic weapon than this one.

“Fellow Daoist Ye, do you want to refine this one?” Wei Haolan asked.

Mo Tiange nodded then shook her head. “After I go back this time, I’ll enter Closed Door Meditation to try to form my Gold Core. If I succeed, the first thing I need to do would be to refine my natal magic weapon. Originally, I feel that this magic weapon’s very strong, so I’ll consider it as an option, but it doesn’t mean I have to refine it.”

Wei Haolan said, “If it’s for Fellow Daoist Ye, I believe refining it’d be much easier than for us. Your school’s a big cultivation group; both the information and the supplies you have are richer than ours. Moreover, your master’s status is also quite high, so if you lack anything, you can naturally order the disciples in your school to slowly look for them.”

“That might be the case, but it’s indeed too costly; the materials required are too rare… I’ll consider it again. After I go back to my school, I’ll report this to my master first and ask him if this is feasible.”

Once she heard what Mo Tiange said, Wei Haolan instantly showed a stern expression. “Fellow Daoist Ye, you’re now the guest elder of our Bixuan Court, so you can naturally read this personal note. However, there are quite a few of Bixuan Court’s secrets inside this record—I hope you won’t divulge them to others.”

Mo Tiange said, “Please rest assured, Sect Head Wei. I won’t take this personal note out; I’m just going to show the formula for this magic weapon to my master so he can evaluate it.”

Although Wei Haolan looked conflicted for a moment, she eventually nodded. “Alright then.” In Bixuan Court, the formula for this magic weapon was just lying around anyway; no one had it or would refine it.

Mo Tiange smiled then asked another question: “Sect Head Wei, how are your injuries now?”

Wei Haolan said, “There’s been no progress. Although my cultivation has been saved, the injuries my dantian sustained are too severe, so I have to take things slow, even when it comes to healing myself.” At this point, Wei Haolan finally sighed. “In any case, the two elders still have to take a very long time to practice the secret technique, so I can also take my time to recuperate. Fellow Daoist Ye, what about you? Have you gotten any better now?”

Wei Haolan was extremely concerned about Mo Tiange’s condition. Mo Tiange knew she was now the guest elder and both Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao must’ve told Wei Haolan they would need her help to rebuild Bixuan Court—this was why Wei Haolan was so concerned about her.

But no matter what the reason was, someone’s concern for you was always a form of goodwill.

“I’m quite well now,” Mo Tiange answered, “The dead aura plaguing me isn’t much, so it didn’t injure my foundation. Nonetheless, the Dantian Real Fire us Foundation Building cultivators have is too weak to deal with this dead aura. I reckon I’ll need seven to ten years to completely dissolve it.”

Wei Haolan was silent for quite a while before she finally spoke. “That being the case, let Junior Martial Sister Xia concoct some more medicinal pills for you. Maybe you can dissolve it faster that way.”

Mo Tiange shook her head. “I don’t lack medicinal pills. Sect Head Wei doesn’t have to be worried.” Although this pagoda stored quite a bit of Bixuan Court’s collection, fresh spiritual plants were, in the end, required for pill-concocting, so they couldn’t concoct many medicinal pills now. Since she was now Bixuan Court’s guest elder, she also had to think about Bixuan Court—she really didn’t need to vie for these medicinal pills with Wei Haolan and Tang Shen.