Lady Cultivator

Before long, the old man came back with a horse-faced bearded man following behind him.

Mo Tiange curiously raised her head to take a look at the man. He looked like a man in his fifties. The momentum in his body was as strong as Ye Jingwen’s since he was also a Foundation Building cultivator.

Once this man entered, Ye Jingwen stood up from his chair. Upon seeing this, Mo Tiange followed suit and also stood up. The man’s gaze swept around the room and lingered over Ye Jingwen. Seeing the taijitu embroidered on the chest of Ye Jingwen’s robe as well as the auspicious clouds drawn on his cuffs, he instantly knew that Ye Jingwen was an elite disciple of Xuanqing School and thus became very polite. “My name is Lu Xishan, may I know Fellow Daoist’s name?”

Ye Jingwen returned his greeting. “I am Ye Jingwen from Xuanqing School. I’ve presumptuously come here to ask about something. I hope Fellow Daoist Lu is willing to forgive me.”

Courteous people always received a warm welcome from others, not to mention the fact that Ye Jingwen was a disciple of an influential school. Hence, Lu Xishan had a rather good impression of him. He smiled and said, “Turns out it’s Fellow Daoist Ye… Please take a seat.”

Ye Jingwen sat back on the guest’s seat. The old man who welcomed them once again instructed someone to deliver a new batch of tea before retreating from the room.

As Lu Xishan drank his tea, his gaze fell on Mo Tiange, who had been sitting quietly to the side. He stroked his beard and said, “Fellow Daoist Ye, is this little Fellow Daoist a relative of yours? She’s very young but her cultivation level has reached the second layer of the Aura Refining realm; she’s indeed a promising child.”

Ye Jingwen just smiled. “Fellow Daoist Lu is overpraising.” In the secular world, a ten-year-old child who achieved the second layer of the Aura Refining realm could be considered a genius. Even inside cultivation clans, this kind of child would be considered a promising child. However, in a huge and influential school like theirs, this level of achievement was barely satisfactory.

There were many high-level cultivators in their school; each future generation had outstanding talents. Disciples in their school were guided by talented masters and weren’t lacking in medicinal pills. Most of them already reached the third or fourth layer of the Aura Refining realm when they were around ten years old. It also wasn’t uncommon for the diligent ones to reach the fifth or the sixth layer by this age. These disciples usually entered the Foundation Building realm when they were around thirty years old, like Ye Jingwen himself for example. His talents were quite good and he was extremely diligent, thus he already entered the Foundation Building realm when he was twenty-four years old. Martial Uncle Shoujing did it even earlier than him, entering the Foundation Building realm when he was just twenty years old. Furthermore, Martial Uncle Shoujing wasn’t even the fastest cultivator to enter the Foundation Building realm at the Xuanqing School; it was Martial Uncle Lingxi of Sweet Dew Peak. He managed to enter the Foundation Building realm when he was just seventeen years old.

Lu Xishan didn’t feel jealous. Although their clan couldn’t be compared to a school, they weren’t such narrow-minded people. He did nothing but praise others to be courteous.

“Fellow Daoist Lu.” Having finished his tea, Ye Jingwen went straight to business. “The reason I presumptuously came was to inquire about a certain Daoist.”

“Oh?” Although Lu Xishan heard the old man’s report and was well aware of the situation, he still pretended to be surprised. After all, he didn’t know Ye Jingwen’s purpose in asking about this man.

“Fellow Daoist Lu, one month ago, weren’t you at Xuanqing School’s shop at the foot of the mountain with a friend?”

“I did. Fellow Daoist Ye, the person you’re looking for is this friend of mine?”

“Yes,” Ye Jingwen said. “Fellow Daoist Lu, is your friend perhaps called Ye Jiang, a cultivator from Ye Clan of Mount Qingmeng?”

Lu Xishan felt a bit suspicious but still nodded his head. “What Fellow Daoist Ye said was correct.” He then suddenly remembered that this man was also surnamed Ye. Harboring a bit of doubt, he said, “Could the two of you perhaps be…”

Ye Jingwen was a smart person and naturally guessed what Lu Xishan was thinking. He promptly said, “I’ve never met Fellow Daoist Ye Jiang. However, my martial uncle is a good friend of Fellow Daoist Ye Jiang’s older brother.”

Lu Xishan felt relieved after he heard Ye Jingwen’s words. Although he was a close friend of Ye Jiang’s, the departure of Ye Clan from Mount Qingmeng was carried out by various cultivation clans of Mount Qingmeng, including their Lu Clan. However, this kind of matter was decided by the Core Formation ancestor and he had no say in it, hence the friendship between him and Ye Jiang remained. But he was rather worried that this person who came to their clan was related to the Ye Clan. After all, Xuanqing School was the largest school in western Kunwu; the few other cultivation clans couldn’t afford to offend them.

“I see… In the olden days, senior Ye Hai was really a God-favored genius. After Ye Clan gave birth to him, they could’ve lasted another two hundred years. If it wasn’t because of this…” the latter part of his sentence wasn’t appropriate to be spoken in front of outsiders, so he changed the subject. “Fellow Daoist Ye, may I know who your martial uncle is? What instructions did he leave you?”

Yee Jing Wen smiled and said, “The martial uncle I’m talking about is Master Daoist Shoujing. We wouldn’t dare to instruct anyone to do anything. It’s just that my martial uncle has been entrusted by the deceased to help in settling down Ye Clan’s descendant.”

“Master Daoist Shoujing?” Lu Xishan was stunned. The awe on his face could clearly be seen even by Mo Tiange. She felt confused.  What’s so special about this Master Daoist Shoujing?

How could she have known that Master Daoist Shoujing was extremely famous in western Kunwu? This Lu Xishan was already around two hundred years old – the same generation as her father, Ye Hai. However, Ye Hai already entered the Core Formation realm when he was around a hundred years old and wasn’t at all inferior to elite disciples of influential sects or schools. On the other hand, Mount Qingmeng’s cultivators of the same generation had been trapped in the Foundation Building realm with no prospects of breaking through the next realm.

However, this was all nothing compared to this Master Daoist Shoujing. Master Daoist Shoujing was a descendant of Xuanqing School’s Nascent Soul grandmaster. He was taken to Mount Taikang when he was a child, entered the Foundation Building realm when he was twenty years old and the Core Formation realm when he was seventy-eight years old.

It was said that this Master Daoist Shoujing wasn’t a genius with single or mutated spiritual roots; he possessed double spiritual roots instead. Many of these cultivators who were still struggling in the Foundation Building realm were also cultivators with double spiritual roots, yet Master Daoist Shoujing’s cultivation level was far above theirs. In the Celestial Pole, there were probably only about two or three people who could enter the Foundation Building realm in their seventies every thousand years. This kind of fated chance could indeed be gained only with the help of a Nascent Soul grandmaster.

If they were to talk about age, Lu Xishan was already more than two hundred years old. He entered the Foundation Building realm when he was forty years old. When he was already a Foundation Building cultivator, this genius Master Daoist Shoujing had just started cultivating. Nowadays, he was still in the Foundation Building realm while Master Daoist Shoujing was already a Core Formation senior. This Master Daoist Shoujing was about a hundred and thirty years old now. With the speed of his cultivation, he would most likely be able to enter the Nascent Soul realm within the next hundred years. Although Lu Xishan himself was also a cultivator with double spiritual roots, he didn’t have enough fated chances. He could only sigh helplessly every time he thought of Master Daoist Shoujing or even Ye Hai who were both gifted with similar endowments.

“Turns out it was Master Daoist Shoujing.” An adoring expression appeared on Lu Xishan’s face as he said, “Fellow Daoist Ye, if there’s anything you want to know, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will tell you everything honestly.”

Seeing that his martial uncle’s fame was indeed useful, Ye Jingwen became blunt and directly asked, “Could you tell me where Fellow Daoist Ye Jiang went? Did he mention his plan to Fellow Daoist Lu?”

Lu Xishan answered, “Ye Jiang already moved everyone in the Ye Clan to the secular world. This time, he came back just to move the last belongings of the Ye Clan away. He said it would be difficult for him to advance to the next realm, so he’s planning on spending his remaining years traveling around. He wants to go to the east.”

Ye Jingwen nodded. “Thank you, Fellow Daoist Lu. Did he perhaps have an exact destination?”

“Well… Now he should be in the vicinity of Mount Dongmeng.”

There were two mountains on the left and right side of Mount Qingmeng: Mount Dongmeng and Mount Ximeng. The spirit veins in both mountains were inferior to Mount Qingmeng’s. Even though there were no schools or sects there, cultivation clans opened the region up, either selling or renting the area to individual cultivators. As time passed by, an extremely bustling market square was created where a lot of cultivators came to buy, sell or even barter items. Sometimes, even Core Formation individual cultivators could be seen in this place.

Lu Xishan took out an object from inside his robe and gave it to Ye Jingwen. “Before we parted, Ye Jiang gave me a Sound-Transmitting Jade Talisman. If he isn’t too far, it can be used to pass him a message.”

Ye Jingwen happily took the object. “Thank you very much. Fellow Daoist Lu, you’ve been a great help; I really don’t know how I can repay you.” Ye Jiang left a strand of his divine sense in this object, so it could immediately pick up his location. Using this object was easier than blindly trying to find him among a crowd of people.

Lu Xishan smiled and said, “No need to be polite. Just view it as a favor between friends, Fellow Daoist Ye.”

Hearing Lu Xishan’s words, Ye Jingwen had an even better impression of him. But Lu Xishan’s decision was quite appropriate – rather than accepting Ye Jingwen’s thank-you-gift, it would be better for him to befriend Ye Jingwen. A disciple of Xuanqing School might come in handy one day.

“Then I’ll bid farewell first. Fellow Daoist Lu, until we meet again.”