Lady Cultivator

Since she decided to go to Demonic Mountain, she began making preparations for her journey.

She just formed her Gold Core, so she still didn’t have many things that a Core Formation cultivator ought to have. Fortunately, her master bestowed some things upon her, so her situation wasn’t that tragic. Her magic weapons had been slightly re-refined; even if they couldn’t compare to other Core Formation cultivators’ natal magic weapons, at least they still had some power. She also got some magic talismans. In times of emergency, she could actually use them to put up a front. Lastly, she also had her Soul-Refining Art. Since she didn’t need to worry about experiencing spiritual aura deviations, her progress in the Soul-Refining Art was extremely quick. Once she succeeded in forming her Gold Core, she automatically advanced into the third layer.

The first layer of the Soul-Refining Art allowed one’s divine sense to materialize, thus allowing it to be used offensively. The second layer weakened the burden of high level cultivators’ spiritual aura pressure. The third layer strengthened one’s divine sense to a certain degree and enabled one to emit a spiritual aura pressure that surpassed even their own cultivation level. In other words, although she was now only an early stage Core Formation cultivator, once she emitted her spiritual aura pressure, she could make people perceive her to be a middle stage or even a late stage Core Formation cultivator, so it could be used to intimidate others.

In addition to this, Mo Tiange also carefully studied the map and the information Lord Daoist Jinghe gave her.

The terrain of Demonic Mountain was extremely unusual. The war between the immortals and the devils in the Distant Past era several million years ago took place there. In the following million years, the righteous and the devil cultivators also took battle on Demonic Mountain until the end of the Middle Ages era. Even now, some conflicts still occurred between cultivators of the Devil Path and cultivators of the Righteous Path.

Within the past millions of years, Demonic Mountain had gone through many baptisms of wars which left behind countless restrictions and volatile spiritual powers. In between, numerous treasure-seekers had gone inside and lost their lives there. Right now, this place had countless treasures, but skeletons could also be found throughout. In there, opportunity and danger coexisted.

After several hundred thousand years’ worth of exploration, the deceased seniors left behind precious maps and treasure-hunting experiences for present day cultivators. The places people with certain cultivation levels could go, which places they shouldn’t go, what kind of danger they might encounter—Mo Tiange learned all of this by heart.

But when she remembered Qin Xi’s attitude, she couldn’t help but feel rather indignant. She knew her strength was still far inferior to this Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, but his behavior showed he really thought too little of her!

She took a deep breath and calmed down. It was true she still had a desire to prove him wrong, but she mustn’t cling to that. Otherwise, it’d easily give birth to rage and thus be unfavorable to her cultivation.

One month passed very quickly. Qin Xi sent her a message, informing her that they were about to depart. This time, his tone seemed a lot softer than the other day. He explained many things she needed to pay attention to as well as the things she should prepare in detail.

Mo Tiange clenched that Summoning Talisman and flicked it softly, causing the talisman to light up and burn completely. Then, according to his instructions, she packed all the things he said to prepare and went to meet him at the decided time.

As for Lord Daoist Jinghe, he long told them he’d go with Lord Daoist Huayan and that they could do as they pleased.

When the day finally arrived, Mo Tiange took her leave from Lord Daoist Jinghe and went to the site of Qin Xi’s Immortal’s Cave.

His Immortal’s Cave couldn’t be considered small at all, but among the caves of the other Core Formation cultivators at Clear Spring Peak, his was the most hidden. If one didn’t have prior knowledge, one would only think of the area as a deserted mountaintop. Who could’ve expected that behind this barren mountaintop that wasn’t even the least bit pleasing to the eye was actually the Immortal’s Cave of a Core Formation cultivator?

She herself also never would’ve expected it. That was why back then, such a matter—which would make her feel embarrassed upon recalling it—could occur. She actually had that kind of messy entanglement with Bai Yanfei in front of Qin Xi’s cave—such an embarrassment!

Upon landing on this mountaintop once again, Mo Tiange flung her sleeve, using a beam of spiritual aura to softly knock on the rock wall which then emitted a muffled noise.

Before long, the rock wall opened noiselessly, and Qin Xi walked out of his cave.

Once he saw Mo Tiange, he directly said, “Let’s go.”

Surprised, Mo Tiange asked, “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, it’s just us?”

Qin Xi flung his long sleeve. A puff of white cloud emerged under his feet. “I’ve already made arrangements with others. We’ll meet them in Kunzhong City.”

Kunzhong City was a city in central Kunwu, and it didn’t belong to any cultivation group. Although it wasn’t big, it was an important symbol for central Kunwu.

Mo Tiange hesitated for a brief moment. “Are we not going with other senior martial brothers and sisters?”

Qin Xi said, “They have their own companions. Although we’re from the same school, we better journey together with those we’re compatible with.”

Now that he put it that way, Mo Tiange no longer said anything. Just as she was about to fly up, she heard Qin Xi say, “Get onto my flying could. That way, you can also conserve some spiritual aura.”

“…” Flying didn’t require much spiritual aura, but since he meant well, there was no reason for her to refuse.

The moment Mo Tiange landed on his flying cloud, they instantly soared to the sky. The speed of this flying cloud was indeed astonishing. Mo Tiange pondered inwardly. Even if she flew full strength on her Cloud-Treading Boots, she wouldn’t necessarily reach this speed. Of course, that might be because her cultivation wasn’t high enough. Presumably, if she was in his cultivation level, the speed of her Cloud-Treading Boots also wouldn’t lose to his flying cloud.

The two of them bolted out of Xuanqing School’s great mountain-protecting formation. In a flash, Mount Taikang fell far behind.

The flying speed of Core Formation cultivators who went all out couldn’t be looked down upon, especially if they used this flying cloud, which was obviously a top-grade flying magic weapon.

Several days later, the two of them finally arrived in Kunzhong City in central Kunwu.

This wasn’t Mo Tiange’s first time coming to Kunzhong City. Back when she wandered around with her second uncle, she also came to this place once and lived there for some time.

This city wasn’t big, but it was full of people coming and going—it was actually the most bustling cultivation city in Kunwu.

Reportedly, this city was founded by several individual cultivators who possessed great divine powers. Originally, they only wanted to create a business center for individual cultivators, so it was nothing but a large-scale market square. Unexpectedly, however, it continued to grow bigger and bigger until it eventually became the symbol of central Kunwu. Because this city didn’t have any big powers backing it up, it had always been maintained by individual cultivators who possessed divine powers. They never fought for more power, so big cultivation groups also never cared much about the place. Over time, it became a business city. Because of the tacit acceptance by big cultivation groups, Kunzhong City became the biggest neutral area in Kunwu.

Along the way, the two of them didn’t speak. They both simply engrossed themselves in hurrying on with their journey. Mo Tiange had nothing to say, and Qin Xi also didn’t seem like he wanted to talk. It was only after they landed in front of Kunzhong City’s gate that Qin Xi finally spoke. “Junior Martial Sister Qingwei, my old acquaintances are quite trustworthy, but their characters are a bit odd. If you feel anything is off about them, don’t mention it to their faces—just ask me in secret.”

Mo Tiange was a bit startled to hear the way he addressed her. She still wasn’t too accustomed to her own Daoist name, but she was even more unaccustomed with Qin Xi calling her by that name. Nevertheless, she regained her composure very quickly. With a nod, she said, “I understand.”

The moment they stepped into Kunzhong City, she saw that cultivators were everywhere. The two of them were both Core Formation cultivators, both wearing Xuanqing School’s Daoist robes, and both were extremely young, so once they entered the city, they immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

With Core Formation cultivators present, the Aura Refining cultivators naturally didn’t dare to step forward; even the Foundation Building cultivators also stood aside and waited until they passed. This was the first time Mo Tiange experienced the feeling of being a venerated high level cultivator, so she had somewhat of a hard time adapting to it. Qin Xi, on the other hand, seemed like he didn’t feel anything and just continued to lead her towards the center of the city.

Being drowned in a crowd made Mo Tiange particularly uncomfortable. The Soul-Refining Art she practiced strengthened her divine sense, and cultivators subconsciously spread their divine senses. In this city, divine senses were in a jumble, thus making her feel very uncomfortable, just like a person with good hearing in a noisy area would feel more discomfort than ordinary people would.

Qin Xi suddenly turned around, asking, “What’s wrong?”

Mo Tiange didn’t expect he’d find something was amiss with her, so she was stunned for a second. In the end, she just shook her head. “There are too many people.”

Qin Xi’s gaze shifted around. He then said, “I’ll warn you if anything happens. You should withdraw your divine sense for the time being.”

“…” After a moment of hesitation, Mo Tiange eventually nodded. Her current strength wasn’t enough; forcing herself was pointless. She might as well conserve some strength and use it at a crucial moment.

Seeing as she acted according to his instructions, Qin Xi once again turned around and continued to lead the way for her. Soon, they walked into a restaurant.

He rejected a mortal waiter’s guidance and went up to the third floor, seemingly very familiar with the way. He made several turns then stopped in front of a certain door.

Before the door was opened, Mo Tiange already heard a voice ringing out from inside the room. It was actually a woman’s sweet voice. “Two people. Old Lei, you lose. Hand over the thing!”

After that was a voice that sounded like a heavy bell. “Damn it! Feng Woman, you’re not cheating, right?”

“Huh? Dare to bet, dare to admit to your loss. It isn’t fun if you cheat. Old Lei, are you going to pay or not?”

“Pay!” That voice sounded very depressed but extremely straightforward. Soon afterward, however, that voice grumbled, “I won’t enter a bet with you again in the future. You must’ve been cheating!”

Qin Xi pushed the door open. “Betting about me again?”

His voice obviously sounded cold, but Mo Tiange felt it was more genuine than it used to be.

Upon seeing him coming in, the voices inside the room came to a halt. Soon afterward, a burst of sweet fragrance pounced on them—a beautiful woman in pink, who looked just like a branch of blooming peach blossoms in the early spring, threw herself over, calling out coquettishly: “Aiya! Damn sweetheart! What took you so long?!”

Qin Xi shook his sleeve, sending off a beam of spiritual aura which isolated that sweet fragrance from them. He wrinkled his brows then said, “Don’t talk nonsense!”

After being rebuked coldly by him, that woman stood several dozen feet away, but her gaze shifted back and forth between him and Mo Tiange, who’d walked in behind him. She promptly pretended to be angry in a coquettish manner. “You have a new lover, so you forgot your old one. You have no conscience!”

“Enough! Madam Feng, I’m not in the mood to talk nonsense with you today!” After he said that, Qin Xi straightened out his expression then walked to the other side of the room.

That woman blinked her eyes in confusion. She confusedly asked a bald, fat man not too far from her: “What’s wrong with him today? He can’t even take a little joke?”

The bald fatty, who was embracing a wine jar, cast a glance at Mo Tiange, who’d been following behind Qin Xi with a lowered head. “Don’t you see? He brought someone along; how could he still let you casually joke around?”

That woman said, “I’ve also joked around casually before, but he was never this serious.”

There were a total of four people in this room. The woman they saw when they entered, the bald fatty behind her, and on this side of the room, a middle-aged Daoist and a shriveled old man.

The middle-aged Daoist was in the late stage of the Core Formation realm, while the other three were all in the middle stage. Provided that these people were her new companions on this trip, her cultivation level would be the lowest in the group. While Mo Tiange mused to herself, she saw Qin Xi stepping forward and greeting the middle-aged Daoist and the shriveled old man.

“Fellow Daoist Kumu, Fellow Daoist Tong, I believe you’re all well?”

The two men had long seen him. They both stood up and greeted him back.

The middle-aged Daoist stroked his beard, saying with a smile: “Fellow Daoist Shoujing. We’ve not met for eighty years, but your cultivation will soon top ours.”

Although the shriveled old man’s face looked stiff, there was a hint of a smile in his eyes when he looked at Qin Xi.

Qin Xi also had a faint smile on his face. “Fellow Daoist Kumu, you’re mocking me. After failing my soul-formation three times, I’m now the joke of Kunwu. I’ve really made a huge embarrassment of myself.”