Lady Cultivator

After the big restriction on Demonic Mountain collapsed, many other smaller restrictions followed suit. Practically half of Demonic Mountain was buried under these collapsing restrictions.

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi’s luck wasn’t bad. They managed to enter the Virtual Sky World in time and weren’t affected. Others, however, weren’t so lucky. Very few of them managed to leave Demonic Mountain in time. Even among Nascent Soul cultivators, many of them lost their lives inside.

This foray into Demonic Mountain was much more tragic than eighty years ago. The number of high level cultivators dead or injured was disastrous—even graver than the number of casualties from the last demonic beast riot. For some time, the Celestial Pole was in turmoil.

Of course, the two of them had no idea about this at all. While they were hiding inside the Virtual Sky World, Mo Tiange sometimes peeked to examine the situation outside, but she merely noticed that the chain reaction triggered by the collapse of that big reaction still hadn’t stopped. Heaven fell and earth was torn apart. Lightning flashed all around. All of Demonic Mountain was quaking.

Since they couldn’t get out, they could only put aside external matters for the time being and live simply inside the Virtual Sky World.

First of all, because Qin Xi used his blood essence, his strength was compromised. Fortunately, the spiritual aura inside the Virtual Sky World was extremely dense, so healing took much less time than it would on the outside.

But the strange thing was that Qin Xi said he could only absorb spiritual aura into his dantian quickly after he processed it with his Art of Three Primordial Cycles. Otherwise, his speed of cultivation in there wasn’t much quicker than in the outside world. The two of them spent a long time mulling over this situation, and in the end, they guessed that along with the changes in the world, cultivation techniques had also evolved. The Virtual Sky World, on the other hand, still maintained the same density of spiritual aura as in the Distant Past era, thus explaining this phenomenon. Mo Tiange wasn’t affected because she practiced cultivation techniques from the Distant Past era. As for Qin Xi, his Art of Three Primordial Cycles was just derived from the Distant Past era’s techniques.

But then, Mo Tiange also recalled that his Pure Yang Technique came from Yuan Bao, and Yuan Bao lived in Zhong Muling’s Virtual Sky World all year around—their situation ought to be the same, so why didn’t it work for Qin Xi? She asked Qin Xi about this, but he didn’t know either. Maybe Yuan Bao thought Qin Xi would never enter another Virtual Sky World, so there were some tricks he didn’t tell Qin Xi about?

They still couldn’t understand this phenomenon with their current cultivation levels, so they simply tossed it to the back of their minds. In any case, it wasn’t like they couldn’t cultivate in there.

Next, since they couldn’t leave the Virtual Sky World, Mo Tiange was completely idle, so she took her time to tidy up the medicinal fields inside the Virtual Sky World along with Qin Xi. She already picked many ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants, but she hadn’t yet concocted them into medicinal pills. There were also many other spiritual plants still growing in the medicinal fields, so she commanded the two puppets to pick them one by one, once again putting the medicinal fields in order.

These spiritual plants were directly concocted into medicinal pills by them. Qin Xi’s pill-concocting skills were extremely advanced; with the two of them working together, their pill-concocting speed became much faster. After one year, they finally finished sorting out the medicinal fields.

At this time, Qin Xi’s injuries were already healed, so Mo Tiange began thinking about refining her natal magic weapon.

Originally, she intended to ask a master of refining from the school to refine it on her behalf, but she didn’t know how long they’d be in the Virtual Sky World—no matter how long it would be, she could only rely on herself now. Thus, she once again studied tool-refining. However, her talents in tool-refining really weren’t up to much. Spiritual plants were everywhere inside the Virtual Sky World, but she didn’t have many of the materials required to refine tools. In the end, Qin Xi, who could no longer watch idly, lent a hand and refined it on her behalf.

Qin Xi’s ability to learn miscellaneous things was better than hers. Whether it was his pill-concocting or tool-refining, both were excellent. He was also quite accomplished in talisman-drawing. However, when it came to refining a natal magic weapon, he also didn’t dare to be over-confident, so he spent a lot of time practicing his skills again.

The two of them studied tool-refining and slowly cultivated at the same time. Time passed by just like that, one year after another…

In the beginning, Mo Tiange often examined the situation outside the Virtual Sky World, but this time, the collapse of Demonic Mountain’s restrictions went on for a very long time. After a while, she only peeked at the situation outside every so often.

Mo Tiange once again opened the Virtual Sky World, but she soon heaved a sigh—it was still pitch black outside.

It had already been five years, but the restrictions were still unstable. It was really unclear when they could leave. Before the restrictions crumbled, master went to Jade Palace. Mo Tiange wondered if he’d gotten out or not. Then there was also Zhenji. At that time, he had already been missing from the school for several years—had he already returned now?

“Stop thinking about it. When the time comes, we’ll naturally be able to go out.” Qin Xi’s voice rang out from behind her.

Mo Tiange flung her sleeve, causing the outside scene to disappear. She then turned around and said, “Why did you come out?” They failed to refine the Heaven and Earth Fan once, so he’d been closeted inside the hut for many days, saying they mustn’t fail again and that he had to properly analyze the characteristics of the materials.

With a smile, Qin Xi said, “I finished studying the materials, so I came out.”

“Oh?” Mo Tiange’s eyes brightened. “Then can we try refining it again?”

“En…” Qin Xi took some time to think then said, “We probably can. How’s your cultivation going these days?”

“It’s been progressing very smoothly.” Mo Tiange extended her hand. “Take a look.”

Qin Xi took her pulse, then he inserted a strand of his divine sense to examine her. A moment later, he withdrew his spiritual aura and said with a smile, “In here, your cultivation is indeed progressing more efficiently despite exerting half the effort.”

With Clear Sky Pills and the Virtual Sky World, her cultivation speed was simply much faster than ordinary cultivators. Even if she ran into a bottleneck, the experienced Qin Xi was there to guide her, so she didn’t have to worry too much.

“What about you? When are you going to form your Nascent Soul?” They were trapped in there and didn’t know when they could leave, but Qin Xi’s cultivation level had already reached the pinnacle of his realm, and he had already adjusted his mentality. It could be said that forming his Nascent Soul was only a matter of time.

Her question made him silent for quite a while. Eventually, he said, “When I tackle my soul-formation, I’ll definitely use the Art of Three Primordial Cycles as a guide, so forming my Nascent Soul in here also wouldn’t be a problem. But there’s no need to be hasty—let’s refine your natal magic weapon first.”

Mo Tiange chuckled. “The youngest known person to form their Nascent Soul in the Celestial Pole was two hundred and eight years old. You’re now two hundred and six; if you formed your Nascent Soul now, you could still set a new record. You certainly wouldn’t be such a sensation if you delayed it for a few years—don’t you want to break that record?”

Qin Xi shook his head then said with a faint smile, “What’s the use of vying for these false reputations? Besides, there’s no harm in delaying for one or two years.”

Upon hearing what he said, Mo Tiange’s mind was completely at ease. These past few years, Qin Xi’s attitude had been too impulsive, hence the successive failures in his soul-formation. Considering how calm he was now, it was clear that his mentality had stabilized. That being the case, he’d basically have no major obstacles during his soul-formation.

In fact, Qin Xi’s mentality was originally very stable in the beginning. It was just that in these past few years, he simply walked into the pit he built himself, creating a hole in his mental state. The root of this hole was precisely Mo Tiange. Nowadays, the two of them had already ascertained their feelings to each other, so he would naturally resume his original tranquil state.

The two of them continued to chat for a while then went back to cultivate.

Their cultivation techniques didn’t clash with each other. One was pure Yang while the other was pure Yin. On the contrary, they actually complemented each other, so they didn’t need to split up and cultivate in two different rooms. They simply cultivated together in Mo Tiange’s original cultivating room.

After adjusting their breaths for a day, both their spiritual aura and mentality recovered to their peak states, so the two of them prepared themselves to refine the magic weapon.

Refining a natal magic weapon wasn’t the same as refining an ordinary magic weapon. Even though ordinary magic weapons had to acknowledge their master, their master didn’t have to be present at the scene during the refining process. Natal magic weapons, however, needed to accept the cultivators’ blood essences throughout the refining process. Therefore, although Qin Xi had taken on the tool-refining himself, he still needed Mo Tiange to accompany him.

Having failed at refining it once, Qin Xi was particularly cautious this time—the remaining bit of Qiyun Stone they had was only enough for them to try refining once again. If they still failed, they’d have to look for the materials again, and Qiyun Stone was extremely rare—it might take more than several decades to find another one.

For the fire used in their tool-refining, Qin Xi used his own Extreme Yang Real Fire. Originally, the Sunstone or Xiaohuo’s Sun Real Fire were also pretty good options, but Qin Xi’s Extreme Yang Real Fire was a bit more intense, and they also had countless Restorative Panaceas they could take, so they chose to use Extreme Yang Real Fire.

Once everything was prepared, the two of them shut themselves inside the refining room, laid out an enchantment so that the two spiritual beasts wouldn’t disturb them, and began refining.

This refining process went on for more than a month.

For refining a natal magic weapon, this length of time couldn’t at all be considered long. If it wasn’t for Qin Xi’s Extreme Yang Real Fire which smelted the materials very quickly and his trained hands, it would’ve taken several months at the very least.

After more than a month, the two of them finally came out of the refining room. The Heaven and Earth Fan was formed.

The dragon bones became its frame; the Heavenly Silk Brocade became its leaf; Qiyun Stone and Bewitching Moonstone were smelted into paint, which was then used to draw a landscape of birds and flowers on the leaf; and lastly, the thousand-year-old Chalcedony was used to bind it up then carefully refine it. The hardness of the dragon bones and the toughness of the thousand-year-old Chalcedony—these two were combined into one. By the time the Heaven and Earth Fan was refined, it could basically be considered the toughest magic weapon—even Qin Xi’s Three Yang Real Fire Sword couldn’t completely damage it.

Regarding the magic weapon’s shape, the two of them had a bit of a disagreement at first. Qin Xi assumed it should be a circular fan, while Mo Tiange insisted on a folding fan. It wouldn’t matter if she liked wearing palace dresses, but she usually wore Xuanqing School’s Daoist robes, and she only put on one or two hair ornaments—how would she look, holding a circular fan? So, it’d be better as a folding fan, appropriate for both men and women. If she wanted to disguise as a man, she could pretend to be a scholar or something.

Qin Xi couldn’t out-argue her, so he could only follow her wishes.

When the Heaven and Earth Fan was taken out of the furnace, Mo Tiange couldn’t shift her gaze from it. The landscape drawn using the Qiyun Stone and Bewitching Moonstone was so exquisite that it hardly looked different from reality. The painting of the birds, flowers and fish was vivid and lifelike. Not to mention its actual effects, but this fan itself was already very pretty.

As the two of them came out of the refining room, Qin Xi, who saw how in love Mo Tiange was with the Heaven and Earth Fan, said teasingly, “I still think you don’t resemble a woman, but as it turns out, you also like beautiful things.”

While playing with the Heaven and Earth Fan in her hands, Mo Tiange said, “Who doesn’t like beautiful things? I just rarely lose myself in them.” Just like the time when she had just entered Xuanqing School, for example. Those hairpins and accessories that he gave her… she actually really liked them. But liking was liking. After she had her fill of looking at them, cultivating was still the most important to her.

“Alright. Let’s test its power first—whether it’s beautiful or not comes second.”

“En.” Upon hearing Qin Xi’s reminder, Mo Tiange lifted her gaze from the fan and asked, “How do we test it?”

Qin Xi gave it some thought before answering: “This treasure can both trap and kill. Trapping can also be defensive; why don’t I test its defenses first?”

“Alright.” Mo Tiange brandished the Heaven and Earth Fan, spreading the fan open. In an instant, there was a burst of brilliant colors and lights, reflecting glittering, realistic rivers and mountains.

Qin Xi extended his left hand and focused. With a flash of golden light, the Three Yang Real Fire Sword materialized in his palm. Qin Xi shook his arm, causing the blade to turn into a golden light. Covered by Real Fire, that golden light rotated around him a couple of times before it suddenly changed directions and rushed towards Mo Tiange.

Mo Tiange had been watching attentively, so she promptly used the Heaven and Earth Fan. The scene of mountains and rivers suddenly enlarged, looking just like real mountains and rivers. It came down upon that sword light.

The sword light came to a stop after it was surrounded by the mountains and rivers. The real form of Three Yang Real Fire Sword once again appeared in sight. It began to rush here and there, but under the blockade of this seemingly corporeal, seemingly incorporeal landscape, it was unexpectedly unable to break through.

Eventually, Qin Xi recalled the Three Yang Real Fire Sword and said helplessly, “Just relying on the sword itself is useless for trying to break out of it. It seems I have to use some sword moves.”

The first test showed that the Heaven and Earth Fan had extraordinary power. Mo Tiange was beside herself with delight. Even though it was only the Three Yang Real Fire Sword per se, ordinary early stage Core Formation cultivators wouldn’t be able to block her fan. Thus, after this first test, Mo Tiange had enormous faith in the Heaven and Earth Fan.