Lady Cultivator

After leaving Shangqing Palace, Mo Tiange and Qin Xi looked at each other, and both of them couldn’t help smiling.

Things were going well. The things they took out were all supposedly useful for Lord Daoist Jinghe’s injuries, and the two Lord Daoists hadn’t suspected anything at all. Besides, Lord Daoist Zhenyang also told them about several other medicinal pills that could treat Lord Daoist Jinghe.

Mo Tiange believed she had the main materials for some of those medicinal pills in the Virtual Sky World, so she would be able to form some of them.

But there was no rush. For now, with the medicinal pills given to him, Master could heal his injuries slowly for several years.

“What now? Should we head back?” Qin Xi asked.

Mo Tiange thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go see Shui Linbo.”

Qin Xi had no objection, so they went back to Shangqing Palace again.

After seeing Shui Linbo that day, they were later carefully informed of Shui Linbo’s background by Ye Zhenji, in addition to the hardships endured by the pair. Ye Zhenji did have a deep affection for Shui Linbo. Now that Mo Tiange had experienced a taste of love, she could understand Ye Zhenji very well and pitied him a lot, so she agreed to help treat Shui Linbo’s injuries as much as she could.

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi went to Mingxin Residence. Mo Tiange broke the restriction deftly, and they went through the yard all the way to the lounge.

“Linbo?” Mo Tiange called.

Shui Linbo’s divine sense had become so dull that it took her a long time to come to life. She got out of bed to open the door hurriedly. “Grandmaster Shoujing, Martial Uncle Qingwei.”

Mo Tiange smiled and urged her back to bed then pulled two chairs to sit down with Qin Xi beside the bed. “You don’t have to be so anxious; we just came to see you.”

“En.” Shui Linbo responded then said hesitantly, “Zhenji… went to get disciple supplies. He’ll be back soon.”

“En.” Mo Tiange smiled and said, “We came to see you.”

“Huh?” Upon hearing this, Shui Linbo was nervous again. “I, I…”

“It’s okay.” Mo Tiange felt a little helpless when faced with Shui Linbo’s nervousness. She turned to look at Qin Xi and said, “Senior Martial Brother, why don’t you go see Master? Let me talk to Lin.”

The two of them had just left Lord Daoist Jinghe’s place, so it was apparent Mo Tiange wanted Qin Xi to leave by saying that. Qin Xi understood that the reason why Shui Linbo was so nervous was mostly because his presence, so he said, “Okay, I’ll wait for you at Master’s.”

“En, go ahead.”

Qin Xi got up and left with a smile.

The moment the door was closed, sure enough, Shui Linbo breathed a sigh of relief.

Mo Tiange asked, “Are you afraid of him?”

Shui Linbo was stunned and answered with a low voice, “Please forgive me, Martial Uncle Qingwei. Grandmaster Shoujing’s cultivation level is so high, so I’m a little nervous… and… since that incident happened, I’m just very afraid of seeing men…”

“Oh, I see.” Mo Tiange nodded to show her understanding. She couldn’t help feeling sorry for Shui Linbo, because she herself used to disguise as a man in order to escape the fate of being a Human Furnace, not daring to show her true identity…

Mo Tiange pulled herself back from her thoughts and asked again, “But you’re not afraid of Zhenji?”

Shui Linbo’s eyes shifted and she said, “I brought trouble upon him, but he didn’t mind. He also suffered so much for me. How could I be afraid of him…”

Mo Tiange saw that Shui Linbo tried hard to calm down, but her hands trembled. Mo Tiange then smiled and asked directly, “Do you like Zhenji?”

Shui Linbo shivered and raised her head. Her eyes flickered with surprise then she slowly calmed down and answered, “Yes.”

Upon seeing that Shui Linbo answered so simply without hesitation, Mo Tiange liked her more and continued to ask, “Do you want to be with him?”

This question silenced Shui Linbo, though. After a while, she said, “Martial Uncle Qingwei, I know I’m not really qualified and I’m badly injured now, so I wouldn’t be a good companion for Zhenji. Before I’m completely healed, I don’t want to consider this.”

Upon hearing this, Mo Tiange was stunned and couldn’t help recalling that she also had similar thoughts before. However, she was different from Shui Linbo because she only thought there wasn’t any point to her liking Qin Xi, but she never felt like she wouldn’t be a good match for him.

Of course, Shui Linbo had been through something entirely different from her. They wouldn’t share the same thoughts.

Upon seeing that Mo Tiange was silent, Shui Linbo was a little uneasy and said, “Martial Uncle, I know Zhenji is your nephew, and he’s also a Nascent Soul cultivator’s disciple. I’m no match for him. I…”

“I didn’t mean that.” Mo Tiange interrupted her and smiled. “I don’t care what happens between you and Zhenji. Zhenji has the freedom to choose his companion. I believe he doesn’t need a Dao companion with good qualifications to help him with his cultivation.”

Shui Linbo’s eyes widened. She meant that…

Mo Tiange continued, “I came today to check on your injuries and wanted to know your past. After all, Zhenji likes you, so I want to know more about you.” She smiled. “Would you like to tell me about yourself?”

Shui Linbo was stunned for a long time before reacting. “Oh, of course, of course…”

She calmed herself and began to speak slowly. “Back then, Martial Uncle Qingwei passed by our Linhai and gave me a book of cultivation techniques, then I entered the path to immortality… I don’t have good qualifications and my cultivation speed was very slow, but fortunately, the book Martial Uncle gave me was very helpful. I successfully entered the first layer of the Aura Refining realm. In Linhai, female cultivators can enter Bixuan Court when they’ve progressed to a certain cultivation level, so I wanted to go see the guiding aunt at Bixuan Court as soon as I reached the first level of the Aura Refining realm.” Upon saying this, Shui Linbo smiled and continued, “What happened afterward, Martial Uncle Qingwei, you must know. Linhai entered chaos, Bixuan Court was almost slaughtered, and individual cultivators had to hide. I was only a teenager then, and I went to Bixuan Court to offer myself like a fool. Fortunately, someone saved me and I escaped from the wolf den.”

Upon hearing this, Mo Tiange nodded. “You’re in luck.”

“Yes,” Shui Linbo said and smiled. “Unfortunate events often happen to me, but I always meet someone who saves me. The person who saved me was a senior martial sister from Bixuan Court. Later on, she pitied me and didn’t have the heart to leave me by myself, so she took me with her.”

“Fortunately, the incident didn’t involve any mortals. My family lived in a remote area where no cultivators ever went on weekdays. I later returned to the seaside with that senior martial sister, and we found an island in the Eastern Sea to hide.” Upon saying this, Shui Linbo smiled. “Actually, I think that was the happiest time of my life. There were many cultivators like us in the vicinity of the island, and we all felt sorry for each other and helped each other. If there was anything I didn’t understand about cultivation, they would help me. At that time, I was short of materials, didn’t have any spiritual veins, and my cultivation speed was very slow, but I felt very happy.”

Upon recalling the past, Shui Linbo was silent for a while then continued: “I learned a lot of things there, and the senior martial sister taught me a lot. Unfortunately, the senior martial sister was accidentally injured by a demonic beast later on and we didn’t have any medicinal pills, so I could only watch her die…”

She took a breath. “As you know, Martial Uncle, my family was very poor. My father fished very hard every day but earned little money. After I became a cultivator, I often caught rare fish with the Law of Immortality for my father to sell. My cultivation level was very low, but I was capable of doing that kind of thing to help support the family. Under those circumstances, Xiaobao could also go to school… If only things stayed like that…”

Her voice sank, and she was probably thinking about something unpleasant again. Mo Tiange asked, “How did you get to Kunwu? Wasn’t there a Transporting Formation that connects Linhai and Kunwu inside Bixuan Court?”

Shui Linbo shook her head with a bitter smile. “We didn’t come out through the Transporting Formation.” She paused for a moment then continued: “Demonic beasts appeared near the island we lived on, and when I went to catch fish one time, I encountered a demonic beast by accident. When I was running for my life, I fell into a whirlpool. When I woke up, I found myself in Yan State.”

“I see…” Mo Tiange was a little surprised. Linhai wasn’t close to Yan State. It seemed the whirlpool wasn’t simple, and it could actually transport people to such remote locations.

Shui Linbo smiled and said, “Every time my life is in danger, I always have good luck. After arriving in Yan State, I discovered I couldn’t go back, so I had to adapt to my new environment. I had long heard in Linhai that Kunwu was a holy place for cultivation. When I left Linhai, I wanted to go to Kunwu… Later on, I arrived in Kunwu after walking a great distance, but then I was told that no sect would accept me because my qualifications were poor, so I found a job in the market square and worked to earn some spirit stones to cultivate.”

Mo Tiange was no stranger to this kind of life. In those days, she and her second uncle also lived like this. But Mo Tiange still felt a little confused. “With your qualifications, it would’ve been impossible for you to reach the Foundation Building realm without a large number of spirit stones; it’d even be very difficult to reach above the fifth layer of the Aura Refining realm. How did you do it?”

Shui Linbo answered, “I once worked for a pharmacy, and on one occasion, I went to gather herbs in the southern forest and accidentally picked several hundreds-year-old purple jade ganoderma, so I hid them. I then sold them by batches at the trade fair… The spirit stones I earned from this allowed me to reach the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, and I also bought medicinal pills to enter the Foundation Building realm.”

“You succeeded in building your foundation in one go?”

Shui Linbo nodded. “En, I couldn’t believe it myself. In fact, I didn’t have many spirit stones left after I bought a Foundation Building Pill. If I couldn’t succeed, I’d probably never get another chance to build my foundation in my life. Yet who knew that God favored me, and I was able to build my foundation successfully in one try.” Upon saying this, she smiled.

Mo Tiange nodded silently. With a qualification of five spiritual roots, it wasn’t impossible to complete foundation building in one try, but you had to be really lucky; not even one person in several thousands of people could do that.

Upon thinking this, Mo Tiange covered Shui Linbo with her divine sense unconsciously. After discovering Shui Linbo was calm and wasn’t lying, Mo Tiange revealed a smile. “You’re really very lucky. Of all the people I know, almost no one could successfully build their foundation in one try.”

In those days, before Mo Tiange met Zhong Muling and only had those five poor spiritual roots, she tried to build her foundation twice. The second time, she took three foundation building pills and finally made it. Compared to Mo Tiange, Shui Linbo’s luck was more than good.”

“En, I couldn’t believe it myself,” Shui Linbo said as she smiled. “I’ve been wandering about the past few years and I’ve suffered a lot, but God always looks after me; he allows me to make a narrow escape every time, and he allowed me to finish my foundation building successfully in one try. Every time I think about it, I tell myself to live.”

Looking at her calm smile full of confidence, Mo Tiange sighed secretly in her own heart. If the child wasn’t lying, it would really be a blessing for Zhenji to be with her, considering her steadiness and perseverance.