Lady Cultivator

Mo Tiange felt a splitting headache when she woke up. The room was completely dark. She propped her body up and kneaded her forehead with confusion.  Strange, how could I have fallen asleep?

Once she sat up and moved her aura around her small orbit, the pain in her head ceased. She then slowly recalled what happened before she fell asleep – or rather, what happened before she got drunk.

Really humiliating… she had never drunk wine before, but she still had the guts to imitate Qin Xi and drank her feelings away. The worst thing was that she actually blacked out so badly after she got drunk!

Mo Tiange fell back to the bed, groaning. Fortunately, no one else saw her except Senior Martial Brother Qin… Senior Martial Brother Qin! She hastily sat up again and began groping her body. Good… her clothes were still intact, and the Spirit-Concealing Jade Pendant was also in place.

She heaved a sigh but still felt somewhat remorseful. She didn’t really remember what happened before she got drunk. She only vaguely remembered Qin Xi telling her that in order to walk further down the path of cultivation, she had to let go of her obsessions. However, she felt that she had forgotten something…

After thinking for a long time to no avail, she brushed the matter aside. Since she couldn’t remember it, it probably wasn’t anything of importance. The important thing was that she had to remind herself never to lose her vigilance like this again. She was really fortunate that Qin Xi didn’t do anything to her; if this happened again and it was someone other than Qin Xi and if she was taken advantage of when she was unconscious, her secret would probably be discovered.

Having made up her mind, she got down from the bed, wanting to freshen up, but she first took several moonstones out of her Qiankun Bag and tossed them onto the bed. The room instantly became bright. Although her clothes were intact, they were wrinkled and carried the smell of alcohol. Mo Tiange walked to the washstand at the corner of the room, frowning as she took off her outer robe and began cleaning herself. It was only when the alcohol smell finally disappeared that she put on a new robe.

Just as she was about to untie her hair to comb it again, she caught a sight of her reflection in the copper mirror hanging on the wall. She paused. After pondering something for a while, she took a comb, untied her hair, carefully parted it then combed it into a bun. While she did this, the bun was combed askew several times because she wasn’t familiar with this method of doing her hair.

By the time she combed her hair correctly, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly to her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t dressed as a woman for almost ten years and now, she couldn’t even comb her hair into a feminine hairstyle. The person in the mirror wasn’t at all pleasing to the eye, so she untied her bun and once again combed her hair into a common Daoist’s topknot.

Nevertheless, the face reflected in the mirror was still too delicate to be a man’s.

Mo Tiange contemplated for a moment before fumbling in her Qiankun Bag for some things. She first used a chunk of black thing to thicken her eyebrows then she smeared some gray powder from a jade bottle on the bridge of her nose, the corners of her eyes, and her lower jaw.

Now, the person in the mirror clearly seemed more rugged. Her eyebrows were also slightly thicker, looking obviously like a man’s. Then she carefully wiped all traces of the items she used before storing them back. These two things were in fact materials meant to refine tools, but since they weren’t poisonous, smearing then on her face was perfectly fine. The important thing was that she now had a Foundation-Building Pill, so she had to be a bit more careful.

After doing all this, Mo Tiange walked back to the bedside, took out her Qiankun Bag from her robe and began arranging the contents before she sat down to cultivate.

As a matter of fact, she obtained many things during the last test. Just the demonic beasts’ remains alone provided a fortune, but she still received medicinal pills, spirit tools, various kinds of materials, and more than a thousand spirit stones.

Once she returned and did an inventory of her items, she felt quite conflicted. Instead of working hard for several years like she did before, she might as well kill several people – the profit was a lot more abundant. Fortunately, she quickly suppressed this malicious idea. It’d be bad if this kind of ruthless idea was left to grow and cause her to be possessed by the devil in the future.

Without noticing it, several hours passed, and the sky outside was already bright.

Mo Tiange tucked away her spiritual aura, leaped off her bed and tidied up her clothing before she opened the door and walked out of her room.

In the sitting room, Qin Xi was already sitting on his old seat, drawing some talismans. He didn’t even raise his head when he heard the noise and just said, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, you finally woke up.”

Mo Tiange was a bit uneasy when she thought about yesterday, but seeing that Qin Xi’s expression seemed extremely normal, she felt reassured and said, “What’s wrong?”

“We have to pick up the Foundation-Building Pills…” Qin Xi stored his papers and writing brush away. Once he turned around, however, he stared blankly at her.

His response made Mo Tiange somewhat nervous. Could it be that the disguise on my face is too obvious?

After a while, Qin Xi shook his head. “I think I’m really silly, but I feel there’s something different about you today. I just can’t tell what.”

Hearing his words, Mo Tiange felt a bit relieved. She showed a dry smile and said, “What’s the difference? Aren’t we going to pick up our Foundation-Building Pills? Let’s go!”

Qin Xi nodded then the two of them walked out of the house together.

Mo Tiange walked in the back, secretly wiping away her sweat.

Originally, the four people from this house always traveled together, but now, Xu Jingzhi had passed away while Liu Yidao, who was heavily injured, was staying in the North Peak with Foundation Building seniors to recuperate. Just in a short while, this house became very empty. Qin Xi wouldn’t have become this close to her if the house wasn’t in this shape. Because the others were no longer here, the two of them only had each other to talk to.

The South Peak of Mount Yunwu still looked the same as before with the first light of the morning sun and the cool breeze blowing on her face, but they were now two people down. Mo Tiange sighed softly.

Quite a few people were already present in the steward’s hall when they arrived. The two of them politely waited outside.

Soon, it was Mo Tiange’s turn. She walked into the hall then handed her identity tablet over. It was only after she passed the verification process and left a trace of her spiritual aura in a jade slip that a martial uncle in the steward’s hall gave a jade bottle to her. She cautiously stored it away.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Foundation-Building Pill was the lifeblood of Aura Refining disciples. All the other disciples who received it were wild with joy. Meanwhile, Mo Tiange looked relatively calm.

Once Qin Xi received his share of the Foundation-Building Pill, the two of them returned together.

“Senior Martial Brother Qin, it’s been a quite a while since you’ve reached the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm, right? Are you going to enter Closed Door Meditation straight away?”

“Probably. What about Junior Martial Brother?”

“I… better wait. Right now, I haven’t yet reached the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm, so it wouldn’t hurt to be certain of the outcome before entering Closed Door Meditation.”

“That’s not a bad idea either…”

Both of them went to their respective rooms after they returned to the house. Mo Tiange waited for a while before she once again opened the door, ready to make a trip down the mountain.

Receiving the Foundation-Building Pills symbolized the completion of an era. The ban that forbade all disciples to leave the sect’s monastery without authorization was also lifted. She naturally wanted to take a trip down the mountain to visit Second Uncle. However, because she just received a Foundation-Building Pill, she was afraid other people would be watching her, so she pretended to go back and tidy up her things before she set foot on the road down the mountain.

She first went to Yunwu Sect’s shop to exchange the spirit stones she received from putting her things for sale in the shop for some medicinal pills. She also sold the demonic beasts’ remains to the shop. For now, there would be a lot of people selling demonic beasts’ remains, so she wasn’t afraid of being too conspicuous.

The shop clerk present was thoroughly awed to see her piles of demonic beasts’ remains. This shop clerk was also a Yunwu Sect’s disciple, so he naturally knew about the test. To him, since Mo Tiange obtained so many demonic beasts’ remains, she definitely seemed like someone with excellent means. Therefore, he didn’t dare to slight her and behaved very politely when he gave the spirit stones to her.

Mo Tiange accepted the bag of spirit stones without counting them again then tossed a spirit stone as a tip for the clerk. Soon afterward, she walked towards Second Uncle’s small courtyard, making turns and detours along the way.

“Second Uncle!”

Coughing came from inside the room. Mo Tiange pushed the door open and a smile appeared on her face when she saw the wrinkled-faced old man on the bed. “Second Uncle, I’m back.”

Ye Jiang opened his eyes. He sized her up with his cloudy eyes for a while, coughed again then hoarsely said, “Xiaotian… you’re not injured, right?”

“I’m alright.” Mo Tiange, shaking her head, sat down on a small bench beside the bed. She then took out the jade bottle containing the Foundation-Building Pill and said with delight, “Second Uncle, take a look! I got the Foundation-Building Pill!”

Upon seeing the jade bottle, Ye Jiang took it, trembling. He opened the bottle, took a sniff and closed his eyes before nodding his head. “Correct! This is a Foundation-Building Pill… Xiaotian, you’ve worked hard.”

Mo Tiange repeatedly shook her head. “My luck was good. There was an unexpected event in the test this time, so the numbers of Foundation-Building Pills distributed were a lot more than usual.”

Ye Jiang smiled affectionately. His gaze held some pity. “Do you really think Second Uncle doesn’t know what happened? You… forget it, what’s important is that you managed to get out alive.”

Although he was using a reproaching tone, to Mo Tiange it was, in fact, full of warm concern. She held Second Uncle’s withered hand and gave him a heartfelt smile. “Don’t worry, Second Uncle. Right now, I’m very capable. Every day, aside from cultivating diligently, I’m also practicing in battles with others; I will never be lenient to others again. Second Uncle, I’m telling you, during this test…”

Mo Tiange spent two hours explaining what happened during the test with long and elaborate details. Ye Jiang smiled while he listened. Sometimes, he praised her for her cool-headedness; sometimes he attentively gave her pointers, telling her a better way of handling a specific situation.

Once this conversation ended, Mo Tiange felt that she had reaped a lot more than when she reflected on the battles herself. Thinking about this, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat depressed – what would she do if Second Uncle wasn’t there?

By the time both of them finished saying everything important, Ye Jiang sighed and said, “Xiaotian, Second Uncle is relieved to see how you handled the test this time – you’ve indeed grown up. Even if you don’t succeed in building your foundation, you’re still young, so trying a few more times shouldn’t be a problem for you…”

These remarks sounded like a dying man’s last guidance. Mo Tiange bit her lips and grabbed her Second Uncle’s hand, calling out in a whisper, “Second Uncle…”

How could Ye Jiang not know the feelings of her heart? With a smile on his face, he stroked her head and said, “Don’t be like this – you’re already an adult. You don’t need Second Uncle staying by your side. If one day, you do succeed in forming your Gold Core, go to Ye Clan in the secular world and see whether anyone from the future generation has spiritual roots or not. If there is, you don’t need to rebuild the Ye Clan – passing them some cultivation techniques will suffice…”

“Second Uncle!” Mo Tiange felt a bit angry and called out.

Ye Jiang, however, straightened his expression and said strictly, “Xiaotian, just because you don’t want to talk about it doesn’t mean you won’t have to face it. You have to remember that you’re a cultivator – a female cultivator at that. If you can’t even face reality, how will you walk further? It’s far harder for a female cultivator than a male cultivator just to become somewhat successful! Your natural endowments aren’t good, and you also don’t have clans or elders to rely on, so if you don’t have a firm temperament, you better give up soon!”

Mo Tiange was stunned. Second Uncle had never been this harsh and stern towards her. She drooped her head and said nothing.

Ye Jiang softened his tone. “Do you still remember what Second Uncle has been teaching you all these years? Since you have neither good natural endowments nor people to rely on, you have to be stricter on yourself. You can’t be greedy, and you can’t indulge yourself in your emotions! You have to bear in mind that being weak and emotional are the biggest enemies of female cultivators. Not only today, but even when you’re faced with Second Uncle’s death, you have to calmly accept it. Later on, if you’re confronted with intimate emotions between man and woman, you have to have self-control and remember that a human’s heart is volatile and the affairs of the world are unpredictable!”

This… How could I not know about all this? But…

Ye Jiang closed his eyes and showed her a tranquil smile. “Life and death, this is the cycle of heavenly law. You and I are both cultivators. We both know the cycle of heavenly law is an unending cycle. It is only after cultivating, cultivating, and cultivating that you can obtain the Heavenly Dao and become a true Immortal. Go back and understand this well. You can come and see Second Uncle again when you can calmly accept my death.”

Mo Tiange was silent. After a long time, she finally left him some medicinal pills, bid farewell and walked out of the door.

Being weak and emotional were the biggest enemies of female cultivators.

The cycle of heavenly law was an unending cycle, and it was only through cultivating that she could obtain the Heavenly Dao and become a true Immortal.

She stood in the middle of the courtyard for a moment then closed her eyes and walked resolutely out of the courtyard.