Lady Cultivator

After her initial meeting with Ye Jingwen, Mo Tiange started to receive things from him frequently. Sometimes, they were books he collected, and sometimes they were records of his knowledge and experience. All of them were very useful to her.

Actually, in retrospect, when Ye Jingwen befriended Second Uncle and drew her close that year, he might’ve done it with the intention of winning Martial Uncle Shoujing’s favor. However, Ye Jingwen didn’t technically do anything to harm them. Even now, after discovering that Mo Tiange had endured a lot of hardships, Ye Jingwen constantly looked after her, so Mo Tiange only felt grateful to him nowadays.

With Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s guidance, Mo Tiange’s cultivation progressed smoothly. In just several months, the spiritual aura in her body had all turned into Yin spiritual aura. In addition, she also progressed smoothly in concocting medicinal pills. Although she wasted a lot of materials, she still managed to concoct some Constitution-Enhancing Pills before her material supply was completely exhausted.

Once she finally adjusted her mentality, she reported back to Martial Uncle Xuanyin to tell him that she wanted to enter Closed Door Meditation to build her foundation.

Inside the hall of Master Daoist Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave.

Mo Tiange and Luo Fengxue stood together in the middle of the hall. On a platform in front of them, Master Daoist Xuanyin was sitting cross-legged. On both sides of the hall stood his numerous disciples; some of them were smiling at them while some of them remained expressionless.

After a long time, Master Daoist Xuanyin finally opened his eyes and stared at the two of them.

Mo Tiange looked calm while Luo Fengxue seemed a bit excited.

Today, they would enter Closed Door Meditation to build their foundation. This was a coincidence. As it turned out, Long Fengxue had long planned on building her foundation around this time, so the two of them decided to start on the same day.

Master Daoist Xuanyin watched them for a while then slowly said, “The two of you… your cultivation levels have reached the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm. By entering Closed Door Meditation to build your foundation today, you’re about to set foot on a new stage in your cultivation. I’m very pleased.”

Luo Fengxue kneeled and said, “Disciple thanks Master for his instruction so far.”

Upon seeing Luo Fengxue’s actions, Mo Tiange followed suit. Even though she wasn’t technically Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s disciple, he had taught her over the past several months, so she ought to carry out the master-disciple ritual.

Master Daoist Xuanyin smiled and said, “After the two of you enter Closed Door Meditation, I’ll continually monitor your progress using my divine sense. If any problems occur, I will tell you to stop. Therefore, you can focus on building your foundation and don’t need to worry in your heart.”

Mo Tiange and Luo Fengxue said simultaneously, “Thank you Martial Uncle (Master).”

Master Daoist Xuanyin nodded and gestured at them to stand up. From inside his robe, he took out two jade bottles and ordered their eldest martial sister, Han Qingyu, who was standing beside him, to give the bottles to them. “These are Mind-Fortifying Pills grandmaster bestowed to you two. They may be of help in converging spiritual aura. Take them before you take the Foundation-Building Pill.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, you may go,” Master Xuanyin said before closing his eyes.

Mo Tiange and Luo Fengxue respectfully bowed and took their leave.

“Tiange.” On their way back, Luo Fengxue worriedly asked, “How confident are you in this foundation-building?”

Mo Tiange, whose heart was unexpectedly calm, softly shook her head and said, “I’m not sure.”

Upon hearing her answer, Luo Fengxue seemed somewhat relieved. She quietly confessed, “To tell you the truth, I’m very scared. I had an older brother who was always more talented compared to his peers ever since he was a child. Everyone thought he wouldn’t have any problems with building his foundation, but against everyone’s expectations, he failed twice. At the end, plagued by his Inner Demon, he killed himself…”

Mo Tiange was startled. She knew that people who were accepted by Core Formation cultivators as disciples didn’t have poor natural endowments – at worst, they had double spiritual roots. Since Luo Fengxue said her older brother was so talented, his natural endowments were certainly better than double spiritual roots, yet he unexpectedly had trouble with foundation-building…

As Mo Tiange expected, Fengxue said, “Although I was blessed with double spiritual roots, ever since I was a child, I’ve never been able to compare to my brother. Actually, three years ago, I could’ve already started building my foundation, but because I wasn’t mentally stable, master told me to wait a few years. I’m really afraid of entering Closed Door Meditation this time.”

Mo Tiange comfortingly said, “Senior Martial Sister Luo doesn’t need to worry. Foundation-building isn’t something that can be achieved easily. No matter how talented the person is, there’s still no guarantee they’ll succeed in one try. So what if you really fail twice? We’re still young; even if we fail one, two, three, four, five or even six times, in the end, there will certainly be a day when we finally succeed.”

Luo Fengxue felt a bit calmer after she heard what Mo Tiange said. She forced herself to put on a smile and said, “What you said makes sense. I’m just twenty-two years old now, and the school gives out Foundation-Building Pills every three years. Even if I have to spend ten pills before I finally succeed, I’ll still only be in my fifties by then.”

“Exactly.” Mo Tiange smiled and said, “Even among elite disciples, there must be many who build their foundation in their forties or even fifties, right? Don’t be like your brother – he obviously had good natural endowments and would’ve certainly succeeded if he continued to persist, but he was defeated by his Inner Demon.”

As they chatted, they had unknowingly arrived in front of their caves. Luo Fengxue took a deep breath then extended her hand towards Mo Tiange.

Understanding her intentions, Mo Tiange also extended her hand to grasp Luo Fengxue’s. The two of them encouraged each other: “We’ll meet again in half a year.”

Once she returned to her cave, Mo Tiange first took a bath, changed her clothes then burned some incense. It was only after her mood became completely tranquil that she sat down and started meditating.

The spiritual aura in her body moved slowly along her meridians until they finally reached her dantian.

She emptied her mind, completely letting go of the control she had over her thoughts. Gradually, she seemed to hear the sound of the breeze outside the cave, and her divine sense slowly fell apart among the wind. She also felt like she was flowing along with the wind. The fragrance of flowers and plants, the sweet smell of the earth… One by one, they assaulted her senses until finally, she couldn’t hear anything and couldn’t feel anything. Only the vast, obscure world was left behind.

At this moment, Mo Tiange first took the Mind-Fortifying Pill then in succession, she took a Foundation-Building Pill, Constitution-Enhancing Pill, and Foundation-Refining Pill.

When the Foundation-Building Pill landed in her stomach, she felt as if a raging fire was set ablaze with a loud bang inside her dantian as a thread of overbearing spiritual aura burst inside her dantian and roamed along her meridians.

This spiritual aura was indeed too overwhelming. For a short while, Mo Tiange was confused about what to do. However, she suddenly heard Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s shouts inside her mind: “Calm down! Don’t resist it! Control and guide it slowly!”

His warning immediately made Mo Tiange calm down. She hastily followed Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s instructions and used her own spiritual aura to guide the overbearing spiritual aura. In the beginning, the overbearing spiritual aura was completely rebellious. She only managed to control some part of it after much difficulty, yet her control was soon overruled. However, she wasn’t discouraged and continued trying. In the end, she managed to control a small portion of it. Slowly, she was able to increase control over it.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she eventually managed to have full control over this overbearing spiritual aura and guided it to beat against her meridians. When that happened, the pain she felt was incomparable.

Her meridians were forcefully broadened. It felt as if each inch of her meridians was broken apart then repaired in an instant. When the next attack happened, her meridians were yet again broken apart instantly, but under the extreme pain from this incessant broken-repair process, her meridians gradually became broader and tougher.

Little by little, the impurities inside her body were also scattered by this formidable strength until they were finally ejected from her body.

During this whole process, her dantian was on the verge of collapsing, almost unable to absorb this immense spiritual aura. Nonetheless, because there was another force stabilizing it, it managed to hold on.

Mo Tiange was completely unaware that it wasn’t just Master Daoist Xuanyin watching her situation using his divine sense.

Lord Daoist Jinghe was sitting on his dragon couch, muttering to himself, “This little girl isn’t honest. She’s actually able to persist so easily when presented with the spiritual aura burst during foundation-building… She must’ve used other spiritual medicine…”

Qin Xi, sitting by the side, only cast him a glance without saying anything.

Mo Tiange gritted her teeth and endured the pain. She was obviously accustomed to the effect of Foundation-Building Pills, but her dantian still couldn’t absorb the spiritual aura.

She knew this was definitely related to her natural endowment. Martial Uncle Xuanyin said the better one’s natural endowments were, the quicker one’s dantian would absorb spiritual aura. Therefore, whether or not she would succeed in building her foundation depended on whether her dantian could adapt to the force of the spiritual aura attacks and absorb that force for its own use.

After a month, Mo Tiange was still enduring this immense pain.

After two months, the force of the attacks gradually weakened and her dantian started to stabilize.

After three months, the effect of the Foundation-Building Pill inside Mo Tiange’s body was slowly waning.

Qin Jinghe sighed softly and said, “It’s really a pity. What should’ve been a godly talent in the Distant Past era now can’t even pass through the obstacle of foundation-building.”

Although Qin Xi didn’t say anything, his face didn’t look good.

They all knew that Mo Tiange had failed. She endured the pressure from her meridians, but she couldn’t completely absorb the effect of the Foundation-Building Pill. Her dantian couldn’t expand, so it couldn’t bear the spiritual aura of the Foundation Building realm.

“Brat, what are you thinking about?”

After staying silent in his seat for a moment, Qin Xi finally answered, “If she recovered the lost cultivation technique from the Distant Past era, would she be able to easily build her foundation or even form her Gold Core or Nascent Soul?”

Qin Jinghe was startled. He then answered, “Technically, yes. However, it’s not guaranteed. After all, the environment of the Distant Past era is very different from our conditions now; old cultivation techniques might not be suitable for our present spiritual veins.”

After six months, Mo Tiange opened her eyes.

The spiritual aura in her body had completely subsided, but her cultivation level didn’t even advance to the next layer, let alone to the next realm.

Even though she realized she had failed, she only heaved a soft sigh. She didn’t feel disappointed as she had long prepared herself to face the possibility of failing. With five spiritual roots as her natural endowment, even if she used all kinds of unique pills and magical drugs, it would be really hard to successfully build her foundation in one try. Luo Fengxue’s older brother had natural endowments that were many times better than hers, yet didn’t he fail twice in a row?

Mo Tiange quickly pulled herself together. When she sensed the terrible, sour smell lingering on her body, she frowned, stood up and went into the concocting room. In the concocting room, she took off her clothes and soaked herself in the spring.

When the spiritual aura entered her body during the foundation-building process, it thoroughly washed her marrow. Although she failed in building her foundation, the spiritual aura in her body became purer and didn’t have the slightest hint of impurities at all. In the future, when she built her foundation, she would no longer have to go through this muscle-changing, marrow-washing hurdle.

The water of the spring washed away the stains she had on her body and the spiritual aura restored her fitness. Having cleaned all the dirt on her body, she felt her skin was clear, smooth and delicate.

Although she didn’t look astonishingly beautiful, Mo Tiange still felt happy. She hadn’t taken the Foundation-Building pill without any gains – her whole body felt fresh and relaxed.

Once she put on her clothes and combed her hair into a bun, Mo Tiange finally took a step out of her cave.

Outside the cave, Ye Jingwen and Luo Fengxue were chatting about something. Their gazes immediately landed on Mo Tiange’s body right after she appeared.

She smiled and called out, “Senior Martial Sister Luo, Big Brother Ye.”

The two of them looked disappointed after they sized her up. Luo Fengxue directly grabbed her hands, seemingly wanting to say something to comfort her. Nevertheless, after hesitating for a moment, she didn’t say anything in the end.

Mo Tiange just patted Luo Fengxue’s hand and smiled. Luo Fengxue had successfully built her foundation. At least she had some good news.

Ye Jingwen also smiled after he saw Mo Tiange’s relaxed appearance. He said, “Don’t worry, there’s still a chance for you in the future.”

Mo Tiange nodded and said, “En, thank you Big Brother Ye. I won’t give up.” She then turned towards Luo Fengxue and said with a smile, “Senior Martial Sister Luo, congratulations.”

Mo Tiange’s reaction made Luo Fengxue heave a sigh of relief, but she still had a mixed expression on her face. She didn’t look happy at all, because she felt that rejoicing over her success in front of Mo Tiange, who had just failed, was rather hurtful.

Mo Tiange, who actually didn’t care about such things, simply asked, “Senior Martial Sister Luo, is Martial Uncle Xuanyin in his cave?”

“He’s there,” Luo Fengxue answered. “Master’s waiting for you. Do you want to go and see him first?”

“Sure.”

Luo Fengxue led them toward Master Daoist Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave. Soon, the three of them arrived at their destination.

“Disciple greets Martial Uncle. Disciple has failed and disappointed Martial Uncle.”

Master Daoist Xuanyin opened his eyes and scrutinized her before he said with a smile, “Get up. Failing isn’t terrible; the terrible thing is losing confidence. Everything will be good as long as you don’t give up.”

“Yes, Martial Uncle should rest assured that disciple won’t feel dejected just because of one failure.”

“Alright, you should prepare yourself. Grandmaster wants to see you.”