Lady Cultivator

Fellow Daoist Fangzheng fell to the ground with a loud bang. For an instant, he seemed to have lost consciousness.

Mo Tiange immediately summoned her White Silk Handkerchief, but that thread of spiritual aura was gone. She still didn’t know where it came from!

At that moment, Daoist Fangzheng, who was lying on the ground, uttered a moan. With a pale face, he struggled to crawl up. “This…”

“Fellow Daoist Fangzheng, it seems the master of this place didn’t intend on letting us steal their Sunstones.” Upon confirming that there was no more danger, Mo Tiange put down her magic weapon then slowly ran her gaze over the stone room.

The trick obviously surpassed their current realm, but it didn’t seem like it was meant to kill them. It seemed like it was meant to prevent people from taking the Sunstones away.

Daoist Fangzheng looked up and gazed at the Sunstones above them; his expression showed complete reluctance.

If that was the case, wouldn’t they return empty-handed from this trip?

At that moment, rumbling noises rang out once again. It sounded as if a slab stone was being moved somewhere.

The two of them went towards the source of the noises in excitement.

They then saw the wall at the innermost part of the stone room suddenly sliding open, exposing a stone table with several things arranged on top of it.

But the several incidents from before made the two of them act with caution—after their initial delight, they didn’t immediately try to take the objects.

Daoist Fangzheng once again released his first rank spiritual beast. The bird chirped then flew shakily towards the stone table.

Not only Daoist Fangzheng, but even Mo Tiange was also extremely nervous. Ever since she came here, aside from a Mother of Moonstone and several Bewitching Moonstones, she hadn’t obtained anything else and on the contrary, she even spent several magic talismans. There were obviously many treasures here, but they weren’t allowed to take them.

When the bird landed softly on the stone table, Daoist Fangzheng finally looked a little happy. However, he soon became even more nervous than before as he ordered the bird to pick up a certain object with its beak.

On the stone table, the bird flapped its wings and leaped towards a bell-shaped item. Soon after, it picked up the bell handle with its beak, ready to fly back.

“Bang!” Smoke came out of nowhere, and a thread of spiritual aura suddenly emerged.

Mo Tiange wanted to put on her body-protecting aura, but in an instant, she lost control of the spiritual aura inside her body—she couldn’t move it!

At that moment, a deep, imposing voice echoed inside the stone room: “Which juniors have come to Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave?”

Mo Tiange was startled. Could it be—

Daoist Fangzheng already reacted. He rushed to answer first: “Junior’s Fangzheng, an insignificant individual cultivator. Greetings to Senior Ziwei!”

Nascent Soul cultivators could cut apart some of their divine sense and preserve it somewhere after they died. The one speaking was presumably the master of this place, the Nascent Soul cultivator who called himself Wanderer Ziwei.

“Junior Mo Tiange, a disciple of Xuanqing School, greets Senior Ziwei.” Although she was facing only the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator, Mo Tiange chose to speak the truth.

“Xuanqing School?” Her words caught Wanderer Ziwei by surprise, but he soon asked, “Then how are you related to Lord Daoist Danling?”

Lord Daoist Danling? Mo Tiange took some time to think before answering, “Lord Daoist Danling was a senior in my school. He already passed away 5,000 years ago.”

“… 5,000 years ago.” Upon hearing her answer, Wanderer Ziwei was silent for a long time. In the end, he heaved a deep sigh and said, “It’s actually been 5,000 years… Zilan, it seems you’ve also…”

In the next second, his voice regained its calmness. “Two Juniors, since you’ve come to my Immortal’s Cave, do you have anything to ask me?”

After Daoist Fangzheng heard that question, he was beside himself with joy. However, just as he was about to speak, Mo Tiange moved a step earlier than him. “I wonder what Senior intended by luring us to this place?”

It was indeed audacious for a Foundation Building cultivator to talk like this to a Nascent Soul cultivator. Afraid that Mo Tiange would say the wrong things, Daoist Fangzheng hastily whispered, “Fellow Daoist, don’t talk recklessly!”

Mo Tiange wasn’t dissuaded. She dared to talk like that naturally because she was sure Wanderer Ziwei wouldn’t get angry.

Sure enough, Wanderer Ziwei burst out laughing a moment later. “Junior, you’re a clever one. Correct, I indeed lured you to this place on purpose.”

“What was Senior’s purpose?”

Wanderer Ziwei didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked, “Juniors, what do you two think of my Immortal’s Cave?”

This time, Daoist Fangzheng answered first: “Senior’s Immortal’s Cave proves itself to be a Nascent Soul cultivator’s Immortal’s Cave. There are many formations and various treasures.”

“Formations and treasures…” Wanderer Ziwei repeated. All of a sudden, he tossed in another question: “Then do you want to take them away?”

Daoist Fangzheng was both frightened and delighted at the same time, but he didn’t dare to be rude. He cast a glance at Mo Tiange then answered, “Of course… But with Senior’s abilities, we don’t have the right to decide.”

“Hehe, you’re unexpectedly slick.” Wanderer Ziwei chuckled over his answer. “You two don’t have to worry—I’m not a cruel person. If you honestly answer my questions, I won’t hurt you.”

Once Mo Tiange heard what he said, she grumbled inwardly. Not a cruel person? There are only two of us left in good shape out of the nine people. Right now, Daoist Fangzheng is also injured all over. After all of this, he still said he’s not a cruel person…

“Do you have any objections?” Wanderer Ziwei’s voice suddenly sounded close as if he was talking next to Mo Tiange’s ear, scaring the life out of her. Could it be that this Wanderer Ziwei is able to use the Mind-Reading Technique?

“Mind-Reading Technique? Well, more or less.” She didn’t say what she thought out loud, but Wanderer Ziwei already knew. “When I was alive, I once tried to make a realm-breakthrough to the Deification realm. Although my attempt ended up in failure, I obtained some of the abilities of Deification cultivators. This Mind-Reading Technique was one of them.”

Mo Tiange was stunned. What he said seemed correct… Back when she stayed with Yuan Bao and Zhong Muling, she vaguely sensed that she couldn’t hide anything from them. That feeling was different from the feeling she had when she spoke the truth when under someone’s spiritual aura pressure. That being the case, didn’t this mean Wanderer Ziwei already reached the peak stage of the Nascent Soul but couldn’t advance to the Deification realm?

“Oh! Junior, you’ve actually met Deification cultivators?” Invisible spiritual aura suddenly surged and coiled tightly around Mo Tiange as the question was asked.

Frightened, Mo Tiange hastily composed herself and calmed her spiritual aura, preventing her mind from wandering around. Mind-Reading Technique… If she thought too much, wouldn’t that mean she was telling him everything?

This thought just crossed her mind, but before she could say anything, she already heard Wanderer Ziwei laughing. “Junior, you don’t need to panic. Mind-Reading Technique isn’t automatically active; it has to be activated according to my will, so I’ll just stop using it on you. You can speak slowly.”

He unexpectedly sounded friendly…

Mo Tiange felt a bit more relaxed, although she was still worried deep down. She answered, “Yes, Junior indeed had the luck to meet Deification cultivators before.”

“Ho? What were their names? How did you meet them?”

“… One of them was surnamed Zhong, and his name was Muling. The other one was called Daoist Yuan Bao, but I don’t know whether it was his real name or his Daoist name.”

“Zhong Muling, Yuan Bao…” the voice mumbled, “They actually advanced to the Deification realm for real…”

Mo Tiange said with astonishment, “Does Senior recognize those two Deification cultivators?”

“You could say so…” Wanderer Ziwei said faintly, “We were cultivators from the same era. However, unlike me, who came from the Celestial Pole, they came from Yunzhong.”

Mo Tiange also knew this. Yuan Bao once talked to her about a lot of things. They were originally cultivators from Yunzhong. Later, they wandered around and came to the Celestial Pole. After they advanced to the Deification realm, they didn’t have a permanent dwelling and just stayed inside the Virtual Sky World while they wandered all around.

“Alright, Junior, you better tell me first—how are they faring now?”

“They… are very well.” From his question, there seemed to be only friendship and no grudge between him, Zhong Muling and Yuan Bao, so Mo Tiange finally let go of her worries. “Junior met them in the demonic beast riot last time—Junior broke into the two Deification seniors’ Immortal’s Cave by accident and was saved by them. Junior left after Junior’s injuries were healed. It seemed they were here as part of their travels.”

“…” Upon hearing what Mo Tiange said, Wanderer Ziwei was silent for a long time. After a long time, he eventually heaved a deep sigh and said, “Hearing news of old friends makes me emotional. Junior, since you were acquainted with my old friends, I won’t make things too difficult for you. To tell you the truth, every so often for the past 5,000 years, I always weakened the formations and released spiritual aura to lure Foundation Building cultivators like you two to this place. Unfortunately, none of them were able to reach me here…”

Sure enough! Mo Tiange had long guessed this point—she just didn’t know why this Wanderer Ziwei’s didn’t lure Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators.

“There was something I’ve regretted my whole life and I wasn’t able to settle it even when I passed away. Because of that, I sealed my divine sense in this cave; if anybody can pass the trials and reach this cave, my divine sense appears to meet them. If you two can help me handle that matter, I’ll give you treasures in return.”

What he said made Mo Tiange and Daoist Fangzheng glance at each other; both were somewhat astonished. Among their group, six were dead and one was severely injured; only the two of them were well enough to reach this cave. Nevertheless, all of that actually happened because a Nascent Soul cultivator, who already passed away, had something he wanted to entrust to them? Furthermore, this still didn’t explain why he didn’t lure Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators! This Wanderer Ziwei was a powerful peak stage Nascent Soul cultivator who was an inch away from becoming a Deification cultivator; presumably, the treasures he had could be coveted by Nascent Soul cultivators too.

“Did you maybe not understand why I wanted to attract Foundation Building cultivators?”

Daoist Fangzheng cupped his hands. “Please forgive us, Senior. We indeed don’t understand. If Senior has some matters to entrust to us, wouldn’t entrusting them to Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators be better? They are more skilled, so the matters could be dealt with easily.”

“Hehe, be that as it may, would Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators fear a strand of divine sense? No matter how high my cultivation level was in the olden days, what’s left of me is only this bit of divine sense—I couldn’t intimidate them with my power,” Wanderer Ziwei said indifferently, “Besides, my problem has nothing to do with cultivation level.”

This made sense. If Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators found this kind of Immortal’s Cave, they might forcefully take the treasures here. After all, even though Wanderer Ziwei was a genius when he was alive, only a strand of divine sense was left of him now.

Mo Tiange said, “Senior, aren’t you afraid we’d say yes here but wouldn’t deal with the matter later on? Or that Junior would go back to my group and tell my master about this, therefore causing my divisional elders to come and hunt for the treasures here?”

“Ha! Little girl, you have huge guts.” Wanderer Ziwei laughed but a split second later, his tone became cold. “Since I allowed Foundation Building cultivators to come, I naturally have the means to deal with you guys!”

Right after he finished speaking, Mo Tiange suddenly felt her head aching. In a split second, that thread of spiritual aura bored into her brain but left right afterward.

“AH—” she couldn’t help but scream in pain.

Once the pain passed, however, she couldn’t tell if there was anything different about herself. When she turned towards Daoist Fangzheng, she saw that he looked the same as her and was as bewildered as she was.

Wanderer Ziwei said casually, “I’ve left an imprint in your Sea of Knowledge. If you don’t come back in time, those imprints will flare up and at that time…”

When he said that, the threat behind his words was very apparent.

Mo Tiange was both shocked and outraged. “You—!” She wasn’t someone who liked to go back on her words. If Wanderer Ziwei gave her treasures then entrusted some matters to her, she would’ve naturally fulfilled her promise. But using this kind of trick on her really made her mad!

“Junior,” there were traces of smiles in his voice, “There’s no need to be emotional. Don’t forget… your lives are in my hands now.”

Upon receiving this warning, Mo Tiange finally exerted much effort to repress her anger. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help herself from sneering, “Senior, you already knew I was a disciple of Xuanqing School; so what if you left an imprint on me? When I go back to the school, I can just ask the elders in my school to dissolve this imprint!”

“Haha, dissolve?” Wanderer Ziwei’s voice was brimming with arrogance. “In your school, there must be no Deification cultivators, right? Not even late stage Nascent Soul cultivators could figure out the special technique I used.” After he said that, he continued on curiously, “Little girl, do you always speak so bluntly like this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you? After all, there are two of you—you’re not my only option.”

“Is that so?” Mo Tiange said coldly, “Senior had to wait several thousand years before the two of us arrived. Senior, aren’t you afraid your other option would fail to complete the task you give?”

Wanderer Ziwei didn’t respond. It was only a while later that he spoke wryly, “You’re only a little girl in the Foundation Building realm; how can you be this sharp-tongued? Ay~ it doesn’t matter whether you’re afraid of me or not, but you should be glad… I’ve cultivated my mind and character here for the last few thousand years of my life, so I’ve long lost my fiery temper, otherwise…”

He then mumbled to himself, “But you’re actually very similar to her…”

Her? Did he maybe mean that “Zilan”?

Wandered Ziwei continued on: “That’ll do; I won’t talk nonsense with you two. I’m not a demanding person. As long as you deal with the matter I give you within a hundred years and come back here, I’ll give all my possessions to you—they’ll all be given to the one who accomplishes that first. However, you both better not fight each other just to grab the treasures. The imprints I left in your Sea of Knowledge would tell me if that happened, and at that time, I won’t give anything to anyone!”

All his possessions? Once Daoist Fangzheng heard that, he promptly asked, “Senior, allow me to ask; what do you want us to do?”

“I want you two to find someone’s skeleton and bring it to me. Let us be buried together.”

“Is it that ‘Zilan’ that Senior repeatedly mentioned?” Mo Tiange blurted out.

“Correct.” Wanderer Ziwei’s tone remained faint, but Mo Tiange felt his voice seemed to contain endless sadness. “I’ve known for a long time that I wouldn’t see her again. It’s enough for me as long as we can be buried together…”

Unable to hold back, Mo Tiange asked in a low voice, “She… Who’s she?”

Her question made Wanderer Ziwei silent for a long time. After a long time, so long that Mo Tiange thought he wouldn’t answer, she eventually heard his voice again. “She was my wife.”

Mo Tiange was dumbfounded. “Since she’s Senior’s wife, why…”

“This Junior! Why do you have so many questions?” Wanderer Ziwei let out a bitter chuckle. “I just got separated from my wife and didn’t have the chance to spend our lives together, so I want you to bring her skeleton back, but you have to get to the bottom of the matter?”

Despite saying that, he heaved a soft sigh then said slowly, “My wife’s surname was Xiao, and her name was Zilan. She was a cultivator from Xuanji School. Do you know Xuanji School?”

Daoist Fangzheng whispered, “Xuanji School… was the school established by the original disciples of Tiangliang School after Tianliang School was destroyed several thousand years ago. However, Xuanji School doesn’t exist anymore. It was divided into Guigu School, Qiqiao Sect, and several other cultivation groups…”

It took Wanderer Ziwei some time before he responded. “Xuanji School unexpectedly also…”

“Yes, according to Junior’s knowledge, it happened because of internal strife. But it’s been several thousand years; Junior’s only an individual cultivator, so Junior doesn’t know the inside story.”

“… Fate; they couldn’t escape the fate of being an exterminated group.” Wanderer Ziwei sighed before continuing on: “How’s Gujian Sect now? It certainly still exists, right?”

“Right now, Gujian Sect is the third greatest cultivation group in the Celestial Pole. Its power is tremendous and its disciples are numerous.”

“That’s… good.” When they talked about Gujian Sect, Wanderer Ziwei sounded indifferent. It was as if he didn’t really care about it.

After a moment of silence, he started to speak again, “I was originally a swordman from the secular world. When I was twenty years old, my master discovered that I possessed spiritual roots, so I came to Gujian Sect. Later, I became a sword cultivator and always practiced wholeheartedly. At a hundred years old, I advanced to the Core Formation realm, and at three hundred years old, I advanced to the Nascent Soul realm. I don’t dare say I was a genius, but I was certainly a rarity among sword cultivators.”

“Because I originally came from the martial world, I always repaid the kindness given to me and took revenge on those who wronged me. My temperament was always fiery, and my Gujian Sect was always combative. When I just advanced to the Core Formation realm, my fellow martial brothers and I destroyed Tianliang School because it offended my senior martial brother.”

“…” Mo Tiange was a bit shocked. Gujian Sect now followed the Righteous Path; it always kept its disciples within bounds. As it turned out, back then, it was also…

“At that time, I didn’t care about this matter at all, but who would’ve thought that after a hundred years, I would run into a little girl in the Foundation Building realm…” At this point, Wanderer Ziwei’s tone finally changed. “That girl was my wife, Zilan. She was a disciple of Xuanji School; I knew that, but I didn’t care. So what if I participated in the old matter? With the strength and identity I had at that time, would such a small cultivation group like Xuanji School dare to refuse me if I wanted to marry her?”

“However, I wasn’t willing to let Zilan know about that because I didn’t want her to think I was using my power to pressure others. Zilan only knew that back then, disciples of my Gujian Sect destroyed Tianliang School, but she had no idea that I took part in it. Although she hated Gujian Sect, she still married me. We, husband and wife, were happily married for 200 years during which I smoothly formed my Nascent Soul, and Zilan also formed her Gold Core. Her aptitude was great, and she had my help, so forming her Nascent Soul was practically an inevitability. I thought we would always be happily in love like that and accompany each other for years to come…”

200 years… At that time, Wanderer Ziwei ought to be four hundred years old, right? Was that when he rebelled against his sect and lived a secluded life here?

“Right at that time, Zilan heard from my senior martial brother about me participating in the destruction of Tianliang School. She came back to ask me then broke off her relationship with me. It was only then that I finally found out Zilan wasn’t just a Xuanji School disciple. Her clan was once a big clan in Tianliang School… In other words, her elders and family might’ve died from my hands.”

Wanderer Ziwei dully recounted what happened, and his tone was completely devoid of emotion. “We’d been husband and wife for 200 years; how could I possibly not know her character? Although she was normally kind and gentle, she was extremely stubborn. If she decided to do something, she definitely wouldn’t go back on her words. Since she broke off her relationship with me, that meant she would never see me again.”

“… But I still held onto a vain hope that she’d come back, so I rebelled against my sect and came to live in the secular world. I sent her a letter, telling her that if one day she forgave me, she could come here looking for me. Every time I thought of the old matter, I was filled with regret, but I could no longer do anything about it. Therefore, I gave everything up and left behind my identity and whatever I had in the past.” When he reached this point, Wanderer Ziwei finally showed some emotions. He sighed and said, “Sure enough, I waited for more than a thousand years, but she never came. Later, I heard she formed her Nascent Soul and became the Grand Supreme Elder of Xuanji School, but she never came to see me…”

So that was what happened. That Xiao Zilan was a disciple of Xuanji School… It was no wonder there were traces of Tianliang School all over this valley. Since they were a married couple for 200 years, those must’ve been things she passed onto Wanderer Ziwei, right?

“Juniors, go to Xuanji School’s former headquarters. Look for Zilan’s bones and bury her with me then I’ll give you everything I accumulated during my lifetime.”