Lady Cultivator

When Mo Tiange woke up, she felt somewhat lost. Bit by bit, what happened before she fainted crept back to her mind and startled her, causing her to nervously scan her surroundings.

This… seems to be a room of an inn…  The furniture was simple and crude, the floor was murky, and the quilt had the slight smell of mold.

“Junior Martial Brother Ye, you’re awake?”

Mo Tiange turned her head towards the direction of the voice and saw that Qin Xi was sitting beside a desk in the outer room with his back towards her, seemingly drawing talismans.

Upon seeing this scene, her heart calmed down slightly. Since Qin Xi was so carefree, they ought to be out of danger already.

Nevertheless, because she was still quite bewildered, she asked, “Senior Martial Brother Qin, were we discovered?”

Qin Xi put down his brush then burned all the incorrect talisman papers before he answered, “No, I knocked you out.”

“Huh?” She became even more confused than before.

Qin Xi didn’t provide any further explanation. He simply tidied up the papers and the brush on the table then said, “Since you’re awake, we should leave soon.”

Mo Tiange nodded, all the while assuming that since they escaped unharmed from two Core Formation cultivators, he probably used some kind of secret technique that must’ve been inappropriate for her to know about.

But she always felt that Qin Xi was very strange. He had always been able to accomplish things she thought were basically impossible. His attitude had always been very calm, causing her to feel overly paranoid every time she started to have doubts about him. Was he perhaps able to accomplish those things because he had high-level cultivators as elders and consequently had a lot of treasures?

“Oh! I forgot!” Qin Xi took out several things from inside his Qiankun Bag, gave them to her and said, “For you. I picked them up yesterday.”

What Qin Xi gave her were a flexible metal armor and a jade ruler. She said doubtfully, “These are…”

“These are Heaven and Earth Cloud-Silk Armor and Land-Fleeing Ruler. The former is a defensive item – it can protect you from several strikes by a cultivator who’s in the same realm as you if you wear it. As for the Land-Fleeing Ruler, it’s very useful when you need to escape. It can help you flee several thousand feet in an instant.”

Mo Tiange was stunned as she finally realized how valuable these things were. Although they weren’t magic weapons, they didn’t fall short of magic weapons. She asked, “Why are you giving them to me?”

Qin Xi said, “I didn’t want them, but I thought it would be a pity if I didn’t take them, so I could only give them to you.”

“But…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence because Qin Xi cut her off. “Stop saying but. You were always blunt before, so why are you becoming so little-girl-like now?”

Well, don’t you think it’s because you now know that I’m a woman and I don’t want to owe you any more favors?

Unfortunately, she couldn’t say those words out loud for fear of offending Qin Xi. When she suffered a calamity, she received his help; it could be said that she owed him a favor. Moreover, she also wanted to maintain some distance between them. However, if he knew about her intentions, he might feel that she was an ungrateful person.

“Alright, I won’t say anything superfluous anymore. In any case, I’ve already received too many favors from you, so adding another one won’t hurt…”

Qin Xi smiled and said, “This is how Junior Martial Brother Ye ought to be… Oh, I’ll head out first. You can tidy up and come out when you finish.”

“En, got it.”

A moment later, when the two of them left the inn, Mo Tiange realized they were unexpectedly still at the foot of Mount Yunwu.

She thought inwardly,  As expected of someone who comes from a powerful clan; he has guts!

Just before they left, Mo Tiange turned around and gazed at Mount Yunwu. The North and South Peak stood erect, towering into the clouds with spiritual aura lingering around them. She had once strived hard to get into this place. Now, she had to escape by risking her life.

“Junior Martial Brother Ye, do you still have anything you can’t let go of?”

Mo Tiange was silent for a while before she shook her head and said, “It’s not a matter of letting go. I’m just thinking about the people I know… It’s a pity I can’t see them now.”

Qin Xi said, “Don’t worry. Although Senior Martial Brother Liu hasn’t built his foundation, he has obtained good favor from a senior and his future seems good. As for Junior Martial Sister Murong, I heard her cultivation is progressing smoothly. Besides, she has her clan supporting her, so I presume her chances of building her foundation are very high.”

“Really?” Mo Tiange muttered. She then thought of Jiang Shanghang and wondered he escaped.

Forget it! Now I can’t even look after myself; I have to let nature take its course. If it’s fated, we’ll definitely meet again one day.

“Senior Martial Brother Qin, let’s go.”

Several days later, Qin Xi and Mo Tiange arrived at a small market square located at the valley between two peaks of Mount Huan.

This valley was northeast of Mount Yunwu. They originally weren’t going to pass through this place, but since Mo Tiange wanted to deal with some matters there and Qin Xi agreed, the two of them made a detour to this market square.

The two of them first went to Tianqiao’s small shop. As Mo Tiange expected, when they arrived, the shop’s door was shut.

Just as she was about to push the door open and enter, someone came out from the shop next door and called out, “Master Immortal, you mustn’t go in!”

Mo Tiange turned around and saw a mortal in shop’s clerk attire. She frowned and asked, “Why?”

The shop clerk hastily bowed to them as a greeting and said reverently, “Master Immortal, it’s not that I’m not allowing you to enter; it’s just that this shop has been sealed by the administration hall of our market square.”

“Sealed?”  What does that mean?

After observing her expression, the clerk said, “Master Immortal, you’re not from around here, are you? An incident happened in this shop, so our administration hall took possession of this building. At the moment, it still hasn’t been rented out yet. It’s only an empty house.”

“Oh?” Mo Tiange frowned and continued to ask, “What about the former shop owners?”

Upon hearing this question, the clerk heaved a sigh and said, “I’m going to be honest. The young married couple that originally ran this shop is dead.”

Mo Tiange already knew that, so this time, she simply asked, “Then what about their bodies?”

Her question was too direct and caused the clerk to be filled with doubt. However, the clerk didn’t dare to say anything and simply answered, “I don’t know. I only know that the matter was handled by the administration hall.”

“Where’s the administration hall?”

“Eh… You just have to walk straight from here until you reach the largest building. That’s the administration hall.”

Mo Tiange nodded then took out a piece of gold and gave it to the clerk.

Obtaining such a huge piece of gold just for answering a few questions made the clerk beam with happiness. He repeatedly said, “Thank you, Master Immortal… Thank you, Master Immortal…”

The two of them turned around and walked away. They didn’t have to walk far to find the administration hall.

There was only a second layer Aura Refining cultivator guarding the interior of the administration hall. While drinking his wine, the cultivator asked very impatiently, “Do Fellow Daoists need something?”

This person was covered with the smell of wine, making Mo Tiange furrow her brows. “Is this the administration hall?”

The cultivator hiccupped and cast a sideways glance at them. He didn’t make the slightest attempt to correct his behavior even though he had already seen their cultivation levels. Instead, he pointed somewhere outside the door while still holding a wine bottle and said with closed eyes, “If you don’t know, take a proper look outside before coming in again.”

Mo Tiange was quite angry, though she suppressed her temper. She was about to ask another question when Qin Xi stepped forward and threw a handful of spirit stones onto the table. He said coldly, “We have some matters we need to ask you about.”

The cultivator’s eyes instantly went bright upon seeing the spirit stones on the table. His attitude also changed straightaway. Not only did he put the wine bottle down, but he even stood up and politely saluted them. He then said, “If Fellow Daoists have any questions, I will certainly tell Fellow Daoists everything I know.”

The man’s two completely different attitudes simply rendered Mo Tiange speechless. The cultivators operating in this market square were indeed money grubbers! He obviously knew their cultivation levels were far higher than his, but he was still completely indifferent about it at first. When he saw their money, he instantly became very courteous!

She directly asked, “Several days ago, a married couple died in your market square. Could you tell me the whereabouts of their bodies?”

Upon hearing her question, the man pondered it for a moment before answering, “Fellow Daoist must be talking about the couple surnamed Meng, right?”

Mo Tiange nodded. “Yes. How did you handle their funerals?”

“This…” The man cautiously sized her up then said, “May I ask how Fellow Daoist is related to them?”

“I’m their relative.”

After he heard her answer, he cast a rather guilty glance at her and said, “Fellow Daoist, we had never heard about the fellow surnamed Meng having any relatives before…”

Mo Tiange frowned. His appearance now clearly revealed that something was off. “You only need to tell us where their bodies are!”

The man kept staring at the spirit stones on the table and eventually answered, “Fellow Daoist, we really didn’t know they still had relatives, so we could only follow the usual practice… We cremated them and buried their ashes at the mountain in the back…”

Mo Tiange’s heart sank. She said, “You mean, their bodies are gone?”

“Not exactly…” Seeing how cold her expression was, the man honestly answered, “You can still look for them if you want, but since the ashes were buried in the ground, it’d be hard to differentiate the soil from the ashes… Fellow Daoists?”

Mo Tiange took a deep breath, turned around and walked away. If she stayed for another second, she might hit this person and kill him!

Qin Xi rushed to catch up with her and shouted, “Junior Martial Brother Ye!”

Mo Tiange stopped and tried to suppress her anger. She just wanted to give Tianqiao a funeral. If she had the chance in the future, she planned on bringing their ashes back to Mo Family’s Village. However…

“Junior Martial Brother Ye, who were you trying to find?”

Mo Tiange was silent for a while before she answered, “My female cousin. We grew up together when we were children, and she was the one who took care of me the most.”

“Oh? You looked like you already knew they were…”

Mo Tiange let out a bitter laugh and said, “Of course I already knew. After all, they were harmed by me.”

“Harmed?”

Mo Tiange nodded then hung her head, looking extremely despondent. If only she hadn’t taken the pill recipe for Constitution-Enhancing Pills, Jiang Chengxian wouldn’t have noticed her; if only she wasn’t too careless, she wouldn’t have been discovered when she was at Hu Clan’s market. Jiang Chengxian also wouldn’t have recognized her and Tianqiao wouldn’t have suffered from soul-searching. It was because of her that Tianqiao lost her life…

Once he saw her expression, Qin Xi no longer questioned her. He just sighed and asked, “Are you feeling very guilty?”

For a moment, Mo Tiange was at loss, but she eventually nodded and whispered, “Yes, if it wasn’t because they met me, nothing would’ve happened to them…”

“Would you perhaps feel a bit better if you could find their ashes?”

“I…”

“After people die, does it matter where their ashes are buried? Even if they have gravestones, those are nothing but objects to console the living. Even if you took their ashes back, would it make any difference to them?”

Mo Tiange remained silent.

Qin Xi stared at her and said indifferently, “Don’t forget, you’re a cultivator.”

Although his tone was flat and didn’t sound like he was rebuking her, Mo Tiange understood the warning behind his words.

Cultivators must neither be constrained by external matters nor cling to outer appearances. If they couldn’t even understand this, what kind of cultivators were they? Cultivating the heart was also required to become an Immortal. If they couldn’t even disregard external matters, how could they progress in their cultivation?

She understood these principles, but…

“In Yunwu Sect, I always thought you were an unconstrained person who was very steadfast on the path of cultivation. However, it’s only now that I realize you can’t even see past your own emotions! Junior Martial Brother Ye, you need to realize that if you continue on like this, you can only reach the Foundation Building realm at the most. As for the Core Formation realm… it would be utterly hopeless for you!”

Mo Tiange’s heart sank.  Right! Second Uncle’s gone. How can I make any more mistakes? Since it’s already happened, feeling guilty is useless, and so is feeling remorseful.

She closed her eyes and sincerely said, “Senior Martial Brother Qin, thank you.”