Lady Cultivator

The three Core Formation elders sank into contemplation upon hearing what Mo Tiange said.

Some time later, Elder Qingyi eventually sighed then waved her hand. “You two may go. Little Friend Ye, thank you for your words today; regarding the concocting matter, we’ll definitely provide our full cooperation.”

Mo Tiange bowed with cupped hands. She didn’t say anything further and stepped onto the Transporting Formation along with Wei Haolan, leaving the third floor.

Once they were on the second floor, Wei Haolan couldn’t help but take another look at Mo Tiange. “Fellow Daoist Ye, you’ve really reached the late stage of the Foundation Building realm already?”

Mo Tiange noticed Wei Haolan’s gaze seemed to be suffused with vigilance, but upon recalling what Wei Haolan said when they went up just now, she knew Wei Haolan must have doubts about her. However, aside from borrowing their Transporting Formation, Mo Tiange had no other intentions regarding Bixuan Court, so she just openly let Wei Haolan assess herself.

“Yes. I had to be careful since I’m traveling by myself on the outside; it wasn’t really my intention to deceive Sect Head Wei, so please forgive me.”

Mo Tiange’s honest manner and explanation, coupled with the fact that the three elders didn’t make things difficult for her, finally made Wei Haolan cast aside her doubts. “Rest assured Fellow Daoist Ye, I’ll naturally comply with the elders’ instructions.”

Although that was the case, Wei Haolan still looked away from Mo Tiange. Presumably, she was feeling uncomfortable because she just revealed some of her innermost secrets, only to discover that Mo Tiange had been hiding something from her all along.

The two of them couldn’t really be considered friends, but after getting along for so long, they had a certain trust in each other’s character. This kind of trust was why she could say what she said a while ago. Because of that, although Wei Haolan knew she couldn’t blame Mo Tiange for this, she still felt somewhat unhappy.

Mo Tiange didn’t speak up again, so the two of them proceeded to the first floor in silence.

The middle-aged male cultivator surnamed Shangguan was still there. When he saw them coming down, he stood up and greeted them. “Sect Head, Fellow Daoist Ye.”

He was extremely courteous to Mo Tiange, and when they first met, a hint of awe flitted across his face. Mo Tiange originally assumed he was accustomed to being polite to female cultivators because he was in a cultivation group for female cultivators, so she didn’t really pay attention to his behavior.

But in fact, he was carefully cultivated by the three Core Formation cultivators, and he himself was already in the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm—why did he need to be this polite to an early stage Foundation Building cultivator? It was naturally because his cultivation level was higher than hers, so once she came in, he immediately realized this “Fellow Daoist Ye” was a late stage Foundation Building cultivator.

Some puzzles were solvable. There were originally bits of loose ends that couldn’t be pieced together, but once people discovered the answer, they’d realize that the hints had been everywhere.

As she thought up to this point, Mo Tiange’s expression wavered. Back then, was this not also the case for her? She wasn’t suspicious before she found out, but once the idea emerged in her mind, she realized the answer was always there. It was just that she hadn’t wanted to face the answer and eventually… there would be no connection between them in the future whatsoever.

“Fellow Daoist Ye?” Wei Haolan’s voice rang in her ears.

Mo Tiange regained her train of thought. She bowed with cupped hands to return the male cultivator’s greetings then went down the Dao-Achieving Pagoda with Wei Haolan.

Once they were outside, Mo Tiange once again gazed at the floating pagoda towering high in the sky. She couldn’t help but feel emotional. To actually render her Spirit-Concealing Pendant ineffective… It was clear how amazing this Dao-Achieving Pagoda’s restrictions were! Furthermore, this pagoda was created by a female Nascent Soul cultivator! Who said female cultivators weren’t as good as male cultivators? There were also geniuses among female cultivators; it was just that there weren’t many female cultivators who worked hard.

“Fellow Daoist Ye, aside from your cultivation level, are you hiding anything else?” Wei Haolan also came to a stop in front of the pagoda and stared at Mo Tiange.

Mo Tiange shifted her gaze away from the pagoda with a faint smile. “Maybe I am… but I can guarantee to Sect Head Wei that these things would make no difference to Bixuan Court.”

She still kept her and her real master’s names secret, but she did this on Lord Daoist Jinghe’s command. Before she started her journey, Master Song Feng dropped by Xuanqing School to seek revenge, saying he would never let go of his grudge. Although her master was prideful, he wasn’t pedantic—he preferred she hide her status as his disciple to avoid creating unnecessary danger for her. Moreover, it wasn’t important to outsiders whose Xuanqing School disciple she was.

Wei Haolan stared at Mo Tiange for a long time before she finally withdrew her gaze and accepted what she said. “That being the case, I’m not going to probe further. Fellow Daoist Ye, will it be a problem if we started concocting tomorrow?”

Mo Tiange nodded. “No problem.” She didn’t really need to prepare much to concoct Clear Sky Pills.

“Then let me take Fellow Daoist back.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

The two of them walked together in silence. When they were about to reach the guest house, a maid ran over in a hurry, looking completely delighted to see Wei Haolan. Nevertheless, her expression quickly became worried. “Sect Head,” she said and saluted.

Hearing the anxiety in her tone, Wei Haolan stopped in her tracks then said to Mo Tiange, “Fellow Daoist Ye, I can’t see you off inside—please don’t take any offense.”

Mo Tiange understood her meaning, so she said, “Sect Head Wei doesn’t have to be over courteous. I’ll take my leave first.”

The two of them nodded at each other then Mo Tiange turned around and proceeded towards the courtyard.

From a distance, she could vaguely hear the maid’s voice: “Sect Head, some of our disciples have gone missing…”

Although Mo Tiange was surprised, her steps didn’t falter and she directly went into the guest house.

The moment they saw her come inside, both Yi Liu and Yi Qiu looked delighted and immediately rushed towards her. “Senior Ye!”

Astonished, Mo Tiange asked, “What’s wrong?” Just now, the two of them looked very anxious and seemed to be waiting for her.

Yi Qiu turned around and went to the back. A moment later, she came out, carrying the Feifei over. “We don’t know what happened—Feifei’s listless today.”

” Feifei ¹ ” was the name of this Feifei. After receiving this Feifei, Yi Liu and Yi Qiu immediately pestered her to give it a name. Mo Tiange wasn’t good at giving names; since it was a Feifei, she just named it “Feifei,” just like how she named the Inferno Beast ” Xiaohuo ² .” Both Yi Liu and Yi Qiu protested, asking her how she could name it so casually. Nevertheless, their protests fell on deaf ears; Mo Tiange was too lazy to think of another name, so they had to call it “Feifei.”

Mo Tiange brought Feifei up and examined it briefly. The normally lively, small spiritual beast was now spiritless. Its eyes were half-closed, but it didn’t seem like it was sleeping like it was when it was brought to her the other day; instead, it looked as if it lost its vitality.

After using her divine comprehension to sense its thoughts, she said, “It’s alright. It’s just in a bad mood because I haven’t had time to take care of it these past few days and it became listless.”

“Oh…” Both Yi Liu and Yi Qiu felt relieved, but at the same time, they also felt a bit resistant. “We still thought we’d be able to keep taking care of it because Senior wouldn’t have time while concocting pills, but now, it seems we have to return it to Senior…”

Mo Tiange just chuckled and said nothing else. She then took the spiritual fruit Yi Liu handed over and personally fed it to Feifei in her embrace.

Feifei obviously didn’t have any appetite because it refused to eat. Yi Liu and Yi Qiu, who saw that it was still vigorless, also didn’t have the heart to tease it. They could only return it to Mo Tiange begrudgingly.

When the two of them excused themselves, Mo Tiange specifically told them that she wanted to rest properly to prepare for pill-concocting the next day. Yi Liu and Yi Qiu had long obtained instructions from the Sect Head, so they immediately said they wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb her. After the two of them left, Mo Tiange once again activated the formation in the house then entered the Virtual Sky World, carrying Feifei in her arms.

Right after they entered the Virtual Sky World, Feifei, who was still lethargic a moment ago, instantly opened its eyes and leaped down from Mo Tiange’s embrace. It threw itself into the small hut then started rolling around on top of the praying mat while letting out “wuwu” noises, looking extremely happy.

Mo Tiange couldn’t help but laugh. She took another praying mat from the side, sat down and pinched its round nose. “Naughty ghost! In fact, you just wanted to come inside, right?”

A few days ago, she took Feifei into the Virtual Sky World for the first time. It was extremely delighted, just like Xiahuo when Xiaohuo first entered. Later on, she was busy with the pill-concocting matter, so she entrusted it under Yi Liu and Yi Qiu’s care. Unexpectedly, this little guy had actually been longing for this place, and it even went as far as pretending to be ill! If it wasn’t for the contract that existed between them, Mo Tiange might’ve really been deceived by it!

Speaking of which, were all spiritual beasts sensitive to the space inside the Virtual Sky World? Xiaohuo acted like this, and Feifei acted the same. Or perhaps, while every present living thing originated from the Distant Past era, humans gradually became more inclined to reason, but spiritual beasts retained their instincts, so they still had traces of the Distant Past era inside their bodies? Maybe that was why they liked spaces from the Distant Past era like this Virtual Sky World.

Feifei looked up, rubbed its head on Mo Tiange’s side then bit her sleeve, pulling her outside.

Mo Tiange helplessly stood up and ran following it. “What are you doing? I’ve already let you come here; shouldn’t you be a bit quieter?”

Although Feifei was spiritual, it was still a first rank beast—it was still inferior to Xiaohuo, who had lived inside the Virtual Sky World for years. Fortunately, Mo Tiange established a contract with Feifei, so she could roughly sense its mood.

Mo Tiange watched it trotting along the embankment she opened up. It ran while sniffing around, seemingly looking for something.

Eventually, Feifei stopped under a tree.

The whole tree was yellow, but its yellow color wasn’t the same as ordinary trees. Its yellow color wasn’t the color a tree had when it was dying or when its dried leaves were about to fall; rather, it was a kind of bright, vivid yellow close to the golden color of crops. It had many branches, lush leaves, and was full of fruit.

Mo Tiange knew this tree was called the Flowerless Golden Tree and the fruit it produced was called Flowerless Golden Fruit. This tree took a hundred years to mature, and its fruit dried up a few quarter hours after they were harvested. Both its fruit and leaves could be used to concoct pills, but the medicinal pills were high grade ones that Mo Tiange couldn’t use yet. There were too many spiritual objects like this inside the Virtual Sky World, so she was too lazy to manage it—she just let nature take its course.

At that moment, Feifei went around the tree then squeaked at Mo Tiange a couple of times.

Mo Tiange said, “This Flowerless Golden Fruit can only be eaten by cultivators in the Nascent Soul realm at least. You’re only a first rank spiritual beast now; what should we do if you eat it and its spiritual aura makes your body explode?”

Feifei opened its big, black, watery eyes wide and stared at her for a long time. It also bit the hem of her robe and continued to squeak.

Mo Tiange’s divine sense could feel that Feifei seemed certain that eating this kind of fruit wouldn’t cause any harm. After a moment of contemplation, Mo Tiange eventually nodded. “Alright, I’ll let you eat one for now. If there are no problems, you can do as you like in the future as long as you don’t chew the whole tree down. However, if there’s a problem, you mustn’t touch these spiritual plants in the future.”

Feifei raised its head, squeaked joyfully and spun around her.

Chuckling, Mo Tiange raised her hand and softly picked one of the fruit. She then crouched down and placed it in front of Feifei. “Here you go; be careful, the spiritual aura inside it is very strong.”

“Wuwu.” Feifei squeaked in response and right after, it bit the Flowerless Golden Fruit.

Flowerless Golden Fruit looked a bit like plums, except for their golden outer skin. Feifei’s bite immediately tore the skin open, thus exposing the golden yellow fruit flesh inside. Feifei then hastily opened its mouth wide, swallowing the fruit in one go without even chewing it down. In the end, it even stuck out its tongue to lick the dripping fruit juice.

Mo Tiange smelled a burst of fragrant aroma. It was a unique aroma—it wasn’t as intoxicating as flowers, but it also wasn’t as intense as the fragrance of musk or similar things. Rather, it was very light and sweet and carried a hint of earth and green leaves.

This aroma quickly faded but it didn’t dissipate completely. It now seemed as if the fur on Feifei’s whole body also carried this aroma.

Feifei, who’d just eaten a Flowerless Golden Fruit, felt extremely content. It lay on the ground, enjoying the soft breeze blowing on its body. It even started to roll around on the ground.

However, its expression quickly looked pained. The contract between them allowed Mo Tiange to quickly understand what happened to it.

“Feifei!” Mo Tiange looked down and saw that Feifei, which was still very content a moment ago, was now completely enveloped by a golden aura—this aura was extremely strong, stronger than even the spiritual aura pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Mo Tiange was filled with regret. No matter how smart Feifei was, it was still a first rank spiritual beast that hadn’t grown up yet; how could it possibly understand that there were some things it could eat and some things it couldn’t? Had she known earlier, she shouldn’t have let it eat the fruit like this indiscriminately.