Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Shortly after the Nascent Soul Ceremony, Steward’s Hall conducted a clear investigation into Shui Linbo’s history and reported back.
According to the preliminary investigation, Shui Linbo didn’t seem to have lied. With the exception of what happened in Linhai which couldn’t be confirmed for sure, the Steward’s Hall looked into all her other experiences clearly and there was no cause for suspicion.
Since that was the case, Mo Tiange felt relieved. Ye Zhenji was her and Qin Xi’s closest relation from the younger generation, so it was fine for anyone who would become his Dao companion to lack talent or have a low cultivation level, but she definitely couldn’t harbor bad intentions.
Besides, what put Mo Tiange at ease was that compared to Ye Zhenji, Shui Linbo had a more stable personality, and she’d experienced many things. If Qin Xi could make Shui Linbo urge Ye Zhenji from time to time, Mo Tiange could then focus on her own cultivation in the future and stop worrying about Ye Zhenji.
As for Shui Linbo’s injuries, after confirming there were no suspicions about her past, Mo Tiange asked Kuang Zhu to treat her. Whatever valuable things Kuang Zhu needed, he could just ask Mo Tiange for them. With Mo Tiange’s current offerings, she could fully afford to treat Shui Linbo, and other kinds of precious medicine were also affordable for her.
Regarding Lord Daoist Jinghe, she didn’t need to worry about him in the short term. Shui Linbo had Kuang Zhu taking care of her injuries. Mo Tiange had some other chores which had all been sorted out.
So, in the following days, Mo Tiange wanted to focus mostly on Qin Xi’s Closed Door Meditation.
Qin Xi’s Closed Door Meditation was no small matter this time. His own preliminary estimate was that it would take at least a decade or two. In that case, he had to prepare lots of things.
Mo Tiange felt she couldn’t stay at Xuanqing School for the entire duration. She spent ten years in the Virtual Sky World, and with the help of Dual Cultivation, her cultivation level had successfully reached the peak of the early stage of the Core Formation realm. She’d better not perform any Closed Door Meditations soon. So, she had to either go out traveling or go on business. In that case, she should leave some things for Qin Xi, like special medicinal pills for instance.
It was the same case for Master. She couldn’t make all the medicinal pills he needed, but she had to at least make one or two kinds of pills for Master to use when he came out from his Closed Door Meditation.
Refining pills, making up prescriptions, studying magic weapons, and guiding Zhenji and Shui Linbo occasionally—within the blink of an eye, two years had passed.
These two years had been peaceful and quiet, but also fulfilling. With the two of them as Dao companions, they didn’t bring any trouble to each other’s lives. Their characters aligned, and with the years spent in the Virtual Sky World with each other, they soon got used to life as a couple.
As Qin Xi was about to enter Closed Door Meditation, Mo Tiange weakly sensed a familiar breath in the distance by her divine sense.
It was the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman!
Mo Tiange recalled carefully. It seemed she had given the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman to only one person—Wei Haolan, the head of Bixuan Court, who was supposed to be ten thousand miles away!
But this breath wasn’t far away; it was roughly from Kunzhong City. Maybe someone from Bixuan Court had come to Kunwu?
Mo Tiange told this to Qin Xi. The latter wrinkled his brows and thought for a moment then said, “Since they know who you are, why didn’t they just come and find you instead of sending the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman?”
This was exactly what Mo Tiange was confused about. “Maybe this person encountered some danger and had to contact me this way.”
“En.” Qin Xi agreed. He considered it for a moment and said, “I could go with you.”
“Wait, no!” Mo Tiange looked at him and said helplessly, “You’re a Nascent Soul cultivator now and you’re going to enter Closed Door Meditation after all this preparations; how could you go with me?”
Qin Xi was a little embarrassed and said, “I’m worried about…”
“At least I’m a Core Formation cultivator now, and I can almost advance to the middle stage, lacking only a bit of understanding. You’ve taught me a lot about fights of magical power over the years. Can’t I do such a little thing by myself?”
“…” Qin Xi had no words to say. He was just too worried she might put herself in danger.
“I’ll call the shots,” Mo Tiange said seriously. “You should enter Closed Door Meditation as planned. I can handle these things by myself…” Upon seeing that Qin Xi seemed to want to say something, Mo Tiange raised her hand to stop him and looked directly into his eyes. “Trust me, okay?”
After thinking for a while, Qin Xi sighed helplessly and nodded. “Fine. I know I should trust you no matter what.”
Upon receiving his permission, Mo Tiange smiled, went up to him and leaned over to kiss him. “Okay, just enter your Closed Door Meditation. When you’re done, everything will be settled.”
Qin Xi pressed her immediately. “That’s not enough…”
…
A few days later, Qin Xi went to begin his Closed Door Meditation while Mo Tiange left Xuanqing School, heading to Kunzhong City to look for the breath of the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman.
Although the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman wasn’t far off, it also wasn’t close. It would take a Core Formation cultivator at least a few days to fly to the vicinity of Kunzhong City.
Mo Tiange didn’t know whether she would be able to arrive in time or not. She had to do her best.
She recalled that back in those days when she and her second uncle asked Qin Xi for help via a Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman, Qin Xi happened to be nearby. Otherwise, her and her second uncle would’ve died somewhere unknown waiting for him or Xuanqing School disciples to come.
This kind of Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman was sealed with the cultivator’s own divine sense. Even if it was ten thousand miles away, it could also track down the place where the sound-transmitting talisman was crumbed. The essence of the divine sense was also relatively long-standing. It could last for nearly a month, which was long enough for Mo Tiange to find the place.
The speed of her Cloud-Treading Boots reached its max. Only a few days later, Mo Tiange landed outside Kunzhong City.
The place where the Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman was crumbed was in Kunzhong City. Upon approaching the city, Mo Tiange confirmed the direction and followed the trace left by the divine sense. However, she then discovered it was the same hotel restaurant where Qin Xi had brought her twelve years ago to meet with Daoist Kumu and the others.
Back then, she had just formed her Golden Core and she felt uncomfortable using her divine sense even in Kunzhong City. Now, after twelve years had passed, those Core Formation seniors who looked down on her here in this hotel restaurant were all gone, but she had been able to make her way through the Core Formation realm with ease.
This path of immortality was so cruel. With the big waves striking the land, the sand was washed, and the new generation replaced the older generation.
What happened to Ye Zhenji in those days enraged Lord Daoist Jinghe. Master Daoist Mingzhen slaughtered the Individual Cultivator Alliance in Kunzhong City, which also made Xuanqing School a devil in the heart of Kunzhong City’s people. Since then, Kunzhong City remained a city of individual cultivators and a city of trade, but it couldn’t remain neutral like before anymore.
Upon seeing that Mo Tiange was wearing Xuanqing School’s Dao robes, the hotel restaurant’s boss came forward and greeted her warmly, “Greetings to Fairy. What may I do for you, Fairy?”
Mo Tiange went upstairs, following the divine sense’s prints. After several turns, she pointed to a room and asked, “Who was living in this room half a month ago?”
“Half a month ago?” The shopkeeper froze then continued, “Fairy, in this room lives two Master Immortals. Indeed, they’ve been here for half a month and haven’t checked out!”
Two Master Immortals? Mo Tiange’s eyes shifted. Did Bixuan Court send a male cultivator?
Her divine sense had covered the entire inn. There wasn’t anyone in this room.
“Have they gone out?”
“Well…” The shopkeeper shook his head. “Fairy, I’m just a mortal. If Master Immortals left, I wouldn’t know!”
What he said was true. Aside from low-stage cultivators, what kind of cultivators who were staying at the inn would use the main gate? They would just fly out.
Mo Tiange was thinking about how to deal with this when she noticed the shopkeeper looking at her fearfully, so she said, “You can go about your own business; I’m just here to look for someone.”
The shopkeeper responded with great respect and turned to go downstairs.
After the shopkeeper left, Mo Tiange swung her spiritual aura all over and the door opened with a sound.
She stepped into the room, swept her gaze over and spread her divine sense, frowning.
The Thousand of Miles Sound-Transmitting Talisman was indeed crushed here, and the room also had the breath of other cultivators, but this wasn’t good news, because according to the residual breath, she guessed that at least one of these two people was a Core Formation cultivator!
Bixuan Court shouldn’t have developed a Core Formation cultivator so fast, so was the person from Bixuan Court captured by a Core Formation cultivator?
However, there were no defensive array formations or restrictions set there, and it seemed the two cultivators were only treating the inn as a temporary abode.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment then probed into her Qiankun Bag and took out a number of things, including array plates and flags.
She hadn’t fought against enemies with array formations for a long time. The situation now was quite suitable for setting up an ambush.
With a slight smile, her sleeves flew up and down and the array plates and flags all flew out, landing on the floor. Only a moment later, everything had been settled. Then she went to the corner and placed the spirit stones.
With this Four Symbols Hundred Flowers Formation, the two cultivators wouldn’t be difficult to deal with even if this Core Formation cultivator surpassed her in cultivation level.
After finishing all this, Mo Tiange took out the Heaven and Earth Fan and held it in her hand then leaned by the window leisurely, enjoying some tea and the view of the street below.
Time was ticking away. It was noon when she arrived and now night had fallen, yet no one came back. Mo Tiange wasn’t anxious though. Since they hadn’t checked out, they should be returning; if they had really left, she didn’t have any other clues to trace them as she didn’t even know who had sent the talisman. So, she’d better continue to wait.
She waited till the moon was at its zenith.
Late at night, shops and stores in Kunzhong City closed one after another. Mo Tiange sat in a chair with her legs crossed, regulating her breath silently.
Suddenly, her divine sense tightened and she immediately hid her breath.
The method she used to hide her breath wasn’t wise, but she had a Spirit-Concealing Pendant, so even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t discover her for a time.
Then two breaths appeared nearby. One was in the Middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, and the other was in the Core Formation… late stage!
Mo Tiange was very surprised. A late-stage Core Formation cultivator—would she have the possibility to defeat them? Thoughts flashed through her mind, but she then calmed down. What was she scared of? She wasn’t the Mo Qingwei who had just advanced to the Core Formation realm twelve years ago. She had the Heaven and Earth Fan, ten years of exploring by herself, and Qin Xi also taught her tricks occasionally; in terms of fights of magical power, her strength had increased a lot, not to mention that she had the Four Symbols Hundred Flowers Formation backing her up now.
The two people were getting closer and closer. Mo Tiange heard their voices.
“You lad. Can’t you just stay quiet? When have I ever been unkind to you? Run, run, run—where do you think you can run away?!” This voice sounded a little familiar.
Mo Tiange frowned slightly and tightened her grip on the Heaven and Earth Fan. Even if it wasn’t someone she knew, she had to control the party, then they could talk afterward.
She then heard another familiar voice begging, “Predecessor, will you please let me go? What’s in it for you to hold onto me? I…”
Tang Shen! Mo Tiange raised both her brows. It was Tang Shen’s voice. So it was him who came to Kunwu?
