Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
At the Nascent Soul ceremony for Lord Daoist Xuanyin, this woman was still in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. After Master Song Feng showed up, she disappeared inexplicably with unknown techniques. Mo Tiange never expected to see her again after over five decades, and this woman had also advanced to the Core Formation realm.
It was nothing strange, though. Back in those days, the woman was already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm, and if she was really Master Song Feng’s disciple, it would also be typical for her to advance to the early stage of the Core Formation realm within fifty years. Mo Tiange was only in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm at that time, and she had now also advanced to Core Formation realm.
She explained the matter to Jing Xingzhi roughly. The latter paused and didn’t say anything. Jing Xingzhi loved beautiful girls but was malicious in his heart. Compared to Qin Xi, he was even more ruthless. If Qin Xi promised he would take someone with him, at least he wouldn’t eat his words unlike Jing Xingzhi, who had been pleasing her throughout the way but never treated her as an earnest partner.
However, the woman was a Core Formation cultivator, after all, and faced with the current situation, they could use her help to some degree. Mo Tiange wondered what decision Jing Xingzhi would make.
Mo Tiange turned to look at the woman and discovered she had become much more powerful in her martial power than five decades ago. Unsurprisingly, martial cultivators were like sword cultivators and usually had stronger magical power than normal cultivators. The higher their cultivation level, the more obvious their advantage would be. Although the woman was only in the early stage of the Core Formation realm, the power of her movements was no worse than middle-stage Core Formation cultivators, if not even stronger.
Mo Tiange was very unsure in her heart. If the woman could join hands with them, she might be helpful, but if she turned against them… There were indeed numerous dangers in the misty fog.
After a while, Jing Xingzhi finally responded with his secret voice. “If possible, let’s join hands with her then.”
Mo Tiange nodded. No matter what, she chose to believe in Jing Xingzhi now.
“Young Lady!” Jing Xingzhi raised his voice. “I’m a cultivator from Gujian Sect. I was wondering if you’re Master Song Feng’s disciple?”
As soon as Jing Xingzhi said that, the figure in black paused and turned around, sweeping a glance over the two of them with alertness.
Jing Xingzhi revealed a smile and said to her, “Don’t worry, we don’t mean any harm, young lady. The fog is really weird, and now that you and I are both trapped here, would you mind if we joined hands?”
The woman stared at them for a long time but didn’t say a word.
Jing Xingzhi said again, “On Demonic Mountain, there’s danger everywhere. Young lady, although you’re powerful and very brave, you only have yourself. With one more set of hands, at least we could have one more way to escape this place.”
As he said that, Jing Xingzhi’s expression looked very sincere. The woman looked at him and looked at Mo Tiange, who was resisting the Gold Wire Rats behind him, then her vigilant expression relaxed slowly. She didn’t open her mouth, but her deep and hoarse voice rang out. “If I joined hands with you, what could we do?”
Upon hearing this, Jing Xingzhi smiled and said, “Naturally, we’d join hands to save ourselves and look for a way out.”
“A way out?” The woman curled the corners of her mouth a bit, revealing a smile, but it looked more like a sneer. “Have you found a way out?”
“No,” Jing Xingzhi said frankly. “But having the two of us is safer than being by yourself.”
Mo Tiange had to admit that when Jing Xingzhi acted normally and seriously, he was indeed charming. Under his gaze, the woman gradually became less ruthless. She asked, “How can I trust you?”
Jing Xingzhi laughed. “What’s the point of killing you in the fog? Besides, young lady, since you’ve reached this point in Immortal’s Ruins, I assume you must have some special techniques. Even if we turned against each other, wouldn’t you have a way of getting away?”
As he finished speaking, the woman dropped into silence. As she was distracted for just an instant, a group of Gold Wire Rats suddenly ran at her. With a flash of his sword light, Jing Xingzhi waved his flying sword fiercely, flesh and blood flying in all directions the sword light could reach. The group of Gold Wire Rats was killed right on the spot.
After these Gold Wire Rats were killed, the other Gold Wire Rats around them also began to run at them. The three of them didn’t dare to be inattentive, and they immediately cooperated with each other to kill these violent Gold Wire Rats one by one.
At first, because Mo Tiange didn’t have a convenient magic weapon, she and Jing Xingzhi didn’t have enough killing ability. But they now had the woman who was a martial cultivator and she was much faster in killing demonic beasts than normal cultivators, so with the three of them joining hands, the number of Gold Wire Rats decreased gradually. Around one hour later, all of these Gold Wire Rats were finally killed.
Since the three of them killed the rats together, they had actually already allied with one another. After that, they were all exhausted. Mo Tiange couldn’t even stand still, and Xiaohuo simply stuck its tongue out with its stomach on the ground.
The three of them sat on the ground and breathed to adjust their breaths with different postures. A moment later, their breaths were all finally regulated.
Jing Xingzhi smiled at the woman. “Young lady, may I know your name?”
A trace of hesitation flashed past the woman’s eyes, and she answered, “Nie Wushang.”
Jing Xingzhi was stunned. “Wushang? Wu for enchantment and shang for rainbow?”
“No.” The woman’s expression was indifferent and without any ripples. “Wu for nothing and shang for harm.”
“…” Jing Xingzhi had experienced all kinds of beauties, but he had never heard of such a name, and he didn’t know what to say for a time. Wushang didn’t sound like a girl’s name. Then after a long time, he had to continue with praise, “It’s a special name.”
A sneer-like smile appeared on the woman’s face again, and she didn’t pick up the topic.
“My name’s Jing Xingzhi.”
After hearing Jing Xingzhi’s self-introduction, Nie Wushang only nodded, then she turned to Mo Tiange and said, “Fellow Daoist Mo, it’s been a long time since we’ve met. Do you still remember me?”
Mo Tiange nodded, neither with intimacy nor alienation. Then she answered with the same indifference, “Of course I remember, and it’s a pity that I didn’t know your name until today, Fellow Daoist.”
Cultivators usually had good memories, so it was not surprising that they remembered each other, but Mo Tiange had doubts in her heart. In those days, the woman looked no different from common cultivators. Yet today, she’d used ventriloquism the whole time, and her voice sounded quite strange. She never opened her mouth and spoke from beginning to end. Had anything changed in the last fifty years?
However, Mo Tiange had no friendship with her, and they could even be said to be enemies, so Mo Tiange just thought about the matter in her heart and didn’t ask.
After some simple conversation, the three of them staggered on for hours and took turns in recovering their spiritual aura.
A moment later, Jing Xingzhi finished sitting in meditation and asked Nie Wushang, “Miss Nie, how long have you been here? Do you have any clue on how to get out of here?”
Nie Wushang answered, “I’ve been here for about one day. Divine senses don’t work, and the directions are confusing. I haven’t found any way out.”
Her situation was similar to theirs. Jing Xingzhi turned to look at Mo Tiange and said, “We haven’t either. But throughout the way, Fellow Daoist Qingwei has left formation marks. Did you ever see any of them?”
“You drew that Eight-Trigrams pattern?” Nie Wushang frowned.
Mo Tiange answered, “Yes. So to speak, you’ve once seen the pattern, Fellow Daoist Nie?”
Nie Wushang nodded. “I saw it several times… But I’m not proficient in formations, so I didn’t know how to walk along it.”
“Several times? We’ve walked according to the Eight-Trigrams pattern all the way. If you only saw the pattern several times, Fellow Daoist, you must’ve turned several circles at the same place.”
“…So that’s it.” Nie Wushang paused and asked lightly, “So the two of you have a way to get out?”
Mo Tiange’s expression was cold. “Not necessarily. No one knows how extensive the fog is, and no one knows if we’ve taken the right direction. Divine senses can’t work in the fog, so the array formation also can’t be entirely trusted.”
She wasn’t talking nonsense, actually. The formation could only indicate directions, not lead them toward the right way. Furthermore, since the fog could affect divine senses, could it also influence other things? They didn’t know.
The three of them were silent for a while, then Jing Xingzhi said, “Girls, have you recovered your spiritual aura?”
“Yes.” With a small cycle in her body, Mo Tiange could now recover her spiritual aura very quickly.
Nie Wushang also nodded.
Jing Xingzhi then asked, “So what do you think we should do next?”
Mo Tiange didn’t immediately answer but turned to look at Nie Wushang, while the latter also didn’t respond with her head down.
Waiting for a while in silence, Jing Xingzhi said again, “Girls, our lives are at stake now. If you have anything to say, just say it.” He didn’t smile but looked at them seriously.
“…I have nothing to say.” The first to open her mouth was Mo Tiange, and she continued lightly, “Frankly speaking, I’m weaker than both of you and I only know simple formations. Marking directions using the array formation was the only method I could think of.”
Both Jing Xingzhi and Nie Wushang didn’t say a word. After a while in silence, Nie Wushang’s hoarse voice sounded. “Fellow Daoist, you’re being too modest. With this spiritual beast in the fifth rank, you’re already very powerful.”
Mo Tiange smiled. “I’m just stating the facts. Compared to cultivators, spiritual beasts are far too weak.”
“But Fellow Daoist, you also have extraordinary magic weapons.” Nie Wushang raised her brows and smiled. Her smile wasn’t simple though. The first few times, her smile was always mixed with sarcasm, but it seemed to have another meaning this time.
Mo Tiange pretended she didn’t notice anything and curled the corners of her mouth slightly. “I’m flattered, Fellow Daoist Nie.”
Nie Wushang continued, “Fellow Daoist Mo, I heard that both your master and senior martial brother came to Demonic Mountain? But why are you here alone?”
Mo Tiange gave her a look and said calmly, “They had other goals.”
“Really?” Nie Wushang smiled again. This time, her smile gave out a feeling of enchantment, but it also seemed a little gloomy. “Fellow Daoist Mo… Haven’t you lost contact with them?”
As soon as Nie Wushang finished speaking, Mo Tiange didn’t move, but Jing Xingzhi took out his sword rashly and the sword light surged toward Nie Wushang.
Nie Wushang didn’t move though. She raised her head and smiled at Jing Xingzhi. “Fellow Daoist Jing, what are you doing? Aren’t you unrelated to Xuanqing School?”
Jing Xingzhi said coldly with a pair of icy eyes, “I’m even more unrelated with Master Song Feng!”
“Heh!” Nie Wushang still ignored the motionless flying sword suspended before her eyes and said, “I heard you’ve got a Daoist name, Fellow Daoist Mo. When I first met you several decades ago, I really didn’t expect this day to come so soon. You deserve to be Lord Daoist Jinghe’s highly-valued disciple.”
Mo Tiange sat still and didn’t move, responding with the same sentence, “I’m flattered, Fellow Daoist Nie.”
“To be honest,” Nie Wushang looked at Mo Tiange with a cold expression, “Fellow Daoist Mo, I’m not jealous of your talents in cultivation, but I envy your experiences so much.”
“…”
“Famous house, Nascent Soul master who cares about his disciple… Fellow Daoist, you’re so lucky…” As Nie Wushang spoke, her eyes turned away from Mo Tiange and her smile seemed a little distant.
Jing Xingzhi’s expression changed a bit. The sword light flashed and he put away his weapon. “Fellow Daoist Nie, what do you mean by all that?”
