Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Not long after, the Nascent Soul Ceremony was held as scheduled.
The Nascent Soul Ceremony was very lowkey this time; only allied sects were invited. However, the guests who came to attend the ceremony were at least led by the Nascent Soul cultivators, so its ceremoniousness was no lesser than last time at all.
Thus, Mo Tiange was very busy. There weren’t many guests, but the guests with the lowest cultivation levels were in the Core Formation realm, which meant that they should at least be received by Core Formation cultivators. Now that she’d become Qin Xi’s Dao companion, she couldn’t keep herself out of the affair even more.
Compared to the reception of guests, the formal Nascent Soul Ceremony was quite simple. Like last time, under the witness of all the disciples and guests, Qin Xi saluted Three Pure Ones, accepted the title of Grand Supreme Elder, and kowtowed to thank Master for his kindness. What was different from last time was that after kowtowing, Mo Tiange also stepped forward with Qin Xi to inform Lord Daoist Jinghe of the fact that the two of them had become Dao companions and asked for Master’s permission.
After that, the Nascent Soul Ceremony was over and the guests were entertained.
Mo Tiange didn’t need to accompany the guests this time, so she and Qin Xi returned with Lord Daoist Jinghe to Shangqing Palace.
Lord Daoist Jinghe was wearing a Qiankun Dao robe today, a Qiankun hat and Eight-Trigrams shoes, which were all traditional clothes for Lord Daoists at Xuanqing School. He looked so magnificent and his face was also carefully decorated; there wasn’t a single messy beard hair.
However, upon entering Shangqing Palace, Lord Daoist Jinghe’s body shook and he couldn’t even stand still.
“Master!” Mo Tiange and Qin Xi called at the same time. They hurried over to help him.
Escorted by the two of them, Lord Daoist Jinghe sat back in the Dragon chair in the hall, and his black hair immediately faded to gray.
In order to show up at the Nascent Soul Ceremony this time, Lord Daoist Jinghe invested a lot of energy. He restored his face to how it looked before he was injured with a secret technique because he was the second most powerful Nascent Soul Master, only junior to Lord Daoist Zhenyang, at Xuanqing School. If his ragged appearance was noticed by guests, the day’s Nascent Soul Ceremony couldn’t demonstrate Xuanqing School’s strength.
After sitting down, Lord Daoist Jinghe took a breath, shook his hand, and indicated the two of them to let go of him.
Mo Tiange asked with great concern, “Master, how do you feel?”
Lord Daoist Jinghe fed himself a medicinal pill and shook his head, smiling. “I’m okay. Thankfully, you prepared these medicinal pills for me.” Then he began to sit in meditation silently, eyes closed.
Upon seeing this, Mo Tiange and Qin Xi were a little relieved. They took a closer look at Lord Daoist Jinghe’s expression and saw that his hair was turning white, but his face wasn’t as old as when they first came back. This was a good sign which showed that Lord Daoist Jinghe’s cultivation level had been continuously progressing.
After a while, Lord Daoist Jinghe opened his eyes. He looked much better after regulating his breath, and he looked up at his two disciples, smiling. “Thanks to the Flowerless Golden Fruits you brought back, my meridian vessels have healed a lot. As long as I have enough medicinal pills, I estimate that I might return to my peak state within fifty years. If I’m lucky, maybe I can reach the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm in the process—that would be a blessing in disguise.”
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi looked at each other, but they didn’t feel very happy about this. What Master said might not be possible; how many cultivators had been trapped in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm for hundreds of years or even thousands of years? The Nascent Soul realm had never been difficult to reach, but it was difficult to progress.
Qin Xi sighed in his heart and said, “Master, rest assured. I’m a Nascent Soul cultivator now, so I have the ability to look for medicinal pills for you.”
“En.” Lord Daoist Jinghe didn’t refuse this time. He had witnessed Qin Xi’s strength, and his disciple had already become a Nascent Soul cultivator who could stand with him side by side.
“Right, Xi’er, the three Flowerless Golden Fruits have strong effects and I can’t take them all at once. You’ve only formed your Nascent Soul recently and can’t take spiritual panaceas because of instability in your realm. So, I gave one of the fruits to your Martial Uncle Zhenyang.”
“It’s all up to you, Master,” Qin Xi said softly. When he and Mo Tiange picked the Flowerless Golden Fruits, they feared it might not be enough, so they picked all the fruits from the tree. The fruits couldn’t be kept for too long, and if not taken in time, the spiritual aura would be lost. So, it was appropriate to share them with Lord Daoist Zhenyang. After all, Lord Daoist Zhenyang had also contributed a lot to healing Lord Daoist Jinghe’s injuries.
Looking at the two disciples before him, Lord Daoist Jinghe’s eyes flashed and he asked, “Have you encountered any difficulties in your cultivation?”
The question stunned the two of them. Mo Tiange said, “Master, how did you know…”
Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. “What situation haven’t I encountered? I’ve been thinking for a while that it wouldn’t be so easy for you to perform Dual Cultivation.”
Qin Xi seemed to be reminded of something and asked, “Master, where do you think we’re going to have problems?”
“What, so is this a test for your Master?” Lord Daoist Jinghe glanced at Qin Xi, seemingly smiling yet also seemingly not. “In my opinion, the problem might be that your two cultivation techniques aren’t incompatible.”
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi looked at each other. What their Master said wasn’t exactly correct, but it was close.
Lord Daoist Jinghe sounded very confident. “So am I right?”
Qin Xi nodded helplessly. “Yes, Master, you’re right. Why did you think so?”
“It’s easy,” Lord Daoist Jinghe said. “After my final analysis, I realized Tiange’s situation is too complicated. She not only has a Pure Yin constitution, but she also has the Spiritual Roots of the Origin, which can’t play its role without special cultivation techniques. If you two don’t choose cultivation techniques in line with your constitutions but only perform Dual Cultivation based on your separate constitutions, the outcome will be much worse.”
Beyond the Virtual Sky World, this was indeed the problem they were facing now. Qin Xi couldn’t help asking, “Master, do you have a solution?”
“No.” Lord Daoist Jinghe shook his head simply. “I’ve experienced more than you, but I’m not omnipotent. Do you think I know everything?” After a pause, he said again, “But I can give you a piece of advice.”
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi’s eyes brightened, and they stared at their Master closely.
Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled slightly and said, “Xi’er, you should perform a Closed Door Meditation first to stabilize your realm.”
Qin Xi was stunned and couldn’t believe it. “Master, what kind of advice is this?” It didn’t help their situation at all!
But Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. “Although you’re now a Nascent Soul cultivator, you still don’t fully understand the true meaning of this realm, so there are a lot of things you won’t understand for a while. Solving this problem is very simple—perform a Closed Door Meditation to stabilize your realm and fully understand the state of the Nascent Soul realm.” After speaking up to this point, Lord Daoist Jinghe earnestly warned, “Lad, forming your Nascent Soul isn’t a simple realm promotion. People all say that when cultivators reach the Nascent Soul realm, they will have the ability to move mountains and land. That isn’t an exaggeration. When you’ve fully reached your potential in the Nascent Soul realm, you will understand the scary side of it. In this realm, you’ll be able to fully understand the profoundness of cultivation techniques, use some handy, secret techniques and even create a cultivation technique yourself!”
Qin Xi was silent, but his eyes flashed with a light. He had heard about these things from time to time, but when he reached the Nascent Soul realm, he thought his situation wasn’t as grand as people made it out to be. But he also believed his Master wouldn’t lie.
It was only by understanding the true secret of spiritual aura that cultivators could create their own cultivation techniques. If Qin Xi really reached such a state, Dual Cultivation between Mo Tiange and him would be completely modified based on their actual situation, meaning they would be able to create a cultivation technique that belonged to the two of them alone!
Lord Daoist Jinghe wore a satisfied smile on his face. “You’re a smart child. As the saying goes in the secular world, Master can only teach you the basic knowledge. You must rely on yourself to progress, and this is also applicable in the cultivation world. I can only tell you about the general situation in the Nascent Soul realm; the next steps will depend on your own understanding.”
Qin Xi pondered this in his heart carefully then nodded. “I see, Master.”
Lord Daoist Jinghe also nodded and said, “All right, I’ll return to perform a Closed Door Meditation now. With these medicinal pills, I won’t leave for the next ten years. You can go do your own things.”
“Yes, Master.” Mo Tiange and Qin Xi left respectfully.
Lord Daoist Jinghe’s words made Qin Xi very excited. He pulled Mo Tiange’s hands and went back to his own cave, unable to restrain his excitement.
“Tiange.”
“En?” Mo Tiange looked at Qin Xi, who looked like he had made a decision. This would also determine how she would take her next step.
“Shortly after all these chores are done with, I’ll perform a Closed Door Meditation.” Qin Xi breathed out a sigh then looked down at Mo Tiange and said quietly, “I’ll just do the Closed Door Meditation here.”
Since he stressed that, it meant he didn’t want to enter the Virtual Sky World.
Mo Tiange didn’t say anything. In fact, she already expected this in her heart. There were still many problems to be resolved between them, and considering Qin Xi’s personality, he wouldn’t covet the convenience of the Virtual Sky World and wouldn’t give up exploring the true meaning of his Nascent Soul. He remained in the Virtual Sky World for ten years, during which his Art of Three Primordial Cycles had been cultivated to a certain extent, but his other cultivation and secret techniques were far less progressed. Therefore, in this case, it would be much better for him to stay in his Immortal’s Cave to perform Closed Door Meditation than enter the Virtual Sky World.
But in this case, the two of them would be separated again.
Mo Tiange didn’t find it hard to bear, though. How could cultivators stay with each other forever? Closed Door Meditation would only cost the two of them several years or a decade at most. Besides, both of them were firmly determined to cultivate. If they stayed with each other the whole time, it would betray their own hearts.
“I know.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Xi felt very reluctant and couldn’t help hugging her. The touching and kissing went on…
About half a day later, they finally stopped. Qin Xi thought for a moment and asked hesitantly, “There’s one thing—I don’t know if you still remember it?”
“What?” Mo Tiange put on her robe.
“The two-hundred-year deal you made with Wanderer Ziwei.” Qin Xi said, “Fifty-nine years have passed, and only 140 years are left. It’s not easy to find the remains of a cultivator who’s been dead for five thousand years, so you should start working on it soon.”
“Oh.” Mo Tiange remembered. She hadn’t done it earlier because she wasn’t strong enough. But now she was a Core Formation cultivator, and with the help of her natal magic weapon, she could give it a try.
But she didn’t know where to start. She thought for a moment and said, “Perhaps I can ask the Steward’s Hall to try to get some information first, and when they find some clues, I could take the time to go look for the remains.”
“En.” Qin Xi also felt this was a good plan. “If there’s any information, remember, just wait for me to finish my Closed Door Meditation and we can go check it out together.” He remembered that Wanderer Ziwei’s Dao companion was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, so the area where a Nascent Soul cultivator fell couldn’t be simple. He worried Mo Tiange might tackle dangerous situations by herself.
Mo Tiange hesitated but replied, “I know.”
