Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Mo Tiange had three spiritual beasts now. Xiaofan and Xiaohuo were in the fifth rank while Feifei was in the fourth. Xiaohuo was good at fire magic arts and possessed the extremely powerful Sun Real Fire; Xiaofan was good at water magic arts and was brought up in the harsh environment of the sea, so it possessed stronger fighting power. Feifei wasn’t very strong, but it had a special ability to calm people.
These three spiritual beasts improved Mo Tiange’s strength significantly. She dared to say that she was one of the few cultivators in the entire Kunwu who had two fifth-rank spiritual beasts.
Spiritual beasts were very difficult to raise. Although many cultivators in Kunwu also raised spiritual beasts, these basically spiritual beasts couldn’t keep up with the cultivation speed of their owners. After all, relative to their long lives, spiritual beasts’ cultivation speed was very slow. They didn’t have enough medicinal pills to take and had to rely on themselves, so they couldn’t keep up with cultivators at all. And if there were any medicinal pills, which cultivator wouldn’t use the medicinal pills themselves first?
Even Lord Daoist Jinghe and Qin Xi would act the same. Lord Daoist Jinghe had a spiritual beast house, but the highest-ranked spiritual beast he had was only in the seventh-rank, not the eighth. Qin Xi kept a Four-Eyed Bird that was only in the fifth rank, and because it couldn’t keep up with his cultivation rank, he didn’t normally take it with him most days.
As far as Mo Tiange knew, only the Lingshou Sect (Spiritual Beast Sect), one of the seven schools and sects in the Celestial Pole, had spiritual beasts that weren’t inferior to their cultivators. But they had special cultivation techniques and had to raise spiritual beasts from when they were eggs. Yet spiritual beasts’ eggs were valuable treasures, so each person could only have one egg. Thus, in general, each of their cultivators would only have one spiritual beast that really viewed them as their master.
Meanwhile, Mo Tiange had just broken through the middle stage of the Core Formation realm and had two spiritual beasts of the fifth rank. Thus, she alone had fighting strength equivalent to two people.
Mo Tiange thought about this silently in her heart, then revealed a smile on her face. With these two fifth-rank demonic beasts, even if she was alone on the outside, she shouldn’t be in too much danger.
Thinking this, she used her divine comprehension to call Xiaofan.
Soon, Xiaofan flew into the bamboo house with its body still dripping water. Xiaofan was very happy in the stream outside the bamboo house, Although it had no company, the stream’s spiritual aura was very strong and it was able to cultivate very quickly. Furthermore, there were countless spiritual panaceas lined up for it to eat.
“Master, did you call me?”
Upon seeing Xiaofan’s sharp teeth and hearing its clear voice, Mo Tiange couldn’t help smiling. “Have you recovered from your injuries?”
“En.” Xiaofan wiped its dripping body with its fin. It didn’t land but just floated in the air. Being a sea beast, it was far less comfortable being on the ground than floating in midair.
“Good. Tell me about the secret your grandfather told you.”
“Okay.” Xiaofan was much lovelier than Xiaohuo and Feifei. On ordinary days, it would either cultivate in the stream or look at the spiritual plants longingly; it would also communicate with Xiaohuo and Feifei on occasion. In addition to this, it would always obey whatever Mo Tiange asked without question, unlike Feifei and Xiaohuo who would sometimes disobey her.
“Grandpa said that to the south of the island, after you fly for about a month, there will be a big island. There’s a volcano on the big island, and it’s empty inside. If you go down to a very deep place, you can get out through a hot spring at the bottom of the earth, and that’s the South Pole Island of Yunzhong.”
“Your grandfather didn’t tell you the exact location?” Mo Tiange frowned. The sea was so big and it was impossible to fly in any direction without some deviation. It wasn’t easy to find the big island. Now she regretted not having asked the Old Sea Dragon to lead the way.
“Master, you don’t need to worry.” Sensing her hesitation, Xiaofan proudly raised its head. “Us sea beasts have our own ways of wayfinding in the sea. Grandpa told me, so I can take you there, Master.”
“Oh?” Upon hearing this, Mo Tiange straightened her brows. “That’s good.”
After a pause, she asked again, “Is that path safe? Will there be any demonic beasts or danger along the way?”
“Grandpa said the road was discovered by his owner by accident. It was dark inside, but there was no danger.”
Mo Tiange nodded and patted Xiaofan’s head. “Okay, go on with your cultivation; I’ll call you when I need you.”
“Yes,” Xiaofan answered obediently. Then it wagged its tail and flew back to the stream.
Mo Tiange sat on her futon and fell into deep thought.
If you asked her if she wanted to go to Yunzhong, the answer was yes. Through Mo Yaoqing’s records, she knew that Yunzhong was a flourishing world of cultivation, so how could she not want to go?
She had good enough natural endowments, an amazing number of spirit stones, and had as many medicinal pills as possible. What else didn’t she have? Experience—rich experience—and a broad worldview.
She wanted to see what other continents looked like. She wanted to know if Confucian cultivators and Buddhism cultivators were the same as Dao cultivators. She also wanted to know everything that Mo Yaoqing once faced.
She couldn’t repress this longing, because she knew it was what she lacked most on this path to immortality.
However, it wasn’t that simple to leave the Celestial Pole and go to Yunzhong. Even if she knew the exact, safest path, it was too far away and it would take too long, both factors which could lead to accidents.
She even considered returning to Xuanqing School, waiting for Qin Xi to finish his Closed Door Meditation, and going to Yunzhong with him then. But this would take at least a decade or two.
A decade or two wasn’t a long time for Nascent Soul cultivators or even Core Formation cultivators. However, if she wanted to catch up to Qin Xi, she had to make good use of her time.
She just advanced, so she needed to travel to strengthen the cultivation of her inner realm before she could continue Closed Door Meditation. It would absolutely be unwise if she did it now.
After thinking for a while, Mo Tiange finally decided. She would go to Yunzhong alone right now!
Of course, she still had a lot of arrangements to make before that. After all, it would take about a year on the road to reach such a far place, and it might take more than ten years to complete the journey. During this period of time, Qin Xi and Lord Daoist Jinghe were both in Closed Door Meditation. In order to avoid incidents, she had to leave some spiritual panaceas for them.
After making her decision, Mo Tiange took action quickly.
First, she needed to go back to Linhai.
It took her months to find the place, but only a month to return. Since on her way there, those months were spent looking for the destination, often going the wrong way, but this time, she had a definite route.
After returning to Linhai, Mo Tiange got some rest and returned to Kunwu through the Transporting Formation of Bixuan Court. Then she spent her days and nights returning to Xuanqing School.
After she endured the hardships of her long journey and returned to Xuanqing School, the first thing she did was see Qin Xi.
Qin Xi’s Closed Door Meditation was meant to stabilize his realm this time, so it didn’t need to obey too many rules. As soon as Mo Tiange triggered the restrictions outside, he stopped cultivating and opened the door of the Closed Room.
“What took you so long?” Upon seeing her, Qin Xi smiled.
Mo Tiange approached him and the two of them naturally embraced.
“It seems like it’s been a long time,” she said with a sigh. “Even though it’s actually been less than a year.”
Qin Xi had the same feeling, so he said nothing but held her more tightly.
After a while, they had enough hugging and parted a little. Qin Xi asked with a smile, “You advanced! Looks like you’ve had a very rewarding trip. Where did you go?”
Mo Tiange lay down against him with her head on his leg and looked sideways at him. “Make a guess.”
“How could I guess?” Qin Xi twirled her hair and looked at her tenderly. “But you seem so happy, so it must’ve been good, right?”
“Of course.” Mo Tiange smiled with stars in her eyes. She didn’t intend to hide anything and began to tell him all about her experiences in this past year in detail.
Qin Xi listened very carefully. When Mo Tiange said mentioned there was a channel between Celestial Pole and Yunzhong, his pupils narrowed and he said keenly, “Yunzhong, you want to go to Yunzhong?”
Mo Tiange wasn’t surprised at all that Qin Xi guessed her intentions correctly.
She nodded. “Yes, I want to go to Yunzhong. The cultivators in the Celestial Pole are all trapped around spirit veins in Kunwu. I want to go to Yunzhong to see more of the world.”
“…” Qin Xi didn’t say anything. His expression became serious.
Mo Tiange also put on a solemn face and got up. She asked, “What, isn’t that okay?”
“No.” Qin Xi breathed out, held her in his arms, and sighed. “It’s just that I can’t go with you at the moment.” He advanced to the Nascent Soul realm not long ago, so stabilizing his realm was the most important thing for him.
“I know.” Mo Tiange paused and said, “So I decided to go alone.”
His hand holding hers stiffened, and after a while, Qin Xi released his grip. He looked at her straight in the eyes. “Are you sure?”
“En.” Mo Tiange nodded. “I’m not a troublemaker; you know that. I’m strong enough to protect myself now. I can go to Yunzhong by myself without any problems.”
Qin Xi frowned seriously and didn’t speak for a long time.
This matter was too important to acquiesce to. He was slowly accepting Tiange’s idea, and he was also willing to let her travel alone, but going to Yunzhong was too dangerous!
Mo Tiange didn’t say anything, either. She wasn’t ignorant to Qin Xi’s thoughts, and she had to take his thoughts into consideration regarding such a big matter.
“Is there a middle ground?” After waiting for a long time, Qin Xi finally opened his mouth. “If you want to go to Yunzhong, I won’t stop you. But I’m worried about you going alone. If anything bad happens, you will be too far for me to save you in time.”
Mo Tiange thought for a long while then said hesitantly, “What about I draw you a map and when you finish your Closed Door Meditation, you can come find me?”
“…” Qin Xi was silent. Mo Tiange scratched her head and was somewhat distressed. “You can’t leave now, and I can’t wait here… You still don’t trust me to protect myself?”
Qin Xi’s eyes softened and he looked at her as he said gently, “It’s not that I don’t trust you; I’m just worried. I know you can protect yourself, but I’d be worried if you weren’t around me anyway.”
“…” Now it was Mo Tiange who was silent. She was very touched inside.
After a while, she said, “Or shall I go ask Master?”
Qin Xi thought for a moment and nodded. “Okay. Master will give us good advice.”
