Lady Cultivator

The most dangerous place to visit on Demonic Mountain was Immortal’s Ruins, and the most mysterious place in Immortal’s Ruins was Jade Palace.

The two of them told each other what had happened after they got separated. Mo Tiange learned that Lord Daoist Jinghe had gone to Jade Palace, so she asked about it.

Qin Xi said, “The so-called Jade Palace is said to have been the immortals’ abode when the Immortals and Devils were at war. All the immortals who died in the big war were then buried nearby, thus creating Immortal’s Ruins. There were many remains left by those immortals in Jade Palace. Although most of them were damaged and some others were stained with too much immortal aura that cultivators like us can’t pass, there are still many other treasures. If anyone obtains one, it would be a heavenly fated chance.”

Mo Tiange roughly knew about this; it just seemed a little different this time.

“On Demonic Mountain, are there many treasures elsewhere in addition to Jade Palace? Why did all the Nascent Soul cultivators swarm to Jade Palace this time?”

Qin Xi smiled. “Naturally, they must’ve gotten some information that there are rare treasures in Jade Palace.” As he said that, Qin Xi seemed a little doubtful and continued with uncertainty, “Master once told me that some kind of treasure appeared in Jade Palace last time. The treasure could’ve probably helped Nascent Soul cultivators advance to the next realm in one go, so lots of Nascent Soul cultivators wanted to take a chance at Jade Palace this time.”

“Really?” Mo Tiange was very surprised. The higher the cultivation level, the less treasures could help advance a cultivator’s level. This was why most Nascent Soul cultivators were stuck in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, only a few could enter the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and very few could reach the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm. IN the past thousands of years, there were only four to five people who had advanced to that level in the entire Celestial Pole. Many Nascent Soul cultivators had long reached the peak stage of the realm through hundreds of years of cultivation, yet they didn’t encounter any fated chances to advance to the next stage—that was the case for Lord Daoist Jinghe. If there was really such a treasure, it was no wonder that so many Nascent Soul cultivators went to Jade Palace.

“Right,” Qin Xi said as he shook his head. “But it’s also hard to say. Such a treasure appeared last time, so how could it show up again this time? I’m really a little worried about Master’s journey this time.”

Mo Tiange also nodded and felt her heart was quite heavy. Not to mention other things, but with so many Nascent Soul cultivators present, if there was any conflict… but Master’s strength was enough to protect himself.

The two of them pondered separately for a while then Qin Xi said, “Master knows what he’s doing, so there’s no need for us to worry. It’s not early anymore, so let’s get your father’s skeletal remains quickly then get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Okay.” Mo Tiange got up and thought for a while then lowered her head to look at the Heavenly Aromatic Grasses all over the mountain. “Since we bumped into these grasses, why don’t we take some of these Heavenly Aromatic Beans with us? They can be exchanged for a Chalcedony.”

Qin Xi looked at these Heavenly Aromatic Beans and thought about what Mo Tiange almost went through, feeling unhappy. He then said, “What do you need them for? I got you a Chalcedony.”

“Huh?” He already got a Chalcedony when we were separated?

Qin Xi took out the Chalcedony that was taken from the Xuan Fire Jade Essence from his clothes. It was crystal bright and the size of almost two palms.

“Where did you get such a high-quality Chalcedony?” Mo Tiange took it with surprise. This Chalcedony had at least thousands of years of history, and with no trace of impurities, it was absolutely a superior-grade Chalcedony. More importantly, the Chalcedony was large enough to be refined even if she failed.

Qin Xi smiled. “The Luan and Feng Immortal Companions from Biyun Sect gave it to me. They did it for the sake of Master after all.”

Mo Tiange raised her head and smiled. “Master’s face is so valuable. Such a large Chalcedony can’t even be bought on the outside.”

Qin Xi also smiled. “This is good. Now, you can finally refine your Heaven and Earth Fan.”

“En.” The other materials were already ready, and now that Mo Tiange also got the Qiyun Stone and thousand-year-old Chalcedony, she could begin to refine her magic weapon after returning from Demonic Mountain.

Mo Tiange put the Chalcedony into her Qiankun Bag. The two of them rested for a while then took out their flying magic weapons and prepared to leave the isolated peak.

As the two of them flew in midair, Qin Xi stood on his flying cloud and looked down at the Heavenly Aromatic Beans all over the mountain. He frowned, raised his hand, and gathered spiritual aura in his palm to form a fireball. He then waved his hand, and the fire ball dropped down to the mountain with flames and fire immediately rising all over.

Upon seeing this, Mo Tiange raised her voice. “You burned them all?” The amount of time these Heavenly Aromatic Grasses had been growing there was longer than her spirit herbs in the Virtual Sky World; wouldn’t it be a pity to burn them all?

Qin Xi snorted. “If they were kept alive, they’d be nothing but scourge!” They might be useful to others, but to him, they were just the cause of an unpleasant memory.

Mo Tiange thought about it and agreed. If it hadn’t been for the Heavenly Aromatic Grass, she wouldn’t have nearly gone through such a terrible thing, so she didn’t say anything more about it.

The fire grew bigger and bigger and soon swept over the mountain top. All the Heavenly Aromatic Grasses were burning, and the Heavenly Aromatic Beans being burned made crackling noises.

Upon seeing all the Heavenly Aromatic Grasses destroyed in the fire, Qin Xi held Mo Tiange in his arms. “Let’s go.”

Mo Tiange nodded. It was good to burn them all, and she felt comforted at seeing that. She didn’t want to recall that memory…

“Right, where’s Jing Xingzhi?” She suddenly thought about him.

Qin Xi said lightly, “I told him to leave.” Then he lowered his head to glance at Mo Tiange and continued, “I thought you would be unhappy to see him again.”

“…” Mo Tiange’s heart felt moved. She indeed didn’t want to see Jing Xingzhi again, and it was so kind of Qin Xi to consider that.

The two of them followed the compass left by Lord Daoist Jinghe and smoothly exited the fog.

Lord Daoist Jinghe once said this spot was deep in Immortal’s Ruins and there were too many dangers present; Core Formation cultivators like them weren’t supposed to be there. Qin Xi also knew that and he took Mo Tiange to head back in the direction of Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak.

One day later, after undergoing several dangerous events, they finally returned to their original route.

Qin Xi breathed a sigh of relief. “There aren’t demonic beasts here, so it may take us about half a day to arrive at the destination. Just stay careful.”

Mo Tiange felt a little excited and nodded. “En.”

They entered some dense woods that were accompanied by mountainous stones.

“Watch out!” Qin Xi said. “These are bone corrosion trees—a little bit will make you rot into a pile of bones.”

Mo Tiange was surprised. “So poisonous? If we took some outside the mountain, wouldn’t they be very powerful and intimidating to enemies?”

Qin Xi shook his head. “We can’t take them out. The bone corrosion trees are poisonous, but their toxicity also disappears fast. Once they’re removed from the soil, their toxicity will entirely disappear about one day later; even jade boxes can’t preserve them.”

“… I see.”

The two of them lifted up their protective spiritual aura and released their defensive magic weapons, entering the woods carefully.

“This way!” Qin Xi led the way and flew above the ground.

This section of bone corrosion trees was quite large. The two were afraid of touching the leaves and it took them a long time to get out.

After passing through the bone corrosion trees woods, the scenery changed. The sky was dark and the ground was full of holes large and small; some of the holes were ablaze with fire, giving off a dull glow.

Mo Tiange looked around and asked, “What’s going on here?” These holes were too small to be volcanoes, but they were strangely numerous.

Qin Xi said, “These are traces of fire-element magic arts used by the immortals in the Distant Past era.”

“Fire-element magic arts…” Mo Tiange looked at the endless remains and yearned for such a powerful magic art. Their magic arts were so powerful that they left huge traces like this. The scene before her was probably effortlessly created by some immortal from the Distant Past era.

“Come, this way.” Qin Xi took out his flying cloud and pulled Mo Tiange to float in mid-air with him, then they flew to the right side slowly.

When they were in the bone corrosion woods earlier, they could only fly against the ground; above the holes now, they could only fly in the air. These were fire-element magic arts left by immortals and they were nothing like present-day Three Great Real Fires. Three Great Real Fires were very powerful, but they were from the secular world. Since these were immortal fires, if cultivators like them touched them, it would be unbearable.

After flying for a while, they still hadn’t left the remains, but Qin Xi suddenly began to descend.

“Senior Martial Brother?” Mo Tiange called. “Where are you going?”

Qin Xi said with certainty, “It’s right down there.”

Mo Tiange lowered her head to look down, but below them were only a few glaring pits and holes and nothing else.

She was still surprised and doubtful when Qin Xi continued to descend on his flying cloud and flew toward one of the holes.

“Senior Martial Brother!” They were surrounded by immortal fire all around, and if they got burned, it would be a disaster.

Qin Xi held her hand and comforted her. “It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Right as the flying cloud was about to touch the immortal fire in the holes, it suddenly flew past the immortal fire and flew toward the wall of the hole. The flying cloud was extremely fast, and as it was just about to hit the wall, Mo Tiange saw a cave in the wall. The flying cloud darted into the cave in an instant.

“We’re here.” Qin Xi put away the flying cloud and looked at the cave as he sighed. “It’s been over eighty years. I didn’t expect to come back here.”

Mo Tiange looked around. The entrance to the cave was small, but it was quite spacious inside. They were surrounded by dark red, scary rock walls.

This place…was where father died? Mo Tiange couldn’t help stepping inside. But then she stopped before walking too far inside.

At the bottom of the cave, there was a stone table on which lay a dry skeleton with some torn clothes. The skeleton was very clean and didn’t have anything else on it.

Mo Tiange couldn’t shift her eyes away from this skeletal body. She shuffled her feet slowly until she reached the stone table and dropped to her knees.

“Father, I… I’m finally meeting you…”

Although it was just a skeleton and there was no identifiable sign of her father, Mo Tiange still couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She thought about many things—about her lonely childhood, her sickly mother, and those days when she and her mother relied on each other… At that time, she longed for her father to return so her family could live happily ever after. But he never came back even when her mother died.

She hated her father, but she also thought that perhaps he had his reasons for not returning. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come pick her up—he must’ve been delayed by something.

It turned out she guessed right. But her father didn’t pick her up for any other reason than because… he died.

Before he died, he entrusted her to the only person he could trust. Unfortunately, she drifted from place to place homeless and miserable for ten years… Finally, the man her father had entrusted her care to ended up finding her and protected her for several decades. Now, the man became her lover…

Qin Xi kneeled down beside her gently. “Brother Ye, this is probably the last time I’ll call you Brother Ye. We’re back here now. Tiange came to collect your remains, and I also came to make a confession to you. I’ve done what I promised you all those years ago. Tiange has grown up and become a Core Formation cultivator, so my responsibilities end today.”

He turned to give Mo Tiange a look and smiled, holding her hands tightly. He then continued, “Brother Ye, you said that if your daughter had a Pure Yin constitution and spiritual roots, it would be up to me when it came to performing Dual Cultivation with her. I understood your meaning. The outcome today is just as you expected, but I must make it clear to you that Tiange and I love each other, so our Dual Cultivation has nothing to do with your final wishes. You… You can rest in peace now.”