Lady Cultivator

Since every day was spent recuperating, cultivating, and studying the notes Mo Yaoqing left behind, Mo Tiange felt like time was flying by very quickly. In the blink of an eye, several years had passed by just like that.

She could tolerate loneliness and previously, she was also in Closed Door Meditation for several years. Now that she was fully addicted to Mo Yaoqing’s cultivating tips, she naturally didn’t feel it was unbearable to spend her time there. In any case, she could just think of this as being in Closed Door Meditation. After all, it wasn’t rare for Foundation Building cultivators to be in Closed Door Meditation for several years to more than a dozen years.

Wei Haolan was the same. Most of her time was spent recuperating and dissolving the dead aura. Once in a while, she also chatted with Mo Tiange about matters related to the group, thus allowing Mo Tiange to better understand the situation at Bixuan Court.

Presumably, Wei Haolan did this on purpose. She was shouldering the heavy responsibility of rebuilding Bixuan Court, yet she couldn’t share this responsibility with either Xia Qing or Tang Shen. Mo Tiange, on the other hand, was the person the two elders assigned to help her rebuild the group, so Mo Tiange ought to at least have a rough understanding of Bixuan Court’s situation.

Xia Qing also often came to Mo Tiange to discuss the art of pill-concocting on occasion. She was a simple-minded person. Although she was trapped in this kind of situation, she was still thinking of pill-concocting matters.

As for Tang Shen, he obviously didn’t have enough patience. His cultivation level was only in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm and he was also still young—presumably, he rarely spent his time in Closed Door Meditation after he built his foundation. Nevertheless, he had a grudge he needed to avenge, so he understood he had to persevere. In the beginning, it was often hard for him to focus on cultivating but later, he gradually turned like them, spending several days to several months in meditation once he sat down.

Regarding Ren Yufeng who was outside the pagoda, sometimes he disappeared for a very long time—so long that they thought he already lost his patience, but then he would suddenly reappear again.

At first, Ren Yufeng was still in the mood to show off his power to the people inside the pagoda, but they never paid him any attention. Later, he seemed to get bored with it and directly became a pigeon occupying a magpie’s nest, occupying the monastery of Bixuan Court and playing a sect-establishing game—he caught the individual cultivators in the vicinity and some Bixuan Court cultivators and made them members, named the sect “Divine Dragon Sect” and considered himself the sect head.

To protect their lives, those cultivators all became yes-men without any exception. This greatly satisfied Ren Yufeng, who became the Divine Dragon Sect’s sect head just like that. He just assigned two cultivators to guard the gate of the Dao-Achieving Pagoda then stopped paying them any attention.

Mo Tiange remembered that the first time Ren Yufeng mustered his yes-men and held the so-called sect-establishing ceremony outside the Dao-Achieving Pagoda, Wei Haolan watched the people below while holding back her tears.

Among that group of people, she saw her loved ones looking thin to the bones and covered with scars all over their bodies. They’d presumably suffered all kinds of torture because they looked just like walking corpses.

Mo Tiange once asked Wei Haolan how many Bixuan Court cultivators she thought were still alive.

Wei Haolan was silent for a very long time before she answered. She said they might have many alive ones left, but after undergoing such torture, those people probably didn’t even have any self-respect left. It wouldn’t be hard to rebuild the group and call the disciples back, but it would be very difficult to help them recover the self-confidence they once had as cultivators.

Mo Tiange couldn’t say anything in reply. She herself didn’t have any management abilities, so with these matters… she really couldn’t do anything to help.

One year passed after another. Time passed by just like flowing water.

After ten years, Mo Tiange finally dissolved all the dead aura plaguing her body and returned to her peak condition, so she once again wholeheartedly threw herself into cultivating.

During this period of time, the Transporting Formation on the fourth floor had always been closed; they never heard from the two elders at all. Aside from waiting, the four juniors really couldn’t do anything else.

Another five years passed by. With the support of Xia Qing’s medicinal pills, Tang Shen finally advanced to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, bringing a sliver of cheer to the Dao-Achieving Pagoda which had been engulfed in a depressed atmosphere for more than ten years.

To encourage everyone, Wei Haolan suggested they take a day’s rest and celebrate Tang Shen’s advancement.

However, they’d been trapped for more than a dozen years inside the pagoda, so they couldn’t hold a feast or anything. Fortunately, Wei Haolan had some good wine in her Qiankun Bag, so she took it out and had a drink with everyone.

“Junior Martial Brother Tang, this is a celebration for you, so you have to drink more today.” Wei Haolan urged him to drink with a smile.

Xia Qing, who temporarily put down pill-concocting matters, also nodded. “Exactly! Senior Martial Brother Tang, your last realm-breakthrough was only ten-some years ago, right? Advancing to the middle stage in less than thirty years… you’re too amazing!”

Feeling rather embarrassed, Tang Shen touched his nose then said, “If it wasn’t because we’re trapped inside this pagoda, thus forcing me to focus, I wouldn’t have advanced so quickly… Furthermore, Junior Martial Sister Xia has always concocted medicinal pills for me, Fellow Daoist Ye explained her insights to me, and Senior Martial Sister Sect Head also often corrected me—it was thanks to everybody that I could advance so quickly.” After more than ten years of cultivating wholeheartedly, although he was still thin-skinned, he didn’t blush as easily now, and his temperament was also a lot calmer.

With a smile, Wei Haolan said, “Our help was limited to that; in the end, you have to depend on yourself in cultivation. Junior Martial Brother Tang, you’re not even sixty years old now, but you’re already in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm—you’re indeed the most outstanding disciple of our Bixuan Court.”

Tang Shen smiled but a moment later, his expression became bleak. “Bixuan Court… only has us left now.”

Both Wei Haolan and Xia Qing were silent upon hearing what Tang Shen said. Outside the Dao-Achieving Pagoda, cultivators passed by sometimes, but they weren’t Bixuan Court disciples at all.

Soon afterward, however, Wei Haolan forced herself to smile then said, “What are we afraid of? When the two elders come out of their meditation and kill that devil cultivator, we can naturally rebuild the group. Besides, there are still quite a few original disciples left. At that time, we can just call them back.”

Tang Shen also realized he shouldn’t have brought this up, so he smiled and went along with what Wei Haolan said. “Yes, yes! What Senior Martial Sister Sect Head said is correct; we can just rebuild the group after we go out. Come, let’s drink.”

The moment he finished talking, Tang Shen directly poured all the wine in his cup to his mouth. Who would’ve thought that he was actually someone who couldn’t hold his drink at all! In addition, this wine was quite strong, causing him to instantly show a distorted expression—it was indeed a very laughable sight!

His expression made the three women burst out laughing. This was Young Master Tang Shen, Bixuan Court’s most popular beautiful man who was always graceful and elegant. When had he ever forgotten himself like this?

“Junior Martial Brother Tang, drink less if you can’t hold your drink. Here, wipe your mouth first.” Wei Haolan still couldn’t hold back her smile as she passed him a clean cloth.

Mo Tiange was just thinking he was now a lot calmer, but this time, he still couldn’t help but flush. With much difficulty, Tang Shen finally managed to swallow the wine in his mouth. He took the cloth then wiped the wine stain around his mouth, coughing all the way. “I’ve allowed martial sisters to witness a joke…”

Xia Qing waved her hand. “This is nothing, Senior Martial Brother Tang. I once smeared powdered Three Leaves Golden Sunflower on Senior Martial Sister Hua’s medicinal pills—her expression back then was glorious!”

Three Leaves Golden Sunflower was a type of common spiritual plant. It didn’t have too many usages, but it was extremely spicy if it was eaten and definitely would set people’s mouths on fire, especially if they couldn’t eat spicy things. Mo Tiange used it as a seasoning before, so she knew it well. Once she heard what Xia Qing said, she immediately asked, “When you said Senior Martial Sister Hua, do you mean Fellow Daoist Hua Yilin?”

“Yep,” Xia Qing said, “I’ve never liked Senior Martial Sister Hua. Despite her age, she liked to put on airs and always had a sour expression when she talked to me, but she really never thought about the fact that I was in control of her medicinal pills!” When she reached this point, Xia Qing’s expression suddenly became bleak. “I used to be insensible before. I always thought Senior Martial Sister Hua was vile and I would embarrass her whenever I got the chance. In reality, however, Senior Martial Sister Hua never did any bad things—she was just a little bit arrogant and tyrannical… I wonder how she’s doing now…”

They once again sank into silence. No matter how they forced themselves to smile happily, painful memories still constantly emerged in their minds.

“Let’s not talk about this.” This time, it was Tang Shen who spoke. He turned towards Wei Haolan and said, “Senior Martial Sister Sect Head, are your injuries better now?”

Wei Haolan nodded with a smile. “They’re almost all good now. All the dead aura has been dissolved; as long as I meditate slowly and recuperate from now on, my injuries will naturally be healed.”

Xia Qing said, “Senior Martial Sister Sect Head, this time, I’ll concoct you another batch of curative medicinal pills—you mustn’t be stingy about taking them. If you’re not well, Bixuan Court also won’t be well, so you have to nourish yourself properly.”

“Yes.” Tang Shen followed along: “Previously, I wasn’t thoughtful and always caused trouble for Senior Martial Sister Sect Head. In the future, I’ll definitely cultivate diligently.”

Wei Haolan smiled, and it was a smile full of happiness. “You’re all sensible now. This is good…” Her gaze then shifted towards Mo Tiange, who’d been quiet all along. “Fellow Daoist Ye, thank you for frequently guiding Junior Martial Brother Tang these past years. I’m afraid Junior Martial Sister Xia and I don’t have any chances of advancing to the Core Formation realm, so we can only count on you and Junior Martial Brother Tang.”

Mo Tiange showed a small smile. “It’s alright. I’m now the guest elder of Bixuan Court, so I naturally have to put in some effort.” In fact, Tang Shen could be considered quite smart. Moreover, he possessed a Pure Yang Constitution, and his spiritual roots also weren’t bad. In the past, it was probably due to the flaw in his nature that he was always unable to focus on cultivating. In these past ten-odd years, however, he had to focus even if he couldn’t and he was also stimulated by his grudge—he often reminded himself he had to be strong, so he progressed very quickly. Mo Tiange reckoned that although his ability to advance to the Nascent Soul realm was still questionable, advancing to the Core Formation realm shouldn’t be a problem for him.

“Yes, Fellow Daoist Ye’s part of us now,” Xia Qing suddenly butted in, “So Fellow Daoist Ye shouldn’t be stingy. We have to discuss pill-concocting matters often…”

The three others laughed. As usual, the topic of their conversation was once again redirected by Xia Qing towards pill-concocting.

After a pause, Wei Haolan said, “Since Fellow Daoist Ye’s part of us now, isn’t it too formal for us to keep calling her Fellow Daoist Ye?”

“Well, true…” Xia Qing said, “I seem to remember the two elders calling Fellow Daoist Ye by another name before; what was it? I can’t remember because it’s been too long.”

Mo Tiange smiled and said, “My real surname’s Mo, and my name’s Tiange.”

“Oh… Right! It seems they called you Tiange alright! Fellow Daoist Ye, why did you have to use a fake name? Oh, no, I’ll call you Senior Martial Sister Mo from now on.”

“Ye Xiaotian isn’t considered a fake name.” This was the first time she ever explained her name to others. “Mo is my mother’s surname. My father’s surname’s Ye. Ye Xiaotian was the name my uncle chose for me.”

“Ye… Mo.” Xia Qing thought for a moment then said, “Both sound good, but since Mo Tiange’s your real name, we’ll call you Senior Martial Sister Mo from now on, okay?”

“Who’s older and who’s younger still isn’t determined yet.” Wei Haolan, who knew about Mo Tiange’s background, said with a smile, “Junior Martial Sister Xia, if we’re just considering cultivation level, you two indeed have to call her senior martial sister. But if we’re also taking age into consideration… we better put your ages in order first—en, you don’t need to count me in; I’m an old woman compared to you guys.”

“Senior Martial Sister, you’re only a hundred years old; which part of you is old?” Xia Qing said bluntly, “I’m now… I seem to be fifty three years old now. I also know about Senior Martial Brother Tang; you should be older than me by… six years? You should be fifty nine now, right?”

Tang Shen smiled and nodded.

“Senior Martial Sister Mo, what about you?”

Mo Tiange chuckled. “If we’re considering age like this, you indeed have to call me senior martial sister. I’m already fifty five years old now, precisely two years older than you.”

“Ah!” Xia Qing exclaimed in astonishment, and even Tang Shen’s eyes widened in shock.

Since they were injured and trapped inside the Dao-Achieving Pagoda, Mo Tiange also didn’t need to continue hiding her cultivation level, so both Xia Qing and Tang Shen already knew she was a late stage Foundation Building cultivator. However, because the two elders and Wei Haolan never cared about this matter, they never commented on it. This was also the reason why Xia Qing confidently called her senior martial sister.

She was now fifty five years old, and they’d been hiding in this Dao-Achieving Pagoda for about sixteen years—didn’t this mean she was just thirty nine years old back then? A thirty nine year old late stage Foundation Building cultivator… This was indeed astonishing!

Tang Shen was the first to regain his composure. He then said sincerely, “Turns out Fellow Daoist Ye is such a genius! I was indeed rude back then.”

Other people might not understand, but Mo Tiange heard the hidden meaning behind his words. However, Tang Shen really misunderstood this matter. That year when she rejected his Dual Cultivation proposal, Mo Tiange didn’t reject him because she thought his aptitude wasn’t good enough or he didn’t deserve her—she rejected her simply because she didn’t want to perform Dual Cultivation with him.