Lady Cultivator

In the past two days, the Bixuan Court disciples stranded outside returned one after another. Thankfully, the majority of Bixuan Court’s Foundation Building cultivators were still alive.

Next, however, they still had to tackle even more troublesome matters.

First of all, regarding the matter about Bixuan Court no longer accepting only female disciples, many Foundation Building cultivators expressed their objections. This tradition had gone on for several thousand years, so they’d long been accustomed to this. Although Wei Haolan had some prestige within Bixuan Court, she was a Foundation Building cultivator after all, and the number of male Foundation Building cultivators in Bixuan Court was even fewer than the original ones after going through such a calamity—their opinion didn’t really hold much weight.

Nevertheless, after experiencing this catastrophe, Wei Haolan’s temper was much stauncher than it was twenty years ago. She strongly pressured all the clamor from the opposition, stating that this matter was in accordance with the two elders’ wishes.

Furthermore, there were also some people who harbored anger because the six of them hid inside the Dao-Achieving Pagoda and abandoned the others. This decision was made by the two elders and the protesters didn’t dare to be disrespectful to the elders, so they made things difficult for Wei Haolan instead. Mo Tiange acted twice, letting those people know that although the Core Formation elders had passed away, the newly-appointed elder also wasn’t someone to be trifled with. In the end, those people finally submitted.

Two days afterward, the Bixuan Court Reestablishment Ceremony was held as scheduled.

Early in the morning, the main gate of Bixuan Court was opened, and the people who weren’t already disciples of Bixuan Court came pouring in. After the individual cultivators passed the spiritual roots and cultivation level tests and were accepted as Bixuan Court disciples, they were then gathered in formation in Bixuan Court’s square.

The requirements to become a Bixuan Court disciple weren’t at all strict. Even people with five spiritual roots, who could only remain in the first or second layer of the Aura Refining realm their whole lives, could also be admitted.

Coupled with the original disciples who returned, the number of Bixuan Court disciples very quickly exceeded a thousand people.

In the past twenty years, Ren Yufeng had personally established the so-called Divine Dragon Sect. If anybody refused to comply with him, Ren Yufeng killed them and used them to cultivate his dead aura. Many cultivators in Linhai died or escaped, so there weren’t many left—it was already good that they could recruit this many disciples.

This was also the reasoning behind the two elders’ decision. First, the casualties Bixuan Court sustained were disastrous, and Linhai didn’t have many cultivators—if they weren’t willing to open their gates to everyone, Bixuan Court would gradually weaken until it could no longer be saved one day. Second, regarding the matter with Shangguan Yunhao, his mind was indeed not on the correct path, but Bixuan Court’s original rules weren’t completely without any drawbacks. If male cultivators could also obtain the same status as female cultivators, they could lessen the triggers for insubordination significantly.

After more thorough consideration, it was unavoidable for Bixuan Court to have to change its management style. If Bixuan Court continued to be static, they would only walk step by step closer to their doom. Furthermore, from today onward, Bixuan Court’s Transporting Formation would be open to the public—anyone could use it as long as they could pay the fee. In addition, every time a disciple was going to make a realm-breakthrough, they had to first go out traveling to increase their experience.

All of these were things the two elders told them to do before they left the pagoda. During all those years, Wei Haolan talked with Mo Tiange frequently. Learning about the many ways cultivation groups were managed in Kunwu had left an impression in her heart, so she immediately agreed to the elders’ every command.

Regarding the shortage of talent, they indeed had to think harder to come up with a solution. Linhai lacked supplies, but Kunwu also had many destitute places. Although there weren’t any big cultivation groups in those destitute places, there were small or medium-sized cultivation groups and got along just fine. Besides, the terrain of the Eastern Sea region was special; some beast cores and sea materials were very hard to obtain in Kunwu; if they could manage things well, they might have a new source of income.

In short, after experiencing the near extermination of the group, the two elders and Wei Haolan already accepted the fact that if they continued to remain closed off to the outside world, Bixuan Court would really be done for.

Mo Tiange secretly sighed in her heart. In fact, Mo Yaoqing’s original purpose of establishing a cultivation group for female cultivators was good, but the passage of time usually brought some changes, so constant adjustments by those in power were necessary. Terrific rulers ought to understand the principle of “when times change, things become different.” Bixuan Court’s rules had gone on for several thousand years already; it was now time to make some changes.

At noon, all cultivators finally finished their test. The batch of new disciples stood in formation in the group square, waiting for the sect head’s instructions. The eliminated cultivators also weren’t willing to leave; they wanted to personally witness Bixuan Court’s rarely seen major event.

Today, Wei Haolan and every Foundation Building cultivator involved was extremely cautious. Their clothes were luxurious, and their makeup was also exquisite; even Mo Tiange also changed her Daoist robe into Bixuan Court’s uniform in honor of this day. In any case, her identity today was Bixuan Court’s guest elder, so she had to show off a bit.

They proceeded with worshiping the founder of the group then cremated the two elders and enshrined them in the ancestral shrine. In addition, their memorial tablets were placed only lower to the sovereign founder’s, standing side by side with that of the only Nascent Soul elder Bixuan Court had aside from the founder.

Once the mourning procession was finished, Wei Haolan declared her decisions.

“My disciples, our Bixuan Court is now reestablished. From today onward, male cultivators will receive the same treatment as female cultivators—you will no longer be differentiated in any way. Newly admitted disciples are divided into formal disciples and part-time disciples, but part-time disciples can become formal disciples once they pass the test. Every ten years, we’ll hold a major inner competition in which the winners will obtain Foundation Building Pills. Whom the Foundation Building Pills are given to will no longer be decided directly by the group elders…”

Wei Haolan then went on to talk about some rank-related concerns.

“… The damage sustained by Bixuan Court during this terrible calamity was disastrous. None of our Core Formation elders survived. However, before they died, Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao invited this Fellow Daoist Ye Xiaotian to become the guest elder of Bixuan Court. From today onward, every disciple must respect her like they did the Core Formation elders.” Wei Haolan’s gaze moved towards Mo Tiange as she spoke.

Mo Tiange took several steps forward then briefly cupped her hands as a brief greeting.

Upon seeing that Mo Tiange wasn’t going to speak, Wei Haolan continued on: “Elder Ye’s cultivation is outstanding and she’s also very capable—she can be considered the strongest cultivator under the Core Formation realm. With her presence, presumably, our Bixuan Court can develop without any worries.”

When she said that, Wei Haolan swept her gaze over several slightly unsettling Foundation Building cultivators as a warning.

Although Mo Tiange felt what Wei Haolan said was too exaggerated, she just calmly went with the flow. At Bixuan Court, she indeed didn’t fear any cultivators and moreover, Wei Haolan said all that simply to warn the restless group members.

“Since all the Core Formation elders in our group have passed away, we decided to choose two temporary elders from among the Foundation Building cultivators—they will take on the elder duties until new Core Formation elders emerge.”

Right after Wei Haolan said that, more than a dozen Foundation Building cultivators present all raised their eyes to look at her. They’d long heard about this matter. As an elder, the offerings they would receive would be a lot more than an ordinary cultivator, so everyone naturally hoped to get an elder position. It was just that they didn’t know how the elders would be chosen.

Wei Haolan’s gaze looked calm, but she didn’t delve into it immediately. “Junior Martial Brothers and Sisters, we’ll talk about this in detail later on.”

Right after, she continued on with some encouraging words for the disciples then declared the ceremony to be over.

The ceremony might be over, but the hustle and bustle had just begun. So many new disciples needed to be assigned Immortal’s Caves. Bixuan Court’s original disciples consisted mostly of female cultivators, so their dwellings also needed to be rearranged, separating them from the male cultivators.

Thus, Wei Haolan was so busy that her feet practically didn’t touch the ground.

Mo Tiange couldn’t help with these kinds of matters and she also didn’t like them, so she returned to the residence arranged for her to rest.

The Dao-Achieving Pagoda was temporarily off limits. Although she’d even gone to the most confidential seventh floor, that was, after all, just an expedient opportunity. She was only a guest elder and wasn’t a genuine Bixuan Court cultivator—there were still some matters she better evade.

Since the group now had no Core Formation elders, Wei Haolan discussed the issue about handling the Dao-Achieving Pagoda with Mo Tiange. The damages Bixuan Court sustained were terrible. Right now, in addition to developing new disciples, the most important matter was to groom Core Formation cultivators again. It was only by having Core Formation cultivators that their group could develop some strength and confidence.

Wei Haolan’s idea was to take advantage of the moment they chose the temporary elders to also choose five Foundation Building cultivators to live in the Dao-Achieving Pagoda. They’d be allocated one floor each from the second to the sixth floor so they could focus on advancing to the Core Formation realm. Although whether all of them could succeed or not was still questionable, having one or two among them succeeding was very possible.

Mo Tiange agreed with her idea. However, this matter had little to do with her. As long as Bixuan Court was on the right track, she could leave Linhai and return to Kunwu.

She’d never thought that an ordinary trip to gain experience would surprisingly cost her twenty years. She really wondered how the people in Xuanqing School were doing now. Did they think about her or perhaps worry that she got into an accident?

Oh, right! Before she left, her master once told her to leave a drop of her blood essence, so he ought to know she was alright. But she hadn’t gone back for so long—were they looking for her?

Now that she could leave soon, she actually felt restless. She’d spent twenty years waiting, but in this final moment, she actually felt she could no longer wait, wishing she could abandon everything and fly straight back to Xuanqing School.

Just as this idea floated into her mind, a voice rang from outside the door. “Senior Ye, Senior Ye, are you inside?”

A slight wrinkle emerged on Mo Tiange’s brows. This voice… Right! This is Yi Liu’s voice!

Mo Tiange removed the formation then opened the door. Sure enough, she saw the two sisters standing outside.

“Senior Ye, it really is you!” the two sisters called out excitedly.

Mo Tiange was quite surprised but also very happy. She didn’t expect they would return safe and sound. “It’s you guys! Quickly come in and have a seat.”

Yi Liu and Yi Qiu hastily nodded, beaming with happiness. After the two of them entered the room and had a quick look at their surroundings, they immediately said, “Senior, why’s the room so messy? Let us tidy it up a little, alright?”

Mo Tiange burst into laughter. “We haven’t seen each other in twenty years, but you two immediately want to tidy up my room right after you see me—you two were indeed fated to be maids. Your cultivation levels aren’t bad, so you should be formal disciples already, right? You don’t have to help me do these things anymore.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Yi Qiu said, “We’re already accustomed…”

Yi Liu said with a smile, “Senior, you’re now Bixuan Court’s elder. Even though we already became formal disciples, doing these things for you is expected of us.”

“Right, right, right.” Yi Qiu promptly stood up. “Please just sit, Senior. We can talk to you while we’re tidying up.”

“Fine.” Since they were so enthusiastic about it, it wouldn’t be appropriate if she continued to reject them.

“Right, that year… did you manage to escape? Were you injured?”

Her question made the two sisters silent for a while. Eventually, Yi Liu sighed then said, “That year… we were guarding the concocting room, so we were already targeted from the beginning. Fortunately, Yi Qiu and I survived although we were severely injured. Later, the situation inside the group was a complete mess; us injured disciples relied on our knowledge of the terrain here and took advantage of the chaotic situation to flee…”

“En,” Yi Qiu said, “Elder sister and I didn’t dare to return to the group and hid at an isle on the sea. There were no spirit veins at all on that isle, so no cultivators went there—it was very safe. Luckily, we obtained numerous medicinal pills from our exchanges with Senior, so we were hiding and recuperating on that isle these past years…”

“You hid for twenty years like that?”

A bitter smile appeared on Yi Liu’s face. “We came back once. At that time, all of Linhai was in great chaos. Whether it was our group’s disciples or individual cultivators, most were tortured if they ran into those devils… At that time, the cultivators in Linhai hid—it was very hard to see any cultivators in Linhai Town…”

“Yes… Aside from some shameless disciples who relied on those devils, all of us cultivators who were stranded outside were completely united—we shared news with each other, so we managed to hold on. This could be considered a fortune among misfortune, right?”

“Is that so?” Mo Tiange was quite surprised. She originally thought that because Bixuan Court attracted such a disaster, those individual cultivators would be annoyed to see Bixuan Court cultivators.

“Of course.” Yi Qiu smiled and said, “In fact, before this, Bixuan Court didn’t have a very good reputation among individual cultivators. In these past twenty years, because we had common enemies and our situations were the same, we became a lot closer with each other. After hearing the sect head’s announcement about the abolition of Bixuan Court’s practices and equal treatment for male and female cultivators, they were all extremely happy! Right now, Bixuan Court’s prestige is flourishing; presumably, we’ll be able to stand tall and straight again very soon.”