Lady Cultivator

Three days later, Hu Zhonghai dropped by to deliver the news as expected, but at that time, Mo Tiange was cultivating. He left soon after he talked to Qin Xi.

After Hu Zhonghai left, Qin Xi sent her a Summoning Talisman, saying there was no hope there. The last time Qiyun Stone appeared on Mount Yuheng was several hundred years ago, and its current whereabouts were unknown. It might’ve been used by others long ago. On the contrary, a thousand-year-old Chalcedony appeared several years ago. Unfortunately, when Hu Zhonghai went to find the person who bought it, that person adamantly refused to sell it no matter what conditions Hu Zhonghai offered.

Although Hu Zhonghai was only a Foundation Building cultivator, he was from the largest cultivation clan in Tiandao Sect and this was Tiandao Sect’s domain, yet that person was still unwilling to give him any face. Presumably, even if Qin Xi personally spoke with him, it’d still be fruitless.

Mo Tiange felt quite disappointed when she heard this news, but she quickly cheered up. Even though she couldn’t get it, she still had hope in Kunzhong City. Since the Heavenly Aromatic Bean wasn’t considered rare, even if she couldn’t get hold of it, there would certainly be others who had it. When they came out of Demonic Mountain, she could just exchange with one of those people or buy it from them on the spot then exchange it with Tong Tianyun’s friend.

No one knew precisely how long it would be before the restrictions on Demonic Mountain disappeared. However, according to previous experience, the earliest might be two months, and the latest might be six months. It may be open for about a month, then those restrictions would slowly strengthen again until people could no longer come in or go out.

For the sake of entering right after the restrictions on Demonic Mountain disappeared, more and more people came to Mount Yuheng. Fortunately, Core Formation cultivators were extremely arrogant, so the commotion wouldn’t spread to them.

One day passed after another. The restrictions on Demonic Mountain grew increasingly weaker. The Core Formation cultivators eventually couldn’t sit still any longer. The number of people going out to ask for news increased every day. The originally quiet courtyard also became more and more lively.

In the end, Mo Tiange stopped cultivating. Every day, she only meditated for a while then she’d either concoct some medicinal pills or refine some magic weapons in order to increase her strength for when she entered Demonic Mountain.

One day two months later, they suddenly heard news—the restriction on Demonic Mountain would disappear the day after tomorrow!

This news instantly spread around all of Mount Yuheng. All cultivators rushed towards the back of Mount Yuheng, scrambling for a good position which would allow them to be the first to enter Demonic Mountain.

Their small group also started to move.

Core Formation cultivators had always been given a bit of preferential treatment. They didn’t need to be like those Foundation Building or Aura Refining cultivators who had to accept supervision from Tiandao Sect. Instead, they had someone assigned to show them the way. Thus, very soon, they already arrived at the border between Mount Yuheng and Demonic Mountain.

The most level area leading to Demonic Mountain was a valley. Knowing that Mo Tiange hadn’t been there before, Daoist Kumu gave her a detailed explanation. The restriction on this area was the weakest—this was the safest entrance to Demonic Mountain.

Mo Tiange already read about this on the Jade Slip Lord Daoist Jinghe gave her, but Daoist Kumu had personally experienced it, so she still listened to his explanation; maybe she’d obtain knowledge of something else.

She then lifted her gaze. This small valley was now jam-packed with cultivators. Core Formation cultivators like them naturally occupied the best area. Mo Tiange gave her surroundings a cursory glance. There must be at least a hundred Core Formation cultivators in the vicinity. The number of Core Formation cultivators in the Celestial Pole must be up to a thousand. Taking that point into consideration, the number of Core Formation cultivators currently present couldn’t be considered too many.

About a thousand feet from the Core Formation cultivators was the area where Foundation Building and Aura Refining cultivators were resting. Their numbers must’ve been roughly several dozen times more numerous than the number of Core Formation cultivators.

Tong Tianyun, who noticed her line of sight falling on those low level cultivators, shook his head and said with a sigh, “Only a few of them might make it out alive. Ay~!”

Mo Tiange’s gaze flickered. Demonic Mountain was a dangerous place. Not to mention those Foundation Building and Aura Refining cultivators, but even Core Formation cultivators like them wouldn’t necessarily be able to protect themselves. Every time Demonic Mountain opened, countless cultivators rushed inside, but only less than half made it out alive. Most of those who died inside were all low level cultivators.

As she looked around, she discovered there were no Nascent Soul cultivators at all, and her divine sense also couldn’t sense their presence. Mo Tiange couldn’t help but transmit her voice to Qin Xi: “Senior Martial Brother, why are there no Nascent Soul cultivators here? What about master—has he arrived?”

Qin Xi was meditating with his eyes closed. Even though he heard her, he still didn’t open his eyes. After a while, he finally answered, “Master arrived long ago. We can’t meddle with Nascent Soul cultivators’ business. Just keep calm and wait.”

Mo Tiange gave it some thought and felt he was quite right. Her master was normally unruly, but he was never careless when it came to serious matters. Presumably, he was waiting in some other place.

Time gradually passed by. In the beginning, with so many people gathering, they could still hear continuous chatting, but in the end, everyone could sense the restrictions weakening and their gazes were all fixated on the side of the valley linked to Demonic Mountain. There were at least a thousand people in the valley, but not a single noise could be heard.

The sun and the moon rose and set one after another; one day finally passed. In the afternoon of the second day, they finally saw on that side of the valley that the restriction, which looked like a curtain of light, dimmed slowly until it eventually disappeared completely.

With a “buzz,” countless voices once again surged in the valley, and the crowd soon started to push around—it was completely chaotic.

Fortunately, the Core Formation cultivators occupied the front most position. They naturally wouldn’t act uncontrollably like those low level cultivators.

But at this time, the first ones to enter weren’t Core Formation cultivators. They only saw several flight lights suddenly emerging in the sky, zooming over with an incomparable momentum.

Mo Tiange was afraid. This kind of momentum… They must be Nascent Soul cultivators!

Sure enough, those cultivators very quickly landed at the spot where the restrictions disappeared, and they were indeed Nascent Soul cultivators.

Those Nascent Soul cultivators didn’t speak. Each stepped forward, slowly entering through the restriction. Their silhouettes quickly faded away.

The Core Formation cultivators still didn’t move because Nascent Soul cultivators were continuing to fly over and enter Demonic Mountain.

Mo Tiange eventually saw Lord Daoist Jinghe’s silhouette. He was with a male cultivator clothed in black all over, a bald cultivator, and Lord Daoist Huayan. Without looking at them, he also entered through the restrictions.

This time, there weren’t many Nascent Soul cultivators entering Demonic Mountain. According to Mo Tiange’s approximations, there were about twenty plus of them. However, there was only about a hundred Core Formation cultivators too. In comparison, there was indeed a lot of Nascent Soul cultivators.

This wasn’t at all strange. In the cultivation world, the theory about deification only existed in legends. None of the few late stage Nascent Soul cultivators currently in the Celestial Pole had ever met Deification cultivators.

Most of these Nascent Soul cultivators were trapped in the early stage and couldn’t make even the slightest progress. Except for those who still had much time left in their lifespans and weren’t willing to give up, most of them already abandoned hopes of making a realm-breakthrough. It was precisely for this reason that once Demonic Mountain opened, those Nascent Soul cultivators who didn’t have long in their lifespans or were hopelessly trapped in a certain realm were unwilling to give this opportunity up. In any case, the possibility of them making a realm-breakthrough was already very small to begin with, and they’d cultivated until they reached the highest realm attainable in the current cultivation world—was there any reason to not take a risk?

Core Formation cultivators, on the other hand, rarely had such thoughts. They were already high level cultivators, and most of them had a rather high status; as long as they had prospects of making a realm-breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, they’d never enter Demonic Mountain rashly. Those like Mo Tiange and Qin Xi were a special case. There were most likely only several others like them among the hundred Core Formation cultivators currently gathered there.

Once all the Nascent Soul cultivators had entered, somebody within the crowd of Core Formation cultivators finally couldn’t hold back and took the lead in entering.

Neither too early nor too late, Mo Tiange’s small group squeezed themselves among the crowd and entered Demonic Mountain.

The moment she passed the spot where the restrictions originally were, Mo Tiange only felt her vision becoming blurry for an instant, then the scene before her eyes turned completely different.

There were none of the jagged or grotesque rocks she imagined, and there was also no obscure, dense fog like she thought. Instead, it was a verdant landscape—it was as if they were still on Mount Yuheng. Immortal’s aura lingered in the air, and spiritual aura was extremely dense.

When Mo Tiange turned her head to look back, she discovered that the area where the two mountains were connected was a bit strange. When they were in the valley and the restrictions disappeared, the Demonic Mountain they saw was hazy with fog. That was why she’d wrongly assumed Demonic Mountain would be a gloomy place. But now, when she looked at the entrance to Mount Yuheng from Demonic Mountain… There was obviously nothing blocking her line of sight, but she couldn’t see the scene outside the restrictions. She only saw a stream of people continuously appearing at the entrance. It was as if they came through a Transporting Formation.

“Fellow Daoists.” Practically everyone in their group was rather indifferent, so the role of the leader had always been assumed by Daoist Kumu. Now that they’d entered Demonic Mountain, it was still Daoist Kumu who took the initiative to speak. “We discussed the routes before, so should we proceed according to our plan?”

Everyone nodded. No one had any objections.

Before entering Demonic Mountain, they had two months to gather news, and they’d agreed on a plan. Mo Tiange didn’t know much about these matters, so at that time, she wasn’t involved in making the plan. In any case, Qin Xi was trustworthy. Since he didn’t say the plan was no good, there would presumably no problems.

The area they wanted to go to wasn’t considered very dangerous. After all, apart from Daoist Kumu and Tong Tianyun, everyone in their group still had several hundred years left in their lifespans, so there was indeed no need to take large risks.

However, they also agreed on one thing. During the one month the restriction was gone, they’d have half a month to do whatever they wanted. If one wanted to go to an extremely dangerous area, the others could choose to follow or not. Those who weren’t willing to follow could wait at the area they’d decided upon beforehand. If time ran out and they still hadn’t returned, then it’d be every man for himself.

Core Formation cultivators weren’t like Foundation Building or Aura Refining cultivators—most of them didn’t like to operate in large groups. They’d experienced much, and they were also more selfish in nature. They usually calculated risks and profits very clearly. Very few of them would help their companions, not to mention strangers.

Mo Tiange naturally had no objections regarding this agreement. Her purpose of going to the mountain wasn’t the same as the others. While others wanted precious treasures, she wanted a skeleton.

Qin Xi knew where her father’s bones were. During this short period, she heard him talking about it occasionally. Back then, he once discovered a kind of unique treasure at that dangerous area, but bringing it back was inconvenient for him. On this trip to Demonic Mountain, he also planned to go and bring that unique treasure back, and that being the case, the two of them had to separate from the group. After all, Qin Xi wouldn’t tell others about the existence of that unique treasure, and others also had their respective plans and wouldn’t take chances by going with the two of them.

The group of seven slowly walked forward, following Daoist Kumu’s instructions.

At first, the landscape of Demonic Mountain and Mount Yuheng wasn’t at all different, but gradually, those green colors faded a lot, becoming more desolate and gloomier. Enchantments and restrictions were all over the sky. Spiritual aura surged violently. Gales blew from time to time. If one was unlucky enough to run into them, they would easily be dismembered.

They hadn’t walked too far when they suddenly heard screams. Mo Tiange turned around to look, only to find the screams coming from those Foundation Building and Aura Refining cultivators. Many of them had never been to Demonic Mountain and only heard about it from others. They bought a few maps and pieces of information regarding Demonic Mountain at the foot of Mount Yuheng and entered Demonic Mountain, only relying on a sliver of hope and vigor.

These people didn’t have enough strength. They also didn’t have enough experience or vigilance. Right after they entered Demonic Mountain, they were easily knocked over by those shreds of restrictions floating in the air, consequently losing their lives in an instant.

What made Mo Tiange feel torn between laughter and tears was that among those people, there was actually a young girl who surprisingly cried out of fear and shouted she wanted to go back after she saw that her companions were blown away by the gales. Those who noticed her all scowled.

No matter how things were in the outside world, once you entered Demonic Mountain, your life wasn’t something you had control of. Even if you died in an instant, no one would sympathize with you.