Lady Cultivator

The three leaders of the three cultivation groups cooperated together. A Transporting Formation suddenly appeared in midair on top of the mountain.

This was the first time Mo Tiange saw a Transporting Formation. Although she had studied formations, the scale of Transporting Formations was similar to the Great Mountain-Protecting Formations; it was completely impossible for her to make one with her current formation skills.

The circular Transporting Formation in front of her was filled with complex cloud patterns and had spirit stones embedded in it. The whole formation shone with bright and colorful rays, giving off a mysterious vibe to the spectators.

Her attention was fixed on this formation as she tried to comprehend the meaning of the patterns in it. Every formation had to be interpreted according to the world’s Yin and Yang as well as the Five-Elements Eight Trigrams. The complicated arrangement of the Eight Trigrams and the Yin and Yang patterns before her eyes, however, was completely incomprehensible.

Mo Tiange sighed. It wasn’t really because her knowledge in formations wasn’t enough; there were some things she just couldn’t comprehend due to her current cultivation level. Maybe it was only after she entered the Foundation Building, or the Core Formation or even the Nascent Soul realms that she would have the ability to comprehend this.

Once the Transporting Formation appeared, everyone competed to be teleported before the others. If the seniors from their respective groups hadn’t been present, perhaps some conflicts would’ve occurred already.

After a short while, it was finally their group’s turn. With a flash of white light, the five of them simultaneously disappeared into the Transporting Formation.

Their surroundings suddenly darkened. Mo Tiange was dumbfounded when she opened her eyes.  Where am I?

Right now, the others also opened their eyes and were observing their surroundings. Everyone frowned.

The place they were now was a long, narrow channel surrounded by walls of rock. It seemed to be some kind of cave.

“Where’s this?” Xu Jingzhi asked while looking around. “There’s no way we were teleported into a spiritual beast’s cave, right?”

Once he made this comment, everyone’s expressions changed. What he said was correct—this place indeed looked like a cave. Maybe this really was a spiritual beast’s nest. If this was indeed the case, they really hit the jackpot! They wouldn’t have to encounter disciples from the two other cultivation groups because this spiritual beast would probably beat them up first.

Liu Yidao regained his composure and said, “What Junior Martial Brother Xu said is likely correct; we better be careful.”

Having observed their surroundings, the five of them chose a direction, took out their spirit tools, put up some defensive spells, and proceeded forwards cautiously.

It was unclear what kind of spiritual beast’s nest this was. It was filled with a lot of forked paths all around. Even after walking around and navigating through several dead ends, they still couldn’t find the exit and didn’t encounter any spiritual beasts. As time passed by, they gradually lost their way.

This cave was practically a maze. No matter where they walked, there wasn’t even the slightest change in their surroundings. Every rock wall in the cave looked the same.

After walking for nearly an hour, everyone eventually lost their sense of calm. Even Jiang Shanghang looked impatient. Mo Tiange also felt a bit irritated in her heart. The monotonous scenery here really made everyone feel sick and annoyed. Xu Jingzhi took the lead and said, “If this goes on, we’ll never get out of here!”

Liu Yidao pondered their situation for a long time and said, “How about we split up to find the way out?”

“This…” The others hesitated. What would they do if they met a spiritual beast after they split up?

“Fine, let’s split up.” Mo Tiange finally made up her mind and said, “We don’t know whether this is really a spiritual beast’s cave; what if this is only an underground karst cave? Instead of going around like this until no one knows when, we’d better split up and try to find a way out.”

“Right!” Xu Jingzhi also said, “I agree with Junior Martial Brother Ye. Even if we really come across something dangerous, just think of it as enriching our experience. We won’t really lose anything by splitting up.”

Seeing that none of them objected to this idea, Liu Yidao said, “That being the case, should we split up into two or three groups? If we split into two groups, we’ll be slightly safer; if we split into three groups, we’ll find the way quicker.”

Qin Xi said, “Since we decided to split up, we might as well split up into three groups.”

“Alright. If we split into three groups, I’ll be by myself; Junior Martial Brother Jiang and Junior Martial Brother Qin, each of you will be responsible for leading one Junior Martial Brother.”

Liu Yidao made this kind of arrangement because among the five of them, he, Jiang Shanghang and Qin Xi were all in the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm while both Xu Jingzhi and Mo Tiange were in the eighth layer. This arrangement ensured that the strength of each group would be relatively the same and that they wouldn’t be defeated too quickly. Liu Yidao himself volunteered to be alone and could be considered the one at the largest disadvantage among them. Thus, they naturally wouldn’t have any objections to this arrangement.

“Thank you, Senior Martial Brother.” Qin Xi said his thanks then shifted his gaze towards Mo Tiange and Xu Jingzhi. “Junior Martial Brothers, who wants to go with me?’

Mo Tiange and Xu Jingzhi glanced at each other.

Xu Jingzhi said, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, go with Senior Martial Brother Qin. I will follow Senior Martial Brother Jiang.” As he spoke, he gave her a wink.

She realized what he meant by this. Xu Jingzhi knew she disliked Jiang Shanghang because he didn’t appreciate her kindness when she helped him last time, so he let her go with Qin Xi. She also knew Xu Jingzhi had a better relationship with Jiang Shanghang than her. Because of that, she didn’t refuse and nodded her head. “Okay.”

The five people split up into groups. Each group went towards the direction they chose.

Mo Tiange walked along, following Qin Xi for quite a while. The road was still maze-like; the rock walls still looked the same. They came across several dead ends and were still marking the way according to their previous method. Still, no results came of this.

After spending another hour like that, Mo Tiange started to feel a bit impatient. She became increasingly certain that this cave wasn’t a spiritual beast’s cave, and that the older generations from the three cultivation groups probably laid a Maze Formation here instead. Spiritual beasts definitely didn’t have the ability to come up with this maze-like result.

Inside this cave, they couldn’t even distinguish their direction.

Qin Xi suddenly turned around and threw her a glance. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, maintain your composure.”

Mo Tiange was startled. She finally realized she was almost completely ruled by her own impatience. Shocked by this realization, she hastily focused her aura in her dantian. When she finally felt her mind becoming clear, fear filled her heart. She said, “Thank you for the reminder, Senior Martial Brother.”

It seemed this maze wasn’t simple at all. Being here would make their minds unconsciously unstable. That way, they would easily make mistakes if they came across an enemy.

In the end, what was this cave?

While attentively observing the surrounding rock walls, Qin Xi asked, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, do you understand the Law of Formations?”

Mo Tiange nodded. “I know a little.”

“Then do you think this place seems like a formation?”

Having had the same thought for a while, Mo Tiange responded at once, “Correct! Every part of this place looks the same and makes us feel like we’re walking around the same place, just like a maze. However, if this is indeed a formation, then the cultivation level of the person who laid it must be above the Foundation Building realm. From what I know, breaking it will be very difficult.”

Qin Xi didn’t seem disappointed and said, “I heard that before Miwu Valley became the competition grounds, it was an area for Closed Door Meditation for seniors from the sect. Maybe this is a formation left behind by those seniors.”

“Oh?” This was the first time Mo Tiange heard about this. She asked in bafflement, “Senior Martial Brother Qin, where did you hear this?”

Qin Xi said, “A martial uncle from the North Peak told me. I only heard him mention it in passing. Nevertheless, because the quality of the spirit veins in this place increasingly became worse while the fog got denser, people gradually stopped coming here. Later, this valley was rediscovered when the three cultivation groups were searching for a place to hold the competition.”

“In that case, when they were considering this as the competition grounds, they should’ve made careful investigations; how could this formation be left here?”

“Maybe it was too hidden, or maybe they felt this formation could be used in this competition.”

What Qin Xi said was indeed possible. Mo Tiange stopped talking and followed Qin Xi in cautiously checking their surroundings. Even if this was a formation left behind by a high-level cultivator, it definitely had the eye of formation. As long as they found it, they could easily get out.