Lady Cultivator

Another half a month passed by. During this time, Mo Tiange never went out. She just calmly cultivated and refined her magic weapons inside the Virtual Sky World.

Tianyan Sect cultivators didn’t return, nor did Ayin come and disturb her.

This made her sigh with relief, but at the same time, she felt another trace of worry.

In the end, was that person Nie Wushang? Had Master Song Feng also come to Yunzhong? What happened between her and Tianyan Sect?

She really wanted to know about these matters. Unfortunately, with the current situation, it was inappropriate for her to ask. She could only restrain her curiosity and continue to throw herself into refining her magic weapons.

Just as she was engrossed in refining, she suddenly heard Ayin’s anxious voice. “Fairy! Fairy!”

Mo Tiange opened her eyes and stopped her spiritual breath. She put away the magic weapons then came out of the Virtual Sky World. “What’s the matter?”

It was now nighttime outside. Ayin didn’t dare to enter the room, so she just reported from the yard. “Fairy, some people are asking to meet you.”

Mo Tiange focused. She could already sense that there were other cultivators in the small courtyard—one early stage Core Formation cultivator and two Foundation Building cultivators.

After a moment of deliberation, she removed the restriction and stepped out of her room.

The Core Formation cultivator waiting in the courtyard was naturally Madam Chisu. The moment she saw Mo Tiange coming out, Madam Chisu smiled and bowed to greet her. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, I’m disturbing you again.”

Mo Tiange was a bit surprised. She calmly returned her salute then asked, “Fellow Daoist’s visiting in the middle of the night… Could it be that there’s something important?”

Madam Chisu’s brows were furrowed as she forced out a smile. “There’s indeed something the matter. Allow me to ask, Fellow Daoist Qingwei—do you know the female cultivator living next to you?”

The “female cultivator” who Shopkeeper Dong mentioned was living in the other small courtyard? Mo Tiange shook her head. “I’m going to be honest with you, Fellow Daoist; from the moment I came to North Pole Island, I haven’t gotten acquainted with any cultivators. Within this half month, I didn’t even come out of my room.”

“Is that so?” The expression on Madam Chisu’s face looked very strange. She seemed relieved but soon looked even more worried than before. She took a moment to think then asked again: “Then in these past few days, has Fellow Daoist’s divine sense ever found traces of other cultivators?”

This question made Mo Tiange raise her eyebrows. “Fellow Daoist Chisu, you should know about the principle of maintaining some distance between cultivators. Since that place is someone else’s residence, I naturally wouldn’t use my divine sense to check it.”

This was an unwritten rule among cultivators. Cultivators’ sense of self-protection was very strong. Places like an Immortal’s Cave definitely mustn’t be infringed on by strangers. If other people used their divine sense to check it, they’d be considered as people with hidden motives.

Realizing that her question was rather inappropriate, Madam Chisu was stunned for a brief second but soon smiled and said apologetically, “I’m sorry—what I said was improper. I’ll be frank with Fellow Daoist—we’ve been tracking the thief for half a month and we’ve checked her identity. Coincidentally, she lives in the courtyard near Fellow Daoist, but we couldn’t find her when we came. I remembered Fellow Daoist was living in the vicinity, so I came to ask.”

Mo Tiange was dumbfounded. “It’s actually so coincidental?”

“Exactly! When I first learned about this, I could also hardly believe it!” Madam Chisu’s gaze was fixated on Mo Tiange. Although she was smiling, she looked quite tense.

Mo Tiange let out a bitter laugh inside her heart. This Madam Chisu was worried that she was the thief’s accomplice, wasn’t she? The thief stole something from Tianyan Sect, and she happened to go to Jade Qilin Pavilion. Moreover, their figures and accents were similar. They managed to straighten things out, but that person unexpectedly lived close to her. With so many coincidences, how could they possibly not doubt her?

As that thought crossed her mind, Mo Tiange heaved a sigh. “Fellow Daoist Chisu, is that person also a Core Formation cultivator?”

Madam Chisu nodded. “Yes.” Her eyes shifted then she said, “Because the stolen item is precious, the Nascent Soul seniors from my sect stepped forward. Presumably, we’ll be able to find it in a few days.”

Upon hearing her reply, Mo Tiange only said faintly, “Then I wish you good luck—may your sect find their stolen item.”

After she said this, the two of them were somewhat at a loss for words. They stood in silence for a while before Madam Chisu eventually took her leave with a smile. “Since Fellow Daoist didn’t see anything, I’ll take my leave first. Once again, I’m very sorry for disturbing you in the middle of the night.”

Mo Tiange smiled. “No matter. Fellow Daoist Chisu doesn’t have to be polite. I still have something to do, so I can’t see you out.”

Madam Chisu smiled and nodded. She then turned around and left, bringing the two Foundation Building disciples along with her.

Once they’d gone far and there was no trace of other cultivators in the vicinity, Mo Tiange turned around and instructed Ayin: “Ayin, it’s alright. Go back and get some rest.”

“Yes,” Ayin answered. Seeing as Mo Tiange entered the cultivation room, she also returned to her own side room.

The moment Mo Tiange returned to the cultivation room, she immediately initiated the restriction. Her gaze was directed at a certain corner. “Come out!”

Not long after she said that, a shadow emerged slowly from the corner. The shadow grew more and more distinct until eventually, someone appeared in its place.

The person was wearing black clothes and had a delicate, pretty face. It was precisely Nie Wushang.

“You could actually find me?” Nie Wushang’s ventriloquism rang out. The voice sounded low and hoarse.

Mo Tiange smiled as she took a seat next to the table. She then poured two cups of tea, saying: “It’s been many years since we last met, yet we’re now reunited in a foreign land. Fellow Daoist Nie, we really were brought together by fate.”

Instead of answering, Nie Wushang just frowned. Nevertheless, she stepped forward and sat down across her. “How did you find me?”

Mo Tiange looked at her then glanced around the room. She said with a half-smile, “It wouldn’t matter if you came into my courtyard, but you came into my room. There’s a formation that only I can enter that I laid in this room. Even though your concealment skill was superior, I still knew.”

“I see…” Nie Wushang nodded while lifting her teacup to take a drink.

Mo Tiange’s eyes flashed as she was a bit confused about Nie Wushang’s intentions. Nie Wushang hid in her room without giving her any prior notice, seemingly prepared to offend her. However, she still dared to come in despite knowing there was a restriction here and she also drank the tea she poured without any vigilance against her… This Nie Wushang… she seemed like she was confident Mo Tiange wouldn’t treat her unfavorably?

“Fellow Daoist Nie.” A long time later, Mo Tiange finally spoke. “How are you in Linhai? And how did you end up stealing Tianyan Sect’s things?”

Nie Wushang lifted her gaze and slightly curved the corners of her mouth, saying, “In fact, what you want to ask is whether or not my master came too, right?”

Mo Tiange paused for a moment but soon smiled. “Isn’t that already obvious? Since you stole something from Tianyan Sect then hid in my place, your master’s obviously not here with you.”

Nie Wushang was startled. She lowered her gaze, holding the teacup without saying anything.

Mo Tiange sensed the situation before her eyes was rather strange. There was a deep enmity between her and Nie Wushang’s masters, and there were both graces and grudges between the two of them themselves. Nevertheless, they met in Yunzhong, which was tens of thousand miles away from the Celestial Pole. Right now, Nie Wushang stole an item from Tianyan Sect, the biggest sect on North Pole Island, and hid at her place, seemingly without even a bit of vigilance against her… Why did Mo Tiange not remember their relationship being this good?

In any case, Nie Wushang was perfectly aware that she was inside Mo Tiange’s formation, but she remained this calm—she ought to have no hostility towards her.

Just as Mo Tiange was thinking this, Nie Wushang stopped contemplating. She raised her eyes to look at Mo Tiange and asked, “Fellow Daoist Mo, how did you come to Yunzhong? What about your husband? Did he also come with you?”

Mo Tiange was startled. “You know I… have a Dao companion?”

The corners of Nie Wushang’s lips curved up, forming a slight smile. “Fellow Daoist Mo, don’t underestimate you and your husband’s fame. Your husband formed his Nascent Soul at two hundred years of age, hence he has a great influence in the Celestial Pole. As for you, you’re also a genius who formed her Gold Core before reaching a hundred years old. The two of you performing Dual Cultivation together… this news spread more or less across the entire Celestial Pole. As long as I was paying attention, I’d naturally know.”

“…” This indeed came as a surprise to Mo Tiange. News spreading of Qin Xi was normal, but her… At least she never thought she was that famous. However, because Nie Wushang mentioned this, Mo Tiange noticed something else. “Fellow Daoist Nie, the matter of me performing Dual Cultivation happened only a few years ago. Did you also arrive in Yunzhong recently?”

“En.” Nie Wushang nodded. She cast a glance at Mo Tiange and said: “Fellow Daoist Mo, it was me asking you a question just now.”

Mo Tiange smiled. “In the beginning, I asked Fellow Daoist Nie how you ended up in Yunzhong, but Fellow Daoist Nie also didn’t answer.”

“…”

The two of them stared at each other. After staring for a while, both felt a bit bored, so each lowered their gazes and sighed.

These sighs came out rather simultaneously, startling the two of them. They looked at each other and soon broke into smiles.

These smiles made the two of them imperceptibly a bit closer to each other. The messy gratitude and grudges between them were also tossed to the backs of their minds for the time being.

“Alright, I’ll answer first,” Nie Wushang said, “I got a treasure from my master. It was precisely with the help of this treasure that I could pass through the South Sea safely. However, I went in the wrong direction and drifted all the way to North Pole Island.” She then looked at Mo Tiange and asked, “What about you? How did you get to Yunzhong? I don’t see your husband—you couldn’t have happened to come on your own too, right?”

Mo Tiange answered, “Correct, I’m indeed alone. At first, I just made a breakthrough into the middle stage of the Core Formation realm, so I went out to travel around. Later, I accidentally found a path, hence my coming to Yunzhong.”

The two people spoke without giving any details. After all, their relationship was a complicated one—some matters didn’t have to be talked about too clearly.

Once that succinct conversation was over, Mo Tiange asked, “Fellow Daoist Nie, what did you mean by stealing something from Tianyan Sect then hiding in my place?”

“What? You don’t want me to hide here?” Nie Wushang asked back instead of answering.

Mo Tiange was dumbstruck but quickly shook her head. “I don’t care about your business, nor do I want to catch a thief on Tianyan Sect’s behalf. What business you have with them has nothing to do with me.”

A slight smile appeared on Nie Wushang’s face upon hearing Mo Tiange’s answer. “That being the case, why do you ask much?”

Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows, saying: “Fellow Daoist Nie, you’re now in my cultivation room. If I don’t straighten things out clearly, how can I continue living here?”

Nie Wushang sank into contemplation but nodded in the end. “What you said makes sense. Alright, then let’s discuss our relationship first.”

“…” Mo Tiange felt that the Nie Wushang currently before her eyes was different from the one she met on Demonic Mountain, and she was even more different from the one she met at the school more than sixty years ago. The previous Nie Wushang, although she looked graceful, seemed to be covered with viciousness and had an odd temperament. The one before her now, however, obviously looked much more relaxed and was full of a kind of lively breath.

Maybe it was because she left Master Song Feng? Mo Tiange couldn’t help but have this thought. That wasn’t impossible. Back when they met on Demonic Mountain, Nie Wushang’s behavior screamed that there was a problem. Master Song Feng beat and scolded this disciple of his at every turn, and Nie Wushang also showed that she both feared and hated her master.

As she thought about this, an idea emerged in Mo Tiange’s mind. Just now, Nie Wushang said she obtained a treasure from Master Song Feng, so she was able to leave the Celestial Pole and come to Yunzhong. This sounded somewhat weird. Since it was helpful in crossing the South Sea, that treasure must’ve possessed immense magical power. Considering Master Song Feng’s attitude towards her, there was no way he would’ve bestowed such a treasure to her, right? Could it be that she stole Master Song Feng’s treasure and escaped secretly?