Lady Cultivator

Chapter 45: Challenge

Translator: Cenniwdyl Editor: Caron_

When Mo Tiange first heard the requirements for gathering heavenly dew, she felt quite confused about why they didn’t ask part-time disciples to do this when the requirements seemed so simple. It was only after she personally carried out the errand that she realized this errand wasn’t simple at all.

Trees and flowery plants that possessed spiritual aura were numerous, but real spiritual plants were few. Besides, only dew that contained spiritual aura could be called heavenly dew. Moreover, spiritual plants usually grew on cliffs and precipices, so she had to fly up and down to collect the dew.

Even after working for four hours, she only collected less than half a bottle of dew.

Mo Tiange shook her head helplessly once she saw that the sun had risen. She then wrapped the jade bottle and took it to Wang Qianyi.

Wang Qianyi seemed quite satisfied to see the bottle she handed over. Feeling relieved, Mo Tiange left Zhengyang Hall and went back to the South Peak.

This errand wasn’t hard and gave her more than ten spirit stones a month as payment. Those spirit stones could be exchanged for about five to six Aura-Nourishing Pills. For Mo Tiange however, these medicinal pills were completely insufficient. Because of that, after she consulted Xu Jingzhi again, she went to the steward’s hall to ask if there was another errand she could perform simultaneously with the first one.

Now, whenever she thought about money, she felt like her head would explode. Before, Second Uncle always took on this responsibility and she basically didn’t have to worry about it at all. Later, after Second Uncle was injured, she stopped taking medicinal pills and had to pass her days facing lots of difficulties. Now that she wanted to advance to the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, money once again became her biggest problem.

It wasn’t just her; aside from Xu Jingzhi who already earned a lot of spirit stones, all her housemates had started busying themselves making money. Just like her, Liu Yidao went out early in the morning and returned late at night every day. Jiang Shanghang always preferred not to go out, but he had no choice since he didn’t have medicinal pills to supplement his cultivation. Qin Xi actually fared better. Because he had some knowledge of pills-concocting, a martial uncle in the North Peak asked him to go there to help out.

Mo Tiange took up three errands here and there. She even refused Senior Martial Sister Murong’s invitation when she invited her out to play.

After busying herself like this for several months, Mo Tiange had to stop working because Yunwu Sect made an announcement.

Every Aura Refining disciple gathered at the sect’s square. Over a thousand people were standing in absolute silence.

Before long, a man walked out of the main temple. It was the Sect Head, Fang Dingyue. Several Foundation Building cultivators followed at his side.

“My disciples, this time we gathered you here because we have something to announce. To test our disciples, Jindao School and Zixia Sect have invited Yunwu Sect to do a competition. I have already agreed. This time, every Aura Refining disciple whose cultivation level is in or above the seventh layer has to participate. Next month, you’ll enter Miwu Valley and the competition will last for three days. The victors will be generously rewarded. Your supervisor will tell you more about the details. My disciples, for the glory of our Yunwu Sect, I hope all of you will work your hardest.”

All disciples in the sect’s square started to whisper to each other. The more experienced disciples who had encountered this kind of matter before explained to new disciples while shaking their heads.

By Mo Tiange’s side, except for Senior Martial Brother Zhou, everyone had just joined the sect for less than a year. Only people who heard about this matter before told the others what they knew.

As it turned out, there were two cultivation groups whose strength was similar in the vicinity of Yunwu Sect—Jindao School and Zixia Sect. The three groups lived together in the same area as rivals. All resources and spirit veins had to be shared with each other. Each group rose and fell in strength alternately. If one of them became strong, they could ask for a larger share of resources. However, fearing that intense competition would harm all groups, they finally came up with a method to conduct a competition without suffering any damage to their power. This was the origin of the competition in Miwu Valley.

Miwu Valley was a valley that lay between the monasteries of the three groups. The whole valley was covered with dense fog. Normal people wouldn’t be able to enter the valley. The previous generations of the three groups placed a restricting formation on this valley so their disciples could enter and battle each other. Those who remained until the last day would be the winners.

The Sect Head spoke again: “My disciples, in this competition, the ones who can persist until the end will obtain a high-grade spirit tool, two bottles of Aura-Converging Pills, and a hundred spirit stones. In addition to these, spirit stones will also be given as a reward according to the number of people you manage to defeat. Hence, even if you are defeated midway, you can also get some spirit stones as a reward. That’ll be all for now. Supervising disciples, take the disciples in your charge back and explain the details to them. The battle will begin in half a month’s time.”

Filled with questions, Mo Tiange followed everyone back to their residence.

Having told everyone to gather in the courtyard, Senior Martial Brother Zhou gave another explanation about the matter regarding Miwu Valley.

In fact, for the sake of this competition, the older generations from the three groups placed a restriction inside each disciple’s identity tablet. As long as the disciples had an identity tablet in their possession, their lives would be safe. In case they ran into a life-threatening situation, they just needed to drop their identity tablets. Once the identity tablets separated from their bodies, they would be teleported out of Miwu Valley in an instant and would be considered as defeated participants.

Miwu Valley was vast. Once they went inside, they could also encounter spiritual beasts. However, this matter could be considered a supplementary reward. The spiritual beasts and spiritual plants the disciples beat or obtained there would belong to themselves.

After cautiously considering the pros and cons, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but feel extremely interested in this competition. Those who could persist until the end would get two bottles of Aura-Converging Pills. She already had one bottle in her possession, and there were ten pills in one bottle. If she could persist until the end, she would have a total thirty Aura-Converging Pills, enough for her to advance into the ninth layer. If her luck was good, she might even advance into the tenth layer.

On top of that, there were also spirit stones and such. Even if she couldn’t last until the end, she could still get some spirit stones as a reward. Moreover, the competition wasn’t life-threatening, so participating would be totally worth it.

Right now, her eyes brightened every time she saw spirit stones and medicinal pills. This opportunity was one she couldn’t miss!

With such generous rewards, the others naturally felt the same as her.

Noticing how excited all of them were, Senior Martial Brother Zhou “hmphed” and shattered their dreams. “Junior Martial Brothers, do you all think the rewards are easy to get? The Transporting Formation into Miwu Valley will teleport you to a random area of the valley. If you happen to be teleported to the beak of a spiritual beast, prepare to be teleported out of the valley in an instant! Furthermore, the terrain in the valley is complicated; danger lurks everywhere. You might wander around and unknowingly walk into your enemies. Because of that, the first thing everyone needs to do after entering the valley is to find a safe place. You also have to meet with other disciples from our sect because you definitely won’t last long with just your own strength.”

Having been drenched with this kind of cold reality, everyone became sobered up slightly. Someone asked, “Senior Martial Brother Zhou, you’re going to go too, right?”

Senior Martial Brother Zhou nodded. “Yes, since I’m also an Aura Refining disciple, I naturally have to go. All of us here have a cultivation level above the seventh layer of the Aura Refining realm, so everyone has to go. I’m going to tell you the truth—in the last competition more than ten years ago, although I was already a tenth layer Aura Refining disciple, I was besieged and couldn’t last even one day inside. Therefore, you absolutely can’t lower your guard!”

All of them were more or less clear about Senior Martial Brother Zhou’s strength. Normally, he was responsible for explaining difficult matters they encountered during their cultivation, so he was obviously stronger than them. Nevertheless, now that he mentioned the difficulty he had during the competition himself, everyone couldn’t help but lose their excitement and ponder their luck as well as the troubles they might run into.

Unexpectedly, Senior Martial Brother Zhou laughed and said, “You also don’t need to be this worried. You won’t lose anything even if you get sent out of the valley after only a short while inside. You guys just need to try your best. Buy some talismans and such to protect yourself or team up with others. The Transporting Formation can teleport up to five people at the same time, so it will be best if you can gather five people together. That’s all. Go and prepare yourself.”

Senior Martial Brother Zhou left, waving his hand. The others also went back while discussing with each other.

Right after they returned to their house, Liu Yidao asked, “Junior Martial Brothers, what do you guys plan to do?”

Xu Jingzhi answered, “Of course we have to be together. Senior Martial Brother Liu, the Transporting Formation can teleport up to five people at the same time and we happen to have five people in our house.” He glanced at Jiang Shanghang as he spoke.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Shanghang didn’t leave or utter any objections. Apparently, he was aware this time that being alone wouldn’t work.

Liu Yidao nodded. “That’s also my plan. Junior Martial Brothers, what the rest of you think about it?”

Mo Tiange said, “I have no objections. Being together with you guys would naturally be a bit safer.”

Qin Xi also nodded.

Everyone shifted their gazes towards Jiang Shanghang. Although his expression was still stiff, he eventually nodded his head.

“Good.” Liu Yidao was quite happy as this was the first time all them would work together. He said, “This being the case, we should discuss what we should do. Junior Martial Brothers…”