Lady Cultivator

Chapter 73: Leaving the Mountain

Translator: Cenniwdyl Editor: Caron_

It was very normal for a cultivator who was stuck in a bottleneck to travel. Many Aura Refining disciples who cultivated until the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm but felt they weren’t ready to build their foundation chose to go and travel around. Therefore, once Mo Tiange came back and reported to the steward’s hall, she was given permission straightaway.

This so-called traveling wasn’t going on a sightseeing tour at all; the traveling was, in fact, done to search for fated chances.

The influence of fated chances over cultivators surpassed even the influence of their natural endowments. For example, a thousand years ago, there was a cultivator with inferior natural endowments who encountered an enormous fated chance. He actually managed to cultivate until the Nascent Soul realm, obtained a remarkable divine power and roamed all over Kunwu.

Of course, a fated chance was very hard to encounter. A fated chance like this might even appear only once every several years. Nevertheless, for most cultivators, obtaining a few spiritual plants and spiritual objects, or obtaining some enlightenment and making a realm-breakthrough was already considered to be great.

Mo Tiange wasn’t holding onto this kind of delusion. With her natural endowments, if she relied on fated chances but failed to obtain them, she might never be able to make a realm-breakthrough even if she had a lifespan of 800 years.

Besides, her situation right now was, to be exact, having an unsteady heart, not being stuck in a bottleneck. Because she felt the pressure of time while her natural aptitude was inferior, she felt hopeless in successfully building her foundation, resulting in her inability to calm her heart.

After contemplating for a long time, Mo Tiange thought she’d better visit a few great cultivation groups and interact with their disciples. In any case, she was still young and she already obtained a Foundation-Building Pill; she didn’t need to take any risks just to find a fated chance.

With that decision in mind, she directly went to Second Uncle to bid him farewell and left Mount Yunwu.

This was her first time taking a long journey alone. Ever since she came to Kunwu, she hadn’t left Second Uncle’s side and traveled by herself. However, she was no longer that little girl years ago who came to Kunwu for the first time; she’d seen and gone through many things. No matter what kind of situation she would encounter, she was confident she could handle it properly.

Mount Yunwu was located in a secluded corner of east Kunwu. Before it was annexed, only Zixia Sect and Jindao School were in the vicinity. Aside from these two, the closest cultivation group still lay thousands of miles away, and excluding those few small cultivation groups, the closest in distance to Mount Yunwu was undoubtedly the monastery of the leader among the seven great cultivation groups – Tiandao Sect of Righteous Path.

The seven great cultivation groups of Kunwu were: Tiandao Sect, Xuanqing School, Gujian Sect, Biyun Sect, Zhengfa School, Lingshou Sect, and Danding School.

Among those, Lingshou Sect and Danding School specialized respectively in beast taming and pills concocting. Both weren’t large groups – the disciples they had numbered only slightly more than medium cultivation groups, but because their respective techniques in beast taming and pill concocting were quite outstanding, their strength was far stronger than medium cultivation groups. Because of that, they were included among the seven great cultivation groups.

The slightly stronger groups were Biyun Sect and Zhengfa School. Zhengfa School was a Dao School, so most of its disciples wore Daoist robes. Biyun Sect was a peculiar group – whether female or male, all the disciples they recruited had good looks. Furthermore, it had many female disciples, so there were a lot of Dao companions who practice Dual Cultivation in the sect.

After them came Gujian Sect and Xuanqing School.

Gujian Sect was a cultivation group that specialized in sword cultivation techniques. The so-called sword cultivation techniques meant that cultivators only cultivated using one sword in their entire lives and inserted most of their divine power into the sword.

Sword cultivators’ strength in fights of magical power was always a bit stronger than ordinary cultivators, but it was difficult for them to break through to the next realm. Therefore, although the numbers of high-level cultivators Gujian Sect had were about the same as Zhengfa School and Biyun Sect, its strength was slightly stronger than the two of them and it was always considered almost equal to Xuangqing School.

Xuanqing School’s strength was second only to Tiandao Sect. Just like Zhengfa School, Xuanqing School was a Dao School.

Tiandao Sect, which was located in the northeastern part of Kunwu and lay side by side, separated only by a mountain, with the area where Devil Path thrived, had always been considered the leader of Righteous Path in Kunwu for the last several thousand years. Tiandao Sect was different from other cultivation groups. It was unique in that it didn’t have any special characteristics. It had neither a special sect cultivation technique nor did it place demands on what its disciples cultivated with. As long as their disciples didn’t violate the sect’s principles, crooked or strange methods were all allowed; even practicing Devil Path wouldn’t be a problem.

Tiandao Sect’s formidableness was derived precisely from this tolerant and open-minded sect management style. Ordinary Tiandao Sect disciples were treated equally no matter what technique they cultivated with. Thus, there were many cultivators with extraordinary talent in the sect.

The reason Mo Tiange wanted to go to Tiandao Sect was because Tiandao Sect was the leader of Righteous Path and its disciples studied various things – she could increase her knowledge without being afraid of any incidents occurring. There was no absolutely righteous person in the cultivation world. Nevertheless, people of Righteous Path usually didn’t encourage war, so she would be a bit safer if she interacted with disciples of Righteous Path.

Not too long after leaving Mount Yunwu, Mo Tiange stopped and looked for a place to exchange her Yunwu Sect uniform with common clothes. Yunwu Sect had been annexed by Zixia Sect and furthermore, that catastrophe happened only months ago, so she’d better be a bit more cautious. Once she finished, she used Light Body Technique and went northeast.

Back when she wandered around with Second Uncle, Mo Tiange met cultivators who, before they became Daoists, were martial artists in the secular world. She was very interested in the so-called martial arts of theirs and thus learned a little about it. These past years, from the Immortals Assembly to the competition for Foundation-Building Pills, she benefitted much from learning martial arts. Her Light Body Technique in its full power was also a lot quicker compared to ordinary cultivators. In only half a month, she arrived at the border of Tiandao Sect.

The scope of Tiandao Sect’s influence was very large; this place could already be considered its area. In fact, in the surrounding areas, there were only a few small cultivation groups affiliated with it. Nonetheless, the market square here was very unusual – a Dao convention in which Foundation Building cultivators from Tiandao Sect were invited was regularly held here at a predetermined time.

At this Dao convention, everyone was allowed to participate as long as they paid the spirit stones required to enter. Moreover, they were allowed to ask questions to the preaching cultivators and could discuss Dao with each other.

Mo Tiange was quite interested in this Dao convention. Coupled with the fact that the cost to participate wasn’t expensive, she decided to wait here for a while. She also took out the spirit tools that were hard to sell around Mount Yunwu and sold them in batches. Because this place was rather far from Mount Yunwu and there were various kinds of people here, she could sell these spirit tools without a hitch, thus obtaining a lot of additional spirit stones.

Once she came out of the shop and walked to a certain secluded street corner, she took off the robe she was wearing, changed how her face looked and showed her true appearance.

Because it was better to hide the origins of these spirit tools from people, she had been using Illusory Transfiguration Technique to camouflage herself with various kinds of appearances when she went to the shops to sell them. These shops wouldn’t care whether their guests were using Illusory Transfiguration Technique or not. For her, it’d be fine as long as others couldn’t see her true appearance.

Mo Tiange leisurely walked out of the street corner while slightly exerting her divine sense. Sensing no abnormalities, she smiled and relaxedly walked into another shop.

This shop had a simple fa?ade without any decorations. Several brocade cases containing spirit tools, talismans, medicinal pills, and some other valueless things were arranged on the counter.

The one who tended the shop was a mortal woman. Seeing Mo Tiange walk in, she enthusiastically greeted her. “Master Immortal, is there anything you need?”

Mo Tiange was only browsing around at random, so she didn’t immediately give an answer. She kept sizing up several spirit tools arranged on a shelf before she finally turned around. Once she did, however, she was completely stunned.

The woman tending the shop looked about twenty years old. Although the woman was a mortal, she looked quite pretty and didn’t lose out to female cultivators in terms of appearance. Of course, this wasn’t the reason why Mo Tiange was surprised. She was surprised because this woman looked very familiar. Even after pondering carefully, she still couldn’t remember when she had seen this woman.

“Master Immortal?”

Mo Tiange recovered her train of thought, yet she saw that this woman was staring worriedly at her. Mo Tiange suddenly realized that instead of answering the woman, she had been staring at her for a long time. Considering that Mo Tiange was disguised as a man, her actions probably scared this woman. Thinking about how inconvenient it was to explain, she directly asked, “What kind of things does this shop sell?”

Seeing that Mo Tiange’s expression looked normal, the woman promptly showed a smile and explained, “Please take a look at these spirit tools, talismans, and medicinal pills – all of them are excellent. In addition to these, our small shop also sells talisman paper and brushes, as well as products made of the highest-quality demonic beasts. Please take a look.”

Mo Tiange had long seen the things arranged on the shelves. The spirit tools were ordinary – not high-grade spirit tools. The talismans were also low-grade talismans. She didn’t know about the medicinal pills, but based on the other items, they were most likely nothing but ordinary medicinal pills. She herself had just sold a lot of spirit tools. Furthermore, she lacked neither talismans nor medicinal pills, so she just randomly picked up talisman paper and a brush as well as some cinnabars.

“How many spirit stones do I need to pay for these?”

The woman thought for a short while then smiled and said, “These talisman papers and cinnabars are only one spirit stone, but this talisman brush is seven spirit stones.”

Eight spirit stones for the current Mo Tiange was a drop in the ocean. She immediately took them out from her Qiankun Bag and put them on the counter.

The woman was very happy to seal a deal so easily. She wrapped the things Mo Tiange bought and passed them over while she respectfully said, “Master Immortal, your things.”

Mo Tiange took them and was about to walk out when she saw a young cultivator walking into the shop. He was only a fifth layer Aura Refining realm cultivator who looked beaten and was wearing ordinary clothes. However, he was handsome and seemed rather graceful.

Right after this young cultivator walked into the shop, the woman tending the shop called out with joy, “Husband! You’re very early today!”

As it turned out, this person was the woman’s husband! In fact, this wasn’t strange. The number of female cultivators was far less than male cultivators. Many low-level female cultivators were taken by high-level cultivators as concubines. As for low-level male cultivators, they rarely had Dao companions, so most of them simply took mortal women as their wives or concubines. It was unclear whether the beautiful woman in front of Mo Tiange was a wife or a concubine.

The cultivator gave a short, indifferent answer, looking extremely cold. But once he looked up and saw Mo Tiange, he instantly showed a smile and said, “Fellow Daoist, may I help you?”

Mo Tiange naturally understood. Since her cultivation level was in the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm, this cultivator wouldn’t dare to slight her. However, the cold way he treated his own wife compared with the friendly way he treated an outsider rather displeased her. When she turned around and saw the faint loneliness in the woman’s eyes, she felt even sadder for the woman.

For mortal women who married cultivators, it was basically impossible for them to be treated as equals. In slightly pleasant terms, they were wives or concubines, but in vulgar terms, they were nothing but playthings.

No need to mention that they were mortal women; so what if they were female cultivators? Shen Bing, for example, was gifted with good natural endowments and had a clan backing her, yet in the end, she was still harmed by her own beauty and was forced to be someone’s concubine.

Thinking about this, Mo Tiange immediately controlled her emotions and answered coldly, “No need.”

Ignoring her coldness, the cultivator kept speaking in an enthusiastic manner. “Fellow Daoist, you may take your time. Although the other things in my small shop aren’t much, the talisman papers and brushes are good. I made them myself.”

She hadn’t had the chance to say anything because the woman already spoke. “Husband, this Master Immortal has already bought our talisman papers and brush.”

“Has he?” The cultivator smiled in embarrassment and said, “That being the case, many thanks for Fellow Daoist’s visit. Please come again in the future.”

Mo Tiange nodded but had no intention of leaving. She continued looking at several spirit tools on the shelf and pretended to be interested. The woman was about to explain the things, yet Mo Tiange waved her hand and said, “No need to bother with me; I’ll call you if I find something I like.”

Upon seeing that Mo Tiange didn’t want to be disturbed, the woman retreated. Nonetheless, when the woman noticed her husband’s beaten appearance, she started to busy herself attending to him.

Mo Tiange sighed in secret. She really didn’t understand – this cultivator obviously didn’t treat his wife well, so how could the wife still love him like this?

“Husband, today you came back so early. Did everything go smoothly?”

Hearing his wife’s question, the cultivator opened his eyes then threw her a pouch he took out from his Qiakun Bag. He said, “Today my luck wasn’t good. I was only able to collect these. Go and tidy them up.”

The woman uttered a short complying answer, took the pouch and walked into the inner room.

Seeing this, Mo Tiange randomly chose several talismans and handed over several spirit stones before she left the shop.