Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Upon pondering the matter, Mo Tiange eventually understood Luo Fengxue's meaning.

In the Middle Ages era, spiritual aura, resources, and materials were all more abundant than in the present times, so although those cultivators were in the same cultivation realm as present day cultivators, their means in doing things were more advanced. Cultivators in the Core Formation realm and higher, in particular, could bring out the full strength of magic weapons. Furthermore, the magic weapons at that time were created from much superior materials compared to magic weapons of the present day. For those reasons, present day Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators were much weaker than their Middle Ages era counterparts, so they found themselves in such a difficult situation when they entered that magic formation. Foundation Building cultivators, on the other hand, could hardly display the power of their magic weapons even if they used magic weapons, so the disparity between them and their Middle Ages counterparts was a bit smaller.

"If that's the case, choosing Foundation Building disciples with comparably high cultivation to go inside should be enough—why did the school have to call all the Foundation Building disciples back?"

Luo Fengxue said with a smile, "This magic formation's quite difficult to handle. Several martial uncles have spent a lot of time studying it in these past ten-odd years, but they still couldn't understand the real principles behind it; they only managed to summarize a few things about it. The moment people enter the formation, the road immediately separates into many branches. We only want the spiritual plants growing inside it and not the rewards for pa.s.sing the trials, so the more disciples that enter the formation, the better it'll be."

Mo Tiange threw in some other questions: "Based on what you've said so far, will there be no danger at all inside the formation? If that's the case, why don't we just let everyone enter?"

Luo Fengxue shook her head. "Once this magic formation starts, it only looks at the highest cultivation level among the people who enter. If a Core Formation cultivator enters, its power will increase dramatically, so it's best to have a batch of cultivators of a similar realm entering at a time. In fact, in the beginning, we also thought about letting the Aura Refining disciples enter. But maybe in the Middle Ages, Aura Refining cultivators simply wouldn't have been admitted to the group—they unexpectedly couldn't even enter the entrance of the magic formation."

"So that's why…" Mo Tiange muttered. A completely well-preserved magic formation of the Middle Ages era which had Middle Ages spiritual plants growing inside it… This was a huge growth opportunity for Xuanqing School! It was no wonder those martial uncles lost their calm and directly called all Foundation Building disciples back.

Luo Fengxue then said, "But Tiange, you'd better make a few more preparations. Although this magic formation doesn't injure people, you'll be transported out if you fail the trial. The amount of spiritual aura required to start this magic formation is enormous—several Martial Uncles estimated that activating it on such a large scale like this could possibly only be done once every fifty years. Besides, this time, the rewards we'll get will be quite bountiful—medicinal pills will be distributed according to how many spiritual plants one gains. The more trials you pa.s.s, the more spiritual plants you can get, and the rewards you'll receive will also increase."

"I understand." Mo Tiange then thanked her and returned to Clear Spring Peak.

Since that was the background story, people like her, who were already in the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm, must be the ones the school placed their highest hopes on. In that case, she really had to be a bit more prepared as she definitely couldn't let her master lose his reputation.

She went towards Shangqing Palace, thinking all the while. However, before she arrived, she already heard voices ringing out from the gate.

"Who do you think you are to actually dare to block my way?" said the arrogant, bossy woman's voice.

Mo Tiange was astonished. There was actually someone who dared to make such a ruckus at Shangqing Palace? She raised her eyes to look towards the gate, only to see a woman, who looked about twenty years old, overbearingly scolding the gate-keeping disciple. That woman's cultivation level seemed to only be in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm.

The gate-keeping disciple glared at the woman, saying coldly, "Senior Martial Sister, who are you? This is Grandmaster Jinghe's Immortal's Cave; one cannot enter unless they've been summoned!"

Since that disciple was the grandmaster's gatekeeper, even if he wasn't an elite disciple, he must be an outstanding figure among ordinary disciples, yet this woman treated him so bossily—it'd be a wonder if he wasn't angry.

"Who am I?" the woman pointed at her nose and said furiously, "Just because I haven't returned for dozens of years, you actually don't know me?!"

Nevertheless, that gate-keeping disciple wasn't willing to back down even an inch and looked coldly at that woman. "Please leave, Senior Martial Sister. If you keep insisting, I can only drive you away forcefully!"

"You—" Hearing "drive away forcefully" made the woman hit the roof.

But before she could flare up, the gate-keeping disciple spotted Mo Tiange coming their way, causing his expression to instantly change into a smiling one. He then said respectfully, "Martial Uncle Mo, you're back."

Mo Tiange nodded and gave him an "En" then continued to walk inside.

The gate-keeping disciple naturally wouldn't stop her, but after the first step taken by Mo Tiange, she heard a loud shout coming from behind her. "Stop!"

Mo Tiange turned her head around. It was precisely that overbearing woman.

She didn't have a chance to say anything because the gate-keeping disciple shouted back, "Senior Martial Sister, you mustn't be rude to Martial Uncle Mo!"

The woman's face flushed, looking completely furious. Her gaze at Mo Tiange was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hostility. "Who's she? Why is she allowed to enter?"

The gate-keeping disciple answered coldly, "This is Martial Uncle Mo, grandmaster's disciple—of course she can enter."

"What?" The woman seemed shocked. The hostility in her eyes became even stronger.

Mo Tiange was too lazy to say anything, so she just turned her head back and proceeded into Shangqing Palace. No matter who that person was, such an overbearing, bossy att.i.tude really made her disgusted; Mo Tiange really didn't feel like paying her any attention.

Once Mo Tiange stepped through the hall, however, she saw Lord Daoist Jinghe chatting jovially with Weiyu and Qingxue.

"Master," she called out.

Lord Daoist Jinghe turned towards her, answered with an "oh" then continued on chatting: "There's also this time… Grandmaster met an old woman in Xisha; that's what I call funny. The old woman obviously had wrinkles all over her face, but she always had orchid-shaped fingers 1 , believing her beauty was incomparable…" As he said that, he also formed orchid-shaped fingers, imitating the woman he was talking about then saying in a coquettishly annoyed tone, "How hateful!"

Gooseb.u.mps instantly arose all over Mo Tiange's body. This master… Did he not think that doing this sort of thing was embarra.s.sing?

Weiyu and Qingxue certainly didn't think so. They were giggling coquettishly as they listened. They even urged him to continue on, asking, "Grandmaster, what else?"

Mo Tiange's face darkened. "Master!"

This time, Lord Daoist Jinghe finally looked at her properly. He said with dissatisfaction, "Master's chatting happily. If there's something the matter, talk about it later!"

Mo Tiange shot a glare at Weiyu and Qingxue as a hint for them to withdraw.

Although Weiyu and Qingxue were unwilling, the prestige Martial Uncle Mo acc.u.mulated that year still existed, so they just bowed and withdrew.

"Wait!" Mo Tiange called them to a stop. "There's a ruckus outside. You guys go and take a look; if there's nothing important, tell the person to leave."

There was a formation at the doorway which separated the two sides, so the two of them had no idea what was going on outside. Now that they heard Mo Tiange saying so, the two of them promptly answered, "Yes."

After the two maids left, Lord Daoist Jinghe felt even more bored. He said with a snort, "What? If you have something to say, just quickly say it!"

"Master, who's the person outside?" Weiyu and Qingxue were just maids, so they didn't dare to spread their divine senses as they wished. This place was, however, Clear Spring Peak's Shangqing Palace—if Lord Daoist Jinghe said he didn't know what was going on outside his Immortal's Cave, she naturally wouldn't believe him in the slightest.

"Oh, that girl…" Lord Daoist Jinghe picked up a few peanuts and started to repeatedly toss them into the air and catch them again. "Don't mind her. It's been several dozen years but she hasn't made any progress. Let her stay outside."

Although his expression seemed to show that he didn't care, Mo Tiange saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. From that, coupled with the woman's att.i.tude and what Lord Daoist Jinghe just said, Mo Tiange already roughly understood what was going on.

If her guess was right, then she shouldn't meddle in this matter. Because of that, she no longer said much about it and turned to ask, "Master, I heard from Fengxue that this time, we were called back because a magic formation has been found in the valley of the main peak and the school's going to let us Foundation Building disciples go inside to gather spiritual plants. Is that correct?"

"Oh, Fengxue told you already?" Upon hearing her talking about this matter, Lord Daoist Jinghe's gaze was finally fixated on her. He then pointed at a chair in front of him, hinting at her to sit down. "What do you think about it?"

"Of course I'll follow Master's opinion." Mo Tiange picked up a book lying on top of the small table and started to flip through the pages. "Do you want me to exhibit my invincible might, or do you want me to remain low key? You can tell me directly!"

Her att.i.tude piqued Lord Daoist's interest. "I see you're very confident!"

"As your disciple, how could I have no confidence?"

What Mo Tiange said pleased His Majesty Lord Daoist Jinghe's heart greatly. "It seems you've made a lot of progress these past twenty years. Tell me about it—what have you encountered?"

"Master, didn't you say that you already knew I was doing very well by sensing my meridians and that you didn't have anything to ask?"

Lord Daoist Jinghe choked on her words. He then scowled at her and said, "d.a.m.n girl, don't tell me if you don't want to! Hmph! More than twenty years and not a single message back! Fortunately, I asked for your blood essence before you left; otherwise, I'd have thought you died outside!"

Mo Tiange said helplessly, "I indeed almost died outside, and it wasn't that I didn't want to send any message back—I was trapped for twenty years and couldn't go anywhere; what could I have possibly done?"

"You were trapped for twenty years?" Lord Daoist Jinghe raised his eyebrows, seemingly quite interested in her tale. "What was that all about? What trapped you for twenty years?"

Consequently, Mo Tiange roughly described the matters that occurred in the last twenty two years. In the end, when she mentioned Bixuan Court inviting her to become their guest elder, she asked, "Master, what I did hasn't violated the school's rules, right? In any case, it's just a guest elder position; I won't have to take care of their affairs."

Lord Daoist Jinghe, who'd been listening with gusto, waved his hand. "You're just a guest elder of a small cultivation group—would it make any difference? You said that devil cultivator could actually cultivate dead aura though?"

"Yes. Furthermore, he could even use the dead aura to attack. I remember that when I first met him, he was only a late stage Foundation Building cultivator. However, after he was plagued by dead aura, his cultivation level skyrocketed up to the Core Formation realm, and it even rose again during his fight of magical powers. Master, does this kind of evil technique really exist in this world? If that's indeed the case, doesn't that mean devil cultivators' cultivation levels are much higher than righteous cultivators'?"

Lord Daoist Jinghe frowned and pondered the matter but he shook his head. "No, that person wasn't a normal devil cultivator. Master has also gone to the domain of the Devil Path before. Although devil cultivators' techniques, for the most part, are strange and even deadly, I've never heard of one that allowed the pract.i.tioner to cultivate dead aura. The devil cultivator you talked about was an oddity, and the problem should be with the technique he practiced—did you take the stone tablet that recorded the technique? Take it out; let Master have a look."

Mo Tiange was silent for a second before she answered: "I don't dare to hold it directly. Master, please wait for the time being; I'll think of a way." In fact, she'd thrown that stone tablet into the Virtual Sky World, so she couldn't take it out right away.

Fortunately, Lord Daoist Jinghe didn't doubt her. "Alright then."

"In addition, Master, can I begin preparing to form my Gold Core?"

Lord Daoist Jinghe said, "You can if you feel you're ready. Wait until this matter's finished then you can enter Closed Door Meditation. Later, Master will use this occasion to give you a batch of medicinal pills. With your present cultivation level, I reckon you'd have to spend another decade or two to perfect your Foundation Building realm. At that time, you'll be able to safely form your Gold Core. Ha! My Clear Spring Peak is going to have another genius disciple!" He stroked his beard with extreme complacency.

Just as Mo Tiange was about to say something, she saw Weiyu running over in a miserable state. Weiyu shouted, "Grandmaster, that woman's totally unreasonable!"