Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

“Oh, right,” Mo Tiange said after some thought, “Tong Tianyun said his friend wants to exchange the thousand-year-old Chalcedony with me for a kind of spiritual object which can be found on Demonic Mountain.”

“Spiritual object on Demonic Mountain?” Not surprisingly, a mocking expression appeared on Qin Xi's face. “They came up with a fine plan. How dangerous is it to go to Demonic Mountain? With a mere thousand-year-old Chalcedony, they hoped to get the things they wanted through you—hmph!”

Mo Tiange said, “They're not the only ones who have a thousand-year-old Chalcedony. It doesn't matter if I have to wait a bit longer. But the most important thing now is still the trip to Demonic Mountain, so I didn't bargain much with them. It wouldn't be too late to discuss the matter again even after I really obtained that spiritual object and came back safely. If I'm out of luck…” After all, Demonic Mountain was a dangerous place, not to mention the area where her father was buried. Even if Qin Xi could go back and made enough preparations this time, success still wasn't certain.

Qin Xi wrinkled his brows, saying coldly, “Since I'm taking you there, I'll naturally bring you back safely. You don't need to worry.”

Mo Tiange choked on these words and was somewhat speechless. I didn't mean that. Why's he…

Just as she sank into her thoughts, she heard Qin Xi speaking again. “What do they want?”

Mo Tiange put a stop to her chaotic thoughts. She said, “It's known as the Heavenly Aromatic Bean. Tong Tianyun said it was actually a kind of spiritual panacea. Its fruit looks like a bean, and after it ripens, it'll break away from its roots and leaves. It'll become just like a stone and will be extremely hard. This kind of object rarely appears in the world, but one can find many on Demonic Mountain.”

Upon hearing what Mo Tiange said, Qin Xi once again wrinkled his brows. He didn't say anything for a long time.

Judging from his expression, something must've been amiss, so Mo Tiange asked, “What's wrong?”

Quite a while later, Qin Xi finally said, “Old Tong's friend most likely practices some kind of unconventional cultivation method. Heavenly Aromatic Bean indeed can't be considered very precious. For ordinary cultivators, it doesn't have any utility at all. If you can really find it, you won't lose out much if you exchange it for a thousand-year-old Chalcedony. However, the usage of this Heavenly Aromatic Bean…”

He hesitated for a long time but still couldn't finish what he wanted to say. It was as if he was too embarra.s.sed to talk about it.

Mo Tiange couldn't understand, so she asked, “What's it used for in the end?”

Qin Xi looked away. He used his all to keep his voice calm and said, “Heavenly Aromatic Bean is used to concoct a kind of medicinal pill which has unusual effects for people practicing Dual Cultivation.”

The more Mo Tiange thought about it, the more baffled she was. “If so, there's nothing special about it, right?” The Law of Medicinal Pills was full of strange effects anyway. There was a specific kind of medicinal pill for every type of situation. Cultivators who practiced Dual Cultivation naturally had medicinal pills suitable for them too.

Faced with her puzzled gaze, Qin Xi's expression became even more embarra.s.sed. After a long time, he finally spouted a couple of sentences: “It's not an ordinary kind of medicinal pill. It's… It's a kind of aphrodisiac…”

…

“Fellow Daoist Shoujing, Fellow Daoist Qingwei!” Daoist k.u.mu's voice rang out from afar, breaking the awkward silence between the two of them.

They raised their gazes and saw Daoist k.u.mu waving at them. “We should get going,” he said.

The two of them looked as if they'd just been granted a pardon. Each maneuvered their respective flying magic weapon and flew towards the group.

Although she knew she had to pretend like nothing happened, Mo Tiange still couldn't help but put some distance between them. Upon seeing her behavior, Madam Feng, who now treated her a bit more kindly after getting along with her for several days, was rather baffled and asked, “Did something happen?”

For a brief moment, Mo Tiange was at a loss for words. Nevertheless, she saw Jing Xingzhi glancing towards them with a faint smile on his face, causing her to feel even more depressed. She only dejectedly said, “It's nothing. I just heard that my family's master already arrived at Mount Yuheng, so I'm a bit worried.”

Madam Feng didn't doubt her. She just felt quite envious upon hearing what Mo Tiange said. “Girl, based on your talents and current age, you seem to have no need to go to Demonic Mountain and brave the dangers there, right? Why did you two and your master all have to go?”

Mo Tiange was silent for a while before she eventually answered, “I'm going to Demonic Mountain because I want to settle an old affair.”

“Old affair?” Madam Feng wanted to probe further, but she saw Mo Tiange looking away as if she had a lot on her mind, so she no longer said anything.

Lei Dongqing, who saw the two of them seemingly getting a lot closer, shouted loudly, “Feng Woman! Didn't you dislike this girl? How is it that after only a few days, you're already treating her so well?”

Seeing as it was him who spoke, Madam Feng “hmphed” coldly and said, “No matter how much I dislike others, I'm still better than you! Move aside—you're annoying!”

Lei Dongqing stroked his nose awkwardly but only muttered under his breath: “Fierce hag!”

Mo Tiange couldn't hold back from grinning. These two people were really interesting. Madam Feng obviously wasn't old. She was still a bright, charming, and beautiful woman, but Lei Dongqing called her a hag. As for Lei Dongqing himself, although he was bald and rather ugly, his physical appearance was still that of a man in his thirties, yet Madam Feng insisted on calling him Old Lei.

However, as Mo Tiange thought about them, she also started to have doubts. The two of them seemed to be different from the others—could it be that they had some kind of relations.h.i.+p? Just as she was about to ask Qin Xi about this in secret, she suddenly recalled the matter from a moment ago, so she swallowed back her question. If there was some kind of relations.h.i.+p between them, Qin Xi would've already told her. Since he didn't say anything, it should mean there wasn't any relations.h.i.+p, right?

She shook her head, tossed the matter to the back of her mind, and continued her journey. Core Formation cultivators flew extremely fast. In a few days, they already approached the border of the Mount Yuheng area. The number of cultivators flying in the sky continued to increase. Among them, there were quite a few high level cultivators. Occasionally, even Nascent Soul cultivators pa.s.sed by.

This time, the weakening of Demonic Mountain's restrictions could be said to have shaken most of the cultivators in the Celestial Pole. Cultivators who were caught in a bottleneck or lacking fated chances rushed over one after another. Even cultivators whose cultivation progressed smoothly were also hesitant and considered coming. After all, the path towards immortality was a difficult path. If they could obtain any fated chances, they might be spared from several hundred years of arduous cultivation. Aura Refining and Foundation Building cultivators were also eager to partic.i.p.ate. They naturally didn't dare to go deep into the Demonic Mountain area, but they might also find some treasures even in the outer area of Demonic Mountain. If they were lucky, they might have it easy for the rest of their lives, or they might even become high level cultivators in one leap.

Tiandao Sect was known as the Celestial Pole's greatest cultivation group; there were already many cultivators in its surrounding area to start with, but it was even more bustling now.

However, for Core Formation cultivators like Mo Tiange's group, they didn't have to linger around Mount Yuheng and personally look for dwelling places like ordinary cultivators did—Tiandao Sect was going to receive them.

Mount Yuheng and Demonic Mountain were situated side by side. One had to pa.s.s through Mount Yuheng to go to Demonic Mountain, and the entire Mount Yuheng belonged to Tiandao Sect. In other words, one must pa.s.s through Tiandao Sect to go to Demonic Mountain.

Enormous fortune existed on Demonic Mountain, but at the same time, the world's dangers were also there. Tiandao Sect naturally didn't dare to keep everything for themselves, but it was inevitable that they would take advantage of the situation to make some profits. Every cultivator who wanted to enter had to pay a fee for using the path. The fee itself couldn't be considered expensive, especially for Core Formation cultivators. However, the advantageous point lay in the great numbers of people partic.i.p.ating. Because of that, every time Demonic Mountain opened, Tiandao Sect always made a lot of easy profits.

In addition, there were also many people hawking maps and notes about Demonic Mountain in the small towns at the foot of Mount Yuheng. They were selling their items at high prices, but they always had buyers.

At first, Mo Tiange was also interested and wanted to buy one and take a look, but she was stopped by Qin Xi, who said, “These things are useless. They're mostly incomplete and only mention the things in the outermost area. The place we want to go is located much deeper—these items simply don't have any information about that area.”

Mo Tiange felt what he said was reasonable, so she dropped the matter. Since she had the things Lord Daoist Jinghe gave her, how could the things sold by these hawkers be useful? Some of these people were even mortals. Obviously, their wares weren't too good.

With Daoist k.u.mu leading the way, the seven of them went to the top of Mount Yuheng.

“Fellow Daoist k.u.mu, Fellow Daoist Tong, Fellow Daoist Shoujing!” Right after they arrived at the monastery of Tiandao Sect, a Core Formation cultivator came over to welcome them with a smile. “Fellow Daoists, you've arrived really early.”

Mo Tiange looked at that person. He was a Tiandao Sect cultivator who looked about thirty years old. His cultivation level was in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm. Based on how he greeted Daoist k.u.mu and the others, they seemed to be well-acquainted.

Everyone returned his greetings, but Lei Dongqing looked extremely gloomy ever since they arrived on Mount Yuheng.

Mo Tiange remembered Qin Xi once told her that Lei Dongqing was originally a Tiandao Sect cultivator, but he was exiled because he offended someone. Now, judging by his expression, he seemed to indeed harbor a lot of resentment towards Tiandao Sect. Moreover, since he was a Tiandao Sect cultivator and a Core Formation cultivator at that, he must've certainly been an elder in Tiandao Sect—how could he have no Immortal's Cave on Mount Yuheng? But the current situation… That cultivator obviously treated Lei Dongqing as an ordinary cultivator, and Lei Dongqing also didn't mention anything. It was as if Lei Dongqing didn't have the slightest relation with Tiandao Sect at all.

“Oh! This is…?” the cultivator asked with astonishment as he looked at Mo Tiange.

Qin Xi said, “Fellow Daoist Ji, this is my junior martial sister. Her Daoist name's Qingwei.”

“Oh, so this is the famous Master Daoist Qingwei! It's an honor to meet you, an honor indeed!” The Core Formation cultivator named Ji Feng greeted her with a wide smile, sounding as if he was extremely amazed.

“Fellow Daoist Ji's too courteous.” Mo Tiange once again saluted him back.

It seemed Ji Feng wasn't being courteous as his tone now sounded extremely cordial. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei's name has spread all over Kunwu—I wasn't being courteous. Xuanqing School produces genius cultivators again and again. It really makes us envious.”

Mo Tiange showed a slight smile and cupped her hands but didn't reply.

Upon noticing that she wasn't too fond of chatting, Ji Feng also didn't say much more. He smiled and just said, “Fellow Daoists have come from afar; you're all tired, presumably. In that case, you better get some rest first. Fellow Daoists, please.”

Although the seven of them weren't physically tired, their hearts felt tired after hurrying on the road for several days in silence, so none of them objected.

Ji Feng handed them over to two Aura Refining cultivators responsible for receiving guests, who then led them into the monastery. The group of people walked for a little while before they reached an enormous courtyard.

Mo Tiange used her divine sense to scan her surroundings. There was a great number of Core Formation cultivators in this courtyard. Based on her approximations, there were at least thirty or forty of them. There were still about two to three months before Demonic Mountain was open, so there might still be a lot of people coming later on.

Right after they entered the courtyard, another cultivator came over and greeted them, “Seniors have come from afar—welcome, welcome.” He then led them towards their respective dwellings extremely politely.

This courtyard was enormous, and each small courtyard within had several rooms. Two small courtyards were already enough to accommodate the seven of them.

After leading her into her room and helping her settle down, that cultivator surprisingly didn't withdraw. Instead, he just stood by the door and stared at her. For a moment, Mo Tiange couldn't understand what he was doing. She only understood after she heard voices of other cultivators from the rooms next door giving thanks for the bestowals they got. Thus, she also took out a pouch of spirit stones and threw it towards that cultivator.

That cultivator was only in the Aura Refining realm. When he felt the pouch and discovered there was at least a hundred spirit stones inside, he was so delighted that he continuously thanked her. “Thank you for the bestowal, Senior. Thank you for the bestowal, Senior.”

Mo Tiange shook her head as she watched the man leaving. Since they were Core Formation cultivators, they were bound to be a bit more generous in their spending. Coupled with the fee charged for using the path, Tiandao Sect was really making huge profits.