Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi performed a simple wors.h.i.+pping ceremony for Mo Tiange's father, then Mo Tiange put her father's bones into a jar one by one and prepared to take them to the secular world to bury him alongside her mother.

When she went on that trip when she was in the Foundation Building realm, Mo Tianjun once wanted to return to Mo Family's Village. She had already entered Jin Country's boundaries, but she was then drawn away by the fluctuations of spiritual aura in Ziwei's Immortal Cave. Counting the years now, it had been seventy-six years since she had been home. Seventy-six years later, her grandpa, grandma, and uncles must've turned to dry bones, while Tianjun and the others might have also pa.s.sed away, right? Mo Tianjun wondered if there was anyone tending to her mother's tomb…

After a few days, she planned to go back to Mo Family's Village in Jin Country. She wanted to move her mother's tomb to the Ye family's ancestral grave, along with Second Uncle's ashes.

Storing away her father's remains well, Mo Tiange looked up carefully at the cave where they were resting. The rock walls were a dull-red under the immortal fire which was nearby and hot.

"This is where you hid yourselves in those days?"

Qin Xi squatted down and poked with his Three Yang Real Fire Sword, apparently looking for something. Upon hearing her voice, he answered, "When the restrictions on Demonic Mountain collapsed at that time, your father and I were at Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak. When things stabilized a little while later, we discovered we couldn't get out, so we went to Immortal's Ruins. But the reason why we came here was because I wanted to practice a secret technique. You father was badly injured then and if I left him alone, he wouldn't be able to last several days. He had helped me along the way, so I decided to take him with me here."

"So that's it…" This was really the best place to practice Yang-related magic arts since fire was the most extreme form of Yang, especially if it was immortal fire.

After a moment, Qin Xi breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. "I finally found it."

Mo Tiange was curious. "What were you looking for?"

Qin Xi walked back and opened his hand. "This. I'm looking for them." In the palm of his hand laid a number of dark stones.

Mo Tiange picked up one of the stones and only felt it was very hot. She thought for a while, then asked with surprise, "Is this Fire Marrow Stone?"

Qin Xi nodded with a smile. "Yes, it's Fire Marrow Stone."

The so-called Fire Marrow Stones were a kind of ore that came from places where Real Fire was rich, and they were usually called the "essence of fire." At first, Fire Marrow Stones would be red, but with the pa.s.sage of time, since Real Fire never stopped burning and turned Fire Marrow Stones redder and redder, the stones would finally turn black. These Fire Marrow Stones were dark as anything and were obviously of the highest quality.

"Were these what you wanted to come and get?"

"Yes," Qin Xi answered. "It was in this fire pit that I found Fire Marrow Stones in those days and I tried every means possible to take them out of the immortal fire, but the fire aura was still too strong and I couldn't take them, so I hid them here."

"So you knew you'd come back one day?"

"I had to. I left in such a hurry that I didn't even take your father's body with me, so I naturally had to come back."

Upon hearing him mentioning this, Mo Tiange thought back to what he said again. She then asked, "Right, what exactly did my father promise you? Why did you say that…dual cultivation is all up to you?"

Upon hearing that, Qin Xi coughed and s.h.i.+fted his head to the side. "Well…"

Mo Tiange was even more curious when she noticed his face turning a little red. "What, what's so hard to say?"

"…It's okay to tell you." Qin Xi smiled and said slowly, "You have a Pure Yin const.i.tution, so any cultivator might've wanted to have you if your father told them that. So, your father told me with the meaning that I could choose anyone to perform Dual Cultivation with you."

"Including yourself?"

"Well… Your father did mean that… But I didn't have any thoughts like that at the time, believe me…"

Upon seeing him denying it hurriedly, Mo Tiange smiled. "I didn't say I didn't believe you; what are you worrying for?" She sighed. "I understand what my father meant. In that case, I wouldn't be allowed to choose my Dual Cultivation partner freely, but I would have a person to rely on… Relatively speaking, I'd have a future." If her father hadn't entrusted her to Qin Xi, that would've probably become her future.

"Right…" Qin Xi said. "I won't deny that I did think about accepting you as my disciple since you have a Pure Yin const.i.tution and have spiritual roots, so it'd be good for Xuanqing School if you could perform Dual Cultivation with other disciples… But then you escaped by yourself, so I dropped the idea after that."

The two were silent for a while. Mo Tiange laughed. "Whatever, forget about it. We've accomplished our purpose of this trip, so are we going to leave now?"

"Yes." Qin Xi nodded. "Master warned me that we should get out of here as soon as we finished. He said there might also be collapses of huge restrictions this time, collapses that are perhaps even more fierce than the previous ones. It would be troublesome if we got stuck here."

Mo Tiange agreed with him. She wasn't injured anywhere else aside from being fed Heavenly Aromatic Beans. The medicinal effects had long worn off, and she was now filled with spiritual power and had nothing to worry about.

"Let's go then. In three or five days, it'll be half a month since we've been here. It's hard to say when the restriction at the entrance of Demonic Mountain will reappear."

After a bit more rest and reorganization, they prepared everything they needed and ventured out along the original route. Looking at the numerous pits and holes with burning immortal fire on the ground, Mo Tiange seemed to remember something, so she asked Qin Xi, "Even ordinary stones here are sealed with the power of immortal fire, right?"

Qin Xi nodded. "Right. Why do you ask?"

Mo Tiange said, "Well… Do you have a way to pick some up?"

Qin Xi gave her a look and didn't say anything. He released his Three Yang Real Fire Sword which sent out dazzling lights on its body. The sword light shot straight down then bounced back in an instant. Qin Xi reached out his hand and used spiritual aura to lift up several stones then pa.s.sed them to her. "Put them in a jade box." These were just ordinary stones, so they should be able to be stored in a jade box even though they'd been doused in immortal fire.

Mo Tiange took out a jade box and put the stones inside obediently. Then she asked him to procure more of them with his Three Yang Real Fire Sword until the jade box was stuffed before she put the box back into her Qiankun Bag.

Upon seeing her putting away these stones, Qin Xi asked, "You don't practice the magic art of fire, so what do you need these stones for?"

Mo Tiange smiled and patted her spiritual beast pouch. "You forgot I have Xiaohuo!"

"Oh!" Qin Xi understood. The small spiritual beast was born with Sun Real Fire. If it could make good progress in cultivation, it would definitely be very helpful in the future.

After thinking for a while, Qin Xi said, "In regards to spiritual beasts, you have Xiaohuo, in regards to unique skills, you have the Soul-Refining Technique. If you can refine the Heaven and Earth Fan, you shouldn't have to worry about ordinary middle-stage Core Formation cultivators during fights of magical power. If the Heaven and Earth Fan has a strong influence, you might even be able to fight Core Formation cultivators in the late stage, but you'd better practice several more secret techniques. There are differences in every fight of magical power, so protect yourself with unique skills."

"En." Mo Tiange thought about this some more. Her best unique skill to save herself was the Virtual Sky World. But of course, after what happened with Ren Yufeng, she already learned that any unique skill wasn't entirely reliable. She better have a few backup plans.

"Pitifully, we didn't get any useful treasures for you this trip. Otherwise, you could've improved your cultivation level a little."

Mo Tiange thought about it for a while, but she then swallowed her words. She actually didn't feel rushed to improve her cultivation level. With countless Clear Sky Pills and with her decent skills, she would reach the peak stage of the Core Formation realm sooner or later. She was already very happy to find a thousand-year-old Chalcedony and Qiyun Stone this time.

"Senior Martial Brother, since you're bringing back Fire Marrow Stones, will you enter Closed Door Meditation as soon as you get back?"

"Yes." Qin Xi nodded. But he was keenly aware that Mo Tiange seemed a little upset, so he asked, "What, are you unhappy?"

Mo Tiange paused for a moment and sighed. "I think you must have a good chance of reaching the Nascent Soul realm this time, right? After that, there will be a huge difference between you and me in terms of cultivation level…"

"Why does it matter?" Qin Xi smiled. "Which pair of Dual Cultivation Dao companions don't have differences in their cultivation level? Even the Luan and Feng Immortal Companions are different in terms of their cultivation level. Ding Luan is a little higher than Feng Xiao, but they still cultivate and live together, don't they?"

"Yes, but…" Mo Tiange always felt that the difference between them was too big. She admitted that there were companions composed of a Nascent Soul cultivator and Core Formation cultivator, but relatively speaking, there were only a few female cultivators among the Nascent Soul cultivators. Many male cultivators married Core Formation female cultivators, but the relations.h.i.+ps between them were that of a superior and subordinate… Of course, she wasn't worried about Qin Xi and she trusted him, but… This wasn't the way to go. Cultivators in the same cultivation realm could have more exchanges and could help each other to strengthen their relations.h.i.+p.

Qin Xi pondered for a while then said, "I did say we could change and practice the same cultivation technique, so what about that?"

"That…could be a good solution. You were so confident last time, so did you prepare something ahead of time?"

Qin Xi smiled. "Of course."

Mo Tiange was curious. "You know we both have special const.i.tutions, and the cultivation techniques we practice are also special. The Dual Cultivation technique you mentioned—does it also have a special effect?"

Qin Xi smiled but didn't answer. Mo Tiange prompted him, so he said, "You'll find out later."

As they spoke, they went back the way they came and finally returned to Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak half a day later. It then took them one day to head down the peak.

After leaving the range of Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. There were too many dangers in Immortal's Ruins, and it was safer down here.

But a moment later, Mo Tiange was startled.

"What happened to these people?" This was the third time they had encountered a group of people fighting each other. The fight didn't seem rational, considering the flesh and blood flying everywhere; she couldn't even bear to watch.

Qin Xi frowned and said, "The restrictions on Demonic Mountain usually collapse for a month. Now that over half a month has pa.s.sed, presumably, those who have the strength to secure treasures have already gotten what they wanted, while those who didn't find any could only grab others'."

"…" Mo Tiange also heard many rumors like this before. But this time, the people involved were all high in cultivation level. Most of them were Core Formation cultivators; there were scarcely any Foundation Building cultivators among them. Then Mo Tiange thought back to Jade Palace. So many Nascent Soul cultivators went there for the same unique treasure, so a fierce battle was inevitable. Even if the restrictions on Demonic Mountain didn't collapse this time, many people would die.

Both of them had achieved their purposes of entering Demonic Mountain, so they didn't want to get involved in any of these conflicts. Whenever there was a fight, they avoided it, but they were really lucky and often encountered a situation where both sides were losing or already dead. They picked up many Qiankun Bags in pa.s.sing, which was a great source of wealth.

Upon collecting one more batch of Qiankun Bags, Mo Tiange revealed her smiling eyes. "So funny. They fought like h.e.l.l but didn't even get as much as we did."

Qin Xi also smiled and began to talk big. "If everyone was as smart as we are, there'd be no easy objects we could pick up. Taking all of these bags into consideration, there might be some powerful treasures among them."

"En." Mo Tiange said no more and put away all the Qiankun Bags. She thought that the treasures in these might be even more abundant than her personal fortunes combined.

As she was counting, a m.u.f.fled thunder suddenly came from the sky.

Qin Xi raised his head and saw that where spiritual aura and devil aura were intertwined in the sky, the wind and clouds rose and collided violently. The spiritual aura and devil aura on Demonic Mountain immediately became very disorderly.

"This is no good! Some restriction collapsed!"