Lady Cultivator

“Wan Hongan! Both of us are disciples from the seven great cultivation groups—why did you ambush me?!” Ye Jingwen glared furiously at the three cultivators in front of him.

The leader among them was a man around thirty to forty years old. His face wasn’t bad, but his short, thin handlebar mustache made him look vulgar.

His gaze remained fixed on Ye Jingwen as he sneered. “Seven great cultivation groups? Hmph! Don’t say such high-sounding things when you Xuanqing School people also benefited so much from this catastrophe. Now, with the demonic beast riot coming to an end, who in their right mind wouldn’t try to gain something out of it?”

“You!!!” Ye Jingwen’s face turned pale but he soon went deep red. He knew the relationships between the seven great cultivation groups weren’t harmonious. Although he himself had never done anything, he was well aware of the things other Xuanqing School disciples did. The seven great cultivation groups followed the Righteous Path, but there were inevitably some disciples with questionable characters who took advantage of the situation to act out. Out of consideration for the overall situation, the masters could only turn a blind eye to their disciples’ actions. In the end, no matter which cultivation group, not all the disciples were upright people.

After looking up and down at Ye Jingwen, that person stroked his short beard and chuckled at his companions. “Today, let’s stop after we finish this one. After all, this boy has a lot of good things!”

“Sure.” Another man, who was also staring at Ye Jingwen, revealed a malicious expression. “This boy killed many demonic beasts in these past few days so presumably, he got so many things that he doesn’t have a place to store them. Isn’t it good for us to do him a favor and store those things on his behalf?”

“You’re absolutely correct! We’re really kind-hearted, haha…”

The three men took out their respective swords and continued to walk towards Ye Jingwen.

Upon seeing their actions, Ye Jingwen made a hand seal, causing the sword on his back to fly out of its scabbard.

The cultivator called Wan Hongan turned his head and laughed with his companions. “Look at him! Our Gujian Sect specializes in sword cultivation, yet he still wants to take out his sword in front of us!”

For a moment, the air was filled with the three people’s loud laughter.

Ye Jingwen remained unperturbed and grasped several talismans in his hands. The mental cultivation techniques practiced in Xuanqing School were Dao School techniques. However, its disciples’ skills in fights of magical powers weren’t limited to just one type. Talismans, medicine, swords—all kinds of things were practiced. Ye Jingwen was one of the disciples who practiced the sword cultivation technique.

Nevertheless, Gujian Sect, where Kunwu’s most talented sword cultivators were gathered, was indeed the largest group specializing in sword cultivation techniques. It was a bit harder for genuine sword cultivators to advance to the next realm than ordinary cultivators, but in fights of magical power, they were stronger than cultivators in the same realm as them. Moreover, Gujian Sect practiced the art of the sword for generations; they definitely had all kinds of secret techniques. Because of these reasons, Ye Jingwen didn’t dare to view his three opponents lightly.

Among the three Gujian Sect cultivators before him, only one was in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm while the other two were in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm. He secretly assessed their situation. The one in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm was older than him, so he obviously had richer experiences. In case that person also practiced some kind of secret technique, Ye Jingwen’s odds of winning were most likely small. The two people in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm, however, were a different case; he could still fight them.

In a split second, Ye Jingwen already made a decision in his heart. He wasn’t that conceited to think he could defeat all of them, but if he wanted to escape their clutches, he had some assurance that he could do it. As long as he could run back to Qianmen Ridge Station, these people naturally wouldn’t dare to do anything—the manager there was Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu. Although he rarely intervened in these kinds of matters, he was still a late stage Foundation Building cultivator. In addition, other Foundation Building disciples from Xuanqing School were there. This might be enough to deter these people.

Now that this decision was already made in his mind, he didn’t wait until the three of them closed in on him and immediately maneuvered his sword, directing it towards Wan Hongan. At the same time, he also swung his other hand, hurling a handful of talismans towards his three opponents without regard to the cost of those talismans.

Those three cultivators were originally laughing, but the moment they saw his actions, their expressions instantly became solemn. Wan Hongan raised his sword and started to fight Ye Jingwen. The other two people immediately gathered and stood together. They both raised their swords to activate their sword art. A barrier of light appeared from the tips of their swords and instantly surrounded them. When those talismans fell on them, they bounced back from the light barrier.

Upon seeing this, Ye Jingwen secretly felt regretful. The Talisman-Drawing Technique was relatively troublesome. Most of the talismans possessed by Foundation Building cultivators like them were bestowed by their masters, but some were made by themselves. There were at least three to five talismans in the bunch he just hurled, yet these two Foundation Building cultivators were actually able to avoid them so effortlessly—Gujian Sect’s reputation of being strong was indeed well-deserved.

Nevertheless, he was also confident he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. He entered Xuanqing School when he was just a child. He went from being an ordinary small disciple to an inner disciple and then an advanced inner disciple. He advanced from the Aura Refining realm to the Foundation Building realm then he continued to cultivate and managed to reach the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm in just a short while. He believed he gave his all in each step. Now, even if they wanted to defeat him, it wouldn’t be that easy!

After several blows were exchanged, Wan Hongan fell into a rather difficult situation. Being in the same station as Ye Jingwen, he had naturally seen Ye Jingwen fighting before. However, he really never expected this boy to be this strong and he wasn’t at all inferior to them, Gujian Sect’s elite sword cultivators!

Wan Hongan retrieved his flying sword, pretended to be fierce and said, “Boy! Quickly take out your things and we’ll spare your life!”

Ye Jingwen, whose sleeve just got cut, just smiled wryly after hearing what Wan Hongan said. “What? Are you afraid of death?” If he really couldn’t escape and gambled with his life, this Wan Hongan couldn’t necessarily leave alive!

Despite his current predicament, he was still unwilling to lower his head. Wan Hongan was dumbfounded, but anger soon filled his heart. He tossed a glance at his two companions.

After catching the glance from Wan Hongan, the two Gujian Sect disciples immediately changed their direction. They split up, and each moved towards a different direction.

Ye Jingwen’s expression became even more dignified. He then heard Wan Hongan’s sneer: “You really have to be forced before you give in! Alright, I’ll let you have a taste of our Gujian Sect’s Thousands Shapes Star Formation!”

The three people stood on three different positions around Ye Jingwen. All of them raised their swords, closed their eyes and muttered some incantations.

Ye Jingwen didn’t stay still. He promptly recalled his flying sword and watched his surroundings vigilantly. The Thousands Shapes Star Formation was a sword formation unique to Gujian Sect. It needed three to ten million people to be laid. Once it was laid, the inside of the formation would be filled with a heavy killing intent. Nonetheless, this sword formation wasn’t an easy one to lay. It needed an outrageous amount of spiritual aura, so these three people certainly wouldn’t have an easy time.

Without waiting for the three people to finish laying the sword formation, Ye Jingwen swung his arm, thus thrusting his sword forward. The sword seemed to be directed at Wan Hongan, but right when they moved to ward off that sword, Ye Jingwen clapped a talisman he’d been holding between his hands and disappeared into the ground in an instant.

“Soil Escape! It’s a Soil Escape Talisman!” Wan Hongan shouted. He then swung his sword, emitting a beam-like sword aura that shot into the ground. Right after, they saw a flash of spiritual aura which could clearly be seen by the naked eye fleeing quickly into the distance.

“Chase!”

Mo Tiange stood on her White Silk Handkerchief, holding the Shuttle of Flying Apsara in her hand. She no longer hid her momentum, so the might of a Foundation Building cultivator immediately spread around. At the same time, the Shuttle of Flying Apsara was launched and moved directly to cut off the head of the group’s leader.

“Who!?” that person shouted and moved his body around to avoid the Shuttle of Flying Apsara. Once he saw several strands of slashed hairs floating down, he was frightened and his whole body was instantly covered with a cold sweat.

With an icy tone, Mo Tiange said, “Who are you? You actually dared to besiege my Xuanqing School senior martial brother!”

The moment the three people got a closer look at her appearance, they glanced at each other. The middle stage of the Foundation Building realm…

Right now, Ye Jingwen had already come out from the ground. He called out in surprise and delight, “Tiange!”

Seeing that the three people seemed to already have intentions of leaving, Mo Tiange uttered a “hmph” and once again launched the Shuttle of Flying Apsara. Several flying needles had also been hidden among the golden lights as a secret attack. She also spread the essence of her divine sense secretly.

Ye Jingwen also reacted quickly. With a wave of his hand, his flying sword once again moved to attack. It coordinated with her Shuttle of Flying Apsara to obstruct the two early stage Foundation Building cultivators’ counterattacks.

Because all of this happened in just an instant, they didn’t have a chance to finish laying their Thousand Shapes Star Formation. Wan Hongan could only move to dodge the oncoming attacks, but soon after he did, he heard an “AAHHH!” as one of his companions fell down. He turned around to look at his other companion who looked completely pale trying to block Ye Jingwen’s flying sword.

Wang Hongan groped around his waist, grabbed a talisman and stuck it onto his body. All of a sudden, he disappeared, fleeing without any regard to his companion’s life.

Instead of going after him, Mo Tiange and Ye Jingwen continued to attack that early stage Foundation Building cultivator. Faced with a joint attack from two middle stage Foundation Building cultivators, he instantly lost his head. With no chance to fight back, he was easily killed on the spot.

Once the fight was over, Ye Jingwen only glanced in the direction Wan Hongan fled before retrieving his sword. He then looked at Mo Tiange and said, “Tiange, how did you end up here? I heard you went missing during the battle in Danding School two years ago. Are you all right?”

Mo Tiange nodded at him and laughed. “Big Brother Ye, look at me. Do I look like I’m not alright?”

Ye Jingwen was speechless. After looking Mo Tiange up and down, he asked in astonishment, “You’ve advanced into the middle stage?”

His question rather baffled her. “I advanced into the middle stage two years ago. Big Brother Ye, you didn’t know?”

“Huh?” Ye Jingwen was utterly confused.  What’s going on?

Mo Tiange swept her gaze over the corpses on the ground and said, “Big Brother Ye, let’s discuss it after we go back.”

“… Alright.”

After dealing with the two Gujian Sect disciples’ corpses, the two of them flew back slowly.

“Tiange, first tell me what happened to you. I remember you just built your foundation three years ago. How could you have advanced into the middle stage two years ago? Furthermore, what happened when you went missing?”

“En… Two years ago, I came across some fated chances, so I was able to advance into the middle stage straight away. All my fellow martial sisters who were at Luoyan Cliff knew about this, so I thought you also knew…”

“At that time, I was out with my master. When I came back later, you already left with Martial Uncle Xuanyin. In any case, the fated chances you came across actually made you advance into the middle stage immediately!? Those really weren’t ordinary fated chances!”

Mo Tiange smiled but didn’t elaborate further. She then said, “Two years ago, I was chased by a fifth rank demonic beast. Fortunately, I happened to have an escaping magic tool on me. It actually allowed me to escape with my life intact. Later, because I was injured, I didn’t dare to come out and went looking for a secret place to heal. It was only a few days ago after my injuries were healed that I dared to come out.”

“I see… Since you spent two years to just heal your injuries, your injuries must’ve been very severe, right?”

Mo Tiange said, “They weren’t that bad. I fainted for several months at the time, but fortunately, I didn’t come across any danger. Big Brother Ye, why are you here?”

A bitter smile appeared on Ye Jingwen’s face. He said, “The fights these past two years were too catastrophic. Because our school made the order to seal off the mountain early, our Aura Refining disciples weren’t really harmed; the influence of this war on them wasn’t that big. However, we more or less lost one-third of our Foundation Building disciples. This matter has shaken the foundation of our school.”

One third was seventy to eighty disciples at the very least. With so many Foundation Building disciples dead, it would take the school at least a hundred years to restore its vitality. Considering the other cultivation groups, it could be said that the damage every Kunwu’s cultivation group suffered was disastrous.

“Elite disciples like us have followed our masters from the moment this war began. Later on, because of all kinds of tasks and crises, we were scattered in various regions. The reason I’m at Mount Tianhuo is because after the battle two years ago, I was sent to assist Danding School but have never been able to come back.”

As the two of them chatted about the things that happened during the demonic beast riot, Mo Tiange learned that Xuanqing School lost three of its Core Formation cultivators. The school’s Head Grand Supreme Elder was furious and sent two of their five Nascent Soul cultivators to the battlefield; so the situation in the area around Xuanqing School was controlled.

After three years of war, this demonic beast riot finally started to die down. There were no longer countless demonic beasts hiding in the forest, ready to assist their companions. Both large and small cultivation groups in Kunwu had more or less exhausted their strength. Ye Jingwen said the scale of the war had surpassed all previous wars, and that presumably, there would be no other war against demonic beasts for the next hundred years.

Regarding this matter, Mo Tiange was secretly rejoicing in her heart. Fortunately, she hid inside her Virtual Sky World for two years. Otherwise, she might’ve also ended up like those three senior martial sisters—receiving so many injuries that their cultivation levels probably wouldn’t progress for the next several years.

“Tiange, you’re really lucky. You’re not even thirty years old yet, but you’re already in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. You’re really making big brother envious.”

Mo Tiange shook her head. “It’s nothing but fated chances.”

“Fated chance is also part of strength. You shouldn’t be this modest.”

“…”

The two of them continued to chat as they made their way back to Qianmen Ridge Station.

Along the way, they exchanged the insights they gained after they entered the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, and Ye Jingwen also told her countless matters she needed to pay attention to. This journey back allowed Mo Tiange to see his talkative side. Maybe it was because she met Xiaoguzi yesterday, but as she listened to Ye Jingwen repeatedly saying the same things several times, the images Mo Tiange had in her mind of the two of them couldn’t help but overlap with each other, almost making her laugh.

Before the two of them could enter Qianmen Ridge Station, they saw someone rushing over. “Martial Uncles!”

Mo Tiange recognized him with one glance—he was Xiaoguzi from yesterday. This child grabbed the two of them and cried out, “Martial Uncles! Not good!”

Mo Tiange and Ye Jingwen glanced at each other. Ye Jingwen then reached out to hold him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xiaoguzi pulled the two of them to the side and whispered, “Did you have a conflict with cultivators from Gujian Sect?”

Ye Jingwen nodded and raised his eyebrows. “Why? Did that cultivator surnamed Wan still dare to come and complain?”

Xiaoguzi looked completely helpless. “What else? We could already guess what happened once we heard what he said, but that cultivator surnamed Wan also called everyone from Gujian Sect over and persistently accused Martial Uncle Ye of wanting to kill people and rob them of their belongings. He also said since you couldn’t defeat them, you called your fellow disciple to help. Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu certainly didn’t believe him, but that rascal surnamed Wan is clearly using this situation to pressure others!”

Once he heard what Xiaoguzi said, Ye Jingwen uttered a cold “hmph” and said, “Our Xuanqing School is the master of Qianmen Ridge. When it comes to Foundation Building cultivators, we have slightly more than Gujian Sect. In spite of this, they actually dared to do this kind of thing!”

Xiaoquzi’s expression was filled with disdain as he said in agreement, “Exactly! They’re doing this just because they believe Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu wouldn’t care. Moreover, if something bad did happen, as the manager, Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu would certainly be blamed!”

Mo Tiange sneered, “I’m afraid they’re doing this because they have a guilty conscience. They’re afraid we’re going to confront them, so they simply made a complaint one step ahead of us. Right now, who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong isn’t important. That cultivator surnamed Wan is clearly pulling Gujian sect along with him to oppose Xuanqing School, thus escalating this matter between the two groups. By doing so, other people wouldn’t care about whether or not he wanted to kill others and rob their belongings!”

“This is definitely his intention…” Ye Jingwen pondered their situation for a while before shifting his gaze towards Xiaoguzi. “How did Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu respond?”

Xiaoguzi helplessly said, “Senior Martial brother Kuang Zhu doesn’t want to pay them any attention, but they keep making a ruckus…”

“That being the case, it’d be better for us to directly take action!” Ye Jingwen cast a glance at Mo Tiange. Seeing as she didn’t object, he proceeded to say, “Xiaoguzi, go back and tell Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu; he mustn’t be lenient in this matter. We should be ruthless!”

Xiaoguzi was frightened by what Ye Jingwen said. He instinctively looked at Mo Tiange. “This…”

Mo Tiange knew that although Ye Jingwen was friendly towards her, he was a very decisive person; for example, he directly killed Mo Tiange’s kidnapper, Li Yushan, after they just met. She herself also had the same idea as him, so she just smiled at Xiaoguzi. “How many people do they have on their side? What are their cultivation levels?”

Seeing how unconcerned the two of them were, Xiaoguzi could only take a gulp before stating dully, “There are five of them; two are in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm and three others are in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm. There are also several Aura Refining disciples…”

“They only have several people but they still dared to act?” Mo Tiange was somewhat bewildered. “Then what about our side? I and Big Brother Ye are in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu is in the late stage, Junior Martial Brother Bai is in the early stage—are there any other Foundation Building cultivators on our side?”

“En, two other martial uncles are also staying here, but they’re not here today.” Xiaoguzi then looked around cautiously. “Martial Uncles, Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu and Senior Martial Brother Bai are the least of your worries. Right now, we’re claiming to be allies. How should we explain if we really fought with them?”

“Explain?” Ye Jingwen sneered, “If all of them are dead, naturally, we’ll be the ones who do the explaining.”

“This…” Ever since Xiaoguzi entered the school, he had always been with Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu, Zhan Bai, and his younger sister. However, aside from cultivating, Kuang Zhu and Zhan Bai only focused on practicing pill-concocting and healing techniques, so both he and Xiaozui very rarely experienced fights of magical powers. Even during the demonic beast riot these past few years, they had always stayed behind the front lines. Therefore, when he heard Ye Jingwen and Mo Tiange calmly talking about killing other cultivators, he was inevitably scared witless.

When Mo Tiange noticed his reaction, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but reach out and stroke his head. “Xiaoguzi, go and tell Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu. Later, I and Big Brother Ye will pretend that we just got back. What we should do later, you can secretly remind us…”

“… Okay.” Xiaoguzi clenched his teeth and said, “Since you’ve made a decision, I’ll go and inform Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu.” In any case, he needed to get accustomed to this kind of matter sooner or later.

Ye Jingwen smiled and nodded. “Then we’ll have to trouble you.”

Once they saw Xiaoguzi entering the station, Mo Tiange and Ye Jingwen once again glanced at each other. Both saw clearly the murderous intent in each other’s eyes.

Having cooperated a while ago, Ye Jingwen had a new understanding of the current Mo Tiange. The current Mo Tiange was a genuine middle stage Foundation Building cultivator. Whether it was from her accurate actions or decisive mind, she was no longer the little girl he saved that year. He couldn’t help but nostalgically sigh in his heart. It had only been seventeen years. That year, when he saved that little girl, it never once crossed his mind that this day would come so quickly—she had grown up. She was so grown up that now she could fight side by side with him.

“Tiange, you have to be careful later. Their Gujian Sect’s Thousand Shapes Star Formation is very difficult to handle. You’d better kill them before they lay that sword formation or you can also disturb them. If you wait for them to finish laying the sword formation, we won’t be able to do anything and should immediately flee.”

“En. Big Brother Ye, you have to be careful too.”

After waiting in silence for quite a while, they signaled each other with their gazes then made their way into the station together.

Right after Mo Tiange released her divine sense, it bumped into another person’s divine sense. She didn’t know whose divine sense it was, but she neither provoked nor yielded to it.

When they walked into the main hall, it was quiet inside. The injured had been moved to another place. Their presences were replaced by several Gujian Sect cultivators who stood together and glared viciously at the two of them. Xiaoguzi and Xiaozui were at the rear while Zhan Bai was shielding them. As for Kuang Zhu, he was sitting behind the front desk, engrossed in concocting some kind of ointment as if the others didn’t exist.

Mo Tiange stole a look at Xiaoguzi and saw that this child was staring at Gujian Sect’s cultivators and blinking his eyes.

She and Ye Jingwen exchanged a meaningful glance. Apparently, they had obtained Senior Martial Brother Kuang Zhu’s approval.